tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70495415621901509422024-01-24T15:04:20.977-08:00The Path of LifeONE BENEDICTINE MONK'S VIEW FROM SAINT MEINRAD ARCHABBEYBr. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.comBlogger560125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-15581820286258109092024-01-24T12:24:00.000-08:002024-01-24T12:24:42.127-08:00Some sayings of St. Francis de Sales<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVa7IsVI7pNvDNGXvlm-Yi5au_sNCfjTfwwjfj7yZjA7D8o0PqSUzwbJQVtsWEFsNZLGlP5neumsVo4_xYFuUDvmEiYXH-RA3X1ntFgoeI6zD0bZwIaXnoy6fy-sZWnqx1H_WDMg3x5_snVM5ykZp-liGfvDt37F_D___TxzxliXyanJ-pvrYrgdOSqnc/s250/SFDS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="166" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVa7IsVI7pNvDNGXvlm-Yi5au_sNCfjTfwwjfj7yZjA7D8o0PqSUzwbJQVtsWEFsNZLGlP5neumsVo4_xYFuUDvmEiYXH-RA3X1ntFgoeI6zD0bZwIaXnoy6fy-sZWnqx1H_WDMg3x5_snVM5ykZp-liGfvDt37F_D___TxzxliXyanJ-pvrYrgdOSqnc/s1600/SFDS.jpg" width="166" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Be at peace. Do not look forward in fear
to the changes of life;<br />
rather look to them with full hope as they arise.<br />
God, whose very own you are, will deliver you from out of them.<br />
He has kept you thus far, and He will lead you safely through all things;<br />
and when you cannot stand, God will carry you in his arms.<br />
<br />
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;<br />
the same everlasting Father who cares for you today<br />
will take care of you then and every day.<br />
He will either shield you from suffering, or will give you unfailing strength
to bear it.<br />
Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Have patience with all things, but first
of all with yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Half an hour's meditation each day is
essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Great occasions for serving God come
seldom, but little ones surround us daily.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Be who you are and be that well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Every moment comes to us pregnant with a
command from God, only to pass on and plunge into eternity, there to remain
forever what we have made of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reputation is rarely proportioned to
virtue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">One single act done with aridity of spirit
is worth more than many done with feelings of devotion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">One can catch more flies with a spoonful
of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">***</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We correct ourselves better by a calm and
lasting repentance than by one that is bitter and angry.<br /><br />***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">You must not only have a kind word for
your neighbors and for strangers, but also for the people<br />
with whom you live and your closest friends.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Refrain from imputing imaginary faults to
your neighbor, from revealing those which are secret and from exaggerating
those which are obvious.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To speak little does not consist in uttering
few words, but in not speaking useless ones.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Those who believe themselves to be far
advanced in the spiritual life have not even made a good beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We must not be astonished to see ourselves
imperfect, since we must never see ourselves otherwise in this life.<br />
<br />
***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Great works do not always come our way, but
every moment presents us with opportunities to do little ones with excellence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sometimes we so much occupy ourselves with
trying to live like angels<br />
that we neglect to be good men and women.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!</span></i></b></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-67037349247521057552024-01-21T08:39:00.000-08:002024-01-21T08:39:00.522-08:00Saint Meinrad, Pray for Us<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoaF2cZpO3JJJx5fFGWfuU70SyROR8-dyvzlR__1j1gcgRlxjXfWXtSpb7bEW0ra-ePizVUSOngStTGqaYYOZDA0mZAXUL3_3kgX1ZV6FVB4Pb0RZvHZ2fZexB_sk9HulUTvLYmAzLTWg-ZfmEdcjNaZmLIqgC2xS5etbhuO-YhgqgaACkXYbJePtha0/s3927/Statue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2618" data-original-width="3927" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoaF2cZpO3JJJx5fFGWfuU70SyROR8-dyvzlR__1j1gcgRlxjXfWXtSpb7bEW0ra-ePizVUSOngStTGqaYYOZDA0mZAXUL3_3kgX1ZV6FVB4Pb0RZvHZ2fZexB_sk9HulUTvLYmAzLTWg-ZfmEdcjNaZmLIqgC2xS5etbhuO-YhgqgaACkXYbJePtha0/w400-h266/Statue.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Fr. Lorenzo Penalosa, OSB</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-52288470359259648182022-12-24T14:08:00.000-08:002022-12-24T14:08:32.246-08:00The Christmas Gift<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfR6CQtCReKR_4Pex6gP-pYiwgEtidKen4XqACmIBV2AfGJ8RMgZFFawzHj-zGqBqeLxWMYsGTrX_t_kbHP4FoOjONNfyuQdLbxO28TInkXArf7TSLSeR8og7ZlJmSjJ3ITOV6wLgM9GhqbDpXI9NNrckZM3Oop1IMujbh9hlhBe-3LoIzcKDY_e03/s881/440px-Hunt_Light_of_the_World.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="881" data-original-width="440" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfR6CQtCReKR_4Pex6gP-pYiwgEtidKen4XqACmIBV2AfGJ8RMgZFFawzHj-zGqBqeLxWMYsGTrX_t_kbHP4FoOjONNfyuQdLbxO28TInkXArf7TSLSeR8og7ZlJmSjJ3ITOV6wLgM9GhqbDpXI9NNrckZM3Oop1IMujbh9hlhBe-3LoIzcKDY_e03/w200-h400/440px-Hunt_Light_of_the_World.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Want
did you </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">really</i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> want for Christmas this year? Did you get it? If so, how big
a difference will it make in your life a week from now, a month, a year, 20
years?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Wh</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">at
about the gift of Christ himself? Did you truly receive into your heart him who
is always available to us? Not just as a cute little infant born in a stable
more than 2,000 years ago, but as Savior of the world—the Word Made Flesh who
later died for your sins and mine? The Christ who will come again, when we
least expect it, at the Final Judgment? And perhaps most importantly, the
Christ who beckons each one of us at every moment?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Deep
within our hearts, he calls out, day and night: “I stand at the door and knock.
Whoever hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with
him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Did
you hear his call this Christmas? Did you open the door? And whether or not you received him into your heart, what difference
will it make to you tomorrow, and the day after, and the next day … at the end
of time?</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>OPEN THE GIFT</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS TO ALL</b></span></div><p></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-61827253790829863522022-12-21T18:30:00.000-08:002022-12-21T18:30:10.804-08:00The Master's crib<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgPcfVGNCjGE1XZ8rF_-3XNuUviDvAydhsgDduKta5QuHhxP4-6ycP-WDarhZEbG9HsksnY5gdpCHTW7pqiWTtxZcTbI9jVWele1tRRtI-uQ2585LNKbEXg3Rz4xGGgPzaJni5EzYyfWkT9imgRTeAWMhmBTNNuPjjnVbh6_uA0Z50Hpx9tJVv5oR/s300/ox-and-ass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgPcfVGNCjGE1XZ8rF_-3XNuUviDvAydhsgDduKta5QuHhxP4-6ycP-WDarhZEbG9HsksnY5gdpCHTW7pqiWTtxZcTbI9jVWele1tRRtI-uQ2585LNKbEXg3Rz4xGGgPzaJni5EzYyfWkT9imgRTeAWMhmBTNNuPjjnVbh6_uA0Z50Hpx9tJVv5oR/s1600/ox-and-ass.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">While they were there, the time came for her to
deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him
in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for
them in the inn. <b>-- </b></span></i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Luke 2:6-7</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><div>
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<td align="left" style="padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;" valign="top">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 41.35pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-linespan: 3; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: dropcap-dropped; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; page-break-after: avoid; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 54.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-text-raise: -5.0pt;">W<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
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</tbody></table>
</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">hen I was a child visiting my grandparents
in northwest Indiana, my brother, cousins and I looked forward to accompanying Grandpa
when it was time to feed the cows out in the fields. He would drive the
tractor, and we would ride atop the flatbed trailer filled with bales of hay.
Once we arrived alongside the feeding trough, Grandpa would start cutting the
bales of hay and tossing them in.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The cows never had to be called for
dinner. They came galloping to meet us. They knew what the sight of the tractor
meant, and what the trough was for. They knew who fed them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Compare this image to these words from the
prophet Isaiah, lamenting on God’s behalf: “The ox knows its owner and the
donkey its master’s crib [or feeding trough]; but Israel does not know, my
people do not understand” (Isaiah 1:3). That’s quite an indictment! In other
words, stupid and stubborn beasts know who feeds <i>them</i>, but God’s own people, created in his image, do not.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Luke’s Gospel proclaims that, with the
birth of Jesus, this woeful situation has been reversed for all who heed such
good news. The symbolism of the manger is important for Luke. After giving
birth, he writes, Mary laid the infant Jesus in a manger (2:7). Luke goes on to
mention this detail two more times—when nearby shepherds hear from an angel the
good news of the Messiah’s birth, and then go to Bethlehem to see for
themselves the child in the manger (Luke 2:12, 16).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Beginning with those shepherds, God’s
people now know their “master’s crib.” And it is God himself—in the Word Made
Flesh who came among us, and who is with us always in his Holy Spirit—who closed
the gap of understanding. In so doing, he began fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy
of a new covenant: “I will be their God and they shall be my people … They
shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I
will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah
31:33-34). This movement by God was finalized some 30 years later with Christ’s
sacrifice on the cross, and continues today in the church’s faithful.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The manger, the ox and the ass in the Nativity
scene serve as a reminder: It is God who feeds us, both spiritually and
physically.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-83417377347318208422022-12-20T09:22:00.001-08:002022-12-20T09:22:37.925-08:00Preparing for Christmas<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQU1CB4m1ZoZ0cJlY1glz7t3Yq72JOfmK2zr5Kjxu90vdCnJxM5v1JIjHFm44Wzx_mOlU0bvbqjLjQXdAvSuS92zzeCNj_pRy9u-80rcuRIhusbZ62CXR3zUUJPERfdxE9mrE2_EUA71t0uGhCnbWLXt0uCnra_osdpF5coeK70ejDn7NY-6Ih4Dtn/s531/SILENCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="531" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQU1CB4m1ZoZ0cJlY1glz7t3Yq72JOfmK2zr5Kjxu90vdCnJxM5v1JIjHFm44Wzx_mOlU0bvbqjLjQXdAvSuS92zzeCNj_pRy9u-80rcuRIhusbZ62CXR3zUUJPERfdxE9mrE2_EUA71t0uGhCnbWLXt0uCnra_osdpF5coeK70ejDn7NY-6Ih4Dtn/s320/SILENCE.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p><b style="color: #660000; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #660000;">NOTE</span></b><span><span style="color: #660000; font-weight: bold;">: </span><i>Good advice here from Erik Varden, OCSO, a Norwegian bishop and Trappist monk, when asked what spiritual practice he would recommend to Christians preparing for Christmas.</i> </span><span style="color: #660000; font-weight: bold;">-- </span><b style="color: #660000; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #660000;">Br. Francis</span></b></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">***</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-family-serif); font-size: var(--font-size-scale-body-copy); line-height: var(--line-height-scale-body-copy); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: calc(var(--content-flow)/ 2); min-width: 100%; padding: 0px;">I would recommend sitting in a chair for five minutes — 10, if you have time — every day without doing anything. Simply being still, listening to the stillness.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-family-serif); font-size: var(--font-size-scale-body-copy); line-height: var(--line-height-scale-body-copy); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: calc(var(--content-flow)/ 2); min-width: 100%; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-family-serif); font-size: var(--font-size-scale-body-copy); line-height: var(--line-height-scale-body-copy); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: var(--content-flow); min-width: 100%; padding: 0px;">That is one of the great liturgical motifs of Christmas, that in the midnight silence, when everything was still, the Word came. The Word didn’t come with a huge cry. But the Word came as an infant. In Latin, “<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">infans</em>” means “speechless.” Again, that’s one of those great paradoxes that the Fathers loved: that the Word chose to be among us as someone, as any infant is, deprived of speech.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-family-serif); font-size: var(--font-size-scale-body-copy); line-height: var(--line-height-scale-body-copy); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: var(--content-flow); min-width: 100%; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-family-serif); font-size: var(--font-size-scale-body-copy); line-height: var(--line-height-scale-body-copy); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: var(--content-flow); min-width: 100%; padding: 0px;">Recovering, and perhaps even discovering, that deep silence within ourselves will help to make us realize that that isn’t an emptily resonant space, but in fact, it is an inhabited space, and a space of openness, and we could almost say of hospitality, because all of us yearn for that receptivity to the Word coming among us and coming to you and coming to me.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-family-serif); font-size: var(--font-size-scale-body-copy); line-height: var(--line-height-scale-body-copy); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: var(--content-flow); min-width: 100%; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-family-serif); font-size: var(--font-size-scale-body-copy); line-height: var(--line-height-scale-body-copy); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: var(--content-flow); min-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="color: #660000;">-- <b><i>Excerpted from an interview published in</i></b> <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/the-word-didnt-come-with-a-huge-cry-but-as-an-infant-norways-bishop-varden-on-the-incarnation/?ref=the-pillar-post-newsletter" target="_blank"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>The Pillar</b></span></a></span></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-55740287513060199262022-01-02T09:16:00.001-08:002022-01-02T09:16:23.516-08:00Be a star<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXKhcIw4Xd-CAcI2_hqCCObMk6IDOAC_LKSldvA14uMI3fHoUo0pnJ5JPLhwt6AO_lcPZijgUFaBJfqiscK3n-5XQrxw6PrcH8mbj1X-tHArW0e2p3GAiiY9F1PfuT4vRwqOqHFCJvnCy5CXyDLNHpcFA3LQNsn4jwxAwJH5_SseYwaV8QdPtba6Uw=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="800" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXKhcIw4Xd-CAcI2_hqCCObMk6IDOAC_LKSldvA14uMI3fHoUo0pnJ5JPLhwt6AO_lcPZijgUFaBJfqiscK3n-5XQrxw6PrcH8mbj1X-tHArW0e2p3GAiiY9F1PfuT4vRwqOqHFCJvnCy5CXyDLNHpcFA3LQNsn4jwxAwJH5_SseYwaV8QdPtba6Uw=w400-h209" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">[On this feast of the Epiphany], the star beckoned the three wise men out of their distant country and led them to recognize and adore the King of heaven and earth. The obedience of the star calls </span><i style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">us </i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">to imitate its humble service: to be servants, as best we can, of the grace that invites all men to find Christ.</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">You must have the same zeal to be of help to one another; then, in the kingdom of God, to which faith and good works are the way, you will shine as children of the light: through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.</span></p><p><b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;"> --St. Leo the Great</b></p><p><br /></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-76192087642630796372021-12-25T08:16:00.000-08:002021-12-25T08:16:23.508-08:00Light shines in the darkness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhl0AW5TWrSXjKU8l3nJChhEgORDbaIdJz34TwywWenmHFlIFnjZpTtLVwqwd7Qj96Ad7teKNmBnIiNaRNFKq07c3NAQdwM4EJ1Iwp-f0b5s7pAIdKuWBZhzaIVQX0owjRc1ctwt9Pb070Wp7ipAr1dhJ4kicJzooXnNvAVBJHAy-UZeMzIHWaCYJjq=s1600" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhl0AW5TWrSXjKU8l3nJChhEgORDbaIdJz34TwywWenmHFlIFnjZpTtLVwqwd7Qj96Ad7teKNmBnIiNaRNFKq07c3NAQdwM4EJ1Iwp-f0b5s7pAIdKuWBZhzaIVQX0owjRc1ctwt9Pb070Wp7ipAr1dhJ4kicJzooXnNvAVBJHAy-UZeMzIHWaCYJjq=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today a light shines on us,<br />for the Lord is born to us.</span></em></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em><span style="font-size: large;">He is called</span></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><em style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Wondrous God,</span></em></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: large;">Prince of Peace,</span></em></div><em><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: large;">Father Forever,</span></em></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><em style="font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">and his reign</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em style="font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">is without end.</span></em></div></span></em></span></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></div></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Isaiah 9:1-6<br />Titus 2:11-14<br />Luke 2:1-14</b></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #464646; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Darkness blankets the earth. Night descends and we seek rest, security, and peace. The dawn promises hope, newness, and joy, but it is a long time coming. Sleep is elusive, fear and worry creep in, and loneliness torments. We toss and turn throughout the long night.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Under the cover of night, we are haunted by the demons of war, oppression, violence, injustice, poverty, racism, disparity, corruption, crime, abuse, lust, greed, selfishness, jealousy, anger, conflict, hostility, isolation, guilt, shame, despair, depression, exhaustion, addiction, illness, pain, grief, sorrow, and death. All the result of the sin of pride inherited from our first parents, humanity’s choice to spurn the God of all and “be like gods” ourselves (cf. Genesis 3:5).