Last week in an address to the Seminary community at Mundelein Cardinal George highlighted the pastoral importance of listening.  He stressed that listening to God’s people helps you to hear their fears, their needs, their desires, their shortcomings, and all of the things that can help you lead and pastor them.  This got me to thinking about the importance of conversation in the New Evangelization.

While it is extremely important to broadcast the true message of salvation in every way (print, web, social media, DURING THE HOMILY) people are just a bit more complicated than being just consumers of salvation data.  They need to gnaw on it, play with it, work it out in their own way.  They need to have conversations about it.

I was recently reading a post on Fr. Barron’s Word on Fire regarding the Japan tragedy and a young woman named Monica posted a question in the comments.  It was a thoughtful question and was written by someone who looks to be genuinely seeking truth.  Unfortunately, as of this writing, the question has gone unanswered.  I think this is real shame.  Now I’m not trying to pick on WOF, I think they’re doing great work but I think our view of the New Evangelization when it comes to new media needs to now embrace the social side of the web.  People are smart.  They’re thoughtful.  They have questions.  Who is going to answer them?

Unfortunately allowing comments on a faith based blog can be a Pandoras box.  The anonymity of the internet turns comments sections of websites into a historical record of some of the worse of our human nature.  But then there’s women like Monica, who see it as a way to connect with the author and pick their brain.  In this case, the author (or a chosen proxy) needs to be willing to answer Monica.  I think there’s something true about our need for conversation in the New Evangelization.  When evangelization is seen as a conversation you assent to the inherent dignity of the questioner, and in doing so we start to preach the gospel – without using words.

It seems like every year the Christmas controversy rages.  You know which one I’m talking about.  Many faithful grumble aloud about the old “Holiday-Christmas” word switcharoo.  The Word on Fire blog even decried it as a “War on Christmas.”  I don’t want to seem like I’m coming down on people who feel this way.  Their frustration certainly is justified, and the injustice of making money on Christ’s birth while never wanting to mention His name  is certainly silly, but I think we sometimes get our knickers in a bunch unnecessarily.

When I drive around my hometown and see all the light posts adorned with decorations, I see all of the lighted shops, and all the Christmas trees in the window I can’t help feeling like this is all a part of the Divine drama of life.  To me the “war” on Christmas is actually the most dramatic representation of the need to evangelize we have in this world.  Sure, the world might not recognize Christ in Christmas, but it certainly does palpably show a desire for Him. Think about it.  Think of the millions of dollars municipalities in this country spend on their Christmas decorations.  Think of all the man hours that go into cutting down trees, readying decorations, and climbing the ladder to put lights up.  Think of all the hours shopping, cooking, cleaning, and preparing.  Is this not a sign that people truly desire the Christ, even if they don’t quite follow Him just yet?  Is this not a sign of the overwhelming desire for goodness, for peace, for love, and for joy?  Do the emotions and notions of giving, love, and sacrifice espoused by this “secular” event not echo (albeit imperfectly) the Gospel?  Should we really be grumbling against a world desperately desiring the birth of the Savior?  Or should we be sure we are at the forefront of telling the story of Christmas?

There’s an interesting story about the making of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (if there was ever a better representation of this constant commercialism struggle, I haven’t seen it).  Originally CBS executives balked at the idea of Linus proclaiming the Gospel of Luke.  However Charles Schulz stood firm and boldly exclaimed  “If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?”  Is this not our task?  Is this not our call?  Is this not the heart of evangelism?  It is our job not to rail against the culture, but to love the culture and help lead it towards Christ.  Let’s put away our grumbling and try to see this time through God’s eyes. At this moment our entire country is preparing for the birth of Christ, whether they know it or not.  Let’s try, through love, charity, and God’s grace, to show them that the greatest gift this holiday season is Christ Himself.  Imagine what the world could be if we try to encourage our brothers and sisters towards a true meaning of Christmas, instead of railing against their ignorance.

