Mary, Mary

Today's feast of St. Mary Magdalen renews the problem of the many Marys in the Gospels. Mary Magdalen has suffered the brunt of most of the confusion, being considered a reformed prostitute by the churches in the west, and a virgin by the Eastern churches. And to tell the truth, the confusion is a bit warranted. Luke says that Jesus cast no less than seven demons from Mary of Magdala, and since the number seven represents completeness, that's like saying "all hell" was upon her before that deliverance. A "sinful woman" washed Jesus' feet with tears, dried them with her hair and perfumed them with fragrant oil. Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, also poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair. There were no less than three Marys at the foot of Jesus' cross, and two who approached the tomb on Easter morning.
There was bound to be some confusion.
And maybe that's all right. Maybe the multiplicity of Gospel Marys means something for us. Maybe we should blend them all into one image of Christian discipleship, summed up in Mary, the Mother of Jesus or Mary Magdalen, apostle to the Apostles. Maybe we are all supposed to be those Marys, made one.

Jesus and Jonah

I meant to post about today's Gospel (better late than never!): how today we hear Jesus claim to be "greater than Solomon" and "greater than Jonah." And John the Baptizer said that Jesus was "mightier" than he, "ranked ahead" of him, and so on. I wondered at the terms "greater" and "mightier." What did the Greek say? Well, sure enough for John the Baptizer: he was saying that the one coming after him was "stronger" than he was. But Jesus claimed to be not exactly "greater" in our sense of greatness; the word in today's Gospel is closer to our word for "full, fullness." As would only be fitting of the one "in whom all the fullness was pleased to dwell."
Solomon and Jonah were "types" of Christ; Christ himself is the fulfilment. John was not a "type" of Christ, but his predecessor and the "best man" at the wedding that is yet to come.

Saints Alive!

So this is what pious surgeons do in their downtime...

Adoption Help

A piece in yesterday's Tribune mentioned organizations that offer grants to adopting families. Here are some of them:
The Gift of Adoption Fund
Shaohannah's Hope (Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman started this one)
The Asian Bridge (matching grants for families adopting from any Asian country)
Help Us Adopt

Yum

Thanks to Inge on Plurk, I found this delicious Italian recipe blog (from the Puglia region of Italy, famous for its olive oil). Even if you can't read Italian, you can savor the pictures.

The conversions of st paul

Sr. Laura is creating a new image of St. Paul
for the Pauline Year. It is taking place in her "studio" (aka "cubicle") right across the hall from my "office."
Just today she asked the Paulist priest who celebrated Mass in our chapel if he could be a "hand model" for Paul. (How appropos!) Here you can see the "portrait" taking shape.

Sr. Julia's back!

I brought the video camera down to New Orleans when I visited my family, and Sr. Julia was gracious enough to expound on "summer reading": fiction! I apologize in advance for the audio problems in the first part of the video. You would not believe what I had to go through with this! For a while, I thought it was going to be a silent movie. Thankfully, St. Paul and Bl. James Alberione got at least some sound working...

So Where are "The Nuns"?

A comment that appeared not only in this blog's comment box, but also in Karen's (and I suspect quite a few others--someone must have spent the day doing blog marketing for Sony) announced an upcoming music sensation, already signed with Sony: The Priests. Real ones. And they sing. Their first album will be released in November.
As readers of this blog know, "The Nuns" have released almost two dozen albums. We're still waiting for that call from Sony/BMG: maybe they'd be interested in our upcoming project?

Introducing....

As soon as I get a picture, I'll do the formal introductions! Meanwhile, I just wanted to give you an update on our community, which is in summer flux as we take turns for retreat, updating and so on. Sr. Helen will be returning from her retreat tomorrow; I'll be leaving for mine in two weeks (actually, we have a recording project first and then retreat). Sr. Helena (movie philosopher blogger nun) is taking a course through our "Pauline Center for Media Studies" in Culver City, CA. I'm sure she's loving those Pacific Coast sunbeams.
Meanwhile in Chicago we are hosting a Korean sister who is working on her English skills at a language school two doors away. Sister Triphonia is a theology student at the Gregorian University in Rome (many classes, papers, texts and tests are in English). She is slated for higher studies in moral theology, probably at the "Alphonsianum." (Don't you love how those Roman Universities have such saintly names? In addition to the two just named, there are: the Angelicum (St. Thomas Aquinas), the Antonianum (St. Anthony), the Claretianum (St. Anthony Claret, with a specialization in Religious Life), the Anselmianum (St. Anselm--or was it Ambrose? I'm getting confused. This university specializes in Liturgy studies), the Seraphicum (St. Francis), the Teresianum (St. Teresa--specializing in spirituality!)... I know there are more; who wants to fill in the blanks?

iConfess

Somebody had to do it.
Cajun geek Travis Boudreaux has created an iPhone application for the distracted penitent. (It also functions as a very small web site.)
Great work, Travis! Now, what about the priest's edition?

Listen Up!

I'll be making my retreat day on Sunday, but you can still hear me chatting away with Sr. Tracey and my fellow New Orleanian (transplanted to Georgia these twenty years), Ken Lampert. An interview recorded at the Atlanta Eucharistic Congress will be broadcast Sunday night (8:30 pm) on "The Catholic Hour," WDUN AM 550 (wdun.com). Ken, who grew up in the same Metairie parish I did, just a few streets away, says that the first half of the program will be on Saint Columban, and then you can catch me and Sr. Tracey on the air.

Oviedo: Wish I had Known

Found a book in our center yesterday about the "Sudarium of Oviedo," a bloodstained linen cloth that has been venerated in an historically ascertainable way for at least 1400 years as the "cloth that covered the head" of Jesus after his death. Interestingly, although this cloth was locked in an wooden trunk in Spain and maintained in one place since 1041, the bloodstains match those found on the Shroud of Turin (which never passed through Spain). Sudarium and Shroud feature the same microscopic pollens. And blood type AB (common in the Middle East; rare in Europe). The sudarium was moved from Jerusalem to Alexandria when Muslim armies were conquering the Holy Land; two years later, they were at Egypt's door, and the relic, in its oaken trunk, was spirited off to Spain. As the Muslims advanced through Spain, the trunk was sent off to more and more remote places, finally being secured in Asturias (the one region of Spain that was never under Muslim rule). Finally it was moved in 1041 (or 1014? memory fails me) to what became the capital of Asturias, Oviedo, and a Cathedral was built up around the royal chapel where the trunk of relics was kept.
I visited that Cathedral in 2006. With Karen (see picture taken with her magic camera).
I didn't know what I was missing as we were hurriedly shown around the church (whose guardians wanted to lock up for siesta). We should have been in adoration, but it seems that the caretakers of the relic were only following historical precendent in not alerting us to its presence or significance. (This makes sense, given the need to protect it from destruction. Even in the 20th century, it wasn't safe; during the Spanish Civil War, the relic chapel was fire-bombed. The oaken trunk, though, was not destroyed.)
Turns out that medieval pilgrims to Compostela would make a detour through mountains (Asturias is Europe's prime mountain-climbing region) to visit the Cathedral of Oviedo. A couplet that was common at the time (and that appears in various forms in other languages than Spanish) said that one who went to Compostela and the tomb of St. James without visiting the Cathedral of Oviedo was focusing on the "servant" and not on the "Lord."

Catching Up

I was planning to spend the day catching up on the post-travel backlog in my office. Instead, we learned that the mom of a friend of the community had died, so the day was ordered around a visitation held quite far from downtown Chicago. I got a little bit done earlier in the afternoon, but there wasn't much left for blogging. Hopefully I'll be back in full swing by Monday. (I'm making my July retreat day on Sunday, but I don't blog on Sundays anyway. As for tomorrow...we'll see!)
If you are in the Chicago area, come and visit our center soon. We are having a clearance sale and there are some fantastic titles on the sale shelf. I think that priests and seminarians would be especially excited about the books in the areas of liturgy and Scripture study, as well as spirituality.

Back to Chi-town

Yesterday was a pretty full day with Mom, running around the city and ending up at my brother's house for "the world's healthiest pizza" with his two tiny girls. Then, back home, I couldn't print out my boarding pass for today's flight to Midway. That discovery led to the realization that Mom's impossibly slow computer was simply maxed out. So I spent my last waking hours last night with Mom, deleting duplicate and triplicate folders of family photos. And then doing a defrag. (Mom's not just losing a daughter here; she's losing in-home tech support!)
So, "angels on wings" for the flight to Midway. See you in Chicago!

