CatholicGeek.... for God and for others

Eagan Home for Sale

2009-05-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Classic Rambler Walkout, Updated…

A suburban retreat, close to nature in Southeast Eagan
with a lower level suite can function as separate residence,
ideal for a larger family,multi-generational living, or rent lower level out for extra income.

5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths,
2 garages feature 3.5 stalls/ workshop with lots of storage
large corner lot
quiet neighborhood
1/2 block from park

even a prayer garden!

offered at $319,000

Interested in more information or a tour? E mail eaganbanker@yahoo.com

Here's are details with pictures

The Home.....

Main Floor

Front Deck entry from landscaped front drive
Eastern exposure for sunny mornings reading the paper
Daytime shade in summer

Formal Living/Dining Room
Large picture window overlooking landscaped yard
New carpet
New entry flooring
Pocket door to kitchen

Eat-in Country Kitchen
Newer fridge, stove, dishwasher
Classic wood cabinetry
Butcher block center island with gas stove
Newer flooring

Great Room adjacent to kitchen (added in 2007)
Vaulted ceilings
Recessed lighting
Gas fireplace with ceramic surround and oak mantle
Whisper-quiet Mitsubishi wall unit A/C
Sun-drenched- six large windows overlooking expansive backyard
French doors opening onto back deck and adjacent patio

Mud Room
Entry from kitchen
Both outside and garage access
Adjacent half bath with pocket door
Bath features washer/dryer

2.5 stall attached garage
Heated
Plentiful cabinet storage
Extensive shop area wired with 220v for welding
One stall has oversized door- great for RV, large truck, auto repair
New insulated windowed doors with openers

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 1 second view

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Sunny eastern and western exposures

third bedroom would be great as Study/Nursery/ Library

Full bath with tub/shower
Glass block window
block vanity/ separator
Linen closet

Hall coat closet

Lower Level Suite (walkout entry to front)

This suite would be ideal for inter-generational living- adult children returning home or older parents- close by but they have their own living space

Bedroom 4

Bedroom 5

Note: large egress windows

Full bath

tub/ shower

mirrored vanity
linen cabinet

extra storage under stairs

Additional eat-in kitchen with second family room
Sunny windows looking out on landscaped front yard
utility room storage areas

Private entrance and driveway- separate from upper level
Adjacent garden areas and walkway to meditation garden

Lower Garage
Extra deep with lots of storage capability

Heated
New insulated windowed door with opener

The Property...

2/3 acre
Corner lot
2 dozen mature trees plus landscaping
Well water for watering
Semi-shaded concrete patio- adjacent to deck and great room
Second patio surrounds eight foot city regulation-conforming firepit
25 by 25 ft vegetable/ flower garden
Adjacent storage/ work shed with electricity and land phone line
Two decks- front (entry) and rear (great room)
Tree shaded meditation garden with labyrinth
Small, secluded neighborhood - extra quiet
District 196 schools-Pinewood Elementary .61 miles away

Close to nature

½ block away from South Oaks park
Natural prairie area
Newer playground
Picnic tables
Game field
Fishing dock access to Hay Lake

10 minute walk from Lebanon Hills Regional Park
Canoeing
Kayaking
Hiking
Cross country skiing trails
Camping areas
Nature center and trails
Sand beach on Schultz Lake

Convenient to shopping
1 mile to new “boutique” Cub foods,

a short drive (3 miles) from Kowalski’s, Byerly’s, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Rainbow Foods, Eagan Town Center

Handy Access to main arteries

½ mile to South Robert Trail/ Highway 3
Connections south to Rosemount Cty Rd 42, North to Highway 149 and Interstate 494
Highway 52 less than 5 minutes away-
15 minute travel to downtown St. Paul with no traffic signals

A History of Home Care and Improvement

1976- Home constructed

1985- 2.5 stall garage added

1998- House re-roofed

2002- Major renovation ($25,000)
Living room, upper bath windows replaced
Glass block shower added to upstairs bath

New central heat/ AC
New oversized electric water heater
New carpeting
Landscaping improved

2004
New flooring- both bathrooms and upper kitchen
Second kitchen restored to lower level ($3000)
Lower residence rented out at $750/ month

2005
New downstairs kitchen flooring
11 new exterior lights with dusk to dawn low impact lighting
Sand volleyball court turned into meditation garden

2006-7

Major renovation/ additions ($80,000)
Unfinished breezeway between house and garage demolished
Replaced with mudroom with adjacent half bath with washer and dryer
Back deck demolished
Replaced with 14x20 ft great room
New soffits and gutters all around house
New Downstairs living area windows

2008

Two patios added to back yard- one adjacent to back deck, one with firepit adjacent to garden

2009
New main entrance storm doors-3/4 glass ventilated
New garage doors - insulated, windowed
Front deck rebuilt,
New roof on garage
New living/ dining room carpet and front entry flooring

2008 Taxes: $2789

Changes and Chances

2009-05-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

All the beautiful changes and
chances
Through which the landscape flits and glances,
Till now, you dreamed not what could be
done
With a bit of rock and a ray of
sun

James Russell Lowell

Recently, it felt like not much was being done with my own changes and chances. Really kind of aggravated by the recent twists and turns of my life
I came across the traditional Roman Catholic collect for this past Sunday.

It helped a little.

For those unfamiliar, here is a translation:

O Almighty God,
who alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men:
grant unto your people
that they may love the thing which you command,
and desire that which you promise;
our hearts may surely there be fixed,
where true joys are to be found.

My "dialogue with God" version:

Phil: "Lord , get me out of this...... temptation.... mess.... situation."

God: "I will.... when you come home to be with Me and not one moment before....
All you are experiencing now is prelude and instruction and practice in the school of Love....
until you become Love itself."

It's not only true that God works and walks with us
in every change and chance of this life.
We get the further grace of knowing and experiencing
how He uses those circumstances to turn our hearts to Him.

We never quite get there while here on earth.

I suspect even the desire to do so might be evidence,
alternatively, of spiritual pride or laziness.

In my own case it's a bit of both.
But then we are bid to turn our eyes heavenward,
to find out where our true Joy is found
to find our own "bit of rock and ray of the sun."

Measure Twice, Cut Once: Nature and Grace in the Workplace

2009-05-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

One thing among many others I learned from my father in law was the handyman's axiom "measure twice, cut once." It's true in the spiritual realm as well.

Another axiom...the angelic doctor Thomas Aquinas declared "grace perfects nature."

Let's think about the two axioms together. For every action we take we need to make two measures, either consciously or unconsciously.

First, is what I am going to do in accord with the nature of who I am? Second, is what am I going to do in accord with the law of grace?

If the two appear to be in conflict, then we need to ask ourselves very carefully whether or not we are asking the right question.... or perhaps the right question in the wrong way. Conversely, if we aren't even asking ourselves these questions, we have lost our spiritual way.

That seems to be the case today when ethical decisions boil down to a relativistic "what's best for me" or when the questions AND their answers are driven by a compulsive need to assert one's "true" identity. I am a woman, I am gay, I am Hispanic,... you fill in the blank.

That sort of self-absorbed compulsion should not be a surprise. It happens when folks have concluded that there is no objective moral truth, nor AnyOne who cares enough to set boundaries. I am left to my own devices, to create my own reality, to decide who I am. and because there are no givens, affirming that identity and having everyone else affirm me becomes an obsession.

It seems to me, though, that the life of St Joseph under the title of "Worker" provides a sublime illustration of how both of these important questions can merge gracefully, and be answered in a single life. And that answer is the antidote to today's workplace malaise as well as the perpetual identity crisis.

