Ouch 2024!

It's been a rough month. The problems of growing old are compounding the problems of chronic illness. The heat and humidity have been horrible. I have pain and exhaustion and occasional times of depression (the depression, remarkably, hasn’t been too bad). But writing continues to be more difficult. I don’t know why. Often I feel like I don’t know how to articulate the things that I am perceiving and learning as I grow older. My mind struggles more to engage in writing. It used to be a lot easier. Are my intellectual faculties beginning to slip? Or perhaps I am becoming more serious about writing for real communication rather than rhetorical display. I am no longer trying to cover up for the smallness of my understanding. Since writing requires energy, I want to write things that are real and worthwhile. I never realized how hard this is.

So in these days and weeks I have had some worries, some uncertainties, and plenty of ouches too, all of which entail suffering on different levels.

I know my suffering has meaning through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As I continue to learn about being human, and about the current and recent history of my fellow humans in this world, I discover more and more how much suffering (terrible suffering) pervades human life. There are no lack of opportunities to "co-suffer" with my brothers and sisters, to grow in empathy and compassion toward them, and to try to give the little that I have to help instruct, console, and encourage people—to try to be an instrument of Christ's healing and merciful love to those around me.

Meanwhile, I'm still irascible, judgmental, petty, and distracted. Growing older seems for me to entail more irascibility, less patience, more pettiness than ever, especially toward the people I love the most. It's humbling. For all the "physicality" of grouchiness that is rooted in the dragging tiredness of illness and old age, I am still "responsible" when I give in to it and make a "snappy" remark at my wife (note for future Church: you must CANONIZE Eileen Janaro!) or at JoJo—the "last of the kids" who still lives at home and therefore must deal with me every day. I'm still responsible for the love I failed to recognize calling out to me in those moments, and also for my pride—which is mostly hidden to me (though less hidden from my family and friends, thank God)—the mountain of pride that must be broken down and finally "cast into the sea" if I am ever to arrive at my destiny of eternal communion with the God who is Infinite Love.

Jesus, Mary, take over this whole mess. Save me, Jesus! Mary, untie the knots…

Come Holy Spirit, especially through the healing and nourishing sacraments of the Church. The sacraments are foundational: they are "events" that "happen" in your own personal history when you receive them—visible and tangible events through which Jesus gives you supernatural grace. Through this objective sacramental gift, our faith is also deepened. Our experience has "reference points" in incarnate, grace-giving encounters with Christ, and we learn to recognize and remember more and more that He is with us always, sustaining and shaping our ordinary lives according to the infinite measure of the Father's love.

Jesus wants to draw close to us especially in our sufferings—which He took upon Himself, endured, and transformed in the glory of His resurrection. If we suffer, it is ultimately because we are called to share in His redeeming love and be transformed into the eternal glory which is life forever in God's Infinite Love.

Without faith, it would be impossible to hope in the face of suffering. With faith, it is still often difficult.

Let us pray for one another, my friends, especially in times of great difficulty.

More Difficult Days for Ukraine

When we hear about ongoing violence in the world that doesn't immediately threaten us, we usually move beyond our initial reactions and "get used to it" as just another part of the daily news. The ubiquitous media of the global village don't increase our concern or empathy in the long run; if anything, they contribute to the numbness that takes hold when "someone else's war" becomes protracted, when "someone else's country" continues to be attacked, when war crimes and atrocities continue to be perpetrated against "someone else's" children, homes, schools, hospitals, and civil infrastructure.

Perhaps we remember to pray for a just and lasting peace. I hope we remember to pray for peace. Indeed, we need to pray for miracles to resolve some of these conflicts.

Russian troops are "advancing" in Eastern Ukraine, and massive drone strikes are still launched daily against Ukrainian cities, aiming primarily at damaging as much as possible electrical infrastructure. We have heard about the exhaustion of the Ukrainian people from this two-and-a-half years of aggression by Putinist Russia's unapologetically imperialist full-scale invasion. And yet, they continue to find the strength to defend themselves. Teams of specialists continue to find ways to restore power and essential services in the wake of the continual Russian barrage. But the extent of the damage is increasing. Will there be enough power to meet people's needs as winter approaches?

We have also heard recently that Ukrainian drones are bombing targets inside of Russia. But this is fundamentally different: Ukraine is aiming at military targets. Ukraine's bombs are trying to destroy the weapons that are being used to attack Ukrainian defense forces and civilian population. By contrast, Russian bombs are aimed to dismantle Ukrainian cities and wear down the Ukrainian people by afflicting them as much as possible. The goal is to chastise and debilitate Ukraine until it is willing to surrender its national identity (or at least some portion of it) to the Putinist Empire.

A similar point needs to be made about military movements. Russia invaded Ukraine with its military forces, first by annexing Crimea in 2014 and "helping" puppet "rebellions" in the Eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine has been fighting this partial invasion for nine years. The "full-scale invasion" of all of Ukraine began on February 24, 2024. Russian forces were and remain invaders, attackers. They are nothing less than a huge band of robbers! On the other hand, when Ukrainian forces "invaded" Russian territory on August 6 by advancing into the Kursk region, their intention was not to take over Russian land as such, but only to gain access to places where the invaders are coming from, as part of the overall aim of stopping the invasion. The challenge for Ukrainians is to stay focused on ending the invasion of their country, and not give in to the temptation to take revenge on the Russians.