My recent experience with Facebook got me thinking about the precariousness of our online existence. Interestingly, yesterday (just as my problem was resolved) the paper had a four-column article on the issues involved "Online Freedoms Inconsistent." When we sign up for these free services, we are at the mercy of the service provider. We can be screened, edited, or (as I was) summarily booted out, and we have no court of appeal because this is a private enterprise. That's perfectly legitimate, but my experience this week told me not to take too much for granted. Just two days before I found myself exiled from the Facebook community, I published a post about a pro-life video that had been taken down by YouTube for violating unstated criteria. I kind of wondered if my FB experience was in some way related to my having put that post on my FB page and not only on my blog... In other words, is Orwell's Big Brother online?

As the AP article noted: "Community backlash can restrain service providers, but as Internet companies continue to consolidate and Internet users spend more time using vendor-controlled platforms such as mobile devices or social-networking sites, the community's power to demand free speech and other rights diminishes. Weinstein, the veteran computer scientist, said that as people congregate at fewer places, "if you're knocked off one of those, in a lot of ways you don't exist.""

About Face(book)

After some correspondence with the folks behind Facebook, and a 1.5 mb jpg of my passbook page, I am back on Facebook, presumably as "Sister Anne." I would check on it now, but Mom wants to go see the Hummingbird Lady of Metairie, and our time is short!
Glad this was taken care of; I was getting rather creeped out by the implications of what FB was doing.

Facebook Face-off

I tried to log onto Facebook today, only to be met with the curt message that my account had been disabled by an adminstrator because of a "fake name."
I used SrAnne as my name because Facebook had earlier deleted the "Sister" from "Sister Anne." I just wrote(disabled@facebook.com) to protest (mildly), saying that SrAnne was as close as I could get to my real name, given the restrictions on titles in FB. "Sister Anne" appears on my passport; doesn't that count as a "real" name?
So if you are wondering, as Jeff was, why I disappeared from your friend list, that's the reason. Want to help me (and other offending "srs") get back on?

Independence

Going to Mass on Independence Day got me thinking about what "independence" means for Christians. St Paul speaks about our freedom as children of God. So when did we declare our independence? We can't be independent of God, although there are some strands of spiritual thought that do incline that way. Actually, our "July 4" was our Baptism day, and we celebrate Independence Day every time we renew our baptismal promises. We declare our independence from Satan, from all his works and from all his empty promises. Even more, we "renounce" them.
Jesus has already won the victory: we are free at last!

I saw that the Vatican Congregation for Saints recognized a miracle attributed to St. Therese's parents, and also recognized the heroic faith, hope and charity of an Italian teenager who died in 1990. I had to look her up: Chiara Badano, from a family in the Focolare movement. Beautiful!

Seems a bit... intolerant, doesn't it?

I learned this morning that YouTube yanked an expose' video offline, claiming that the video violated their terms of use. Having viewed the four-minute clip, I can't say I saw anything at all that could have provoked such an action. What the video did, however, was expose the link between various aggressively pro-abortion organizations (including megalith Planned Parenthood) and an allegedly neutral documentary on abortion.
I'm not saying that the interview was handled in the best possible way. The gentleman couldn't wait to play his hand he missed the opportunity for a rejoinder when the woman from "The Decency Gap" insisted that the website he was quoting was old. (It had a 2008 copyright notice.) But, gracefully or not, the points were made and they are valid. And it is hard to imagine the excuse that was made for yanking the video.
So where are the voices decrying this unofficial censorship of unwelcome revelations? Sure, it's not government censorship, but when other private entities exclude ideological input, there are plenty of protests. It seems that Planned Parenthood & Co. has a lot of pull over at YouTube.

In case you are willing to brave it, here is the video that YouTube so heroically pulled in protection of... what? (GoogleVideo has so far been willing to face the consequences of keeping it available, which is odd, since Google owns YouTube; maybe because it is on Google.es?)

Doubting Thomas

Today is the feast day of no-longer-doubting Thomas. Interesting, isn't it, that he who refused the testimony of the other apostles that they had seen the Lord is traditionally considered the founding Apostle of India? Presumably, the people of that subcontinent accepted Thomas' testimony, "I have seen the Lord!" They walked by faith and not by sight, and still do.
Speaking of faith, I am reading an excellent presentation on the Catholic faith by George Weigel: "The Truth of Catholicism." It's not a new book, but it's my first chance to actually read it, and I am delighted with it. Weigel addressed the principal questions that people in our culture have when it comes to things Catholic, and he does it with panache. Is the Catholic Church condemning other religions or Christian communities with its claims? Is "doctrine" a "conservative" notion? Are Catholics the least free of all religious believers? Stuff like that. Weigel's book deserves a careful reading, something our culture doesn't seem to be too good at (one of the reasons the book needed to be written!).
I am also just finishing a fine book of Catholic spirituality: "Coming Home to Your True Self: Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions" by Albert Haase, OFM. I know, the title is pretty unappealing, but the book itself is well written, both solid and contemporary. I already have it lined up for a second read!
What is on your bookshelf for summer reading?

Begone!

"Begone!" When I hear that archaic word, I'm more likely than not to associate it with the story of Jesus' temptation in the desert, when he dismissed the enemy of mankind with that one-word command. But in reading today's Gospel, I realized that this rough dismissal was probably used more often to send Jesus himself away (or at least to try!). Today we hear Matthew's account of the healing of two demon-possessed men in the (pagan) region of the Gadarenes. When the demons left the men and entered a huge herd of swine (leading to the death of every last porker and an immense financial loss for the owners), the townspeople came out to where Jesus was and asked him, probably not too kindly, to leave the district. Even Peter, when he had witnessed the miraculous catch of fish, told Jesus to leave. (At least Peter added the motive, which was "for I am a sinful man.") "He came unto his own, and his own did not receive him."

I suspect that even in Gadara there were many people who heard the news about the demoniacs and the swine, and felt a glimmer of hope that Jesus would come to them, too. Perhaps it was only the herd owners, probably the leading men of the town, who insisted that "the whole town" rise up to expel Jesus. Maybe it did not occur to them that anyone would welcome someone who could "bear our griefs and carry our sorrows." And so they sent God away, and God meekly left.

Wall*E

Father Roderick was right: "Wall*E" is a very Catholic movie, from the rusty robot's discovery of a "partner like unto himself" (the roach certainly didn't qualify!) to the nurturing of life by E.V.E. (!) and the eventual new creation under human stewardship. And delightful all the while. I also loved Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth," sung during the credits.
This is one of those movies where the critics' "two thumbs up" really makes sense!

Community Day

Today is our community Feast of St. Paul. We have a special Mass and Liturgy of the Hours and everything, just for the Pauline Family. So I joined the sisters yesterday and today to celebrate the opening of the Pauline Year and our special feast day. (It was quite a weekend, all in all.) Yesterday's Mass at St. Louis Cathedral was celebrated by the archbishop, with an opera singer as cantor (!). After Mass, my Mom treated the community to a jazz brunch at a French Quarter restaurant. Because it is Sr. Charlotte's Silver Jubilee, she got a free dessert; we all had a fabulous meal. Afterwards, Sr. Julia and I visited the French Market. I had a wonderful time looking at the stalls of surprisingly inexpensive souvenirs and craft items; we both really enjoyed the brass band. Then Sr. Julia took me to one of her favorite places in the Quarter: a shop with hand-crafted Mardi Gras masks--the elaborate kind you would see in movies. The designer told us he had great hopes that a movie that was being filmed here recently would use one or two of his creations, but alas... that will have to wait for another movie. Sr. Julia brought a camera, so as soon as she sends me the pictures (and the video clips of the brass band!), I'll post them for your enjoyment.
The daily thunderstorm came early today (usually it's in the mid-afternoon). When I came home from Mass and breakfast with the sisters, I barely had time to plant one of Mom's newly-acquired rosemary bushes before the lightning started flashing. Maybe I'll dig into one of the books I borrowed from Sr. Julia!

Pauline Year

Well, we're here! What a great day for the first vows of our novices in Boston! The Pauline Year opened with Evening Prayer I of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and the Vatican has updated the Pauline Year page.

I'll be meeting my Pauline sisters tomorrow for Mass at the Cathedral and lunch in celebration of Sr. Charlotte's 25th anniversary of first profession. Monday a local pastor will celebrate Mass for our community feast of St. Paul; Mom and I are planning to be there!

