The Battle Within

St Paul writing his Letters in prison

Our first reading at Mass today is very consoling - St Paul's personal testimony on his struggle with sin and temptation from his Letter to the Romans (Cf. Romans 7:18-25a). If such a great Saint had his struggles, and we can see from what he writes that they were serious struggles, then there is hope for all of us! That, coupled with the feast we celebrate today, that of St John of Capistrano, offers us an important lesson for our daily Christian lives: the need to battle with our own weaknesses as we proceed along the path of holiness.

As many tell us, and we may know for ourselves, life is no picnic, it is not meant to be. In fact, as St John Paul II discovered when he was working as a young man in the quarry outside Krakow, it is in struggling, labour, suffering, we taste the nature of life and we meet it, not on its own terms, but, through faith, in terms set by Christ in which the seeds of victory have already been sown. Hence the need to keep close to Christ. 

It is interesting that it is in those moments we are weakest we may well meet Christ. St Paul in his reflections on his weakness tells us that it was then that he realized how strong Christ was and he put his faith in that strength, so much so that he could say "when I am weak I am strong": in his battle with himself he realized he had to be weak so he could then truly rely on the strength of Christ. St John of Capistrano also discovered this. Life was going great for him: a brilliant lawyer, he was a judge at a very young age and then raised to the office of Governor of Perugia at the age of 29! But then it all fell apart: negotiating a peace deal between warring cities he was captured and thrown into prison: was this how it was going to end? At his lowest, St Francis appeared to him and the Poverello showed him the way forward: Christ. So began the life of the great missionary of Europe.

I wrote a few days ago on St Damien of Moloka'i. Many praised his heroism during his lifetime, we honour his holiness, but we should not forget his weaknesses, and they were all too apparent as he lived on an isolated peninsula surrounded by death and facing a avalanche of needs every day from an outcast people. The consolation of confession did not come often enough for him as the authorities kept a tight rein on who could and could not go to Kalaupapa. His experience was raw on many levels, and certainly so in terms of his struggles with his weaknesses. But he put his trust in God, like St Paul and St John of Capistrano he fought the fight and was victorious, not through his own efforts, but rather through his cooperation with Christ and the grace the Lord gave him.

So we are consoled today. Thank God for the sacrament of confession in which we can bare our souls, seek mercy, find it and receive the grace of God to help us in our weakness. Thank God for the example of the Saints. Never forget that none of us are alone, and certainly not alone when we are in the depths of our struggle, the Saints look on, not as judges, but as our loving brothers and sisters who know how hard it is at times to battle with the self, to forget self and strive to be a better person, a better Christian. They were victorious in their struggle because they stayed close to Jesus and, bit by bit, and they advise us to do the same. They pray for us, they accompany us, and the Lord Jesus encourages them to console us as he comes himself to help us in our weakness.

Teachers

The solemnity of SS Peter and Paul. On this feast a brief meditation. These men were very different from each other. We know from the Scriptures that they clashed, and Paul had to rebuke Peter when the first pope got it wrong. That said, both had a common mission and, most importantly, a common love, and it was this which united them, saw them reconciled and led them to shed their blood together. That love was for Jesus Christ who changed their lives. 

As Pope Emeritus Benedict reminded us during his pontificate, each generation must discover Jesus Christ for themselves, it is only when a person encounters Christ and falls in love with him that he or she will become a true disciple, one who follows the Master. All our work, our efforts at evangelisation, our catechesis must be aimed at bringing our people to Jesus. Once we embrace him and his teaching (as he actually taught it) then things fall into place, then we understand what the Church is saying.

SS Peter and Paul are our models and teachers in this effort - they preached Christ, and him crucified and risen. From that we see Paul's great theology emerge; from that we see the decision to die rather than renounce the Lord. 

May these Holy Apostles assist us with their prayers, that we may come to know, love and serve Jesus ever more generously.

Wisdom From Anglican Bishops

I was reminded today of wise sayings from two Anglican bishops - I do not who they were, but what they said is worth noting.

The first was a letter from an Anglican bishop to a new curate. It seems the young curate took the Gospel seriously and he was preaching it from the pulpit much to the ire of some of his congregation. The bishop started to receive letters of complaint. The bishop needed to take decisive action, so he wrote to the curate. In his letter he told the young man of the nature of the complaints he was getting about him, and he advised the young man to persevere: if they are complaining about you, then you are doing something right - keep it up.

The second is mentioned by N.T Wright in one of his books, a quotation from an Anglican bishop as he is reflecting on St Paul's missionary work. The bishop said: "When Paul preached there were riots, when I preach they give me a cup of tea".

Lesson for all of us: when we preach the Gospel faithfully there will be trouble, so we need to ride the storm and keep going.  Christianity is not for the comfortable, nor is it for the fainthearted.

