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30 December 2011

What Is Your Art?

I often find myself saying to someone--and most especially a young person--”Everyone needs an art.  What is your art?”  More often than not, the one with whom I am speaking looks surprised, or blinks, or says, “I do not know,” or “I don’t have an art.”  But some say, “Sure I have an art.  It is...”

It seems to me that one way to express our human task is for each of us to live our own life artfully, playfully, creatively, with imagination, purpose, zeal, and love.  No one can live your life for you; you must do it for yourself.  And an essential part of living one’s own life is to approach life and one’s duties with playfulness.  Life without play is not life, but lifelessness.  Animals play.  Human beings play, and those who live well, who are good human beings, are playful and joyful in their tasks.

Each person needs an art.  By art I mean a more or less deliberate and thoughtful way of being playful.  Play can be wholly unstructured and spontaneous; to become art, play needs thoughtfulness, a degree of ordered intelligence, a sense of purpose in what one is doing.  

A truly great and creative artist communicates freshness, joy, playfulness, as well as thoughtfulness and control, in his or her art.  If it is mere haphazard noise or motion or form, it is not art; if it is not done with playfulness and a zest for life, it may be art, but it would be dull and simply unimaginative.

When in your life are you most you?  What do you do that reminds you of you, or makes you feel more alive, more joyful, more awake?  I think that in those activities that you truly enjoy and feel alive, you are being playful, and possibly exercising an art.  

Consider a real artist:  The music of J.S. Bach is not only the most learned music I know, but the most creative and playful.  Having mastered every aspect of the science and art of music, Bach is free to explore all sorts of possibilities, and ever delights in fresh forms, sounds, ways to express his faith in God and sheer joy in life.  For those without ears to hear, Bach’s music is “boring,” and that means that the hearer is not attuned to the play, the spiritual freedom, the intellectual self-overcoming that is ever real and alive in Bach’s music.  Bach’s music is still utterly alive because he poured his playful life into the music, and did so with consummate skill and artistry.  

Playfulness keeps us vital and refreshed; one’s art is a thoughtful and considered form of play.  When you “do your art,” you feel at home, alive, awake, joyful, and you have an inner awareness that you are doing what you ought to do, you are being true to yourself--regardless of whether or not another person appreciates what you are doing.  Art is its own justification or purpose, and does not really require another’s praise or even appreciation, although as human beings we like to communicate and share our arts with others.  But a genuine artist would find ways to do his or her art even “on a desert island,” “far from the madding crowd.”  

Art is not achieved at once or suddenly.  Rather, it takes work, effort, concentration, and attuning to the Spirit who brings forth what is good and beautiful.  The inner eye must be opened, and see the beautiful in things or beings around oneself, and respond.  For example, when a photographer is moved by beauty in nature, he feels drawn to compose the kind of photograph that will do justice to the beauty glimpsed, or even make it more accessible to the viewer.  He needs to decide what to include and what to exclude, how to create a balanced and beautiful photograph given the material presented around him in nature.  In a sense, the photographer is doing homage to the God of beauty present around and within him, and he wants to honor this divine Beauty in his photograph.  

Art honors the Artist of All.  It testifies to the Spirit’s activity to keep bringing goodness and beauty into being.  Art is creative, because the Creator is working through the artist in the act of creating--whether or not the artist is aware of the divine power at work.  

To say that everyone needs an art means this:  Each human being must find his or her way to honor the Creator by being creatively free, to honor Beauty by bringing beauty into being.  Art ennobles life, it spiritualizes life.  There is no real spiritual life that is not lived freely and creatively, and hence playfully, and--with some practical knowledge and skill--without expressing itself in an art.  When a human being does his or her art, the Creator is glorified and worshiped, and the human being becomes at once more truly human and more divine.  Art lifts one out of the narrowness of the self-enclosed soul, and moves the soul into union with the Artist of all.  

That We May Share In The Divinity Of Christ

Elizabeth asked, “Who am I, that the mother of my LORD should come to me?” Who am I, who are you, that the mother, and brothers, and sisters of our LORD should come to us? Who are we that the LORD God Almighty--

   He Who is in the Beginning,
   Who is the Beginning,
   He Who is and was and will be forever,
   He Who IS the great I AM,
   He Who brings forth all out of nothing,
   Who is the One in Whom all have their being,
   Whose wisdom guides all things through all,
   Who brings each and all to perfection in Him,
   Who is Life, and the Life is the light of human beings,
   He in Whom is light beyond our mortal sight,
   And in Whom is no darkness at all,
   Who is the complete Good and the source of all goodness,
   Who is Beauty Itself and is joyfully seen in all that is beautiful,
   Who is pure Love, and Whose love lives in all who love--

Who indeed are we creatures, that the LORD God Almighty should come to us, not only in power and majesty, but as a helpless infant, cold and hungry, needing love?

   “O great Mystery, and wonderful Sacrament,
   that animals should see the LORD
   lying in a manger.”

Let us worship and pray to this awesome and mysterious One:

   “O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature,
   and still more wonderfully restored it,
   (and who wonderfully created the dignity of every creature)
   grant, we humbly pray,
   that we may share in the divinity of Christ,
   who humbled Himself to share in our humanity....”

  “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us...”

22 December 2011

Present Yourselves As A Living Sacrifice To God

Occasionally I hear comments on various matters of worship and practice at our community Masses. I may make fuller comments available online or in a hand-out, but let a few remarks suffice for the present. At the outset, please understand that I am a Benedictine, not a diocesan priest, and Benedictines have a distinctive approach to liturgy that may differ from that of most parish priests. All of us need to respect liturgical norms of the Church and diocesan policy; but most importantly, we approach liturgy as a work of the Holy Spirit, who sets us free, and who seeks to build us up in charity.

For those who want to know the details of church rules, you may consult the diocesan website or read the “General Instruction of the Roman Missal” (GIRM) available online. I believe that approaching worship through lists of rules is to proceed in the wrong way. Indeed, never once in all of my years in the monastery did I hear our Abbot or any priest or monk refer to “rules” for worship. No one ever talked about the GIRM. Benedictines learn to pray, in solitude and liturgically, by doing it, and maintaining the living community’s practices. Custom and practice matter far more than abstract rules, and must always be respected. Rules are useful as guidelines to correct serious abuses. I have seen faithful and generally respectful worship in our communities. The only “abuse” I felt duty bound to correct was to remind the faithful that hosts are made of wheat and water only, in continuity with the tradition of Jewish bread for Passover (matzah). At Mass we celebrate the New Passover of Christ from death to life eternal, and our movement into the “promised land” of God’s Presence with our LORD.

