To See Him As He Really Is

I was listening to a radio programme a couple of days ago in which a recent decision by a Christian company to refuse facilitating a service to a homosexual union was being discussed. One of the contributors, a journalist, was in-between minds as to who was correct, he understood both sides, he said. However, he mused, he said that Christians, if they followed Christ, would ask "What would Jesus do?" and this journalist said that Jesus would not have refused the service. 

Now that opinion reveals that this journalist doesn't know his Scripture or Christ, if he did he would know that Jesus would not act in opposition to his own moral teaching. However the comment, which we often hear, usually when musing on actions and situations contrary to Christian teaching, reveals the penchant modern people have of reinventing Jesus and his teaching to suit their opinions and contemporary mores. It is rooted in the dominant, erroneous view, that Christianity is simply being kind and tolerant about everything, never judging anything and letting people do what they like as long as nobody (or nobody significant) gets hurt.

Our Gospel today challenges this view. Jesus, meek and mild, gentle and permissive, has changed into what some moderns might regard as a ogre: he takes a rope, makes a weapon out of it and turns to violence to hurl contemporary businessmen out of the Temple. Not what one expects, or is it? 

We have to be careful when it comes to Jesus, he cannot be categorised, he defies our attempts to put him in a box: he is who he is. When we approach him we must do so with the hope of coming to know him as he is, to exorcise our preconceived ideas and images. One of the stages of the spiritual life, for example, is one in which we are purified of our image of Christ and God, our imagination is purged, emptied, we think we are abandoned, that the Lord has withdrawn and left us to shrivel up. In reality, God is trying to get the soul to abandon its image of God so He can reveal himself as he really is. This process is painful because it entails a real purgation of our devotional life. 

Jesus is Jesus, the eternal Son of God, he is not to be used to justify our thoughts, words, actions or opinions. It is for us to conform to him and that means we have to change, hence our need for Lent (and much more besides).

Towards The Vision Of His Face

This second Sunday of Lent brings us to the vision of the Transfiguration. This year we read St Mark's account, however St Matthew's is my favourite because he alone records the transfigured Face of Jesus (cf Matthew 17:1-8). Writing for a Jewish audience no doubt he wanted to align the event with the longing of Israel, preserved in the Psalms, to see the Lord's face. "It is your Face, O Lord, that I seek: hide not your Face" (Ps 27:8). 

On that mountain the three disciples represent all of us. In the midst of our Lent, we are climbing the mountain towards holiness, towards union with God; this vision is given to us to keep our hearts fixed on what lies ahead. It is a grace, a consolation, an encouragement. The three disciples would never forget what they saw, it was imprinted on their hearts for the rest of their earthly lives. We should allow this vision of the Lord, gifted us through faith, to find a place in our hearts so in our prayer we can delight in it and the promise it represents, but also seek shelter in its light when times are dark.

All Aboard The Ark Of Lent

Given our first reading today, what a marvellous image for Lent - Noah's Ark! I preached about this today, sometimes it seems in our Lenten observance that we are on stormy seas cooped up with all sorts of wild beasts. May the Lord guide us on these seas!

Not Your Average Saint

Is there such thing as an average Saint?  I suppose for many Saints are distant figures; people the Church has put on pedestals to intercede for us and to admire as those who achieve heroic virtue and sanctity in their lives on earth and now reap their reward in glory in heaven.  However, as I constantly remind my parishioners, they are not remote figures at all.  They were flesh and blood men and women like us, who faced many of the same difficulties that we do, but they often responded in ways that were more graced: graced, yes, but easier, no.  For them sin and temptation was as real as they are for us; the trials of life took their toll on them too.  Yet they abandoned themselves to God and strove hard to overcome these difficulties. 

In this Lenten season the prospect of Sainthood is put before all of us. The reason for this season is holiness - this is our annual retreat when we take stock of our lives in a more radical way and see that each one of us is called to heroic virtue, to great sanctity.  As Blessed John Paul II reminds us: holiness is God's plan for us, and the ordinary way of living for a Christian.  The trials and difficulties of life are the means through which we are sanctified, and we meet these with an ardent life of prayer, a radical renunciation of all that which hampers God's work in us and with a daily offering of ourselves to God so his will may be done in us. The road to holiness can often be a lonely road, but we do meet others along the way, some walking in the same direction, others trying to test us, and of course the ones whom we are meant to assist for Christ's sake, and for their own, so to perfect charity within us.