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It is a dark, dark world—like Pottersville in Frank Capra’s 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life. Except that Pottersville didn’t exist. It <i>would</i> have existed if it had not been for one man, George Bailey, famously portrayed by Jimmy Stewart. His goodness, his light, kept the evil darkness of Mr. Potter at bay. His light provided hope for the good people of <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Bedford</placename> <placetype w:st="on">Falls</placetype></place>. And when the darkness threatened to overtake even poor, desperate George Bailey, something small and wonderful happened:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">God stepped in.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">So it is with us. While “It’s a Wonderful Life” provides an apt metaphor for God’s presence in the world, the Incarnation we recall in the feast of Christmas surpasses all wonder. God became man. God entered the darkness—not to eradicate humanity’s woes, but to give them meaning and purpose within a fallen world grasping at straws. Christ is our hope in a world of darkness. His “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The theme of light piercing the darkness is prevalent in all of today’s readings. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone,” prophesies Isaiah. “The grace of God has appeared,” writes <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">St. Paul</place></city>. “The glory of God shone around” the shepherds as the angel of the Lord announced the birth of Jesus. It is interesting to note that this light of God’s glory does not eliminate the dark night. Rather, it shines <i>through</i> it to provide hope and guidance. Christ, the Light of the World (cf. John 8:12), promises to lead us through the darkness, and—if we follow him unreservedly—to keep evil at bay, to even thwart it. As John the Baptist’s father Zechariah prophesies in the <i>Benedictus</i> (Luke 1:67-79) which we chant each morning at Lauds: “In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Christmas reminds us to seek that light again, to follow it, to <i>become</i> that point of light along the dark and narrow path of life. Our rejoicing in the light that Christ provides should, like George Bailey, provide a beacon of hope for others on the same journey. We all must become the light that shines in the darkness. As Jesus told the disciples of his day and ours, “You are the salt of the earth” and the “light of the world. … Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly father” (Matthew 5:13,14,16).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">A Savior is born for us from God’s <i>zeal</i>, or passion, as Isaiah says (9:6). Interestingly, a few sentences after today’s Gospel passage ends, Luke tells us that the shepherds who had seen the light “went in <i>haste</i>” and found Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus lying in a manger (Luke 2:16). They were <i>eager</i> to find the source of the light, and after seeing Jesus, expressing the zeal of God’s love, they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The light shining in the darkness of that first Christmas night had transformed them, as it should with us today. St. Paul reminds us of this in the second reading when he says that 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 we await the final coming of Christ (Titus 2:11-12). This is our baptismal call as Christians.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The darkness shall not overcome us because God has stepped into it, has shown and given us the light, and because he leads us into the light for all eternity. As the Book of Revelation says:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain. … They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever (21:3-4; 22:4-5).</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">A MOST BLESSED<br />AND LIGHT-FILLED<br />CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!!</span></em></strong></div></span></div>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-26400334157184094912021-11-04T09:51:00.002-07:002021-11-04T09:55:49.128-07:00Why we pray for those who have died<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJON8_OVtXhNUtQ-mGKZ6mlT-npDWngCUqctWws4TqzwWG31Ec3vtNonPYf_NaHe5SE1S3Orpu-rveEL4QE52XfWMnSIxdMDDYBfNTzAkrz6dLlAquGmUXBHAzDKlymDgdWPHGM2DVpUQ/s381/sma+cemetery.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="381" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJON8_OVtXhNUtQ-mGKZ6mlT-npDWngCUqctWws4TqzwWG31Ec3vtNonPYf_NaHe5SE1S3Orpu-rveEL4QE52XfWMnSIxdMDDYBfNTzAkrz6dLlAquGmUXBHAzDKlymDgdWPHGM2DVpUQ/w400-h370/sma+cemetery.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal">A procession of mourners is escorting the coffin of a departed loved one to the cemetery. Suddenly, a stranger appears. He approaches and comforts the dead man's mother. Everyone stops and is taken aback when the stranger touches the coffin. Then he orders the dead man to rise. Shock gives way to anger: Is this some kind of bizarre, cruel joke?</p><p class="MsoNormal">Anger quickly turns to astonishment as the dead man returns
to life. The stranger reunites him with his grieving mother. Suddenly, mourning
turns to dancing!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Mysteriously, the compassionate stranger’s touch and voice
have power over death, and are able to bring everyone together to praise the
Author of Life. The stranger seems to be the key to a transcendent unity that
reaches through and beyond death, declaring, “I am the resurrection and the
life.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The stranger, of course, is Jesus, and this scene is
depicted in the Gospel of Luke (7:11-17) as a demonstration of his compassion
and ability to give life and restore unity. Yet, something greater is also at
stake. As baptized Christians, we are incorporated into the Mystical Body of
Christ, which makes us that stranger with the touch and voice overpowering
death. We are not only those who die and mourn. In Christ, we also give comfort
and the witness of eternal communion with the dead and the mourning. Together,
we share the life-giving gift of the Holy Spirit by crying out with one voice:
“Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">One of the primary ways the Body of Christ overpowers death
is through prayer, individually and communally. Praying for the dead—or more
aptly, praying that the faithful departed may enjoy the fullness of Life—has
been a vital component of the Catholic tradition since the early days of
Christianity. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Although the Church’s teaching on the matter was not fully
developed until the Middle Ages, praying for the dead has its roots in
antiquity. Scripture mentions the practice in the Second Book of Maccabees (Ch.
12:43-46), indicating that “this holy and pious thought” was prevalent among
Jews in the century before Christ’s birth. The early Christians adopted the
practice, as evidenced by inscriptions in the catacombs of Rome and the tombs
of early martyrs, writings of the Church Fathers, and in surviving texts from
ancient liturgies.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">What accounts for this need to pray for the dead? How do we
go about it? Our tradition is very rich in this regard, but a few points are
worth reflection.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Staying connected.</i></b> The Church identifies
praying for the dead as one of the seven spiritual works of mercy. It is one
way in which the compassionate stranger’s touch and voice overpower death and
unite all members of the Body of Christ—in this life and the life to come.
“Just as in their earthly life believers are united in one Mystical Body,” said
St. Pope John Paul II, “so after death those who live in a state of
purification experience the same ecclesial solidarity which works through
prayer.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The dead need and depend on our prayers, just as the living
do. St. Thomas Aquinas said that praying for the dead is the greatest act of
charity one can perform on behalf of anyone—living or dead. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">“There is, death notwithstanding, still a vital flow of the
life between them and us,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser, O.M.I. “Love, presence, and
communication reach even through death. … Our lives are still joined. Hence we
pray for the dead in order to remain in contact with them. Just as we can hold
someone’s hand as they are dying … so too, figuratively but really, we can hold
that person’s hand through and beyond death.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Finding freedom and healing.</i></b> Death was not—and
is not—God’s idea (cf. Wisdom 1:13-14a, 15). It became a reality because of
humanity’s sin, our turning away from the Source of Life to follow our own
designs.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">However, out of his great mercy, God sent his Son to take on
our sin, redeem us through his death, and restore us to life through the
Resurrection. As a result, humanity is redeemed and promised eternal life.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Still, it is a life we must claim as our own in a world
still plagued by the effects of sin. God’s gift invites a response, a
willingness to become holy as intended in the true image of our Creator. So,
our choices matter in this life. By choosing against God in this life, we
create our own eternal hell, so to speak. By choosing God, and through grace
living pure, perfect lives, we see God’s face after death, enjoying heaven.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Since living pure, perfect lives is something most of us
cannot do, and since “nothing unclean will enter” heaven (Rev. 21:27), those
who have nonetheless striven to love God in this life are in need of further
cleansing after death. Purgatory, then, is a state of transition on the soul’s
journey toward eternal rest.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The Light of the World “burns” away the stain of our
imperfections, much as the newly risen sun burns off the early morning fog.
“Before [Christ’s] gaze all falsehood melts away,” said Pope Benedict XVI in
his encyclical <i>Spe Salvi</i>. “This encounter with him, as it burns us,
transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Purgatory is neither punishment nor a place apart from
heaven. Rather, it is a healing process for the soul moving toward eternal
union with God. As the <i>Catechism of the Catholic Church</i> states, “All who die in
God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured
of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to
achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Sharing in the Resurrection.</i></b> As Christians, we
are called to serve others, to help them along the Way of Christ so that we may
all journey with him, in him, and through him to the Father in heaven. This
work of mercy extends beyond death, as we pray that the entire Body of Christ
becomes the “resurrection and the life.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Just as we pray that our loved ones may enjoy good health in
this life, we must—to an even greater degree—pray that the faithful departed
enjoy the fullness of life. Former Pope Benedict explained why:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The
souls of the departed can receive “solace and refreshment” through the
Eucharist, prayer, and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the
afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our
affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a
fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a
source of comfort today. … No man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are
involved with one another; through innumerable interactions they are linked
together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. … So my
prayer is not something extraneous to another person, something external, not
even after death. … It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is
it ever in vain.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">This solidarity in Christ beyond death is the unity of the
Church, which prays through the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Father on behalf
of the entire world. Our prayers assist the departed on their heavenly journey
precisely because they are the same prayer Christ offers for us. Our voices in
him and his voice in us is what touches, heals, and overpowers death to give
eternal life.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Expressing Communion.</i></b> Practically speaking, we
express this solidarity most fully each time we participate in the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass—whether or not it’s a funeral. In the celebration of the
Eucharist, time and space are transcended, and the Mystical Body of Christ
stands united—including all who have gone before us and all who are still on
their earthly journey. “It is by the Eucharist that the community of the faithful,
especially the family of the deceased, learn to live in communion with the one
who ‘has fallen asleep in the Lord,’ by communicating in the Body of Christ of
which he is a living member, and then, praying for him and with him”
(Catechism, No. 1689).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Each of the four options for the Eucharistic Prayer at every
Mass asks God to bring the faithful departed into the light of his presence.
The dead are typically remembered as well during the General Intercessions at
each Mass. Memorial Masses are also offered on behalf of the dead, and each
year the entire Church celebrates the Feast of All Souls Day on November 2 for the
dead.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Apart from Mass, devotions such as the rosary can be
dedicated to departed souls. The <i>De Profundis</i> (Psalm 130) has long been
employed by the Church as a prayer for the dead and can be prayed privately. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Formal, extended prayers are not necessary. Simply walking
through a cemetery and commending the departed to God’s care can be very
meditative. Short prayers can also be memorized and said to oneself at any time
of day. I try to say a quick prayer of thanksgiving and intercession for the
dead upon rising from a meal: “We praise and thank you Lord, for all your
blessings, and may the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.” Of course,
God also hears intentions expressed in the silence of our hearts.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Whatever the form of expression, the prayers of the Body of
Christ help all its members stay connected, find freedom and healing, and share
in the Resurrection—wherever they may be. Christ’s voice in ours is what
reaches out and touches the hearts of all who are part of his Body—whoever they
may be.<o:p></o:p></p><p>
<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This occurs as we pray for
the dead, and as the dead pray for us. No matter what stage of the journey
we’re on, it is Christ’s voice that calls us together and offers the same
promise Jesus made before calling Lazarus from the tomb: “Those who believe in
me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me
will never die” (John 11:25-26).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>NOTE</b>: <i>The above was originally published by Abbey Press Publications as a </i>Catholic Perspectives CareNote <i>in 2010. Since the Abbey Press is "no more," and because it is November (traditionally, a time to remember and pray for the dead), I thought it might be a good time to "resurrect" it</i> <b>-- Br. Francis</b></span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Eternal rest grant to them,</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">O Lord, and let perpetual light</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">shine upon them.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">May they rest in peace.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Amen.</span></i></div><p></p><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b></b></span></span><p></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-47257262459793049392021-10-18T09:30:00.000-07:002021-10-18T09:30:36.882-07:00Mary, Mother of disciples<p><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 18.6667px; text-indent: 28.8px;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhPTEvXMdxkWfiR7gX289YZfU1Dw5RkS7xGLGWJUaUq8eQ_zcYyae5A5w5_Vi9SQTvhN6JGLKfyVs_2ZMY88QYc0mZGBzL3bdM6HzplcbID0mVIJSsVLonRDlbna9z2fE6nLdrAWXzqE/s971/shrine+podium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="691" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhPTEvXMdxkWfiR7gX289YZfU1Dw5RkS7xGLGWJUaUq8eQ_zcYyae5A5w5_Vi9SQTvhN6JGLKfyVs_2ZMY88QYc0mZGBzL3bdM6HzplcbID0mVIJSsVLonRDlbna9z2fE6nLdrAWXzqE/w285-h400/shrine+podium.jpg" width="285" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #990000;"><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 18.6667px; text-indent: 28.8px;"><b>NOTE: <i>The following is the conference I presented Sunday afternoon at the nearby Monte Cassino Shrine for one of the weekly October pilgrimages. </i></b><i> </i></span> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">X</span><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">On the third day
there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was
there.<a name="51002002"></a> Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the
wedding.<a name="51002003"></a> When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said
to him, “They have no wine.”<a name="51002004"></a> [And] Jesus said to her,
“Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”<a name="51002005"></a> His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”<a name="51002006"></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Now there were six
stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty
to thirty gallons.<a name="51002007"></a> Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with
water.” So, they filled them to the brim.<a name="51002008"></a> Then he told
them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So, they took it.<a name="51002009"></a> And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become
wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn
the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom<a name="51002010"></a> and
said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk
freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”<a name="51002011"></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Jesus did this as the
beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and
his disciples began to believe in him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>--<b>John 2:1-11<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Human beings—especially
Americans, it seems—do not like being told what to do. Obedience is something
we tend to resist and resent. We like our “freedom,” or what we perceive as
freedom. We want to call the shots. We don’t want to listen to anybody else.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But the fact of the
matter is that to get along, and even to survive as a species, we need to obey
someone else or a set of rules and regulations each day. Without some measure
of obedience and deference to another beyond our individual desires, society
would descend into absolute chaos. For the good of everyone, there need to be
“rules of the road,” so to speak.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In the life of
Christian discipleship, this is even more true – and it really <i>is</i> a
matter of spiritual life or death for each one of us. Adam and Eve, as our
first parents, chose to disobey God and set the pattern of human behavior that
we still struggle with today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mercifully, God the
Father did not discard or forget us. First, he gave us the Law and the Prophets,
pleading with us to “return to the Lord” and “heed his voice with all your
heart and all your soul” (Dt 30:2). This is not difficult to figure out, God
tells his children through Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy: “This command
which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. … It is
something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have
only to carry it out” (Dt 30: 11,14).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But the choice is
ours, just like it was in the time of Moses: “I have set before you life and
death, the blessing and the curse,” God says. “Choose life, then … “(Dt 30:19).
