Ready for Take-Off (almost)

It's time for "angels on wings" (as my family says when anyone is traveling by air). Tomorrow morning Sr Helena and I join our two-man film crew from Spirit Juice Studios, along with a small contingent of Pauline pilgrims, to get on location footage for the documentary. I think I packed everything I need...all except the mountain of work I now have to bring (to prepare for a two-day workshop for priests in San Antonio--taking Sr. Rose's place). The work is presently spread out all over the conference room table, but I left room for it in my carry-on. As long as they don't say the carry-on is too big... Or that there is a problem because one ticket (to Newark) has my religious name on it and my other ticket has my legal name...  I had, in fact, attempted to have that changed--but found out when I tried to check in today that even if my correct name appeared on the reservation, all of our tickets had been disassociated from it in the process. So there's no real way out of this name mess.
I have to remember, with St. Paul: whatever happens, "this will all work out for the spread of the Gospel!" And let that be enough!

But you wouldn't mind sparing a few prayers over those potential complications, would you?
I hope to take advantage of Italian wi-fi to send the occasional post or picture; after our return (in time for my Halloween birthday!) I will get you totally up to date. And then you can pray while I plow through the final preps for that priests' seminar. (Thanks!)

Do not call

Just got a disappointing message from the FCC. You know those spam text messages? That you have to pay for? That tell you you just won a $200 gift card? The laws don't apply to them. Only if a text spam is sent from an e-mail address does it fall within the range of illegal communications. I guess it's going to take FCC.gov a while to catch up with the technology. Meanwhile, it looks like I won another gift card.
How about you?

Workload solution

I've been preparing for next week's filming in Italy, boning up on my Italian and reading an enormous book about our Founder's life (in Italian, of course). But I am also working on the Digital Catechesis workshop for Boston. And now I may be giving another (two-day) workshop for clergy on communications the week after I return from Rome. (I do not have a whole lot ready for that.) It's kind of a lot to fit into the space of four weeks.
Last night I was wondering about how I'm going to actually manage that, given that I also have to sleep, eat, pray and exercise. Every day, if possible. I remembered the advice given by the saints: When you have a lot to do, rather than increase your working hours, increase your prayer time. In other words, put it on the Lord's to-do list. This is just what Psalm says, "If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor; in vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest when he pours gifts on his loved ones while they slumber." So I resolved to add 20 or 30 minutes to my adoration time.

While I was eating my breakfast, I continued plowing ahead in that humongous biography of the Founder. Precisely today I reached a section which quoted from a letter written by his spiritual director, Ven. Francesco Chiesa. It was a little story in which the disciple says to the spiritual director: "I am overburdened with work! I just can't do it anymore! Tell me what I should leave off doing." And the director responds, "Add a quarter-hour to your Visit to the Blessed Sacrament."
I love it when our Lord is clear like that...

"Woe" Survey Results

For some reason, I can't upload the images for the responses to Q 1-3, so here are the essay questions. LOTS of great answers to Question 5 (very reflective!):

4. What about "woe"? Is there a place for some expression of woe in preaching? 
You said:

• Yes, we have to be on guard against evil and it is the Christian's task to admonish & help save souls.
• Yes, as a warning statement.
• i think it would be nice to know the truth and if Hell is actually real we should be aware of this.
• I think there is a place for frankness; calling things by their real name and not tippy-toeing all around the Scriptures when there is a clear application to modern life.
• Yes, of course. It's like you said... too many people are of the understanding that God is nice, God loves everything, and "there is no condemnation in Christ." But that's a silly thought, because Christ Himself will be the Judge. And if there is no repentance, then our entire reality is based on the fact that there IS judgement, there IS condemnation, and there IS woe!! Hell is as real as heaven is, but we like to pretend it doesn't exist. I feel like we need more reminders in the Catholic community that there is an alternative ending!
• There should be; we rarely, if ever, hear of "woe" and what it means. I shouldn't have had to pay thousands of dollars for a Master's degree in Theology in order to learn about the importance of "woe" in the spiritual life and formation in holiness!
• yes If JESUS said woe thats good enough for me.
• Yes, we need to respect God as almighty and have a Blessed fear of His Law.
• No
• Msgr told us to enter through the narrow gate. He did not mention "woe."