Pity the poor lector

Today is one of the worst possible days to be a lector. Not because the first reading contains lists of ancient and seemingly unpronounceable names, but because it is from the book of Lamentations. If you can get through today's description of the siege of Jerusalem without your voice breaking and throat tightening, I'm not sure I would like you very much. The Responsorial Psalm is almost an eye-witness account of the destruction of the Temple, as told to God in prayer. These two passages tell of the horror of war from the inside, and give those suffering those horrors a way to pray through the sorrow.
I kind of wish the priest where Mom and I went to Mass had looked at the readings in that sort of light. Instead, he focused repeatedly on the concept of punishment. The Bible does not hesistate to interpret political defeat and so on as signs of the people's infidelity to God, but in today's reading, part of an almost unbearable description of suffering, the Bible seeks to excuse the nation. Instead of accusing the people of infidelity, Jeremiah (the reputed author of Lamentations) explains that they were deceived by false prophets who did not forthrightly declare the sins of the nation; the false prophets spun comforting visions for them, and so they could not repent. The disaster was not so much "punishment" as a consequence of believing the wrong teachers.

More than meets the eye

Today's first reading details the final deportation of the people of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city. And the Responsorial Psalm expresses the anguish of the people as they sit in dejection "by the streams of Babylon."
There's a beautiful parallel structure in that psalm that is very revealing. The people of Babylon wanted to hear the harvest songs, the love songs, the typical songs of the land of Judah. But the Jews (the name itself means "Judean people") just shook their heads. "How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?" For the Jews, to sing the songs of Zion meant singing the songs "of the Lord." What else was there to sing about for God's people but the Lord himself?

Where I was this weekend

This is great! Special thanks to Catholic Film Student Girl; looking forward to more!

Rediscovering the Hours

Just finished a really fine book by Robert Benson, "In Constant Prayer." This is an introduction to the whole concept of what we Catholics call the Liturgy of the Hours. Benson was brought up in the Nazarene tradition (he's now Episcopalian) and writes for a non-Catholic readership, but I suspect that many Catholics could profit from this beautifully written presentation. (It helps that Benson is a poet.)
Benson noted in an early chapter that on his morning drive to the store to pick up the papers he reads daily (hey, writers have to read!), he would pass several houses of worship. At that early hour, between 6:30 and 7:00 each morning, he noticed that the parking lots were busy as worshipers streamed back to their cars and went off to work. They were beginning the day with prayer as a community. He also noted that the houses of worship were: a mosque, a synagogue, and a Catholic Church. The churches of his own tradition were not the sites of such daily activity. But many Protestants are beginning to adopt the ancient prayer that Catholics and Orthodox Christians inherited from Judaism. And many Catholics are learning how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, or are joining in morning prayer in their parish before daily Mass.
It never was supposed to be just for monks, deacons and priests: we are all supposed to be participating in the prayer that the Body of Christ (that would be us) offers to the Father. Believe it or not, for about a thousand years, everyone was expected to come to Church daily for morning prayer: it was part of being a believer! That started getting lost at the time of the Renaissance; the Reformation finished the job in many places. (I recall from reading some early writings of our Founder that at least in Italy in the late 1800's, parishioners were expected on Sundays to attend not just the Mass, but also Evening Prayer in their local Church.)
Benson's book comes some years after he published a kind of introductory version of "fixed-hour" prayerbook. It offered first steps in what the ancient monks (and also Vatican II) spoke of as sanctifying the whole day. His book, and a similar one by Phyllis Tickle, enjoyed a really good distribution. What I think we are beginning to see in these years is a rediscovery of the value of what is called by many names: the Divine Office, the Breviary, Lauds and Vespers, fixed-time prayer. It would be an important renewal in Christian living: we seem to be one of the first generations of Christians who do not typically recollect ourselves two, three or the biblical seven times a day in prayer--not the "gimme" kind of prayer, but the prayer of simple praise. And in the Liturgy of the Hours, that praise does not have to depend on one's feelings of exaltation or gladness: the words of praise and thanks have been given to us right in the book of Psalms, which the Hours use as the primary prayer book.
Do you pray some form of the Liturgy of the Hours? What has your experience been? How many "hours" (set brief prayer periods) do you pray, and where?

Content and the King

In the liturgy, we're back to reading from the history of ancient Israel. Today's first reading has a rather touching dimension to it. There is a renovation project going on at the Temple. Good sign. There are the levitical priests at their job, scribes, workmen. And an old book comes to light. The priest in charge takes a look at it. It's what we call the book of Deuteronomy: the details of the covenant between God and the people. And the priest quickly realizes that one of the parties has failed to keep its end of the bargain.
When the king is given the report of the day's work, he is also given a report about the book, which is read aloud to him. And the king is struck with grief. He recognizes that while they have maintained all the structures--the kingship, the Temple, the priesthood and the rites--they had lost sight of the actual content of their relationship with God. Centuries later, Jesus would also warn his followers about paying tithes on mint and cumin but neglecting justice and mercy. And more centuries later, it is still a temptation for us to distract ourselves with pious practices to the extent that we forget to honor the Lord himself. I know this happens to me. So today I am asking for a little extra grace to focus on the goodness and graciousness of God. After all, "it is right to give him thanks and praise."

My Name Day

I know, it's the feast of the birth of John the Baptist and my given name is Anne; how can it be my name day? Because I took a second name when I made my vows, and it is the feminine form of John, Joan. For the first 25 years, I took the feast of St. John the Evangelist as my name day, but around the time of my silver jubilee, I recognized a kind of John-the-Baptist quality in my vocation, so I switched allegiances. Hence, today's Name Day observance.
I started the day in Atlanta, having arranged for an airport ride after Mass. Wouldn't you know, with it being a feast day and all, the Mass had a few extras. And they sang everything. Slowly. I ended up zipping out of Church right after Communion, with only the barest greeting and thanks to Fr. Fred (hi out there!) for the invitation to Corpus Christi Parish. Now I'm at Mom's house for some R&R. I hope to take advantage of the proximity to the Pauline community here to get Sr. Julia on videotape talking about books, so I can produce some more of her "Best Catholic Books" series. After the CNMC this weekend, I am pumped to make Best Catholic Books a genuine podcast... I wonder how many books Sr. Julia will have to talk about for me to get enough footage for that?

Hi from Atlanta

It's more than ironic that I came to Atlanta for a New Media Celebration, but have been unable to access the Internet for four days! I fully intend to rectify that situation now, with the help of the wireless connection at Corpus Christi Parish in Stone Mountain, home of blog commenter and fellow New Orleanian, Fr. Fred Sahuc, CMF. (I'll be giving a talk on St. Paul here tonight, and then heading to Mom's house tomorrow.)
I arrived in Atlanta on Friday so I could help Sr. Clare (from our Charleston community) with a book exhibit at the Eucharistic Congress (Friday and Saturday); turns out Sr. Tracey made the same arrangements, so it was a little FSP reunion there at the convention center! The Archdiocese has been holding a Eucharistic Congress every year, and it seems to be doing wonders for the life of the local Church. I was impressed at how diverse the Catholic community here is; it reminded me of Chicago. There is also a huge African population. Here in Stone Mountain there is a large Sudanese Catholic community, too. The Eucharistic Congress brought everyone together, some 20-30,000, all around the Eucharist. (Much better than a generic "celebrations of faith" with no real center, as if we were all about ourselves.) Then Sunday was the SQPN Catholic New Media Celebration. The three Pauline sisters were part of a crowd of hundreds interested in learning more about social networking, podcasting and other technologies available for the New Evangelization. The one phrase I heard the most yesterday, though, was "I think we're Facebook friends!" I met a number of people I follow on Twitter or whose blogs I read: Dr. Paul Camerata, Lisa Hendley, Fr. Jay (iPadre) Finelli... I did not actually meet, but at least I saw Jeff Miller (the CURT JESTER!!!) and Fr. Roderick. All people whose hearts are set on sharing the faith they live, and using great creativity in doing it. I picked up some good advice, and even got free Mystic Monk coffee (God is good).
Readers of this blog might also be interested in learning about a new Catholic social network, 4marks. I think it just launched a few weeks ago; I hadn't heard a breath about it until yesterday, but am looking into it right now.
Sr. Clare and I received warm hospitality with the Hawthorne Dominicans, the "Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer," who were founded by Nathaniel Hawthorne's daughter (a convert to Catholicism who then became a nun). We even met their Mother General, who was in town for a meeting. (Nothing like sharing pizza with Mother General on Sunday night.) These sisters have such a powerful mission in the culture of life: assisting people in the last months of their life. There are about a dozen patients in their lovely facility, and these people get the most loving end-of-life care. Except for one thing: when I'm dying, please don't wake me up at 7:00 for breakfast. Let's skip breakfast, okay?

Novena to St. Paul

I prepared a simple meditation-style video novena in preparation for the opening of the Year of St. Paul (June 29!). Naturally, you can use the novena throughout the year, especially in preparation for the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul! Feel free to tell others about it, or to embed/link it in your own blogs and e-mail. The novena begins tomorrow, June 20!

