The Posture of Love

JMJ

Several weeks ago, I read an article in the local Catholic paper that astounded me. It was all about how public displays of private prayer are unhealthy. Perhaps what surprised me the most was that the article was written by the Catholic priest, Fr. Ron Rolheiser, who should know better. Since his columns are syndicated, he has now, most probably, created much confusion among the faithful. He cites Matthew 6:5-6 where Jesus says, “…but when you pray, go to your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to your Father who is in that secret place,” as the text to justify, in a fundamental way, his arguments for believing the way he does. He claims that Jesus “doesn’t distinguish as to whether these acts come from a sincere heart or a false one” in an attempt to convince the reader that all public acts of private prayer are bad. He says they are “bad art, art that irritates more than it inspires,” and that all such displays are “unhealthy exhibitionism.” He even says that private devotions and private acts of penance when done in public are “unhealthily exhibitionistic.” Fr. Rolheiser misses the whole point of Jesus’ warning against hypocrisy and His attempts to call people to repentance and to true love even while admitting that that was Jesus’ main point. “But,” says Fr. Rolheiser, “He (Jesus) is also warning against the public display of private devotion itself, no matter how sincere.” While it is true that Jesus wants to be in communion with us in our hearts, where we continually love each other in secret, He didn’t intend for us NEVER to show any expression of that love in public. If fact the entire Bible is filled with example after example of people using their very bodies to thank, praise and give expression to the gift of love they have received from the Lord. Not only in scriptures do we find example after example of people showing their love for God in gestures and prostrations, in tears and in reverential bows, but our whole Catholic Tradition is filled with story after story of worshiping God with our whole selves from the Apostles all the way down to present day pilgrims who sometimes travel on their knees as an act of love for our Lord and to call upon His great mercy. St. Peter fell to his knees in the boat and begged the Lord to depart from him. St. John laid his head on the heart of our Lord during the first Holy Mass! St. Mary Magdalene wept all over the feet of the Savior and dried His feet with her hair and anointed them and kissed them. The Lord certainly didn’t tell her she was an unhealthy exhibitionist…instead He praised her love and I’m sure He delighted in her actions and in her.

How glad I am, then, that our own good priest gave a wonderful catechesis this weekend on genuflection. In just a few minutes he encapsulated the teaching of the Church on why we genuflect and how good it is for us. He quoted St. Paul and how “every knee must bend at the Name of Jesus” and how genuflecting in front of the Holy Eucharist reminds us of the Lord of Heaven and Earth who is Present with us and how the humble posture of genuflecting increases our humility and our belief in the Real Presence. It reminds us of who God is and who we are. He spoke of many things and ended by pointing out that worshipping God with our whole selves (minds, hearts, souls AND bodies) is what Catholics do. I was very proud at that moment to BE a Catholic. What a beautiful and rich faith we have been given by God!
 

We learn though our senses and it is so important to see people in love with God for the building up and passing on of the faith. We learn love through the example of others especially our parents. When we see that they love each other we are somehow more secure…we have a greater sense of well-being. Fr. Rolheiser would probably have benefited to see my own parents dancing in the kitchen while dinner was cooking… I know I did. If we never see expressions of love, disorders are bound to occur. And if we never see them in Church, heresies are bound to occur. Just look at Jansenism or any other heresy; we are people with bodies and souls and we need healthy examples to thrive. To see our priests and religious in prayer is one of the best examples of increasing our belief in God…Our hope in Him and our love for Him. An eloquent homily does far less than to see the change in a priest’s face or voice as he realizes he is speaking of his beloved God. To see authentic and healthy love is contagious and spreads to our hearts like fire. And it is fire…the fire of God’s love. On Good Friday every year, the Church asks her priests to prostrate themselves at the beginning of the service. It is always a powerful moment for me and while our priest is down prostrate on the floor in body, the congregation should all be down there with him in spirit…The whole body of Christ. We should never be put out to see others loving God. It is our mission to make Him more loved and when we see someone come and display their private feelings of love towards God, we should be uplifted and edified that He is loved more. Sadly, there are so few who love him and fewer still who show Him. “Behold this Heart which has loved so much, yet is so little loved.” When our Lord said this to St. Margaret Mary, He must have wept. He so wants our love and affection and we still refuse His tender appeals. May we never be ashamed of our love for Him; He will never be ashamed of us before His Heavenly Father and the Holy Angels.