What he asks us to do, in other words, is for our own good, from an eternal
perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But the Law and the
Prophets were not enough for us stubborn, hard-hearted human beings. So, the
Father in his great mercy sent his only Son, Jesus, God’s Word made Flesh, to
teach us, to show us the way, to help us make the right choice, and to do most
of the heavy lifting for us. Following Jesus as a disciple means doing what he
did, using his example as a guide. HE is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cf.
John 14:6).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And because the fully
human, fully divine Jesus took his flesh from a young woman in Nazareth, his
appearance among us depended upon her assent, on her obedience to the Father’s
will. When the archangel Gabriel announced this plan to her, she undoubtedly
had many questions and not a few trepidations about how it would all work out (<i>he
didn’t give her many details</i>). But Mary said “yes” anyway. “May it be done
to me according to your word,” she responded (Luke 1:38). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And so, in that
moment, Mary became not only the Mother of the Lord, but his very first
disciple—and hence, the mother of all disciples. Her obedience was a critical
counterpoint to Eve’s disobedience, just as Jesus’ obedience to the Father
would offset Adam’s defiance, restoring eternal life to humanity by his death
and resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In the Gospel passage
we just heard, John the Evangelist presents the first of seven signs in which
Jesus manifests his glory as the Son of God. The turning of water into wine at
the wedding in Cana signifies the abundant transforming grace available to us
all through the salvific mission of Christ. Just as the prophet Isaiah
foretold, God does something new in Jesus—offering cleansing, restorative drink
to his chosen but wayward people (cf. Isaiah 43). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As demonstrated
through Jesus, God has the power and the will to change our tepid souls into
new wine filled to the brim. But again, the choice is ultimately ours. While it
is Christ who changes the water into wine, the servants (you and I) are
summoned to fill the jars with water. God’s gratuitous gift of grace requires
our acceptance and cooperation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">So, for this reason,
Mary, the mother of disciples, tells those servants (and us): “<i>Do whatever
he tells you</i>.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mary shows us how to
be a disciple of Christ. “<i>Do whatever he tells you</i>.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">These very words (<i>if
you haven’t noticed</i>) are inscribed on the front of this podium. And they
are important words for all Christian disciples. God the Father has set Eternal
Life before us in his Son Jesus, who says later in the Gospel of John: “I came
that they may have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Choose Life,
the Father says. And Mary, the first disciple who chose Life with her pronouncement,
“May it be done to me according to your word,” in turn says to <i>us</i>: “Do
whatever he tells you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In other words: <i>Bring
your souls to Jesus. Accept his freely offered grace won on the Cross for you
and allow him to fill you with the new wine of redemption. Then, enlivened by his
Spirit, go, and share the love, mercy, and peace you have received. Let it
spill over into the lives of others</i>. This sentiment falls into line with Jesus’
later words to his disciples: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever
remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do
nothing” (John 15:5).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary
always points out the way to us, and she points toward her Son: “<i>Do whatever
he tells you</i>.” She herself lived out that directive, ultimately following
him to the Cross when most of his disciples had abandoned him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In 1974 Saint Pope
Paul VI wrote this about Mary:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mary is held up as an example to the faithful for the way in
which, in her own particular life, she fully and responsibly accepted the will
of God (cf. Lk. 1:38), because she <i>heard</i> the word of God and <i>acted</i>
on it, and because charity and a spirit of service were the driving force of
her actions. She is worthy of imitation because she was the first and the most
perfect of Christ’s disciples. (<i>Marialis Cultus</i>, No. 35)</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt; text-indent: 0.3in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mary, as the first
and most perfect Christian disciple, first listened to the Word of God, and
then acted on it. As our Mother in Christ, she provides us, his disciples, with
an example to follow. Most of us here, at one point in our lives (or even many
times) have likely heard the admonition, “Listen to your mother!” Well, Mary,
as mother of disciples, says, “<i>Listen to my Son! – Do whatever he tells you</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is primarily the
message from God the Father himself, who spoke from the heavens during the
Transfiguration, telling Peter, John, and James: “This is my beloved Son.
Listen to him.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">So, it is clear that
as Christian disciples, our entire lives must be ordered around this principle.
That is the definition of a disciple: one who listens to a teacher, learns, and
then follow’s the teacher’s example. And in the case of Jesus, God’s Word made
flesh, following him is a matter of life or death, and the Eternal Life he
holds out for us provides a special intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Jesus himself while on this earth said, “Whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But <i>how</i>—practically
speaking—do we listen to Jesus and then do what he tells us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As mentioned before,
it’s not all that difficult to figure out (although <i>carrying</i> out what he
tells us often is!). Since we are created in God’s image, his Word is already
written on our hearts. And Christ gives us the Church to guide us in this
regard—its teachings, its liturgical life and community, and <i>especially</i>
the sacraments. We also listen to him in prayer, which is animated by the Holy
Spirit, and within the circumstances and relationships we find ourselves in
each day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">But most of all, we have
Scripture -- God’s Word. In particular, the gospels show us the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Something I’ve wanted
to do for a long time is compile a list of all the things Jesus <i>specifically
and</i> <i>directly</i> told his disciples to do (or not to do) in the gospels.
Preparing this conference gave me the opportunity to do that. So, I scoured all
four gospels and wrote down each of the things Jesus tells us—his disciples –
to do. The final list is quite lengthy, but I did want to share with you some
of the sayings that seem to really stand out in importance – either because
they are repeated often or because they are specifically emphasized by Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Here, then, is what
Jesus tells his disciples to do:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Take courage. Do not
be afraid. Just have faith. (<i>These three come up a lot.</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Follow me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all
your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Love one another as I
love you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Do to others as you
would have them do to you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Be merciful, just as
your Father is merciful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Forgive anyone
against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn
forgive you your transgressions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Stop judging and you
will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and
you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Anyone who wishes to
come after me must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
will save it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">If you wish to be
perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Ask and you will
receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Stay awake! You do
not know on which day your Lord will come.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Go into the whole
world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .55in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Go, and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you. I am with you always.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .3in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">These, among others,
are the things Jesus tells his disciples – then and now – to do. Let us, then,
filled to the brim with the grace of his Holy Spirit, <i>listen</i> to the Word
of God and then <i>do</i> it. Like Mary, his first disciple and the mother of
us all, may we always choose the Eternal Life that Jesus holds out for us,
following him to the foot of the Cross—as did his mother and the beloved
disciple. There, he says to us, “She is your mother” (cf. John 19:27). And, as
our mother, she says to us: “Do whatever he tells you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-6574045392693255872021-05-10T13:05:00.004-07:002021-05-10T13:05:59.656-07:00The indiscriminate love of God<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNl8zU5R3Gr29AAzsF1UtN-NUXLqPjBWJGuPfH2DfJGf7yKLjhGu7qO0sMzJMPEVuQhAE7KLkfaVLLEiA7kXalZEiMJpt65w0hYCFY68SDjajZRG70IKMHESUGU6VC_OlqKDzcjYpcaQ/s225/mer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="225" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNl8zU5R3Gr29AAzsF1UtN-NUXLqPjBWJGuPfH2DfJGf7yKLjhGu7qO0sMzJMPEVuQhAE7KLkfaVLLEiA7kXalZEiMJpt65w0hYCFY68SDjajZRG70IKMHESUGU6VC_OlqKDzcjYpcaQ/w200-h199/mer.png" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="color: #660000;"><b>NOTE:</b> <i>The following is a homily delivered by our <b>Fr. Joseph Cox, OSB</b>, at Mass on Sunday, May 9. It is based on the Gospel of John 15:9-17</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>***</b></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">An ancient tradition about the last days
of Saint John the Evangelist says that he lived to a very old age and became so
feeble that he had to be carried to the meetings of the faithful. There,
because of his weakness, he was not able to deliver a long discourse, so at
each gathering he just repeated the words, “Little children, love one another.”
His followers became tired of hearing the same words over and over, so they
asked him why he never said anything else. Saint John said, “Do this alone and
it is enough.” This story may be true because the word “love” appears 57 times
in the Gospel of John; more often than in the other three gospels combined.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the gospel for today (John 15:9-17) at
verse 14, Jesus says to his disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I
command you.” What does he command us to do? In verse 12 he says, “This is my
commandment: love one another as I love you.” The disciples, like you and me,
sometimes don’t quite get it the first time. Therefore, Jesus must keep
reminding us. So, in verse 17, Jesus again says, “This I command you: love one
another.” That is quite clear because Jesus repeated it and called it a
command.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To love others does not mean to tolerate
others, in the sense of putting up with them. Jesus did not say, “Tolerate one
another as I tolerate you.” He said, “Love one another as I love you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">God has given to each of us free will, so
we can choose to love or not to love. Love is the free response of the heart. Love
is an attitude, and all attitudes are the consequence of a choice. When it
comes to Christian love, we do not “fall in love”— we “choose to love.” Jesus
chose to love us. He called us “friends”. Love is not just romantic feeling,
physical attraction, or emotional attachment. Love is a choice and decision.
Love is willful commitment and faithful service. To love is to make a decision
of the will. Love cannot survive without action, and it cannot grow without
testing. If we depend on love to be a good feeling only, then it will be impossible
to love all people as God tells us to do, because many people do not give us
good feelings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The fact that love cannot be completely
boiled down to an emotion is good, because then we are freed from limiting our
love to only feel-good relationships. We are free to love everyone. Love of
neighbor is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by Jesus. It
consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, we love even the person
whom we do not like or even know. This is grounded in an intimate encounter
with God through prayer; an encounter which has become a communion of will,
even affecting our feelings. Then we learn to look on others not simply with
our eyes and our feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus so that Jesus’ friends
are our friends. The divine indwelling is God dwelling in us. Jesus acts in us,
and we see with Jesus’ eyes. St. Paul said, “It is not I who live, but Christ
who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus’ command to love others is not based
on the existing culture—whether at the time of Jesus 2,000 years ago or today.
It is not liberal, conservative, or political. It is the direct result of the
gospels. It is not a statement about the various roles people may be called to
fill in this life, or the honor we may or may not be given on this side of
eternity. It is a statement about our equal value in the eyes of God, and how
we should learn to view each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Rather than seeing humanity as a unity, it
can be easy to see humanity as a collection of separate groups of people. As a
result, rather than seeing people as being made in the image and likeness of
God, as the Book of Genesis tells us (Genesis 1:26), we can overemphasize
differences rather than seeing similarities. Consequently, it may appear as if everyone
must fall into a category: progressive, traditional; rich, poor; red states,
blue states; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist; Russian, Chinese, American, Canadian,
Indian, etc.; black, white, red, brown; gay, straight; and many other
categories. It can be tempting to assign values to these individual groups of
people such as: good, bad; safe, dangerous; those approved by God, those not
approved by God. There are many ways in which our fears and biases play out in
our rash judgments of others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">God is pure love and is all knowing, and
so does not have our biases. God can love everyone because God is total love.
We are not God, so we still have our prejudices, insecurities, and suspicions
about certain people. Yet, the Lord wants us to love all people, not just some.
It does not depend on other people’s political party, sex, race, religion, intelligence,
sexual orientation, or personal status. Separating our brothers and sisters
into groups of “good people” and “bad people” just works to further divide
humanity rather than unite humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When people are misunderstood and
separated into groups and then marginalized to the extreme, the results are
that they can be dehumanized, scapegoated, and oppressed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A couple of years ago after visiting a
parish in Evansville, on the way back to Saint Meinrad I stopped at a Barnes &
Noble to look around. Afterwards I went to my car in the parking lot. Because
the store was crowded, the lot was almost full, so the car was way at the back.
