First Communion

I don't have my First Communion pictures (they're probably in one of the many, many albums at Mom's house), but I believe they were pretty standard. My godmother (Toodie) made a sheet cake and decorated it with tiny silver candies outlining a rosary. (I come from very pious stock.) I wore a white dress, white veil, white shoes, white gloves (we wore gloves to Church back then, too)...
This weekend, my niece Claudia received her First Communion. She didn't have a rosary outlined on her cake, but it did say "God bless Claudia." And she wore a white dress, white veil, white shoes... (no gloves, though). I got the first photos on my cell phone right after Mass, and shared them with the other choir members, who dutifully oohed and ahhed. One of the altos commented that she didn't have a white dress for First Communion; her mom said she would get a fancy dress for her wedding day.
All well and good, but there is a little something that our culture, I think, doesn't quite "get" about the white dress, because to our eyes, it looks like a wedding dress. No, it's not a bridal gown, but a christening gown! The white attire for First Communion is meant to remind us of the white baptismal garment that we are given when we are drawn from the font (which is why I am posting a picture of Claudia next to a font of running water). Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation: it is, in fact, the "completion" of initiation (no matter what they tell you about Confirmation). Eucharist signifies the fullness of initiation; the three sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist--technically in that order) bring us all the way into the Church, and the Eucharist continues to support us in the life that was begun in Baptism.

Peter's bold move

Today's first reading tells of what happened AFTER Peter went to the home of Cornelius the centurian and baptized the "whole household" (incidentally, this is one of those passages we refer to in support of infant baptism). Anyway, what happened after the Holy Spirit came down upon the Gentile gathering in a manifest way so that Peter just knew he was not supposed to "hinder" (another key word in baptism texts) their baptism?
This is what happened: Peter got called on it. Not that there were any "higher ups" to call him on the carpet (he was, after all, the "Rock" on which Jesus built his Church). But when there is one of you and a whole lot more of "them," "they" can call you pretty much any way they want to. There's power in numbers. "You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them."
It wasn't an observation. It was an accusation.
Peter did not get all defensive, though. He explained the situation, starting with his roof-top prayer in Joppa. Everything could be attributed to grace, and none of it to Peter's personal initiative.
And "they" surrendered to the same grace. "They stopped objecting and glorifed God."
That's how it's supposed to work in the Church even now.

Nola readers: Can you help?

Eric, still in CCU, has awakened and begun responding to questions. His family is asking if anyone in the New Orleans area can donate blood in his name. He has needed quite a bit, and the expense is considerable. Here's a message from his step-mom:
"We would still appreciate you giving blood in Eric’s name or spreading the word. Many of you said that you will donate this week. Please let us know, so we can give the list to the hospital. The numbers we have that you can call to find a blood center near you are: (504) 887-2833, 995-902-7918 or 985-542-7889." (The last name is Schloegel.)

Good News, shared easily

We've just learned about a program that will make it easy for you to both learn about the Theology of the Body and share that world-altering message with others. "Legacy of Love" is offering CDs on the Theology of the Body at a steep discount. That way, you can buy a CD (basically for half price) and share it with someone else after you've listened to it. Right now, the information is a little unclear (they seem to be just getting started), but it looks like a kind of subscription for a CD every month. A great way to keep learning! Get more clarity from the source: legacyoflove[at]shareacd.com or go to shareacd.com and download the subscription form. CDs are also available in Spanish!

The Price is Right

Lately in Chicago we've been having a real bonanza of freebies: a few weeks ago, Hillshire Farms was handing out plastic boxes of their "salads" (just add lettuce!). And this week, Oscar Mayer (not to be outdone) sent truckloads of their sandwich melt kits into the streets of Chicago, to be handed out by an army of smiling young people. I wondered where the street people were, but found them at their usual posts on different streets. I had expected to get some of the Oscar Mayer largesse on my way to Mass so would have a treat for the "regulars" on my route, but was not to be. Sadly, on my way back, I did see two shabbily-dressed men on a corner with a case of the sandwiches, and a police officer writing something up. I prayed that he would let them keep the sandwiches, even if they had run off with the box. It's not exactly shoplifting, after all, to take something that is being given a way for free.(When Hillshire Farms was in town, lots of the street people had a little box in their hand, probably given to them by the direct beneficiaries of the company's marketing strategy.)
Tomorrow is Good Shepherd Sunday, the World Day of Prayer for Vocatios. It is also First Communion Day for lots of kids, including one remarkably precious girl named Claudia. (Wish I could be there in Texas with you all!) Let's pray for an abundance of grace to be poured out over the Church as a sign of Jesus' delight in these children!

