Jesus our God: Model of Humility

Palm Sunday

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Philippians 2:6-11. I’d recommend starting at the beginning of the chapter to get some context.

My Bible notes that this was probably part of an early Christian hymn, and also that in this hymn, the Coming of the Messiah (not merely the historical Jesus, but the Incarnation as part of Salvation history) is being held up as a model for Christian imitation - in the virtue of humility.

The Best Thing I Ever Did for Lent (Part 4/4)

For the last three weeks, I have been posting a series on the best thing I ever did for Lent. If you haven’t read the rest, I recommend beginning with the first post.

Last week, I left off when I misplaced my copies of Redemptoris Mater and Secret of the Rosary. And I never had gotten “unstuck” from that passage right before Easter. I had spent a few weeks spinning my wheels over that section before they went missing… Yes, at the same time.

I know that at least one of those can be obtained for free on the internet (Here or Here), but I never did go out there to get them. I’m not sure if I didn’t do it because something was telling me not to, or just because I was lazy, or maybe it was because I was closing in on seven months pregnant and I had more pressing things on my mind. (Come to think of it, that’s probably why I lost them, too!)

In any event, they stayed lost until the Summer/Fall of 2014, when I attended a bible study at St. Thomas More parish entitled A Biblical Walk with Mary, by Dr. Edward Sri.

As Good as Dead

Fourth Sunday of Lent

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Ephesians 2:4-10. I would also encourage you to read the other readings. They are Lectionary #32, if you’re reading from a hard copy.

After seventy years of captivity in Babylon, the Israelites, as a people, were as good as dead. Those were dark times for the nation of Israel; it looked like they were never going to be going home, and mathematically, it was only a matter of time before it became “intermarry with the Babylonians or die out”.

In the same way, we are as good as dead in our captivity to sin, and helpless to escape from it apart from grace. Sound familiar? It’s no coincidence that people often have to hit “rock bottom” before they reach out to God for something better.

It was at this moment in the history of the Jewish people that Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon, and in a moment of singular generosity, freed them and let them go home to their Promised Land. 

Wouldn’t you know it? Some of the Israelites didn’t jump at the chance to go back to their home.

This sounds very much like what happens in our world. Jesus comes with an offer of salvation from captivity in sin, but as per usual, people prefer that which is easy, comfortable, and familiar - they prefer their sins. Leaving our sins behind (much like leaving Babylon) has a cost - the discomfort of change and the long journey back to what we were created to be.

We are all spiritually dead in our trespasses, because if we stand on our own “righteousness” before God, we - all of us - would deserve hellfire. (As we all know, we cannot earn our salvation.) 

We cannot imagine God’s love for us. We just don’t have the categories for it.  In his love for us, he gives us the food we eat, the air we breathe, our family, our friends, our children, our bodies, our strength. In his love for us, he supplies us with blessings we aren’t even aware of. In his love for us, he sent his Son to die for us while we were still as good as dead in our sins.

We are called by Christ to respond to this love, to live in the light, rather than in the darkness, that others might see the good that we do, and come to experience God’s love for them. 

Let us pray that we might have the courage to live in the light that others might see Christ reflected in our daily living, and come to knowledge of him, to love of him, to repentance from their sins. Let us also ask that we might to come to love him daily more and more, and that his love might be more clearly reflected in us.

The Best Thing I Ever Did for Lent (Part 3/4)

For the last couple of weeks, I have been writing about the year that I decided to square myself with church teaching on the Blessed Mother. Here is a link to the first post, If you would like to begin there.

I have to admit, things were a little rocky at first. I really was starting out from the place of a skeptic who needed convincing.

Among the first things I learned was that I didn’t actually know most of the Mysteries of the Rosary.  I decided to start out saying the Sorrowful Mysteries, because I knew I didn’t have any objections there… and when I got home, I definitely discovered that I had a few Stations of the Cross mixed in. (oops…)

I was reading one(ish) numbered section from each of my books every night. Sometimes I read a little more, and sometimes I had to spend a couple of days chewing on one section.

Secret of the Rosary, as I think I mentioned, is a devotional book, so getting through that amount was pretty easy.

Redemptoris Mater is theology, though, so the reading was dense and difficult. I frequently had to stop to try to mentally diagram a sentence to figure out what it said or to back up and reread several numbered sections to figure out how their contents worked together.

It was a lot of hard work. I had a high level of trust for the material therein, though, (The encyclical was written, as I mentioned before, by Pope St. John Paul II, and the edition I read also had an introduction, by Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger)) so effort, was a bargain of a price, as far as I was concerned.

I did allow myself about a week’s worth of sporadic “exceptions” in my Rosaries (or maybe a little more) to listen to Catholic Radio, because during that particular Lent, we got a new Pope, and I was curious about him like everybody else. (Go figure, something really, truly, important happened in the life of the Church.)

I think it’s important to say that I didn’t get all the answers I was looking for during those 40 days. I even got “seriously stuck” on a section in Redemptoris Mater, about a week before Easter, and my reading came to a screeching halt while I struggled with it.

However, I did experience very good fruit.

1. I became a lot more at ease with The Rosary. There are devotions I prefer, but I no longer resist the Rosary as anything approaching a matter of principle. I even know all of the mysteries, now.
2. I was able to explain a lot more about the teachings of the Church on the subject of the Blessed Mother.
3. Pitter-Patter, with whom I was pregnant at the time, has been the world’s easiest baby since the time she was born. (Pretty sure there’s a direct relationship here!)

And these are just what I’ve been made aware of so far.

That year, I never did get good and comfortable with the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. In fact, I may not have said them at all that year, even on Wednesdays.

Since I was thoroughly enjoying my reading, I resolved to continue it, but somewhere along the way, both of my books got lost…

And I think that’s enough for today. (Yeah, I know. Huge cliffhanger, right?)

Part 1   |   Part 2   |   Part 3   |   Part 4

Eyes to See

Third Sunday of Lent

This Sunday, the second reading will be from 1 Cor 1:22-25. As usual, I’m going to encourage you to read back a little to get some context. I’d start at verse 18, and continue on through the end of the chapter.

The epistle this week forms a bridge between the first reading and the gospel, so I strongly recommend reading them. It’s Lectionary # 29, if you’re reading from a hard copy source.

Paul laments that Jews look for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but both fail to see the very thing that they seek in Jesus Christ.

The truly hilarious part (or perhaps it’s tragicomic) is that the Jews who were in the temple when Jesus drove everybody out with a whip, the same ones who were always looking for signs, didn’t recognize one when it flipped over their money tables, scattered their animals, and drove them out of the temple! To those who had been given the Eyes of Faith (the disciples) it was right in front of them.

The Best Thing I Ever Did For Lent (Part 2/4)

Last week, I started telling the story of the best thing I ever did for Lent, and I left off, having described my attitude toward the pseudo-worship that I thought I was perceiving among the pews. Here is a link to last week’s post, if you would like to read it.

So things persisted like this for some years, before a change happened, because I didn’t know what to do about any of it.

In those years, the rift between me and the “incorrect practices” surrounding Mary grew.

I know that God must have been working hard on me, because I don’t remember any external circumstances that led to my change of heart. All of a sudden, one day in late 2012, I decided that my attitude was a problem that I needed to do something about.

My thought process was (more or less), “I am Confirmed, for crying out loud! At some point my formation is my own responsibility!”

The real problem was that, in my heart, I was not submitting myself to the teaching authority of the Church that Jesus established, and therefore, I was no different than any other dissenting Protestant or cafeteria Catholic. I knew I needed to bring myself under that authority.

That very next year (2013), for Lent, I decided that that was going to be my “thing” that I did. Two thousand years of continuity and doctrinal unpacking, and I just KNEW the answer had to be out there, this was just a problem with my catechesis, just like any other problem in catechesis. All I had to do was dive in, and find it.

It's in there somewhere, right? Oh, heavens, what have I gotten myself into!