I recommend keeping at least these two thoughts in mind for our common worship. First, from St. Paul in Romans 12: “I implore you, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (or: reasonable service). Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern the will of God: what is good and acceptable and perfect.” As I see it, these words are the best general statement of the essence of Christian worship in the New Testament.

The second quotation to keep in mind comes from St. Augustine (c. 400), and should help us keep perspective, and not get lost in nit-picking: “In essentials, unity; in non-essential matters, freedom; in all things, charity.” Essentials of our faith are very
few; non-essentials are many. Charity should ever guide our worship and lives.

11 December 2011

Notes On Cultivating A Spiritual Life In An Ecumenical Age, Part III

“The unexamined life is not worthy of a human being.”  To examine oneself means that one must not merely look for “sins,” for serious short-coming and faults, but perhaps even more for the thoughts, beliefs, distortions, habits of thinking that promote a way of life that is less than fully human, less than truly alive, less than a life lived in communion with the One Who Is, which we by tradition call “God.”

It would seem evident to anyone with “eyes to see” that we live in a culture that is spiritually dying, even as there are signs of renewal and life.  If one seeks to live a spiritual life, how can one not sympathize with the prophet Isaiah’s lament:  “Woe is me, for I am lost; I am a man of unclean lips, living in the midst of a people of unclean lips.  For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6).  Or what human being, with any kind of spiritual sensitivity, does not share the exasperation of the prophet Jeremiah:  “The false prophets cry `Peace, peace,’ when in truth there is no peace.”  Spiritual decadence or corruption is readily found both within one’s own heart and in the culture in which we all share.

In the case of our American culture (or lack of culture), it is often the institutions which could and should be carriers of truth to help guide and form human beings that have become distorters of truth, corrupters of human beings, agents of spiritual lassitude, if not death.  It is not only the mass media that are to blame for the cultivation of so many unthinking, unawake souls, although surely television, movies, popular music, and so on, do indeed contribute to the spiritual diseases within our hearts and culture.  But the agents of education--from elementary schools, high schools, colleges, graduate and professional schools--surely do their part in imparting false beliefs and distortions of reality, rather than in helping to awaken human hearts to the beauty, truth, and goodness of reality.  As a professional educator for many years of my life, I can say without doubt that all too often education is far more about helping young persons get jobs and fit into this culture of corruption, rather than providing the tools they need to sift through lies, distortions, false opinions, habits of non-thinking.  “Education” in America is far closer to propaganda for the masses than most of us seem able to see or to admit.  How often, and to what extent, are young people taught to examine themselves for the ignorance in them, for the lies in their own souls, for their bad habits, for their lack of wisdom and insight, and to root out illusions and habits of sheer mental laziness?  All-too-often, young people are coddled and warped by the belief that “you are good just the way you are,” and “you are free to cultivate your own values,” and “your reality is whatever you choose to make of it.”  Education in America has been impoverishing spirits and minds far too often, rather than teaching human beings how little they know, how poorly informed they are, how ignorant they really are, and how much work each must do so that his or her life is truly “worthy of a human being.”  What young people need is assistance in developing habits of critical thinking, overcoming their own personal weaknesses, seeking truth rather than mere opinion, questioning what they are taught rather than swallowing opinions as truth.  Education in America has been cultivating spiritually and mentally challenged human beings for many years, and the results should be obvious to anyone who tries to examine the results without bias.  We are the products of such poor and failing education.  And we are lacking.  “Know thyself.”

But mass media and education are not the only carriers of poor formation, distorters of human lives.  American political life, which could and should be a calling for more noble men and women, has clearly become the haunt of jackals and wild beasts more interested in seeking their own advantage, in deceiving the masses with false hopes and promises, with preferring power to the public good.  As for truth, expect little from political leaders--especially on the national scale--and you will not be so disappointed.

Sad to say, religious institutions of all sorts share in the process of misguiding and impoverishing human spirits.  Although there are exceptions in the world of media, education, politics, and “religion,” it has been common to see that “religions” cultivate mindless belief instead of living faith, institutional life rather than independence of thought and judgment, conformity to rules and practices rather than freedom of heart and growth of intellect.  So many people have “found religion,” and so few seem to be in search of God.  And that is pathetic, to say the least.  

“Because you say, `I see,’ your blindness remains.”  

Notes On Cultivating a Spiritual Life In An Ecumenical Age, Part II

What nourishes the human mind, heart, spirit?  What builds up a human being personally, mentally, spiritually?  

How often is this question even raised?  How much more time is spent talking about what builds up the body or promotes health of body?  I have seen many ads on television for “body building,” and perhaps none for “soul building.”  As a people in history, have we not badly neglected the cultivation of our minds and hearts?  Have you and I, dear soul, not neglected the cultivation of our minds?

What nourishes or refreshes the mind?  Let’s consider that simple question.  It is personal, and answers will and must vary.  But we share a common human nature, so there will be a strong similarity among our answers, if we are truly considering what nourishes us, and not just “what we like to do.”  For example, some folks clearly “like to shop,” but one would be hard pressed to demonstrate that shopping is life-giving, although at times it may provide a needed and temporary distraction from one’s mental or personal problems.  But shopping, just as mindless television watching, can become an attempt to escape from one’s problems, or simply to escape from reality.

What nourishes the mind?  First, telling the truth, speaking the truth from one’s heart to the best of one’s ability is perhaps utterly basic and essential.  Speaking the truth is to nourishing the mind what walking is to keeping the body healthy.  A person who deceives himself or others, and you regularly avoids speaking the truth from the heart, has a badly formed character, and is even now, in the present, failing to nourish his or her life in God.  We must breathe air to live, we must eat and drink to live, we must sleep to live, and we must tell the truth to be alive in spirit.  A lying or evasive mind is spiritually dead or dying.  Again, speaking the truth is perhaps the most basic action to develop one’s spiritual life.  

What nourishes the mind?  As one must speak the truth to be alive spiritually, so one must listen to truth, seek the truth, discern and decide between untruth and truth, reject errors, flee from lying, weed out of one’s mind false beliefs, lies, errors.  Truth nourishes the mind.  And what, in short, is truth?  Truth arises from communion of the mind with reality.  What is real is real, and must be respected and revered, or else one is breaking from truth.  No one who hates or dislikes reality can know the truth, or speak the truth.  Well has it been said that truth is the conformity of the mind with reality.  The mind that knows truth is conforming to what is real, rather than merely to what one happens to want or like or already believe. 

Hence, knowing the truth, so essential for a good human life, for spiritual life, requires that one constantly seek to conform to reality, and not to what one already thinks, believes, wants.  How does one conform his or her mind to reality?  