Taking the mantle

Today's first reading is the mysterious departure of Elijah in the whirlwind. His ambiguous passing gave rise to the expectation that he would come again before the day of the Lord to set everything right. (Jesus famously explained that "Elijah has indeed come" and he was John the Baptist.)
When Elijah was taken up, his cloak fell to his disciple, Elisha, who was given a twofold portion of Elijah's spirit (and used it right away to divide the Jordan so that he could cross back to the other side). Wielding the rolled-up cloak like a whip over the waters, Elisha said, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" This has generally struck me as a kind of challenge, tempting God to show himself. But today I heard it as a prophetic statement, given that he was working the prototypical Israelite miracle of parting the waters: Elisha was giving notice that the Lord was acting through him now, on behalf of Israel. Elijah may have left, but God did not abandon his people.

A note about names:
We have become used to the names Elijah and Elisha, which are closer to their Hebrew versions. But Elias and Eliseus are the same two prophets, when their names are rendered from the Latin.

Sometimes you find enough in a single line from the liturgy. That's what happened this morning for me. We are accompanying in prayer the father of one of our former sisters. He and his wife used to volunteer for us (for years and years), but his health has been in steady decline for almost a decade, and now he is at Heaven's door. And today's Responsorial Psalm has just the encouragement for him: "How great is the goodness, O Lord, which you have in store for those who revere you."
That "goodness" is none other than the Lord himself.
Go forth to Paradise, Robert: let angels take you by the hand.

You're bigger than that!

That seems to be the message of today's Gospel. Jesus is telling us to be magnanimous, to show our family resemblance as children of God. Far from measuring out every favor, God lets his rain fall on the just and the unjust. Rather than dole out our mercies, we ought to be prodigal with them. Maybe it is easier to interpret that "be perfect" in terms of flawlessness, a goal we can dismiss out of hand. Instead, Jesus tells us to be like God in open-heartedness: this is just as out of reach as flawlessness, but perhaps more doable. Either way, it is beyond us apart from grace.

This is too fun not to share: our radio ad for the Pauline Year. Special thanks to Jim and his company for putting it together (Sr. Helena wrote it!).

turning the other cheek

Today's two Mass readings would seem to be in contradiction with each other. Actually, in the first reading we only get the evil deed; the retribution will be announced in tomorrow's reading. But retribution is promised for the vicious murder of the innocent Naboth: the dogs will "lick the blood" of King Ahab and his treacherous wife Jezebel (the original Jezebel).
The book of Exodus (quoting Genesis and the laws given at the time of Noah) that if anyone sheds the blood of a human being, then the killer's blood must also be shed. And that is what God tells King Ahab is going to happen to him and his scheming wife: they are going to lose their lives.
But Ahab repents.
And God accepts his repentance. Instead of insisting "An eye for an eye," God does not require that strict justice be visited on Ahab. (Ahab's descendants, however, will suffer the consequences of his misdeeds!)
Jesus says, "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' but I tell you to offer no resistance to injury." No revenge. No payback. It seems that Jesus was only telling us what St. Paul put a different way, "Be imitators of God as his very dear children."

Yes and No

Today's Gospel ("Say 'yes' when you mean 'yes,' and 'no' when you mean 'no'") is one of those passages that is echoed in the letters of St. Paul, giving us a hint of what Paul knew of Jesus' earthly life and teachings. (Paul actually never wrote a word about Jesus being a teacher; in terms of Jesus' life, Paul focused more on Jesus as our exemplar.) Paul is answering the Corinthians' accusation that he was being dishonest with them, telling them he was going to be coming to Corinth for a visit and then not making the trip. Paul defends himself, saying that the timing just wasn't good, and didn't they know him well enough to realize that he was not someone who would say "Yes, yes" when they meant "no, no"? He was, he insisted, simply following the example of the Lord, who was not "yes and no," but "yes has been in him."
Tomorrow two of our sisters will say their "yes" to the Lord in the definitive consecration of perpetual vows. Please pray for Sr. Jennifer Tecla and Sr. Joane Caritas!

St. Anthony, please come around!

Honestly, I did not know until I was a novice that St. Anthony was a renowned preacher. I just thought he was a pious medieval friar with a tender streak. It was Sr. Susan, my co-novice (very devoted to St. Anthony) who brought me around, responding to my none-too-pious remark about the saint with the protest, "He's a doctor of the Church!" (My bad.) Since here in Chicago I regularly attend Mass at a Franciscan church, I get an annual lesson in all things Anthony. (Serves me right!)

TOB notes

Sr. Helena took notes during Fr. Loya's presentation last night; you can access them on her blog. The chat transcript is divided into two parts; you'll find it here, but scroll down for the first half!
You can also go to ustream.tv and watch the recorded version, although it will take a while to buffer.

Internet Radio and the Call to St. Paul

YEAR OF ST. PAUL... GET READY TO BE RENEWED!

Friday 5-6pm EDST LIVE at
www.radiopeace.org

What: Festival
Hosts: Sr. Tracey and Bill Brown
When: Tomorrow, June 13 at 5:00pm
Where: www.radiopeace.org


And now, a word from the sponsor:

Thanks so much for accepting the invitation to join us for the beginning of the
Call to Saint Paul, a year of personal spiritual renewal!!!!

We've been having meetings trying to put several big events together and this
Friday's radio show is our first attempt to get the word out.  I really want you
to pray about becoming involved in the Call to Saint Paul.  More information to
follow shortly.

In the meantime, I'd like to ask all of you to do us a few favors:

1.  Can you change your Facebook status from now until after the show tomorrow
to say something about the fact that you'll be listening to Sister Tracey on the
Faith Factor.  Be creative.

2.  Go to the Facebook page for this event "YEAR OF ST. PAUL... GET READY TO BE
RENEWED!" and on the right hand side click the link to invite others to the
event.  Help us spread the word by inviting all of YOUR Facebook friends to this
event.

3.  Add this event to your profile.  In the same area where the link to invite
others to join is, there's another link that will post this event to your
profile.

Lastly, we are going to be having a meeting at the Upper Room of the Paulinas
bookstore on Friday June 27th at 7:30PM.  We're looking for creative people that
can help promote these "Call to Saint Paul" events that we'll be having over the
next year.  If you can help, contact Sister Tracey and let her know.

Do you feel the LORD calling you to do more?   This is your opportunity to say
HERE I AM LORD...

Blessings,

Bill Brown
The Faith Factor Radio Show

Ceding gracefully

Today is the feast of the heroic St. Barnabas. He was the apostle (not one of the Twelve, though) who vouched for the sincerity of the persecutor Saul's conversion, and got him accepted into the community of believers. And then when Saul's overweening zeal (!) caused problems for the community, who invited him to go home to Tarsus, it was Barnabas who traveled there to find him and invite him to minister in Antioch. It was from Antioch that Barnabas, the leader, and his companion, Saul, set out to evangelize. And it was on that "first missionary voyage" that Barnabas, the leader and Apostle, ceded to Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles.
Barnabas' great quality was that he could recognize the presence and action of God in the most unlikely circumstances. He recognized God's power at work in Saul the former persecutor. He recognized the power of the Spirit in the conversion of pagans to the Gospel in Antioch. And when Saul began to outshine him in preaching the Gospel, he recognized the grace of God there, too, and let Paul the Apostle "increase" while he decreased.
All together, you can really understand why this man's nickname was "Son of Consolation."

TOB tonight!

It will be our last session for the summer ("see you...in September"), so don't miss it! 7:30 at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/theology-of-the-body

Free Day

No, it wasn't a day off. This is the kind of day it was:
I walked down Lake Street this morning, and came home with four boxes of cereal. This afternoon, going to St. Peter's for adoration, someone handed me a set of two plug-in air freshners (each with their respective scent supply). Plus, when I went to Millennium Park to do my writing project, there was free music (a rehearsal for tomorrow night's concert; I'll miss that, due to our Theology of the Body session here).
So it was a "free" day!