On my way I noticed someone standing at the back of the lot. He was not getting
into or out of a car—he was just standing there. I thought, “Oh, I suppose this
guy wants money.” I was already placing him in a category. Then, I don’t know
what happened, maybe the Spirit moved me or something, I went up to him and
said, “Hi, I’m Joe. Who are you?” He said that his name was Michael and that he
needed money for a bus ticket. Whether or not that was true does not matter. I
gave him some money and I said that I would keep him in my prayers. He
immediately pulled a small, pocket-size version of the New Testament out of his
pocket and said that he was a person of prayer, too. We talked for minute, then
we shook hands and we parted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will never forget that encounter with
him. Instead of ignoring him, or giving him some money and then running away, I
engaged him, and we talked. I took a risk to go beyond artificial boundaries
and enter another person’s world. This has to do with treating people as human
beings worthy of respect and compassion rather than as problems or
inconveniences. When we don’t have some personal contact with those who are
different from us, then our prejudices and false assumptions go unchallenged,
and we will continue to distrust and avoid them. But if we are willing to
listen to others and learn from them, we can lessen some of the “us” versus
“them” mentality that we all have, and try to see people in new ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
Although the Easter lilies are gone, we are still in the Easter season. Two
weeks from today we celebrate Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit. During
these seven weeks of the season of Easter, we are called to think of Jesus’
love for us as shown by the Paschal Mystery, that is, the suffering, death, and
resurrection of Jesus. The Lord has destroyed death and offers eternal life to the
world. The only thing that can explain this is love. Not love for some people,
but for all people. The Lord does not discriminate in the offer of love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">How can we discriminate as to whom we
offer love? Through our Baptism, we have been incorporated into the Paschal
Mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have been made sons and daughters
of God and given new life. Since we are children of God, then we are brothers
and sisters to one another. <o:p></o:p></span></p><b><div style="text-align: right;"><b>-- Fr. Joseph Cox, OSB</b></div></b><p></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-63392247766161813552020-12-24T18:47:00.005-08:002020-12-24T18:47:50.812-08:00Christian dignity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJ30c3B7kjcOFf4WYpT3zWrrLDN8vpF7TR2nlAPzUavtqwvzLsSgPwXezwSlMbo9CaJ3v-XbqwO-9JqDPNzEjVFqbOBhIGkyR6VSEp1sFM06qRnvDOqmunqGyAoA4t6fZ8MX5_sM2zBo/s856/campus+035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="622" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJ30c3B7kjcOFf4WYpT3zWrrLDN8vpF7TR2nlAPzUavtqwvzLsSgPwXezwSlMbo9CaJ3v-XbqwO-9JqDPNzEjVFqbOBhIGkyR6VSEp1sFM06qRnvDOqmunqGyAoA4t6fZ8MX5_sM2zBo/s320/campus+035.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><div>Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness. <br /><br />No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. …<br /><br />Christian, consider your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.</div><div><div style="text-align: right;"><b><b><i>-- St. Leo the Great</i></b></b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b><b><i><br /></i></b></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS!</span></i></b></div></div>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-84761818969469420662020-12-24T14:26:00.000-08:002020-12-24T14:26:33.606-08:00People of hope<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">"The people who walked in darkness</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">have seen a great light."</span></i></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Isaiah 9:1</b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg07AEGVkOLSBYbu3WRe1LDvpMDrLOWYrnpBbduba95a2ZGgiy9cn0X4P5VLwd-CgQOG-xYTzm-5fAu0Na5Gvu3OWxdDJwbyiMHRHgmrRCsbdpcOspwGELlVEvdmARwkMaIUiaqk7EMEZI/s549/st.+jude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="549" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg07AEGVkOLSBYbu3WRe1LDvpMDrLOWYrnpBbduba95a2ZGgiy9cn0X4P5VLwd-CgQOG-xYTzm-5fAu0Na5Gvu3OWxdDJwbyiMHRHgmrRCsbdpcOspwGELlVEvdmARwkMaIUiaqk7EMEZI/w400-h361/st.+jude.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Associated Press</td></tr></tbody></table><p>This Advent season -- besieged as we are with a relentless, ravaging, yet invisible virus that has somehow turned many people against one another, along with political turmoil, economic uncertainty, and social unrest -- I have been thinking a lot about Christian hope. As we draw near to the wonderful Light of Christmas amid the darkness that surrounds us -- and that threatens to remain with us for weeks, months, or years to come -- this is a worthy topic of meditation for us all. Perhaps the only one.</p><p>What does it mean to have Christian hope -- to be a people of hope amid the powerful forces of darkness?</p><p>To begin with, we must recall both the origin and goal of our hope -- the Gospel, or "Good News." St. Paul tells us in his Letter to the Romans that "in hope we were saved" (8:24). The basis of this hope is that God has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ, and that what he has promised, he <i>will </i>do through Christ -- and <i>has </i>done, and is <i>continuing </i>to do through him. That is what Advent is about -- recalling Jesus' first coming among us 2,000 years ago, looking toward and preparing for his second coming at the end of time, and welcoming his presence here and now through the Holy Spirit. "I am with you always, to the end of the age," Jesus told his followers (and us) before he ascended into heaven.</p><p>Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the anchor of our souls. Boaters and fishermen can relate to the work of pulling up anchor from the watery depths below. For us Christians, that image is reversed. Jesus, our Anchor of Hope in heaven, draws us after him. The Letter to the Hebrews applies this image, saying, "We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered" (6:19-20). </p><p>That is our assurance, and if we truly have faith, then we must trust that God accomplishes all that he wills -- amid and even <i>through </i>all the storms and struggles of life. We are on a journey toward our true eternal home, one that is not of this world and yet springs forth from it through the Incarnation of Christ and his Mystical Body (comprised of each one of us). Like the ancient Israelites, we are a pilgrim people driven by hope toward our homeland. Eternal Life awaits us, and yet what we do and say here and now shapes our path forward (or backward!) in relation to that goal.</p><p>Our hope is in the Lord our God. He is our light and our help. With this in mind, whom shall we fear? (cf. Psalms 27, 146).</p><p>Recently, Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, O.S.B., wrote an Advent letter to all Benedictine men and women worldwide (the current Abbot Primate, stationed in Rome, is an American, and was elected by abbots around the world to lead the Benedictine Confederation, which consists of all the Benedictine congregations and monasteries in the Catholic Church). This letter was read in our refectory during dinner this past week. While much of the letter provides updates on everyday matters of interest to the Benedictine Order, Abbot Gregory begins by stating that "these days of Advent usher us into a time of hope, a hope that can only be fully grounded in the Lord's love and care, guidance and wisdom, strength, vitality, and promise of Emmanuel, God-with-us."</p><p>He expands on this message of hope with a reflection I think is worth sharing because it applies to all people of faith. The following is an extended excerpt from the letter:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The pandemic has made many people look to
the end times, to a season of suffering, a time of uncertainty about the
future, and to the ways in which our world, our governments, our Church … will
move forward. One thing about the Book of Revelation is that it takes into
account two things: a time of endurance and perseverance in troubled times, and
also a genuine hope of God’s action in the midst of all of this. … God’s rule
continues, despite human folly or natural disaster. In the end, God’s goodness
will manifest itself, showing a rule that is just and a command that is geared
toward renewal and restoration.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In coming to the final chapters of the
Book of Revelation there is an expression that we have heard many times yet may
now see it in a new way. The author writes, “I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away … Then I heard a
loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human
race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself will
always be with them as their God’ … Then the One who sat on the throne said,
‘Behold, I make all things new’” (Rev 21:1, 3, 5).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In pondering these verses from the Book of
Revelation, the question came to me, “Is God taking this natural disaster and
creating something new, good, and even wonderful for us? Will we come to see
this new earth that the Scriptures are speaking of? Will we see a new earth, in
which God will take the chaos of our present situation, and as the All Holy One
did at the beginning of time, give us a new creation, a new earth, a world
remade in the harmony, order, and goodness of God?”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We can find examples of this in the
Scriptures, where something unfortunate, even bad, by the grace of God takes on
a new life, a new direction, a new focus. For example, in Genesis 45, we read
the story of the patriarch Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his own
brothers, jealous of him. But then comes the moment when, faced with his
brothers in the court of Pharaoh, he tells them that God has taken their
betrayal of him and turned it into something good—for the service of a people
in need. Joseph saw, with eyes of spiritual wisdom, that God had taken
something malicious and sinful, and brought it to a positive and blessed end.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We can also think of the creation story in
Genesis 1, where a mass of chaos is turned into a world of harmony, beauty, and
order and given to a human family to be the stewards of this great gift (Gen
1:28-31). Where there had been nothing but disarray, God brought order through
a spoken word, “Let there be … and there was” (Gen 1:3, 6-7, 9, 11).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">And then there is the ultimate act of renewal
where jealousy, hatred, fear, betrayal, and wickedness is redeemed by the
saving death of Jesus Christ on the cross, bringing about the forgiveness and
reconciliation of the world, and promising us nothing less than eternal life.
Because of all this, we need to be a people of hope.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">… Pope Francis reminded us of something
essential … as he gave the world his <i>Urbi et Orbi</i> blessing. Drawing from
the Gospel according to Mark 4, he used the image of the apostles together in a
boat, frightened on a tempestuous and dark sea, and wondering how Jesus could
be asleep at this moment of their need. The Pope reminded us of our worldwide
and common experience, and how closely we are connected through this experience,
stripped of our self-sufficiency, and knowing that our only way forward is
through a dependence upon God’s power which cannot be controlled by human
forces.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">As we are moving forward with the promise
of vaccines that will be coming in the next [weeks and months], we are also
beginning to see the new earth that God is creating. It is an earth that keeps
us keenly aware of our interdependence upon one another, the fragility of human
life, the need to be obedient to regulations that affect the lives of others,
the need to be generous and careful with what has been given us, a readiness to
share what we have with others, to seek the harmony and order in which the
world was first created, and the absolute need for silence and prayer to listen
to God’s voice that we might respond in faith.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">… Brothers and sisters, despite the pain
and suffering of this pandemic, God has been with us in ways we cannot always
see. God’s grace rarely comes in the ways we expect. Being attentive to the
signs of the times, we will see our way forward into the future with hope and
trust in the ways that God is leading us forward. May these final days of
Advent lead us to a glorious celebration of the Lord’s Birth, because we have
hoped, and yes, we have <i>seen</i> God’s guiding and loving hand among us.</span></p></blockquote><p>
</p><p>Certainly, neither Abbot Gregory nor I wish to diminish the pain and suffering experienced by so many people in this world, especially during this last year. It is real, and it hurts -- for everyone who is afflicted, in so many ways. Being besieged by difficulties -- sometimes severe trials -- does <i>not</i> indicate a lack of faith (just as good fortune does <i>not </i>indicate an abundance of faith). It is simply (and sadly) a fact of human existence in our broken world. No one escapes such struggles, though they vary in form from person to person.</p><p>But it also is true that whatever comes our way has something to teach us. When good things happen to us, they should be received in humility and with gratitude. And, in turn, this should prompt some measure of praise of God and generosity toward others -- sharing the good. And when bad things happen, we need to hold even more tightly to the rope of faith that extends to our Anchor of Hope in heaven, Jesus Christ. We need to recall the good we have experienced in the past, and trust that whatever happens, God will bring us through the present into the future. Even amid a pandemic, political turmoil, economic uncertainty, and social unrest -- even amid what is malicious and sinful -- God is creating something new, something good. He has not abandoned us. As St. Paul says, "all things work together for good for those who love God" (8:28).</p><p>Of course, there is more to endurance and perseverance than simply holding on for one's own dear life. As people of hope, we must share the good we have received -- in good times and in bad, whether it is convenient or inconvenient. And that includes sharing the Good News in various ways to build up the faith, hope, and love of our Christian brothers and sisters, and all God's children throughout the world. It means tying ourselves to them when they cannot hold onto that rope extending into heaven, where our Anchor awaits.</p><p>If you look -- yes, even amid the seemingly overwhelming darkness -- you will see such examples of the good being shared, of hope being built up, of people generously and selflessly supporting one another. They are all around us everyday, in between all the troubling headlines.</p><p>In the first reading for the Christmas Mass During the Night, the prophet Isaiah tells us, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." As people of hope, we have seen that Light, the promise of Christ our head. As his mystical Body, by the grace given us through the Incarnation, and with the Holy Spirit, let us spread that Light far and wide until we witness God's "new creation, a new earth, a world remade in the harmony, order and goodness of God."</p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: georgia;">"You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others,</span></i></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: georgia;">so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."</span></i></div></i><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Matthew 5:14-16</b></p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-21538576675476879132020-12-12T06:26:00.000-08:002020-12-12T06:26:04.233-08:00Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikiHTw_dJXygk_QzUrD48umVcpDUBrzF4-nHv56RKza4c14yMR3ch-pv5SWQrAjqRvyHCLA2VqHGZM2RcDME80qPw8_vwHcouyfK4yl8AXRUpM_h-bpzBg8Gu4c8p-96HQ5ptTqjUxbXM/s547/guadalupe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikiHTw_dJXygk_QzUrD48umVcpDUBrzF4-nHv56RKza4c14yMR3ch-pv5SWQrAjqRvyHCLA2VqHGZM2RcDME80qPw8_vwHcouyfK4yl8AXRUpM_h-bpzBg8Gu4c8p-96HQ5ptTqjUxbXM/s320/guadalupe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">God of power and mercy</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;">you blessed the Americas at Tepeyac</div><div style="text-align: center;">with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.</div><div style="text-align: center;">May her prayers help all men and women</div><div style="text-align: center;">to accept each other as brothers and sisters.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Through your justice present in our hearts</div><div style="text-align: center;">may your peace reign in the world. Amen.</div></span><p></p><p> </p>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-83543502428004050522020-07-17T09:50:00.002-07:002020-07-17T09:50:49.402-07:00A Word for our times -- and all times<div><font face="times"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCBjSy-1UCm2E1DUA6WSsp4la5Mq8wlBDeglUS1wGlZhEAEJx5X0IFPHTGcT8EQxQgk0wY6r4TOwiaXYPKzzmYJ8TKD8bKIxadIdeIe5kvXlYpm8xPpatkGQOiZrJKU8vav-FUKd5VZKs/s300/colossians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCBjSy-1UCm2E1DUA6WSsp4la5Mq8wlBDeglUS1wGlZhEAEJx5X0IFPHTGcT8EQxQgk0wY6r4TOwiaXYPKzzmYJ8TKD8bKIxadIdeIe5kvXlYpm8xPpatkGQOiZrJKU8vav-FUKd5VZKs/s0/colossians.jpg" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #010000;"><br /></span></font></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><font face="times"><span style="background-color: white; color: #010000;"><div style="text-align: left;">As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord<a style="color: #0000bb;"></a> has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts ... And be thankful.<b> --Colossians 3:12-15</b></div></span></font></blockquote><font face="times"><span style="background-color: white; color: #010000;"><div><b><br /></b></div></span></font>Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-2223887412639992062020-04-01T09:15:00.001-07:002020-04-01T14:31:43.660-07:00Good news and bad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8F8DYJzrCDxiDpIJrjt-gfYm1LegnPIXwmfbsb4qwbzfwGJIbAcSCZxtD2sLSY_i3N3CqZ8CPolErY5y_XVDppBZHI_yj2dxY7YhRk5H2LeubM1wzz7fCujQAfLWq_MQSDUnpUKV5lKs/s1600/COVID.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="630" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8F8DYJzrCDxiDpIJrjt-gfYm1LegnPIXwmfbsb4qwbzfwGJIbAcSCZxtD2sLSY_i3N3CqZ8CPolErY5y_XVDppBZHI_yj2dxY7YhRk5H2LeubM1wzz7fCujQAfLWq_MQSDUnpUKV5lKs/s400/COVID.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Most of us probably are paying a little more attention to
the news these days than we ordinarily might. Probably a lot more. I know I am.