Some things that keep the mind from conforming to reality are evident:  drug and alcohol abuse; living lives of deception, distortion, dishonesty, theft; an habitual preference for what one already believes than for what is true, or real; immersion of the mind in images, stories, beliefs, without doing the hard work of seeking to “test the spirits, to see if they are from God.”  From my experience, both mass education and much of “institutional religion” are too often confirming people in their prejudices, wants, and lazy mental habits, and not stirring them up to seek truth.  On the contrary:  To conform to reality, one must constantly sift through his or her beliefs, opinions, “values,” and thoughts to see which ones are true according to reality, and which are just vague, empty, or distorted opinions about reality.  No one can grow spiritually without a constant and sustained effort to seek the truth, to reject falsehoods and beliefs (however long held and dear to one’s heart), and to choose again and again to love the truth that is real, rather than untruths that are mere illusions.  

“The search for truth begins with one’s awareness of existence in untruth.”  No human being can cultivate a rich spiritual life without becoming painfully aware that much in oneself is not true or real, but a kind of habitual living in unexamined untruth.  In the immortal words of Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worthy of a human being.”  A demanding, even ruthless examination of one’s own life is for every human being the essential foundation for any genuine spiritual life.  

A Note On Spiritual Life And It's Requirements In An Ecumenical Age, Part I

The first words of Jesus in the Gospel of John remain an excellent beginning point for a discussion of spiritual life:  “What are you seeking?” 

What a person seeks, and the amount of energy put into that search, are highly indicative of the person’s character, spiritual interests, desires, needs.  

How do you spend the bulk of time not required by work and personal duties?  What one does in “free time” shows what one seeks, and what one seeks shows a person’s “spiritual life.”

From observation of myself and others, I think that most of us need wiser and more beneficial use of our “free time” to cultivate a rich and rewarding spiritual life.  We wither because we are not nourished.  We are not nourished because we do not know what will truly provide the food we need for spiritual growth.  Nor do we truly know our needs for wisdom, truth, beauty, goodness, divine love.  

As a whole, the American people, our people, use most of their free time for nearly anything but spiritual growth and development.  What do we do?  We “entertain ourselves,” we “shop until we drop,” we “watch sports,” we “surf the net,” we “hang out in bars,” or we “make some money.”  Basic necessities of life must be met, but most of us have hours each week when we are free from required duties or from “making a living.”  How we use that free time is the problem.  What is “leisure,” and how does one use it?

Granted that some use of “free time” may profitably be spent in entertainment or “relaxing” in one way or another, the substantial part of free time could and should be the opportunity to cultivate one’s spirit; to grow in wisdom and learning; to learn to live well and happily; to commune with nature, with dear friends, with God.  

For many people, it seems, participating regularly in freely chosen “religious services” can be a form of cultivating one’s spiritual life.  But simply attending a service, and not being attentive, or prayerful, or present in mind, or nourished by the experience, may be more of an habitual duty than a true exercise in spiritual development.  “Going to church” is no guarantee that one is growing spiritually as a human being.  In fact, one may simply be inculcating habits of laziness, or letting the mind drift without focus or purpose.  

“What are you seeking?”  What ought one seek?  And how?  And what means are available to help us in the search?  

Do Animals Have Souls? Do They "Go To Heaven"?

Several years ago, while eating a meal with three other Catholic priests, the claim was made that “animals do not have souls.” I had been praising my dog, Rummy, for his high intelligence and most gentle personality. In response, the three priests firmly asserted that “in Catholic doctrine, animals do not have souls, and they do not go to heaven.” The response I gave did not impress the priests, for they clung to their position. We need to be less dogmatic, more open on such questions.

Here, in brief, is my response: First, I do not take my bearings on such controversial questions from supposed “Catholic teaching” (which regarding animals is highly diverse over centuries); rather, we need to consult experience examined by reason. Second, it is very odd, if not sheerly contradictory, to say that “animals do not have souls.” The priests with whom I was speaking all knew Latin, so they should have known better. “Animal” is derived from the Latin word “anima,” which means “soul.” According to ancient understanding, preserved in Latin, animals are beings having soul (anima). The evidence is that they are self-moving and feeling, and give evidence of some thinking. In the case of dogs, they can reason about cause and effect, and clearly are capable of making choices. To claim that they “have no souls” denies experience.

Now, do dogs and such creatures “go to heaven”? Do human beings “go to heaven”? For the present, let this suffice: All life is in God, who is “not the God of the dead, but of the living.” To live is to share in what we call God. To die is a cessation of biological processes. If any creature lives beyond death--as we surely trust we do--it is not because of some power of their own, but because of God. Each lives by God’s free gift. And consider the words of Pope John Paul: “When God gives life, He gives it forever.” Only to human beings? Why? I put it this way: In God each being lives forever, for God is forever. “Because I live, you will live,” as Jesus said. To exclude non-human creatures from God’s gift seems arrogantly human-centered to me.

As we approach Christmas, the Feast of the Incarnation, please reflect on the humble wisdom of a beautiful medieval poem, known as the “Magnum Mysterium,” “the great mystery.” I am longing to set this to music:

O great Mystery, and wonderful Sacrament,
that animals should see the LORD
lying in a manger.

A Note On Spiritual Preparation

One often hears that “Advent is a time of spiritual preparation,” and so it should be. (Indeed, every moment of our lives should be a time of preparing for God.) But what is this “spiritual preparation,” and what is one suppose to prepare for?

Perhaps the prophet Amos answered that “what for” most concisely: “O Israel, prepare to meet your God.” In light of Christ, we know that the goal of human life is a complete union with God, “I living in you, you living in Me.” Along the way to complete union, each of us is offered opportunities to encounter the true and living God. The moments of divine-human encounter may be rare or happen more often, but they are life-transforming. In Advent the Church invites us to concentrate our minds and hearts on awaiting our complete union with God, and preparing to meet him here and now, as the LORD wills--and we cooperate.

What is a fitting “spiritual preparation”? “Be watchful,” “pray,” “keep alert,” for “even now the axe is laid to root of the tree.” Recall that in last week’s Gospel, we heard Jesus tell us, Watch!” But he did not tell you what to watch for, or how to watch. He left that utterly open: “Be attentive!” And then we have the classic call, “Repent, for the Reign of God is at hand.” Let’s flesh those words out a little: “Change your heart, your attitude, your ways, because God’s Presence is here and now. Open up to it.” Consider, too, the negative preparation that each must go through in life’s trials and preparations: giving up our illusions, our false expectations, our insistence that God dance to our tunes, our foolish attempts to force God into history. It is, rather, for us to adjust our ways to the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty, and not seek to manipulate God by magic spells, illusory beliefs, selfish demands, special words. And that spiritual work is far more demanding than we may have yet understood.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Listen, open your heart, attend to His Presence. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Without the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, you and I cannot open up to the Divine Presence, to live in God and for God. By the Spirit we “give up childish ways” and “enter into the joy of our LORD.” Easy to say, but in reality, “costing nothing less than everything.”