The longer this war lasts, the greater this temptation becomes. And revenge only creates pretexts for further violence from the other side. Historically, ongoing cycles of violence generate entrenched hatred between neighboring peoples.

It is hard to resist the temptation to hate one's enemies. It is hard to continue to recognize in one's enemies their inviolable dignity as human persons even as one continues to fight in defense against their attacks. This doesn't mean that one has to "like" one's enemies or "feel good" about them. It also corresponds to the demand that the leading perpetrators of violence be brought to justice and make amends.

But the trauma and horror of war can quickly cause human reason and love to be drowned by the clamor of human passions. Ruthlessness presents itself under the disguise of being more efficient... and more selfishly satisfying. The power of these illusions in human history underscore the urgent aspiration for peace in the world today. War solves nothing. It is a tragedy. As Pope Francis continually reminds us, “war is a defeat for humanity.”

The Ukrainian people continue to have war thrust upon them, and they must defend themselves in view of attaining a just and lasting peace. As the war continues, they must face greater spiritual and material dangers. We have seen their ingenuity, bravery, and toughness. We must pray that they continue to be strong, and to grow also in a heroic love of God and their neighbors, their fellow Ukrainians and the Russians too. Many terrible wounds need to be healed. Many violations of human dignity need to be acknowledged with sorrow and repaired (insofar as this is possible); and ultimately there needs to be forgiveness.

All of this would seem to require a miracle. (For the expanding war in the Middle East - which I'll address at another time - many miracles are needed. As the map above shows, these two conflicts are geographically closer to each other than we might think.) We need to pray for miracles, for hearts to be converted to Christ the Prince of Peace, for nations of the world to have not only the resources but also the wisdom and courage to help the Ukrainian people disingenuously - not seeking their own advantage but what really serves the good and helps open the roads to authentic peace.

Saint Augustine Found the Truth in Jesus Christ and His Church

Happy Feast of Saint Augustine!

The story of Augustine’s conversion is famous. Here is the text from an article I wrote n Magnificat long ago. I have been “recycling” older writings a bit more frequently lately, because I have been ill. These are stories and themes that never go “out of date.”

I have a further study of Augustine’s basic theological significance that is part of a chapter in my 2003 book, The Created Person and the Mystery of God. If I can find a digital copy of that book, I’ll share this section with you in the days to come. (Overall, the book is okay—some parts are better than others, and I would write a very different kind of book today, if I had the energy to do it. Perhaps I will in the future, but that’s in God’s hands.)

This article from 2014 is a brief appreciation of the monumental story of Saint Augustine’s conversion:

The story of St. Augustine’s conversion is one of the most famous in the history of Christianity, and indeed in the history of Western humanities and literature, thanks to the penetrating account of it that he gives in his epoch marking autobiographical work, the Confessions.

Augustine was born in Roman North Africa in 354, during a period of transition and religious instability that saw the rise of the recently legalized Christianity even as it struggled with the great heresy of the Arians, various gnostic groups and oriental mystery religions, and the prevailing decadence of the pagan social milieu.

As a young man, Augustine went to study at the cultural center of Carthage, where he was introduced to pagan morals. He took a concubine and embraced the Manichean sect, while also sharpening his mental and rhetorical skills. Eventually he traveled to Rome and Milan, abandoned the intellectually weak Manichean system, and dedicated himself to a genuine pursuit of truth through philosophy. Soon he found himself grappling with the claims of Christianity as his aesthetic and intellectual objections to it were overcome. What remained was the need for a conversion of heart, which came finally in the famous reading of Romans 13 in the garden in Milan (Confessions VIII.12).

The story of Augustine could be understood as an intellectual and moral journey, and these are certainly crucial elements. But its important, also, to emphasize the personal communication that pervades his whole experience of conversion. The Confessions make this clear by their genre; they are written as a prayer to God, and this is clearly more than a literary device. Augustine makes it clear that God’s grace and mercy, given through the Church, is the profound source and focus of his conversion. He learns that philosophy is not enough; that truth and salvation are constituted by a personal relationship with Christ, the Truth in person.

We see this too in the crucial role that the companionship of particular Christians plays in Augustine’s life. They bring the Church close to him in a way that opens him up and enables him to overcome his objections of mind and heart. The key person, of course, is his mother St. Monica. Her maternal love and her constant, ardent prayers for his conversion were a continual witness to him through all his wanderings. And she joyfully received the news moments after grace finally won over her son’s heart.

Also of great importance is St. Ambrose, who received him with fatherly kindness when he first came to Milan, and by cultivating his friendship and trust, drew him to attend his sermons. Augustine’s admiration for the beauty of their style soon grew into an attraction to the radiance of the truth they imparted. He would eventually be baptized by St. Ambrose on Easter 387. “To him was I unknowingly led by You, that by him I might knowingly be led to You“ (Confessions V.13).

The world honors St. Augustine as a founder of Christian philosophy and the great prose writer of late antiquity. But Christians know that he was above all a Christian person, transformed by the love of God that reached him through human instruments: the prayers of St. Monica, the friendship of St. Ambrose. They helped him to discover that Truth has a human face.

"Freedom" is Fulfilled in Self-Giving Love

We are often tempted to think that becoming a mature human person means achieving independence, autonomy, and self-sufficiency. We view relationships as merely useful interactions with other autonomous persons that help us or please us or are otherwise subordinated to our ultimate purpose of self-gratification and self-affirmation.