Of course, Joseph's work as a carpenter (or more accurately in ancient terms, an artisan) , reflected his nature. Most of us have experienced the fact that some of us are born handymen- others not. But if we are handy with tools, we still intuitively feel that "yes!" SOMEWHERE in our lives, whether it be in the heft of a hammer, the beauty of a well composed symphony, or the symmetry of a perfectly balanced spead sheet.

But Joseph's hidden life as the teacher of Jesus, as the listener to God's whispering guidance, as protector of the Blessed Virgin Spouse, are pieces of his life which represent the perfection of his own nature under Grace.

One healing aspect of this Feast is the very fact that it does bring the two facets of life back together. Indeed, the feast arose out of the Church's felt need to respend to the plight of workers in their struggles to gain basic rights.

In that sense, St Joseph the Worker lays blessing hands upon the turmoil of our work lives, as he did on the labor struggles of the nineteenth century. Nowadays communal May Day demonstrations have given way to the supreme isolation of texting during meetings.

But, the basic bifurcation is still the same. We think that what we do for work is our work, not God's. And the answer to that unnatural split is in the sublime nature-grace unity of bringing our tools, our work lives, our hours of labor, to the altar of Grace.

St Joseph, Pray for Us!

Staned Glass, Stained Hearts in our Suffering

2009-04-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

Back in the mid 1980's while I was still a Protestant, a friend of mine had a sister who was a nun. We went and visited her at her convent and she took us on a tour of the chapel. When she came to the window which depicted St Catherine of Siena, she paused dramatically and said with a flourish of her wrinkled hand, "...and here we have OUR doctor of the Church, St Catherine of Siena." Funny thing, she wasn't Dominican, and yet she felt such a strong kinship with one of the few women doctors of the Church. "OUR Doctor."

I suspect there was more kinship here than meets the eye. "Strong" women in the Catholic Church have found themselves advocating for womens' ordination for years. They point to the gifts of women like Catherine of Siena as evidence of the validity of womens' priestly calling. I won't go into the arguments pro and con here today. Nor can I hide the fact that I support the Church's practice or ordaining only men to the ministerial priesthood.

However, I'd like to look deeper.... from the stained glass to the stained hearts of those who experience the suffering a delayed or denied vocation can cause.

Bitterness, disallusionment, listlessness.... My own experience is that this agony itself becomes the fount of a deeper identification with our Lord in his suffering. The old Catholic adage of "offer it up" stands up against the worst tests we can put to it.

Bloodied hands and side and the interior bloodied hearts, need not be signs of weakness, victimization, or defeat. If, in the citadel of our souls, we bend to accept God's will, whatever that might be, we can join our sufferings to the One who made Himself as nothing for us. It is the way of the inward stigmata, the way in which Catherine of siena walked. It is the sword which pierced our Blessed Virgin's heart also, all unseen and unknown by any but her most intimate Confidant, the Holy Spirit.

This hold true for almost any unchangeable circumstance in our lives. Here are some relevant quotes from St Catherine, well worth meditating on for this her Feast Day:

"O Eternal God, receive the sacrifice of my life in this Mystical Body of Holy Church. I have naught to give save what Thou hast given me." -----Prayer of St. Catherine

"It is not the hour to seek one's self for one's self, nor to flee pains in order to possess consolations; nay, it is the hour to lose one's self." -----Letters of St. Catherine

"I turn me and lean against the most Holy Cross of Christ Crucified, and there I will fasten me." -----Letters of St. Catherine "What hast Thou taught me, O Love Uncreated? Thou hast taught me that I should bear patiently like a lamb, not only harsh words, but even blows harsh and hard, and injury and loss." -----Letters of St. Catherine

"To the servant of God . . . every place is the right place, and every time is the right time. -----Letters of St. Catherine

"I have no other desire in this life save to see the honor of God, your peace, and the reformation of Holy Church, and to see the life of grace in every creature that hath reason in itself." -----Letters of St. Catherine of Siena

St Catherine of Siena asked for the privilege of receiving the pain of the stigmata without the outward marks thereof. May we do so also and happily pray as St Paul did (Colossians 1:24-29):

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, of which I am a minister in accordance with God's stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God,

the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.

It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me."

St Catherine of Siena, pray for us!

Two Theresas with One Thirst

2009-04-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Are you and I as thirsty for the good for others as Jesus is?

Recently I have been convicted how little my conscious motivation is to bring the love of God and His good to souls. I was remnded once again of Jesus' great passion for souls, a passion shared by many of his saints, including Therese of Liseux and Mother Teresa.

In that connection, I bring an excerpt from a recent book,

I THIRST: SAINT THERESE OF LISIEUX AND MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA by Jacques Gauthier. (Staten Island, New York: Society of St. Paul)

"The thirst of Jesus, his thirst for love and for souls, is one of the major reasons for the mission and extraordinary significance of St. Therese. It is this thirst which explains the mission of Mother Teresa.

She wrote in her Spiritual Testament that everything about the Missionaries of Charity is intended to quench the Thirst of Jesus. As Mother Teresa stated, "As long as you do not know in a very intimate way that Jesus is thirsty for you, it will be impossible for you to know who He wants to be for you, nor who He wants you to be for Him."

It was quite evident that Mother Teresa quenched the thirst of Jesus in loving the poorest of the poor. The author calls upon the imagery of the Samaritan woman to illustrate the awareness of thirst within the Gospel narrative.

A second major connection between Mother Teresa and St. Therese was their call "to be love" in the Church. St. Therese in writing to her sister Celine illustrates: Jesus wills that the salvation of souls depends on the sacrifices of our love. He is begging for souls from us. . . Let us make our life a continual sacrifice, a martyrdom of love, in order to console Jesus.

In a later piece of correspondence the following year, she states: "He has so much need of love and He is so thirsty, that He expects from us the drop of water that must refresh Him! Ah! Let us give without counting the cost."

Watch and Pray through Temptation, a la Cardinal Newman

2009-04-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

I am auditing a class at St Paul Seminary and this morning our instructor, Fr. Andrew Cozzens, made reference to a homily of John Henry Cardinal Newman concerning those who know God's will but choose not to follow it.

Stay with this- even though the first two thirds of his homily seem a little hard to take. Newman takes his fellow countrymen to task, especially those who don't know God's will, or or who know it but just turn away for a variety of reasons.

The pay off comes in the last third where Newman addresses those of us who want desperately to do God's will, but find ourselves falling short or down again and again and again.

He addresses such sweet words of comfort to us, that I felt I had to share it. Those words are in boldface red way down at the bottom. You can skip there, but it pays to read the whole thing.

Sermon 3. Knowledge of God's Will without Obedience

"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." John xiii. 17.

{27} THERE never was a people or an age to which these words could be more suitably addressed than to this country at this time; because we know more of the way to serve God, of our duties, our privileges, and our reward, than any other people hitherto, as far as we have the means of judging. To us then especially our Saviour says, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

Now, doubtless, many of us think we know this very well. It seems a very trite thing to say, that it is nothing to know what is right, unless we do it; an old subject about which nothing new can be said. When we read such passages in Scripture, we pass over them as admitting them without dispute; and thus we contrive practically to forget them. Knowledge is nothing compared with doing; but the knowing that knowledge is nothing, we make to be something, we make it count, and thus we cheat ourselves.

This we do in parallel cases also. Many a man instead {28} of learning humility in practice, confesses himself a poor sinner, and next prides himself upon the confession; he ascribes the glory of his redemption to God, and then becomes in a manner proud that he is redeemed. He is proud of his so-called humility.