26 November 2011

Advent In The Church Year

The Catholic Church has placed the Season of Advent at the beginning of the Church year, which suggests its importance to Catholic faith life. On the other hand, the first and greatest of our Catholic celebrations is and has been for two thousand years "the Feast of the Resurrection” of Christ (now called “Easter,” after a Phoenician goddess!). So as the Church year begins with Advent, the year pivots and climaxes on the Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, Easter. Just as Lent is the season preparing for Easter, historically Advent prepares for the Feast of the Incarnation (Christmas), even though Advent is essentially more than a preparation for Christmas.

It is good to keep in mind that every Catholic liturgy celebrates what God has done for the world in Jesus Christ. Different seasons of the year emphasize different aspects on this one mystery of God-in-Christ: Suffering, death, Resurrection of Christ; incarnation, birth, Motherhood of Mary; baptism, ministry, teaching of Jesus; the giving of the Spirit, the growth of Christ in His Church, evangelizing the world. All are aspects or movements within the same mystery of Christ, of God-in-man-for-us (Emmanuel). As preparation for “the End,” as well as for Christmas, Advent fits into this single-mystery reality being celebrated by the Church.

There is, however, a surplus of meaning to Advent, so the season indeed transcends the distinctly Christian revelation of God-in-man, Christ, and moves the faithful towards openness to the whole divine mystery. In truth, each Christian celebration is grounded on the ultimate mystery of God. But Advent especially moves the faithful into darkness: an awareness that no one truly knows God but God, and that the One we await is far beyond our grasp and understanding. Indeed, all of reality--all of the Cosmos and history--are grounded in this one divine Mystery. And it is the everpresent background truth of Advent to keep the reality of divine Mystery before the hearts and minds of the faithful. Hence, properly understood, Advent should remind us of our common humanity under God, and increase our sense of solidarity with all human beings who await ultimate fulfillment, not in themselves, but in the Mystery we call “God.” Something of what this means will be explored in our Advent liturgies.

The Man Who Would NOT Be King

Each year, as the Solemnity of Christ the King comes around to conclude the Church Year, pointing towards Advent, I find myself wrestling with the name, “Christ the King.” Given the lowly birth of Jesus; given his “working class” origins; given his dignity and humility; given his God-forsaken, self-sacrificial death for us; and especially given the fact that he explicitly rejected being made a king and his attitude towards the title Messiah” (Christ), is it not odd that we in the Church now call Jesus a “King”? And even more for us in the United States of America, with our Founders’ emphasis on freedom and the equality of all under God, is it not a little jarring to call a man our “King”? The title “King” for Jesus is disturbing or empty for many of us, and that should be admitted. Unless one has just accepted the title without thinking about it, “King” does not seem suitably to describe Jesus of Nazareth.

What is the truth that is rather poorly presented in the phrase, “Christ the King?” What Christian experiences are being expressed in the phrase? Or what beliefs about Jesus are being summarized?

First, a disciple of Jesus believes that Christ is indeed “the way, the truth, and the life,” and that as such, He is the true ruler of human hearts. Hence, he could be called “the king of hearts,” for by love he rules over human beings. In this sense, to say, “Jesus is my king” means “I obey Christ as my true master, my ruler, my guide to God.”

Second, Christians believe that Jesus deserves full respect and obedience from every human being, for he died for each and for all, “to bring us to God.” In his utter humility and self-giving love, Jesus is far more truly the rightful ruler or “king” of humankind than any political leader--king, president, prime minister--could ever be.

Third, the title “Christ the King” is equivalent to saying, “Jesus Christ is the good shepherd.” Again, the experience underneath the words is a strong sense and conviction that through faithful obedience to Jesus and his Gospel, a person is gradually becoming fully one with the mystery that we call “God.” In this sense, Christ is God’s agent to bring human beings to full union with the Creator of all that exists.

In sum, let us suggest a few different phrases to communicate these and similar meanings: “Christ the Bridge between God and man,” “Jesus Christ the way to life eternal,” “Jesus the LORD of love,” “Christ our faithful guide home.” Far more and better than being “a king,” I would say.

08 November 2011

Why Do We Pray For The Dead?

I have often been asked, “Why do Catholics pray for the dead?”  Sometimes I answer:  “We don’t pray for the dead, we pray for the living.”

Am I merely playing with words, or far worse, avoiding the reality of death--the way our culture usually avoids the reality of death?  Not at all.  When a creature dies, he or she dies.  When a human being dies, our bodies die.  But does that mean that human beings enter a state of death?  Surely the body “lies in death,” and so it is fittingly buried in the ground:  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust....”

Return to the question: “Why pray for the dead? 

After all, are they not `dead and gone’?” Remember in the Gospels when Sadducees, who believed that “when you are dead you are dead,” tried to trap Jesus in a clever question about “resurrection,” and “whose wife would she be in the resurrection?”  They thought that they were being so clever, and making a fool of Jesus.  He turned the tables on them, and gave what I consider the most brilliant interpretation of a Scriptural passage I have ever read (drawing from both Mark 12:24-27 and Luke 20:34-38):

“Is not this why you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?... The children of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither mary nor are given in marriage.  For they cannot die any more, because they equal to angels and are sons of God, being children of the resurrection.  And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses [Exodus], in the passage about the bush, how God said to Moses, `I AM the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?  He is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all are alive to Him.”  

The ones whom we unthinkingly call “dead” are indeed “alive to God.”  And that is what matters.  So we pray to God for them, as we pray for one another with thanksgiving:  That we will grow forever in our love and knowledge of God, and that “God will be all in all” (I Corinthians 15).

A First Note On The Appreciation Of Music

Last evening in the home of parishioners I tried introducing people to Wagner's "Liebestod," the famous "Love-death," which concludes his music drama, Tristan und Isolde.  The immediate reaction to hearing the soprano voice (of Birgit Nilsson) was sharply negative.  "I don't like soprano voices," and so on.  For those unfamiliar with der Liebestod, it is by no means "a song" or "an aria" in the usual sense, but virtual splashes of sound set to Wagner's own highly idiosyncratic, even bizarre poetry, as Isolde joins her lover in death. Her voice displays ecstatic cries, especially as the music reaches its evident orgiastic climax. The music is as sexually explicit as any I have ever heard, and is extremely masterful in its ability to incite passions in the audience of Wagner's drama.   As I said to the family present, "Everyone ought to listen to the "Liebestod" at least once before death."  It is unforgettable music.  