As we reflect on this we must also remember that those who have gone before us, the Saints, were all different and unique people, and sanctity manifests itself in different ways in each of them.  We have the obviously mystical and we have those who slogged their way through life with not such much as glimpse of a vision.  We have the gentle and patient, and then we have those who did not suffer fools gladly, like St Pio who was as famous for his gruff ways as his holiness.  We have people from every walk of life, and of every age; from those who lived long lives to those who lived very short ones. Many of these Saints lived in ordinary places doing apparently ordinary things and their heroism emerged there, others found themselves in the midst of turbulence, persecution and history's most traumatic moments and their holiness was formed in heroic deeds.  There is a Saint whose life mirrors yours.

For your Lenten reading today, I suggest an article from The Catholic Herald on G. K. Chesterton. There is an investigation going on at the moment to see if a Cause should opened for him.  Many of us are convinced that he should be canonised, but sometimes Mother Church and her leaders tend to take the long road on making decisions on whether to open a Cause or not.  Some would suggest they are taking the scenic route on this one.  Prudence, I suppose.  This article is good because it explains that Chesterton does not fit the mould of a conventional Saint (maybe that is why things are progressing slowly).  But then again, as I have said, there is no such thing as conventional holiness. If I may be Chestertonian for moment: holiness is wild, untamed, radical, unconventional - it is by its very nature heroic, and there is nothing common or conventional about heroism. Holiness breaks moulds, not fit into them, nor even make them.  Each Saint is unique in his or her holiness, they emerge from the crowd not slip behind it.  And let's face it, no one would ever accuse Chesterton of slipping quietly behind the crowd, he was no shrinking violet.  And perhaps it is for that reason, for his sheer (and perhaps even shocking) unconventionality that he is well placed to remind us all that we too are called to be Saints. 

So, as Chesterton would say, this Lent, let us begin the great adventure.

A Good Lent

At midnight in New Orleans the call was heard: "Fat Tuesday is over!" and, I hope, the party-goers returned to their homes, to begin the Lenten season (what were the chances of that, do you think?).

Well, the Great Fast has begun.  May the Lord grant us every grace in this holy season as we perform works of prayer, penance and alms-giving, and seek to grow in holiness.  That is what this season is all about: growth in virtue and holiness.  Many people speak of giving something up for Lent, but I sometimes wonder if they know why?  Not to lose a few pounds or get rid of a habit, but to offer penance for our sins and bring our bodies and minds under control so we can be more faithful in our observance of the Gospel. 

Let us pray for each other, that what God wishes for us in this season may come to pass through our generous cooperation with his grace.

I wish you a good Lent.

Catholic Education

Pontifical University of Peru

Well, I've been a good priest this morning and, so far, have marked a fair number of parishioners with the ashen cross.  I am just back from the schools, as I as left them, the pupils were all comparing the size of their ashen crosses.   I have two schools in my parish - St Louis's in Rathkenny and St Patrick's in Stackallen.  Both are excellently run, two fine principals and dedicated staff.  I am a blessed priest!

Of course you will know that we in Ireland are getting ready for a battle to keep our Catholic schools.  Thankfully both my principals and their staff are committed to providing Catholic education which the people of the parish want for their children.  And we will do everything we can to keep that service.

Catholic education goes beyond primary schools, even into Universities, and I see the Rector of the Pontifical University of Peru has been given an ultimatum by Cardinal Bertone: comply with the Church requirements for Catholic colleges, as laid down by Ex Corde Ecclesiae, by Easter Sunday or else....   By the way, this problem with the University has been going on since the 1970's - so we can't say the Vatican is acting rashly. Here's the background.

I'm sure staff in the University must be in shock - the Holy See rarely issues such ultimatums.  No doubt we will hear the mantra of "academic freedom".  This ultimatum does not interfere with academic freedom, it just reminds the University that it has to be true to the honours and privileges it has received, or else lose them. 