 Oh, my sweet Lord! Thank you for your love and for teaching me how to be me in your presence. My body sometimes acts of its own accord when we are together. If you didn’t have work for me I would always be kissing the ground and thanking you for your great mercy toward me. In the silence of my heart I am with you always and gazing upon your beauty. I forget myself sometimes in your presence and I just see you and your need for love and the tears come. Thank you for the gift of yourself in the Holy Eucharist…it is a miracle of love. A love that lowers itself to folly! I love you so much and want to love you even more…to be a fool for love. Thank you for all the examples you have given to your Church to show us all the many ways you are loved and glorified. Thank you for the martyrs who were, and are, never ashamed to show you their love with their very lives. Thank you for the Holy Virgins who give you their entire selves as your brides…may the fragrant purity of their lives inspire us all to keep our lamps lit and ready for you. Thank you for the gift of the Priesthood and the gift of Spiritual Fatherhood. You choose the weak and make them strong. You are present among us in your priests and I beg you to make them all faithful to the teachings of your Church. Bring back the lost and keep your faithful sons true. Thank you for all your saints who became as children in your sight. How they trusted in you! When they raised their hands, you picked them up and carried them. When they cried, you comforted them. When they needed your power, you gave it to them. What a good Father you are and a good friend and a good lover! May the passion of the saints inspire us to cling to you and to never give a thought to human respect when it comes to showing you love. May all of us forget ourselves entirely and live only for you….like your holy mother Mary. Thank you for giving us such a selfless mother who shows us how to be a Christian. She shows us what it means to be Church and to be one with you. Oh, my mother, please obtain the grace of love for Fr. Rolheiser. Teach him how to fall in love with Jesus…real, mad, and crazy love that thinks only of the beloved and when he finds him, just like the bride in the Song of Solomon, he “would not let Him go.” Good and gentle Jesus, give your special help to all your chosen sons that they may bring your love and your truth to your people. And may we all respond to that love and return it to you with every action of our lives…with every breath we take, with every beating of our hearts, with every step we take…with all. May we always be grateful for all of the blessings of our lives especially your beautiful life-giving love! Amen.

Recommended Reading:

• The Better Part by Fr. John Bartunek, LC
• 20 Holy Hours by Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC.

Something Beautiful for God

JMJ

Last October my daughter and I had the privilege to go on pilgrimage to Rome, Orvieto, and Assisi. It was an amazing time of blessing. We went in many Churches and although all were immensely beautiful, the thing that strikes me now is that all of them without exception looked and felt like Churches. There is something that impacts the soul when you are in a Church that was built for the glory and honor of our Lord…a Church that spares no expense to give the best of what human beings can offer to God. Sacred space somehow transforms your heart and lifts your soul into the realms of heaven. Certainly, the Lord’s real and actual presence in the Eucharist touches us most deeply, but when Church architecture, sacred art, and furnishings draw the attention of the soul to God, the beauty of the details can melt one’s heart. God is beauty and when He is surrounded by the reflection of His beauty…Wow!

More recently, I saw a news story about a Church out East which was being transported brick by brick down south to Georgia. Why would anyone take the trouble? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to build a new Church? This particular Church is a replica of one that is in Rome and is very beautiful and I think the people involved in Georgia recognize the treasure that it is. To be honest, when we look around the United States today, there are very few Churches left that actually look and feel like Churches. So many of them feel empty of all devotion and are more like meeting halls or banquet rooms than the house of the Lord. There was a book entitled Ugly as Sin by Michael Rose written a few years ago that addressed this topic and I think one of his points was how a lack of beauty in Church and putting Jesus off to the side and out of sight leads people to a lack of faith in the Real Presence and a lukewarmness of soul. The emphasis eventually becomes about ME instead of God. There is much to reflect on about why this has come about in our country and what it means, but it would take many more posts to delve into the topic. Besides, I believe there are quite a few books that tackle this very subject. I would like instead to reflect on my own parish and the plans to make our sanctuary more beautiful….to make our Church more beautiful for God.

I belong to a Catholic parish that sits right in the center of Central Michigan University. How amazing it is to have Jesus, the Bread of Life, right at the center of a secular school of higher learning that often directly promotes a Culture of Death. What is most amazing about our parish is that it is essentially a campus parish run by students under the energetic leadership of our pastor. It is their parish. The students are musicians, lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, sacristans, altar servers and organizers of many events. They are involved in bible studies, organizing and leading rosaries, Eucharistic Adoration, Vigils, purity groups, vocation discernment groups, college fellowship nights, pro-life groups and on and on. There are tremendous blessings occurring every single day at our parish and vocations are flourishing. I give thanks every day for the gift of belonging to such a vibrant faith community. Our parish is most of all a place of prayer and worship. The Sacrifice of the Mass stands of the center of all that happens there. Jesus is our focus which is why blessings continue to fall upon us left and right.