So I went to my local Catholic bookstore, to find some educational reading material. I knew that my objections were due to a blank spot or a gray area in my training, so learning more about Marian doctrine and it’s history and it’s development over time seemed to be the most logical place to begin.

I was fortunate to find the encyclical Redemptoris Mater. It’s about Mary in the life of the Church, by Pope St. John Paul II. And I started reading it. I read a goodly portion of it during Lent that year, and I highly recommend it for anyone who’s struggling in their relationship with the Blessed Mother. The edition I bought also had an introduction by Pope Emeritus Benedict, before he was elected Pope.

I also stumbled upon the book Secret of the Rosary. It’s about the proper practice of devotion to the Rosary and the fruits of this devotion that are enjoyed by many. It is primarily, I think, devotional reading. It was interesting, but it wasn’t nearly so helpful (at the time) to me as Redemptoris Mater was, because my problem was basically a rebellious attitude about something I thought might be wrong.

I knew there was no way that I’d finish reading (and absorbing) even both of those in a single Lent, so I figured if I didn’t get everything I wanted from them, it would at least be a good start.

In addition to these, I also committed to daily rosaries during my commute.

My strategy was this: I would (a) learn as much as I could about why church teaching is what it is, (b) learn about the closeness (how, why, and otherwise) others experience with Mary, Marian doctrine, and Marian devotions, and (c) spend time with her.

I was (essentially) trying to improve my relationship with the Blessed Mother. When you forge a relationship with someone, you learn about them and you spend time with them, and that’s what I was resolving to do.

I guess that’s enough for today. This post is already getting pretty long.

Part 1   |   Part 2   |   Part 3   |   Part 4

A Legal Claim

Second Sunday of Lent

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Rom 8:31b-34. I strongly recommend reading beginning at verse 18, for context. Usually, I try to pull in all of the readings for mass, but this week, I just didn't understand the connection between all three together.

Instead, I'm going to invite you to also read the first chapter of Isaiah, particularly verses 21-28, and Matthew 18: 21-35.

Isaiah lays out in chapter 1 all of the ways in which, under the Law, God has a legal complaint against his people, Israel. They’ve transgressed both the spirit and the letter of his laws.

In the same way, we sin against one another and God, and we deserve all of his wrath. If God gave us real justice, none of us would deserve any better than Hell. We are dead in our trespasses if we don’t trust in the Lord for our salvation. We can’t earn it. [Note: See Mouseover!!]

For those who are in Christ Jesus, it has been earned already.

Beginning in Romans 8:18, Paul reflects on the the destiny of those who are in Christ Jesus. I think that he is speaking in the “eternal” sense when he says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

In the temporal sense, it’s pretty clear who can be against us. The whole world. It’s expected that the world will hate us - declared in Scripture. The world hated Jesus first - of course, it’s going to hate us, too.

So, in the eternal sense, let’s try to understand this.

The passage in Romans goes on to demand, “Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn?”

This begged for me, this question: If God is not standing on his rights with me, who on earth has any similar, substantial claim? Who on earth has a complaint that even compares?

Nobody, that’s who.

Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant? How he owed a debt that he could never hope to repay, and the master showed him mercy because he begged for it. The master later exacted justice on that servant because he stood on his “rights” when he really didn’t have any business doing it. The master had forgiven him freely, and yet this servant refused to do likewise for his fellow servant.

In spite of this warning, we hold grudges against others. The one who actually has a reason to complain isn’t complaining against them, and we are? How petty! What unproductive, unforgiving servants we are!

And we hold them against ourselves, too. It’s called “festering, unproductive guilt”. Who are we to second guess him? Even for our most serious sins, who are we to second guess him? If we’re really sorry, we’ve tried to make amends, and we’ve brought it to confession, why do we keep beating ourselves up about them?

A wise priest once told me that there is a kind of guilt that is not a conviction of the Holy Spirit. If the Devil can use our guilt to separate us from God, (by convincing us that we have to earn God’s forgiveness before receiving it) then he has us right where he wants us.