Listening to St Paul

A happy feast day to you all.  And what a wonderful feast!  I always had an interest in St Paul, an interest that was deepened by one of our Scripture lecturers in seminary, Fr Michael Mullins.  In this courses on St Paul his approach was one which combined Biblical scholarship with basic common sense (a powerful if rare combination in academia today).  In his classes St Paul came alive: no more an unapproachable theologian and figure of controversy, he emerged as a man of flesh and blood, deeply in love with Jesus Christ, a man so in love he was pushed out to proclaim the Gospel regardless of the challenges and trials which met him along the way.  Rather than denying the traditions about Paul, Fr Mullins explored them and found them to be worthy of belief.  I always used to urge him to write a book about Paul and he said he would when he got a chance - we're still waiting.

Following on from these courses, the recent Pauline Year was another opportunity to immerse myself in St Paul and what refreshment I found!  Pope Benedict's General Audience talks were wonderful and well worth reading - short but rich, they give us the essence of St Paul and his theology and, yes, his deep love of Jesus.  I would recommend you read them if you have not done so yet.

St Paul has been a figure of controversy, and his writings have inspired and angered down the centuries. Martin Luther used them to break from the communion of the Church, radical feminists use them to support their view of the Church's hatred of women.  Positively, these writings have inspired and formed Saints.  Blessed James Alberione, the 20th century's apostle of the media, found his call in Paulinism: he sought to emulate the Apostle's mission to the gentiles in his ministry through the media.  And even our Fraternity finds its theological base in St Paul's writings - in his reflections on the Mystical Body of Christ which remind us of our union in Christ and inspires us within that union to be a family of prayer for those in the arts and media.

At the heart of the feast today is St Paul's conversion.  Caravaggio and others put him on a horse as he journeyed to Damascus - the Scriptures do not mention a horse, but the light which shone down on him knocked him to the ground - such was his first encounter with Jesus Christ.  It was a different Paul that stood up, a broken man, but one about to be born anew.  As we follow him and listen to him in his preaching, we learn that at that moment, on the ground, all was revealed to him: all was revealed in the vision of Jesus Christ - no wonder he came to love the Lord with such passion.

This is the way of all conversions: an encounter with Christ and a growing in love for him.  In embracing Christ as he truly is, we embrace the truth and seek to live it; we may even be prepared to die for it, as did Paul.   Conversion is not a once off event either.  Some conversions are dramatic, like Paul's; others take a little more time like Augustine's or Edith Steins or John Henry Newman.  But most take longer, perhaps even a lifetime.  And though we may hold to the truths of the faith, we ourselves are always in need of conversion, because each day we are called to turn more and more to God; to let the things of this world diminish in our sight so God and the things of the next world may increase in our sight and in our way of life.  Such is the way of the Saints, the way of perfection - it is the way of daily conversion.

So today is an opportunity for all of us to listen again to St Paul and to learn from him - he is a wonderful guide on the way of holiness.  May this great Apostle bless all of you and be with you all the days of your life.  In these days, I pray that he will be with our pro-life brothers and sisters in the US as they participate in the March for Life in Washington and in other places around America.  May the courage, fidelity and love of St Paul inspire them as they stand in solidarity with the millions of children whose lives are considered by many to be unworthy of life.

Solemnity Of SS Peter And Paul: A Spiritual Pilgrimage

A happy feast day to you all - the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles, SS Peter and Paul.  I love these days at the end of the June, they bring us right of the heart the Church in Rome as we reflect on the first beginnings and the persecution of the first martyrs there, among them SS Peter and Paul.   This is the "Quo Vadis" week really, when we immerse ourselves in the heroism of our brothers and sisters who shed their blood for Christ and sanctified the city we now look to as the See of our Holy Father, the successor of St Peter.

It is a time when we can do a spiritual pilgrimage to those holy places.  Starting at the Mamertine prison, beside the Roman Forum, down in the lower cell, dank and damp, where Peter and Paul were held in chains together awaiting their fate. 

The Mamertine Prison

Then the journey out the Via Appia (the Appian Way) to the Quo Vadis Church, stopping off at the Circus Maximus where many of the first martyrs died. 

The Circus Maximus

The Via Appia Antica

The "Quo Vadis" Church

The "footprints of Jesus"

After a prayer in the church, and having looked at the "footpints of Jesus", back into Rome with Peter renewed, to visit his tomb in St Peter's Basilica on the Vatican hill where he was crucified upside down and then buried in the cemetery nearby.

The Crucifixion of St Peter

St Peter's Tomb

Then on out to Tre Fontane, to the site of St Paul's beheading, taking a moment to reflect on the three fountains which may well indeed symbolise the waters of baptism being poured out all over the world on countless converts redeemed by the blood of Christ and won by the intercession of the blood of the Apostles.

The beheading of St Paul

Pillar on which St Paul was beheaded at the Monastery of Tre Fontane

Then the walk into the Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls to spend some time praying at his tomb, and perhaps some moments reading from his epistles.

The Tomb of St Paul

And finally back in to the city to the Basilica of St John Lateran, the Pope's cathedral, to pray for the Holy Father, and to venerate the heads of the two Apostles which are enshrined above the Papal Altar.