Although one of those present said, that "one must be raised with that kind of music" in order to appreciate it, in reality I was not raised with Wagner, nor with opera, nor with serious vocal music at all.  One must cultivate one's ability to enjoy various arts, and especially the incredible variety of music over the centuries and across cultures. In my home, I heard popular music and jazz more than anything else, but some "classical music" on occasion.   My father loved Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and especially Gershwin, American jazz, and big band music--all of which I can appreciate to this day.  My mother liked pop music on the radio, and country western (which my father hated and mocked); but my mother's special love was for the "golden oldies" from the 1920's through the 1950's or so.  My father's father, a truck driver, loved opera, and especially Italian opera, and I remember at least once seeing him sit by the radio listening to opera, although the memory may be reconstructed from what my father told me about his father.  The strongest influence on my appreciation of serious music came from my sister.  She took piano lessons, and would often play sonatas by Beethoven, music by Bach, and so on.  

One incident stands out as highly formative in my ability to appreciate serious music:  One day, when I was five years old (living in Rochester, New York), my sister had me lie down on the sofa when I came home from school, and she played for me a recording of Grieg's famous "In the hall of the mountain king" from his "Peer Gynt Suite."  She told me the story briefly, and I could picture being chased down the mountain by an ogre.  What a gift she gave me at that moment.  That really began my love of serious music.  

But all loves take work and cultivation, and over the years I have spent much effort teaching myself to appreciate good music.  Sometimes I study scores, or at least follow them as I listen to music.  But often, I simply listen to a composition, and try to think about what I am hearing, and observe what effects the music has on my soul (mind, feelings).  Self-education in one's ability to appreciate beauty is crucial in life.  Simply to put the mind in neutral, and listen passively, is lazy, and deprives one of the joy of discovery what the composer was doing in the music, and how the artists are interpreting it and communicating it to listeners.  Again, to learn to appreciate any art takes much effort and study, although initial sparks can come spontaneously.  This experience fully parallels human love:  there can be an initial spark of "falling in love," but real love takes much work, many choices, and "dying to self" in various ways.  So it is with enjoying and appreciating music, poetry, painting, photography, philosophy.  To live well takes much work.  Why should the appreciation of music be different? It is not.

Now, regarding the case of Wagner's "Liebestod" ("Love-death") that concludes Tristan und Isolde:  I know well the problems with Wagner, not only from reading Nietzsche's analysis, but from listening and observing the effects on the soul.  Wagner's ability to move the passions is amazing, and must have been the main reason Hitler so loved Wagner's music dramas, and tried writing an opera in Wagner's style.  The Nazi sense of drama on a grand scale owed much to Wagner, and we know that Wagner's heirs and the Nazis formed some very close ties, but I really doubt that Wagner would have been a Nazi.  (Nietzsche would have hated the Nazi movement as a most degenerate form of herd mentality, although the National Socialists made much use of bowdlerized passages from Nietzsche's writings.)  But there is a similarity between Wagner and Hitler which has been widely observed:  Manipulation of the masses was the common thrust.  The way that Hitler could move masses in his hysterical and histrionic rants had been anticipated in the moving of masses through music, and perhaps most notably through the intoxication and delirium effected at the Wagnerian Bayreuth festivals.  

In the generation before Wagner, of course, there was Beethoven, who clearly unleashed a new era in the musical manipulation of passions in his highly revolutionary Eroica Symphony (1803)--the composition that must be the single most influential work in the history of modern western music.  From its opening crashing chords, Beethoven brilliantly and most effectively communicates his rage at existence through orchestral sound.  Although the Eroica is magnificently composed, and much "rock music" is dashed off mindless sound, these musical works have in common the immediate expression of feelings, and especially of intense anger.  (For his part, Wagner's soul is much less driven by rage than was Beethoven's, but both exemplify Nietzsche's analysis of "die Wille zur Macht," "the will to power.")  One can go further back to Luther's hymns, such as "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," ("A mighty fortress is out God"), to observe music as propaganda for a modern mass movement.  The composer seeks not only to express himself, but to assert his will over the minds and hearts of hearers.  This will to power is clearly evident in the examples noted, but grows in intensity and effectiveness over time, from Luther's hymns, to some of Beethoven's symphonies, to Wagner's music dramas, up to the Nazi movement.  As an example of Nazi art as will to power, and as a spiritual successor to Beethoven-Wagner, see the brilliant and artistic masterpiece by Leni Riefenstahl, "The Triumph of the Will."  The viewer is moved to feel awe and even "reverence" at the Nazi heroes and "ideals" displayed on the screen.  This is effective (and damaging) propaganda.

There may be truth in the claim all art can have an element of manipulation in it.  But surely not all art is destructive or malformative of the human soul.  What matters is not only the purpose of the art, but whether it instills restraint and self-control, or wild abandonment, in the human psyche.  This claim needs further exploration and proof, but let it suffice for the present to note that Wagner, for one, intoxicated his hearers-viewers.  While I can readily appreciate Wagner's skill in manipulating his audience, much of it is, at the same time, degenerate art, as Nietzsche came to understand.   One can allow oneself a little Wagner, without being corrupted.  Or a little rock music, without being corrupted.  But much exposure to highly manipulative art corrupts the soul badly, whether the music be that of Wagner, or much of rock music.   This ought to be clear to anyone who understands music and the human soul.  

Palestrina, Tallis, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, for examples, elevate and refresh, with minimal corruption. Listening to true spiritual masterpieces in music can indeed elevate, ennoble the soul, and even give its glimpses of "the Beyond," of union with the One manifested in the many.  Again, this issue needs much further exploration, but let the bald statement suffice for the present.  This much is clear, and needs to be understood by parents and educators:   Healthy souls create healthy music; sick souks create sick music, and spread their disease.  The disorder of rock is very harmful to children--often, it is poison.  And yet the hearers do not know it, and parents wonder why their children seem to become unruly, at worst, young criminals in the making.   Degenerate music contributes, by breaking down order in the soul, and instilling lawlessness, disharmony, and sheer immersion in destructive, excessively passionate forces in the soul.  By contrast, Tallis, or Bach, or Haydn, cultivate the sense of beauty, of balance, and surely educate the intellect in studying what is good and beautiful.  And they calm and help order the soul.  At their best, the truly great composers help to elevate the human soul into God through the love of the beautiful and union with the One.  (Again, this truth needs much more development.)

All of this, and more, was analyzed by Plato in the Republic, written in the 4th century before Christ. Education in good music is crucial.  Bad music, bad art, corrupts.  Anyone with sense can understand that. Just listen and reflect on the effects in one's soul.

05 September 2011

We Are Parts Of A Larger Whole

The strengths and weaknesses of individual human beings, and of functioning communities, are often closely related. An evident strength in our four small faith communities could be called "closeness," in the sense that many of us are related to one another, most parishioners in each community know one another, and our lives are shared in intimate and meaningful ways.