When we have this attitude, nothing seems more alienating than sacrifice. Indeed, the claim of Jesus that our vocation consists in the sacrifice of self-giving love for God and our neighbor appears incomprehensible, if not insulting or threatening to our human dignity. The idea of losing-myself-in-order-to-find-myself appears to be a self-negating paradox.

And yet this "losing of myself" in self-abandonment to God is not something that demeans my freedom or results in the loss of my dignity as a person. On the contrary, it is the realization of freedom and of the person. For God Himself is Infinite Self-Giving Love. The Trinity reveals that total-self-giving is at the very root of what it means to be a person.

Jesus says, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (John 14:11). And we will fulfill the true meaning of ourselves as persons, we will achieve the destiny and fulfillment for which we have been created, by abandoning ourselves to Him and trusting in Him: "Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). We don't "lose ourselves" into nothingness. We lose ourselves by belonging to God and to other persons in Him.

We have been created to become gifts, to realize our freedom as love, to live in relationship as persons, and to "find ourselves" forever in relationship to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

"August Art" By JJ

Here are some of JJ's latest "experiments" in digital art, born of the August heat, photographs, the ongoing revolution in digital media techniques, and JJ's own peculiar imagination, the demands of which no amount of filters or AI adjustments or direct manual alterations on screen are able to satisfy.

But at a certain point, one knows that "it's finished," though one is seldom entirely satisfied with the results.

Here are three "reflections" of my local environment that I see all the time and frequently photograph: Virginia Meadows, Blue Ridge mountains ("Signal Knob" is constantly in view), and creeks and rivers—including the fabled Shenandoah River—that have been low on water this Summer of 2024...

Saint Bernard: “Love Beyond Measure”

Today (August 20) is the Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the greatest of the medieval Cistercian monastic reformers, a contemplative who in his enormous caritas guided monks, ecclesiastics, popes, and the crowned heads of Europe during the often-troubled mid-12th century.

He left many writings, which are honored by his being one of the “Doctors of the Church.” In my social media posts today I cited merely two sentences, which in a way summarize everything. (See text below this detail of Bernard from a medieval illuminated manuscript)

Ukraine Invades Russia... Wait, What?

This is old news, in one sense. After months and months of bloody and mostly deadlocked defensive action holding back Russia's attempts to move forward on the frontline in Eastern Ukraine, something totally unexpected began on August 6. Units of the Ukrainian armed forces turned north and crossed the Russian border into Kursk oblast.

But this remains current news, because Ukrainian troops continue to advance successfully into Kursk. Their stated objective remains defensive: many of the drones that continue to bomb Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure have their point of departure in this region. The goal is to take out the most proximate launching pads of Russian bombs and secure a "buffer zone" against aerial aggression while holding whatever territory is taken under a temporary (Ukrainian) military administration. Civilians are not targeted. There appears to be no indication of any intent to carry out "reprisals," although there may be other strategic motives at play.

The strange feature of this manoeuver has been its ongoing success. The Russian border has proven to be poorly guarded, and the troops in the region have been surrendering to the Ukrainians in large numbers.

For a long time, NATO and the West have been limiting Ukraine from using the weapons provided in their assistance packages against targets inside Russian territory, fearing that such use might result in further escalation with perhaps Russia retaliating directly against NATO states, or even using "tactical nuclear weapons" - a threat frequently rattled by Putin's regime over the past two and a half years.

Perhaps there has a loosening of these proscriptions, although Ukraine executed this move on their own, preserving operational security so tightly that they evaded all advance intelligence. They surprised everyone with a brilliant small-scale but (in a certain respect) "full-on" military incursion into Russian territory, with boots on the "Mother Russia's" own ground.

A red line has been crossed.

It's too soon to say what the long-term effects of this shift may be. War is awful and wildly unpredictable, and future scenarios could evolve in many directions.

For the moment, nevertheless, certain indicators are striking. Once again it appears that Emperor Putin has no clothes. Nothing like a coherent response has been forthcoming. The Russian armed forces are not well placed, not well-trained, and not prepared to bounce back from any surprise deviations from a script dictated from the top down. They have lots and lots of human cannon fodder to throw at enemy positions, lots of cheap drones, and weapons supplied by their North Korean and Iranian allies. The whole enterprise remains a disgrace for Russia in every respect. We don't know the extent of Western "disgrace" at present or in the future in terms of drawing out this conflict for their own benefit, abandoning Ukraine at some crucial moment yet to come, or playing the game of "intervening" by using money as a substitute for a real solidarity that is willing to share the risks and responsibilities that the Ukrainian people are bearing in their efforts to defend themselves as a free nation.

What about the nuclear "threat"? While no one wants to underestimate what might be brought on by an act of suicidal fury, there has been very little nuclear rhetoric coming from the Putinistas since August 6. There are factors that make nuclear escalation (and perhaps even conventional escalation) more remote the longer this war goes on. In February 2022, Putin's regime embarked upon the "project" of their "Special Military Operation" not only with their own expectations, but also with what were no doubt the assurances they provided to their relatively new "silent partner" in their investment in Eastern hegemony.

One can only speculate on the details, but appearances indicate that the "silent partner" [not so silent, really] finds itself increasingly burdened by the consequences of Putin's mess, and finds itself more and more bearing the cost (not without some benefits to itself) of Russia's long war and Russia's isolated economy. We are talking, of course, about that Special Unlimited Friendship that was proclaimed just prior to the full scale invasion of Ukraine, that visionary gleam that illuminated the eyes of Emperor Vladimir of All-The-Russias and his "friend," Emperor Xi of the Middle Kingdom and All-Under-Heaven. The latter Empire has the larger claim, but—as has been the practice since antiqutiy—it exercises its claims primarily through "soft power" and its confidence in the superior wisdom of its own system.