Reliquary busts containing the heads of SS Peter and Paul

above the Papal Altar in the Lateran Basilica

In news today: the US Catholic bishops have rejected the US Supreme Court's judgement on Obamacare.  An interesting analysis of the judgement on Fr Frank Pavone from Phil Lawlor.  And Scripture scholar, Fr Jerome Murphy-O'Connor believes Jesus had a nervous breakdown in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Fr Murphy-O'Connor has many interesting and insightful things to say on the Scriptures, but sometimes he just loses the run of himself, and I think he has done it again with this particular theory.  Another of his strange notions concerns St Paul's marital status.  Even though there is not a shred of evidence to suggest St Paul was married, Murphy-O'Connor maintains that he was but his wife and children probably died in a dreadful accident and so he could not bring himself to even refer to it when he gives his biography and lists his sufferings in his epistles.  It's one thing having a theory, but theories must be backed up with evidence, or at least a tradition however vague, but Murphy O'Connor offers no evidence, just fanciful notions. 

And finally Cardinal Dolan's reflections on the Venerable Fulton Sheen and the Venerable Angeline McCrory following the Holy Father's decrees yesterday.  You know something, the Saints keep us sane.  In the midst of the craziness of the world we can look to them and see that at every point in history there were people who "got it", who convince us that we are walking the right path to Christ and urge us to keep walking, and to get up when we fall.

Wednesday: Papal Audience And Tomb of St Paul

In the morning we attend the Papal Audience, and in the afternoon go on pilgrimage to the Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls to venerate the remains of St Paul the Apostle.

Our union with Peter is important.  On him is build the Church, and so we look to his successor, Benedict, as the one who unites us.  He is the Vicar of Christ on earth - the one chosen to lead the Church in these times.  As our Holy Father, he deserves our prayer and our obedience.  St Catherine of Siena gives us a profound insight into who the Pope is when she calls him "our Christ on earth".

Lord God, bless Benedict our Pope, and give him every grace so he may fulfil the office you have entrusted to him.  May he always have the guidance of your Holy Spirit and the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother.  And when you call him from this life, grant to him a place among your Saints.  Amen.

St Paul is also important for our Fraternity - he is our theologian.  As we form this family of prayer, we draw on his teaching on the Mystical Body of Christ.  Where is the Fraternity to be found in this Body?  In the heart, of course!  We are in the Heart of the Church, praying, offering our sacrifices, loving.  This is where Our Lady is, and as we dedicated to her mission for her Son, we stand beside her, obedient to her.  St Paul encourages us, then, is fulfilling our duties here.  He reassures us that the cross we carry and offer to Christ for our brothers and sisters brings the grace and power of God upon those we pray for.

St Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, hear our prayer.  Preach to us, the children of God, the Gospel of Christ, so we may be immersed in the Word and follow him each day of our lives.  Guide us into the heart of the Church where we may offer ourselves in service to God for the sake of our brothers and sisters.  As you were happy to shed your blood for love of Christ, our Redeemer, obtain from the Lord that grace which will make us as generous in our sacrifices.

Heavenly Father, bless our family of prayer.  Give to each of us the zeal with which you endowed your Apostle Paul.  As he was compelled to proclaim the love and sacrifice of Christ, may we be filled with that same zeal to make Christ known to the people of our time.  Amen.

The Conversion of St Paul

I was visiting a painter friend of mine, Richard Moore, who is working on a couple of commissions for us: a painting of St Genesius to be presented to the Holy Father during our pilgrimage to Rome in April, and a series of paintings depicting the life and martyrdom of St Genesius, which he is doing in watercolour.  I was stunned by the beauty and dynamism of the works, and the portrait of Genesius for the Pope was very engaging.  When the works are finished I may upload some of them on to the blog.

Richard normally paints landscapes and city scenes, but a couple of years ago we engaged him to do a realist painting of St Genesius to compliment the Icon: the image of the martyr I use on my blog (above right) is a detail from the painting - the model was an Italian actor.   As we were discussing the series of watercolours, I asked him how he was going to depict that dramatic moment when Genesius was touched by the Holy Spirit and converted: Richard went silent, he was deep in thought.

What a challenge!  To depict in an image the dramatic turn of a human heart, an overwhelming encounter with God - an upheaval    It is so easy to fall into melodrama, and even easier to stumble at the final hurdle and fail.  The greatest artists are those who can capture that moment.

The Conversion of St Paul, the feast we celebrate today, is an event which offers such a challenge to the artist.  Some chose not to show Paul's face, just the dramatic fall, the twisted body, the shock on the faces of Paul's companions.  But this event presents all of us with such a challenge - not merely to try depicting the event on canvas, but rather to see it in the context of our own lives - a moment of conversion for all of us. 

How would we react to such a revelation?  Such revelations, though not as dramatic as Paul's, are part and parcel of our daily lives as God reaches out to us and calls us into a deeper relationship with him, and anoints us as his missionaries in the world.  How do we respond to that call?  How do we as Christians manifest in our daily lives the same light that floored the bigot Saul and made him the Apostle Paul? 

Now there's something to reduce all of us to silence as we work it out, prayerfully.  Happy feast day.