One of our blessings is that we are going to remodel our parish and give Jesus a new home at the front and center of our Church where He will be the main focus and will be seen by everybody. We will make His home more beautiful so hearts can be drawn right into His own beauty and be filled with the peace that only He can give. And how much we need His peace in these days! Many of the students at our parish stop in and out of the Church throughout the day to find a moment of silence and peace in the Lord’s presence. There is so much noise in the culture and in college life in general and it is a great blessing to be able to come and rest in Jesus and recharge the soul batteries and be filled with His love so that one can take it back out into the noise and share it with others. It is so important that our parish always remain as a haven for the young church and a defender of truth in the midst of a sea of relativism.

If there is a criticism at all about our parish it is that not enough students are involved and contributing to the maintenance of the parish. Our collection reports are pitiful…once it was less than 200 dollars! I don’t think it is a lack of generosity as much as oversight. I’m sure not many know that our parish is subsidized completely by the diocese and, so far, we stay open only because our bishop realizes the future of the church is right here. I will never buy the fact that students are too poor to put something in for God; I have yet to meet a student who doesn’t: own an iPod they could sell, go out for beer and pizza they could give up, or buy all kinds of college gear that they could do without. I truly think they are not aware that there is a real need here…that the parish doesn’t run itself and that God isn’t dropping hundred dollar bills in the parking lot every weekend. Maybe they don’t realize that THEY are the stewards of the parish. Perhaps they don’t yet trust that God is good and will provide for them or maybe they are infected with a sense of entitlement that is so prevalent in our society today. Perhaps it is just ignorance. Whatever the reason, God is looking for generous hearts…it is our hearts that He wants most of all. And He wants ALL of our hearts and not just a piece of them like a tithe. He wants us to be willing to give all and when we get over our fear and offer Him our all….oh, what blessings He will cover us with. Jesus loved the poor and it is us poor sinners that He loves the most. How He praised the poor widow who put in her whole livelihood. He called poor fishermen who were uneducated to lead His Church…poor, but generous because they immediately dropped their nets and followed Him. Would that we will all do the same! It sounds radical and irresponsible to the ears of our contemporary “practical” culture, but living a truly Christian life IS radical. It is only irresponsible if we think God is powerless, but He is not! He is Almighty and can be trusted with everything including our lives and treasure. He is our real treasure!

Often the image of poor immigrants in our country comes to my mind when I think of the situation of our parish. People from all over came here and had nothing, but they raised money to build glorious churches for God and for their communities. How did they do it? Why did they sacrifice and make it a priority in their lives? Because building something beautiful for God is always blessed. God will never be outdone in generosity. Our students come from all over, too, and have a chance to be a part of something beautiful, something that takes work and sacrifice and is lasting. Truly if we only realized what graces He is ready to give us, we wouldn’t think twice about giving all we have. Perhaps one has a 20 dollar bill and a 1 dollar bill when the collection passes by…how many will put in the 20 over the 1? God wants our hearts to be willing to give it all. He wants our treasure and our labors and most of all our love…they are all His gifts to us. He will guide us in prayer about how much to give or contribute, but it is important to talk to Him about these things. Make a holy hour every day and ask Him what He wants you to do for your parish….for Him? Ask Him what He needs from you that only you can give to Him. Ask Him what makes Him happy. Tell Him you love Him and try to mean it more every time. Show Him. Ask Him to put strong desires on your heart to lead you. Open the scriptures and let Him talk to you. Ask Him to show you all that He has given to you. When you are able to see how much you owe Him, there will be nothing that will stop you from trying to give back to goodness Himself. It takes one student reading this to do something beautiful for God and for that something to cause a ripple effect to touch many, many lives. The possibilities are endless. Ask yourself when the last time was that you donated time or flowers or candles or wine for Mass. When was the last time you offered to help with the garden and lawn, or shovel snow, or other tasks? When was the last time you raised money or sacrificed a meal for the good of the parish community? Have you asked the office to sign you up for envelopes so you can contribute regularly? Our parish needs funds for this modest renovation project, to be financially independent and free from worry about closing, money for operating and upkeep etc., and our students (and the rest of us too!) need to learn how blessed it is to give of time, treasure, and talent…to belong to a noble family whose head is Christ Himself. We ALL need to do something beautiful for God because He is God and we owe Him everything as He has given us the greatest gift of all…Himself! Oh, let us build something beautiful for God and for our universal Church. It will be something that will last and when students go on to graduate from here, they can still contribute and do something beautiful for God by seeing that the Church in the middle of the campus where they once found a much needed moment of peace remains open until He comes again. It will be a place for their children to come and have a safe haven full of truth, goodness and beauty. If anyone besides my mom reads this blog post and would like to help build something beautiful for God, please send donations to St. Mary’s University Parish, 1405 S. Washington St., Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858, Attn. Renovation Fund. We can use many prayers too! Be generous, for where your treasure is there also is your heart. May God Bless you as He has blessed me!