I have begun to think that Xi Jinping and his 90 million bureaucrats (a.k.a. the Chinese "Communist" Party) really believe in their own system of maximum political and social control combined with widespread material prosperity. They see it as a viable option for the governments of emerging nations that China wants (and perhaps needs) to do business with. Russia was supposed to be an asset but has turned out to be liability. I think Xi Jinping would strongly object to Putin crossing the nuclear threshold and throwing the world into a panic. Now more than ever, Xi needs “win-win” international projects, lots of trade, and a secure environment that facilitates investment. China is trying to build a global business, and has its own economic problems in its vast homeland. I’m inclined to believe that China would exercise its “soft veto” (which can be hard too, if necessary) against any nuclear adventures Putin might be dreaming up.

Is Russia falling apart? I hope not. I don't want to see Russia become a junior partner in "the Chinese Dream," even though right now things seem to be moving in that direction. Rather, I want Russia to repent of its own 20th century atrocities in the Bolshevik era and disown the leaders who perpetrated them. Then Russia can begin to build anew. 

They also must give up nationalistic political control of the Russian Orthodox Church and allow that great spiritual tradition complete freedom to embark on a path of reunion with its sister churches, especially the too-often-persecuted Ukrainian Greek (Byzantine) Catholic Church and a re-emerged Russian Greek (Byzantine) Catholic Church (which shined briefly for a few months in 1917).

Peace and community in Europe require the healing of the profound underlying wound that has afflicted Europe for nearly a thousand years. We need nothing less than full communion between Eastern and Western Churches. This will be the fruit of a grace for which we must pray ardently.

Meanwhile, the Chinese need a bigger dream—something greater than controlling people's minds while filling their stomachs. This too is worth praying for.

Pray for the courageous Ukrainian people--a people of great hearts and immense suffering. Pray for Russia and China and all the nations of the world.

Saint Stephen of Hungary

The feast of Saint Stephen of Hungary is August 16. The Hungarian people have a strong Catholic faith, which is expressed in many ways as they continue to affirm their historic identity, dignity, and stature in Europe. Saint Stephen obviously plays a crucial role in bringing together the Hungarian people even today. The text that follows is the “conversion story” of Saint Stephen, which I wrote for the April 2019 edition of Magnificat magazine. I thought it might be helpful to re-present the text now. Here it is:

The story of the conversion of Saint Stephen is inseparable from the story of the thousand year old Hungarian nation. Stephen was the protagonist who forged a warlike and unstable ethnic group into a Christian Kingdom in central Europe. Several new nations emerged during the tenth and eleventh centuries in Europe. At the beginning of this  period, a variety of tribes and migrants dwelt at the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire and the remnants of Charlemagne’s realms (that were undergoing a process of Germanic revitalization).

Among these were the Magyars (called “Hungarians” by the Byzantines), a nomadic confederation originating around the Ural mountains. In the ninth century they crossed over the Carpathians, and conquered and settled the plains around the Eastern portion of the Danube river. From there they began to raid and pillage the Western and Byzantine Empires. At the same time, as they adopted a more settled lifestyle, they were influenced by the older European societies and gradually welcomed Christian missionaries and converts among themselves.

Missionaries approached primitive, dangerous, violent new peoples by seeking to gain converts among the leading families and, if possible, the chieftans. Both Latin and Byzantine missionaries began to have success among the Hungarians by the middle of the tenth century. But it was the intrepid Saint Adalbert of Prague who finally baptized Geza, the Grand Prince of the confederacy in the year 985. Baptism was mostly a political arrangement for Geza, but it was clearly something more for his adolescent son who was also baptized on that day.

Young Prince Vajk took the name “Stephen” at his baptism. He also found a mentor in the learned, wise, and energetic Adalbert. Illuminated by faith in Christ and the guidance of this great missionary bishop,  Stephen sought to become more than just another Magyar warrior chieftan. He aimed for something  that, in retrospect, we might call an achievement of Christian humanism: to transform the barbarous, theiving, raping, murdering pagan Hungarians into a civilized nation at the crossroads of Europe, a nation whose people were suffused with the hope of salvation in eternal life, and who lived in peace and freedom in the present world.

We often forget that the ideal of the Roman Empire was very much alive in the Middle Ages. It was an ideal that developed not only in the direction of a universal earthly Emperor, but also in the direction of identity and freedom for a wide variety of peoples under their own local rulers. The ideal aimed at both solidarity and subsidiarity, although these two aspects nearly always conflicted in practical life.

The Hungarians, moreover, were positioned between two Empires, the Byzantine and the newly invigorated Holy Roman Empire. When Stephen became Hungary’s first king, however, he received the crown directly from Pope Sylvester II, insuring both the political independence and Catholic identity of his people.

Uniting and Christianizing these people, unfortunately, was not accomplished without the use of force and even brutal tactics. However we must understand the many actions and flaws of King Saint Stephen in the context of their time and place, where “imposing Christianity” was often inseparable from establishing the rule of law and basic human civility on a collection of warlords and bandits. The Hungarian people to this day remember his legacy with gratitude and devotion.