Doubtless Christ spoke no words in vain. The Eternal Wisdom of God did not utter His voice that we might at once catch up His words in an irreverent manner, think we understand them at a glance, and pass them over. But His word endureth for ever; it has a depth of meaning suited to all times and places, and hardly and painfully to be understood in any. They, who think they enter into it easily, may be quite sure they do not enter into it at all.

Now then let us try, by His grace, to make the text a living word to the benefit of our souls. Our Lord says, "If ye know, happy are ye, if ye do." Let us consider how we commonly read Scripture.

We read a passage in the Gospels, for instance, a parable perhaps, or the account of a miracle; or we read a chapter in the Prophets, or a Psalm. Who is not struck with the beauty of what he reads? I do not wish to speak of those who read the Bible only now and then, and who will in consequence generally find its sacred pages dull and uninteresting; but of those who study it. Who of such persons does not see the beauty of it? for instance, take the passage which introduces the text. Christ had been washing His disciples' feet. He did so at a season of great mental suffering; it was just before He was seized by His enemies to be put to death. The traitor, His familiar friend, was in the {29} room. All of His disciples, even the most devoted of them, loved Him much less than they thought they did. In a little while they were all to forsake Him and flee. This He foresaw; yet He calmly washed their feet, and then He told them that He did so by way of an example; that they should be full of lowly services one to the other, as He to them; that he among them was in fact the highest who put himself the lowest. This He had said before; and His disciples must have recollected it. Perhaps they might wonder in their secret hearts why He repeated the lesson; they might say to themselves, "We have heard this before." They might be surprised that His significant action, His washing their feet, issued in nothing else than a precept already delivered, the command to be humble. At the same time they would not be able to deny, or rather they would deeply feel, the beauty of His action. Nay, as loving Him (after all) above all things, and reverencing Him as their Lord and Teacher, they would feel an admiration and awe of Him; but their minds would not rest sufficiently on the practical direction of the instruction vouchsafed to them.

They knew the truth, and they admired it; they did not observe what it was they lacked. Such may be considered their frame of mind; and hence the force of the text, delivered primarily against Judas Iscariot, who knew and sinned deliberately against the truth; secondarily referring to all the Apostles, and St. Peter chiefly, who promised to be faithful, but failed under the trial; lastly, to us all,—all of us here assembled, who hear the word of life continually, know it, admire it, do all but obey it. {30}

Is it not so? is not Scripture altogether pleasant except in its strictness? do not we try to persuade ourselves, that to feel religiously, to confess our love of religion, and to be able to talk of religion, will stand in the place of careful obedience, of that self-denial which is the very substance of true practical religion? Alas! that religion which is so delightful as a vision, should be so distasteful as a reality. Yet so it is, whether we are aware of the fact or not.

1. The multitude of men even who profess religion are in this state of mind. We will take the case of those who are in better circumstances than the mass of the community. They are well educated and taught; they have few distresses in life, or are able to get over them by the variety of their occupations, by the spirits which attend good health, or at least by the lapse of time. They go on respectably and happily, with the same general tastes and habits which they would have had if the Gospel had not been given them. They have an eye to what the world thinks of them; are charitable when it is expected. They are polished in their manners, kind from natural disposition or a feeling of propriety. Thus their religion is based upon self and the world, a mere civilization; the same (I say), as it would have been in the main, (taking the state of society as they find it,) even supposing Christianity were not the religion of the land. But it is; and let us go on to ask, how do they in consequence feel towards it? They accept it, they add it to what they are, they ingraft it upon the selfish and worldly habits of an unrenewed heart. They have been taught to revere it, and to {31} believe it to come from God; so they admire it, and accept it as a rule of life, so far forth as it agrees with the carnal principles which govern them. So far as it does not agree, they are blind to its excellence and its claims. They overlook or explain away its precepts. They in no sense obey because it commands. They do right when they would have done right had it not commanded; however, they speak well of it, and think they understand it. Sometimes, if I may continue the description, they adopt it into a certain refined elegance of sentiments and manners, and then the irreligion is all that is graceful, fastidious, and luxurious. They love religious poetry and eloquent preaching. They desire to have their feelings roused and soothed, and to secure a variety and relief in that eternal subject which is unchangeable. They tire of its simplicity, and perhaps seek to keep up their interest in it by means of religious narratives, fictitious or embellished, or of news from foreign countries, or of the history of the prospects or successes of the Gospel; thus perverting what is in itself good and innocent. This is their state of mind at best; for more commonly they think it enough merely to show some slight regard for the subject of religion; to attend its services on the Lord's day, and then only once, and coldly to express an approbation of it. But of course every description of such persons can be but general; for the shades of character are so varied and blended in individuals, as to make it impossible to give an accurate picture, and often very estimable persons and truly good Christians are partly infected with this bad and earthly spirit. {32}

2. Take again another description of them. They have perhaps turned their attention to the means of promoting the happiness of their fellow-creatures, and have formed a system of morality and religion of their own; then they come to Scripture. They are much struck with the high tone of its precepts, and the beauty of its teaching. It is true, they find many things in it which they do not understand or do not approve; many things they would not have said themselves. But they pass these by; they fancy that these do not apply to the present day, (which is an easy way of removing any thing we do not like,) and on the whole they receive the Bible, and they think it highly serviceable for the lower classes. Therefore, they recommend it, and support the institutions which are the channels of teaching it. But as to their own case, it never comes into their minds to apply its precepts seriously to themselves; they know them already, they consider. They know them and that is enough; but as for doing them, by which I mean, going forward to obey them, with an unaffected earnestness and an honest faith acting upon them, receiving them as they are, and not as their own previously formed opinions would have them be, they have nothing of this right spirit. They do not contemplate such a mode of acting. To recommend and affect a moral and decent conduct (on whatever principles) seems to them to be enough. The spread of knowledge bringing in its train a selfish temperance, a selfish peaceableness, a selfish benevolence, the morality of expedience, this satisfies them.

They care for none of the truths of Scripture, on the ground of their being in Scripture; these scarcely {33} become more valuable in their eyes for being there written. They do not obey because they are told to obey, on faith; and the need of this divine principle of conduct they do not comprehend. Why will it not answer (they seem to say) to make men good in one way as well as another? "Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, are they not better than all the waters of Israel?" as if all the knowledge and the training that books ever gave had power to unloose one sinner from the bonds of Satan, or to effect more than an outward reformation, an appearance of obedience; as if it were not a far different principle, a principle independent of knowledge, above it and before it, which leads to real obedience, that principle of divine faith, given from above, which has life in itself, and has power really to use knowledge to the soul's welfare; in the hand of which knowledge is (as it were) the torch lighting us on our way, but not teaching or strengthening us to walk.

3. Or take another view of the subject. Is it not one of the most common excuses made by the poor for being irreligious, that they have had no education? as if to know much was a necessary step for right practice. Again, they are apt to think it enough to know and to talk of religion, to make a man religious. Why have you come hither today, my brethren?—not as a matter of course, I will hope; not merely because friends or superiors told you to come. I will suppose you have come to church as a religious act; but beware of supposing that all is done and over by the act of coming. It is not enough to be present here; though many men act as if they forgot they must attend to what is going {34} on, as well as come. It is not enough to listen to what is preached; though many think they have gone a great way when they do this. You must pray; now this is very hard in itself to any one who tries (and this is the reason why so many men prefer the sermon to the prayers, because the former is merely the getting knowledge, and the latter is to do a deed of obedience): you must pray; and this I say is very difficult, because our thoughts are so apt to wander.

But even this is not all;—you must, as you pray, really intend to try to practise what you pray for. When you say, "Lead us not into temptation," you must in good earnest mean to avoid in your daily conduct those temptations which you have already suffered from. When you say, "Deliver us from evil," you must mean to struggle against that evil in your hearts, which you are conscious of, and which you pray to be forgiven. This is difficult; still more is behind. You must actually carry your good intentions into effect during the week, and in truth and reality war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And any one here present who falls short of this, that is, who thinks it enough to come to church to learn God's will, but does not bear in mind to do it in his daily conduct, be he high or be he low, know he mysteries and all knowledge, or be he unlettered and busily occupied in active life, he is a fool in His sight, who maketh the wisdom of this world foolishness. Surely he is but a trifler, as substituting a formal outward service for the religion of the heart; and he reverses our Lord's words in the text, "because he knows these things, most unhappy is he, because he does them not." {35}

4. But some one may say, "It is so very difficult to serve God, it is so much against my own mind, such an effort, such a strain upon my strength to bear Christ's yoke, I must give it over, or I must delay it at least. Can nothing be taken instead? I acknowledge His law to be most holy and true, and the accounts I read about good men are most delightful. I wish I were like them with all my heart; and for a little while I feel in a mind to set about imitating them. I have begun several times, I have had seasons of repentance, and set rules to myself; but for some reason or other, I fell back after a while, and was even worse than before. I know, but I cannot do. O wretched man that I am!"

Now to such an one I say, You are in a much more promising state than if you were contented with yourself, and thought that knowledge was every thing, which is the grievous blindness which I have hitherto been speaking of; that is, you are in a better state, if you do not feel too much comfort or confidence in your confession. For this is the fault of many men; they make such an acknowledgment as I have described a substitute for real repentance; or allow themselves, after making it, to put off repentance, as if they could be suffered to give a word of promise which did not become due (so to say) for many days. You are, I admit, in a better state than if you were satisfied with yourself, but you are not in a safe state. If you were now to die, you would have no hope of salvation: no hope, that is, if your own showing be true, for I am taking your own words. Go before God's judgment-seat, and there plead that you know the Truth and have not done it.

This is {36} what you frankly own;—how will it there be taken? "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee," says our Judge Himself, and who shall reverse His judgment? Therefore such an one must make the confession with great and real terror and shame, if it is to be considered a promising sign in him; else it is mere hardness of heart. For instance: I have heard persons say lightly (every one must have heard them) that they own it would be a wretched thing indeed for them or their companions to be taken off suddenly. The young are especially apt to say this; that is, before they have come to an age to be callous, or have formed excuses to overcome the natural true sense of their conscience. They say they hope some day to repent. This is their own witness against themselves, like that bad prophet at Bethel who was constrained with his own mouth to utter God's judgments while he sat at his sinful meat. But let not such an one think that he will receive any thing of the Lord: he does not speak in faith.

When, then, a man complains of his hardness of heart or weakness of purpose, let him see to it whether this complaint is more than a mere pretence to quiet his conscience, which is frightened at his putting off repentance; or, again, more than a mere idle word, said half in jest and half in compunction. But, should he be earnest in his complaint, then let him consider he has no need to complain. Every thing is plain and easy to the earnest; it is the double-minded who find difficulties. If you hate your own corruption in sincerity and truth, if you are really pierced to the heart that you do not do what you know you should do, if you would love God if {37} you could, then the Gospel speaks to you words of peace and hope. It is a very different thing indolently to say, "I would I were a different man," and to close with God's offer to make you different, when it is put before you. Here is the test between earnestness and insincerity. You say you wish to be a different man; Christ takes you at your word, so to speak; He offers to make you different. He says, "I will take away from you the heart of stone, the love of this world and its pleasures, if you will submit to My discipline." Here a man draws back. No; he cannot bear to lose the love of the world, to part with his present desires and tastes; he cannot consent to be changed. After all he is well satisfied at the bottom of his heart to remain as he is, only he wants his conscience taken out of the way. Did Christ offer to do this for him, if He would but make bitter sweet and sweet bitter, darkness light and light darkness, then he would hail the glad tidings of peace;—till then he needs Him not.

But if a man is in earnest in wishing to get at the depths of his own heart, to expel the evil, to purify the good, and to gain power over himself, so as to do as well as know the Truth, what is the difficulty?—a matter of time indeed, but not of uncertainty is the recovery of such a man. So simple is the rule which he must follow, and so trite, that at first he will be surprised to hear it. God does great things by plain methods; and men start from them through pride, because they are plain. This was the conduct of Naaman the Syrian. Christ says, "Watch and pray;" herein lies our cure.

To watch and to pray are surely in our {38} power, and by these means we are certain of getting strength. You feel your weakness; you fear to be overcome by temptation: then keep out of the way of it. This is watching. Avoid society which is likely to mislead you; flee from the very shadow of evil; you cannot be too careful; better be a little too strict than a little too easy,—it is the safer side. Abstain from reading books which are dangerous to you. Turn from bad thoughts when they arise, set about some business, begin conversing with some friend, or say to yourself the Lord's Prayer reverently. When you are urged by temptation, whether it be by the threats of the world, false shame, self-interest, provoking conduct on the part of another, or the world's sinful pleasures, urged to be cowardly, or covetous, or unforgiving, or sensual, shut your eyes and think of Christ's precious blood-shedding.

Do not dare to say you cannot help sinning; a little attention to these points will go far (through God's grace) to keep you in the right way. And again, pray as well as watch. You must know that you can do nothing of yourself; your past experience has taught you this; therefore look to God for the will and the power; ask Him earnestly in His Son's name; seek His holy ordinances. Is not this in your power? Have you not power at least over the limbs of your body, so as to attend the means of grace constantly? Have you literally not the power to come hither; to observe the Fasts and Festivals of the Church; to come to His Holy Altar and receive the Bread of Life? Get yourself, at least, to do this; to put out the hand, to take His gracious Body {39} and Blood; this is no arduous work;—and you say you really wish to gain the blessings He offers. What would you have more than a free gift, vouchsafed "without money and without price?" So, make no more excuses; murmur not about your own bad heart, your knowing and resolving, and not doing. Here is your remedy.

Well were it if men could be persuaded to be in earnest; but few are thus minded. The many go on with a double aim, trying to serve both God and mammon. Few can get themselves to do what is right, because God tells them; they have another aim; they desire to please self or men. When they can obey God without offending the bad Master that rules them, then, and then only, they obey. Thus religion, instead of being the first thing in their estimation, is but the second. They differ, indeed, one from another what to put foremost: one man loves to be at ease, another to be busy, another to enjoy domestic comfort: but they agree in converting the truth of God, which they know to be Truth, into a mere instrument of secular aims; not discarding the Truth, but degrading it.

When He, the Lord of hosts, comes to shake terribly the earth, what number will He find of the remnant of the true Israel? We live in an educated age. The false gloss of a mere worldly refinement makes us decent and amiable. We all know and profess. We think ourselves wise; we flatter each other; we make excuses for ourselves when we are conscious we sin, and thus we gradually lose the consciousness that we are sinning. We think our own times superior to all others. "Thou {40} blind Pharisee!" This was the fatal charge brought by our blessed Lord against the falsely enlightened teachers of His own day. As then we desire to enter into life, let us come to Christ continually for the two foundations of true Christian faith,—humbleness of mind and earnestness!

Can you see Him in her?