Throughout the last two months this notion of the Gospel as Relationship has really consumed me. The idea was first kicked off when, while studying the 10 commandments, I had heard for the first time that some artist renderings of Moses with the tablets show three commandments on one tablet and the other seven on the other. It shows the delineation of the Law as commandments dealing with the relationship between man and God (the 3) and man with one another (the 7). While I could go on about how interesting the difference in number of commandments is, it really has driven home the Gospel as relationship.

Indeed this is what Jesus says when he is asked to explain the Law.  “To love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.”  This amazing summation of the law is a testament to the Gospel as relationship. Jesus is making it clear that true humanity is recognizing oneself as a relational being. Therefore, living in a way that pleases God is equated to living in a way that honors, respects, and helps to keep relationships holy, pure, and well formed. This really is the summation of our purpose. It’s also a beautiful reflection of heaven. Heaven is not just a place with winged angels playing harps, or where we get everything we want, heaven is a place of ultimate justice where peace, love, unity, and perfect relationship in harmony exists. Forever.

I think this notion of Gospel as Relationship is lost on the world at large, and even sometimes among Catholic faithful.  We sometimes get wrapped up in overly scrupulous practices, false senses of piety and holiness, and shallow religiosity.  But indeed, what Christ has come to redeem is the lost relationship with our Father, and therefore with one another.  He has established the way love should be with His Passion.  He has shown us true holiness, one that allows us to live a life of radical love, is possible and empowers us to do so through His Resurrection.  And then calls us to sanctify the world and our relationship to it through His Holy Spirit.  Indeed, the sum of all revelation, of all thoughts of final cause and purpose, and the Gospel itself is relationship.

Let us then get on with the work of tilling our hearts to build a better relationship with the Lord our God, so that we may be able to learn to love ourselves, accept ourselves, forgive ourselves as Christ has forgiven us, and ,therefore, radically love others as we do indeed love ourselves.  This is true religion.  This is true holiness.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come.

I came across an online story discussing unsealed documents in the diocese of San Bernadino California regarding sexual abuse by priests.  As a Seminarian I cannot explain to you the overwhelming grief and pain it brings me every time I read a story like this.  There truly are no words to describe the deep pain I feel every time I read of hear of these stories.  There are also no words for the anger that I have for those who were so inept at handling the situation.

When I read stories like this I honestly ask myself and God “How do any of us stay in the Church?”  It literally is by the grace of God that faith can endure in these times.

I’m also sick of the apologetics that come with this situation.  They make me grow tired and weary.  How do we defend something that is so utterly indefensible?  How can we, with straight faces and upright hearts, try to discuss statistics, reasons, psychology, and the like?  And furthermore – how can some people out there actually get angry with the media?  Get angry with those who write and talk about this issue?

Are we being treated fairly?  Certainly not.  But what underlines this?  Why is there this huge rush to jump on the Church?  There are many who will point to the devil, many people will quote this as the everlasting battle of the “gates of Hell” encroaching on the Church.  And maybe some of that is in the midst of this.  But really, when you get right down to it, people intuitively expect so much more – and so much better – from the Church.  People, deep down inside of them, want to know that there is a place of salvation – even if they haven’t quite gotten around to surrendering to that salvation.  People want to know there’s a sense of divinity in this world, a place of God’s true presence, and a place that can still be held up as a model for something that is good, and right in this world.

And we have failed.  There are no other ways to say it.  There are no ways to twist the facts, massage the truth, or cleverly use misdirection.  We have failed miserably – and have destroyed hearts, lives, and faith in the process.  With each and every cover up, each and every secret archive we experience death by a thousand cuts, and each one of them hurts more than the one before.

It’s time for our leadership to do what we should’ve done a long time ago.  Beg, plead, and utterly fall at the feet of God for His mercy.  Anyone who thinks business as usual will work needs to simply be left behind.  The only response that seems logical is one of complete and utter surrender to God to make it right.  To beg Him to send among us prophets in our time to call us to deep repentance and renewal.