Mary Goes Before Us on the Journey to the Fullness of God

Some words from Pope Francis from the Angelus for today’s Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. (Courtesy of CL Instagram)

Mary’s “Dormition”/Assumption, Anonymous carved ivory, 13th century.

Love Stretches Out a Hand to All

Saint Maximilian Kolbe offered to take the place of another prisoner designated for reprisal-execution in Auschwitz. 

He gave his life on August 14, 1941 as a witness to the Love that is greater than the most hideous violence, the Love that redeems and saves the world.

Saint Jane de Chantal: “Hold Your Gaze Upon God”

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) was a noblewoman, a baroness, a wife and mother, and then a troubled young widow who encountered Saint Francis de Sales and—under his direction—found a deeper vocation to serve God wholly: first through raising her children and caring for her estate, and then as the foundress of a women’s religious congregation, the Visitation Order. 

In a life of diverse experiences and responsibilities, trials and sufferings, she became a woman full of great Christian wisdom. Her counsels on trusting God in every circumstance and in the whole of life continue to encourage us today:

“Do not trouble yourself anymore because you have no feeling... It is not a feeling of faith or of hope that will save us, but rather what we do, supported by the mercy of God.... Hold your gaze upon God in patience and let him do what he wills... Stand firm and endure, without reflecting on all that is going on within you. Leave all that to God without giving it a thought... 

“All you have to do is, from time to time, to utter a few words, above all the following, which may be your only prayer: 'My God, into your hands I commend my spirit," or perhaps: 'My God, my soul is in your holy grasp…. To you I leave all care of it and wish nothing further than to take heed of your will alone…. My joy will be found in heaven and none other holds my heart….' ”

Edith Stein: Sharing the Sufferings of Christ

"Human action cannot help us, but only the sufferings of Christ. My aspiration is to share them" (Edith Stein, Cologne, Germany, 1938). 

#SaintTeresaBenedictaOfTheCross #August9

The Day The Summer Green Vanished

August 9, 1945.

The mountain, “which had been covered with a luxuriant carpet of green, was now changed into a mountain of bare, red rock. And all that summer green—the green leaves on the trees and the green grass—had vanished, so that not one leaf, not one blade of grass remained. The universe had become naked!” (Takashi Nagai, from The Bells of Nagasaki).

“Free to Serve, in Love and Joy”

“ ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Corinthians 3:17)… A free person, a free Christian, is one who has the Spirit of the Lord. This is a very special freedom, quite different from what is commonly understood. It is not freedom to do what one wants, but the freedom to freely do what God wants! Not freedom to do good or evil, but freedom to do good and do it freely, that is, by attraction, not compulsion. In other words, the freedom of children, not of slaves…

“Brothers and sisters, where do we obtain this freedom of the Spirit, so contrary to the freedom of selfishness? The answer is in the words Jesus addressed one day to his listeners: ‘If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’ (John 8:36). The freedom that Jesus gives us. Let us ask Jesus to make us, through his Holy Spirit, truly free men and women. Free to serve, in love and joy”

~Pope Francis

Archbishop Romero on Transfiguration and Transcendence

I’m taking this opportunity to post some excerpts from Saint Oscar Romero’s homilies regarding the relationship between the eternal and the temporal, and the significance of the Transfiguration of Jesus (which was the feast day of the Archdiocese of San Salvador) for his understanding of evangelization addressed to the integral human person.

“Transcendence means looking toward the eternal, toward God, toward the divine. Only when the material things of the world and the wealth of the earth are viewed in relation to God who created them do they have any meaning. When we view the riches and the goods of the earth without taking God into account, all things are vanity. That is what the Council says in a succinct phrase from the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: ‘Without the Creator, the creature would disappear’.… Things have no meaning in themselves; they have only that autonomy of which the Council speaks. That is, things have their being, their beauty, their own value because God has given it to them. In this sense, things recover their full beauty when they are viewed with that transcendence, with that orientation, with that basic perspective toward God. Then they are no longer vanity but have their proper beauty even while mindful that that they are receiving it all from God….

“The mission of the church, as clearly stated by the Council, is not social or political or economic; it is a religious mission (GS 42). The mission of the church is to give a religious, transcendent dimension to politics and to all earthly affairs. That is why the church feels intimately connected to the things of this world: she knows how to unite them with the will of the Creator. When people subordinate these created realities to sin, then the church must denounce this. That is not how God wants things to be used. Greed is not the law of earthly things. Nor is it selfishness. Things are not possessed only to make a few people happy. The will of God, who has created all things for the happiness and welfare of all persons, demands that we in the church give these things a transcendent meaning, their true meaning according to God’s will.

“This is, then, the mission of the church in today’s world: urging people to view with transcendence their own attitudes and all the political, economic, and social realities of earth. Temporal duties, human rights, everything belonging to the earth—all of these are of great interest to the church, not because they are the goals of her mission but because her mission is precisely to give them a transcendent meaning and to orient people’s hearts toward God. Once converted to God, these hearts will create a better world, a world more in conformity with the will of God, a world in which we feel we are brothers and sisters, all with a sense of transcendence toward the Creator….

“Life and the things life gives us have no meaning in themselves. They are emptiness, they dissipate, they become diluted as long as we do not see their origin, which is God who gives them their being, their beauty, and their consistency. If God gives beauty and consistency to the earthly things we possess, then we cannot use them without having our eyes set on God in order to ask him how he wants us to use them. Let us not forget God, and let us not forget that one day we will have to give an accounting. Our attitude with regard to the things of earth will receive a response from God, either a reward or a punishment. Let earthly things be used the way God wants them to be used and not in any other way.