My Lord, thank you for all the many gifts you give to me. You have given me such a blessed existence. I am made for you and I love you. You give me life and peace and joy and so many good gifts. The greatest gifts are the ones I don’t always recognize…those crosses that make me more like you. Oh, but I see you are always helping me to carry them as you lead me along paths that are new and unknown. Lord, we are going to give you a new home in your Church. We have taken the step and we are trusting in you to send the money we will need to accomplish it. Inspire our hearts to be generous to you and to give you more room in every aspect of our lives. Your presence is so important to the world. Without you living in so many tabernacles and in the hearts of your faithful, the world would end. Your love is particularly needed in the souls of young people. How bombarded they are with cynicism and attacks against you and your bride the Church…against the truth of your life. So many young people are not even aware of the dignity they possess in being made in your image and likeness. How sad it must make you yet you have many friends in the young men and women of today. They want to do the right thing. They are starving as we all are for hope for our world. And you are the answer. You are our Hope and our Peace and our Truth too. And you are Beauty. I want to see you surrounded with beauty always…surrounded with friends who love you and spend time with you and let you love them. I adore you, Jesus. I’m so excited about this project which will take you out of the corner and put you back into the center of the Church. I pray that everyone will come to see and know you and give you the respect and reverence you deserve. So many seem unaware of your presence in the Church and I ask you to give them grace to know of the wonders of your love. You are so lovable and tender. You are the answer to every problem and the Key to the Kingdom. Bring us all into you, Lord…that we may all be one. I ask for your grace to descend upon our parish and all the students. Help them to be generous and thoughtful to you…to be kind to you in all sorts of ways. And I beg for the help of the poor widow in the gospel to help me be more generous. May she obtain for me the grace never to complain about anything in my life for that shows you such a lack of gratitude. Help me, my King, to trust always in your goodness and providence in my life and in the lives of us all. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

• Architecture in Communion: Implementing the Second Vatican Council Through Liturgy and Architecture by Steven J. Schloeder
• No Place for God: The Denial of Transcendence in Modern Church Architecture by Moyra Doorly

15 Minutes of Glory

JMJ

A lot of people these days talk about getting their 15 minutes of fame. Fame in our culture seems to be everything. Most people at some point in their lives have thought about being famous. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be famous too; I wanted to be just like Barbra Streisand in her musicals. What flair! I would dress up in all sort of costumes (even attempting to make big hats with lots of feathers) and sing into a hairbrush microphone. Oh, to be Dolly Levi coming down those steps at the Harmonia Gardens with Louis Armstrong directing the band! If I wasn’t dreaming of being a famous movie star, then it was some other sort of famous person. I even had my hair cut really short when Dorothy Hamill won the Olympic gold medal for figure skating so I could be more like her. What is it inside of us that yearns to be famous? Why the desire to be noticed? Is it God living within us that seeks His own rightful adoration or is it our fallen human nature that seeks to “be gods?” I think deep within us all there is a need to be loved…to be accepted for who we are and loved in spite of it. That’s why we were made after all…made by love to be love. Jesus, in His Sacred Humanity, had this need too. According to the gospels, He WAS famous. Over and over we hear of how His fame spread and how people were astonished and amazed by Him. We hear so many times of the crowds pressing in on Him, of people wanting healing from Him, of the general madness surrounding Him that He once had to get into a boat so He could teach the people. We see, though, in Jesus’ own life how fleeting fame is. Not only did He get booted off the stage, but the crowds yelled out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Poor Jesus who only went about doing good and begging for our love. Every time I read the gospels, it doesn’t matter what scene in our Lord’s life that I’m meditating on, I hear Jesus saying the same thing. “Love me. Let me love you. I’m starving for your love. I can heal you. Please love me. I need you.” He hungered for what we all hunger for. It is so remarkable and such a miracle that God descended so far for love of us creatures! And that the victory of His love was made evident on the Holy Cross! Oh, what a marvelous love. It would have been more than enough to simply have won the victory, but He went so far as to institute the Eucharist so He could be with us always. And He still begs for our love. We are privileged to be able to enter into communion with Him every day and experience not 15 minutes of fame, but 15 minutes of Glory!

