Jesus and the foreign Legion

At first when I read today's Scriptures last night in preparation for Mass and meditation, I thought that, plainly, the first reading was such a commentary on yesterday's Gospel (the Beatitudes, as I'm sure you readily recalled) that I would simply continue on yesterday's already-established tracks, but the pitiful situation of the possessed man in the Gadarene territory got my attention. Rather than thinking how far that story was from our contemporary experience, I was thinking how much it spoke to so much that happens in our world. Not just the fascination with the whole concept of demonic possession (Sr Helena touches on that in her review of The Rite), but even the tortured man's compulsive self-wounding: there are whole books written for counselors, parents and youth ministers on this phenomenon (and books written for those same audiences just focusing on a single form of self-wounding). Instead of coming up on the shore of the Gadarene territory, Jesus could have moored that boat along the banks of any of our cities to find people, young and old, who were just as afflicted as the man possessed by Legion.
I wonder how much of what was revealed after the demons were cast out applies in our modern cities, too: when it turned out that the healing had an economic downside, Jesus was cast out of the neighborhood! It's one thing to have an addled person screaming incoherently in a graveyard; it's another thing to have the whole town's bottom line rewritten by that person's re-entry into society. (They didn't even take the time to see if having this newly productive member would prove to be a greater benefit than the lost swine!) It's just interesting.
Anyway, for my part I really found myself bringing my own foreign Legion, the distracting and often destructive thought-patterns I can indulge (or serve), to Jesus. I don't want him getting back in his boat just yet!!!

Cyber-Sabbath goes official, sort of

I've been doing it for years, now: observing a weekly cyber-Sabbath. Naturally, since I'm a Christian, my "sabbath" isn't on the Sabbath, but on the "Dominical Day," Sunday. Now, courtesy of the same folks that brought you the original Sabbath rest, there is a National Day of Unplugging: from sundown to sundown, March 4-5. (Not that this is the first, but it's the first I've heard of.) Find out more here and here:

Time of reckoning in Pakistan

and a time to pray for that nation's Christian minority...This information from the Catholic missionary news service Fides:

ASIA/PAKISTAN - Preparing a terrorist attack to eliminate Catholic Minister Bhatti Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) – Terrorist organizations in Pakistan are preparing an attack to eliminate Catholic Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Religious Minorities: the alarm was issued to Fides by the “All Pakistan Minorities Alliance” (APMA), the network that unites religious minorities in Pakistan, of which the Minister is the founder and president.
In the note sent to Fides, APMA reports information of a report by the Pakistani Secret Service which says it is “deeply concerned by the latest news circulating about the organization of an imminent attack on the Minister, who has become the number one target because of his commitment to the abolition of the blasphemy law. Those close to the Minister need to protect him and ask the State to afford the Minister maximum protection.”
Minister Bhatti had already received a “death sentence” from the powerful terrorist organization “Laskar-e-Toiba” (see Fides 04/12/2010). Now the new information confirms that the militants are actually implementing a plan to put him to death.
“Pray for me and for my life. I am a man who has burnt his bridges. I can not and will not go back on this commitment. I will fight fanaticism and fight in defence of Christians to the death,” Minister Bhatti told Fides.
Fides sources in Pakistan deplore the fact that the ruling party, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) – which chose and invited Minister Bhatti into the executive – “is not openly aligning itself with Bhatti and defending the Minister, as it is being place under pressure by lobbies from fundamentalist Islamic parties.” “The PPP,” the Fides source continues, “is leaving too much space to the fanatics in society: its leadership believes that his political survival depends in keeping the militant religious right happy. However, in doing so, the party is losing its traditional nature: moderate, secular,popular and pluralistic.”
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 28/1/2011)

Fruitful participation

Since I'm working away on tomorrow evening's talk on the new Missal*, I thought I would give you a sneak preview. (Please join us live online for the video stream tomorrow at 6:30 Central Time!) One of the new little bits that stuck out for me at first comes from the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer. When the priest introduces the cup (excuse me, "chalice"), he now says that Christ "took the cup, filled with wine..." Come Advent, he will say that the chalice was "filled with the fruit of the vine."