“In fulfilling this obligation the church suffers persecution and incomprehension, but the church cannot speak in any other way. She is bound to disturb those who want to rest on the laurels of their goods, their triumphs, and their power. The church must remind them, ‘Senseless ones, do you not know that you must give an account to God for these things? Have you forgotten that things have their reason for being, their existence, their consistency, their value, their beauty only because God is giving these qualities? So use them as God intended them to be used, with a sense of transcendence.’” (July 31, 1977)

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“The church is a lamp that must shed light, and therefore it must involve itself in concrete realities in order to enlighten those who are pilgrims on this earth. This is the church’s job; without leaving her proper sphere, she undertakes the difficult task of shedding light on our realities. The church defends the right of association, and she promotes the dynamic activity of raising consciousness and organizing the common people to bring about peace and justice. From her vision of the Gospel, the church supports the same just objectives that the people’s organizations seek, but she also denounces the injustices and the acts of violence committed by the organizations. That’s why the church cannot be identified with any organization, not even with those that call themselves and feel themselves to be Christian…

“We encourage the organized forces to struggle with honor and to use legitimate means of pressure. Never place your trust in violence. Never allow your just demands to be poisoned with ideologies of violence. The church, sisters and brothers, is a lamp in the night; not only does she shed light on these present social problems, but she also illumines the moral intimacy of matrimony, the moral intimacy of the source of life. The church is also against abortion and against all immorality. She is against vice and everything that is darkness, everything that leads people along paths of perdition. The lamp of the transfigured Christ desires to transfigure our people!

“And so Christ turns to us, and I make bold to interpret his words this morning. In thefirst place he turns to the people, to those who suffer, to those who bear the cross of tribulation, and he tells them, «Become worthy of God’s love». The church is with the poor not just because they’re poor. The poor also must be called to account when they claim only their rights and aren’t mindful of their duties; the poor must try to develop themselves, get an education, and work to succeed. Poverty is not just a matter of lacking things; it means having a spirit open to receiving everything from God.

“I also want to tell those who have abundant goods to learn to share. On this morning that anticipates the morning of the final judgment, our Divine Redeemer still holds out to us the opportunity: ‘Whatever you’ve done for them, you’ve done for me’ (Matt 25:40). This is not a request for alms; it’s a demand for social justice.…

“As for the political parties, the professional organizations, the cooperatives, the people’s movements—this morning the Lord wants to inspire in you the mystique of his divine transfiguration in order to transfigure you as well, not by organized force and not by futile methods or mystiques of violence, but with a truly authentic liberation. Keep in mind the spectacle we behold this morning: people who believe, people who hope in God. Let us not despise this religious sense of our people. Let us not import forces from outside, where they know nothing of the marvels of El Salvador. Let us know how to find in the soul of our own people the power that Christ is giving them for their own redemption.

“To those who bear on their hands or in their consciences the burden of bloodshed, of assaults, of victims (whether innocent or guilty, they are victims with human dignity), I say this: be converted! You cannot find God on those paths of torture and brutality. God is found on the paths of justice, conversion, and truth.

“To those who have received the tremendous charge of governing, I remind you in the name of Jesus Christ how urgent it is to find solutions and pass just laws for the sake of that vast majority of people who have pressing problems of livelihood, of land, of wages. For Christians the good of everyone, the common good, has to be an impulse like charity. Keep in mind that all the people desire the right to participate because everyone can contribute something to the common good of the nation. Now more than ever a strong authority is needed; it should not be authority that unifies mechanically or despotically but a moral force based on the freedom and responsibility of all. Strength is needed to bring all the diverse forces together for the welfare of the country despite their differences of opinion and even hostility toward one another. Give people the opportunity to organize. Repeal the unjust laws. Grant amnesty to those who have broken laws that do not serve the common good. Stop intimidating the people, especially those in the countryside. Either set free or prosecute in the courts those who have been disappeared or unjustly jailed. Allow the return to the country of those who have been expelled or kept from returning for political reasons.

“Finally, dear sisters and brothers, the voice of Christ becomes more intimate for those of us who form his church. I’ve made it clear that the people of God, those who will one day be the holy people of the Most High, are not the same as the non-religious groups that the church sometimes helps. They are a people close to Christ; we could almost say they are Christ’s clothing. We are his bishops, his priests, his religious, his catechists, and his communities; we are nourished by the word of God and try to follow the Lord closely. For us more than anyone else the word of Christ becomes a command so that we truly become a church that shines like a lamp in the night, a church that is not confused with other lights but always gives forth the pure light of Christ. The church, sisters and brothers, reveals the transfigured Christ. In a word, dear sisters and brothers, Salvadorans and foreigners, we are all God’s people. Let us create in the midst of the Salvadoran nation a people of God that is truly the church of the Divine Savior.” (August 6, 1978).

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“The feast of the Divine Savior of the World bestows a transcendent meaning on all of our efforts to apply the spirit of Puebla to the archdiocese. Through his transfiguration Christ is telling us that this is our goal: to become new, transfigured men and women, clothed in God, people of whom God can say, ‘My beloved child with whom I am well pleased’ (Mark 9:7). In the first reading Daniel saw the figure of a man surrounded by the glory of God (Dan 7:13). Scripture scholars say that this figure is the glorified Christ, surrounded by all those who are saved. This is the transfiguration we long for: a church that will be glorified but that never loses sight of her exalted destiny while still on pilgrimage.