2009-04-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

"Our body is a cenacle,
a monstrance:
through its crystal the world should see God."

St Gianna Beretta Molla
Wife, Mother, Doctor, Martyr,
Italy (1922-1962)
FEAST DAY - April 28

St Gianna, pray for us!

the Professor(s) and Mary Ann, Here on Jenkin's Isle

2009-04-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

I am not a copy cat (not usually) but as a Notre Dame grad I follow with interest Father John Jenkins' hi-jinks and especially appreciate Mary Ann Glendon's reasoned response- see Rocco's choice piece below.

Also, I heard through the grapevine that Notre Dame is fishing around for a second choice to whom they can offer this year's Medal...

"Hey, the Prom's Saturday night, wanna go with me? Mary Ann dumped me."

Laetare, Declined
via Whispers in the Loggia by Rocco Palmo on 4/27/09

A full update on the continuing controversy surrounding President Obama's selection as Notre Dame's commencement speaker is in the works... in the meantime, however, just hitting the wires comes news that former US ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, the intended recipient of the university's highest honor, the Laetare Medal, has declined the award, citing "the very serious problems" raised by the university's invite -- one taken, she said, "in disregard of the settled position of the US bishops."

Long ago dubbed "God's Lawyer" and the "First Lady" of the Stateside church, the Harvard law prof -- a highly-respected figure at the Holy See -- made the announcement in an open letter to University President Fr John Jenkins CSC published this morning by First Things, whose site is currently down, ostensibly crashed from the demand.Glendon received notice of her selection as the Medal's 127th winner in December, months before the President's appearance at the 17 May ceremonies was arranged.More soon -- as always, stay tuned.

SVILUPPO: As the FT site's still down for the count, here's the letter's fulltext....

April 27, 2009
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
PresidentUniversity of Notre Dame

Dear Father Jenkins,

When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President Obama, I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors.
First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

Then I learned that “talking points” issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision included two statements implying that my acceptance speech would somehow balance the event:
• “President Obama won’t be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal.”
• “We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about.”

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops’ guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame’s example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.

In order to avoid the inevitable speculation about the reasons for my decision, I will release this letter to the press, but I do not plan to make any further comment on the matter at this time.

Yours Very Truly,
Mary Ann Glendon

Hiatus ended

2009-04-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been, how long? over 18 months since I last blogged. I've taken several classes at seminary, done a lot of spiritual direction and soul searching, and it seems like the right time to resurrect this blog and begin with baby steps once again in order to share some thoughts.

Suffice it to say right now that I am still on my vocational journey, still intimately connected to the Catholic Church, both through my work and through my role as Oblate of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank.

I noticed that there is still traffic to my site- although that has been going down over time. I hope this reminds me that my goal is not to drive the numbers up but to be faithful in sharing my thoughts.

Hiatus

2007-09-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

I will be taking a break from posting for a while- how long I don't know.

Could just be a week, or a month or several months. As some of you know, I am taking a theology class now so that is an additional time constraint. That, as well as the prayer-intensive process of vocational discernment indicate that I need to be away for a while.

Thank you all for your attention and your comments.

Peace and Light in Christ Jesus.

Lift High the Cross!

2007-09-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

“To attract souls
and transform them into Himself through love,
Christ has revealed His own infinite love,
His own Heart inflamed by love for souls,
a love that impelled Him to mount the Cross,
to remain with us in the Eucharist
and to enter our souls
and to leave us in testament
His own Mother as our Mother.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe

We adore You O Christ, and we praise You,
because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

Climb THIS mountain.

2007-09-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today's gospel speaks of Jesus' prayer practice of retreating to the mountains (Luke 6:12):

In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night
in prayer to God.

Those were the days when Christ was getting ready to appoint his chosen Apostles, in the days BEFORE he turned his face to Jerusalem to die and take us with Himself to God. Before he did those courageous things, he took time to turn to the Father.

Saint Ambrose (c. 340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church, speaks of this turning to God. This mountain-climbing prayer belongs not only to Christ but to all of His true followers.

Which mountains are you facing today?

Mountains of decision?
Mountains of work?
Mountains of dispair?

There's another mountain which you need to climb BEFORE dealing with these other mountains. It's the mountain of prayer to the Lord.

(SC 45)

Not all those who pray climb the mountain…, but those who pray well, who rise up above the goods of earth to higher goods, climb onto the summit of watchfulness and love from on high.

Those who worry about worldly riches or honours do not climb the mountain; no one who covets another’s lands climbs the mountain. Those who seek God go up it and those who go up beg the Lord’s aid for their journey.

All great and noble souls climb the mountain for it is not to the first comer alone that the prophet says: “Go up onto a high mountain, you who announce glad tidings to Sion. Cry out at the top of your voice, you who bring good news to Jerusalem,” (Is 40,9).

Not by physical exploits but by high-minded actions will you scale this mountain. Follow Christ…; search the Gospel: you will find that only his disciples climbed up the mountain with the Lord.

Now, for the rest of the story....

2007-09-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

This morning I read my St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press. They reprinted a nice article on on-line confession from the Los Angeles Times. Inexplicably (unless you know the Pioneer Press track record) the article stops in mid paragraph.

The initial part of the article details the decline and (supposed) demise of Confession and Absolution in the Catholic Church, then goes on to what the Press really "digs," groovy descriptions of on-line and Protestant alternatives. Just as the article veers back toward the Catholic Church and appears ready to pick up the Catholic response, it is cut off.

Sure enough, the on-line version at that point reveals the important distinctions which set the Catholic sacrament apart from its therapeutic and consumer-oriented imitators.

As some of you recall (hopefully from recent personal experience) in Reconciliation one is being reconciled by a real person representing Jesus Christ in his Church (the priest). As his representative, the priest speaks the words of Christ himself "I absolve you."

This is so very far away from the on-line confessionals. They appear to be supporting a therapeutic and apparently also voyeuristic self-catharsis. It reminds of a cartoon a priest-friend sent me yesterday. I couldn't post it without paying a $25 fee, but here's the gist.

A priest is sitting in the confessional listening to an earnest penitent and is thinking "this is SO in my blog!" Anyone who knows how tightly the confessional door "seal" is shut, understands the joke. But it does illustrate, however, how foreign our tell-all culture is to the private and personal nature of the confessal relationship. But I digress.

To summarize, other types of confession are about "me and my problems." They represent subjective, self generated solutions based on feeling.

The Catholic Sacrament of Confession, on the other hand, is about the recognition of sin, an objective failure on our part, and the joyful reception of an objective redemption offered to us by a loving God who came to save us in His Son Jesus. That same Jesus established a Church which offers that word of forgiveness.

If you'd RATHER have that kind of bloodless forgiveness, where its just Jesus and you, go ahead and knock yourself out. I can't guarantee that you won't be forgiven. Not my job to determine that.... its God's. But on the other hand, if you want to experience the whole nine yards of forgiveness, then go seek out a priest and just ask.

While the on line article doesn't quite go that far in making the distinction, it does offer up some helpful observations from penitents and priest alike which point the reader in this direction.

For whatever reason, the Pioneer Press chose to cut this last part off, doing injustice both to the original article and its author, as well as its own readers. As in the past, only a crossword-loving roommate stands between me and a noisy protest-driven cancellation letter.

Get up and Follow Christ!

2007-09-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

Here is some wisdom around today's gospel reading.