A Pontifical University has to follow certain guidelines, and it must not become an institute which acts in a manner which is contrary to Church teaching.  By all means embrace the secular agenda, but if a University does so, it must not expect the patronage of the Church or her benefactors.  One of the problems we have with organisations which were once Catholic but have since disavowed their relationship with the Church, is that they want to hang on to benefices and privileges which were conferred because they were Catholic and because they were dedicated to promoting the faith.  I know of one charitable organisation that was trying to break its link with the Church, but still wanted to be the charity which the Church promoted during the Lenten period.  That's not on. 

The Pontifical University of Peru finds itself in a very difficult position - it has no choice but to accept the Holy See's decision otherwise it looks like it will lose its Pontifical status and that means they lose their campus - the donor when giving the land for the University did so on condition that it remains a Pontifical University - if it no longer has that privilege, then the land goes to the Archdiocese of Lima.  That will mean the end of the University, or at best, a desperate attempt to rent from the Archdiocese or find alternative accommodation - I'd imagine the latter would be the most likely outcome.

I notice that in response to this news story, some are saying that the Vatican should look at other Catholic colleges.  I have to agree with that.  A review of Catholic education in these third level institutes might be a good idea.  Too many people, organisations and institutes are trading under the title Catholic and yet they represent not the teaching of the faith, but the exact opposite.   In such cases, the greatest irony is that the very Church they are attacking and rebelling against is the one which is providing them with their livelihood. 

We have so much to pray for as we weep for our own sins!   Thank God for Lent - it is a time for us to get our lives straight again and do some good, honest fasting.  I wish you all a Blessed Lent!

A Blessed Lent

Wishing you all a good Lent!  May the Lord give us all the graces we need to remain faithful to our observance.

Carnivale!

In Ireland we call it "Pancake Tuesday" where the hottest thing on the menu is a flat bread cake smothered in butter - hardly Catholic at all.  In other Catholic countries Shrove Tuesday is Carnival - the last day before Lent when they celebrate for the last time and then cease at midnight to begin the observance of the traditional fast for forty days or so.   Now I know modern celebrations of Carnival are hardly edifying and Lent doesn't figure for most of those jousting in the streets, but the idea of this great feast is still a good one if we mean to take Lent seriously.

The feast and the fast is very much a Catholic thing.  Our holy mother foundress St Teresa of Avila famously said that there is a time for penance and a time for partridge (she was particularly fond of partridge) and she is right.  Many think being Catholic is being prudish and a killjoy - teetotal and miserable - and perhaps many are.  Jansenism and, here in Ireland, the influence of dreary Victorian morality, has dampened our Catholic identity so we are more Calvinistic than Catholic in our approach to the faith, and mix that with a fondness for the drink and you get a strange creature.  

Being Catholic is, in reality, more joyous and riotous.  I think true Catholicism, when lived in its authentic dimensions, has a balance of feast and fast, faith and fun, observance and irreverence which is refreshing.  Just look at some of our great Saints and figures: Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Pier Giorgio Frassati, G.K Chesterton, Thomas More, Philip Neri - none of those could hardly be described as boring.  Teresa loved her partridge and was well know for her wit, Therese spent recreation taking people off, Pier Giorgio was pushing carts through the streets of Turin with a gang of lads for the craic and climbing mountains, Chesterton was a laugh a minute shocking the straitlaced British establishment, Thomas More couldn't go to his martyrdom without a wry smile and a funny remark, and as for Philip - well he had to be seen to be believed!  I tell you, brothers and sisters, heaven is going to be some riot with that lot up there waiting for us!

So, for your Lenten penance, fast, pray, give alms, read Scripture, and for today - celebrate Carnival  - the Catholic way.  Forget the pancakes, if the heart can take it, eat cake - lots of creamy cake and then at midnight, sackcloth and ashes!  As for pious reading for the season in preparation for the feast of Easter (seven weeks of celebrations!! That's Catholic!), together the usual edifying stuff, this book: The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living - with lots of good inspirational ideas within.  

Now I'm off to do the samba on the roads of Rathkenny - I'll probably be doing it on my own, but at least I'll be having fun...until the men in the white coats arrive.  Happy Carnival!