“And the second thing we want to say today is that each one of us, according to his or her own vocation, should accept this challenge that the Divine Savior of the world presents to our people. All of us who are church should be more identified as church within our particular charisms, within our own congregations, within our personal vocations as married or single, rich or poor, professional or laborer. Let us incarnate Christ’s challenge to us so that each one of us collaborates fully in the transfiguration of our homeland.” (August 6, 1979).

Life is “Walking on Water”

The pericope that follows immediately after today’s reading from the 14th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel recounts the miracle of Jesus walking on water toward the storm-tossed boat that the disciples were trying to use to cross the sea of Galilee. It was a miracle especially directed to the disciples, to help them grow in their adherence to him. This is a story that strikes us especially in our present time, where our human aspirations seem meaningless in light of the fact that the last remnants of what was left of our flawed but also once-Christian-inspired civilization appear to be collapsing all around us.

We do indeed live in a time of great “storms.”

Yet Jesus is calling us to a new life in the Spirit even as we live in this world. It’s a participation in his life, a joy beyond anything that we have ever imagined, which frees us from being overcome by any of the anxieties that threaten our plans and concerns of today. Nevertheless it doesn’t erase the significance and value of our lives as we understand them on earth. Our vocations are concrete, and within the history of our lives the “pieces” of what will become the definitive form of our new humanity are brought together mysteriously by the grace of Christ—with our cooperation, wherein our reason and freedom (enlightened by the “luminous obscurity” of faith and the often-secret ardor of caritas) follow Jesus with a passion for all that is good in creation and authentically human in ourselves. We are called to appreciate and gratefully affirm the goodness of this life and seek to share it with our neighbors, but we strive in hope to move beyond the limits of things—their incapacity to satisfy us or to be “enlarged” to the full scope of the desire of our hearts. Following Jesus means following the Source of all good, the One who constitutes things and gives them meaning in relation to himself (without which they would be nothing, but with which they are realities with their own proper existential character and destiny). 

We are empowered in the Spirit to live “beyond” and “above” the limited attractions and/or dangers that we confront in the circumstances of life—not by pretending they don’t have value, but on the contrary according to their true value which is to signify what is beyond themselves. When we see reality as a “pilgrim’s way” that we follow in faith, we don’t worry about grasping at life or things or aspirations with the desperate intent to control them or “infinitize” them by our own power. We “lose them” in Christ; but in another sense we “find” even them. Insofar as we live “beyond” their finitude, we are not captive to the fear of losing them (“Do not be afraid,” Jesus always says). Jesus is the super-eminent superabundance of all that we love in this life. And he is the Source of a New Creation; our humanity and the good things we seek are not destined to be lost, but to be transfigured in his glory.

So let me return to the Scripture passage I alluded to earlier. We are so easily inclined to be afraid, because life takes us so much beyond ourselves. But this is life lived in the context of a relationship with God who creates us in his image and gives a vocation to our freedom to say “yes” to his grace and be transformed into his likeness. Our lives in this sense are even greater than walking on water, but this miracle conveys the image of the radical and miraculous character of humanity redeemed by Jesus Christ. The journey through this life to the fullness of redemption is arduous, but when our freedom desires to undertake it, we are sustained by his presence and companionship. He lifts us up.

Life is “walking on water.” Perhaps this point will become a bit clearer if we ponder this Gospel text and reflect together on its details and implications.

"Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’" (Matthew 14:22-31)

Like the disciples in this Gospel passage, we find ourselves on a journey. We're in the human "boat," and the wind and the waves of our lives are preventing us from getting anywhere.

It's dark. We're frustrated. There's bizarre stuff going on all over the place. We're barely afloat.

But then suddenly, we are surprised by a man. Not only is he moving freely. He's doing the impossible. He's "walking on the water"—all the human problems that frustrate our plans and our designs are raging and he is right there in the midst of them. Yet they do not trouble or hinder him at all. He has complete freedom and mastery over everything that's threatening to sink us, but when we see him we are scared.

This is to be expected.

Jesus's disciples were scared when they first saw him walking on the water. They were first century Palestinians, children of Israel, not terribly well educated, and maybe a bit superstitious. In any case, they were "spiritual" men, so they were understandably scared that a ghost was approaching them.

"What the heck is this?"...they wondered. "It's not human; that's for sure!"

We are twenty-first century cosmopolitans—global villagers—and most of us know that there must be something more than just this physical world that we see, hear, and touch. Something is "out there" that we might "see" in strange moments, like after we die. Or this "something" has to do with certain deep experiences we have from time to time. We know this, because—after all—we identify ourselves as "spiritual" people.

But right now, we're in this capsizing boat—the "boat" that is the place where we are actively engaged and concerned with life, where we place our hopes and expectations for here and now, where we look for concrete solutions. This is not the place for "being spiritual," we think. This is the place where we need to get down to business.

And business is not going well.

We are also superstitious, in old fashioned ways perhaps, but surely in subtler ways that we wouldn't readily acknowledge. We are afraid of something new happening in our lives, something good and beautiful that really challenges us and changes us but that is also beyond our calculations and our control.

So what are we going to do with this "someone" we now see, who is accompanying us in our lives, who seems to know us better than we know ourselves? What are we to make of this? How can we bear it?

And then he speaks: "Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid."

He is a man walking with us, a real "someone," a friend. We see that there are some among us who recognize him.

