Cardinal Offers New Style for Priest-Lay Teamwork

By Ross Parrish, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

Often, we sit back and allow our local parish priest to do all the work while we stroll through our secular lives.  Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko recently spoke on the collaboration between priests and lay people. The Men of St. Joseph allows us to clearly see the role we can play in our Church. These remarks, in particular, seem to resonate within me.

“At your service”

Cardinal Rylko reflected on the service that movements and communities offer to oftentimes vast parishes. With movements, he noted, the "risk of anonymity" can be "effectively contrasted by a micro-structure of small Christian communities that live the faith with intensity."

These communities, he clarified, "do not put themselves in competition with the parish, and even less so, are they an alternative to the parish. Rather, they represent a great pastoral possibility to be received -- because every environment in which 'adult' Christians are formed, aware of their own vocation and mission, serves the cause of the Church and of the parish."

"Hence," the cardinal continued, "from her ministers the Church expects sensitivity, openness and cordial reception of these new realities which bear -- in the life of so many Christian communities -- truly blessed fruits of conversion, holiness and mission."

I felt the need to share this article with everyone not as a pat-on-the-back, but as a word of encouragement.  After reading this article, I have never been more proud to be a member of this awesome community.  So let us continue to “live the faith with intensity”, not for our own gain, but for Christ’s.

Meditation on this Sunday's Gospel

By Anthony Tobin, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

Luke 4:21-30

Whenever I hear in the Gospels of the people questioning Jesus’ divinity I always think of the Eucharist. See the Eucharist is a continuation of the incarnation, of God taking on flesh. In the same way that God took human form to be with us, God continually becomes present in the bread and wine so that we may be with Him.


So what does this have to do with this Sunday’s gospel? The same faith is needed today to step out, to go beyond the empirical evidence and say “Amen”, “I Believe”, that hidden in the Eucharist, hidden in the form of bread, is truly God; just as 2000 years ago hidden in a baby in a manger, hidden in the carpenters son, was truly God. I can’t help but to see that the same reaction the people had in the gospel is echoed today in the denial of God’s presence in the Eucharist.

In both cases, the incarnation and the Eucharist, the sole purpose is for God to be with us, and how foolish we are to say no, that can’t be, that doesn’t make sense. Well, we are right about one thing, it doesn’t make sense that God can love us so much. But amazingly He does and he wants us to know this, and to respond with sincere faith saying “Amen”, “I Believe”.

The Narrow Gate

^{By Jimmy Seghers, MoSJ Covington, La.  (From Totus Tuus Ministries newsletter, November 2009)}

 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ^ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt 7:13-14).

Introduction

In the Book of Deuteronomy (28-32), God laid before the Hebrew people two paths.  Each had a fitting destination.  The one is the path of obedience and blessings.  The other is the way of disobedience and curses.  These two choices are summarized in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, in which is imbedded this entreaty: “Chose life” (Deut 30:19).  Drawing on this covenantal background Jesus employed the analogy of two gates.

The one gate is called “narrow” because it is exclusively focused on one specific objective, fidelity to Christ.  It is also narrow because one enters in single file, not as a group following the herd.  This way is “hard,” which means it’s difficult - even painful, but it leads to eternal happiness.  Few take it.  The second gate is described as “wide,” because it offers many alluring options.  These choices are enticing because they seduce our appetites.  This path is “easy” because it is pleasurable, but it leads to death.  Many choose it.

But why there are only two gates?  After all, we have many choices in life.  However, the idea of multiple gates is an illusion.  There are only two gates because each is a entrance to a warring kingdom in a battle so fierce that no compromise is possible.  There is no neutral place where those who wish to be non-combatants can avoid taking sides.  Jesus put it succinctly: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Mt 12:30). 

Therefore every choice a person makes is a decision for one side and against the other.  This is why bad moral choices are so dangerous.  They inevitably lead to worse moral choices.  Our society did not become pagan over night.  It happened inch-by-inch, decision-by-decision, over many years.  Now we are spiraling out of control.