Chicago Theater

Yesterday we had a visit with Clarence Gilyard and his family. Gilyard (best known for his supporting role on Walker, Texas Ranger) is in town for a production of "My Children, My Africa," a play which was written when apartheid was still the law of the land in South Africa. It is being put on at the Victory Gardens Theater in Lincoln Park from May 3-June 10 (773/871-3000). If you are in the Chicago area, and haven't had a theater experience lately, give this some serious consideration!

Thinking Blog Award!

Coffee Wife has done me the honor of bestowing the "Thinking Blog Award" upon Nunblog, thus rendering my mother a very happy woman. The award comes with the responsibility to nominate (and thus bestow the award upon) five blogs that I consider thought-provoking.
Since I am taking this way too seriously, I will come back later to make a formal announcement of my own nominees. In the meantime, I will bask in Coffee Wife's generous recognition, coming all the way from Scotland. (But what is distance on the Internet?)

Saul the Persecutor

Today's first reading is the first of the three accounts of Paul's conversion that we find in the Acts of the Apostles, and it is the most developed version. But the part that struck me on reading it for my meditation was that Saul's purpose was "to arrest anyone he could find, man or woman, living according to the Way."
With criteria like that, you kind of wonder how well he would do. People's ordinary lives had to be transformed by the Gospel! It would have made them stick out, even in a generally religious society. (Does anyone besides me remember that slogan from the '70's, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?")

Prayer Request Update

Eric's stepmom writes:
"Please keep praying. Eric is not conscious yet. The sedative is taking longer than usual to wear off. We are trying to get Eric to open his eyes, but he only opens them and then immediately closes them. We hope that he will be alert by tomorrow. Eric still cannot have visitors. We know you are anxious to visit him. But he is still just recovering from an infection and his incision ... is not closed yet. We look forward to telling you that he can see you. We hope that time comes soon. We haven’t heard Eric speak since last Thursday. Pray that he will be talking to us soon. The doctor has told us that it is possible that Eric will be in the hospital for a month. Today makes 10 days. He will have at least one more operation next Wednesday."
(Eric is a young man who had gastric bypass surgery on Good Friday, and has suffered serious complications.)

Pennies from Heaven

"Dear Abby" often features little stories from people who find pennies in odd places and welcome them as little "signs" from loved ones in Heaven. I don't know if Dad ever read Dear Abby, but he seems to have adopted the practice himself, only with a lawyerly spin. Would you believe...paper clips from Heaven?
Shortly after his death, my sister Mary began seeing paper clips in the most unusual spots. She automatically associated them with Dad, because the lowly paper clip was his tool of choice for adjusting his hearing aids, and he frequently asked Mary to get him a paper clip for that purpose. The strangest paper clip sighting was at Dillards, when Mary and her 23-year-old daughter were shopping for shoes. There was a paper clip inside the shoe Erin was trying on.
When Mom came to Chicago, we had a paper clip from Heaven, too. I had been organizing things in my office and muttered to Dad, "I could really use a BIG paper clip." Not having one, I made do with something else, and then Mom and I went to the noon Mass at St. Peter's. After Mass, Mom genuflected and reached to the ground, coming up with...a BIG paper clip. (She didn't know about my need.) A few days later, going for physical therapy, I found the locker I usually use was occupied, so I went toward a different one, and as I got there, I found a BIG paper clip right in front of the locker I had chosen. And on Tuesday, realizing that our telephone message had been inadvertently recorded over, I went to check the other recordings. There was a BIG paper clip resting in front of the phone. ("Thanks, Dad.")
Do you get pennies...or paper clips... from Heaven, too?