In his book, Heaven Sense, Fr. Arendzen speaks about how we will see God in heaven through an act of contemplation and love (4-6):

At first, it may seem difficult to realize that our happiness in Heaven can possibly consist in an act of contemplation and love. On earth, the common idea of enjoying oneself consists in some gratification of the senses: a sumptuous banquet, sweet music, healthy exercise, a beautiful landscape; or the company and praise of our fellowmen, the achievement of some great work through the exercise of our brain and skill, the discovery of something fresh and new, the traveling through unknown and sunlit lands. These and a thousand other things flit before the human mind when it imagines supreme happiness, for this happiness is thought of as an endless variety of such things as our own experience on earth suggests. A life of contemplation may seem a pale and attenuated existence, holding little attraction for us. On reflection, however, it becomes more and more evident that the highest and happiest life must be the complete satisfaction of mind and will in the sight and possession of an infinite personal Being.

Even on this earth, the greatest known joy is intimacy—that is, knowledge and nearness with another intelligent being. Imagine
a mother, after the Great War, gazing again on the face of her son, and hearing his voice, and then clasping him in her embrace, and holding him as her very own possession, of which the battlefield had almost robbed her! The first moments of their mutual happiness contain a joy so intense that all other so called enjoyments are as nothing in comparison.

Or imagine a husband and a wife who have been parted by strange misfortunes, and after years of separation meet again. As a matter of fact, this theme has ever been elaborated in all human literature, and we may rest assured that it will remain so as long as man lives here below.

No doubt this theme of storytellers, poets, and songsters has been degraded times out of number because of the carnal and sexual element that so often is intruded, or rather, intrudes itself. But nobler minds, at least, can realize that the sensual side of this earthly affection ought not and need not be the dominant factor in true human love, that the knowledge and spiritual possession of one another can be the source of a quasi-delirium of pure joy even on earth.

True, this does not often last long, but at least as long as it lasts, it is supposed to outweigh all other things. Pain, poverty, and distress only provoke a smile, and the very comparison of such joy with other earthly goods is disclaimed as degradation. ‘Strong as death is love,
and many waters cannot quench its fire.’ (Song of Sol. 8:6-7) Given the infinity of God, God must be infinitely beautiful and infinitely lovable. So, far from a pale and extenuated existence, Heaven is the romance, the never-ending love story of the soul and God.

We can enter into the romance of heaven on earth with our communion of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Every day we should be experiencing a quasi-delirium of pure joy when we receive our Lord. When I think of the amazement and love that the Virgin Mary must have experienced at the annunciation when she realized God was within her own body, I must confess, I have to beg for mercy for all of the times I have disregarded the Lord within my own body after Holy Communion. Oh, but Mercy He is full of and we can start fresh, thanks be to God. It is never too late until death to begin to cultivate the knowledge of God, to possess Him, and to love Him with all the love of our being. How sad I feel when people receive communion as if they are receiving mere bread when they are in fact receiving Jesus, the bread of angels…the same Jesus who went about doing good and wanting our love….dying for our love. It is said that the Jesus is really present within us body, blood, soul and divinity for as long as the species remains in our bodies which is about 15 minutes. How can we not want to prostrate ourselves at such a sublime condescension of our God sharing Himself completely with His creatures?! It is astonishing that He chose to remain with us even though He knew most people would take Him for granted, abuse Him, ignore Him, or prefer to go out to eat or watch a movie or talk to friends, when He, our greatest friend, wants to give us Himself entirely. He wants us to possess Him and He wants to possess us in a mutual banquet of intimacy, love, and tenderness. May God grant that we all wake from our stupor and realize what a gift is ours in Jesus, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and may we look not to fleeting fame, but to eternal glory that can begin right now on this earth for us if we but only show Him a flicker of real love.

