Starting Lent with Purpose

It was an average day in Gaming, Austria-well, other than being Ash Wednesday, that is. The students shuffled into 12:00pm Mass as usual, although an abnormal amount had found time to come this day. Mass began, and Fr. Seraphim was saying Mass, which was exciting.

The Gospel is read, and we sit. Fr. Seraphim, always a relatively serious man, begins in a more serious tone than normal: "Why are you here?" We look around ("is he talking to someone in particular?"). He reiterates: "Why are you here?" (now we realize it's to all of us, and we begin to squirm). He stares at us with a type of intensity most people reserve for arguments with people they don't particularly care for.

And then he begins. He labels exactly what was happening, why were all there--we wouldn't dare miss Mass on Ash Wednesday because everyone would know that we skipped for an early lunch by the glaring lack of a black smudge on our forehead. We wanted to make sure everyone that saw us knew that we did what we were "supposed" to, that we went to Mass, that we got our ashes. He then tells us he might not give ashes, because we had all missed the point. We weren't there to receive ashes as a sign that we were repentant sinners, acknowledging that we are dust, that we need to turn away from our sin, but that we cannot do that without the cross, which we must accept.

And after a few minutes of expanding on this, he walked away. And he did give us ashes; not because we wanted them, but rather because we needed them. We needed the sign of humility that is the ashes, the sign that we are sinners, and should be seen as so.

With that, our Lent began with a bang. We were no longer giving things up because it was easy or just something you do. We were sacrificing. We were fasting. We were rending our hearts, not our garments, and turning to the God who desired our salvation, but needed us to repent of our sins because He loved us too much to force His love on us.

Every year since, my Lent begins with that reflection. What is my purpose here? Am I fasting to fulfill an obligation, or to let go of myself and fall more madly in love with the One who created me, gives me life, and loved me to the point of death? I hope it's the latter, and I pray that I may never forget why I do these things.

A Day Later: What the World is Saying about BXVI

As was certain to happen, main stream media and more or less all news outlets throughout the world are reflecting on Pope Benedict's resignation in one of a couple ways: there is a scandal coming that we don't know about, the Vatican is hiding something about his health from us, or this is somehow analogous to a political move by someone within the Church somewhere. Without fail, an article not on EWTN or another faithful Catholic news source will either question the reasoning (something along the lines of "he was too traditional to every do something radical") or assume they know something that is coming about the history of Pope Benedict. Then, without skipping a beat, they jump to the conversation about how the election of the new Pope will be very important for where the Church moves in the future, with talk of some more "liberal" candidates who might change some Church teaching (of course, they say, nothing big like women priests, but at least they're going to allow condoms in Africa).

First, we need to get something straight-Pope Benedict was not forced out of his Papacy by some new information or some scandal. The man is a humble 85 year old who realized that in the modern age medicine will keep men alive longer, but not necessarily allow them the necessary strength to be the head of Christ's Church on earth. His announcement yesterday was humble acceptance of God's will, not something he was coerced into.

Next, when it comes to electing a new Pope, this isn't some political issue where the cardinals will battle based on issues. Any suggestions of this sort should stop. The cardinals don't listen to debates between candidates and try and choose who is the most competent. No one declares candidacy, and no cardinal would listen if they did. The only Person the college of cardinals listens to is the person of Jesus, alive and well in our midst, speaking to the cardinals in the Holy Spirit. This is a decision of prayer, not a decision of politics.

Through 2,000 years the Church has endured through scandal, schism, crisis, and everything else the world has thrown its way. Jesus Christ left a Church to lead His flock on earth, and that Church isn't going to suddenly change due to the whims of people in modern times. Pope Benedict XVI was a wonderful pope, as was John Paul II before him, and yet in the grand scheme of things they are servants-this is Jesus' Church, and with Him as a leader it will not fail.

This video below is Cardinal Arinze, currently the Prefect Emeritus for the Congregation of Divine Worship, talking about the reaction of the cardinals, and then reflecting on the Papacy (a role he very well could fill in the coming weeks). He puts it the best-this is the Church of Christ, Christ who is the same yesterday today and tomorrow, and the Pope is simply the "servant of servants," the one called upon to serve Christ's Church here on Earth.

So we don't need to create political sects in the college of cardinals in our analysis, because they don't exist-we just need to pray and trust the Holy Spirit; He hasn't let us down yet, and I don't assume He will now.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, 

and enkindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, 

and you shall renew the face of the Earth. 

Because all I can think about is Papa Benny

Doubtless you have heard at this point, our Pope has announced that at 8:00pm Rome time on February 28th he will officially resign as head of the Roman Catholic Church. If you want to read his beautiful statement, it is here: Official statement .

I won't try to explain this move or do anything like that, because there are plenty of others who have done that and done it quite well (here is a great one, if you're interested), but I'm simply going to write some of my thoughts because, well, this is the internet, and that's what it's for.

Someone had a comment this morning that I found very interesting-they said that normally we wait until the Pope's death to let the Holy Spirit guide our choice in leadership, but now Pope Benedict is pushing that action forward, asking the Holy Spirit to act right now to continue to bring forth newness in the Church.

The Holy Spirit has continued to guide the Church for 2,000 years, and He will never leave Her. With this action, Pope Benedict XVI is showing the people of the Church and the world that he doesn't just trust the Spirit when it becomes absolutely necessary, but that he is willing to listen to the Spirit in every moment, even when the Spirit asks him to do something that hasn't been done in hundreds of years. This is an act of courage, and act of love, and most of all an act of faith.

As he resigns and the Church's leaders choose a new Supreme Pontiff, we should take this time to reflect on this act of faith, and ask the Lord where in our lives He is asking to act with courage in total trust. Then, just as our Holy Father has shown us, we should act-always with prudence and thought-even if that action is a radical change in our lives.