A potential weakness arising from such communal closeness is that "outsiders" may not feel welcomed, or even not be included as living members of our communities. With a number of new members arriving from Great Falls, it is both necessary and fitting that Belt, Centerville, Raynesford, and Monarch welcome these individuals, and treat them as equal members of the faith communities, as real brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, trained and talented lectors, Eucharistic ministers, teachers, and musicians ought to be included in assigning ministers to serve. Including them in rotations should begin as soon as possible.

A second potential weakness of closely-knit faith communities, such as we have here, is that we can forget that we are parts of a larger Whole much greater than Belt or "the Gulch". That we are living members of the world of nature is well understood in Montana, partly because nature in her wonders and power impresses herself upon us. As human beings, we are also members of the whole human community that includes everyone living on the earth now, and all who have lived, and all who will live on this planet. We are parts of the body of humankind. As Catholic Christians, we are also living and functioning members of the worldwide Catholic Church, and also of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings. As members of the Diocese, we must follow diocesan policies respectfully. For example, a functioning finance council is not an option, but is demanded by church and diocesan policy.

We are not to act as "lone rangers" absorbed in ourselves, or in our own little communal worlds. We have binding obligations beyond the boundaries of self, family, friends, community. Without losing our closeness, we must seek to be functioning members of the greater Whole. As the priest stationed here, it is my duty to help integrate us ever more fully into the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, into the whole Catholic church and her age-old traditions, and into the one human family.

06 August 2011

Little Thoughts On The Feast Of The Transfiguration-06 August 2011

Time and will permitting, I may or may not return to flesh out these little thoughts, but if I do not write them down now, they, too, will be “gone with the wind.”  So we write.

At the end of Goethe’s great poem-play, Faust, stands a summary poem through which the soul may ascend towards the One from which all things come forth.  We read, in part:  “Alles vergaengliche is nur ein Gleichnis...”  “Everything transitory is but a likeness.”  All that exists is in some way a likeness of that which simply IS, that which many of us call “God.”  All beings and all things manifest, in a manifold of ways, the One beyond and within all.

Another way to express the truth of reality experienced here and now is that everything is theophanous:  every moment, every thing, every being, every person presents to the wondering soul the One living and true God in some way.  Everything good presents something of God’s goodness.  And even the lack of goodness serves the vision of God, for the very lack reminds the desiring mind of that which is utterly and simply good.  And that is what by tradition we call “God.”  

In a moment, in a few words spoken heart to heart, in the sound of beautiful music that lifts the soul, in the dancing shadows seen through the windowpane, a passing being glimpses that which does not pass, but always IS, even as it passes by the gazing, wondering mind.  Or to express the underlying experience in words borrowed from the Jewish mystic, Martin Buber:  “In every you we meet, we gaze towards the train of the eternal You.”
You spoke to my heart, and I heard your words, I heard what you said.  Yes, it was your passing human being that I heard.  But in and through your words, I heard not only you, dear soul, but I heard the One for whom we are made for heart-to-heart communion, now and forever.  You spoke, and the One spoke in and through you.  You touched your heart as you spoke, and the Almighty pierced the depths of my heart “with a love that was more than love.”
*** 
I am not really “a parish priest,” but a man, a human being, sent to help open these particular human beings to the reality we call God.  Who sent me?  The Almighty, I trust, through the decision of the local bishop.  
Our one goal is “to get to God,” using the phrase from St. Ignatius of Antioch, the old man on his way to be fed to lions in Rome.  Our goal is God, and the way is love.  Or more fully, the way is “faith working through love.”  Faith is the radical trust of the soul in the unseen God, the One shining through each moment of loving attention  And love is the divine Presence itself moving the soul to seek, to find, to delight forever in the goodness of the One.  And the way and the goal are one:  by God we come to God; by love we move into the mystery of Love.  
There is no other way that I know to get from here to there.
What else is life for?
You spoke--but not only you--
a word and not a word,
I heard but not only this I
Your voice and not your voice,
within but not within,
there, but not only there.
It was you, and it was You.
To God be the glory now and forever.

02 July 2011

St. Mark's and Missions Bulletin, July 3, 2011




St. Mark's Catholic Church and Missions

Effective July 1, I am assigned to the parish of St. Mark the Evangelist in Belt and its three mission churches of Holy Trinity in Centerville, St. Mary in Raynesford and St. Clement in Monarch. Following is the weekend Mass schedule for all four locations:

Saturday: 4:00 pm - Monarch
Saturday:  6:00 pm - Raynesford

Sunday: 8:30 am - Belt
Sunday: 11:00 am - Centerville

26 June 2011

My Schedule For Week Beginning June 27, 2011

This is my last week in the cluster parishes of Most Blessed Sacrament, St. Joseph's and St. Luke's. My first Mass at Belt will be on Friday, July 1st.

Tues. 6/28:
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 6/29:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

Thurs. 6/30:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's - Fr. Jay will substitute for me so I can continue to move into the Belt rectory.

Fri. - 7/01:
Feast of the Sacred Heart
8:00 am - Mass at St. Mark's - Belt

21 June 2011

My Schedule For Week Beginning June 20, 2011

Tues. 6/21:
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 6/22:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament followed by the Lady of Perpetual Help devotion

Thurs. 6/23:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's

Fri. 6/24:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sat. 6/25:
4:30 pm - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
5:30 pm - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sun. 6/26:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
1:00-3:00 pm - Potluck at Black Eagle Park
6:00 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

14 June 2011

My Schedule For Week Beginning June 13, 2011

Tues. 6/14:
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 6/15:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

Thurs. 6/16:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
 
Fri. 6/17:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

Sat. 6/18:
4:30 pm - Confessions at St. Joseph's
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Joseph's

Sun. 6/19:
9:00 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:00 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

12 June 2011

Quote from Alan John Percivale Taylor (1906-1990):

There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment - and nothing more corrupting.

More to come.

07 June 2011

Summer Mass Schedule for St. Mark's and Missions

Effective July 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011, the summer Mass schedule for Belt, Centerville, Raynesford, and Monarch is as follows:

Saturday:  
4:00 pm - Monarch (St. Clement)
6:00 pm - Raynesford (St. Mary)

Sunday:
8:30 am - Belt (St. Mark)
11:00 am - Centerville (Holy Trinity)

The winter schedule, which will begin October 1, will be decided later.