We want to know what’s going on, what to expect. We seek answers. <span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While
we need to stay informed during times such as these, over-exposure to the headlines
can be harmful. </span>Too much focus on bad news can be
overwhelming, distort our perception of reality, and induce anxiety that can ruin
one’s mental, spiritual, and physical well-being. It’s difficult to find a
healthy balance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">As most of you know, I worked in the newspaper business
17 years before coming to the monastery in 2006. First, I was a beat reporter
for a few years, then later a news editor and managing editor at a small Ohio
daily. Finally, from 1999 to 2006, I was the wire editor at a metropolitan
daily. So, paying attention to the news is kind of ingrained within me. It was
my job for many years, especially those last seven years as wire editor.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Minute by minute, I had to monitor world, national and state news issued by at
least seven major wire services (along with several websites), remain in
constant communication with editors, and edit the stories we published.
Add to this excitement two nightly deadlines and a sometimes-difficult work
environment, and you have a recipe for stress and anxiety. I’m surprised I
didn’t have a stroke.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Even when I was not at work, I felt obligated to keep on
top of everything, so that I wasn’t racing to catch up when I got to the
newsroom. So, even at home, I usually had CNN on TV.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">In some ways, the current crisis reminds me of both the
fall of 2000 and the fall of 2001. During those two periods, the usual daily newsroom
tension was injected with steroids – first during the unresolved presidential
contest of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, and then during the horror
and aftermath of September 11, 2001. If you recall, after the 2000 election, we
didn’t know who had won for more than a month. Each day during that period,
there seemed to be another dramatic turn. Then, after the shock of 9-11, there
were rescue efforts, investigations, the implementation of heightened security,
and retaliation and an international manhunt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">I had to be on top of it all 24/7, it seemed. I did my
job reasonably well, but my mental and physical health took a severe pounding.
At the time, I had no spiritual life. Mostly, I coped by drinking.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Fast forward to the present. I am still inclined to keep
a close eye on what is happening. But I am no longer compelled (outwardly, at
least) to “stay on top of it all.” It’s not my job any longer. Still, old
habits can be hard to break, so I must be mindful of that. It helps to look for
the inspirational stories out there – compassionate people helping neighbors in
need, Italians defying isolation and death by singing together from their
balconies. However, it is necessary for me to tune it all out occasionally—and listen
to music, take a walk, read a good book or watch a light-hearted movie, share a
funny story with a fellow monk, or check in by phone with a family member or
friend. All these have become for me ways to flatten the anxiety curve, so that
it does not spike out of control. (</span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">No baseball makes the task more difficult—but
not impossible!</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">However, the most important difference between now and then
for me is my spiritual life. Though certainly not practiced perfectly, it is a
life of faith rooted in the monastic way of life to which I have vowed myself. Scripture,
prayer, and this monastery are rocks I did not have to stand upon 20 years ago.
I am thankful for that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Even so, faith during difficult times must be more than a
coping mechanism, right? It must be the path by which we strive to find meaning
-– and the path by which our response to circumstances is shaped. Faith is how
we join ourselves to a wider human narrative of redemption.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">C.S. Lewis famously wrote that “God whispers to us in our
pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain; it is His
megaphone to rouse a deaf world." We in the monastery have not yet
suffered because of the pandemic. We’ve been </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">inconvenienced</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">; our normal
lives have been disrupted. But we aren’t gasping for air in a crowded hospital
corridor. We are not doctors and nurses doggedly working around the clock to
care for the ill at the risk of our own health. We haven’t lost jobs that
provide for our families. </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Those</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> people are suffering. What is God
shouting to </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">them</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> in their pain? I don’t know … Maybe he shouts to </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">all
of</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">us through them</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Certainly, it is true that God invites us all to ask
ourselves: “What is God saying to us in this? What is he saying to </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">me</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">?
What role should we – do </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">I</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> – have in the current crisis? What should be
my response? Am I reminding myself daily, as St. Benedict urges, that I </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">am </i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">going to die, while looking
forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">I don’t have answers. But I think we </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">are</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> being divinely
prompted to ask the questions. In the light of faith, that is </span><i style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">good</i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> news—even
though it arises from a virus. The grace of faith seeks out and recalls the
good in <i>all </i>circumstances. And as St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “all things
work together for good for those who love God” (8:28). For evidence of that, we need look no further
than to our crucified Savior.</span></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-41092840077210485912020-01-24T09:05:00.000-08:002020-01-24T09:05:41.981-08:00The gentle wisdom of Francis de Sales<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc36-ByOyL9Vle0XTFTWXIC3KbNIjZIKmacmuDzy28Sdsg-PhS4eYSNzHtbEMuERuWclkx6aLiRvKpFKFe5XvNsto8lV_K9svQjUvWq1B_Cnlb9K_9S4x6E_umNyZfrjrd6k1Urs0Mg7I/s1600/SFDS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc36-ByOyL9Vle0XTFTWXIC3KbNIjZIKmacmuDzy28Sdsg-PhS4eYSNzHtbEMuERuWclkx6aLiRvKpFKFe5XvNsto8lV_K9svQjUvWq1B_Cnlb9K_9S4x6E_umNyZfrjrd6k1Urs0Mg7I/s1600/SFDS.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">"Truth which is not charitable</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">proceeds from a charity</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">which is not true."</span></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-5120504839878573852020-01-02T09:54:00.000-08:002020-01-02T09:54:32.378-08:00A prayer for the new year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixG8m-J29UWtCUXmc04uLVc5eCybydV_Cru5x3uK6mLicEx71kU7L2WW3VuLdPgpqARV5nNYAnrWOju5msnsAoO3ykhAu2Awb_4n0N5e8EzhH1slwgkstbdX0O-FOrRF-p76onyQsYOg8/s1600/shipoflife2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="348" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixG8m-J29UWtCUXmc04uLVc5eCybydV_Cru5x3uK6mLicEx71kU7L2WW3VuLdPgpqARV5nNYAnrWOju5msnsAoO3ykhAu2Awb_4n0N5e8EzhH1slwgkstbdX0O-FOrRF-p76onyQsYOg8/s320/shipoflife2.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
<br />
Steer the ship of my life, Lord, to your quiet harbor, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name we shall find comfort and peace.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<b>-- St. Basil of Caesarea</b></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-53902217028966306972019-12-31T12:30:00.001-08:002019-12-31T12:30:46.590-08:00Turning the page with gratitude<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the last day of the year, so it is appropriate for us to take leave of the year in a Christian way. We are leaving a year behind us with its many days, its work, its cares, its disappointments, its bitterness, with the plans we have had, and which have perhaps come entirely to nothing or have only partly been realized. We are leaving it behind with our guilt, our failure—in fact with everything that our ungenerous hearts have made of the year. Let us bid farewell to the old year thankfully. God has given us all the days of this year. They have been gifts of his love, blessed days, days of grace and salvation.</span></div>
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<strong><br />Karl Rahner, S.J.</strong></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-18599681025586435142019-12-13T12:14:00.000-08:002019-12-13T12:14:44.280-08:00Wake up!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Remain
vigilant. Be prepared.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">These
days, we hear such exhortations quite a bit – whether it’s in relation to an
impending storm or a possible terrorist attack. We’re told to keep a close eye
out for potential active shooters or child abusers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Unfortunately,
it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> necessary to remain vigilant in
today’s world. We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> need to be on
guard against foreign or domestic threats—especially for the sake of our
communities, and for the most vulnerable people within them. But such vigilance
can be taken too far. Fear and violence can easily escalate into a cycle of cruel
absurdity. Moreover, I submit to you that the Evil One relishes our being fearful
and hyper-vigilant about threats to our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">physical</i>
well-being while at the same time, we remain inattentive and sluggish about the
state of our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">souls</i>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inordinate</i> fear of bodily harm is one of
Satan’s weapons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">So, while
we need to be reasonably vigilant about our physical selves, it is more
important to look after our spiritual well-being. Vigilance in the Christian
sense is much more important. Most of us struggle to be as watchful as we need
to be in this regard. We have our moments of wakefulness, but all too often we succumb
to spiritual drowsiness, if not outright slumber. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Christian
vigilance involves faith, trust, hope, and peace. It has nothing to do with
fear. Instead, there is an element of expectancy involved—one that prompts us
to remain alert and eager. I am reminded of the occasional summer day when, as
a child, my family planned a trip to someplace like Cedar Point (an amusement
park on the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio). On days like that, my siblings and I practically
leapt out of bed in the morning. We were eager to get going.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">That
same type of eager alertness and expectancy is necessary—but often lacking—when
it comes to our spiritual life. It is the good zeal that St. Benedict calls us
to in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rule</i>. With such zeal, we
are watchful and willing to be and do whatever God desires of us. St. Paul
often urges us to the same thing in his letters. For example, in Romans he
writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is the hour now
for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first
believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us throw off the works
of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:11-12, NAB)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">This
is Christian vigilance. It urges us to wake up and walk in the light of Christ.
While on earth, Jesus himself encouraged his disciples (and us) to do the same:
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Let your … lamps [be] burning, and be like those who are
waiting for their master to come home … so that they may open to him at once
when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds
awake when he comes. … You must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an
unexpected hour (Luke 12:35-37, 40, RSV)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There are three things about this passage I would like to
emphasize. First of all, Jesus is not talking about physical wakefulness. He
was human, and as human beings, we all know that sufficient sleep is necessary.
Jesus slept, just as we do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Still, the gospels also tell us that Jesus often prayed at night.
This is where our Christian notion of “keeping vigil” originates. As you know,
monks (especially Carthusians and Trappists) keep vigil in the middle of the
night while most of the world sleeps. So, there is certainly a valuable
tradition of struggling against drowsiness and distraction to remain physically
awake to pray. Monks commit themselves to this in order “keep watch” over a
world shrouded in spiritual as well as physical darkness—to operate,
symbolically at least, as the “light of the world” to which Jesus calls us (cf.
Matthew 5:14).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">In the secular world, this can be compared to the work of soldiers
on night watch or third-shift security guards in the realm of business and
industry. Someone must keep an eye on things because malevolent forces often
operate under the cover of darkness. Comparisons could also be made with the
watchfulness of a night nurse in a hospital, or a mother who stays up with a
sick child. The vigilant person sacrifices sleep for the sake of the weak, the
ill, and the fearful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">In like manner, the night vigil kept by monks or other ascetics is observed
in order to intercede for all those in spiritual need – the sick and dying, the
distressed and persecuted, the unenlightened and the sinner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">But even when physical wakefulness is involved in the Christian
sense, the</span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> practice is always ordered
toward an interior, <i>spiritual</i>
wakefulness</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">. The goal is a wakeful heart alert to God’s presence. Christian
night watches, says the Trappist monk Charles Cummings, are always “aimed at
awakening [the] heart and keeping it ready to welcome the Lord” He cites the
verse from Revelation: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he
with me” (Revelation 3:20).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">“People may be physically awake,” Cummings says, “but they will not
hear Jesus knocking at the door of their heart unless they are also spiritually
awake and vigilant. Some are walking in their sleep spiritually, not yet awakened
to the horizon of spiritual values. They are still gratifying their senses,
accumulating more [possessions], trying to control their world.” (</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Monastic Practices</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">, p.142).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Secondly, the admonition to wake up and remain watchful is not only
about Jesus’ second coming. Being spiritually alert for Jesus’ arrival at the
end of time is necessary, but not enough. </span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Vigilance
calls for continuous wakefulness</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">, from one moment to the next. In the
passage of Romans cited earlier, St. Paul says that “now” is the hour for you
to awake from sleep. Some translations of the same verse read: “it is now the </span><u style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">moment</u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">
for you to wake from sleep” (NRSV). Each moment of every day requires us to be
vigilant—to open our hearts to the voice of the Lord and to keep watch over our
thoughts, words, and actions. There is an element of urgency involved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Third, </span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">this involves great
struggle</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">. It is usually difficult to fight against drowsiness to remain </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">physically</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> awake through the night. Likewise,
it is difficult to remain </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">spiritually</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">
awake from moment to moment. Satan employs many tactics to lull us into
interior drowsiness or lure us away from God with exterior distractions. He is
always at work to disrupt our vigilance and to lead us away from doing God’s
will.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">The perfect demonstration of this spiritual struggle is played out
in the garden of Gethsemane through very </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">physical</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">
means, as Cummings explains:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The agony of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane was his struggle
against the demonic power of darkness threatening to invade his heart and
obliterate the light of his Father’s will. Jesus, praying at night in
Gethsemane, is the model for watchers. His spirit proved master of his flesh,
so that when the soldiers came to arrest him they found him prepared, awake, at
prayer, ready to submit to his Father’s will. Jesus had asked his companions to
watch and pray with him, but they all yielded to the weakness of the flesh and
fell asleep; they were unprepared and fled in fright when the soldiers came. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monastic Practices</i>, p.141). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">At Gethsemane, Jesus showed us how to be vigilant—not so much
physically as spiritually, so that we may always be prepared to do God’s will,
especially amid trial and temptation. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All</i>
Christians are called to practice such vigilance—not only to intercede for
others, but especially for their own salvation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">However, Benedictine oblates, monks, and sisters have responded to
a “call within that call.” That does not mean that everyone must stay up all
night and pray—or even keep the same schedule as monks. Mostly, it means waking
up from the spiritual slumber that constantly entices us and remaining watchful
every moment of every day. It means, as St. Benedict says at the very beginning
of his </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Rule</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">, to listen with the ears
of the heart to what God has to say. And this is for your own conversion. So,
we must wake up and listen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">St. Benedict lays this out in verse 8 of the Prologue to his </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Rule</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> when he says:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when
they say: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is high time for us to arise
from sleep</i> (Romans 13:11). Let us open our eyes to the light that comes
from God, and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out this
charge: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If you hear his voice today, do
not harden your hearts</i> (Psalm 95:8).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In short, St. Benedict is saying: “Wake up! Your eternal life
depends upon it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">At this point, you may be saying: “OK, but how do I do that,
exactly?” That is a good question, and I am not going to attempt an answer here—at
least not fully. Vigilance is a rich topic, and I suggest that you pray over the next several months. So, what I’m
going to offer here are just a few ideas to get you started.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">First, vigilance is complicated. There are things </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">we</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> can do to remain watchful, and there
are things that only </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">God</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> can do to
help us. Here, grace truly builds on nature. It is a cooperative venture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">In this regard, it must be noted that the call to “arise from
sleep” must be understood in terms of </span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">baptismal
spirituality</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">, “in a way that resonates sacramentally and existentially with
the resurrection of Christ” (Georg Holzherr, </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Rule of St. Benedict: An Invitation to the Christian Life</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> p.16).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">This baptismal spirituality can be illuminated perhaps most fully
by meditating on this famous passage from the Letter to the Ephesians:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Live as children
of light, for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and
true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in
the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. …Therefore it says,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Sleeper, awake!<br />
Rise from the dead,<br />
and Christ will shine on you.’<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Be careful then
how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the
time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what
the will of the Lord is. …Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to
the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for
everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:8-11, 14-20, NRSV)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The sacrament of Baptism is something that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">conferred upon us</i> by God’s grace. We cannot “achieve it” on our
own. However, it is a grace that we must, in faith, actively nurture and live
out. In one sense, the sacrament is like a spiritual alarm clock that prompts
us to arise from sleep. But we must respond and get up, and not simply hit the
snooze button. As the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catechism of the
Catholic Church</i> states:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The faith required
for Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called
to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">develop</i>. … For all the baptized,
children or adults, faith must grow <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i> Baptism.