In this case, the new phrasing is not only less prosaic, it is more “environmentally conscious”: our attention is drawn not to the human product “wine,” but to the presence of God's original creation with overtones about the Promised Land, and God's abundant blessings that bring us joy and gives fullness to life. The created world itself is made more manifest to us, and when we receive the gifts “back” after they have become the body and blood of Christ, we get a stronger message about the future transformation of the whole universe. So there is a cosmic level that just isn't expressed as richly when we hear the word “wine.”

This is just one example of how the new, more literal translation gives biblical language a chance to get “into” us. When we come across the same expression in reading the bible or hearing a reading, we'll intuitively make the connection. So this supports our grasp of the unity of Scripture, with Jesus as the cornerstone.

*If your parish is looking for a presentation on the new Missal, please give the pastor or adult faith coordinator my contact info!

Paul: Caught off guard

The feast of the Conversion of St. Paul is always a good occasion to reflect on that mystery of grace--not just in Paul's life, of course, but in ours. What is happening when God seems to "break through" to us in a life-changing way? The funny thing is, I think, the way I assume it is God "breaking through" at some point, rather than me finally being alert enough (or more likely, free enough) to pay attention.
Maybe on the road to Damascus, the ever-alert Saul had been able to let go of the reins a bit himself. Up to their departure from Jerusalem, I can see him in total control mode, overseeing every detail of the squad and their plans to enter Damascus and round up the Jesus believers. But once they actually hit the road, there wasn't much he could do except sway with the camel (or the horse, or his own careful footsteps). God had been at Saul's interior doorstep (actually, in his interior castle, to borrow Teresa of Avila's expression), but it was only when the quiet rhythm and sway of those steps had entered Saul's heart that he ceased "kicking against the goad" and finally heard those words that he would never forget.
Since this month I am especially researching and reading about the liturgy, it was only natural for me to think of this in somewhat liturgical terms. I have heard people remark that the structure of liturgy is an impediment to them; that there is too much repetition, not enough spontaneity... that ritual is a kind of spiritual dead end. I think it is quite the opposite! Ritual works by establishing an environment where what is unique in the celebration stands out all the more. Ritual, in other words, is a paradoxical way of fostering attentiveness by relieving us of the need to be totally on top of all the details. We are not in charge of how the service flows. It does not depend on us. We can "let it be done" to us by the one who is always ready to "break through."

WCD 2011

On the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of the Catholic press, it is by now a tradition for the Vatican to officially announce the theme for the year's "World Communications Day" (the only annual observance mandated by Vatican II!). This year's theme again highlights the place of social media in evangelization. Social media (under the rubric of "friendship") was the theme of the Communications Day a few years ago, and also the focus of the Holy Father's message for the Year of Priests, when Pope Benedict urged priests to be present and active as ministers of the Gospel in the new arenas opened up in cyberspace. This year, the Pope is calling for "truth and authenticity" in our online life. What a great focus in an arena where many people (especially the young) pretend to be other than they are... The theme is also reminding Catholics to be who they are not only in speaking or posting about "religious" topics, but above all in the everyday things of life. There is a "Catholic," "Christian" (that is, redeemed) way to relate to people, things, opportunities, etc. In a word: consistency. A life that in all its aspects matches the Gospel we say we believe in.
Sr. Julia is a good example of this. She has created a wonderful niche for herself with her many inspirational quotes on Facebook. (I also hope to catch her sometime with my video camera so her Best Catholic Books blog can be updated with some dynamic material.) Sr Julia's online persona is the real Sr. Julia, so she is evangelizing all the time, not only when she posts something "religious."
I've been grateful for the bishops' activity online as I prepare my Thursday evening talk on the new Roman Missal. The usccb website has layer upon layer of information, including ready-made handouts on different aspects of the Missal, a short video by Bishop Seratelli presenting the work, and a fabulous and very reflective talk by Archbishop Allen Vigneron on the issue of "pastoral translation." Granted, it's not social media in itself, but it is a great resource and I, for one, plan to make it social by processing it myself into bite-sized morsels for my blog--as well as by streaming the talk I hope to have ready by Thursday evening. (It will be on the Catholic Faith and Life ustream channel; I hope to provide the link and time to make it easy for you to join us live.)
What is your favorite form of social media? How active are you in it? What form does your evangelizing presence take?

