Open Wide the Doors for Christ!

Alright, so I'm trying to get back into the whole blogging about my day thing (if that makes sense) so here I am in St. Louis, it's closing in on midnight, and I'm pecking away at this Bluetooth keyboard (connected to a cheap tablet that is the stand-in for my computer for the next few weeks) and I decided to write up a quick (yeah right) blog post!

So, today began - after a long day yesterday of stressing out about what I needed to pack/bring in my suitcase with me - with 8 AM Mass at St. Francis.  It was great to begin the day with Holy Mass - we've been going to noon Mass at St. Rose on most days - it just made sure my heart was in the right place when the day began.  Following Mass, we went over to Underbrinks (a local bakery) to pick up some breakfast, but ended up at Daylight Donuts because Underbrinks was closed for the week.  After some tasty donuts, I was back in packing mode and started shoving the last bit of stuff in my suitcase and trying (with little success) to fit all the notebooks and other remaining stuff in my backpack (I was trying really hard to keep everything in just those two bags).  As it turned out, I got most everything squeezed in there, but my one large suitcase was over the 50lb weight limit - it was pretty densely packed, what can I say - so I spent another half hour or something carefully taking things out (I was legitimately counting ounces as things came out) and got my bag down to 49lbs.  We'll see what the baggage people say tomorrow, but I think I'll barely fit under the limit.

For lunch the entire family went over to the Veteran's Home and had lunch with a previous pastor of ours (from several years back).  It was good to see him again, and good to see that he was doing pretty well (though he does seem to be going downhill a bit).  Dad had made a delicious lunch with leftover burgers and bacon (along with other stuff, but I'm currently focusing on eating as much American food as I can, so that is what jumped out), which undoubtabely made the event that much more awesome.

Anyway, we then quickly ran home, I grabbed a few things that I had remembered that I had forgotten (if that makes any sense) and we hit the road to St. Louis.  It was a moment of both excitement and trepidation and - you know - a bit of emotion as I walked out of the house that I had grown up in, and always fondly returned to, knowing that I wouldn't be back for a couple of years. I'll miss it - it's home...  On the road I typed addresses and phone numbers into my new tablet (so I can keep in touch with people back home) and after a couple of hours of that excitement we arrived at my grandparent's house in the St. Peters area.  We chatted for just a bit and then drove down into down-town St. Louis to the Cathedral.

Because my flight leaves so early tomorrow (I have to be at the airport at 7 AM), we were going to go to the Saturday Evening Mass of anticipation (to be precise!), and I hadn't been to the St. Louis Cathedral in a while and so that's where we went.  Well, what can I say, it is breathtaking.  I've been to Rome a few years back for just a week or two and I think that this cathedral is preparing me well for my return there.  Just a huge, stunning, ornate, heavenly, beautiful place of worship - you can't help but feel the presence of God!  Oh, and the homily (given by a transitional deacon - I assume for the Archdiocese of St. Louis) was also excellent. 

He was talking about the parable of the seed that falls on different kinds of soil and originally he mentioned that he was planning on preaching about evangelization - how we must be sowers of God's seed.  But then he said that he had read the catechism section about this scripture passage and found that his focus should rather be on us, individually, who must make the choice to convert (turn back) to God, to truly listen to what Christ is calling US to, and to ask him - humbly - for the grace necessary to overcome our weaknesses and failings to follow that plan.  Gosh, it's such a simple, foundational, message, but I need to be reminded of it so often.  Following Christ isn't just reading about Him, His church, or His teaching (that's part of it), and it isn't just intellectually knowing that we should rely on Him and abandon ourselves to Him.  It also, very importantly, is about dropping on our knees and begging Him to show us the way, to strengthen our wills, to soften the ground of our hearts so His word, and love, and grace can fill us and lead us.  Sometimes I think that I consider this too simple, but that humble, simple, complete reliance on God is what the spiritual journey is all about.  We are called to do little things with great love (words of Mother Theresa), not great things with whatever love we can come up with ourselves.  Great love, divine love, only comes from Christ.  The words, the seed, the vocation, the faith, only comes from Him!  I did try to track down the exact quote he pulled from the catechism, but I was unfortunately unable to dig it out (limited resources here...)  Basically, it was a magnificent reminder - to me at least - that I really need to just throw myself down in front of Our Lord and give Him everything, no offering up this day, or this sacrifice, or this cross, or weakness, or whatever - actually telling Him to take me completely - all my talents, all my disordered attachments, all my failings, all my fears, all my weaknesses, all my abilities - and use me for His will.  Humility is realizing our ranking in comparison to God - yeah, nilch - and then realizing that He has entrusted us, has planned for us, some path that will bring us to perfect happiness with Him, and further realizing that we can't even accept/strive after this gift without His help (we're that weak and broken and attached to sin).  But God is love, He gives Himself to us every day in the Holy Eucharist, and every other Sacrament, and so many other moments of grace, and we just need to remember to beg Him to soften our hard hearts, to help us to open ourselves to Him.  It's hard, but even that is the wrong way to think about it because on our own it's impossible.

Alright, so I could go on, but I won't.  The homily was excellent - that was only part of it, the few minutes we explored the basilica after Mass was incredible - so many awesome mosaics, and the dinner we had afterwards was about as American as they come - golden corral!  It was a great day, now it's way past the time I should have gone to bed, and with no means of getting the pictures from my camera to my tablet, I guess for now this post will have to be a boring wall-of-text.