And we recognize him too. In his face we see the promise of life, the hope that moves us, the fulfillment that we have been trying to reach as we flounder in the waves of frustration and failure.

We recognize all of this in his human face.

This man is walking with us, and he is walking on the water that we fear is going to drown us. This man is with us and he is our friend. He is also offering us a possibility beyond our calculations and beyond our own power.

He says to us, "Come."

He says, "Trust me. Walk with me. Stay with me and you will walk on this water, you will do the impossible, you will walk and you will go onward and persevere even amidst the highest waves and the wildest winds. Come with me!"

He says even more to us through this Gospel story. He says, "Even if you get scared and start to sink—you who are so small in your heart, with so little faith and so little trust—I will catch you! I will not leave you alone. Trust me!"

This is the decision we must make every day. We hear him say, "Come!" And we must decide, we must choose to trust him, and to take that first step onto the water... and then the next, and the next. Step by step, moving, halting, struggling, sinking, letting him catch us and pull us up again, and then taking the next step....

Life is walking on water with him.

Benedict XVI: "A Pedagogy of Desire…”

We have completed the 17th liturgical week of “Ordinary Time” (and the 11th week after Pentecost), living the rhythms of the Church year during this Summer of 2024 [or Winter, if you’re down in the Southern Hemisphere]. Because several important saints were memorialized this past week, we didn’t have many opportunities to pray the week’s ordinary Collect (introduced last Sunday). It is one of several particularly noteworthy Collects of this time of year, connecting as it does “the good things that pass” with “hold[ing] fast even now to those that ever endure.”

Much emphasis has been placed in recent centuries on the spirituality of asceticism and detachment from earthly things. This emphasis underscores an important part (but only a part) of the Christian position in front of the realities of this life. Sin distorts our perception of reality and leads to delusions about the value for our personality of things in this world. Ascetical work is an effort to correct this distortion, and it therefore presupposes a more fundamental and positive significance of the goodness of things created by God. These goods awaken our human desire, and the human vocation involves a generous affirmation of this created goodness as it truly is—namely, as reflecting the infinite goodness of the Mystery of God who alone can satisfy the human heart. Good things are signs and gifts that educate us on our journey toward God. When experienced with true recognition, these goods—and our desire in relation to them—do not lead us astray off the path toward God. Rather they are constructive particulars that should help to open up and shape the realization of our freedom as we move toward the fulfillment that God has prepared for each of us individually in His eternal Kingdom, through Jesus Christ.

It is necessary to correct disordered desire just as (analogously) it is necessary to correct impaired eyesight: the problem is the impairment, whereas eyesight in itself is good and allows us to see and distinguish things. So also with human desire. Following Christ doesn’t suffocate desire. It frees desire and leads its longings to their true fulfillment.

Pope Benedict frequently took up this theme in his teaching, especially in his profound first encyclical Deus Caritas Est (2006). Here, however, I present a few selections from his catechetical homilies in the final year of his papacy:

“It is possible also in this age, seemingly so blocked to the transcendent dimension, to begin a journey toward the true religious meaning of life, that shows how the gift of faith is not senseless, is not irrational. It would be very useful, to that end, to foster a kind of pedagogy of desire, both for the journey of one who does not yet believe and for the one who has already received the gift of faith. 

"It should be a pedagogy that covers at least two aspects. In the first place, to discover or rediscover the taste of the authentic joy of life. Not all satisfactions have the same effect on us: some leave a positive after-taste, able to calm the soul and make us more active and generous. Others, however, after the initial delight, seem to disappoint the expectations that they had awakened and sometimes leave behind them a sense of bitterness, dissatisfaction or emptiness. 

"Instilling in someone from a young age the taste for true joy, in every area of life – family, friendship, solidarity with those who suffer, self-renunciation for the sake of the other, love of knowledge, art, the beauty of nature — all this means exercising the inner taste and producing 'antibodies' that can fight the trivialization and the dulling widespread today. Adults too need to rediscover this joy, to desire authenticity, to purify themselves of the mediocrity that might infest them. It will then become easier to drop or reject everything that although attractive proves to be, in fact, insipid, a source of indifference and not of freedom. 

"And this will bring out that desire for God of which we are speaking.

“A second aspect that goes hand in hand with the preceding one is never to be content with what you have achieved. It is precisely the truest joy that unleashes in us the healthy restlessness that leads us to be more demanding — to want a higher good, a deeper good — and at the same time to perceive ever more clearly that no finite thing can fill our heart. In this way we will learn to strive, unarmed, for the good that we cannot build or attain by our own power; and we will learn to not be discouraged by the difficulty or the obstacles that come from our sin.

“In this regard, we must not forget that the dynamism of desire is always open to redemption. Even when it strays from the path, when it follows artificial paradises and seems to lose the capacity of yearning for the true good. Even in the abyss of sin, that ember is never fully extinguished in man. It allows him to recognize the true good, to savour it, and thus to start out again on a path of ascent; God, by the gift of his grace, never denies man his help. 

"We all, moreover, need to set out on the path of purification and healing of desire. We are pilgrims, heading for the heavenly homeland, toward that full and eternal good that nothing will be able to take away from us. This is not, then, about suffocating the longing that dwells in the heart of man, but about freeing it, so that it can reach its true height.”

~Benedict XVI, General Audience, November 7, 2012

“Grandparents and Grandchildren…Together!”

“Our future depends a great deal on how grandparents and grandchildren learn to live together” (Pope Francis).

I agree!😉❤️❤️