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CCC</i> 1253, 1254, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">italics added</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Church, which includes the Benedictine order, is our guide and
support in this effort to become fully awake. Through our Benedictine charism,
we are striving in faith to live out our baptismal call to arise with Christ
from the sleep of spiritual death to eternal life in the Resurrection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Second, our </span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">baptismal faith
must be rooted in prayer.</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> St. Benedict tells us in his Prologue to begin
every good work with prayer (4). Authentic prayer is when we are most fully
awake to God’s call (and here we are speaking of private prayer).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Obviously, there are many ways of praying, depending on one’s
temperament and personality. So, there is no <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one</i> formula or practice that works for everybody. How one should
pray is more a matter of attitude than method. Prayer is essentially about
vigilance—watching, waiting, and listening for the Lord.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">In this respect, some of the Psalms and the prophets offer guidance.
For example:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
will stand at my watch-post,<br />
and station myself on the rampart;<br />
I will keep vigil to see what the Lord will say to me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Habakkuk 2:1<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the morning I offer you my prayer,<br />
watching and waiting.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Psalm
5:4<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In these passages, the prophet or the psalmist expresses a desire
to be silent, yet alert and watchful for the Lord’s presence. The prayer he
offers is one of trust, hope, and peace. He <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">expects</i>
to hear or see the Lord, and so remains vigilant and eager to do his will. This
is the overall model or attitude we should take to prayer, whatever individual
form it may take.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Third, this prayerful watchfulness should translate into </span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">attentiveness in all aspects of our lives—</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">both
interiorly and exteriorly. Unfortunately, we are often quick to speak, slow to
listen (cf. James 1:19). We are often immediately ready to offer observations
and opinions on the people and circumstances around us rather than prayerful reflection.
This must be reversed. Speaking—if, and when it is called for—should always
emanate from a place of attentiveness and charity. Consider what a difference it
would make in the world if everyone did that!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">The goal is to be aware of, and to examine, our thoughts, impulses,
and motivations </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">before</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> acting upon
them—a task, indeed, that seems contrary to human nature. But by practicing
vigilance, it can and should become second nature. Living out our baptismal
faith is about so much more than simply keeping the commandments. It means, as
Trappist monk Michael Casey has put it, “going the extra mile by being on the
lookout for further occasions of attaching the will to what is good, of
changing our actions to something better than what we intended, of showing
love. Simultaneously it is a means of blocking the unexamined impulses of
self-will and its ambition to be in control of every situation” (</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Road to Eternal Life</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">, p.32).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">This also involves being attentive to the voice of our God-given
conscience: those little “pinpricks” we experience internally when we say or do
something regretful or fail to say or do something we know is for the good.
It’s important to listen to our conscience so that we experience those
grace-filled moments of realization—things like “I should not have said that,”
or “Ah, now I understand this situation or person more clearly; I was wrong in
my previous judgment.” Such moments—what the monastic tradition calls </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">compunction</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> (piercing) of the heart—are
calling us to conversion, but we must remain vigilant and attentive to them. Prompted
by the Holy Spirit, they are trying to wake us up from our spiritual slumber.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Finally, it bears repeating that fostering an attitude of prayerful
vigilance and interior attentiveness requires a reduction (sometimes a </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">substantial</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> reduction) of the noise,
chatter, commotion, and sensory stimulation in our lives. To hear God’s voice,
we need to turn down the volume elsewhere. As Michael Casey again states:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Becoming more spiritually aware means moving toward a low-impact
environment. The voice of conscience and the words of the Gospel are but a
still, small voice in our noisy universe. … [Otherwise] we are so awake on one
level that there is no room for a more interior awakening. Most of us cannot
truly listen to another speaking if we are simultaneously watching television,
texting on our cell phone, and internally fretting about some imagined
grievance. In the same way, we cannot be spiritually aware without turning down
the volume of other voices. To be awake and alert spiritually we have to limit
the amount of attention we give to other areas. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Road to Eternal Life</i>, p.33). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I encourage you to spend some time thinking and praying
about all of this. Ask yourself: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Am I
awake spiritually? … What do I need to wake up more fully? … How can that be
addressed?</i>” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Reflect upon what vigilance looks like in your life (or what you hope it looks
like).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the meantime: Wake up! Remain vigilant! Be
prepared!</span></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-7081441165735436562019-12-12T07:51:00.000-08:002019-12-12T07:51:21.307-08:00'I am your merciful Mother'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21gCMEP1ugvBCkyOwL7uQ4pga_TLt3h3i2N0pdBO2g-zwEqdoPWPmF4KEPNVcXg4EjhgEX3oLr3NzcKlyaut_0l9v_xOS97wGFjCIJYdel7ZxA7Vn11sblY_iwpEOfRvga1XKO60fQck/s1600/olg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21gCMEP1ugvBCkyOwL7uQ4pga_TLt3h3i2N0pdBO2g-zwEqdoPWPmF4KEPNVcXg4EjhgEX3oLr3NzcKlyaut_0l9v_xOS97wGFjCIJYdel7ZxA7Vn11sblY_iwpEOfRvga1XKO60fQck/s400/olg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">"I am
your merciful Mother, to you, and to all the inhabitants of this land and all
the rest who love me, invoke and confide in me. … Nothing should frighten or
grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear any sickness or
anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am
I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish?
Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything."</span></blockquote>
<br />
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan
Diego in December 1531</i><br /><i>
as recorded in </i>Nican Mopohua<i>, a 16</i><sup style="font-style: italic;">th</sup><i> century historical account</i><br /><i>
of the apparitions written by Antonio Valeriano<o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
<br />Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-84716612438779088792018-10-15T11:48:00.000-07:002018-10-15T11:48:44.998-07:00Transparency<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzUCslMFEnHvpQwtE5YQn9xrVLSv2GkN0Kjp_vCBuBmGg3UeYqwNn1b4HqUNlEn4i4FqS-u6Pm8s6fqXmAB_iWh_0WrD7Xc7-SsY4FMKnqO2YXFRTJplo1BNFhmFKTLU-8YNlmWicu5p4/s1600/ADAM+AND+EVE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzUCslMFEnHvpQwtE5YQn9xrVLSv2GkN0Kjp_vCBuBmGg3UeYqwNn1b4HqUNlEn4i4FqS-u6Pm8s6fqXmAB_iWh_0WrD7Xc7-SsY4FMKnqO2YXFRTJplo1BNFhmFKTLU-8YNlmWicu5p4/s320/ADAM+AND+EVE.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Have you ever wondered what the world,
and our lives in it, would be like if Adam and Eve had </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">admitted</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> to eating the forbidden fruit? If they hadn’t hidden from
God and then, once confronted, blamed everyone else instead? What if they had
simply come humbly before God, acknowledged their sin, and sincerely
apologized?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’ve often wondered about that while reflecting
on the account of the Fall in the Book of Genesis. Certainly, the world—and we
in it—would still be in a fallen state. The disobedience of our first parents disrupted
the harmonious relationship they had at first enjoyed with God, one another, and
with all of creation. We would </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">still</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
be in need, certainly, of redemption possible only in a Savior, Jesus Christ. Humanity
would still be broken.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, I can’t help but speculate if
perhaps we wouldn’t be </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">as broken</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> as
we are today, if Adam and Eve had immediately confessed and repented of their
wrongdoing. If they had been transparent enough to stand naked before God’s merciful
gaze, warts and all. Perhaps, if they had done </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">that</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, the punishment for the sin we inherited wouldn’t have been
quite as harsh and difficult as we experience it today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps. But that is not what happened,
obviously. To refresh our memories, let’s revisit the passage from Genesis
(3:7-13) which picks up immediately after Adam and Eve had disobeyed God by
eating of the forbidden fruit:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">.. and they knew that they
were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for
themselves. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the
garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the
garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where
are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was
afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you
that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not
to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me
fruit from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the
woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked
me, and I ate.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In these six verses from ancient history, it’s
not difficult at all to see the state of modern-day humanity. First, Adam and
Eve try to hide from God. When they are called out, they are fearful—not
because they have sinned, but because they are exposed. When asked directly if
they had disobeyed God, the man does not take any responsibility, blaming
everyone but himself—even God. “The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">woman</i>
whom <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> gave to be with me, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">she</i> gave me fruit…” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not my fault, he says. She gave it to me. Besides, she wouldn’t even be
here if it weren’t for you</i>. That’s basically what he says! When God turns
to question the woman, she also does not take any responsibility. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I was tricked into it by the serpent</i>,
she says. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not my fault</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">There is no accountability in this scene, no
transparency before God and one another. Our relationships with God, creation,
and one another have not been the same since. Besides the initial and
long-lasting rejection of God through human pride, reverberating along the same
fault lines are also cover-up, deceit, denial, and finger-pointing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">As Adam and Eve demonstrated, this lack of
accountability or transparency, this blame-shifting, is fundamental to our
human brokenness, and it is present all around us in today’s world. We see it
every day in the news, in politics, in the self-righteous rage that often seems
to fuel Twitter and other social media platforms. Sometimes, it seems that everyone
is pretending to be someone they’re not, doing things they themselves condemn,
protecting themselves at all costs, or blaming everybody but themselves. Unfortunately,
and perhaps </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">most</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> shamefully, we also see
this behavior among leaders in the Church, harming and scandalizing those whom
they are commanded by Christ to inspire, guide, and assist.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">No human being, no institution is immune from
this tendency. We are all confronted with the constant challenge of resisting
it by intentionally leading humble, transparent lives in which we hold
ourselves accountable to God and one another, relying on divine grace and
mercy. God is constantly calling out to each one of us: “Where are you?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Our natural tendency as a result of Adam and
Eve’s original sin is to hide from God, to deny any culpability, and to place
the blame anywhere but on ourselves. What we too often witness in the world
around us every day is the scene related by Jesus in his parable of the
Pharisee and the tax collector in the Gospel of Luke (18:9-14):</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: 50018010;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the
other was a tax collector.</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="50018011"></a><span style="mso-bookmark: 50018011;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I
thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest,
adulterous—or even like this tax collector.</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="50018012"></a><span style="mso-bookmark: 50018012;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="50018013"></a><span style="mso-bookmark: 50018013;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> But the tax collector stood off
at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast
and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="50018014"></a><span style="mso-bookmark: 50018014;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: 50018013;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Keep in mind here the historical context. In
Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were learned religious leaders—the ones the Jewish
faithful looked to for guidance and instruction. They were generally considered
righteous people. Tax collectors, on the other hand, were known sinners—greedy,
dishonest people who could not be trusted. Yet Jesus tells us that the tax
collector in this parable is the transparent one, because he humbles himself
before God. He acknowledges who he is, and his need for God’s grace and mercy.
The Pharisee in the story, however, is portrayed as non-transparent. Like Adam
and Eve, he hides his true self from God by denying any sinfulness of his own,
instead pointing a finger at the tax collector. He is a self-righteous
hypocrite, a term Jesus often uses to describe the Pharisees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Greek word for “hypocrite” means an actor,
someone playing a part or pretending to be what one is not. Hypocrites are
people who say one thing to present themselves in the best possible light, but
actually do something quite different. They are not the people they appear to
be. They are hiding behind a false front or mask. Often, they lead double
lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We see hypocritical behavior all around us
today—as we’ve said, it is present every day in the news, in politics, in
social media, and regrettably, in the Church. There seems to be very little
personal accountability today—in either a religious or strictly moral sense.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, lest we judge others too harshly, let
us take to heart another of Jesus’ teachings—namely, that we should concentrate
on removing the wooden beam from our </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">own</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
eye before attempting to remove the splinter from another’s (cf. Matthew
7:1-5).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">While </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">we</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> may not be in the headlines, and are (hopefully) not engaging in
criminal behavior, the fact is that in one way or another, to one degree or
another, we all struggle daily with genuine transparency in our ordinary lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">How often do we truly allow ourselves to
be held accountable for our failings and shortcomings without denying or
minimizing them, or without projecting the blame onto someone or something else?