It’s important to distinguish between feeling convicted, and feeling like we have to do something to earn God’s forgiveness. It can be hard; and we have to rely on God to help us see it.

Let’s pray this week that the Holy Spirit give us eyes to see the difference between his conviction and something that doesn’t come from him. Let us ask that God give us the ability to forgive where we need to forgive, to ask forgiveness where we should, and for the ability to forgive ourselves.

The Best Thing I Ever Did for Lent (Part 1/4)

I’ve done a lot of different kinds of things for Lent, but I think the one best thing I ever did was the year I decided to square myself with Church teaching on the Blessed Mother. My Monday posts for the next few weeks will chronicle what I did, what my experience was, and the fruits I have observed.

For years, I went round and round with myself about the dizzying height to which I thought some Catholics tended to elevate the Blessed Mother.

I couldn’t think of any other devotions that regular people did every. Single. Day. And quite frankly, it seemed like this pseudo-worship was kind of encouraged by local church leadership. Lay leaders, mostly.

I use the term “pseudo-worship” deliberately, because I knew that worshiping any beside God is not correct Catholic practice, but it seemed like everybody wanted to close group prayers with either the “Hail Mary” or “Hail, Holy Queen”.  And while I recognize that those prayers are not worship in themselves (nor even problematic), when they’re coupled with an incorrect attitude toward the Blessed Mother, they can lead one into error, and even into idolatry.

Moreover, it’s really difficult to make my Presbyterian husband feel welcome coming to church events when the same stumbling block gets thrown up at him over, and over, and over.

It bothered me. I mean, it really bothered me. What was wrong with all of the other prayers I ever learned when I was a kid?

When you get right down to it? Not a thing. Nothing was wrong with them, so why did everybody and his brother default to one of those two? It got to where it made me kind of mad that her devotions and her intercession got such vastly preferential treatment in the pews.

But like I keep telling Daniel: you don’t judge a religion (or a church teaching) by all of the flawed people that practice it incorrectly.

That said, some of the exceptions I had actually did rise to the level of dissenting against official church teaching, though never vocally. I was happy to keep my objections to myself and just trust that they weren’t wrong about anything really important. I just wanted an explanation. It didn’t have to be much… just point out what I’d been missing all these years.

To be specific, I had reservations about some of the later Glorious Mysteries because there appeared to be no biblical foundation for them. I wasn’t really comfortable with “proofs” taken from the woman in Revelation 12, because Revelation is highly symbolic, and difficult to interpret. Daniel often reminds me that John Calvin wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible except Revelation, and I have to agree that that choice wasn’t without good reason.

It wouldn’t have taken much to make a case for me - I was Catholic, after all. I just needed to see something other than the woman in Revelation. Even a good history of the Mysteries of the Rosary would probably have satisfied, but I never have seen one.

It looked like something got pulled out of someone’s hat somewhere up the way.

It looked like the Protestants might have gotten that one thing right.

I would recite the Rosary. Sometimes. When somebody else started it. What are you supposed to say when someone asks you if you want to pray the Rosary when you’d really rather not? No? (Ah, Sarcasm. My old friend.)

Of course not. You bite your tongue and you say the Rosary with them - because you’re wrong, and you know it. On occasion, I would even pray the Rosary alone, but it was rare. Less than once every three months, I think.

And then there was the language in which we discuss the sort of intercession done by Mary and the Saints. In my experience, calling it “prayer” is confusing to Protestants. The reason why is that most of my Protestant acquaintances (your experience may be different) very much blur the line between “praying to” and “worshipping”; for them, the two go hand in hand.

Prayer, for my Protestant acquaintances, is a kind of worship, because you (in their eyes) ascribe to the hearer of your prayer the ability (in and of themselves) to do something about it - in and of their own power, independent of the merit or assistance of anybody else. It is hard to explain the difference to them.

For a long time, I didn’t recognize my attitude as problematic. After all, saying the Rosary wasn’t mandatory, and it seemed apparent to me that the incorrect practices of some were damaging the credibility of the rest.