5. In critical areas, how can Catholics (ordained and non-ordained) be prophetic and honest in a way that will really reach and move the ordinary listener?
You said:

• Using a wholistic approach, one could be prophetic and honest, while maintaining a relationship with Our Father in heaven and Our Lord Jesus Christ, mindful of Holy Scriptures and our traditions and striving at social communications as often as possible.
• by quoting and unpacking Scripture
• Telling the truth with love but also with clarity.
• I wish I knew!
• I think the Church needs to do a better job promoting her teachings. Maybe if we knew our faith better we would witness more. I just think so many practicing Catholics feel alone or not supported. Especially when sin barely exists anymore. I love our priests and pray for them daily but why is the church so silent in MA?
• The most effective approach would depend on the relationship you have with the person or group. Have we done all we can with humor? (Humor, not snarkiness.)
• Live integrated lives that are consistent with the Gospel; be faithful to the sacraments (of coure Eucharist, but yes, including reconciliation!)
• I think catechists have to be real, with adults and with children. And most especially with youth. But we have to be pastoral and loving about our teaching and preaching... because being patronizing and threatening isn't going to get us where we want to be, either.
• Simple honesty, not mincing words, delivering the ENTIRE message of the gospel (including the hard stuff) matter-of-factly. People appreciate honesty, even if they choose to reject what is taught. At least then they know what they are accepting or rejecting. (I speak as a parish employee who has to often deliver the difficult teachings such as: confession is necessary at least once per year, intentionally missing Mass is a mortal sin, receiving Holy Communion when not in a state of grace is the mortal sin of sacrilege, etc.) And yeah, it's the first time many people have been told such things. That's just wrong.
• Lovingly, Bishop Fulton Sheen said If you want people to stay the same tell them what they want to hear.If you want someone to change tell them what they need to hear. AMEN.
• I am 59..... I went to a ROMAN Catholic school in the 1950's. We should all tell others about Our Lord..... not as mean... but JUST and MERCIFUL.
• The event of saving grace is NOW ever present in the Father Son and Holy Spirit All One. We should not be shy in letting people know this in some way through our expression of Love. If the listener doesn't understand what we say, just let the Love sink in, eventually they will remember the Word of God we shared. We don't need to be forceful, unless force is against us and we need to defend, usually not the case for me. I see immorality, unkindness, stealing, sadness and I offer prayers for those who don't ask for help, and help for those who seek the truth.
• I think it comes to reaching people where they are and in the manner they speak. Maybe it's a matter of semantics here. I find people seem most moved (as I am) when God seems to "find" me in my everyday life and also when someone shifts my worldview or paradigm by gently challenging me (but not confronting me necessarily). For example, thinking of Mary as a REAL WOMAN (as opposed to a statue on a pedestal) has really increased my devotion to her, and thus my relationship with her Son.
• .I prefer to hear positive messages about things I can do in my personal life to follow Christ more closely, draw nearer to God, and serve my community.
• Be challenging - we shouldn't lower the bar that is set by Christ.
• They must be honest.

 

Is God Nice?

All week long, we've been hearing some pretty harsh words from Jesus in the daily Gospel. "Woe" this and "woe" that. (Did you notice how much I focused on St. Paul this week? I don't like those "woes" any more than the next person does.)
God is love--this is true. Our culture has decided that this means that God is nice. Nice as in tolerant. (And never judgmental.) But the same Bible that says "God is love" says that "God is a consuming fire." It is that "consuming fire" that is coming out with all those "woes" in the Gospel. Harsh words. Intolerant words.
St. Paul threw a few woes of his own around: "Let anyone who thinks he is standing be on guard, lest he fall."
"Woe!" is not a shout of condemnation, but a shout of warning: something is at stake here! Something real. Something precious.
The weird thing is, some people hear a woe where it was never said, and reproach the Church for being too negative on account of it. A few months ago, an item I wrote for the Chicago Tribune's religion blog prompted one commenter to ask why I was condemning him/her to hell--when that condemnation was all in the commenter's imagination. The woes in the Gospel (and in St. Paul) are never directed to the weak, the pitiful, the "sinners." They always target the secure, the established, the self-satisfied, be they "progressive" or "traditionalist."
Now, what about you? When's the last time you heard consuming fire coming from the pulpit?

Take the survey!

Franciscan at the Finish Line

Last weekend I wrote about the marathon and our friend Alicia. The Chicago Tribune wrote about her, too. Turns out her gi-normous college debt was finished off by a Chicago benefactress, and Alicia ran the marathon as a novice in the new Franciscan community. (She is one of three novices, the first members of the new community.) When Alicia was first in discernment, Sr Helena told me about her. "Alicia's the real deal," was her conclusion. Looks like she's off to a good start!

Digital Generation: Boston

Sr Helena and I will be in Boston on Nov. 19, offering a day-long program at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center just off I-95/Rte 128. Registration required ($25 fee for the day; download registration form). Interested?

We have most of the content lined up, but if you have any suggestions, stories, experiences or recommended resources, please let me in on them! That's what the comment box is for!

See you there?

The Law of Freedom

In case we missed it yesterday, today's first reading repeats Paul's exhortation, "For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery." The reading practically serves as a vocabulary list of some of Paul's key words: freedom, law, grace, faith, righteousness, LOVE.
Paul was writing to the Galatians, a community in the hinterlands that had received the Gospel from an ailing Paul, nursed him back to health and sent him on his evangelizing way. And then, hearing about the Mosaic covenant and the kosher laws, they became enamored of these, even going so far as to accept circumcision in order to be sure they covered all the bases of salvation. This is what Paul objects to so strenuously. Jesus makes the same complaint in today's Gospel: they are focusing on the wrong thing!
What should have helped them acquire a sacramental worldview, in which "the world is charged with the grandeur of God" (in Hopkins' words). Holiness is not a matter of observing precepts, but of responding to the grandeur of God.
That is why Paul warns the Galatians about the yoke of slavery: they are at risk of submitting to a pattern of rules, rather than keeping themselves open to responsive surrender. In the first case, an objective expectation to fulfill; in the second, an open-ended availability to maintain. In the first case, the rule is central (and "he who does these things shall live by them"); in the second, it is the person (of God and of neighbor) who is kept before one's eyes so that "faith works through love." Paul is pointing to an ever-present danger for religious types (and even for the Church itself): to objectify the response to God, to codify it in a way that sets us free from the commitment to open responsiveness, and offers the more satisfying possibility of a measuring-rod to hold oneself (and others!) to.
As Paul will say elsewhere, there is a law, all right, but it is the law of Christ, the law of self-giving love that Paul actually models for his communities.

Two Blesseds at Vatican II

Just last night I was reading about our Founder's work in promoting the Liturgical Movement. (He deserves to be acknowledged as part of this century-long movement, given all he did and taught in the area of liturgy, but that is another topic.) At any rate, I was reading an extract of the doctoral thesis of one of our Pauline sisters, a Sister Disciple of the Divine Master. She included a copy of our Founder's input for the Council, dated 1959 and all in ecclesiastical Latin (except for a few clarifications in Italian). (As Founder and Superior General, he was invited to provide input and give his responses to the early outlines that were being prepared for the upcoming Council.) I was so excited by this find that I turned on the computer (as a rule I don't even use the computer on Sunday) just so I could feed the text through Google Translator's new Latin service. That meant typing it up first (and ignoring all the squiggly red underlining of my "spelling errors").

Maybe there are other Council Fathers who have been beatified already, I don't know. (If you know of some, please list them in the comments!) Anyway, today is the feast day of one of them, and in just a few weeks, we celebrate the feast day of the other. Today's Blessed is Pope John XXIII. Vatican II was his baby, announced just months after the former Patriarch of Venice was elected (as a "caretaker Pope"!). The other Blessed is our Founder, James Alberione.
Suffice it to say that Google Translator is not yet up to speed on ecclesiastical Latin. What I was able to garner, between Google and high school Latin II, was still very interesting. Many of our Founder's recommendations did make it into the Council documents; others were adopted later on. Just from the standpoint of the signs of the times, our Founder was right on target.

He urged:

• specific pastoral experience as a part of priestly formation
• an "updating" of the Catechism of the Council of Trent that would include the Church's social doctrine for a wider diffusion of truth
• greater communication between Catholics and non-Catholics and non-Christians
• that priests be obliged to preach an instructive homily on Sundays and Holy Days
• that the Breviary be reformed (he seemed to indicate that the second reading for what we call the Office of Readings for the Saints needed to be reformed--perhaps there were too many over-the-top legends? I don't have a copy of that edition of the Breviary to consult)
• encouraging everyone to read the Bible and assisting them with catechesis of the connections between the bible and doctrine, morality and liturgy (a big theme for him)
• greater authority to be exercised by bishops and superiors general of religious congregations in issues related to the vows (here he put a summary in almost brutally frank Italian: "less bureaucracy, more decentralization of power")
• support for the lay apostolate and for Canon Law to include the norms for Secular Institutes)
• a Vatican dicastery to be entrusted with concern for evangelization with media both traditional and modern
• guidelines for presenting basics of the faith through the Sunday Mass homily (Pope Benedict has hinted that something like this may be forthcoming)
• permission for the use of the vernacular in some of the actions of the liturgy
• under well-defined conditions, to permit televised Masses to supply for the Sunday obligation of people who are unable to go to the Church (he gave the specific example of the incarcerated)
• the use of more modern methods in religious formation.

There was even a copy of the page from the original Contitution on the Sacred Liturgy where our Founder (who attended every session of the Council) had signed it (by then, Good Pope John had died).
Overall, I found this wonderful document to be a look at our Founder's deepest hopes for the Church when he was approaching the end of a long, devout life filled with impressive accomplishments. It gives me a greater sense of who he was and how he looked at things. Do you find anything especialy surprising or impressive in the list of Alberione's suggestions for the Council?

The meaning of freedom

So St. Paul in today's reading talks a lot about freedom: where does it come from? What does it mean for us? He concludes with that spectacular summary, "For freedom Christ has set us free, therefore stand firm and do not take on yourselves the yoke of slavery a second time."
I heard recently from one of our lay cooperators. He's a computer programmer, originally from India and now living and working in Illinois. On the feast of St. Francis he took the train to downtown Chicago and completed his citizenship exam and interview. The way he wrote about the freedom that is now his as an American citizen helps me grasp what St. Paul meant about "the yoke of slavery," because this man, a Catholic in a Hindu country, was under great societal and legal pressure to conform to the Hindu religious customs in his native land. Here's the new citizen, speaking for himself: "Thank you for your Prayers, I made it, I am an American. I am free, now I can eat Sausage as much as I want right in the middle of the road and nobody can stop me from eating. No more guilt feelings for eating Sausage, AMERICA is the LAND OF THE FREE."
Isn't that amazing? Not only was there the pressure to conform exteriorly to the cultural norms--even his conscience was troubled. This is the "yoke of slavery" Jesus set us free from. Even, Paul would insist, for little things like eating sausage.*


*Paul was insistent that we not judge or be judged about the food we eat or the religious customs we observe, as long as no one was scandalized. The one law he knew we could never be free from (for that wouldn't be freedom at all) was the law of love.

Up and at 'em

Tomorrow is the big day around here, although today has some highlights of its own for the city: pop star Jewel is singing at Millennium Park tonight (there will probably be more than the 25,000 who came in for Riccardo Muti and the CSO!); at any rate, the city is teaming with families. And runners. Even teams of elite runners, like the big group from Mexico I passed on my way to Mass at the Cathedral. Their star runners were wearing matching race attire, but the whole group was dressed for a trial run.  A Polish team showed up at the Bean when I was there briefly this afternoon. And every time I pass a group on the sidewalk, they seem to be speaking a different language. All this, as Paul would say, "for a crown of leaves that withers" (and a finisher's medal that may or may not corrode).
I'll be thinking of that tomorrow morning when I take the L to Mt Carmel to sing at the 11:00 Mass. I know from previous Marathon Sundays that the trains will be packed with runners' families (all clutching posters or balloons), heading to the next rendezvous to shout their encouragement. This race is the culmination of a lot of work! Hard work and perseverance. (Scary words!)
I've never had the ambition to run a marathon (I can hardly run across the street!), but I can learn something from those runners. You would think that in religious life, hard work and perseverance (in a word, commitment) would be a given, but human nature is ingenious in finding ways to--if not avoid, at least compromise in all three. It can be so easy to focus time and effort on a lesser goal than the one at hand (or the one assigned, or the one that really needs doing), rationalizing that at least I'm getting something good done. (Like, at least I got my blog post in for the day, even if the kitchen is still calling my name right now...) St. Paul comes again, saying, "Run so as to win!"
The Focus missionaries who are with us this weekend are a great example of what Paul is talking about. In their ministry, these young adults mentor college students, helping them to become Catholic leaders themselves. They provide formation in bible study, prayer and general Catholic virtue, and they give the students a threefold checklist for their collegiate life: they are to pursue chastity, sobriety and excellence. There's no room for slacking off: you need to do your personal best.
Even if it takes hard work. And perseverance!

Running Around Chicago

I'm about to run, myself, but not the way so many people are these days, decked out in moisture-wicking, energy enhancing active wear and fancy shoes. The city is full of athletes this week, and all of them are on the streets (or doing stretches by the light posts), gearing up for the Marathon on Sunday. We're even hosting two of the runners here: Alicia, who wants to consecrate  her life to God in a new Franciscan community, and her friend (and ours), Joyce, the editor of the diocesan newspaper.
This same weekend, we'll also host a group of Focus missionaries. (They have to rough it on air mattresses in the conference room--and then take everything apart in time for tomorrow morning's Theology of the Body study!) I'm looking forward to meeting these young campus ministers; maybe I'll be able to interview one or two of them for the Nunblog!
But first I have to run...to adoration and Mass!

Fingering the Mysteries

Today's feast of Our Lady of the Rosary might be one of those that mystifies non-Catholics. Where on earth is the biblical foundation?! Of course, if you know something about the origins of the Rosary itself, you recognize that that's just where the biblical foundation is. The Rosary evolved as a way for people who could not read Latin (or read at all) to follow, in some way at least, the monastic custom of praying the 150 Psalms on a regular basis. (That was a pretty hefty undertaking even in the monasteries!) The "Angelic Salutation" (from the Bible) took the place of the Psalms.
But the Rosary is more than a string of Angelic Salutations, even if they are divided into sets of ten. The main point of the Rosary isn't the chain of vocal prayers as much as it is the contemplation of the mysteries of salvation in the Gospel. When Pope John Paul provided a new set of mysteries for the Rosary, bringing the number of Angelic Salutations to a rather unbiblical 200, he may have inadvertently compromised some of the symbolic connection between the Rosary and the Psalter, but he strengthened our contact with the mysteries of salvation.


In a way, I think it is safe to say that, however it happened in history, there is a tremendous biblical basis for associating the mysteries of the Life of Christ with the Psalms (or, in the case of the Rosary, the Psalm-substitute of the Hail Mary). After all, why did the monks pray the Psalms in the first place? Just because they were in the Bible? Just because they seem to reflect every aspect of human life and feeling? Or because, in every mystery of his life, Jesus prayed the Psalms, and so we can access the heart of Christ through them, or--as St. Paul said, "put on the mind of Christ" by taking up the Psalms.



Read Chesterton's poem about the Battle of Lepanto, the historical event that led to the establishment of today's feast.

Wracking my brain

Sr Helena and I will be in Boston in mid-November to give a social media in-service to the religious educators of the Archdiocese, so that is what I have been working on when I'm not (a) praying (b) cooking (c) grocery shopping (d) airport running or (e) exercising. As you can imagine, I haven't gotten all that far just yet. And the fact that there is a Catholic Press Congress going on right now at the Vatican, generating even more valuable content is not making it any easier!
One of the areas we were asked to touch on is the issue of brain development and the media. This has been a critical area for decades (I just found some notes I took at a seminar by Dr. David Walsh; it had to have been about 1990); now with neuroscience getting more and more tools for studying the brain in real time, there is more information than ever about how we interact with all sorts of media, even on the level of neuro-muscular electrical impulses!
Literacy--the original, text-based kind--is undergoing a shift. E-readers are designed not just to give you that (free!) Jane Austen* title to enjoy, but to sell you a commentary, or a zombie version, and to let you take (and share) your notes, and maybe find another Austen fan's notes and book recommendations--which  you investigate and perhaps purchase--while you had your virtual thumb on that passage where Mr. Darcy is just about to...
According to Nicholas Carr (in a highly controversial article!), Google (by extension, the hyperlinked world you are inhabiting right now) is making us stupid by training our brains, reinforcing the neural networks that help us flit from subject to subject lightly, rather than rewarding more reflective (i.e. deeper!) investigation. I confess: I see myself in that mirror. And you? (Did you click on any of those links yet? Gotcha!)


*Had to correct my spelling of the venerable author's name; I had Texas on the brain!

Kindred Spirits

Today's Gospel of Martha and Mary is always a fruitful one to meditate on. But in the light of the first reading (St. Paul telling his vocation story to the Galatians), I found it even richer than usual. In fact, today I see Martha and, not Mary, but PAUL as the kindred spirits.
Usually when this Gospel is preached on, Martha comes off looking pretty bad. It's hard to avoid. Luke depicts her in a frazzled state, (she even attempts to henpeck Jesus!), and the Lord uses that double address ("Martha, Martha") that always signals a reproach.
Is Jesus really holding up Mary as a model for Martha to imitate, so that instead of in the kitchen, Martha too should be at his feet, listening to his words? Does choosing "the better part" mean that Martha has to strip herself of her personality?
St. Paul shows us what might really be going on.  Martha, that day in Bethany, could have been (in her own way, of course) in the same "place" Saul the persecutor was: driven by a kind of wild, unreflective zeal and, because of all the bustle, unable to perceive the guidance of greater grace. Remember how Jesus told Saul, "It is hard for you to kick against the goad"? That means there was some goading going on in his life: he was unable to get out of his own impulsive quest. Once the Lord got his attention, so that Saul was able to make a free choice of the better part, Saul's personality didn't change. He would still be charging around the Mediterranean world--but with a new depth, and the unexpected ability to "suffer for the sake of the Name."
Same for Martha, if we make a kind of blended story of her life from the Gospels of Luke and John. A week before the Last Supper, where do we find Jesus, Martha and Mary? At the sisters' home in Bethany. Mary is at the Lord's feet (this time with perfumed ointment) and Martha? She's on her feet, serving the meal--but this time, without the frenetic anxiety that had characterized her during Jesus' earlier visit.
There's a lot here for me to learn from. "The better part" is not a given; it's a choice. That means I need to reflect and recognize it so I can really choose it for myself. When I am driven with that unreflective zeal, that's a sign that the better part could be elsewhere--time to take stock, like Martha, like Saul on the road. Is my energy and drive an interior grace freely responded to, or am I just kicking against the goad, while the better part is waiting just to the side, if only I would stop long enough to see it?

History's Most Famous Christian

After almost ten years of daily Mass at at Franciscan parish, I find myself thinking that St. Francis is really the man for our times. He really is the "universal brother": recognized and appreciated not just by Catholics or members of the mainline Churches, but pretty much across the board--and not just because of birdbaths or his namesake city. In a way, St. Francis sums up what people mean when they even think of what a saint is: totally devoted to God and people, forgetful of self, welcoming of the other, reverent toward all creatures, even the smallest. Where's the world religion that finds this incongruous? Francis would be a saint in any of them, even though he was the most Christian and Catholic of men; probably the most Catholic and Christian man in history.
That kind of holiness is attractive--we know this well from our experience of Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul. In the 13th century, without benefit of any form of media technology, stories of Francis spread across Europe durin g his (woefully brief) lifetime. Thousands left their homes and businesses to become friars with him; well-to-do women slipped away from their comfortable homes and familial expectations to live in extreme poverty as "Poor Ladies"; other men and women created a new form of consecrated life in order to take Francis' spiritual approach to life into the heart of the family. Even in his lifetime, he was probably the most famous person on earth.
And Francis, Catholic and Christian that he was, had a missionary heart. In an era of Crusades, he sought not to conquer, but to convert the "Turks," and, though failing in that quest, he created cross-cultural relationships that endure to this day in the form of the Franciscan presence and influence in the Holy Land! The man was 1,000 years ahead of his time! But that is because he was "the most Christ-like man since Christ."
His feast day calls to all of us, as if in the words of St. Paul: "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."


Does St. Francis have a special place in your life?

Like this little child...

Last night I started reading the last chapter of Bl. Colomba Marmion's classic "Christ in His Mysteries." The chapter is on the saints. One of Marmion's points was that each of the saints (each person, actually) was created to participate in and mirror a special "angle" of Christ-the-Word. All together, we reflect Christ himself. Coming a day after the feast of another doctor of the Church, St Jerome,  today's feast highlights a saint who shared in a special way in Christ's being a "little child"--not just at Bethlehem (Therese "of the Child Jesus") but throughout his life. Hans Urs von Balthasar's final work was a Christmas meditation entitled, "Unless you become like this child," meaning Christ, who was always like a child in his trustful dependence upon the Father.  That's Therese, too, isn't it?
The first reading today almost presents the opposite image: God is chastising Job (in effect, calling him a "know it all") and laying proof upon proof before him of Job's littleness. Job is challenged, despite "the number of your years" to become like a little child.