Live from New Orleans

Between minor surgery, traveling and preparing for the first of a series of talks here in (cue the applause) New Orleans, I haven't had much opportunity to keep my blog updated. I'm not sure that's going to be solved after today, either, since I have to prepare the next talk...
Sister Julia thought the first talk went extremely well; I'll have to take her word for it, but you can judge for yourself. Next week's talk is on the new Roman Missal, so you can understand why I need to put a lot into preparing it!

To-be-beato had a role in the Pauline Family

Pope John Paul wasn't the only holy soul whose cause for sainthood was kicked up a notch last Friday. Fr. James Martin, SJ (author of "The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything" and "My Life with the Saints") pointed out that an Italian layman was also approved for beatification. And that Italian layman, an economist, professor and political theorist, had a big influence on our Founder.
It was Toniolo who founded the  "Italian Catholics' Social Weeks" a kind of think-tank or forum for political thought (at a time when Catholics forbidden--by the Pope--to vote). Over 100 years later, these Social Weeks are still being held. Their goal is to promote the "common welfare, founded on absolute respect for every human life and on the centrality of the family." In 1900, our Founder, then just a 16-year-old seminarian, attended one of these congresses, and it changed his life. Fifty years later, he wrote: "He understood well the calm but profound and convincing talk given by Toniolo.... Both [Toniolo and Leo XIII] had stressed the needs of the Church, the new means of evil, the duty to oppose the press with the press, organization with organization, to make the Gospel penetrate the masses, the social question..." In prayer that New Year's Eve, Alberione received an extraordinary grace of enlightenment in which, among other things, he "seemed to comprehend the heart of the great Pope, the calls sent out by the Church, the true mission of the priest. Toniolo's words regarding the duty of being modern apostles, using the means abused by adversaries, appeared clear..."
Toniolo was also the first president of the "Popular Union," a kind of proto-political party that gave Catholics a way to take part in the political process without compromising with anti-clericalists (who pretty much dominated the scene--this was the era of socialist revolutions).  As a young priest, our Founder was assigned by the bishop to go from parish to parish (in practical terms, this meant from hilltop village to hilltop village) to teach people about this new, approved form of participation in civic life.
Toniolo's vibrant Catholic witness and his efforts to involve Catholics in political life during a time of anti-clerical ferment marked him as politically incorrect. (I seem to remember him losing his position as a teacher of economics because of this.) Nonetheless,  by the end of his life, he had become a kind of symbol in person of an Italy that claimed its Catholic heritage while firmly claiming a place in the modern political world.


http://m.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=21754

More on the Missal

Along with the US bishops and some institutes of higher learning, several publishers are offering really helpful features on the new Roman Missal (I understand that at least seven have expressed interest in publishing it in one form or another). Here are some of those resources and a news tidbit.


http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/ (the bishops' site)
http://www.mysticalbodymysticalvoice.org/  (this is from the Litirgical Institute and mostly details where they are giving workshops, but it also includes articles of interest)
http://www.loyolapress.com/roman-missal-changes.htm
http://www.romanmissalchanges.com/ OSV's blog of news items related to the missal; not so much content on the missal itself.

What are your questions about the new Roman missal?

A tip of the hat (veil?) to OSV for including these videos on the Missal from the diocese of Buffalo; I'm embedding them here for your convenience:

Santo Subito!

What a joy it must have been for Pope Benedict to announce the upcoming beatification of his friend and predecessor, Pope John Paul II, on the "liturgical anniversary" of his death, Divine Mercy Sunday! (Here is the decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.)
With the recognition of the miraculous healing from Parkinsons of Sister Simon-Peter (what a name!), those cries of "Santo Subito!" ("Canonize him quickly!") that we first heard at the Pope's funeral are beginning to be answered. There's also, at least to me, a sort of deliciousness to the fact that the recipient of the miracle is French, as if to stir in the "eldest daughter of the Church" an awakened Catholic consciousness. (Truth to tell, there are wonderful things happening in France already, but not fast enough to overcome the turgid tides of secularism.)
Oddly, at least to my mind, are the voices in protest of the beatification. Some of these (many, it seems) are the sounds of the perpetually dissatisfied: nothing that comes from the Vatican can meet their approval. Others wonder how a person who so spectacularly failed to recognize the duplicity of the now-infamous Father Maciel could be a saint. And some blame Pope John Paul for the pedophile crisis, holding him personally responsible for covering up the actions of priest-abusers. The decree of his beatification doesn't cover things like that, although I am sure that the "devil's advocate" played them well. (I read somewhere that during the Communist era it was so common to have priests "set up" for accusation that it would have been very hard for JP2 to wrap his mind around priests actually doing any of the things they were being accused of; Ratzinger, on the other hand, was becoming more and more convinced that the filth was real--and he acted on that conviction as soon as he was in a position to do so.)
Still, a decree of beatification is not a statement that a person got it all right, even if he was a Pope. It is saying that the person was faithful, that their life was marked by that fidelity, and that God has manifested it through an inexplicable and public act so that we can learn to be faithful, too. 

Correction, Tribune: There is still a bookstore on Michigan Avenue!

Drive by Chicago's famous Water Tower these days and you'll be struck by the light coming through the windows on the corner of Michigan and Pearson:  all you can see is the bright expanse of floor space and a helter-skelter of empty book racks. As of last Saturday, the immense Borders bookstore is closed. According to Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich, that means that "the city's premier shopping street will be without any bookstore for the first time in decades."
Take heart, Mary! Even if we aren't quite on the Magnificent Mile, there is still a bookstore on North Michigan Avenue!
Granted, we're not exactly Borders, a big-box style bookstore with no limit to categories. At 172 N. Michigan (just a few blocks from the Tribune Tower), our categories are highly specialized: Biblical; Spirituality; Saints; Theology; Liturgy; Religious Instruction... But we do have a couple of comfortable chairs, a music listening station, and (something Borders could never boast) a tiny chapel where you can meet the One who promised to "give rest for your soul" (cf. Mt. 10: 29).

The purpose-driven Jesus

There's something rather comical in today's readings. The first reading (Hebrews) presents Jesus as our "merciful and faithful high priest", and while the Gospel certainly matches that (we see Jesus mercifully healing Peter's mother-in-law, and then all the sick people who crowded at the door of the house), we also see that the newly-minted disciples don't get it  yet. If Jesus is a merciful and faithful high priest, there will be more to his ministry than miracles: a priest is an intercessor, too. They should have known that Jesus the priest would be a man of intense prayer.
Perhaps they suspected as much. After all, they did "track him down" (the same verb you would use of a bloodhound) in thatprivate spot he had gone to before sunrise. Of course he was praying. But there was work to be done! Miracles to be worked! Acclaim to be fostered and basked in! So they barged right in, as it were, into the Holy of Holies.
The merciful and faithful high priest may have sighed a bit to himself, but it wasn't the time for reprimands. Instead, he gets up--but where the disciples take the direct road back to Capernaum, Jesus turns off toward "the other towns and villages" to preach there. This, he tells them, is what he came to do.
That essential truth about Jesus: that he was "sent" to reveal the mind, the heart, the reality of God. God did not leave us on our own to figure out a "spiritual path"; Jesus, God incarnate, is the spiritual path. I suppose if we took that seriously enough, the new evangelization would have already set the world on fire.

Webinar on the Roman Missal

I am happy to share this information from Loyola Press! Next month (mark your calendar; set your iPhone, whatever you have to do) they will be offering a webinar on the changes in the Roman Missal.
Feb. 9 at 7:00 CST. Presenter Joe Paprocki is a terrific resource person for that. Go to the page and register right away!
I wish I could mark my calendar for it, but (alas) it is already marked: at that very hour, I am scheduled to be at St. Margaret Mary parish in Slidell, LA, giving a talk about Eucharistic Adoration. I sure hope Loyola will archive the webinar so I can catch it later!