My Lord and love, thank you for sharing yourself so completely with me. So trustingly do you enter into me at Holy Communion that it is as if you were a child looking for someone to take care of you, or a lover who needs a caress, or a Father who has some sound advice to give, or a baby that just needs to be kissed. Sometimes you need someone to bind up your wounds or to encourage your heart and sometimes it is you who cares for me and holds me and makes known to me by your tenderness that I am indeed loved and that all I long for is right within me. You. You are everything. Live in me always! Stay Lord and I will keep you company and notice you when others forget you. Help me though, because I would be the first to forget you if you didn't first give me the grace of your love, but I know you want me to succeed in loving you and so I know you will give me that grace. Thank you for all the graces you give to all of us. Make us faithful to them and to you. Help us all to hear your voice in Holy Communion so that we won’t think of any part of life as separate from you. You are the glue that holds everything together and we can’t possibly live well if you are not put in first place. Lord, I would like to say your name with great love over and over throughout the day with the intention of receiving you well in Holy Communion. Of really loving you and having you be all in me. Help me to do so by letting my guardian angel remind me at least every 15 minutes. Jesus. How sweet a name! May it roll off my lips as a sweet caress to you to console you for every time you are forgotten by souls while you are still present in their bodies! Sometimes when I receive you I don’t know what to say and all I can do is sing, “What wondrous Love is this, oh my soul, oh my soul…” I am so amazed by your gracious love and so grateful for it. You make me cry so much when I think of your goodness to me and your special care for me. Thank you, Lord. I love you. Make my love constant and true and real. Be mine forever because my intimate life with you is bliss. Help us all to know and love you intimately. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

• The Blessed Eucharist by Fr. Michael Müller, C.S.S.R.
• Heaven Sense by Fr. John P. Arendzen

Spiritual Fatherhood

JMJ

The priesthood is one of the greatest proofs of God’s immense love for us. In this year of the priest, there is so much to rejoice in and reflect upon. One of the more beautiful aspects of the priesthood is spiritual fatherhood which provides us with gazillions of reasons to be grateful to God. I recently did a search on spiritual fatherhood and was surprised at how much has been written on the topic. How I wish I had the gift of words or a brilliant brain to express the immensity of God’s gift by giving us spiritual fathers to engender the faith in us and bring us up in the ways of God, however, my grateful heart will have to suffice and I trust that the Lord will supply the rest.

The whole mystery of a priest’s fecundity is his holiness of life. The closer he resembles Jesus, the more fruitful will his ministry be and the more spiritual children he will bring into the world. That kind of responsibility would scare anyone to death if it were to be accomplished on one’s own, but Jesus can do all, and He provides the choicest, most powerful graces and pours them out upon His brother priests so that they can bring His love into the world. It really is all the work of God and yet it takes the constant YES of a priest to surrender himself totally into God’s hands…to be an instrument of the Divine and thus accomplish God’s will. A priest must truly resemble Christ in all of the virtues; he must be imbibed with deep faith, humility, obedience, trust in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and most of all possess great love. It must be a Divine and sacrificial love resembling his Savior, who came to be the servant of all. The same could be said of all of us who are baptized into the common priesthood of the faithful. In a special way, though, it applies to priests who are “Other Christs.” They bring us Christ, not only in the Eucharist and in the other Sacraments, but in their very own bodies which are given for us. St. Paul speaks about this beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians when he exhorts husbands to love their wives “as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for Her” (see Eph 5:25). Since the priest is wedded to the Church (the body of Christ = us), he is also called to give himself up for us. The fruitfulness of his life will be made evident to the extent that he does this.

It is what true fatherhood is all about, the total donation of self for the good of the children. It is a miracle of love! God has chosen certain men to show us the father’s love and to teach us what it means to be children of God. And we as children are often so ungrateful for the gifts our fathers give us. Not only do they give us the gift of themselves, but they provide for us in so many ways. Hidden ways.

A father is first of all an authority figure. He is the head of the family. We can learn much from St. Joseph about the poverty of spirit required to possess true authority which always is a gift from God. Jesus teaches us, Himself, what kind of authority is wielded in the kingdom of heaven…the authority of loving service. A father loves and cares for his family. He nourishes them and provides for their needs. He shelters them and guides them along safe roads. He protects them from danger. Our spiritual fathers nourish us with the Word and Sacraments, they provide for our spiritual needs, guide us along the safe roads of true doctrine and protect us from the evil one by their prayers and sacrifices. They teach us by their words and most of all by their example how to be a follower of Christ. And their great desire is to bring all children into the kingdom of God for His greater glory and our unending joy and eternal beatitude. What a beautiful plan of God!