In our day-to-day lives, do we speak and act with genuine sincerity, humility,
and honesty—or do we put on some type of mask in order to “save face,” as the
saying goes? Do we present our true selves—weak and vulnerable as they may
be—in response to God’s constant call to each one of us: “Where are you?” Or, do
we hide—from God and one another? Are we the same person—acting in the same
way—regardless of whether we are with others or alone?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Author and journalist Judith Valente, in
her book </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">How to Live</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, illustrates one
instance of what non-transparency may look like with an anecdote from her own
life. She writes: “I am one of those people who go around trying to camouflage
a host of insecurities with various emotional face powders. I must be pretty
good at it. People often comment after they get to know me that they found me
intimidating at first. This is laughable to me, since I am a breathing, walking
pack of anxieties” (p. 146).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">She relates how this “false self” of
hers—the intimidating one—sometimes gets the best of her when she feels that one
those deep-seated insecurities has been provoked. Once, she says, while working
for the </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wall Street Journal</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">’s Chicago
bureau, she boarded a city bus and casually flashed her monthly rider’s pass
(p.55-57). Apparently, the driver did not see it. As she took her seat near the
front of the bus, she began reading a book, and the driver said, “Hey Miss, you
didn’t pay your fare.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">At first, she thought he was speaking to
somebody else, so she just kept reading.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Hey you,” the driver said, glaring at
her in the rear-view mirror.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Are you speaking to me?” she asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Yeah, you,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">She told him that she </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">had</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> shown her pass, and suggested that
perhaps he didn’t see it because he was wearing sunglasses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“No, you didn’t,” he insisted. As he
continued to rant at her for attempting to ride without paying the fare, she sat
fuming, believing him to be disrespecting her. She would not, she thought, give
him the satisfaction of getting up and displaying her pass again, because in
her mind at that moment, that would be acknowledging she hadn’t shown it in the
first place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Finally, she angrily rose and got off
the bus, saying to the driver loud enough for all to hear: “If you knew who you
were talking to, sir, you wouldn’t be so rude.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In her book, she writes that she didn’t
know what she meant by that, and realized afterward that it was a ridiculous
and inappropriate thing to say from a Christian perspective. But in that
moment, her wounded sense of pride had gotten the better of her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It didn’t take long for someone to bring
her down to earth. As she got off the bus, one of the passengers yelled out,
“Hey, lady. If you’re such a big shot, how come you’re riding the bus?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Humiliated, she realizes now that the
moment was one of grace. It showed her who she often </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">pretends</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> to be because of her deep-seated insecurities, and who she
really </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">is</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">. She writes: “A little
humility on my part would have gone a long way that day.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Her recollection of this incident has
served as a helpful reminder in her life as she strives to be transparent
before God and others—the person she is really called to be in Christ. And she
acknowledges she’s not there yet—which, in itself, is an act of humility and
transparency.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps you are able to recall similar
lessons in your own life. It is important to examine ourselves regularly, to
constantly question our motives, and to reflect upon what really lies at the
root of our acting, speaking, or feeling a certain way— so that our false
selves may gradually be stripped away and our true selves emerge more fully in
the light of Christ. The goal is to be authentic. In the end, that is all God
really asks of us, but it takes our cooperation with his grace.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is precisely what Jesus is talking
about in the gospels when he says: “If any want to become my followers, let
them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who
want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake
will save it” (Luke 9:23-24; cf. Matt 16:24-25, Mark 8:34-35).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reflecting upon this, the Trappist monk
Thomas Merton wrote: “In order to become one’s true self, the false self must
die … [This involves] a deepening of the new life, a continuous rebirth, in
which the exterior and superficial life of the ego is discarded like an old
snakeskin, and the mysterious, invisible self of the Spirit becomes more
present and more active.” (</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The New Man,
Love and Living</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Again, God is continually saying to each
of us, “Where are you? The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i>
you—the person I created you to be. I know who you are. Don’t hide from me.
Don’t be afraid. The truth will set you free” (cf. John 8:32).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">When we respond to this call, and are
truly authentic and transparent, we allow God and others to see us as we really
are—just as the tax collector in Jesus’ parable. We don’t appear or pretend to
be someone we’re not. We take responsibility for our actions, whatever the
consequences, and learn from such experiences. We are honest with God, with
ourselves, and with others in appropriate fashion. We acknowledge our faults, seek
forgiveness, and if necessary, make restitution. With the humility and mercy
that only God can provide, we forgive others their faults and transgressions—for
Jesus tells us that it is only by </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">that</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
measure that we ourselves will be forgiven by God. And, because we all have
blind spots that will remain with us to our dying day, we pray in the words of
Psalm 19: “[Lord], who can detect all his errors? From hidden faults acquit
me.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This journey toward transparency,
obviously, is not completed overnight. It may literally take a lifetime. However,
it is one we all need to embark upon. But how, exactly? What practical steps
does one take?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is an area where Benedictine
spirituality can be particularly helpful, and has been for centuries. </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Rule</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> of St. Benedict is filled with
practical guidelines for striving to live a life of transparency, humility, and
accountability before God and others. Moreover, it is rooted in the earlier monastic
tradition of the Desert Elders, who encouraged their followers to reveal their
thoughts, struggles, and failings. Doing so, they insisted, exposes malevolent
forces to the light of Christ, who robs them of their power over us so that
God’s grace can take hold.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">For example, in Chapter 4 (:50) of the </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rule</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, Benedict tells his monks: “As soon
as wrongful thoughts come into your heart, dash them against Christ and
disclose them to your spiritual father.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Benedict is not talking about
sacramental confession here. Obviously, that is also good and absolutely necessary
to the Christian spiritual life—it is through the sacrament that we seek pardon
for our sins, obtain absolution, and reconcile with God and the Church.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, what Benedict is referring to
is more akin to spiritual direction, wherein one freely and openly reveals his
or her innermost thoughts and spiritual struggles—which may or may not involve the
actual commission of sin. It goes deeper than sacramental confession, and is
helpful as a tool to complement the sacrament. Ideally, one participates in
both.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Church requires all Catholics to go
to confession at least once a year, and to do so before receiving Holy
Communion if one is aware of having committed a mortal sin. In the monastery at
Saint Meinrad, all monks are </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">also</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
required to meet regularly with a spiritual director. In 2011, Pope Benedict
XVI said all Christians should have a spiritual director in order to avoid
self-deception, realize the limits of their own understanding, and grow in
their relationship with Christ. So, this is something we can all do—whether a
monk or not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the absence of a spiritual director,
the next best thing would be to have at least </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">one</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> person in your life with whom you can—and will—share everything
you are feeling, thinking, or going through—whether it’s a spouse or a best
friend. This needs to be someone with whom you can be completely honest, and from
whom you will accept honest feedback and constructive criticism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another practice from the </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rule</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> of St. Benedict that aids in the
journey toward transparency is one that you may have witnessed during visits to
the Archabbey Church at Saint Meinrad. Have you seen a monk kneel in front of
the ambo (or lectern) after Vespers, or one of the other offices, as the rest
of the monks process out of the church? Doing so, the monk is acknowledging
before everyone that he made a mistake or disrupted the ordinary flow of the
office in some way—such as a cantor’s intoning the wrong antiphon. This
practice is addressed in Chapter 45 of the </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rule</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">,
where St. Benedict writes: “Should anyone make a mistake in a psalm,
responsory, refrain or reading, he must make satisfaction there before all.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is not a punishment, but rather a
practical way of being transparent while living in community. It is a way of
acknowledging to everyone: “Sorry, I messed up.” Then, the entire matter is
forgotten.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We have other such practices in the
monastery which are not as public. In Chapter 46, St. Benedict says that anyone
who commits a fault during work or other community exercises—by breaking
something, for example, or speaking during periods of silence, or missing
Morning Office by oversleeping—should “come before the abbot and community of
his own accord, admit his fault and make satisfaction.” We normally call this
“saying </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">culpa</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">.” Practically speaking,
it would be difficult to do this before the entire community every time someone
committed some type of fault (</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">otherwise,
that’s all we would be doing all day long!</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">). Instead, what we typically do
is go to the Prior and admit our fault. He then usually gives a small penance,
or offers some counsel if it is a more serious offense.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In addition, several times a year at
Saint Meinrad, we monks hold what is called a “Chapter of Faults.” During this
meeting, the entire community gathers in the Chapter Room, and one by one, we
each acknowledge before everyone some chronic fault we know that we struggle
with, and which we realize annoys or inconveniences others. It’s usually
something of which everyone else in the room is already aware. It’s simply each
monk’s way of saying, “I know I do this, and that it irritates some of you. I’m
sorry. Please pray for me.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It should be noted that in each of these
cases, we’re not talking about </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">serious
sins</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> or revealing matters of the conscience that should only be addressed
during spiritual direction, confession, or in a private conversation. What is
being acknowledged in these instances is some </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">specific, public behavior</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> which openly affects others in a
community setting. For example, during the Chapter of Faults, a monk may say
something like, “For my impatience and for my tardiness at Office, I ask you to
pray for me.” Then the rest of the community responds: “Lord, have mercy.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">All of these practices are ways of prayerfully
striving for transparency in the monastery, allowing ourselves to be held
accountable by others in the community, and exercising true humility. They are
tools to help us in our monastic journey, which is rooted in conversion of life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It behooves all Christians to apply the
same principles in their own circumstances—whether married or single, in family
life, in one’s parish, workplace, school, or other relational settings. It is
quite counter-cultural, and is often not easy (especially at first), but it is
amazing what kind of positive effect it can have on any community when just one
person openly acknowledges a public fault or failing, and apologizes for it. It
is simply a way of saying: “Sorry, that’s on me.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Think how about how rare (unfortunately)
that is today, when the inclination is so often to act like Adam and
Eve—denying any responsibility and blaming someone or something else.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Again, we’re talking here about </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">specific, public behavior</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> here—not
serious sins or matters of conscience. Still, whether it’s a relatively minor
offense or a serious sin, the important thing is that there </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">is</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> a need—in the appropriate time,
manner, and place—to acknowledge our faults and failings, apologize, and, if
necessary, make restitution. Hiding our transgressions, denying responsibility,
or shifting the blame only creates further disharmony and leads us away from
God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Undergirding this entire effort to be
more transparent, of course, is prayer. Without God we can do nothing.
Ultimately, it is God upon whom we rely, and even prayer is never our own
doing. It is a response to God’s calling out to us as he did to Adam and Eve:
“Where are you?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Let us pray always for the humility that
allows us to answer that call, to honestly stand before God with a knowledge
and appreciation for ourselves as we really are—weak and sinful human beings in
dire need of the mercy that God, in his superabundant love for all persons, is
only too willing to bestow (cf. </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cloud of
Unknowing</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In my opinion, Psalm 138 is the perfect
prayer for one seeking to be more transparent before God and others. The psalm
is fairly lengthy, but it begins with these familiar verses:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">O Lord, you
search me and you know me,<br />
you know my resting and my rising,<br />
you discern my purpose from afar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And it ends with these lines:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">O <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">search me</b>, God, and know my heart,<br />
O <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">test me</b> and know my thoughts.<br />
See that I follow not the wrong path<br />
and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">lead me</b> in the path of life
eternal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In terms of public prayer, there may be
nothing as straightforward as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confiteor</i>,
which we monks say every night after the examination of conscience during
Compline. To me, it’s a beautiful witness when the faithful pray those words
together and mean every single one of them. It’s a public act of transparency, just
as the tax collector in Jesus’ parable demonstrated. So, let us pray:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I confess</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
to almighty God and to you,<br />
my brothers and sisters,<br />
that I have greatly sinned,<br />
in my thoughts and in my words,<br />
in what I have done,<br />
and in what I have failed to do,<br />
through my fault,<br />
through my fault,<br />
through my most grievous fault;<br />
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,<br />
all the angels and saints,<br />
and you, my brothers and sisters,<br />
to pray for me to the Lord our God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">May almighty God have mercy on us,<br />
forgive us our sins,<br />
bring us to everlasting life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Amen</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-10572973463396556282018-07-25T08:38:00.001-07:002018-07-25T08:38:55.847-07:00Finding rest in prayer<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Do you often feel as if you are too busy to pray? In other
words, there simply does not seem to be enough time?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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(And by pray, I mean apart from public prayer—alone with God,
on a regular, daily basis.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Don’t be embarrassed. It’s a common enough occurrence—even among
monks!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A fairly high percentage of those who come to me for
spiritual direction are very busy people. They are not only active Christians,
but have a good deal of responsibility as deacons, or DREs, youth ministers, or
school principals. A few have been monks. And many of the others, of course, have
families who also demand a good deal of their time and energy. These people are
probably not unlike yourself in some respects. They are good people, doing the
best they can, doing very good work (a little stressed out, perhaps. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aren’t we all, right?</i>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Almost invariably, when they come to see me, they begin the
session by recounting their recent successes, or failures, or challenges, when
it comes to their work or ministries. Later on, some go deeper, but I think
it’s interesting that so many of us begin there—with our work—when discussing
our lives. For some, unfortunately, it also ends there. They are simply too
busy to pray, they say. Outside of their work, ministries, families and
friends, their public worship and parish activities, they are seemingly unable
to find the time on a regular basis to simply be alone with God in prayer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I propose that—especially in this fast-moving, smart phone-fixated,
Twitter-rampaging world—that such an outlook is a recipe for burnout, spiritual
and otherwise. As Christians, we cannot survive for long dwelling on the
surface of life, reacting each moment to whatever is in front of us. We need to
regularly pause and plunge beneath the surface, drawing on the divine life-breath
of peace, courage, and wisdom that should undergird our faith and sustain us
when we resurface. Without doing this, we not only endanger our own spiritual
well-being, but also, quite possibly, that of those to whom we minister and
care for. We cannot give what we do not possess, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Cyprian Smith, an English Benedictine at Ampleforth, has
written about this common but faulty perception that one is too busy to pray in
his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Path of Life</i>: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Prayer is the most important single element in a monk’s
life. His vocation is primarily to prayer, rather than to any other form of
activity, however good. At first sight, we may be tempted to think that this is
the point at with the monk’s path diverges most sharply from that of the
ordinary Christian. How many Christians, living outside the monastery, consider
prayer to be the most important thing they do? How many see it as being what
their lives are really all about? Will they not rather say to themselves,