Sadly business as usual is still going on.  There are still people out there trying to hold up spinning plates and somehow trying to stitch back together tatters and threads that are torn beyond repair.  It’s madness.  And it needs to stop.

How do we endure in these times of great trial and distress?  The way Saints have for 2,000 years by focusing our minds, hearts, and souls on the Cross of Jesus Christ and ask the Great and Good Shepherd to lead His Church in these days.  May we have a renewed awe and love for Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, and may we be set ablaze by God’s Most Holy and capable Spirit.

St John of the Cross in his masterful writing discusses the importance on being dispassionate towards things, experiences, thoughts, and ideas that seem holy.  It can be a difficult thing to grasp, but it is ultimately an understanding that God is infinite, and everything that we think, experience, and learn can help us come to terms with this ultimate nature of God, but can also eventually become a hollowed, graven thing that can be a stumbling block to our growth in grace.  I wrote the following in a spat of inspiration from this:

You must not confuse something that brings you to God as God Himself.  For the God who created that something out of nothing cannot be that something, but rather will use that something for you to explore his infiniteness beyond something.

What then, shall we despise that something for it is not God?  May it never be!  God constrained himself to the finite to bring us the reconciliation needed to be infinite with him.  We should be thankful for these somethings, but must be willing to loosen our grasp on them at any moment, because what we should always be eagerly desiring to grasp is He, Himself as He really is.

Oh the life of a pilgrim…

Eric and Colleen Fitts stopped by the show for Episode 5 to tell us about Bethlehem Farm.  Bethlehem Farm is a Catholic community doing great work in the Appalachian region of West Virginia.  The married couple (with a baby on the way!) discuss the mission of their ministry and what it’s like living a simple life of Discipleship.  Check it on out by clicking play below!

Sorry folks this one’s been up for a while on iTunes but if you want to listen here, you can now!

I’m currently spending two weeks at Behtlehem Farm.  If you’ve never heard of the place stay TUNED our podcast hitting next weekend will tell you all about them!

The Farm is a wonderful place though.  It sits upon some of the most beautiful land our country has, and is all together an amazing place to reflect, to pray, and to work.  When volunteers and group weeks come through the Farm discusses eating as a moral act.  They try to show those passing through how what we choose to eat affects the whole of God’s creation.  From farm to table, they take volunteers through the process of how creation is often harmed by what it is we put in our body, and ironically creation is continued to be harmed in our own humanity as we eat things that often are a detriment to our health.

I can tell you, some of the best meals I’ve had have been on the Farm.  There’s something to be said about food that is literally picked from the garden moments before it enters the ingredient list for that day’s meal.  This has also caused me to kick around a hypothesis that I’d like to share with all of you.  We often talk about how there are so many things in modern society that take us away from God.  Conservative Christians sometimes blast popular culture, entertainment: music, movies, tv and the like as eroding our societal values and also causing us to replace God with things that are so much less important.  While some of this is often true, I think the biggest thing that has caused us to push God out of our modern lives is what we eat and how we prepare it.

The average American is incredibly ignorant about our food chain.  We have no idea how food goes from soil to our plates, and genuinely we just don’t want to know.  Furthermore we are also incredibly unaware of how much our daily sustenance and life hangs on the balance of nature, on forces we do not control.  I’m throughly convinced that our lack of knowledge and understanding of the basics of our food supply has a huge correlation with the decline of faith in our country. The fact is without clean water and properly grown and raised food we would all cease to be.  We know this on a certain level, and we understand it – but we’re incredibly blind when it comes to coming to grips with the enormity of it.  What is man that God pays attention to us?  Can we cause it to rain so our crops can be watered and the harvest can happen?  Can we order our seasons to ensure our crops will grow correctly, and be ready to be put on our table?  Can we do any of these things?