Going to the whole world

The feast of St. Mark is a reminder of our vocation to be evangelizers. In that regard, I read a wonderful passage last night in the book Sr. Julia so heartily recommended (and which you will soon hear her recommend in an upcoming video book review). The book is "Fully Human, Fully Divine," and even though the subtitle is "An Interactive Christology" (what does that mean?), it really is a handbook on discipleship. At any rate, the author, Michael Casey (a Trappist) writes this about the call to "go out to the whole world": "It is easy to mutter about pastors not practicing what they preach. Yet we all sin in many ways; if we silenced sinners, who would proclaim the Gospel? Those whom Jesus sent forth to announce the demands of God's kingdom were sinners like ourselves.... We cannot realistically expect the Church of today to be any better than that of the Apostles."
So there's no excusing ourselves from our mission!

Feast of St. Mark

My thought for the day is from the first reading, the First Letter of Peter: "The god of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you after you have suffered a little."
Usually I focus on that not-exactly-encouraging last phrase, which makes it seem as though God is just biding his divine time until we have suffered... But re-reading the letter, it is clear that Peter is writing to people who are immersed in suffering already: it is a major theme of First Peter! So he really is encouraging them that the suffering they are undergoing will last "only a little." This is Peter's version of what Paul also said, "This momentary time of trial is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory... What is seen is transitory; what is unseen is eternal."

Bread of Life

This week we are hearing the Gospel of John's "Bread of Life" discourse (chapter 6). This weekend, my second-grade niece, Claudia, will be receiving the Bread of Life in her First Communion. I am praying so much for her this week! Praying that her First Communion really will be the beginning of a new level of relationship with Jesus. Praying for all those children who will be reaching this pinnacle of Christian Initiation--especially kids who didn't get adequate preparation. May the grace of the sacrament enter so deeply that it will grow like the seed in the Gospel! One day it will bear God's fruit, even if for a while it may not seem to. That is my prayer.

Chicago's Newest Skyscraper

I'm not talking about the recently approved design for a Cavalatra (?) spiraling tower near Navy Pier. This is the beginning of a new tower near us, on Lake Street. It will be a Mandarin Oriental ultra-luxury high rise hotel/condo. A look at Chicago's skyline any time of day reveals dozens of cranes and dozens of new buildings. If you haven't been to Chicago for three or four years, even, you will be surprised at the changes downtown.

More on YouTube

When I was in Boston in January, I took some footage of a few sisters for the "Vocation Stories" series I am doing on YouTube. I put Sr. Paulamarie's up pretty quickly, but kept having technical difficulties with other projects, so this had to go on hold. Finally this week I managed to get Sr. Maria Ruth's "bio" together, even if it is still a bit rough. (I'm only at the learning stage on this!) Sr. Maria Ruth is the writer/announcer/producer/distributor/office manager of our Spanish radio apostolate, with over 100 stations airing her programs. At first, she went on and on in her native Spanish, so I did a Spanish version which you can access here. Then I managed to get a word in edgewise to ask her to "do it again, but this time in English!"

Out on a Limb(o)

Today's newspaper had a subheading that was downright erroneous, claiming that we were seeing a change in Catholic "dogma."
While to the popular mind, "dogma" means "strongly held teaching," for Catholics, the word has a specific and very limited meaning. And, just for the record, Limbo was never a defined dogma. So what was it?
"Limbo" falls into the category of theological hypothesis. It was an attempt to explain and uphold two pivotal doctrines: the first is that "there is no other name given to us by which we can be saved" other than the name (meaning, the person) of Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus is the universal Savior in the absolute sense. The second doctrine that the "Limbo theory" aimed to uphold was that sacramental Baptism is valid and effective even for people who are unable to make their own personal act of faith. Obviously, tiny children are the prime example.
Today people are scandalized by the very thought that innocent children might be excluded from the fulness of eternal life because they died without Baptism. 1,000 years ago, though, the concept of Limbo was actually consoling! Goes to show you how cultural perceptions change.
For a couple of generations now, the concept of Limbo has been more of an obstacle than a help in preserving and teaching those two basic doctrines it was once thought to guard: that Jesus, the first-century Palestinian Jew who was crucified and raised from the dead, is the true Savior of all people, of all times and places, and that Baptism with water and the invocation of the Trinity really does bring a person into the living communion with God that is the beginning of eternal life.
Limbo has been "cut off" like one of those "dry branches" Jesus spoke of in the Gospel. It was beginning to clutter the theological landscape, drawing too much attention to itself and not enough attention to Jesus and the sacramental order he left his Church.
Now, what are we going to do to make those truths known? We have a new way, thankfully, to console those who lost children through miscarriage, abortion and infant death. Can we now also motivate parents to seek Baptism for their children, not out of anxiety for their salvation, but in the desire to give them the best that God gave us?