TOB tomorrow

Know anybody who scratches his or her head in perplexity over Church teachings on marriage and sexuality? Send them to the Theology of the Body online study tomorrow night for an hour or two of clarity. It's a chance to find out what the Church really teaches, rather than swallow the common assumptions, usually filtered through pop culture. Fr. Thomas Loya is guiding the study group through Pope John Paul's actual teachings, starting at 7:30 Eastern, 6:30 Central time. Go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/theology-of-the-body.
Facebook members, become a fan of the "Theology of the Body" and get regular updates, plus meet others who are excited about this amazingly beautiful and life-giving approach to human relationships.

the Days of Elijah

The first reading for Mass this week is taken from the first book of Kings; we're in the "Elijah cycle," with stories about that unique prophet, the "model" prophet of Israel. The setting is a three-year drought. Evil King Ahab has killed all the prophets but Elijah, who has escaped his hand. Even though Ahab is sending armies to the neighboring kingdoms, in case any of them is harboring his nemesis, Elijah is safe in the desert. God "commanded the ravens to bring him...bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening," and he found water in a little stream. (I have consistently been distracted from my meditation by those ravens. I would have to be pretty darn hungry to eat "bread and meat" dropped to me by flying scavengers.)
Today's reading continues the drought story: the brook dried up, and Elijah, still in peril from the king, has to move on. It struck me that even though Elijah was a great prophet, a "man of God" "at whose word the heavens were shut" from giving rain, he also suffered the effects of the drought. He wasn't given some magic dispensation from the drought; he bore in his own body the same sufferings everyone else was enduring. And he was no less an "accredited prophet of the Lord" for that. Funny how I subconsciously expected that the prophet would get a free pass on the punishment being felt by the people of the land! It's not God's way at all. He wouldn't even give himself a free pass on suffering when he "was made flesh and dwelt among us."

Hoop Dreams

Chicago made it to the "short list" for the 2016 Olympics. The city has a lot of work to do to actually win nomination, but should that happen, we'd be right in the midst of it all. The big decision comes next year.

Blues Notes

Well, I did get to the Blues Festival yesterday and really enjoyed what amounted to a "revival" at one of the concert stages. The musicians were a church group, and the music was more Gospel than blues; they sang things like "Jesus is the joy of my life" and "I signed a contract with Je-sus and it (something) for the rest of my life" and "The Lord will make a way." It confirmed me in my June retreat meditations! (Ya gotta love Chicago.)

Printer's Row

Decisions, decisions. There are two really interesting events happening in Chicago this weekend: do I detour through Grant Park to catch the Blues Festival, or go out of my way toward the south Loop for the Printer's Row Book Fair? Today I did both: Blues Festival on my way to Mass at Old St. Mary's, and Printer's Row on the way back.
While walking by tents and tables full of books, old and new, I heard myself being summoned by a woman at a table I had just passed. It was the Catholic Writers Guild. Karina presented the Guild's mission of fostering Catholic writing and publishing, and informed me that membership fees are waived for priests and religious (a very good thing, that!). So I hope to join and benefit from their online conferences and other services.
At the next table was the Writers Cafe, another guild (not a coffee shop). The gentleman there wanted me to know about the Christian sci-fi, fantasy and horror focus of the "Lost Genre Guild" (their motto: "Who says faith can't be fun?")
As I continued on, my eagle eyes spotted an unusual number of red book bags. Sensing a nearby freebie, I followed the clues up to the C-Span trailer and got my own free bag. Then I saw green book bags... But I really had to get home by that point. I picked up my free Ghirardelli chocolates instead and turned north.
Tomorrow, we are hoping to bring our chairs to Grant Park to hear BB King at the Blues Festival. But first, I have to make my monthly retreat for June.

Sr. Ruth is Romeward Bound!

Sr. Maria Ruth, the voice of "Radio Paulinas" from our Boston motherhouse, will be taking our Mother General's seat at the next meeting of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications on June 20. Our Superior General is unable to attend, and since the topic will be the radio apostolate, she asked Sr. Ruth (with over 20 years of radio background) to take her place.
Felicidades, Hermanita!

Food Films

All you movie-lovers out there, it's time to register for the National Film Retreat.
This year's theme is "Melting Pots: Food and Family," but my favorite food movie is not on the agenda! Sr. Helena and I frequently quote to each other (and to bewildered witnesses) its central theme: "The secret of life is butter." (The movie is "The Last Holiday," in case you were wondering.)

The heart of the Gospel

Turns out it was in the Old Testament all along: Love the Lord with all your mind, will, strength and heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
I love that when the scribe gave Jesus kudos on his answer, the Lord commented, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
That Kingdom is Jesus.

Nightstand

I'm really enjoying an embarrassment of riches when it comes to new books right now. I'm in the middle of three others (in addition to the upcoming Kathleen Norris book I posted about the other day). What's on the nightstand?
A Friendship Like No Other, by William Barry, SJ. I like Barry's familiar style, as comfortable as a cup of good coffee. Other books on prayer can seem so high-flown I get intimidated; Barry reminds me that prayer is really as normal and vital as breathing.
Bumping into God in the Kitchen, by Father Dominic Grassi. This is a collection of stories and recipes all bound up with priestly life. I'd recommend this pleasant little book to young men looking into the priesthood. Father Grassi's pastoral heart will give you as good an insight as any into the vocation. And I, for one, am looking forward to trying the recipes.
More than a Dream: How One School's Vision is Changing the World (The Cristo Rey Story), by C. R. Kearney. I just started this one at breakfast yesterday, happy to learn the backstory to a successful and hope-filled approach to educating at-risk young people in our city.
What's on your nightstand?

blog explosion

I thought it was just me. I was unable to check my blog stats this weekend. Turns out it wasn't one of those little techno-flukes. Here's what I learned this morning:
Due to an explosion in The Planet Datacenter at the weekend, service on this
partition was interrupted. Depsite our best efforts 24 to 30 hours of stats
spread across Sunday GMT and some of Monday morning have been lost. We sincerely
apologise for this.
Readers in Houston, where the explosion took place, may have been aware of this incident.
As for me, I am impressed that what I took for granted as an electronic glitch (I had enough of those yesterday myself)--in other words, a virtual problem--was, in fact, a very real and very dangerous event. (Thankfully, no one was killed.) Isn't it odd how technology can guide our assumptions? I wonder what other assumptions or instant interpretations are being influenced more by a technological mindset than by reality...

Stanley

Pity the lone hockey fan in a convent community. No, not me: Sr. Helena. (Living in Canada for 8 years left an impact.) So last night, while I was in chapel, I heard loud cries of excitement coming from down the hall. "WOOOOO! Did you see that? DID you SEE that?!!! WOOO!"
What could be sadder than rooting for your team (the Penguins) and cheering its success all by yourself?
So I finished my prayer and went to the little TV room so Sr. Helena could gush about whatever it was that had just happened. She was still cheering. On the phone. With her mom.
And Pittsburgh brought the cup home.

The Noonday Devil: Coming Soon!

Well, not the noonday devil, exactly, but a new book by Kathleen Norris dealing with the dread temptation of acedia--a spiritual threat understood in so nuanced a fashion by the desert fathers that no one since has ever succeeded in translating the word. "Noonday devil" sounds so much more enticing, though. I was able to get (joy of joys) an advance copy of the book, Acedia and Me, which will be released in September. I started reading it yesterday and the edges are already bristling with red sticky tape flags. You wouldn't think that a book that sums up years of research on a vice usually called "sloth" would make for riveting reading, but this is Kathleen Norris.
I can tell that Acedia and Me is going to be one of those books I will recommend far and wide to those who are interested in spirituality.

Visitation

Today's Feast of the Visitation was a favorite of Bl. James Alberione. He saw it as the "defining" feastday of Mary, showcasing her essential mission throughout time: to bring Jesus to a waiting world.
The feastday itself is not limited to Mary's "arrival" at the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth: it is the feast of her entire stay with them, a time when blessings radiated from the unborn Christ and the Holy Spirit caused somersaults of joy in his precursor, leading his mother to prophesy and Mary to "proclaim the greatness of the Lord" for all generations.
Some fruits we could gather from today's celebration might be:

• to recognize and confess the hidden presence of the Lord in our life
• to give ourselves, like Mary, to God's praise
• to renew our commitment to evangelization, according to the possibilities offered in our daily life.

TOB

Just in time for next week's Theology of the Body online study group session, the Pontifical Council for the Laity has launched a new website with resources on the role of women, with the goal of fostering an intelligent and informed international conversation.
So read up! And mark your calendars for next Wednesday's live video TOB session, 7:30 Eastern Time. If you're in Chicago, come join us in person at 6:30!

World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests

Here's the prayer proposed by the Vatican for the day:

Lord Jesus, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
and living perpetually among us through Your Priests,
grant that the words of Your Priests may be only Your words,
that their gestures be only Your gestures,
and that their lives be a true reflection of Your life.

Grant that they may be men who speak to God on behalf of His people,
and speak to His people of God.
Grant that they be courageous in service,
serving the Church as she asks to be served.