Where in your life is the Holy Spirit leading you, and what are you doing that stifles His promptings? 

God bless the Pope and let us all join together in prayer for him as well as for the person whom the Spirit will choose to lead the Church forward from here. Thank you Pope Benedict for your leadership, wisdom and love.

Where I once again talk about this thing called love

So I for the couple of you that have read what I have written you know that I always seem to write about love in some sense and through some random thought, and so I have been thinking that maybe I should find a new topic. But, alas, I cannot move on quite yet, and so here we go again. 

Inspired by that movie over there (if you haven't seen it, drop what you are doing and go) I have been thinking about love and the great power it has. If you haven't seen Les Mis, there is a powerful line towards the end where you hear "to love another person is to see the face of God." Being who I am and constantly being fearful of a watering down of an understanding of God's presence and Love, I have always been skeptical (you might use a more harsh word) of this line. Recently, though, I have been thinking more about it (largely inspired by this wonderful podcast ) and realized that there is an amazing truth here.


What they talk about in the podcast is simple-Scripture tells us (in 1John 4, one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible) that if you love another person you will abide in God and God will abide in you, which is awesome. Les Mis shows us this same idea by using the idea of the face of God-will we immediately see a flash of light and see His face? Most likely not (I don't like saying anything is 100% for sure, because in my experience, however brief, the Lord is full of surprises). We will, however, learn to see Him in the way we were meant to on Earth-in His creation-and then come to see Him forever one day in eternity.

In today's world we are so transfixed on a romantic, candlelight kind of love that forget the truth of love, the truth that love shouldn't always be easy, shouldn't always be fun, and shouldn't always make us feel good. Rather, the truth is that love oftentimes resembles the cross more than it does anything mainstream media has thrown in our face. We are taught to believe that if we have love (read: mushy feelings) then we don't have to worry about sacrificing, struggling, and feeling pain (read: true love). In reality, our search for love can only be fulfilled when we find the infinite, when we exchange our constantly fleeting and always temporal feelings for a person of Love who will not leave.

Les Misérables shows a profound view of love, and yet most of the movie feels like pain and suffering-our modern sensibilities tell us to reject this as love. The "wisdom" of today says that if you feel this sort of pain, if you ever have to sacrifice or suffer, you should look elsewhere, look somewhere to find pleasure and joy, not sacrifice. And yet, the wisdom of today has left a society broken and suffering, with a world confused and families constantly seeking healing. This wisdom, it seems, is not wise at all; it is, instead, quite foolish. All of the wisdom that we need is contained in Love Himself, crying out to us from the cross:

"I love you, I forgive you, and I will never let you go." Give His love, the love of Him who is Love incarnate, a chance, and let Him show you what it truly is to love another person and see His face. 

 
So is the line in Les Mis correct? Sure it is. If we reach out in our brokenness and pain in love for one another, we will come to know His pain, and His mercy and love will surround us and those we encounter in love. That is the face of God-persevering in love thru our brokenness and trusting in Him who is Love through everything.

Jesus I trust in you.

Preparations

Amidst the craziness of the preparations for the coming Christmas season and all that will take place, many people, I am sure, have been reflecting on the most appropriate way to prepare our hearts and our minds for what is to come, and I am going to share some thoughts I have had.

More specifically than my thoughts, I guess, I will start with thoughts shared with me recently by my Bishop, the Bishop of Pittsburgh David Zubik. He was speaking of forgiveness, and he was talking about the story (or stories) in the Gospel of a sheep leaving the flock and the Shepherd going after the sheep to get them. He said that (I trust this to be accurate, although it doesn't really matter as it is simply a cool reflection) when a sheep runs away from the flock and from the shepherd, it will eventually realize that it was wrong, realize that it is no longer next to its shepherd, and it will freeze. The sheep, scared about the fact that the world no longer seems to make sense without the guiding voice of a shepherd, will simply stay in place and wait for the shepherd to come and pick it up and bring it back to the flock. We must be this sheep, he said; we must freeze and wait for the shepherd; we must realize that we have done wrong and stop moving away from our Shepherd. He seeks to bring us back, all we have to do is admit that we were wrong, and the first step in this many times is simply to stop.

Looking ahead to Christmas, this takes on a particular meaning. In the world, every single sheep had turned its back. Through the sin that plagued and still plagues the world, all of the sheep had, to some degree, turned and run from the loving God who created them and gave them life. Then, just as Christ told us and just as had been foretold in the prophets, the Shepherd came to bring us back.

The strange thing, though, was how He did it-the Shepherd didn't come looking like He would conquer, as the people expected. The Shepherd came humbly. The Shepherd came into the world born of a Woman, born as a tiny infant laid in a manger. What a holy night that truly was, and what a beautiful image it is for us to realize that our Shepherd has come to bring us back, and has come in the form of a little boy.

For me, this Christmas, and the Advent season we are in leading up to it, must be about freezing. I must realize the areas of my life where I have run away so rapidly from the voice of the Shepherd and let Him come to get me. You see, I already know how it ends. He does come. He lives. He teaches. And then, most radically, He dies a horrendous death to bring me back. And it does bring me back. And so this Christmas I must freeze, and I must look upon that little boy. He is coming into the world out of love for me. He is coming as my Shepherd knowing what He has to do bring me back-He picks me up, but in order to really be able to bring me back He has to pick up that cross and die so that He can conquer sin and death and I no longer have to be afraid of running away for I know that He is chasing me and coming after me at every turn.

So this Advent and Christmas season I must freeze. Through the business and the celebrations, all of which are good, I must and I will take time to ponder that little infant child born on that night for the salvation of the world, and I must stop to let Him be born into my very heart in a new and a unique way.

May that Child bless each one of us as we freeze to let Him into our lives this year.