We’ve become a drive thru nation.  Our service based culture has extended into our kitchens, the hearts of our homes, and now take -out or ordering-in rules our day.  Eating has become a chore, or something tacked on in our days.  We get our food from god knows where, and just continue on with out busyness. And all the while we don’t realize how very powerless we are to even sustain our own lives, how absolutely dependent we are on the whole of creation to stay ordered and in balance so that we can continue living.

This then can also seep into Mass.  When was the last time we really took a step back and thought hard and long about the “presentation of the Gifts?”  The bread and wine shared at the altar no longer consist of the fruit of our labor, of our fields, of our vine.   Totally lost is the offering of the people to God as a pleasing sacrifice so He can in turn offer His Spirit to change them into the Real Presence.  No our hosts and our wine have just turned into a catalog number in a religious goods catalog.  Our presentation of the Gifts simply another task to be checked off by our Sacristarians and Liturgy coordinators.  And so, our understanding of God’s call to participate in the Eucharist is dimmed to the point of being snuffed out.

We can decry a “secular” culture all we want for giving us profane entertainment and banal celebrities, but let’s instead take a look at what it is we’re feeding our bodies, what it is we’re putting on the table, and how absolutely dependent on God we are to sustain our physical well being.  From there let us remember and never forget the amazing call to participation that God gives to us in the Eucharist.  God, in his infinite wisdom, chose the most basic of human necessities to portray the most profund moment of human history.  Our spiritual sustenance is found in the Eucharist.  Let us not allow this seepage to continue.  Let us eat morally, let us contemplate our need for God both for our physical and spiritual sustenance, and let us reflect on how both of those things start with the work of human hands.

In the 4th century, Roman Emperor Diocletian had made a decree that any Christians posessing Scripture, meeting to celebrate the Eucharist, or constructing any buildings that could be used for religious gatherings would be put to death.

In 304 A.D. a group of 49 Christians from Abitene (present-day Tunisia) were taken captive by the Roman empire for meeting privately to receive the Eucharist.  When asked by their prosecutors why they would do something so foolish they responded “Sine dominico non possumus” translated – “Without Sunday we cannot live. ”

Without Sunday we cannot live.  This was their faith.  This was their reason.  And this was the eventual cause of their death, as they were executed shortly after their arrest.   I have the great fortune of being able to post on Sundays, the Lord’s day, and as it has been called the new Easter.  Our gathering together on Sunday does not happen by chance, but it shares the same day that Christ rose from the dead.  And Christ’s resurrection shared the same day as the first day of the week.  And the “first day of the week” gets its distinction as it symbolizes the first day of creation (we sometimes confuse Sunday with sabbath – which could then confuse Sunday with the seventh day, this hopefully clears it up).

And so, every Sunday we meet around the table of the Lord.  A table that we are Called to.  It is God who invites us to the altar, to the Eucharist, and in attending Mass we are gratefully and thankfully accepting that invitation.  And we know that this invitation is to more than just a religious observance, more than just a ritual of sorts – but rather it is an invitation to intimately consume the Body and Blood of our savior.  It is in invitation to share in His death and in His resurrection.  It is an invitation to reaffirm our path, to realize that we are a new creation in Christ, and we recall that as we celebrate the first day of the week.  We are then sent off, encouraged to “Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord” because we now have had our fill.  We have encountered Him in the most intimate way possible.  We are to take that encounter beyond the four walls of our Church buildings and bring it to the world, a world that desperately needs Christ.

I think I feel particularly blessed to have read about these 49 precious martyrs on the day before the 4th of July.  It will be very easy for all of us to not focus on Mass today.  To think about our plans, where we’ll be, getting a house or a BBQ ready, and where we’re going to watch the fireworks.  All of those are great things to do as we celebrate the freedoms that our country provides, but let us not now, nor never, forget that “Without Sunday we cannot live.”  That without the freedom that Christ provides, there truly is no reason, no purpose, and no hope.  Instead, Christ provides us with ultimate freedom, with ultimate peace, and with the ultimate hope that each and every one of our Sundays is simply a milestone on our way to an Eternity with him.