Catholicism, holiness and spirituality

Saints Peter and Paul

So today is all about Saints Peter and Paul - two great saints of the church. I've always had a better time with Peter than with Paul. He just seems more accessible, and more like me. Peter has a sort of foot-in-mouth approach that I can empathize with. I'm sure Paul was a great guy, but he's not-so-much my type. I'm not surprised that Peter and Paul didn't hit it off right away.

There are towns and cities named after Paul - St. Paul in Minnesota, and not far from where I grew up is St. Paul, Kansas. There's a St. Peter in Kansas, and a few St. Petersburgs around. We have St Peter-in-chains Cathedral here in Cincinnati, and a regular Cathedral of St Peter in Kansas City. One can claim to have a 'Pauline' view of things, but is there a corresponding 'Peter-view'?

OK, enough musing and thinking out loud - time to wake the boys and start getting ready for mass.... Have a great Sunday!

Snap out of it

In today's Gospel, Jesus talks about not fearing the things that don't matter much; or at least that's my interpretation of it (Matthew 10:26-33):

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not be afraid of them. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.

‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.

‘So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.’

Don't buy into the fear 'they' are peddling, because there are more important things to be concerned with – your soul and your relationship with God for example. If we are companions of Jesus, then what is there to fear?

I can see Jesus' disciples at the time getting concerned with their standing in society, with what was being said about them, with threats being made about their new way of life. Maybe they were seeing this around every corner - respected leaders were saying they were going the wrong way with this Jesus character, established groups may have been shutting them off from the community's resources. Everywhere they turned, it didn't look good; and maybe they didn't see it getting better any time soon, either. That sure could get a person on the defensive, and it could make one's outlook on life a bit pessimistic.

We're subject to this pessimism today, too. There are plenty of reasons to worry about, things that threaten our safety and security – terrorism, job security, rising energy prices and so on are all real. Everything is being made in China and every customer service organization is in India (or so it seems); more jobs are going overseas so what will we be left with? When companies want to improve profits – which they always do – they often cut wages, benefits and retirement; they downsize and outsource and spin-off... and this has a huge impact on people. If it hasn't happened to you, then you probably know someone it has happened to. 

This sour view of things has a negative impact on our current productivity and on our view of the future – it's a self-reinforcing downward spiral. I can imagine Jesus' disciples feeling this way because they didn't have it easy. They were going against the grain and probably suffering the consequences.

But then I can see Jesus calling them to snap out of it: 'Don't be afraid of those things because they don't matter so much in the larger scheme of things. Keep holding close to me, to God, and care for your soul.'

Sometimes we can get convinced things are worse than they really are – bad events get put into a continuous media loop, and the seemingly endless analysis serves to ingrain it deeper into our minds. And I think sometimes we over-identify with our jobs, letting our self-esteem get too entangled with work-life. Sometimes we overlook and downplay the things that count – our relationship with God, our spouse, our family. Maybe it's time to 'snap out of it' and get back to caring more about those things that count.

The President's Faith

I read an article in the Economist the other day about our collective fascination and preoccupation with the US President's faith perspective. Most Americans say they want a president with a strong faith, and I'm sure they want one who matches their own particular faith.

This seems like a rather recent thing, though, or maybe I'm too young to remember it. I don't remember people caring so much about the candidates' faith or religious affiliation back in the late 70's and the 80's. I'm sure it was there to an extent, but not like it has been the last 10 or 15 years. But does it really matter, and should we even care?

Let's say you liked the Clinton years - economic growth and prosperity, no major military hassles, life was good. How much of that had anything to do with Bill Clinton's faith perspective? Towards the end of his presidency it all kind of unraveled, and what role did his faith have in all that? He can talk about faith really well, but did his personal faith make a difference in his performance as president?

Now let's look at the current President Bush; his faith was mentioned in the elections and he has made no secret that it's an important part of his life. I know some people will say that his faith has had a negative impact on his performance as president; can we attribute anything positive to it?

Now we have Obama and McCain; both have problems with religion in regards to their campaigns. They come from two very different perspectives; even without any politics or campaigning, middle-aged black men and old white men most likely will talk totally differently about the role faith and religion play in their lives. And again, does it really matter?

I get the feeling that religion is being co-opted by politicians and political parties, and many if not most religious leaders are voluntarily going along with it. Religion is another way to slice & dice the electorate, it's just another demographic tag for them. It doesn't really have much to do with their own religious beliefs or their faith; it's more to do with political and religious leaders using religion as leverage on special interest issues.

Well, I don't mean to come across as cynical with all that; I'm just looking to put it in some sort of perspective that makes sense. I do believe that faith and religion can play a very positive role in a political leader's life and decisions; but at the presidential level there are so many other strong competing interests it feels likely to me that religion will most always end up as another one of the tools to divide and segregate instead of build-up and affirm. I think it's better to leave it out of the political discourse altogether.

Hello, world

OK, so it's been quite a while since I posted anything here - the longest dry spell I've ever had, I believe. Well, I think I can get back to blogging now; I've had a special project that kept me busy and it's pretty much going on its own now. And then there were some extra activities on top of all that - the state lacrosse tournament, 8th grade graduation for Nick, and a spike in demand for my time at work.

So during this dry spell I haven't been reading blogs, either - so I am very much out of touch with all my blog-pals. Sorry about that! But it has been interesting to live in and experience the world of Catholicism without all the blog commentary; and I can say it was pretty nice, too. I don't mean to take away from any Catholic-oriented blogs out there, just that sometimes it's good to filter out some of the peripheral commentary and let the experience sink-in on its own.

So nothing else to post now - but more to come!

Phew! ... and a meme

Well yes I am still here, just very busy and pulled in many other directions by life and special projects. We went on vacation, then I caught up from vacation, then some special projects come along, spring has sprung and drawn me outdoors away from my computer.... all good things :)

Crystal tagged me for a meme - my life in six words(!) How can that be? My life in six words.... well, here's what I came up with:

Unexpected changes drove challenging, fruitful growth

That's the story of my life - I've had some really unexpected things happen in my life over the years, and they drove me to change; and that change has been both challenging and fruitful/rewarding. Oh, and a picture to go with the six words - I'll have to look for a suitable one; but gotta run now :)

Making the darkness a bit brighter

Reading the news at CNS I found the opening words of this story - a quote from Pope Benedict - to ring very true for me:

One's feelings of hatred must be washed away with forgiveness and humble service toward others -- they should never be left to linger long enough to poison the soul

It's short and sweet and simple - and often hard to do, and hard to do so consistently. When you take a look around the world at the war, the injustice, the crime and sin of the day, it seems to me that a lot of it comes from harboring and nurturing hatred towards others. And the same could apply to our personal sin - feelings of resentment and anger towards others that we allow to find a home inside us.

We have a natural tendency to feel anger, resentment and hatred. I'm not saying we shouldn't allow ourselves to feel those things; they are just feelings, after all. It's natural to have all sorts of feelings. The key is not letting those negative things find a home in our hearts - washing them away 'with forgiveness and humble service toward others' before they are there long enough to stick to our souls.

But you know, it's not always easy to forgive. And there is so much in this world, in our modern society, that pulls us towards selfishness and away from humility, towards narcissism and away from serving others.

I've found that as I help others, the darkness in my heart gets brighter. As the focus shifts from me and my selfishness towards the humanness of others and how I can be of service to them, there just isn't as much room for the anger and resentment.

Struggles and perseverance

This letter from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to his cousin Mageurite really made me pause and reflect. Here are the parts of the letter that struck a chord in me:

[Hersin-Coupigny] 7th October 1915

... I made a tour of the trenches on the eve of the attack to people I knew and to give communion to  some (all to whom I offered it, accepted; I was limited by the smallness of my pyx). You can't imagine what emotions I then experienced, nor what one feels is conveyed in the clasp of a man who shakes one's hand, at a bend in a communications trench, after one has given him God – while the shells are going across, almost like a solid vault overhead, with a continual hum, on their way to demolish the trenches 200 metres further on, the trenches we'll have to move into as soon as the bombardment stops. There's no doubt about it: The only man who knows [who experiences] right in the innermost depths of his being the weight and grandeur of war, is the man who goes over the top with bayonet and grenade. In that moment training, of course, and a sort of intoxication play a large part; but even so it is still true that the infantryman leaving his trench for the attack is a man apart, a man who has lived a minute of life of which other men have simply no conception at all.

I am ashamed, as you may imagine, to think that I stayed in the communication trenches while my friends went out to their death. So many of them never came back – first among them, my best friend in the regiment, and the finest soldier I've yet known, poor Commandant Lefebvre ...

What is going to emerge from this ghastly struggle? It's more and more the crisis, the desperately slow evolution of a rebirth of Europe. Yet could things move any more quickly? ... We must offer our existence to God, who neither wastes nor spoils, but rather makes use, better than we could ever anticipate, of the struggles in which we are enveloped. If I said I didn't feel any weariness, I wouldn't be speaking the truth. As soon as the trenches lose the attraction of novelty, you easily become heartily sick of them – particularly, perhaps, when, like me, the work you've given yourself to involves witnessing all the miseries, one after another, without sharing in the battle or victory. Pray to God the he may give me the strength to hold out as long as he should wish me to. When the regiment, for the third time, fills up with new faces, it's hard work to start making friends again, to form relationships, in the hopes of being able to give someone words of advice or absolution when the next attack comes. God grant that we may remain his workers to the end. ...

This letter is set in the trenches of World War I, but couldn't it just as well apply to the wars of today? We can never really know what it's like to be a soldier on the front line, or on a patrol somewhere in a hostile, foreign land. As we sit back here in relative safety, people die in war. And what will emerge from this struggle? We are understandably impatient and weary; and perhaps we're hesitant to get too intimate with what's really going on.

It seems to me that Teilhard's experience here also applies to the 'wars' of poverty, HIV/AIDS and other diseases that decimate some countries, persecuted refugees, inner-city struggles, rural poverty and so on. Can we imagine the emotions we might feel from a close, spiritual connection with someone we know is facing persecution, chronic disease, hunger, street violence, or death? Would we feel shame for being close to them yet removed from that same danger? And what will emerge from these struggles around the world and in our own back yards? Maybe we get weary from constantly giving, or being called to give, of ourselves and our resources to causes that don't seem to get resolved. It can be hard to keep going in the midst of what seems to be constant struggle, constant misery.

As I read this letter from Teilhard, I was also reminded that there are plenty of Jesuits today who could probably relate to his experiences in the trenches of World War I. The front lines may be different, but the 'ghastly' struggles are just as real.

Green Catholicism

Not a St Patrick's Day sort of 'green', but 'green' as in environmentally friendly. I came across some info on the web that led me to this story on Zenit, which has a number of related articles in the sidebar. I had heard bits and pieces about Pope Benedict and the curia talking up for care of the environment, but after perusing the Zenit articles I can see that it's more than that. Looks like they are saying the part of being Catholic is being 'green'(!)

OK so we can define 'green' in a lot of ways, but when the leadership of an organization that encompasses about 1 billion people expresses concern about...

exhausting the resources of the planet, the rapid thawing of the glaciers, the increase of the greenhouse effect, the increase of natural disasters, excessive emission of carbon dioxide ... These are some of the warning signs that call for a moral awakening in favor of the earth.

... that seems to be a fairly bg deal. It's good to see this coming from the Vatican; and I'm reminded that the Jesuit GC 35 also dealt with environmental issues, but I haven't read about that, yet.

Action and Sanctification

As I was reading through 'The Making of a Mind' I came across a letter from Teilhard written while he was on a break from the front-lines, at a place named Zuydcoote in Northern France, on July 4, 1915. The first part of it was familiar, containing the prayer titled 'Patient Trust' that I first read in the little prayer book 'Hearts on Fire'. The second part of the letter contains another gem - Teilhard's description of true religion, one which spurs action that leads to sanctification:

One of the surest marks of the truth of religion, in itself and in an individual soul, is to note to what extent it brings into action, that is, causes to rise up from sources deep within each one of us, a certain maximum of energy and effort. Action and sanctification go hand in hand, each supporting the other. You want to feel yourself more balanced in the hurly-burly of a free life: strive to increase your own personal impetus, your thrust towards the good to be achieved in your own circle. When your moral 'vital force' has thus been increased, the contrary winds that might make you waver or hesitate if you were at rest will hardly divert you from your course, for you will be under way.

I like that - it makes sense to me, and I've found it to be true. When I am more or less standing still in my spiritual life, in my social-justice activities, or just feeling all-around insular, it is much easier for me to waver and hesitate to do the right thing, to live a holier life. But when I'm moving along, spiritually and in using my blessings to help others, I am much more centered and resolute. Action and sanctification do seem to go hand in hand, for me at least.

Letters from a soldier-priest

One of the books I've been reading, bit by bit, is by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ - one of my favorite Jesuits from history. He was in the first world war, serving France as an 'enlisted' soldier on the front line from Nieport to Rechesy. The book's full title is 'The Making of a Mind, Letters from a soldier-priest [1914-1919]', and it is now out of print.

There are two things about this book that attracted me to it. My brother-in-law is a chaplain in the Air Force, and currently on active duty somewhere in the Middle East (or, Southwest Asia as he likes to call it). Having a family member in active duty brings me closer to that world. I pay closer attention to the detail of the war-news, and his emails give me a more intimate picture of what's going on there. So, that led me to this work of Teilhard's; I knew from earlier works that he had spent time in the war, so this chaplaincy-connection from past to present sparked my curiosity.

The other aspect of this book that attracted me to it is that it is essentially a collection of letters Teilhard wrote from the front lines back to his cousin, Marguerite Teilhard. Who writes letters these days? We email, we blog, we send text messages. People can reach me most any time, any place, via my mobile phone, which I can also use for reading and sending email. But because it's so easy and quick to communicate those ways, perhaps we also lose some intimacy, some depth in the communication? My brother-in-law the chaplain sends us all an email now and then, to let us know how he's doing and some of the highlights he can share about his work. Because he is so far away and is restricted in his time and detail of what he can share, his emails seem to have more authenticity, more genuineness. They remind me of the letters Teilhard wrote to his cousin - little capsules of the important thoughts, feelings and happenings that need to be written down and communicated.

So for the first quote from the book, here's one that chaplains will appreciate, and which shows a glimpse, I think, of someone holding true to their calling:

[Marest, Oise] 9th February 1915

... I feel increasingly happy at having been posted to a regiment in which, as I told you, I am the only priest, and where there is a large number of men who, when the time comes, will turn to me for help. I hope really to have found my right place. ...

Goodbye. I pray for you, and I ask our Lord to associate our activities, however far from one another they may seem, so that they may 'render' more to his service.