So what happens when a priest is not given over entirely to Christ? What happens when we don’t SEE Jesus in our priests? Blessed Columba Marmion says, “Exterior humility is necessary for a priest for the very reason that he is a person of authority. He is, in the public view, a candle placed upon the candlestick: positus super candelabrum (Mt 5:15), his words, his gestures, his attitudes are all the object of notice. If these are open to criticism, if they allow petty preoccupations of self-love to appear, this is a betrayal of the faithful, who like to find in their priest, combined with that perfect dignity befitting the minister of the Lord, something of the profound humility of the divine Master.” (See Blessed Columba Marmion, Christ, The Ideal of the Priest pp 139-140). A betrayal of the faithful is the same as saying a betrayal of the family. Marmion also speaks of priests grumbling against legitimate authority and calls it evil. If grumbling is evil for the father, it is just as evil for the children. Grumbling about our priests is the least productive thing we can do when we are faced with such a sad situation of betrayal. How many times do we hear people, even ourselves, complain about this or that priest and how he said or did this or that. And yet how many of us pray for priests? How many make sacrifices for them? How many really love them enough to give up themselves for them as they have given themselves for us? We, as children of God, must honor our father and mother. We must do all we can to help our priests. We have all betrayed the Lord over and over again and He forgives us every time we repent. We must have the same spirit of forgiveness when it comes to priests who have not been faithful to the great dignity that is forever imprinted upon them by their ordination. The whole family needs to come together when there is a crisis and call upon the Lord for assistance. If there is a situation where a priest is clearly endangering the flock by his behavior or teaching, we must go to legitimate authorities and seek resolutions. We must also pray! The best thing we can do for our priests is to give them to the Blessed Mother, who, when she looks upon them, sees her son…sometimes she sees them covered with all sorts of filth, but she is a good mother who comes to clean them up and to help them and to restore in them the perfect image of her son that she sees. Let us all resolve to say one Hail Mary for our priests every single day. The power of one Hail Mary is extraordinary and all of us can do at least that. We should make it part of our daily routine to pray for our priests…one Hail Mary said with love can change the whole world and sanctify the entire priesthood. Oh, how fruitful our fathers will be then!

My Lord! My all! How can I ever thank you for sending me such a wonderful father? How can I express what is in my heart? For 10 years you were preparing my heart to receive you, emptying it of so much and getting it ready for you…all of my life, really. All of those years of praying for a spiritual father to guide me closer to you. You let me suffer so much by seeing your doctrine twisted by a chosen son of yours and yet you taught me to persevere in my prayer for him and in my prayer to you to help me. How many times I was lost in wanting you and yet not really knowing you? And then you sent me a real father who has birthed the faith in me. He has brought me so close to you and helps me at every turn to discover your infinite goodness. I see you in Him. I see all of your goodness, tenderness, beauty, and strength wrapped up in his heart. Every time I look at him, I see your love for me, for he loves me unconditionally as the best of fathers. Even though he sees how weak I am and how I can do nothing for you, dear Jesus, he still loves me. It is like a father who sees his own baby with some sort of disease and who needs extra special love and attention from its parents. Does he cast that baby aside or does he give it all the extra love he can to help the baby get well? Despite all of my miseries, his love is constant. It is the greatest proof of your love for me, Lord. Half the time I’m broken by it so incomprehensible it is that you have such a care for me…that you’ve chosen me from all eternity to be so close to you. He has taught me to pray, to really talk with you and to listen to you. He teaches me so much every day by his example. Make him a saint, Jesus. Give him all of your love. I have nothing to give him and there is nothing I can do for him except to beg you to give him your all. My favorite Mass intentions are for the clergy and I especially love when we say “For all those who have spiritual authority over us, let us pray to the Lord.” It is a way I can honor him in your presence. I wish you to give him everything. I see you already give him so much. He couldn’t love me if you first didn’t give him so many of your gifts. Continue to fill him with your patience and love…with all of your virtues. Overlook his weaknesses and pour forth your grace upon him. He is bringing you many children and forever I will belong to him in a special way because of the ties you have forged between us. I will be in heaven someday because he has taught me how to receive your mercy and your love. Jesus, how I love you and how glad I am that you love me so tenderly! Gentle Jesus, thank you! Help me to be a good daughter to him and to help him in his every need. Protect him from all evil. May our lovely Mother, Mary, hold him constantly in her arms and console him in every way until you receive him into heaven. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

• Christ: The Ideal of the Priest by Blessed Columba Marmion
• The Mystery of Joseph by Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe, OP

The Present Moment

JMJ

Surrendering ourselves to God in the present moment is the most sure and solid way to sanctity that exists. It has been the secret of the saints in every age. It is the way where God, Himself, directs our souls and leads us on the path to union with Him…to heaven. There isn’t anything tricky or necessarily hard about it because God does all of the work Himself. We ARE the work of His hands. Books and books have been written on abandoning ourselves to God in the present moment…books written by saints that tell us everything we could ever hope to know on this subject, and how easy it is to become a saint ourselves if we only do the simplest of things and say “Yes” to God in every present moment that He arranges so lovingly for us.