From Philoxenes of Mabbug (? c.523), bishop in Syria

Homilies, no.9 (cf SC 44)

To be his disciple

"Listen to God’s voice prompting you to leave yourself behind to follow Christ and you will be a perfect disciple: “Whoever does not forsake all he has cannot be my disciple.” What have you to say? What answer could you give to that? All your uncertainties and questions fall flat before that single word; the word of truth is the exalted path by which you will make progress.

Again, Jesus said: “Whoever does not renounce all his goods and take up his cross to walk after me, cannot be my disciple.” And to teach us to renounce not only our goods - to give him glory - and the world - to confess him before men - but our life too, he added: “If anyone does not renounce himself, he cannot be my disciple.”…

In another place he said: “Whoever hates his life in this world keeps it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him,” (Jn 12,26). And he then said to his own: “Get up, let us go,” (Jn 14,31). By this word he showed that his place is no more to be found here below than that of his disciples. Lord, where then shall we go? “Where I am, there also let my servant be,” (Jn 12,26).

If Jesus cries out to us: “Get up, let us go!” who will still be so foolish as to consent to remain with the dead in their tombs, dwelling among captives? So every time the world tries to detain you, remember Christ’s word: “Get up, let us go!” So long as you are living, this voice will be enough to stir you. Every time you feel like sitting down, settling, being content to stay where you are, call to mind that voice saying to you insistently : “Get up, let us go!” We shall have to go, anyway.

But go as Jesus went; go because he has told you to and not because death has carried you away in spite of yourself. Whether you like it or not you are walking the road of the departing. But leave at the word of your Master and not simply because you have to. “Get up, let us go!”… Why delay? Christ also walks with you."

How do we know what to do?

2007-09-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Christians can seem a little arrogant, claiming to know God's will for themselves, and sometimes for everyone else also.

All three of Sunday's lectionary readings for Mass provoke us to think a little deeper about certainty, risk, decision making.

The author of Wisdom (9:13-18b) kept on asking the right question....

For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth ,and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;

but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?

Really, who CAN know with certainty about things both earthly and heavenly? What DO we do with that relationship? that job? that heartache? that joy? that errant child? that troublesome thought?

Good question.

In our Second Reading Paul has written a letter asking the recipient to release Paul's friend Onesimus from slavery. He does so in order that Onesimus might help Paul out in his missionary journeys around Asia Minor. Apparently, this slave had run away from his master and was converted by Paul's preaching. Now Paul has sent the slave back to his Christian owner with his request. But notice the nuanced statement of the Apostle:

"...but I did not want to do anything without your consent,

so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary."

Sure, Paul could have used his authority and the obvious moral certainty about freedom to force the owner to decide to release Onesimus. But he didn't. He respected the freedom of the other.

Good lesson for us.

God won't force our hands. He waits like the gentleman that He is, to be asked His opinion. We could do worse for our own selves.

But wait, there's more..... I knew we couldn't get off THAT easy. Life decisions can be tough.... and, as usual, Jesus is going to make them just a little bit more difficult...

I have to repeat the whole passage, its just THAT challenging, and THAT good.

Luke 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,and he turned and addressed them,

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,wife and children, brothers and sisters,and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundationand finding himself unable to finish the workthe onlookers should laugh at him and say,‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’

Or what king marching into battle would not first sit downand decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away,he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way,anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

The saying starts out tough, and gets tougher.

It seems that Jesus is really asking us to give up our relationships, our money, our decision making power, all that.... and to focus entirely on Him.

And maybe that's true. God is never content to be just a part of a well balanced life, as if he were a breakfast cereal, which needed toast and juice and maybe a little coffee in order to be "complete and nutritious."

But I think it's a much deeper and lengthier process than simply deciding that it all belongs to God and just chucking all responsibility away. Instead, to me this whole discipleship thing really begins when we face a tough decision in life , "what ARE we going to do with X?"

Then, and usually only then, does God give us the freedom of will to turn to Him- by admitting that we don't have any idea of what we are to do, and give him the preferential option we too often keep for ourselves.

What do YOU want me to do, Lord?

Tough ground to stand on. But high ground too. God, help us to arrive there.

Mother, Show us Jesus!

2007-09-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the 20th anniversary of my mother's death. It's also the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In so many ways, I feel that Mary has become even more my Mother since my mom's passing... not taking her place, but continuing that unconditional merciful caring that my mom consistently showed to me.

However, that love isn't just or even primarily maternal. That love springs from a Source even deeper and more profound. I see the tableau of Jesus on the Cross over the figures of Mary and the Beloved Disciple. In that moment the purpose of Mary's birth was fulfilled. The Son whom she bore was bearing our sins away forever. That's the true Love of which maternal love is an imperfect although very beautiful image.

Then I see the great transaction- signaled by Jesus' handing over of His Mother to her new son, John. "Son, behold your mother.... Mother, behold your son." In those words Jesus not only commited his Mother to the care of the Beloved disciple. He also created a new relationship for me, for all of us, with the Mother of All Souls. She cares for us, and we care about Her.

So, today I am thankful for my earthly mother. And just as much for my heavenly Mother.

I know I've been posting a lot of B-16 recently. But here are some irresistable paragraphs from the Holy Father's Homily at Mariazell for the Nativity of Mary.

"To gaze upon Christ" is the motto of this day. For one who is searching, this summons repeatedly turns into a spontaneous plea, a plea addressed especially to Mary, who has given us Christ as her Son: "Show us Jesus!" Let us make this prayer today with our whole heart; let us make this prayer above and beyond the present moment, as we inwardly seek the Face of the Redeemer.

"Show us Jesus!" Mary responds, showing him to us in the first instance as a child. God has made himself small for us. God comes not with external force, but he comes in the powerlessness of his love, which is where his true strength lies. He places himself in our hands. He asks for our love. He invites us to become small ourselves, to come down from our high thrones and to learn to be childlike before God. He speaks to us informally. He asks us to trust him and thus to learn how to live in truth and love.

The child Jesus naturally reminds us also of all the children in the world, in whom he wishes to come to us. Children who live in poverty; who are exploited as soldiers; who have never been able to experience the love of parents; sick and suffering children, but also those who are joyful and healthy. Europe has become child-poor: we want everything for ourselves, and place little trust in the future. Yet the earth will be deprived of a future only when the forces of the human heart and of reason illuminated by the heart are extinguished -- when the face of God no longer shines upon the earth. Where God is, there is the future.

"To gaze upon Christ": let us look briefly now at the Crucified One above the high altar. God saved the world not by the sword, but by the Cross. In dying, Jesus extends his arms. This, in the first place, is the posture of the Passion, in which he lets himself be nailed to the Cross for us, in order to give us his life. Yet outstretched arms are also the posture of one who prays, the stance assumed by the priest when he extends his arms in prayer: Jesus transformed the Passion, his suffering and his death, into prayer, and in this way he transformed it into an act of love for God and for humanity. That, finally, is why the outstretched arms of the Crucified One are also a gesture of embracing, by which he draws us to himself, wishing to enfold us in his loving hands. In this way he is an image of the living God, he is God himself, and we may entrust ourselves to him.

"To gaze upon Christ!" If we do this, we realize that Christianity is more than and different from a moral code, from a series of requirements and laws. It is the gift of a friendship that lasts through life and death: "No longer do I call you servants, but friends" (Jn 15:15), the Lord says to his disciples. We entrust ourselves to this friendship. Yet precisely because Christianity is more than a moral system, because it is the gift of friendship, for this reason it also contains within itself great moral strength, which is so urgently needed today on account of the challenges of our time. If with Jesus Christ and his Church we constantly re-read the Ten Commandments of Sinai, entering into their full depth, then a great, valid and lasting teaching unfolds before us.