A Question of Authority

The whole concept of "authority" manifests itself quite powerfully in today's readings--all of them. It's most explicit in the Gospel where the word itself is used: Jesus was in the Capernaum synagogue, "teaching with authority." And not only teaching! He had power over unclean spirits: they had no choice but to obey his authoritative word. From that, it was clear that what the psalmist had written about creation being entrusted to Adam and Eve ("you have given rule over the works of your hands") was more than fulfilled in Jesus. St. Paul would even say (quoting the same psalm that is cited in today's reading from Hebrews) that this play of authority and power had an unearthly dimension: that "in the end" Christ,
     to whom God made all things subject,
     would subject himself to the One who made all things subject to him,
     and God will be all in all.
Church life (and especially the liturgy) is meant to reflect this sense of right order.

But is "authority" (with its converse, "subject") a dirty word in a democracy?

To some extent, I think it is. At least (and this could be my vow of obedience influencing me), I tend to think of authority in terms of obedience: authority as a kind of power. Which it is, judging by today's Gospel. That's not a problem unless the authority is illegitimate or exercised as a personal prerogative.
Genuine authority is, well, authoritative because it is reliable. That is why we say things like "I have it on good authority..." or "Dr. So-and-So is a recognized authority on ..." To be subject to true authority is not "subjection" or passivity, but reasonable and life-giving receptivity and responsiveness. When we have the opportunity to learn from an authority in our field, it would be self-defeating not to be "subject" to him or her out of a misguided sense of autonomy.

Maybe we can redeem the concept of authority after all!

Go with the Slow

I caught myself again this noontime, slipping toward the curb to sidestep fellow pedestrians whom I thought were just going too slow! This after fidgeting on an escalator behind people who--imagine that--stand still on the step, rather than take advantage of the conveyance to get where they're going just a little bit faster. (Of course, most of them were probably going back to work after lunch, and may not have especially wanted to get there any faster.)
It wasn't one of my new year's resolutions, but maybe it should be: to learn to go with the "slow" and accept the pace that is set for me by the people I share the escalator and sidewalk with. But that means admitting that shaving 30 seconds here and there isn't exactly going to help me meet my own deadlines that much sooner. For that I need to do some heavy lifting: addressing the real time-wasters in my life. Which, oddly enough, sometimes seem to be the very projects I am hastening to accomplish!

this way out? (part 2)

Reflecting on the comments from the other day's post about pastoral responses to people's decision to leave the Church, I kept going back to the reasons some people gave for their departure from active Catholic life. It was hard going; I felt like I was reading somebody's divorce papers. (Which about sums it up.) Given that the reasons we "give" for a decision may not be the actual motivation, most of the respondents were expressing disillusionment, under one form or another. Only, as Kristen commented, deep listening could ever hope to get behind that disillusionment to the actual cause, case by case.
My own experience with disillusionment tells me that it is really a matter of expectations. This is what I think could be a useful approach to a pastoral conversation. For example, do the expectations tied to one's understanding of Church life correspond to the true nature of the Church (including its sacramental nature)? On the part of the pastoral staff, do the expectations they bring to ministry correspond to the nature of the baptismal priesthood, its integrity and dignity? Are some of those expectations bound up with individual persons, or with specific personal goals? (Failing to achieve one's deeply desired goals can really set a person up for disillusionment!)
Were those expectations ever fully articulated and acknowledged?
I think that this whole arena of expectations could be a fruitful area for conversation, with hope that "both" sides (the Church is so much bigger than "a" side, though people usually speak of it as a monolith) could really benefit.  Otherwise, the concept of an "exit interview" seems more like an occasion for one party to vent in a very unhealthy way--which is what I saw in the sometimes acrimonious examples presented in the America article. But that could just be me.