Grant that they may be men who witness to eternity in our time,
travelling on the paths of history in Your steps,
and doing good for all.

Grant that they may be faithful to their commitments,
zealous in their vocation and mission,
clear mirrors of their own identity,
and living the joy of the gift they have received.

We pray that Your Holy Mother, Mary,
present throughout Your life,
may be ever present in the life of Your Priests. Amen

But now I see

You really have to love Bartimaeus, the irrepressible blind beggar in today's Gospel story. Nobody could shush him up. "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" Over and over and over, until Jesus himself took notice. But Jesus didn't call Bartimaeus over: he gave the order to others, "Call him." And when Bartimaeus did come, the cloak of his old life cast aside like something he would no longer need, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Wasn't it obvious?
It must have been important to Jesus that Bartimaeus be allowed to speak for himself (something the man clearly had no problem with!).
I love that even though Jesus used the language of a servant with the beggar ("What do you want me to do for you?"), Bartimaeus did not give Jesus a command like "Give me my eyesight" or "Fix my eyes." He just said, "I want to see."
"By their fruits you shall know them." Bartimaeus got his sight--and how! He "began to follow Jesus on the way." Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, Bartimaeus!

This is GOOD news?

Today's readings pretty much sum up the paradox that we call the "good news." In the Gospel, Jesus is saying (among other things), "the Son of Man [Jesus himself] ... will be condemned to death, handed over, mocked, spit on, scourged and killed." And "whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant...and the slave of all."
It's not only in the Gospel of Mark that we find this sort of language: John saves it for the Last Supper, when Jesus acts the part of a slave, washing the disciples' feet while explicitly emphasizing that he is doing this as their "Master and Lord." And St. Paul, too, consistently referred to himself with terms like "servant" and "slave."
I strongly suspect that the disciples (whether of Jesus, John or Paul) did not especially like where all this talk was going. It's the opposite of our expectations--as today's Gospel also makes clear: "Rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them and make their position felt." That's exactly what James and John were looking for when they asked for places at Jesus' right and left in the kingdom. They got what they were asking, even though they didn't know what they were really asking for.
All that Jesus was doing was to undo the primordial sin and every sin since then, all originating in the will to a misbegotten form of greatness.

the works

Well, I dropped Mother General and her translator off at the airport (after a weekend that saw me working hard to revive my Italian!), and now I am working on...deadlines! But today's readings from the Mass have such an interesting connection, I couldn't resist sharing it.
In both, we hear the voice of Peter. The first reading is from the First Letter of Peter. It's advice for a beleaguered Christian community (or, more likely, a little chain of communities). Among other things, Peter encourages them "set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
In the Gospel, Peter is asking what he can hope for after leaving "everything" to follow Jesus.
In both instances, then, there is the sense of risking everything for the sake of Jesus: putting all one's hopes on the person of Jesus himself, so that if it were possible for Jesus to fail, the person would truly have nothing, nothing, nothing. I was reminded of venerable old Simeon from the Gospel of Luke: he hoped for nothing but "the consolation of Israel," and had been promised that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. That's why he could recognize the 40-day old Jesus as "the light of revelation to the nations." I can just imagine Peter, too, at the end of his long life, saying his "Nunc dimittis": "Now, Lord, you can dismiss your servant in peace; you have fulfilled your word."

Africa Day

May 25 is Africa Day, commemorating the establishment of the Organization for African Unity. One of the General Councilors who was with us this week spent over 20 years in East Africa (mostly Kenya, but also some time in Uganda and Nigeria), and she was updating us on this travailed "Continent of Hope" (as Pope John Paul called it). Evidently, things are still quite unsettled in Kenya, not so much in Nairobi as in the villages.
All in all, a good day to pray for the people of Africa and for all those who work for them and with them.

Welcoming the Kingdom

Today's Gospel is the oft-cited "let the little children come to me." I was struck by the likewise oft-cited "whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Usually, homilies focus on what it means to be "like a child," but I found myself more interested in the word "accept." What does it mean to "accept" the Kingdom of God? What does it mean to "enter" the Kingdom of God? It seems that by accepting the Kingdom, receiving it, taking it in, we enter in--we are taken into the Kingdom. It is sort of like receiving the Eucharist: we receive the Eucharist, taking the Host into ourselves, but it is we who are assimilated to the Eucharistic Christ, and not the other way around. Interestingly, Jesus in the Gospel says that this is related to being "like a child," whereas Augustine portrays the Eucharistic Christ as saying, "I am the food of grown men."

I'll be back

Canon Law calls for an official visitation of religious communities on a regular basis. This is to help renew the members in spirituality and in the mission, to communicate priorities on a more personal basis, and to allow the major superiors (those on the national and international levels) to get to know the concrete situations in which the sisters are living and the people they are serving.

So that's what we're involved in this week. It doesn't leave much time for blogging, twittering, or even taking those wonderful walks in the park! 

Please keep us in prayer. I'll be back...when I can!

Taking wing

Today's Psalm expresses a deep human intuition and at the same time, a loss and frustration: "If only I had the wings of a dove, I would fly away and be at rest." It is as if deep down, we knew that we were supposed to have wings; we were supposed to fly: Where are our wings? 

It's easy enough to want wings to just "fly away and be at rest far away" as the Psalm says, but this is not mere escapism. The Psalmist isn't just flying away; this is a flying "towards": "I would wait for him who saves me."

Him-who-saves-me might as well be another name for Jesus. And today's feast of St. Bernardine of Siena is in its own way a feast of the Name of Jesus. Wherever Bernardine (15th century Franciscan, not a Jesuit, despite his devotion to the Holy Name!) would preach, people would create signs and paint frescoes with the abbreviation IHS (the Greek of J-E-S). And Bernardine would preach the "only name under heaven by which we are saved."

That custom of plastering the city with Jesus monograms also makes Bernardine the patron of advertisers...

CSI: Convent

Sr. Laura remembered that as our Saturday afternoon thief was strolling toward the exit, he suddenly jerked with surprise, made a little "huh?" sound and then shrugged. He must have seen our security cameras. They saw him, too. Here he is making his way through the book center. The whole process took less than 15 minutes.

Here at Pauline, we are praying for the conversion of the man who made his way into our convent and walked away with the proceeds of a bookfair. Talk about stress! That was Saturday, shortly after my St. Paul talk. On one level, a lot of things went wrong on Saturday: not only the theft, but also the recording of my talk--somehow the setting was changed on the recorder, and there was no pick-up from the microphone I had so carefully clipped on. Something else distressing happened, too, which I am glad not to remember. All in all it was one of those days for which today's Gospel prayer is just perfect (and I am using my rosary beads to repeat it over and over): Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!

Erin and Ronnie

Congratulations to the newlyweds! So far, all I have is this cell-phone picture from last night... I hope more are coming!

The cost of non-discipleship

You know those "helpful" little summaries you often find at the beginning of a Bible passage? "The Question of Baptism"; "Bread of Life Discourse" and so on? Well, the Gospel today usually appears in Bibles with a header inspired by Bonhoeffer: "The Cost of Discipleship." And it is that: "If you want to be my disciple, take up your cross." But the passage could just as easily be headed "The Cost of non-discipleship." After all, "the one who seeks his life will lose it.... what profit does anyone show who gains the whole world but loses his own life?" It's a good commentary on yesterday's harsh "Get behind me, Satan!" directed to Peter: Follow me! 

Yesterday's Lost Post: Knock-knock

Today's Gospel reminded me in an odd way of the typical knock-knock joke. "Knock, Knock. Who's there?" It seems to resolve with the first answer: "Tennis." But that first answer is incomplete or even misleading. "Tennis Who?" "Tennessee!"

Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say I am?" And then, "what about you?" 

When we hear Peter answer for the disciples that Jesus is "the Christ of God," you would think the story would end there. But Jesus, in effect, tells them that they've only gotten half-way. "The Son of Man is going to be handed over and killed..."

Today people are rather free in giving their opinions about who Jesus is. Ancient holy man. Jewish peasant who didn't mean for any of this history-changing stuff to happen. Prophet. Myth. Bohddisatva, even. It's just as challenging now as it was 2,000 years ago to accept the folly of the cross, and to accept what being "the Christ" really means, because (as Peter intuited when he tried to talk that folly out of Jesus) it means accepting our own "share in the sufferings of Christ and the glory to be revealed" (1 Peter 

Attention, migraine sufferers!

You've ingested Imitrex. You've tested Topamax. You've relied on Relpax.
These prescription medicines usually do mitigate your migraines, but they have scary side effects, and cost, on average, $20 a pop.
Have I got a cure for you.
At the first sign of a migraine, go to your nearest Chipotle restaurant. Order a steak burrito with everything on it. Eat at least half of that enormous burrito.
Placebo or no placebo, the $5.95 burrito beats the $20 pill just about every time.
And it tastes better, too.