consciously or unconsciously: “Oh, all that is for monks. I have no time for that;
I have too much to do.”<br /><o:p> </o:p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<o:p></o:p>In fact, however, the monk’s life is less different from
that of the ordinary Christian on this point than is generally supposed. Wherever
Christian life is genuine and deep, prayer is at the heart of it. That is as
true outside the monastery as it is within in it. If we often forget this, that
is because we tend to see Christian life as being essentially concerned with “doing
good” or, even worse, with “not doing any harm.” This is a great mistake. Our
life as Christians is not about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doing</i>
anything, but about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">being</i> something.”</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This something is namely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">being
mediators</i>, sharing in Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection as his mystical
Body in this world, establishing peace and reconciliation where there had been
disharmony and enmity, so that God may be all in all (cf. Ephesians 2:13-18; 1
Corinthians 15:28).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We cannot be mediators who center and reconcile the world as
the Body of Christ, Smith goes on to say, unless we are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ourselves</i> centered on God in our individual hearts. This is what
prayer is—rooting ourselves in God alone. Unfortunately, however, we often tend
to reflect our activity- and productivity-based culture by approaching prayer—if
we engage in it at all—as simply a means to an end, as merely a tool to achieve
something of greater value in our estimation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Smith goes on to write: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Many people, consciously or otherwise, think that their work
and their other various activities are what matters in life, and that prayer
merely provides the energy needed to pursue these activities. Work is the end,
prayer the means. But this is quite wrong. Our prayer is the most important
thing we do, and our work, if truly unselfish and spiritual, flows out of it
and back into it. … We enter into prayer simply for the sake of praying, simply
for the relationship with God which it establishes.</blockquote>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Genuine prayer, then, no matter what form it takes or how
“effective” or “ineffective” it may seem, is simply opening our hearts to God,
surrendering to God, as Christ did on the cross for our sake. As Christians, prayer
must be at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">center</i> of our entire lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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With this in mind, let’s take another look at the Gospel
reading from this past Sunday, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mark 6:30-34):</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The apostles gathered together with Jesus<br />
and reported all they had done and taught. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted
place and rest a while. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
People were coming and going in great numbers,<br />
and they had no opportunity even to eat. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted
place.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
People saw them leaving<br />
and many came to know about it.<br />
They hastened there on foot from all the towns<br />
and arrived at the place before them </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,<br />
his heart was moved with pity for them,<br />
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;<br />
and he began to teach them many things.</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There are a lot of things we could focus on here. For some
context, you might recall that a little earlier in the same chapter (Mark 6:7-13),
Jesus sent out the apostles in pairs and gave them authority over unclean
spirits. For the first time, they were out on their own spreading the Gospel,
and Mark tells us they preached repentance, drove out demons, and cured the
sick. Additionally, before sending them out, Jesus told them to “take nothing
for the journey but a walking stick”—no food, no money, no extra clothes. They were
to rely solely on God’s providence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So, in Sunday’s Gospel, they have just returned from their
journey. They are excited—and understandably so. They had been doing God’s
work! Full of apostolic zeal, they report to Jesus “all they had done and
taught.” But Mark’s text also tells us that the apostles were so consumed with
this activity, with all the people coming to them, that they even neglected
their meals. They were disregarding their own needs—something no human being
can sustain for very long.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Although we’re not told so explicitly, there likely was some
pride involved on the part of the apostles. Just think if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> suddenly had the authority to expel demons and cure sick—how
powerful that would make you feel! Their mission had been a huge success! “Jesus,
look at what we did!” Perhaps they had forgotten the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">source</i> of that power – and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i>
they were doing those things. That would be only human.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Notice how Jesus responds. He doesn’t congratulate them, as
they (or we) might expect. Instead, he says, perhaps with a little smile on his
face: “Come into the desert with me.” Jesus knows the importance of prayer and
what his mission is really all about. Numerous times, we are told throughout
the gospels, he leaves everyone and everything behind to go off alone to some
deserted or lonely place to pray. His relationship with the Father was
paramount.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So, in this scene from Mark’s Gospel, he is inviting his
apostles to do the same—to re-center themselves in God the Father—to make time
for prayer in the midst of all their activity. “Come away by yourselves to a
deserted place and rest a while.” It’s important and necessary. As you might
recall, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus told a flustered Martha: “You are anxious and
worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the
better part and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:41-42).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So, gently, perhaps playfully, Jesus is reminding his
followers to keep their focus on God rather than on their own efforts,
important as the work might be in building God’s Kingdom. In John’s Gospel, he
tells his disciples: “I am the vine, you are the branches. …Without me you can
do nothing” (John 15:5).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pope Benedict XVI, when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, in
his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Seek That Which is Above</i>, commented
on this passage from Mark:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Whereas the apostles are positively beside themselves and,
full of zeal and self-importance, neglect their meals, Jesus brings them down
from the clouds: “Enjoy a little rest for a while!” One can sense his quiet
humor, his friendly irony, as he brings them down to earth. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<o:p> </o:p>… Any kind of hectic activity, even in religious affairs, is
utterly alien to the New Testament picture of man. We always overestimate
ourselves when we imagine we are completely indispensable and that the world or
the Church depends on our frantic activity. Often it will be an act of real
humility and creaturely honesty to stop what we are doing, to acknowledge our
limits, to take time to draw breath and rest—as the creature man is designed to
do. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<o:p> </o:p>… I want to suggest that we revise our catalogue of virtues,
as it has developed in the Western world, where activity alone is regarded as
valid and where the attitudes of beholding, wonder, recollection and quiet are
of no account, or at least are felt to need some justification. … It is
necessary for us to leave our busy world behind from time to time and go in
search of the breath of creation, in order that we may meet God and thus find
ourselves.</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As with the apostles in Mark’s account, Jesus’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">first</i> concern is not with the success of
our work. Rather, he is primarily concerned with the well-being of all his
followers, and our relationship with the Father through him. For our own good,
he is giving us permission to pray as he did—to enter at least partially into
that creative rest which God alone provides, and which we will experience in
its totality in the Promised Land of heaven. As the prophet Isaiah beautifully
said, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust
shall be your strength” (30:15).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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OK, you may be thinking to yourself: “But if you read the
rest of the passage from Mark, they don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get</i>
to rest. The people follow them! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What
about that?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fair enough. But, again, consider the context. After Jesus
says, “Come away and rest,” and the apostles get in a boat to go away, the
people do indeed notice, and rush on ahead of them. Then Mark tells us that
when Jesus “disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity
for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach
them many things.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Gospel reading this past Sunday ends there, but we know what
happens next. If you continue reading that section of Mark Chapter 6, Jesus
ends up feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. All ate
and were satisfied. And there were 12 baskets full of leftovers!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Eucharistic imagery here is obvious. (This coming
Sunday’s Gospel and those in the weeks that follow will linger on this mystery
through the perspective of John Chapter 6.) However, something else strikes me.
Who actually does the teaching and feeding here? Is it the apostles? No, it’s
Jesus. Despite all the apostles had taught and done previously, here they are
confronted with the reality of their limitations. When the scene is still
developing, Jesus tells them to give the people some food themselves (again, I
can just picture him smiling). And I can imagine the look on the apostles’
faces. They basically respond: “Impossible!” Then, Jesus steps in, using what
little they are able to gather, and works a miracle. Here, faced with the
prospect of feeding 5,000 people, the apostles realize they can do nothing, or
very little, on their own.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s really a lesson in humility here for all of us—it is
God who works wonders, and we can only experience them if we acknowledge that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we</i> can’t work them. We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">need</i> God.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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We need God, and so we pray. It’s why we must take the time
to pray each and every day. And this means not only putting aside all our
busyness for a while, but also letting go of all our preoccupations,
preconceived notions, and our expectations. We must simply be still before the
God who created us, chose us, and redeemed us—the God who knows us better than
we know ourselves.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote of this need of ours to humbly
“stand alone before God in our nothingness … completely dependent upon his
providential care, in dire need of the gift of his grace, his mercy, and the
light of faith.” This “brings us in direct contact with the source of all joy
and all life. Prayer, then, means yearning for the simple presence of God, for
a personal understanding of his word, for knowledge of his will and for
capacity to hear and obey him. It is much more than uttering petitions for good
things external to our deepest concerns. We wish to lose ourselves, and rest in
his love, and rest in him. We wish to hear his word and respond to it with our
whole being.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, no matter how busy we may find ourselves, let us pray
always—retreating to that inner room of our hearts, and resting a while in
God’s presence. He will never fail to lead us where we need to go or to feed us
what we need to live. </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If the Lord does not build the house,<br />
in vain do its builders labor;<br />
If the Lord does not watch over the city,<br />
in vain does the watchman keep vigil.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In vain is your earlier rising,<br />
your going later to rest,<br />
you who toil for the bread you eat:<br /><i>
when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Psalm 127</b></blockquote>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-87365918397805500882018-03-31T21:21:00.000-07:002018-03-31T21:21:38.104-07:00He has been raised<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyfIWFdZ7-v0L9NPsMlmfm-ylONq7wsyTRBx2n9Z88RfvOIklwhjJVsYbusSHyyEtKx0glgyTLewbUIlRThJ8VPEqjToC7-wa8oeuGI5WQE98nJqNMP5w1PbNRlu2BN7f3_OZ-F4_2UDI/s1600/easter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="970" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyfIWFdZ7-v0L9NPsMlmfm-ylONq7wsyTRBx2n9Z88RfvOIklwhjJVsYbusSHyyEtKx0glgyTLewbUIlRThJ8VPEqjToC7-wa8oeuGI5WQE98nJqNMP5w1PbNRlu2BN7f3_OZ-F4_2UDI/s400/easter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>HAPPY<br />EASTER!</b></span></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-60373108643431029432018-03-27T13:19:00.001-07:002018-03-28T09:10:56.010-07:00Holy Week meditation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container tr_bq" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ouASXM-Y2AtoIjlEc8-BO64z__k_gOnqa8gUbuO97y0V9dTNUvEPexwvXN18Cs6ZtNCjFDifoZjKUQazWtP-CiWnTkptwJAeK1UyKQ0WO3depWnkrG5MujeNqCqKw-8qVTVCuv8a3P8/s1600/ELEVENTH+STATION.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1178" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ouASXM-Y2AtoIjlEc8-BO64z__k_gOnqa8gUbuO97y0V9dTNUvEPexwvXN18Cs6ZtNCjFDifoZjKUQazWtP-CiWnTkptwJAeK1UyKQ0WO3depWnkrG5MujeNqCqKw-8qVTVCuv8a3P8/s400/ELEVENTH+STATION.jpg" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Eleventh Station of the Cross<br />by Fr. Donald Walpole, O.S.B.</i></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Disjointed
are all my bones.</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">
This is the English translation of the Latin inscription above—a line from
Psalm 21. Here, paradoxically, are two realities enfolded into one vital and
undeniably great mystery (<i>cf.
1 Timothy 3:16</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">First, the disjointed Body of Christ, in
all our human brokenness and disfigurement, is powerlessly fastened to the wood
of the cross. Our humiliating enslavement to Sin and Death is on full display
in the Son of God, who emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human
likeness (</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">cf. Philippians 2:7</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps we focus too much on our own
personal, individual failures without considering the fact that we are also </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">enslaved</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> by the dominion of Sin and Death,
rendering us both victim and unwitting accomplice. Here is disjointed humanity
in all its ugliness: poverty and greed, abuse, addiction, disease, discrimination, indifference, conflict, and so forth. In one way or another, these are things that oppress and paralyze us. Yet, we also perpetuate them unknowingly in myriad and complex ways. As
the martyred Prior of Our Lady of Atlas in Algeria wrote before his kidnapping
and death by terrorists in 1996, “I share in the evil which seems, alas, to
prevail in the world, even in that which would strike me blindly.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Liberation from this fallen state is not humanly possible. So, this first reality is joined to another, more powerful, yet hidden, mystery that continues to unfold within the Body of Christ.
The Son of God overcomes the enslaving power of Sin and Death by taking it upon
</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">himself</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Paradoxically, in the words
of St. Augustine, he defeats “death by undergoing death himself, sin by
identifying himself with sin.” By allowing himself to be fastened to the cross, Christ gives us his life, so that we may be saved by becoming his
Body, offered up for the entire world. In the end, Sin and Death, by the supreme
dominion of the Holy Trinity, are left powerless, nailed to the cross—while Christ’s
tomb remains empty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Let us pray:</i></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Father of Mercy, forgive us. We know not
what we do. From hidden faults forgive us. Deliver us from all evil, that all our disjointed bones may exult in
the resurrected Body of your Son, Jesus Christ, who was lifted up from the earth in order
to draw everyone to himself (</span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">cf. Luke
23:34; Psalm 18:13; Matthew 6:13; Psalm 50:10; John 12:32</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">).</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Amen</span></blockquote>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049541562190150942.post-27895496056473084622018-03-14T11:26:00.001-07:002018-03-14T11:26:23.881-07:00Light and Life<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvOQExDhDKvwxrESzE8hK_3E4gTuQz9yZRMCUWQpuGUtERI6HK3bysuForgCuLStv5HhGiPS8C3-VNpNFamwAmbEExca7g6rDn0Iiywat64xOK6WZL6Jrk1k342LrRN-197XIcjl6l1A0/s1600/tomb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvOQExDhDKvwxrESzE8hK_3E4gTuQz9yZRMCUWQpuGUtERI6HK3bysuForgCuLStv5HhGiPS8C3-VNpNFamwAmbEExca7g6rDn0Iiywat64xOK6WZL6Jrk1k342LrRN-197XIcjl6l1A0/s320/tomb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In today’s first reading at Mass (</span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Isaiah
49:8-15</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">; Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent), the prophet promises God’s
people that they have not been forgotten. He assures them that—despite all apparent
indications to the contrary—God regards them with the tender affection of a
mother; he will save them, protect and provide for them, lead and comfort them.
They have not been forsaken.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“In a time of favor,” Isaiah foretells, God
will say to the prisoners, “Come out!” To those in darkness, “Show yourselves!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the most immediate and literal sense,
God kept this promise. The Babylonian exiles to whom the prophet was speaking were
freed and allowed to return to Jerusalem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, God’s tender affection did not
end then and there. Isaiah’s words are true in a much more timeless, figurative
sense. They apply to us today just as much as they did to the ancient
Israelites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In today’s Gospel reading (<b>John 5:17-30</b>),
Jesus echoes the prophet’s words: “The hour is coming and is now here when the
dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. … The
hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will
come out.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Later in the same Gospel (John 11), Jesus
demonstrates that he was not kidding around. In raising his friend Lazarus from
the dead, he fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy once again by shouting: “Lazarus, come
out!” And when the dead man stumbles out of his tomb, wrapped up in burial
cloths, Jesus tells the astonished crowed, “Untie him and let him go.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">More is going on here than a simple prefiguring
of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his promise that his disciples will
share in that resurrection (though that is certainly part of it). Resurrection
and new life are not only things we await while enduring the trials of this
life – some kind of future prize. They also are available to us here and now – just as
they were to the Babylonian exiles and to Lazarus. As Jesus says in John 10, “I
came so that they [all of us] might have life and have it more
abundantly.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In one way or another, we are all imprisoned
in darkness or entombed by life-stripping circumstances, attitudes, or habits. To
each one of us, Jesus calls: “Sue…Gary…Richard…Alicia…Theresa…Terrelle…Michael…Candace……Come
out!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This Lenten season, here are some good questions
to ask ourselves: “Do I hear his voice? Am I willing to step out of the
darkness and into the light—into life? Can I not only respond to the voice of
Jesus calling, but also allow others to untie me and let me go—so that I, in
turn, may then do the same for the other Lazaruses of this world?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">As St. Paul writes (2 Corinthians 6:2), “Now
is a very acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.”</span></div>
Br. Francis de Sales Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10434126892994759534noreply@blogger.com0