Looking forward to the third Roman Missal

 I know that kind of puts me in a particular camp. A while ago a priest I was talking to practically broke down in grief over what he sees as a movement that seems to threaten all that he, in the heady days after Vatican II, had been expecting. But just to address liturgy alone (not that liturgy ever stands alone), I am really looking forward to the new translation. Not only of the Order of the Mass (the parts that stay the same), but above all the most neglected prayers: the opening prayer and the prayer after communion especially.
This afternoon, while peeling potatoes (potato leek soup) and otherwise puttering about the kitchen, I listened to a conference* by Benedictine Jeremy Driscoll. He's not the most dynamic speaker (if this talk is any proof), but as one of the translators of the Roman Missal, he really has a lot to offer in terms of understanding the principles at work in this massive project. I found that his points really answered some of the criticisms I have heard to date, such as unwieldy sentence structure, overly formal language, insistence on specific, little-used terms like "ineffable" and "only-begotten." Really, just one or two comparisons of the current translation with what is coming next Advent created a kind of wistfulness in me over the profundity we've been missing all these years in which the focus on conversational language eliminated key references (written into the prayers).
True, the elevated language is going to take some getting used to, but I am confident that the very fact of its being so different from everyday speech is going to make our ears perk up a little more, so that we will actually hear what is being said in our name, and can put our "Amen" to it with greater gusto.
Have you begun to prepare for the new Missal in your parish? What stands out in  your mind?



*Special thanks to Fr. Bill for his liturgy podcast, which featured this talk!

this way out?

The current issue of America has a thought-provoking article on the idea of crafting "exit interviews" with people who are leaving the Church. Actually, this article is a follow-up to an earlier one on the same subject, which has been raised in other places as well. Interestingly, many fallen-away Catholics were eager to weigh in, even though it is hard to know how they found out that the conversation was being proposed.
Judging from the comments cited in the article, it would appear that the principal reason formerly established, "pillar of the Church" people leave the active practice of the faith has less to do with faith than with frustration over the most human aspects of the Church: the pastor is a control freak; the bishops don't know how to lead; the pedophiles got away with it for so long; and (that dogma that gets trotted out on so many occasions) "the Church treats women as second class citizens."
Apart from the pedophile crisis, which is a tragedy beyond measure (all the more because it could have been dealt with so differently), it is sad that many of the most-named "reasons" people would leave the Church are so fixable. (Some, to my mind, are just an issue of ignorance or attitude.) But it is also sad that in so many cases, these very circumstances are the kinds of things that could be a personally purifying "dark night of the senses" (the first of the "dark nights" in the spiritual life), if they were dealt with in a spirit of faith. Instead, the article seemed to demonstrate that people are addressing those problems in a kind of political or even consumerist spirit.
How can we name and address these human, institutional problem spots in a spirit of prayer? Not to "reduce" the solution to prayer, but to include actual prayer and actual faith in the approach to a solution? To what extent does an examination of each problem also imply an examination of conscience on both sides, with a willingness to change attitudes and criteria that do not conform to the mind of Christ? With a willingness to accept that not everything will be or can be "fixed"?
It seemed that the article only addressed the issue of people who made a declared decision to "leave the Church," not those who have fallen away through a kind of neglect.
Maybe instead of exit interviews, we should be doing more interviews of those who are returning to the Church, or staying engaged despite the human aggravations that are part and parcel of being the body of Christ made up of many members.

New Year update

Been keeping busy (keeping my resolution, too); how about you? Unfortunately I had to slow down a lot yesterday and today, thanks to the reappearance of a back problem. (Which proves that my recently  neglected exercise routine really did make a difference.) That same issue makes it a bit hard to do any computer work, so this will be brief.
But I have good news! Our superior's medical report came in today: the surgery she underwent two days before Christmas got all the cancer; the doctors aren't even recommending radiation follow-up. Thanks be to God! She still has to hear the "second opinion," but we're going to pray that the first doctor got it right. Keep the prayers coming.
And I have smaller good news for me, too. In a few weeks, I will be going to New Orleans for a month, to defrost. Well, to defrost while giving a series of talks on the liturgy and prayer in our Metairie book center. (Mark your calendars for the Thursday evenings from Jan. 20 to Feb. 10!) I may try to stream them; depends how I feel about the content--still pulling them together. Will let you know. If you are in the New Orleans area, I am also available to give talks in local parishes or for prayer groups.
Please add a (little) prayer that my back situation will resolve itself in a timely manner, so I can focus on getting those talks ready for the people of my home town. (King Cake, here I come!)