The Ten Commandments are first and foremost a "yes" to God, to a God who loves us and leads us, who carries us and yet allows us our freedom: indeed, it is he who makes our freedom real (the first three commandments). It is a "yes" to the family (fourth commandment), a "yes" to life (fifth commandment), a "yes" to responsible love (sixth commandment), a "yes" to solidarity, to social responsibility and to justice (seventh commandment), a "yes" to truth (eighth commandment) and a "yes" to respect for other people and for what is theirs (ninth and tenth commandments). By the strength of our friendship with the living God we live this manifold "yes" and at the same time we carry it as a signpost into this world of ours today.

"Show us Jesus!" It was with this plea to the Mother of the Lord that we set off on our journey here. This same plea will accompany us as we return to our daily lives. And we know that Mary hears our prayer: yes, whenever we look towards Mary, she shows us Jesus. Thus we can find the right path, we can follow it step by step, filled with joyful confidence that the path leads into the light -- into the joy of eternal Love. Amen."

What's sauce for the goose...

2007-09-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

... is sauce for the gander. That's what my mother used to say when I didn't want to eay what everybody else was eating at the family meal.

It's true at the table of the Church also.

I thought of that today when I read Benedict XVI's comments during his audience with prelates from Asia. I don't think he's necessarily giving the same advice to leaders, irrespective of their country of origin. But I sure hear the wisdom in his words which can be applied to our own American situation. The highlighted comments about clear announcement of the faith, respectful dialogue and works of compassion are especially meaningful.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 6, 2007 (Zenit.org).-

The Church wants the freedom to announce the faith, not impose it, says Benedict XVI. The Pope said that today when he received in audience bishops from Laos and Cambodia, in Italy for their five-yearly visit."You carry out your ministry at the service of the Church," the Holy Father told the prelates, "in often difficult conditions and in a great variety of situations. Be sure that you have my fraternal support and the support of the universal Church in your service to the people of God."The aid you receive in various fields from older Churches, especially as regards pastoral care workers and formation, is also an eloquent sign of the solidarity that Christ's disciples should show to one another."

Benedict XVI said that one of the most important elements of the bishops' ministry is the announcement of the Christian faith.He noted that "the recent celebration of the 450th anniversary of the presence of the Church in Cambodia was an occasion for the faithful to gain a deeper awareness of the long history of Christians in the region."

The Pope added: "In truth, the Christian faith is not foreign to your peoples."'Jesus is the Good News for the men and women of every time and place in their search for the meaning of existence and for the truth of their own humanity,' and in her announcement to all peoples, the Church does not wish to impose herself but to bear witness to her respect for human beings and for the society in which she lives."

The Holy Father said that in the social and religious context of the regions where the bishops work, "it is vitally important that Catholics express their own identity, while always respecting other religious traditions and cultures. ... This identity must be expressed, primarily, through an authentic spiritual experience based on accepting the word of God and on the sacraments of the Church." Thus, the Pontiff told the bishops their priority is the formation of the faithful, above all religious and catechists.He said that "with a solidly founded Christian faith, they can establish authentic dialogue with members of other religions so as to cooperate in developing your countries and in promoting the common good."

The Bishop of Rome also addressed the issues of education and family."Appropriate preparation for Christian marriage is particularly important," he said.He encouraged the prelates to teach young people "family values such as filial respect, love and care for the aged and the sick, love of children and harmony, [which] are held in high esteem in all Asian cultures and religious traditions."

Benedict XVI concluded with an appeal to care for the underprivileged, calling this "a specific sign of the authenticity" of faith.The Church's social activities, he said, "enjoy the appreciation of the population and of the authorities" because "they eloquently highlight God's love for all human beings with distinction. Therefore, it is very important that the Church's charitable work maintains all of its splendor and does not become just another form of social assistance."

Musical Pope

2007-09-05T19:17:00.001-07:00

How cool is this? I was reminded one again about how much our Holy Father Benedict XVI loves music by this note today on Zenit:

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 5, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that music has the power to lead us to the Creator of all harmony.The Pope said this Tuesday, following a concert he attended in the inner courtyard of the apostolic palace at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

According to the Vatican press office, the event was organized by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra as part of the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the archdiocese of that German city.

The Pontiff said that music "has the power to lead us back ... to the Creator of all harmony, creating a resonance within us which is like being in tune with the beauty and truth of God, with the reality which no human knowledge or philosophy can ever express."Benedict XVI thanked the conductor and members of the orchestra, as well as the event's organizers and promoters.

He said the concert was a "gift which I interpret as being the sign of a special bond of affection between the Archdiocese of Bamberg and Peter's successor."He added: "May your jubilee pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles […] strengthen your faith and joy in God, that you may become his witnesses in daily life."

"Cantare amantis est" (trans- singing is a lover's thing)- St. Augustine, as quoted by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in The Spirit of the Liturgy

Mother Teresa's Heart of Darkness

2007-09-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

"To be alone with Jesus in adoration and intimate union with Him is the Greatest Gift of Love - the tender love of Our Father in Heaven."

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Interesting quote from Mother Teresa, especially in light of recent "revelations" about her dark moods and decades-long feelings of adandonment. If you put this quote right up next to those darkest of moments, what happens?

One response is to see in Mother Teresa symptoms of a systemic problem. We are all familiar with the best-seller question: why do bad things happen to good people? But the question becomes even more acute when one internalizes the whole experience, the problem of suffering writ small, on the tablet of the human soul

The question then goes like this: how could a loving God tolerate provoking feelings of abandonment in His children, imposing on them decades of emotional suffering? Christopher Hitchens blames the situation (as he frequently does) on organized religion. Hitchens is headed along the right trail, but he doesn't go far enough along it to view the true source of Teresa's angst.

The "crushing unreasonableness" is not a burden imposed on weak souls by the Church itself, as if some internal belief system were the source of Teresa's emotional suffering. It's much deeper, much more profund than that.

The imprint of this unreasonableness finds its source in the Heart of God himself, especially as that Heart reveals its powerful Self in the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary. These two hearts are not direct doorways to sweetness and light, as those who persevere in these twin devotions know.

There is in their midst a Heart of Darkness.

Inside of that Heart there are the teeming poor,wretched souls from Bosnia and hopeless people dying of AIDS. Inside of that Heart are all of the external circumstances which weigh down the world. These are the very wounds which Blessed Teresa of Calcutta herself loved and dressed in the body of this aching world. Like the Sacrament, there are in this Heart the Body broken, and the blood outpoured.

So, it should come as no surprise when a saint's life reveals an inward desolation, a barreness seemingly God-forsaken. It is precisely there where the fruit of love is born. It is precisely and only in the Heart of Darkness that we begin to experience the resurrection light. It is only those who have been there, or at least peered into the Mystery, who understand this divine necessity. It is the necessity which drove our Lord to His Cross. It is the divine necessity which drives His people to sacrifice themselves in lives of service.

Blessed Mother Teresa was not a saint in spite of her inward turmoil, but precisely because of it.

Enough said.

He helped the doing by showing

2007-09-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

What made Saint Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) so great?

One could point to his many accomplishments. He was Benedictine, the first monk to be elected Pope, and during his fourteen years as pontiff he suffered many physical ailments. Despite his infirmities, he is credited with wise management of the papal holdings and distributing much of the increase to the poor. He also organized and codified the chant which still bears his name.