My schedule for Week beginning June 6, 2011

Tues. 6/07:
10:30 am - Mass at the Rainbow
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 6/08:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament followed by the Lady of Perpetual Help devotion

Thurs. 6/09:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:45 pm - Faith class at St. Joseph's

Fri. 6/10:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sat. 6/11:
4:30 pm - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
5:30 pm - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sun. 6/12:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:00 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

31 May 2011

My Schedule For Week Beginning May 30, 2011

Tues. 5/31:
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 6/01:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

Thurs. 6/02:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:45 pm - Faith class at St. Joseph's

Fri. 6/03:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

Sat. 6/04:
10:00 am - Reinhardt funeral
4:30 pm - Confessions at St. Joseph's
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Joseph's

Sun. 6/05:
9:00 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:00 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

24 May 2011

Tentative Mass Schedule for St. Mark's and Missions

Effective July 1, this is the tentative weekend Mass schedule for St. Mark's in Belt, and the mission parishes of Centerville, Monarch and Raynesford:

Saturdays:
To be rotated between Raynesford and Monarch. Raynesford will be the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays, and Monarch will be the 2nd and 4th Saturdays. During the summer months, Mass will be at 5:00 pm. During the winter months, Mass will be at 3:00 pm.

Sundays:
St. Mark's - 8:30 am;
Centerville - 11:00 am

My Schedule For Week Beginning May 23, 2011

Tues. 5/24:
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 5/25:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament followed by the Lady of Perpetual Help devotion

Thurs. 5/26:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:45 pm - Faith class at St. Joseph's

Fri. 5/27:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sat. 5/28:
5:30 pm - Wedding at St. Joseph's. Fr. Jay will hear confessions at 5:00 pm and celebrate Mass at 5:30 pm at Most Blessed Sacrament.

Sun. 5/29:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:00 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

20 May 2011

Assignment for Thursday, May 26, 2011

We began discussing Eucharistic Prayer III on Thursday, May 19. Please finish reading it, and come to class with any questions or thoughts you may have:

Eucharistic Prayer III:

Thanksgiving
Father, you are holy indeed, and all creation rightly gives you praise.  All life, all holiness comes from you through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, by the working of the Holy Spirit.  From age to age you gather a people to yourself, so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name.

Epiclesis
And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. We ask you to make them holy by the power of your Spirit, that they may become the body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this eucharist.

Institution Narrative
On the night he was betrayed, he took bread and gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you. When supper was ended, he took the cup.  Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.  It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.

Anamnesis
Father, calling to mind the death your Son endured for our salvation, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, and ready to greet him when he comes again, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.

Epiclesis
Look with favor on your Church's offering, and see the Victim whose death has reconciled us to yourself.  Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ.

Intercessions
May he make us an everlasting gift to you and enable us to share in the inheritance of your saints, with Mary, the virgin Mother of God, with the apostles, the martyrs, (Saint N. – the saint of the day or the patron saint) and all your saints, on whose constant intercession we rely for help. Lord, may this sacrifice, which has made our peace with you, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Strengthen in faith and love your pilgrim Church on earth; your servant, Pope N., our Bishop N., and all the bishops, with the clergy and the entire people your Son has gained for you.  Father, hear the prayers of the family you have gathered here before you.  In mercy and love unite all your children wherever they may be.Welcome into your kingdom our departed brothers and sisters, and all who have left this world in your friendship.  We hope to enjoy for ever the vision of your glory, through Christ our Lord, from whom all good things come.

Intercessions in Masses for the Deceased
Remember N.  In baptism he (she) died with Christ may he (she) also share his resurrection, when Christ will raise our mortal bodies and make them like his own in glory. Welcome into your kingdom our departed brothers and sisters, and all who have left this world in your friendship.  There we hope to share in your glory when every tear will be wiped away.  On that day we shall see you, our God, as you are.  We shall become like you and praise you for ever through Christ our Lord, from whom all good things come.

18 May 2011

My Schedule For Week Beginning May 16, 2011

Tues. 5/17:
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 5/18:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

Thurs. 5/19:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:45 pm - Faith class at St. Joseph's

Fri. 5/20:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

Sat. 5/21:
4:30 pm - Confessions at St. Joseph's
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Joseph's

Sun. 5/22:
9:00 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:00 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

11 May 2011

New Faith Class Series Begins Thursday, May 12, 2011

Beginning Thursday, May 12, I will offer a 6 week course on the Catholic Mass, which will include the structure of the Mass, Christ's Presence, and Response of the Faithful.

We will meet from 6:45 pm-8:00 pm at St. Joseph's parish center.

My Schedule For Week Beginning May 9, 2011


Tues. 5/10:
10:30 am - Mass at the Rainbow
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 5/11:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament followed by the Lady of Perpetual Help devotion

Thurs. 5/12:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:45 pm - Faith class at St. Joseph's

Fri. 5/13:
11:00 am - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:30 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sat. 5/14:
4:30 pm - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
5:30 pm - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sun. 5/15:
9:00 am - Mass at St. Luke's
6:00 pm - Mass at St. Luke's

03 May 2011

My Schedule for Week Beginning May 1, 2011

I am on vacation until Friday, May 6:

Fri. 5/06:
7:45 am - Mass at St. Joseph's
 
Sat. 5/07:
4:30-5:00 pm - Confessions at St. Joseph's
5:30 pm - Mass at St. Joseph's
 
Sun. 5/08:
9:00 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:00 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

23 April 2011

My Schedule For Week Beginning 4/23/11

Holy Saturday, 4/23:
9:00 pm - Con-celebrating Mass with Fr. Lou at Our Lady Of Lourdes

Easter Sunday, 4/24:
9:00 am - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament
11:00 am - Mass at St. Joseph's

After Easter Sunday, I will be taking a very much needed break, and will be on vacation until Thursday, May 5.

May you all have a very blessed and joyful Easter season!



19 April 2011

Adult Faith Classes Will Resume In May

Beginning Thursday, May 12, I will offer a 6 week course on the Catholic Mass, which will include the structure of the Mass, Christ's Presence, and Response of the Faithful.

We will meet from 6:45pm-8:00pm at St. Joseph's parish center.

16 April 2011

How Does One Know God's Will? Part II:

What one needs to know to do God’s will was outlined in the previous post. Now let us ask the more difficult question:  How does one do God’s will, or enter into God’s will?

The spiritual life is not essentially a matter of knowledge nor of information, but of loving practice.  Loving practice is first and foremost the renunciation of self in all of its forms.  How does one do God’s will?  As noted previously, by loving aright.  But let us descend into our hearts and consider the process more closely.

To begin to do God’s will, one must want to do God’s will.  The will to will God’s will is essential.  One must have the attitude which Jesus displayed clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane:  “Father, let this cup pass by me; but not my will, but yours be done.”  The will to do God’s will begins with a free renunciation of one’s own will.  “You cannot serve two masters.”  This means that one cannot want what one wants and at the same time, to the same degree, want what God wants.  God, not oneself, must be placed first, held in higher esteem, respected, loved, worshiped.  