In lieu of grateful accolades, you may send me Chipotle gift cards.

Going places

Today is the anniversary of my Confirmation. Appropriately enough, it is also the feast of St. Matthias, the fill-in apostle who was added to the "Eleven" after the Resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel for the feast day is that beautiful Last Supper passage, "You did not choose me, I chose you..." But that same Gospel passage seems to present us with mutually exclusive directions. On the one hand, the mystical, contemplative, "Remain." And on the other, "GO and bear fruit that will last."
So what do we do: stay or go?
The clue is in one tiny word: "in." "Remain in my love." If we remain/abide/dwell (all possible translations of John's Greek) IN Christ's love, we can come and go and at the same time, never leave our true home! And for the mission of evangelization, it is vital that we "remain" all the time, because "apart from me you can do nothing."
Today's Gospel tells us that if we see a contradiction between contemplation and mission, we don't really understand either one.

TOB tonight!

Our Theology of the Body study group meets tonight: in Chicago, if you're here, and streaming online if you're not. Discussion starts at 6:30 Central Time; Father Thomas Loya will give a presentation at 7:00 (again, Central Time!!!).
Read Sr. Helena's notes from last month, especially if you didn't have time to read Pope John Paul's original... (Man and Woman He Created Them, just the talks, not the intro, up to page 178.)

(Slightly) Belated Kudos

Yesterday's Tribune offered an enthusiastic review of the concert Friday night by the William Ferris Chorale at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church. As the reviewer noted, "Small musical organizations depend on a charismatic and creative guide." And in just three years (and seven years after the sudden death of the Chorale's founder), "conductor Paul French['s] ...guidance has paid off handsomely."
Hearty congratulations, Paul and Chorale (and you, too, "Gary").

New Faces on the Street

After almost seven years in Chicago, I know who the "regulars" with their paper cups held out for spare change. But lately I have seen some new people--people so new that they don't even know about the paper cup approach. One is a forty-something man, an almost burly type, pushing a little boy in a cheap stroller and almost whispering, "Can you help out a little bit?" Then there is the woman on a corner. She still has an ID badge hanging around her neck. "A little help, please?" And on another corner, a man in one of those industrial-type electric scooters. This one does have a paper cup, but it is held between two toes. He can't reach high enough to shake it in anyone's face, so he just sits there with his outstretched left leg, and the paper cup dangling from his foot.
These are only a few of the people who had been making it, just barely, until now. Even if the newspapers didn't tell me that there was something unfortunate going on in people's lives across the nation, my daily walk to St. Peter's would have made it perfectly clear.

Looking out for leaven

Today's Gospel has an interesting sort of correlation both with the feast of Our Lady of Fatima and with the message of Pope Benedict's visit here just a few weeks ago. In the Gospel, shortly after multiplying loaves to feed hungry (and immense) crowds, Jesus warned his disciples about "the yeast" of the Pharisees and of Herod. Two different kinds, evidently. Of course, the word "yeast" (or "leaven") made the hungry disciples think about the bread they did not have in the boat with them. This did not go over well with Jesus. But what was he getting at?
I remember the "friendship bread" craze years ago. You needed the "starter" in order to make a delightful coffee cake. Butyou never knew when that bubbling beige mass was going to end up bursting out of its zip-locked prison. There is a good "ferment" we need for the spread of the Gospel. It is the leaven of the Holy Spirit. Pope Benedict (speaking to the US bishops) connected the leaven that is effective Christian mission to the "state of the family in society" and activities "in harmony with the Church's teachings on today's key ethical questions."
But leaven/yeast/fermenting can also lead to a kind of infective influence. Perhaps the "leaven" of the Pharisees was religious observance turned inward, corrupted and corrupting: religious observance for its own sake. The leaven of Herod was something else again: this could be thoughtless identification with power and pleasure. In either case, a means has been turned into an end, and the true "end" has been lost from view. Pope Benedict also warned us in particular about these two leavens in society. Here in the US, we are particularly vulnerable to a religious devotion that is allowed to flourish as long as it doesn't interfere with consumer interests or impose its values on the wider world. But "imposing on the wider world" is exactly what leaven does!
The disciples with Jesus did not see or understand what Jesus was doing and what it meant, but those three children at Fatima did see and hear and understand, and they remained uncorrupted by the Pharisees' leaven of sterile religiosity and Herod's leaven of self-adoration. They brought their message to the world and declared it not just with verbal boldness, but at the cost of personal sacrifice that would be impressive in an adult. And so, almost 100 years later, their message still comes to us with the kind of power that can leaven our world.

Midnight Fright

Okay, it wasn't really midnight, but it was close enough to count. A high-pitched tone sounding across our fourth floor (our "dorm" area) meant that something or someone had tripped the burglar alarm. Yikes! I sprinted from my bed toward the alarm panel. "1st Fl Foyer GB" it informed us (three of us arrived simultaneously). "1st Fl Foyer" we understood, but GB? I called 911, and then answered the alarm company's call. The police were on their way. Who would go down with me? Sr. Laura shrunk back a little, so Sr. Helena stepped to the plate. But first she went to our Michigan Avenue window to see if there was anything going on in front of the book center. Nothing. Well, there was a crew doing a power-cleaning of the sidewalk, but other than that, people were walking by placidly...
Sure enough, it had been the powerful blast of water that shook the entranceway and set the alarm off. And no, it wouldn't count as a "false alarm" ($100 a pop for those). And yes, when Sr. Mary Thecla calls the city about dirty sidewalks, she gets action.
Maybe a little too much action!

Driven to Distraction?

Fr. Sprott's offering in this month's bulletin from St. Peter's offers some sage advice from both Merton and our local Franciscan about what steps you can take to provide for your spiritual life.

Prayer for China

Religious communities got a special request and reminder from the Holy See (Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples) that the Pope has made May 24 a "World Day of Prayer for the Church in China." The day was chosen because it is the special feast of Our Lady in the shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.

This year, the first year in which the World Day is to be observed, the day of prayer falls within a week of a terrible earthquake in Central China. Maybe the government will let up on its efforts to restrict traffic to the pilgrimage site in Shanghai and prevent groups from carrying out planned pilgrimages.

Meanwhile, nothing is stopping us from setting this day apart in a particular way to bring the power of prayer to bear on all the painful situations the Chinese Church is facing.

Nothing Ordinary

Back to "Ordinary Time." The Angelus takes over from the Regina Coeli, and we have our two-year cycle of daily Mass readings instead of the day by day uniqueness of the Easter season.
I found a great thought from Pope John Paul for this day after Pentecost:
"While it is an historical fact that the Church came forth from the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, in a certain sense one can say that she has never left it. Spiritually the event of Pentecost does not belong only to the past: the Church is always in the Upper Room that she bears in her heart" (Encyclical on the Holy Spirit, n. 66).

There's a Reason

A comment on my post about the woes of recording my St. Paul talks reminded me about my years in door-to-door book ministry. We used to leave a little prayer card (usually an array of inspirational leaflets) with every person we met. One of the favorites was a comforting little poem entitled "There's a Reason." Having looked at it hundreds (thousands) of times, I memorized at least the opening verse: "For every sorrow we must bear, for every burden, every care, there's a reason."
I don't yet know the "reason" I haven't gotten a full-length recording of a single talk yet, but we did have a little experience in community this week of things seemingly going awry and working out for good. It sure didn't look that way earlier this week when Sr. Helena's review of Ironman was lost somewhere in cyberspace and didn't make the Catholic New World deadline. So her review of another movie was published instead. The Life Before Her Eyes isn't getting much attention in the entertainment pages. But today Sr. Helena said she's glad, glad, glad that the review of the blockbuster missed the deadline, because now a movie that she really hoped people would pay attention to will get...a little more attention.
There's a reason.

I was reflecting that at Pentecost, it's easy to focus so much on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles, that we (or at least I) forget that they still had their human weaknesses to contend with. When I lose sight of that, I get a little extra discouraged over my own spiritual cluelessness... As usual, St. Peter is the one who puts things in a different light. The Holy Spirit did come upon him so strongly that the cowering man who "did not know" Jesus was breaking the door down to go into the middle of city and proclaim Jesus as the Lord. But down the road a piece, Peter waffled when some of the Jerusalem community reproached him over the way Gentiles were being admitted to the Church. And even the "Quo Vadis" legend hints that Peter was a little too ready to flee imminent martyrdom in Rome.
The Holy Spirit didn't just come and go in Peter's life: the Spirit came for a purpose, the preaching of the Gospel. Peter's human weakness was still there, underlining the fact that "the surpassing power is from God and not from us."