And… I think that’s enough for today. We’ve got the groundwork. More to come next week.

Part 1   |   Part 2   |   Part 3   |   Part 4

Baptism: A Big Responsibility

First Sunday of Lent

This Sunday, the second reading will be from 1 Peter 3:18-22, I’d encourage you to read the rest of the readings.

The new covenant in Christ’s blood, of which we are partakers, is prefigured in great detail in the Old Testament.

The flood, Peter says, prefigured Baptism.

By coincidence, I happen to have recently had a lengthy discussion with Daniel about what Baptism is, and what is its function in the Christian life. (See the CCC 1214-1284, for its treatment on Baptism.) (Yes, we know. We’re both nerds who love the Lord.)

Peter says that Baptism is an appeal to God for a clear conscience. My Bible notes that the word “appeal” could also be translated “pledge”, which I think adds an important dimension of meaning to the passage.

If we are not baptized as infants, we also make a commitment when we get baptized, a pledge to live in accord with the precepts of the Gospel. It is expected that those baptized (or their parents, for infants baptized in the church) will do what is in their power to assist that faith to grow and develop into a more complete and mature faith.

For those of us who are parents, this is a very big and weighty undertaking, and very humbling when we realize the full scope of the task:

You mean I have to teach her everything in the textbook?

 And the Cliff Notes? 

But I haven’t even finished reading them myself!

There have been two thousand years of family history and development in our understanding of Christian doctrine.

We can’t hope to cover it all even once, so how do we make this look possible?

Three things come to mind:

(1) You can’t do it alone, and you aren’t doing it alone.

You have your spouse, and the godparents to help and support you in this undertaking, along with family and friends, when you need them. Call on them for their support and insight when you have a problem.

And aside from these, even the single, divorced, widowed, and disowned have another support - the Church herself. So, call on your parish to support you, too!

(2) Pray! Pray, pray, pray!

Jesus promised us that whatever we ask in his name (there are some strings attached to this "in his name" clause) will be granted. How might we suspect that the salvation of our children is anything but in accord with his holy will?

So, pray without ceasing. Ask others to join their prayers to yours. Storm heaven with your prayer!

And then...

 (3) Trust.

We have from God’s word that for him who has faith, all things are possible. And whoever has even the faith of a mustard seed can move mountains.

Trust that once you’ve put your best foot and prayed earnestly, God will take care of the rest.

 Let’s pray this week that the Lord will open the eyes of our hearts, so that we can see the next step in our own formation, and in that of our children.  Let us ask that he help us to make time for that next step in our busy schedules, to take it, and to do it as well and as completely as we can.

Spring Cleaning

I attended a Catholic high school, and we had school mass once a month. That was back when I wasn’t really interested in my faith, so I wasn’t as excited as I should have been about going to mass.

I apparently was, however, paying enough attention that I still remember the Lenten meditation that we recited after communion during Lent each of the four years I was there. Well - I remember one line of it at any rate: Lent is the Church’s springtime. Lent is a time of reflection and growth. Lent leads us to Easter, and to new life. (I regret that I do not know where they got this reflection. If you do, please let me know so that I can give proper attribution.)

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that of all of the reflections for all of the liturgical seasons, that’s the one I remember. I also don’t think it’s any coincidence that Lent and spring coincide.

Lent is a good time to undertake some life simplification and spiritual spring cleaning. Removing the things that complicate your life also helps to remove the things that take your eye off Christ. I know that I find it much easier to sit down and pray when I’m not distracted by the clutter in my home - much less the “life clutter” that comes with drama.

One of the reasons that “spring cleaning” is undertaken in the spring is because for the first time in months, it not a bad idea to leave your doors and windows open. Before the days of air conditioning, the first warm days of spring meant that you could let a lot fresh air into your home for the first time in a while.

In those days, people would open doors and windows on the first warm, clear days of the year and do a lot of dusting, so that the breeze would waft in and carry the dust away. (You know, in the days before air conditioning and ionic breeze filters!)