The Winning Choice

It is often the case that the hard choice is the winning choice, even in the natural order.  When I began my business career my mentor and friend, Bill Cosentino, gave me a short essay that greatly influenced my thinking.  The title of the article was “The Common Denominator of Success.”  The author told of his search to discover the common thread that determined success.  When he examined positive characteristics, for example, intelligence, education, family background and connections, experience, attractiveness, and many others; he discovered that they existed in some successful people, but not in others.  He eventually discovered one common trait that was present in all successful people:Successful people did the things that unsuccessful people didn’t like to do.  They didn’t like to do them either; they just did it anyway.

Years ago I supervised a struggling salesman.  He was likeable, personable, bright, and honest.  Each week I would meet with him to review his activity and give him needed direction.  I can still remember him saying: “Jim, one day I am going to be very successful in this business.”  I would always respond: “Dave, I wish you would say, I will be successful today.”  You see, the hard part of his job wasn’t selling or learning the technical aspects of the business, but prospecting – that is, making appointments, and he avoided it.  Ultimately, he did not succeed.  Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people didn’t like to do.  So it is in the spiritual life.

Why Hard and Easy?

Nevertheless, one may be inclined to ask, “Why is the narrow gate that leads to paradise hard and the wide gate that leads to perdition easy?  Since we just celebrated Thanksgiving a comparison with weight loss might prove helpful.  Obesity, not starvation, is a serious health hazard in our country.  In addition to those who are obese, many of us realize that losing 10 to 20 pounds is a very desirable.  (Hmm, come to think of it, I’m at the stage of life when I’m thinner on top and thicker in the middle!)  Well, why is weight loss so hard and gaining weight so easy?  Logic and objective reality has no bearing on the issue.  Eating is pleasurable, highly pleasurable in south Louisiana, and dieting is distasteful – no pun intended.  Ironically, when we over eat and gain weight we don’t feel good afterwards, and when we do loose weight and slim down we feel much better about ourselves.  So there we have it.  Overeating is an easy process that brings negative results.  Eating moderately is a hard process that brings positive results.  So it is with the spiritual life, except our choices have eternal consequences.

Choosing the Narrow Gate

What, then, is so hard about entering through the narrow gate?  “Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior,” is a beautiful Protestant expression.  In the Catholic Church we call it a “conversion”.  It would be nice if we could make that decision and then coast into paradise on our laurels, but it doesn’t work that way.  Accepting Jesus or conversion is an ongoing process that we are called to make again and again in each present moment.  That is because being an authentic Christian centers on love - loving God above all things and loving others as Christ loves us.  Well, at first glance that doesn’t seem so daunting.  It even sounds a little romantic. This brings me to a discussion of the meaning of love.    

Understanding Love

Contrary to popular misconceptions love has nothing to do with feelings.  Love resides in the will or, as we commonly say, in the heart.  Every struggle to love or not to love is in the will.  The entire battle between good and evil is waged in the human heart.  Every evil, injustice and misconception is first accepted in the heart.  Even wars between nations were first fought and lost in the wills of those who rejected love.  Therefore the human heart is the vessel that holds all virtues or is empty of them.

Although we romanticize about love, making it the focus of poetry, books, and movies, it is the most demanding, the toughest of virtues.  Love requires that we conform our will to God’s will.  It means taking the focus off us and seeking the best interest of others.  Love is challenging because it entails a death to selfishness.  It means that God must become the center of our universe, not us.  It means that we must order and gain control over our disordered appetites for things, power, and pleasure.  It means we cannot play-act as God, and must give up the fallacy of control.  Love means abandoning the obsession with one’s physical appearance.  Love demands that we cease trying to solve problems without depending on God’s providence, and it requires that we are satisfied with all that He sends us – even our trials.  Genuine love is unconcerned with reputation, because God’s judgment is the only standard that matters.  Real love demands that we abandon unforgiveness and all expressions of anger and resentment.  Love rests on the solid reality that only God is secure.  In contrast, nothing in this world is secure, neither nature nor man himself.

Loving someone, even God, is an endless series of choices made moment by moment.  Recently, I have observed the patient love of my sister-in-law who is visiting with her two bright, very active, and mischievous sons.  (They are not at all as angelic as I was at their ages – my mother had better not read this!)  Watching her is a lesson on how to love others and how to respond to God.

The Bottom Line

It is apparent today that the dividing line between good and evil, between those with Christ and those against him, between a culture of life and a culture of death, is becoming sharply defined. Although the worldwide rejection of God is startling and unusual, Christianity has experienced similar challenges in the past when its very existence of seemed to be tottering. 

Speaking of the sin of Adam and the gift of Christ, St. Paul wrote: “Where sin increased, grace abounded al the more” (Rom 5:20).  This marvelous equation of God’s love and mercy is very much in play today.  Ordinary men and women from all walks of life and from the depths of sin are being drawn into great holiness.  There is a Chinese saying: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”  The first step through the narrow gate begins with the decision to make the journey.  Then it becomes a progression of choices to abandon sin that are renewed each day in each moment.  Once through that stage it becomes a series of choices to love God in thought, word and deed.  Finally it becomes surrender in love to the will of God at each moment.  It is the choice to abandon everything to him, to deny him nothing.

The End

Every story has an ending.  So does the narrative of each life, but not all end with the conclusion, “and they lived happily every after.”  No one enters heaven that does not love God and others.  If Christ is not the center of our life, Satan is!  Half a heart can’t love God and the other half love sin.  Jesus redeemed the world because he fully accepted His Cross in love and completely surrendered to it in love, not because He suffered.  Nevertheless, His human love was perfected in His suffering (Heb 5:7-10).  It is only God’s love in our hearts at the last moment of life that determines our final judgment and destiny.  God allows what we choose.  So we, too, must heed Moses’ admonition, “Choose life!”

Married for Sainthood

By Bill Harkins, Mobile, Ala., St. Ignatius

Looking through the Vatican’s website, I came upon the homily by Pope John Paul II preached on Oct 21, 2001 during the beatification of an Italian married couple, Luigi Quattrocci and Maria Corsini.   This couple lived in Italy in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century.  Luigi and Maria were devout Catholics, bringing up their children well through good times and bad.  Remember, Italy was not always a great place to raise a family, especially during World War II.   Here is a little of what the Pope had to say about them:
          

“This couple lived married love and service to life in the light of the Gospel and with great human intensity. With full responsibility they assumed the task of collaborating with God in procreation, dedicating themselves generously to their children, to teach them, guide them and direct them to discovering his plan of love."

Drawing on the word of God and the witness of the saints, the blessed couple lived an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. Among the joys and anxieties of a normal family, they knew how to live an extraordinarily rich spiritual life. At the centre of their life was the daily Eucharist as well as devotion to the Virgin Mary, to whom they prayed every evening with the Rosary, and consultation with wise spiritual directors. In this way they could accompany their children in vocational discernment, training them to appreciate everything "from the roof up", as they often, charmingly, liked to say.”


So what does this mean to the Men of St. Joseph today, in 21st Century America?  It means that in our struggle to move our families toward heaven, we have assistance.  People like Maria and Luigi are examples we can learn from.  Google them and read the articles you find.  You will see they were simple people, strong in Faith.  They loved God, the life He gave them and their family.  Not only can we learn from them, they can help us in an active role today.  Maria and Luigi are part of the Communion of Saints who pray for us.  We should ask them to intercede on behalf of our family.  They certainly understand the struggles we face: a sick child; unstable work situation; financial stress and the rest of the daily challenges we confront with our families.  Tap into their help.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph faced similar issues, but their holiness can be intimidating.  Maria and Luigi’s ordinariness make them accessible.  God has inspired countless others to live the married vocation in full union with His will, some of these families are around us now.  Observe and learn from the outstanding examples of grace from our Catholic history as well as right next to us in the pew on Sunday.  I pray that all of us can learn to live “an ordinary life in an extraordinary way”, with our families so we can follow in Luigi and Maria’s footsteps toward heaven!

Haitian Earthquake

By Norwood Morris, Mobile, Ala., St. Ignatius


I was reading the news about the earthquake and was moved by the following quote:

"The faithful prayed -- for relief, for mercy, for safety -- as aftershocks rumbled across Haiti on Tuesday evening."

I was moved by the faith of the people of Haiti, which got me thinking on the nature of God the Father.

It often seems that two thoughts come out of devastation. The first seem to blame God, and a second thought seems to be drawn closer to the Father, praying to Him, even thanking Him (Cf. Philippians 4:4-4:7). I believe this second group, by the measure of faith they have been given, has come to understand the nature of our Father as revealed by Christ Jesus and the Holy Word of God.

How awesome our Father is to us (Deuteronomy 10:17). He removes guilt and pardons our sins (Micah 7:18), He forgets our iniquity (Job 11:6), He forgives and remembers our sin no more (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12; Heb. 10:17). Yet He NEVER forgets His promises to us and remembers His word FOREVER! (Psalm105:8). Truly He is a compassionate, gracious and merciful God, patient and abounding in great love (Joel 2:13; Ps. 111:4; Ps. 145:8).

Please pray for relief, mercy and safety for the Haitian people suffering from the devastation following the earthquakes.

Domine, da mihi hanc aquam!: Grace trains. . .

Baptism of the Lord: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

When hearing confessions or giving spiritual direction to university students—especially men—I frequently draw an analogy between developing spiritually and developing physically. Most of us have no illusions about what it takes to lose weight, build muscle, increase stamina, and get ourselves to the point where we are as fit as we can be. The whole unpleasant process begins with radical changes to the diet. Slowly increasing exercise. Maybe even a little weight-lifting. If you've ever started down this road, you know that you will not drop 25lbs in a week, nor will you be able to show off a six-pack by the weekend. Getting a flabby, overweight, diet-stressed body into some kind of shape requires determination, focus, commitment, and lots and lots of time. It wouldn't hurt if you had someone with experience to help. A professional trainer. A coach. Even a friend who knows how to keep you motivated. All of this applies to our spiritual growth as well. Being Catholics, we understand the sacramental nature of creation: the physical world is a sign of the spiritual, an imperfect revelation of God that both points to God's presence and makes Him present to us. We cannot, therefore, rightly divide the human body from the human soul and expect our spiritual lives to be fruitful. Just as the body needs proper diet, exercise, and a little hard-lifting, the soul needs its strength-training too.

We start our life-long regime at The Jesus Gym on the day we are baptized. From that moment on, “the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age. . .” As Catholics, we don't have any trouble understanding grace as divine help, a gift from God to assist us when we need it. What we do have trouble understanding sometimes is that the help we get isn't always the help we want. Like the skinny 18 year old freshman who wants ripped abs in a week to impress his girlfriend, we sometimes approach the throne in prayer and ask not for assistance to accomplish some goal, but rather we ask God to accomplish the goal for us, instead of us. The freshman is very disappointed to hear that his six-pack will take a semester or two with lots of hard work. And we are no less disappointed to learn that grace does not prevent us from traveling the ways of the godless nor desiring what the world would have us desire. Instead, grace trains us how to be godly men and women. The hard work of chiseling out a ripped spiritual six-pack is all ours. But we do not work alone.

J.R.R. Tolkein on the Eucharist

"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death. By the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste -or foretaste- of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man's heart desires.

"The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion. Though always Itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise. Frequency is of the highest effect. Seven times a week is more nourishing than seven times at intervals.

"Also I can recommend this as an exercise (alas! only too easy to find opportunity for): make your communion in circumstances that affront your taste. Choose a snuffling or gabbling priest or a proud and vulgar friar; and a church full of the usual bourgeois crowd, ill-behaved children - from those who yell to those products of Catholic schools who the moment the tabernacle is opened sit back and yawn - open necked and dirty youths, women in trousers and often with hair both unkempt and uncovered. Go to communion with them (and pray for them). It will be just the same (or better than that) as a mass said beautifully by a visibly holy man, and shared by a few devout and decorous people. It could not be worse than the mess of the feeding of the Five Thousand - after which our Lord propounded the feeding that was to come."

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter to his son.