Is this really happening?

My second St. Paul talk went very well this morning, at least for the audience. The recording, intended to reach untold thousands of others, ended abruptly when the recorder memory maxed out.
Last week's talk, also intended for the vast public beyond the confines of Chicago, was "recorded," too. Except it turns out that the pause button was on the whole time.
So I get to try again!
There's still one more talk (next Saturday). We're going to try to (don't laugh too hard) record it!
Let's see what happens.

Birds in the Hand

Today's the day for all you New Jerseyites to take your binoculars and join the "World Series of Birding," a 24-hour, all-you-can-name extravaganza. How many species can you find and identify in one day?

Today's Gospel is that touching story of the Risen Jesus asking Peter "Do you love me?" Three times. As in Peter's "before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." As is "I do not know the man!"
Jesus didn't ask the same question three times. Two times, he asked Peter, "Do you agape-love me?" And Peter said, "I philo-love you." So the third time, Jesus said, "Do you philo-love me?"
That hurt.
But Peter just said, "You know everything. You know how I love you." Because now Peter is "in Christ"; all his thoughts were completely open to "the one who searches hearts." As Paul would later write to the Corinthians, "We are in your hearts, to live together and to die together."
Jesus in effect said that by the end of Peter's life, that friendly affection of Peter's would be transformed into self-giving sacrificial love, and he encouraged Peter to take that road by telling him, "Follow me."
Today would be a good day to read the First Letter of Peter in your Bible. Notice how many times Peter keeps going back to the theme of the sufferings of the Messiah, Jesus. He was following that Jesus by constantly meditating on the Lord's death and resurrection. (Tradition has it that Peter never stopped weeping over his part in the Lord's suffering; the old vestment called a "maniple," a kind of hanging armband, represented the handkerchief with which Peter kept drying his eyes.)
"Follow me."

Take courage

My post this morning was incomplete (brain lapse). I wanted to also mention a side of Paul that we don't usually associate with his personality at all, but that comes out at least twice in Acts, and that you can read between the lines in some of his letters: Paul's fear. When he arrived in Corinth, the ancient world's city of sin ("What happens in Corinth, stays in Corinth"), the Lord appeared to him in a vision, telling him "Do not be afraid; keep preaching. There are many of my people in this city." And in today's reading, with Paul in Roman custody, the Lord tells him "Take courage! You are going to bear witness to me in Rome" (a city Paul had been hoping to get to). This makes the Responsorial Psalm for the day all the more fitting (it's one of my favs anyway): "Keep me safe, O God, you are my hope."

Yesterday's first reading had Paul boarding a ship for Palestine, "knowing that chains and hardship await" (and the people on shore crying their eyes out at the realization that they would never see his face again). In today's reading, Paul is already in custody. We'll see Paul deal with those chains with grace and humor: to King Agrippa he would testify, "I wish that everyone could be as I am...but without these chains."

The whole truth

Today's gospel includes a prayer of Jesus on our behalf: "Consecrate them in the truth."
What a great prayer! To be "consecrated/sanctified/set apart" in the truth, the whole truth (and nothing but the truth!)... to live from the standpoint of how things really are in the sight of God.
That's my prayer today.

the secret of life

Today's Gospel is from the "Priestly Prayer" of Jesus (John 17, the whole chapter). In it, we learn the secret of life: "to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you have sent, Jesus Christ."
But that's got to be the intimate, personal kind of "knowing," not just the abstract, intellectual kind. Our Founder recommended using a simple "method" to help make sure that prayer and meditation on the Word of God led to the right kind of "knowing God." Using the mnemonic Way, Truth, Life (from John 14:6), he suggested starting out with the TRUTH that the Word offers for our mind, but only long enough to recognize or articulate it. Then let that truth address your "WAY" of living and following Jesus. Do your choices, does your way of living, reflect the reality of that truth? Because in Jesus, "truth" is for living; it is for discipleship, not just for the mind. Choose a practical expression of that truth for the day, and then turn to Jesus who is the source of LIFE with gratitude for the light you have received, with praise for the goodness of God revealed in the word of truth you have encountered, and asking the grace and strength that your way of life will be transformed...

I'll be there...

God willing, I'll be taking part in the Atlanta Eucharistic Congress (helping Sr. Clare with a book exhibit) and in the Catholic New Media Celebration. Who else is hoping or planning to go? (Registration is free!)

Food for Thought

I took advantage of the beautiful weather to bring my work out to Millennium Park. Of course, the first challenge is finding a free table! Just as I approached, a group got up from table (the umbrella'd kind!), so I set up shop there to work on my talk for Saturday ("St. Paul and the Bible"). I now have the outline for the talk. All I need now is (more) content. I prefer to be seriously over-prepared whenever I am going to be presenting something, and right now I don't have quite enough material ready. (My usual goal is to have about 10 times more information than I need to present.) I do have a stack of books piled up. (Actually, three stacks, each in a strategic location.) Plenty of food for thought. And in between things, I also prepared several months' worth of material for the "Pauline Thought a Day" widget for the Pauline Year. It's all lined up through New Year's, so far. (Did you add the widget to your blog or homepage yet?)

This post is going to count for today's feast and tomorrow's observance (at least here in the Midwest). Today is the feast of the apostles Philip and James, witnesses of the Ascension that we celebrate tomorrow (or that you lucky people out there in other ecclesiastical provinces celebrated on Thursday). So I got to thinking about the apostles there, just before the Ascension. And their great, clueless question, "Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?"
Once again, they had it all backwards.
The Holy Spirit would help them realize that it was not that the Lord was going to restore the kingdom to Israel; the new Israel was to collaborate in restoring the kingdom to God.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations....and know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!"

Saint of the Day

Ah, here it is: the first day of the Pentecost Novena, and the feast of St. Athanasius!
My first acquaintance with today's saint was in my postulant year: the "Athanasian creed" was in one of our community prayerbooks. I suppose it was due to its high Christology (and poetic beauty) that it was attributed to Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Regardless of who the author was, praying this magnificent creed today would be an appropriate way to make the first day of the Pentecost Novena while honoring a great Father and Doctor of the Church.

St. Paul for Beginners

My series of talks on St. Paul
begins this Saturday (10:30-12:00) with "The Life and Legends of Paul in Art." Some of the classic works of art depicting St. Paul portray events most people have never heard of; they certainly aren't in the Bible, but they have made a visible impact on the Church's life and devotion. (You will have never seen so many images of St. Paul in your whole life.)
The series continues for the following two Saturdays, covering "St. Paul and the Bible," and, finally the "Five Big Ideas We Owe to Paul." Come and learn a little more about Paul before the Pauline Year begins!

(There is a $10 registration fee per talk, or $25 for the series, unless you are Sr. Helena's guest...)

A Voice for Real Peace

While all the politicians are fighting over the best way to attain peace, Chicagoans have a chance to listen to someone with some real experience of peacemaking in one of the most conflicted areas on the globe.
Melkite Catholic Archbishop Elias Chacour (the Melkite Archbishop of Galilee!) will be in Wheaton on May 17. He will be speaking on "The Future for Peace: A Model for Change" at a breakfast at First Presbyterian Church. Tickets (a pitiful $10 each) are limited! Call 630-668-5147. (The talk begins at 8:30 a.m.) I'd be there, but I'm giving a talk here that morning.

Three in One

No, I don't mean the Trinity! I mean the convergence of observances today: in most parts of the world, it is Ascension Thursday (here in Chicago, alas, the feast has been moved to Sunday); it is "May Day" in Socialist-inspired contexts, but the feast of St. Joseph the Worker for us Catholics; and it is the beginning of a whole beautiful month dedicated to Mary. (For us Paulines, it is also the beginning of our novena in honor of Mary Queen of Apostles; I'll try to share something of that with you every day until her feast, if not for the whole month of May.)
Anyway, in honor of the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, here is a prayer our founder wrote some decades ago. It is especially appropriate in view of the many people who have suddenly found themselves out of work.

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus Christ, you were the work-teacher to the Son of God, who became a humble laborer for us. Assist with your prayers all who labor in intellectual, moral and material work. For the nations, obtain legislation inspired by the Gospel, the spirit of Christian charity, and a way of governing in accord with justice and peace. St. Joseph the Worker, pray for us.

If our Ave Maria
continuously rises up to heaven,
so, too will there descend from heaven
continuous blessings
for society,
for the Church,
for families,
and for the mission.


Bl. James Alberione