How very good of the Lord to give us Lent and Spring at the same time. He encourages us first to open the windows to let a breath of the new life into our spiritual houses, and then to shake the dust from our apathy and get things really moving again.

We do a whole world of different kinds of things for Lent, but it really all comes back to this, we are doing what we can to open the doors and windows in our spiritual lives so that the Lord can breathe new life into it.

5 Things to Do for Lent

So it’s about time we start thinking about what to do for Lent, right? You could go to your old standbys of giving up chocolate, or candy, or coffee, but those are starting to feel a little worn out, and you’re looking for something to really shake up your interior life. Here are five ideas for things you could do for 40 days:

(1) Read a section of the Bible…thoroughly.

I’ve done failed the New Year’s Resolution of “read the whole Bible” before, and it doesn’t work out well over the course of a year, and I definitely don’t think it would go well in 40 days (or 46, counting Sundays - whatever).

It’s much more worthwhile, I think, to do something like, read St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, or read St. Peter’s letters, or read St James’ letters, or read the Gospel of John.

To be perfectly clear, the goal is not to say you’ve read those books of the Bible. It’s to absorb them. If you finish, start over and read them again.

(2) Copy something from the Bible.

A couple of weeks ago, I became acquainted with the idea of hand copying scripture to spend time meditating on it, absorbing it, and making notes. This is on my list this year. I’ve started with Galatians, and I’m planning to (hopefully) finish it and keep going after I’m done, even after Lent, maybe, if it goes well.

 (3) Give up complaining about that person.

There is somebody in your life that you’re supposed to love who makes themselves difficult to love. You know the person I’m talking about. That frienemy that you love to hate. That relative whose favorite pastime is arguing with you. That person who really hurt you that you’re holding a grudge against. That person on Facebook who is always wrong and refuses to listen.

Or maybe it’s a group of people that really get your goat. Like I don’t like rude drivers of large vehicles, or activists on certain political subjects.  Give up complaining about them for 40 days, and refraining from whining about them when they annoy you becomes much easier, also.

I’ve done this one before, and it worked out really well. My relationship with this person was vastly improved by that Lent.

It had the added bonus that I developed a thicker skin when I came to this person, and I found that I had fewer reasons to complain, at least for a good, long while.

No, I have never told my person that I gave up complaining about them for Lent, nor do I suggest you do so. Unnecessary hurt feelings and whatnot. This person never did stop being themselves, (aw, darn them!) and I think I might be due to do it again.

(4) Give up indulging that emotion.

A friend of mine once expressed amusement that one of our mutual acquaintances for giving up “anger” for Lent. “How can you give up an entire emotion? You can’t just decide not to feel that way,” was her comment.

The short answer is, “No, you can’t.”

The longer answer is, “…but you can learn how to diffuse it in yourself, so it doesn’t grow to be sinful.” Anger, left unchecked, can grow to be wrath, which is one of the seven deadly sins. Taking action to keep yourself clear away from the near occasion of sin makes that a great thing to do for Lent.

Do you find yourself wallowing in any one emotion? Give up indulging it for Lent.

(5) Fast from social media.

Admittedly, this isn’t much of a fast for me. (Unless, of course, we're talking about Pinterest. Then I might be in trouble!). However, a lot of my friends live tethered to their devices because they just have to see the latest buzz on Facebook. You might discover - like I did, but not during Lent - that Facebook really makes you more miserable than it’s worth.

I found that some people who were my “friends”, and who I even talked to regularly in real life, are just jerks to others on the internet. (Though, I was somewhat relieved when these people decided that they no longer wanted to be my friend on Facebook.)

Another potential benefit is developing a greater “true intimacy” with your friends - because in order to be in contact with them you have to *gasp* call them! And *gasp again* talk to them!

Dude! I totally just realized that the last time I posted on Facebook was in November - though, to be fair, I almost posted something last week. (Maybe I should let poor Facebook know that I haven’t died!)

So, there you have it. My five great ideas for things to do for Lent. Have you had any unusual Lent ideas come your way? What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever done for Lent?