More concretely yet:  To do the will of God, one must begin in prayer or in quiet thought.  In this utterly simple condition, one asks for nothing, demands nothing, thinks about nothing in particular.  But one can usefully begin a prayer of quiet or silent thought by making explicit acts of renunciation.  One gives up oneself to God, for God, and even by the unseen grace (help) of God.  One proceeds in utter trust, expecting nothing else but to enter into God.

Let us give an example of a beginning meditation to do God’s will:  “I renounce hatred, including of the person I most dislike.  I renounce a desire for revenge.  I renounce, or let go, of all desires for power, for fame, for money.  I renounce the desire to escape into a world of my own, into what I want.  I renounce my freedom apart from God.  I renounce all that I hope for, my dreams, my wishes, my plans.  I let go of attachment to what I most love, to my family, to my friends.  I renounce the attachment to all of my possessions, even those I most like and love.  I renounce attachment to myself, to my desires, to my past, to my memories, to the ways that I like things.  I renounce for God all that I have been or hope to be.   LORD God, it is You I want above all else, regardless of whatever You do with me.  I place myself completely at your disposal, to do with me as You think best.  Not my will, but yours be done.”

That renunciation of self, and free giving of oneself to God, is, I believe, the essence and foundation of “doing God’s will.”  All else is secondary, and must be built on this foundation, to which one must return and again and again.  And why?  Because self-love, self-will, self-absorption in all of its forms is part of the human condition, and the primary force against which each of us must struggle again and again, if indeed we wish to love God first and foremost, to do God’s will.

15 April 2011

My Schedule For Week Beginning April 16, 2011

Sat. 4/16:
4:30-5:00pm - Confessions at Most Blessed Sacrament
5:30pm - Mass at Most Blessed Sacrament

Sun. 4/17:
9:00am - Mass at St. Luke's
2:00pm - Vigil service for Paul Kuntz at St. Luke's

Mon. 4/18:
10:00am - Funeral Mass for Paul Kuntz at St. Luke's followed by burial and reception

Tues. 4/19:
10:30am - Mass at the Rainbow
5:30pm - Mass at St. Luke's

Wed. 4/20:
7:00pm- Mass at St. Joseph's

Thurs. 4/21:
7:00pm - Preaching at the Mass of the Lord's Supper

Fri. 4/22:
3:00pm - Good Friday service at Most Blessed Sacrament

14 April 2011

How Does One Know God's Will?

A First Note on this question.
 
In the past several days, a parishioner asked me, “How do you know what is God’s will?”  In the context, she was asking, in effect, “How do I know what God’s will is for me?”  And she was implying the question, “Can anyone know God’s will?”  These questions are very good ones to ponder, especially because some of us may be going through various trials in our lives, and we wonder, “What is God’s will in this?”  or “What would God have me do?”

At the outset, I must offer a disclaimer:  The question of “knowing God’s will” is extremely vast, and leads one into theological speculation on Who is God, on whether or not God is or has a “will,” on how one can know God at all, and whether or not “God’s will” is truly knowable for a human being.  Or in more simple terms, the question of God’s will raises far more questions than I can adequately handle.  So this note is a mere beginning, a highly imperfect and necessarily incomplete attempt to throw light on the question, “How do I know what God’s will is for me?”

A second precaution must be recognized:  Can anyone say with certainty, “I know God’s will for me?”  Even if one allowed that in a few cases, a particular person may know “for certain” what God’s will is for his or her life, I think it far wiser, and far truer to say:  Certain knowledge of God’s will is beyond us mortals, because God is utterly beyond our intellectual understanding.  We can know God’s general will towards all creatures, but asserting that one definitely knows exactly what God wills for one of us smells of pride and self-assurance, not of childhood trust, the essence of faith.  Or again, in truly loving, one can perhaps come as close as is humanly possible to knowing and doing God’s will.  For the rest of us, we must be content with struggling through faith to gain some knowledge, some understanding, of what the Almighty may “have in mind” for all of creation, or for an individual human being.  

Most directly, I claim no certain knowledge of God’s will for me, yet I seek to know and to do God’s will.  What is required is “faith working through love,” and not certain and absolute knowledge.  I believe that in Christ Jesus we see as much of God’s will for each and for all as is humanly possible, and as much as is needed to bring us to complete life in God.

Having said this, as men and women in Christ we can acknowledge a few guideposts to help us discern and to do God’s will:

First, because God is supremely good, and wills only good, and no evil, to do God’s will one must do what is truly good in any concrete situation, and renounce all desires to do harm to any creature.  Consider two basic assertions from the First Letter of John:  “In Him is light, and no darkness at all,” and “Anyone who says that he knows God and hates his brother or sister is a liar.”  God’s will is utterly good.

Second, all of the commandments of the Law, and the teachings of the great spiritual traditions, flesh out what Stoic philosophers and Christian theologians have called “the natural law,” the basic principle of which is utterly simple:  “Do no harm.”  In positive words, one must always seek to do what brings and supports life, goodness, peace, justice, love, spiritual growth.  Hence, it is quite easy and clear to see what is not according to “God’s will,” namely:  Hatred, killing, cruelty, infidelity, rejection of the truth, deceiving another, pretending to be what one is not, wishing harm to anyone, causing division in a person or in a community.  (Note that the literal meaning of the word in Greek translated “devil,” diabolos, means, “divider.”  And note the assertion in the writings of John, “The devil is a liar from the beginning.”)  Again, in positive terms, God’s will would support harmony, peace, good will among human beings, “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians).  Truly to love God and neighbor is indeed to do God’s will, for “God is love” (I John), and “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (I Corinthians).  And again, “Love does no harm to the neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law,” or God’s will (Romans).  

Third, in light of Christ, we can confidently say that it is God’s will that each human being seek the salvation, the eternal well-being, of every other creature. (“God wills that all be saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth.”).  In the person and work of Christ, we see God’s will for every creature, and as disciples of Christ, we must seek to imitate that will, that plan, to the best of our abilities, with God’s assistance (“grace”).  Consider the words of Jesus:  “Love one another, as I have loved you” (Gospel of John), and a particular form of love, “Forgive one another, as Christ has forgiven you” (Colossians).  And it is evidently God’s will that we “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians).  

To pull these brief remarks together, let us simply consider:  As we celebrate the events of Christ’s suffering, death, and Resurrection, let us realize that we are seeing God’s will for humankind made visible, and each of us is being invited to conform to the image of divine love made plain in Christ.  We must see, acknowledge, and imitate the love of God for all in Christ, most visible in His suffering, death, Resurrection.  What is God’s will for us here and now?  It includes this much, surely:  To suffer and to die with Christ, that we may “rise with Him to newness of life,” and to help others attain to “fullness of life in Him.”