Religion without Spirituality?

A discussion at breakfast this morning about religious fundamentalism led me to reflect that what we are facing right now--a peril to civilization that is coming to us wrapped in a cloak of piety--is really the reverse of our secular culture's "spirituality without religion." It is even more insidious and corrupting: religion without spirituality.
What are some of the characteristics of politico-religious fundamentalism as we see it in current events? Prescinding from the specific doctrines that are held, whether it is Islamic fundamentalism or Christian, there seems to be a very this-worldly appreciation of the benefits of religion. The fundamentalism in question tends to "use" what is understood as holy and right in order to wrest control of certain goods--whether political goods or virgins in heaven or "souls for Christ" who can be tallied up on a counter on someone's blog. And God is invoked as the reason or the power behind it all, but there seems to be precious little genuine surrender, trust and abandonment to a God who "thinks not as man thinks."
"Spirituality" is a fuzzy word these days, but for Paul, it meant "thinking according to the Spirit"; "having the mind of Christ." "Spiritual" was one of his favorite adjectives!
I have to admit that these reflections are coming out of my own experience of late, when unexpected news on a completely different level seemed to undermine my trust. I had to recognize that I was trusting in the wrong thing! Not in the God who "makes everything work together for good," but in the "everything" that I was counting on as means to a good end. God can attain the end without our means. Or he may have another end entirely in mind. Fundamentalism of whatever stripe is all the more pitiful to the extent that it keeps shrinking God down to manageable size. But a God that manageable certainly can't be trusted to providentially rule the universe!

(Jesus, I trust in you--yes, I do!)

Litigation puts an end to foster care

Catholic Charities of Chicago announced this week that it is withdrawing from an aspect of child care after 75+ years. A huge lawsuit on behalf of three tiny siblings who suffered burns and other abuse while in foster care means that Catholic Charities, which placed the children, can no longer get affordable insurance for other kids. So the State of Illinois will have to find some other way to address the urgent needs of children whose families are falling apart. It's terrible that those babies were abused by people who were entrusted with their care. A few weeks ago there was news in the paper of a five-year-old who was battered to death by her mother after what an official called "a short life in hell." In this case, even the siblings were forced to participate in the ongoing victimization of this little girl. But there was no one to sue. Those kids are in foster care now.
Do you see the need for faith-inspired social action to be carried out by Church institutions? How can we, the Church, address some of these critical needs outside of establishing our own institutions?

Keep helping NOLA!

Just a reminder that Burger King is doing a promotion-cum-donation event that will determine which organizations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge get what percentage of the "pot." I have been going on every day to "nominate" Catholic Charities and then clicking on the New Orleans button so that the points will add up in its favor, and I invite you to do the same! Here.

Chicken Fat

When I was in high school, we had a really silly exercise record (a real, actual record--you know, a big black disk that was played with a needle?) for PE class. It included the lyrics (if you can call them that) "Go, you chicken fat, go away! Go, you chicken fat, go!" That came to mind today when...
Wednesdays are kind of "crowded" for me, since the evening choir practice means I have to scramble toward the end of the day to finish things up. And today it is my turn to contribute something for the shared snack, so that means a little extra investment of time. I got the snack (a veggie tray) and grabbed a plastic bag from our usual spot, when suddenly, splat went all over my habit. Chicken grease from Sr. M. Thecla's latest batch of soup. Oh, yuk! Somehow, someone recycled the bag that she had carefully spooned the fat into. So laundry was quickly added to my things to do list. And only when I pulled the habit out, did I see that...the hem was gone, too. So I guess a little chicken fat at the right time is a good thing.