Above all, though, he strove to improve the "serve" of church leadership. His pastoral rule is renowned for its sensitivity to individual circumstance, as well as its high view of the pastoral office. It became the gold standard for clergy performance review throughout the early middle ages. Again and again, the Church would fall from this high standard, only to return again and again to this fountainhead. We are in the middle of another such cycle today.

Truly, as its own words advise, Gregory himself helped what he commanded to be done by showing it forth in his own life. Here are some translated excerpts from the Pastoral Rule, through which Gregory's spirit glows.

"The conduct of a prelate ought so far to be superior to the conduct of the people as the life of a shepherd is accustomed to exalt him above the flock. For one whose position is such that the people are called his flock ought anxiously to consider how great a necessity is laid upon him to maintain uprightness. It is necessary, then, that in thought he should be pure, in action firm; discreet in keeping silence; profitable in speech; a near neighbor to every one in sympathy; exalted above all in contemplation; a familiar friend of good livers through humility, unbending against the vices of evil-doers through zeal for righteousness; not relaxing in his care for what is inward by reason of being occupied in outward things, nor neglecting to provide for outward things in his anxiety for what is inward.

The pastor should always be pure in thought, inasmuch as no impurity ought to pollute him who has undertaken the office of wiping away the stains of pollution in the hearts of others also; for the hand that would cleanse from dirt must needs be clean, lest, being itself sordid with clinging mire, it soil all the more whatever it touches.

The pastor should always be a leader in action, that by his living he may point out the way of life to those who are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk rather through example than through words.

For he who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to do the highest things. For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer's heart, which the speaker's life commends, since what he commands by speaking he helps the doing by showing."

May all our clergy, at every level, do as much. I know that many have been hurt by the harshness of clergy or by their leaders' failure to live up to the gospel standard of the Chief Shepherd.

The door through which many have left can also be the entry point through which they return. My prayer is that any and all who have had this experience may also encounter, in God's providence, those men of God who can bring them back once again into the One Fold.

Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us!

Taking the Last Place

2007-09-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

From Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), hermit and missionary to the Sahara

On Retreat, Holy Land, Lent 1898

Following the servant Christ to the last place

[Christ:] See [my] devotion to men and consider what your own should be. See that humility for man’s good and learn to humble yourself to do good…; to make yourself small to win others; not to fear to go lower or lose your rights when it is a matter of doing good; not to believe that in descending you make yourself powerless to do good.

To the contrary, by descending you imitate me; by descending you make use of the same means, for the love of humankind, that I myself employed; by descending you walk in my way and, therefore, in the truth and you are in the best place to lay hold of life and give it to others…By my incarnation I place myself on a level with creatures; by my baptism …on that of sinners; descent, humility…Always descend, always humble yourself.

Let those who are first always stand in the last place, through humility and in disposition of spirit, with an attitude of descent and service. Love of men, humility, the last place: in the last place so long as the divine will does not call you to another, since then you must obey.

Obedience before all else; conformity to God’s will. In the first place be spiritually in the last, through humility: occupy it in the spirit of service, telling yourself that you are only there to serve others and lead them to salvation.

What is YOUR profit?

2007-09-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

This story was shared this past week at the funeral of a fellow parishoner, Firmin Alexander. I thought of it again today when I heard the parable of the talents at Mass.

Firmin definitely didn't bury his talent in the ground. He shared of himself as educator, father, volunteer. Not rich by earthly standards, Firmin found true riches in his Catholic faith, in his family and in service to both. May light perpetual shine upon him.

"The son told his father who operated a small grocery store, "Look, you keep bills in a cigar box, you keep all your money in the cash register, and you keep your receipts in a shoe box! No wonder you don't have any profits- you're so disorganized!"

The father replied, "When I came to this country thirty=fice yars ago, I only had the pants I wore! And now, your sister is a doctor, your brother is a fine teacher, and you soon will be an accountant!"

He continued, "Your mother and I have a nice place to live and a good car!"

"and so, I add this all up- and subtract the pair of pants- this is my profit!"

That We May Be Christ

2007-08-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

"All these thoughts on the Eucharist make it clear to us that in this Sacrament,

in which He not only gives grace to us but also gives Himself,

we are led to a supreme peak of spiritual fulfillment.

This Sacrament is not given to us merely in order that we do something,

but that we may be someone: that we may be Christ.

That we may be perfectly identified with Him.

Comparing the Eucharist with confirmation, St Thomas says that confirmation brings us an increase of grace in order to resist temptation, but the Eucharist does even more: it
increases and perfects our spiritual life itself, in order that we may be perfected
in our own being, our own personality, by our union with God ...

In other words,
by our union with Christ in the Eucharist we find our true selves.
The false self, the "old man", is burned away by the fervor of charity
generated by His intimate presence within our soul.
And the "new man" comes into full possession of Himself
as we "live, now not we, but Christ liveth in us."

Thomas Merton, The Living Bread

Keeping Christ at the Center

2007-08-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

"During a prayer time the week before Easter, I was amazed by how much the monstrance seemed to symbolize the Catholic Church.

Like many Protestants, I had been concerned that Mary, the saints and the sacraments were roadblocks between believers and God so that to get to God, one would have to go around them. They seemed to complicate life with God unnecessarily like accretions on the sides of sunken treasures; they had to be discarded to get to what was important.

But now I could see that the opposite was true. Catholicism was not a distant religion, but a presence oriented one. Catholics were the ones who had Jesus physically present in churches and saw themselves as being tabernacles after receiving the Eucharist. And because Jesus is the Eucharist, keeping Him in the center allows all of the rich doctrines of the Church to emanate from Him, just as the beautiful gold rays stream forth from the Host in the monstrance."

- Kimberly Hahn
Rome Sweet Home, Our Journey to Catholicism

Martyr-dumb

2007-08-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

A little discourse on martyrdom in general, in honor of John the Baptist's beheading.

I remember back in my grad school days studying the cult of the martyrs and wondering "what gives?" Why is there this fascination by the early Christians with the idea... wait no.... the experience of giving themselves away to God by dying for Him?

The most egregious example I read about at the time was Ignatius of Antioch. I really liked the guy----- after all, one of dissertation study questions was dedicated to him. But, come on now, he was more than a little "over the top" about dying for the Faith.

One of his most famous sayings is this:

"I am the wheat of God,

ground fine by the lions' teeth

to become the pure bread of Christ"

Alright, I admit it. I was dumb, martyr-dumb. This sounded strange to me.

It took me almost 10 years of living this Catholic life to get the serious (and unavoidable!)connection between the Eucharist, the concept of martyrdom, and the daily death to self we are all called to undergo.

Now that I "get it" I understand how intertwined our own everyday sufferings (and the greatest suffering- martyrdom) are with the suffering and death of our Lord. No wonder Jesus had to ask Saul of Tarsus, "Why are you persecuting me?"

From the moment he hung on the Cross, Christ has been gathering up what we experience in this life and making it fodder to transform us into fit subjects for the next life. Paul himself recognized this throughout his ministry.

The remindesr are sprinkled here and there throughout the Pauline corpus. Suffice it to mention one- Colossians 1:24-27

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,

and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking

in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body,

which is the church,
of which I am a minister in accordance

with God's stewardship given to me to bring to completion

for you the word of God,
the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.

But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,

to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory

of this mystery among the Gentiles;

it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.

Ah-ha! This passage always used to bother me as a Protestant- waddaya mean? isn't Christ's suffering ENOUGH?

Now it begins to make sense.... Identity with Christ takes up our lives into His divine life... that IS the Church... that is what the East calls the mystery, or we in the West the sacrament of God's presence.

Cool.