So why do we say “No” all the time? For, indeed, that is what we are saying the moment we complain about anything in our lives. Every moment contains an unrepeatable grace from God and it would seem that so many of these beautiful gifts that the Lord wants to shower upon us go unwanted. We think of them as inconveniences or disappointments or struggles when in fact they are treasures that bring us closer to God…and not just closer, but actually unite us with Him. That God wants His creatures to be one in love with Him is so incredible and so mind-blowing that I shall never understand it; the only thing I can do is to be grateful for HIS goodness and offer my love in return. Truly, my hope lies in Him alone.

Recently, I had to miss the wedding of a young couple who are very dear to me. I was fortunate to have some time off work and was going to spend it making a mini-retreat and then go out of town and attend the wedding. God had other plans for me, though, as He allowed me to fall sick. My health is not good to begin with so when I catch any little virus, I seem to be doubly sick and doing anything at all becomes difficult. How I wish I could say that I surrendered to God immediately and gave up all of my plans of extra prayer and Mass and going to the wedding with great joy, but alas, I had to first struggle with disappointment…the disappointment of missing the wedding, of missing spiritual reading, of missing Mass and of missing Jesus, Himself, sacramentally, in Holy Communion. I had to struggle with the disappointment of having a sick body that was filled with aches and pains and the worry about when I’d be able to go to work again. It seems so often to be the case that we have our own ideas of what God wills for us and how we should achieve it and yet, the truth of it is, God makes Himself quite clear in the present moment. On our own we can’t help resisting God’s will (due mostly to our weak, fallen natures) and struggling against the very good gifts that will unite us with Him and make us holy, but thank God we are not on our own! God’s grace is sufficient for us and He has sent the Holy Spirit to encourage and teach us…even to teach us how to surrender in the present moment and say YES with hearts full of love. The Holy Spirit also teaches us that we live supernatural lives and there is meaning in everything…especially in the Holy Cross! Our bodies may sometimes be confined and full of weakness, but our spirits can fly into the realms of heaven and ask for blessings upon those we love and favors for those who need the graces of God. The Communion of Saints is such a beautiful tenet of our faith. We are all much closer to each other then we even realize. God is so glorious!

And if we haven’t always said YES to God in the present moment or if it has taken us a little time to do so, we should never be discouraged…the son in the gospel said no at first, but then he went and did his father’s will. God is patient. He will also teach us patience, and a good many other things, as He gently leads us in the ways of His love. May He continue to arrange every detail of our lives and finish His work in us so that we can be one with Him…both now and forever.

Forgive me, Lord, for thinking too much of myself and not enough about your love. How weak I am! It is such a grace to know it and to know that when I am weak and helpless that you are carrying me in your arms. I love you. I have the greatest desire to do your will with perfect love as you did your Father’s will and yet I see that my love is not perfect. I see that I love all of the consolations that you give me and when they are not constant, I am almost like a lost puppy wandering around in the snow. It is only with the eyes of faith that I know you are with me and loving me…only by the deep peace and joy in the depths of my soul that I know you are present. Forgive me for not surrendering to your will for me in the present moment….for all of the moments I resist your grace and your love. Please fill me with the grace to love you for yourself alone because you are worthy of all love. You seem to have shaken up my world lately and taken away all of the supports I rely on…especially your sacramental presence. I was full of fear and then you showed me clearly your will and helped me to embrace it…what a gift it was and is! You have not left me alone, but are showing me that you are purifying me…and making the foundation of my soul out of the solid rock of your love…your truth, goodness, and your beauty. Oh, Jesus, I want you with all that I possess! I want to be your delight and your consolation and the joy of the Father. Help me in every single moment. Help me in THIS moment, for in this moment I say YES! To everything! I adore you, Jesus. Bless us all with your love and your grace. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

• Abandonment to Divine Providence by Fr. Jean-Pierre De Caussade, S.J.
• Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence by Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, S.J. and Saint Claude de la Colombiere, S.J.