Night folks!  God bless!  Say a quick prayer for me tomorrow as I say good-by to my family and board a plane for Rome!  Man, I can't wait!  God is great! 

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."  [1 Corinthians 13:1-3]

On Wednesday evening we had what is called theological reflection, during which several of us guys talked about our experience in supervised ministry, and got the ideas of other guys (and a priest who sits in on the meeting) about how to be better at our ministry.  That is a very simple, rather unhelpful, definition, but my point is that during the meeting I was talking about how it is difficult sometimes to spend time talking with the older (and possibly handicapped) individuals at St. Paul's Hermitage.  One of the guys reminded me of the fantastic quote from Mother Theresa: "Do little things with great love."  

For irreverence to what was a mere figure of the Blessed Sacrament [the Ark containing the bread of the presence], the Philistines were afflicted with diseases, the Israelites visited with death.  If the penalty seems to us sever it is because our minds have fallen short of the reverence due to what symbolizes His Presence, or to the Presence itself. [Fulton Sheen.  The Priest Is Not His Own.  Page 209]

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village. - Luke 9:51-56

Obviously, there is a lot going on in our world today (the government shutdown comes to mind), but something that has been making waves in Catholic circles is the recent interview given by Pope Francis.  Of course, since I started this post Pope Francis has given a 2nd interview, but I won't go into that one...  Basically, the press (for the most part) has leaped upon this interview saying that the church's policies on issues that is has formerly been staunchly against (abortion, "gay" marriage, contraception) have changed.  Sorry to break the news to the modern world, but they haven't, and they won't.  Actually, listen to what Pope Francis says:

“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time."

What is he saying?:  We can't focus only on hot-button ethical and moral issues.  Yes, they are important, but if that is all you talk about nobody will listen.  His reason isn't to say that these issues aren't important but that, "when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context."  What's the context?:  Jesus' redemptive, loving, death in order to bring us God's love (and life).  "Love".  It's a word that people have watered down in our culture.  Dictionary.com says that love is:

love

  [luhv]  Show IPA noun, verb, loved, lov·ing.

noun

1.

a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

2.

a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

3.

sexual passion or desire.

4.

a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

5.

(used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?

Love, in Christianity, is so much more than just affection!  Love is a supernatural virtue that comes from God.  Love, is the "fire" that Jesus wants to inflame us with (that is why this post started with that Gospel).  It is the fire that we should be praying would fall from heaven upon us.  As Jesus says "I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" - Luke 12:49  Listen to Pope Francis as he continues:

"The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently. Proclamation in a missionary style focuses on the essentials, on the necessary things: this is also what fascinates and attracts more, what makes the heart burn, as it did for the disciples at Emmaus. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow."

The last line of this statement is the key! "It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow."  The moral teachings of the church aren't subjective, or changing, precisely because they come from  Jesus Christ's teachings and life.  The pope, or the bishops, or whoever, don't just make up moral principles for us to follow.  The Church was guaranteed by Christ to teach the Truth!  Jesus says "I am with you always, to the close of the age." - Matthew 28:20  He says to Peter "you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16:18-19  Finally, to Pilate's question "what is truth" we find Jesus' answer "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." - John 14:6

When Jesus says that "I" will be with you always, He is telling His apostles that Truth itself will be with them always.  When Jesus gives His authority to Peter, He is giving him the authority to speak the truth on Christ's behalf.  The Church is the way that Jesus chose to send His message into the world.  

Alright, this post is getting long, but the points must be pulled together.  What Pope Francis is telling the world (and everybody in the Church) is that the foundations of our moral teaching must be Christ, who is love.  But proclaiming the message of the Gospel (love) isn't the kind of love that the world subscribes to.  Our foundation cannot be the hollow, warm-and-fuzzy "luv" that the world lives by, but must be the love that comes from Christ.  We shouldn't always bang away at certain moral issues precisely because Christ did not.  

We have to remember that Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, walked on our earth - yeah, it was 2000 years ago, but people struggled with the same sins that we do today.  Certainly the world has changed, but human concupiscence has not.  Thus, though Jesus did preach against many, many sins of his day (Read what comes after the Beatitudes), at the same time He showed mercy to sinners of every kind and all the time.  This is what Pope Francis is calling for, not a relaxing of the Church's stance on important moral issues (they can't change!), but a reassessment of what and how we talk with others - is it out of love, or do we just keep forcing moral statutes down their throat?  Do we forget the Great Commandment (love God and love neighbor) in correcting our neighbor on less foundational moral principles?  Pope Francis's stance of love  doesn't undermine the moral statutes of the Church, it is their foundation.  Love is the reason behind the Church's teaching on contraception, abortion, "gay" marriage, and euthanasia.  This means on the one hand that they can't change (God is Love), but it also means that love must permeate everything we do, including how we spread the moral teaching of the Church.

Thanks for reading that whole post guys!  Actually, I was at first kind of worried about Pope Francis's comments, but when you actually read what he said, and flesh out the reasoning behind it, you find that He is doing exactly what Christ did.  Want more on this topic?  Check out Fr. Barron's comments: