One Great Dance of Love--The Trinity

 Several years ago I celebrated Mass in a nearby parish.  After the Mass I greeted people at the door of the Church and someone asked me, "Father, why do we have a feast honoring a doctrine?  Christmas, Easter and other feasts celebrate not just doctrines but things that happened to Jesus, Mary or one of the saints"

   I don't remember exactly what I said to her but I pondered her question after that.  Unfortunately in the western sphere of Christianity academic speculation about the Trinity has turned our understanding of it into a dry mysterious concept.  The Trinity, however, is not just a doctrine. (No, I'm not putting down the idea of a doctrine, just noting that doctrines point to actual spiritual realities.)  The Holy Trinity is a dynamic, flowing reality of love and grace into which we are swept at Baptism, Confirmation, in the other sacraments and in many other ways.

   A moment of inspiration regarding the Trinity came on my visit to the Holy Land in 1993.  Our Catholic group was visiting an area by the Sea of Galilee.  Our bus was in a parking lot and as we disembarked we saw a Jewish group, native Israelis who were visiting the same site.  There were several children in the group and one of them, a young boy, was running, fell down, and bumped his head on the pavement.  There was stunned silence, then the boy started to cry.  With blood dripping from his forehead he spotted his father, got up, ran to him and shouted aloud, "Abba, Abba,Abba." Abba, of course, is Hebrew for father.   His father picked him up, hugged him closely, then attended to his cuts and bruises.

    I thought, "Wow!  Our Christian faith is about God, our loving father, sending Jesus to unite with us. In Jesus God picks us up and lovingly embraces us.   In that embrace their Spirit fills our hearts.  The Trinity then is not just a concept about God. It is a wonderful mystery of love into which we are swept.

   St. Bonaventure, a great theologian in the early days of the Franciscan Order,  speaks of God as a continuing dynamic of love.For Him God is so loving that God has to create.  It is not enough that Father, Son and Spirit are a community of love.  God must go out of Gods" self to love even more.  He calls the Trinity a "fountain fullness of love." into which the whole universe is is swept.  Sr. Ilia Dileo, a contemporary Franciscan theologian, drawing on Bonaventure's fountain image, invites us to think of Niagara Falls. Can you imagine that not as water, but as a source of God's love and grace which envelops us. Now that is something to celebrate.  Happy Trinity Sunday.

Accompanying Others: Understanding Pope Francis

  Ever since Pope Francis uttered the words, "Who am I to Judge?" in reference to a gay person he has been open to unfortunate misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Two words are need to properly understand much of what he says--dialogue and accompaniment.  Both of these are vital elements in good ministry.  I can't say that I have practiced these virtues at all times, but I can say that when I have I have experienced some of the most fruitful moments of my ministry.

   There is a tendency to define people by their sins and weaknesses and to then justify writing them off.  Pope Francis is constantly reminding us that everyone, and he means everyone, is a human person first and therefore worthy of dignity and respect regardless of what they have done.  His visits to prisons and his messages to the prisoners are a great example of this.  He is calling us to keep this in mind in our dealings with those who come to us in the Church, many of whom feel alienated from the Church because of harsh treatment not only by priests but by ordinary parishioners as well. This attitude does not mean on the other hand excusing wrongdoing.  So often to lead a person to conversion and to facing their sins we need to listen to their story.  We have only to turn to Jesus to see this modeled.  I think of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus engages her, asks for a drink of water (a taboo in those times for a man to engage a strange woman in that way) and then talks of living water.  When the woman expresses her desire for this living water Jesus then confronts her with the fact that she has five husbands, something which does not offend her but leads her to tell her friends that He is a prophet.  Jesus listened to her and then spoke the truth in love.  His inviting Himself to the house of Zachaeus, the tax-collector, is another example.

     Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia,  brings up the issue of people who are divorced and remarried. Throughout his papacy he has reminded us that they are not excommunicated even though they may not, according to official teaching, receive communion.  Unfortunately I have heard horror stories of people telling me that they were shunned by priests and even close friends because of their situation.  In inviting us to accompany them we are urged to listen to their pain, to listen to the fact that many did no choose divorce.  Their spouses abandoned them.  Many are, in spite of their situation, making great effort to raise their children Catholic.

    I think of the question of abortion.  Of course it is wrong,  but we need to listen to and understand the pain and desperation that leads so many women to choose abortion.  Our Church has a wonderful program called Project Rachel which is available in many diocese to offer healing to women who have had abortions. Perhaps we need to do more to accompany them before they make such a decision.  I'm not saying that we never do this, but we need to do it more.

   Another concern of mine is the treatment of immigrants.  For those who do not have legal status to simply dismiss them as illegals is wrong.  I often preach missions in Spanish.  A majority of those I preach to are undocumented.  Are they rapists, thieves and murderers? No, they are by and large good Catholics with families that they are trying to form in the faith.  They are fleeing poverty and oppression in the countries they come from.  they are hard working and trying to make a new life here.  Our own laws are overly restrictive.  Most of them would like legal status but we give very few visas for unskilled laborers.  Anyone who takes time with them and listens to their stories would not write them off.   Of course there are bad apples, as it were, among the immigrant population.  Yes, we need border security, but to just lump them all together and seek to deport them all is morally wrong. 

   A short article like this may seem to oversimplify things.  There are certainly twists and turns, complexities in everyone's story.  By truly listening we offer them an opportunity to be open to God's grace and to discover the presence of God in their pain and brokenness.  Sometimes, finally, those of us who minister and listen and dialogue encounter Christ in them.

What Do I Do When I'm Not Wandering?

   I will be heading over to Boynton Beach, Florida to preach a parish mission at St. Mark's Parish there. When I return home I will have an entire month with no outside commitments.  When some hear this their understandable reaction is, "Oh, your have a month off."  I politely explain why this is not so. I will be quite busy this month and I thought I might let my blog readers get a glimpse into what I do when I'm not "on the road".

   The first priority during times like this is to spend quality time with my friar community.  I'm delighted when my brothers seem glad that I'm home for a while.  Although I participate in the prayer life of the fraternity even if I'm home for one day, getting into the rhythm of doing that daily is a blessing. Also, while my personal prayer life continues when I travel it is generally deeper and richer when I'm at home.  Our friary is mainly for retirement so I also try to pitch in with things like taking the older guys to medical appointments and to other places they may need to go.  By the way at 71 years old it's great to talk of "older" guys.

   Being a traveling preacher requires preparation.  Reading and study, besides being something I enjoy, is also part of my ministry.  Without new ideas there is no development in my mission presentations. While I don't come up with something new every week, over time new thoughts enter in and my presentations evolve. I always have two books going, one a serious work of theology, spirituality or perhaps some dimension of psychology, the other is a novel.  Good fiction gives insight into the human condition, something a good preacher needs. I read while on the road, but there is more time for it when I'm at home.

   As most of you know I have authored two books.  After the second I thought that I was done with writing books but a third one will be one the way, a series of meditations on the Gospel of John. Stay tuned about that.  In addition to the books I have this blog and am occasionally asked to write an article for our province's newsletter.  People seem to like my writing and often comment on what they say is its good quality.  Saying that is not boasting on my part, it is a tribute to my Catholic education.

   Local parishes often contact our friary when a priest is needed for Masses and/or Confessions.  I have signed up for several days in May at a local parish. I enjoy doing that very much.

   Lastly, time at home affords me the opportunity to check in with the various doctors that need to be seen by someone my age.

    I'm glad to have been able to share this window into my friar life.  I won't be on the road for a month, but it certainly is not time off.  I will have that later when I take my vacation.

  

Contemplating the "Awe" of our Faith.

    That's "awesome".  We have heard our young people, many of whom are not so young any longer, say this for several years now regarding any number of things that get their attention in a positive way.  Nothing is wrong with that to be sure, but when is the last time we heard anyone say that our faith is awesome, that what God has done for us is awesome?

   Too many people come away from Mass or other religious services and say that it was "boring". Why is that? Some say that because of our culture people expect church to be entertaining. Others say that because of modern science and the widespread explanation of so many things that once seemed to have no explanation that religion is more and more dismissed as "mythical nonsense".  There is some truth to both of these assertions and some remedies that might be suggested.  I would like to follow another path, however, on the subject of awe, faith and religion.

   Today I came across and advertisement for a National Geographic six part series, beginning, I believe, this Sunday, April 3 at 9 Eastern, 8 Central, called The Story of God and featuring one of my favorite actors, Morgan Freeman.  (Do check local listings to be sure of date/time).  While Mr. Freeman played God in a rather frivolous movie called Bruce Almighty, and while he is not someone I turn to for my theology, this special looks to be an interesting and serious exploration of how people in different religions see God.

  In an interview about the series Mr. Freeman made the statement, "Awe is the Beginning of God."  While these words could be taken to mean that when humans first experienced awe they invented God, I don't think that is what he meant.  It was more the fact that when our early ancestors first experienced the awesomeness  of the world around them, of the unexplainable, they came to realize that there is indeed God.

   For me viewing the images of the various parts of the universe that come from the Hubble telescope inspires awe, as does appreciating the beauty of the ocean, as does the birth of a child and so many other things.  Perhaps one of the keys to evangelizing our young people then is to instill in them a sense of awe, wonder and mystery even before we teach religious doctrine.  To simply stand in awe before some of these things and to ask how they came to be is the foundation of belief in a God who not only created everything, but who is at work now and continuing to create.

   As for the specifics of our Catholic and Christian faith I point out in my book, Following Jesus in the Footsteps of Francis, that St. Francis marveled at the beauty of creation and and at the mightiness of the God who created, a God whom he saw as "Most High and Glorious"  He then marvels at how this mighty God became one of us.in what I call his "big WOW."  He was not a professional theologian but he was able to put together the notion that God is at the same time mighty and unexplainable as well as intimately close to us in the person of Jesus Christ.  That is indeed awesome.
 
   Jesus told us that to enter the Kingdom we must become as little children.   Perhaps what that means is that we must never lose the capacity to be awestruck that we see in little children.

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For a preview of The Story of God go to: https://youtu.be/DkdgPbpZpRI

The Face of Glory in a Humble God

 When we hear the word glory in reference to God images such as the ones posted hear come to mind.  We think of radiant burst of light and spectacular manifestations in the heavens.  This dimension of glory creeps into sports.  We talk of the glory of those who win championships or who accomplish great individual feats.  This is the most common way in which glory is spoken of.  The Bible is filled with such manifestations of God's glory.  The story of Moses on Mt. Sinai and that of Jesus in His Transfiguration come to mind here.

   St. John, in his gospel, turns the word glory on its head.  As we move into the end of Lent and into Holy Week I believe that it would be good to reflect on this other dimension of Glory.

   The final section of the fourth Gospel is called the Book of Glory.  It begins with the washing of the feet of the apostles and continues through the account of Jesus' passion and death.  We don't see a lot of the more common revelation of God's glory, rather we see that when God humbles God self in Jesus to enter into the basest and most sinful parts of the human condition it is then that God is glorified.  We see this, as I said, in the washing of the feet, an event which Pope Benedict XVI called the Sacramentum of the Passion because it symbolizes the depths of love that we see in Jesus as He freely gives Himself over to death  in the most cruel fashion.  God is glorified in John not with mighty deeds of splendid power, but rather when Jesus delves into sin and evil and destroys it not with wrath and punishment, but with mercy and forgiveness.

    After the prologue at the beginning of this Gospel comes the Book of Signs.  They are called signs and not miracles because they point to various aspects of the ministry of Jesus and to the lessons that we are to learn from them.   Water is turned into wine not only showing compassion for the wedding party, but showing that in Jesus something new is being revealed.  After this a Samaritan woman is set free from her sins, a blind man is cured, bread is multiplied for a hungry crowd, an adulterous woman is forgiven and finally Lazarus is called forth.  All of these events have in common the manifestation of God's glory in Jesus who enters into the depths of sin, sickness hunger and death to wipe them away and offer people new life.

   This Sunday, as I continue my time in Little Rock and preach the mission in English I will be preaching on Lazarus for the Mass for the RCIA catechumens, and on the adulterous women at the other Mass.  In both cases the glory of God is shown not from on high, but rather with the humble love of Jesus who stands with the sinner and who weeps for his friend before forgiving one and giving new life to the other.

   After calling Lazarus forth Jesus tells those gathered there to "untie him and set him free." It seems to me that he is calling us to open ourselves to Him to be forgiven, healed and restored to life. The Church then becomes the field hospital that Pope Francis desires it to be, untying each other and setting one another free.

The Other Face of Glory

  

Walls, Bridges and Mercy--A Faith Perspective.

A little over a week ago there was  a big bruhaha over Pope Francis' remarks at the US border. The Pope said,"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not bridges, is not Christian." Of course he was specifically focusing on Donald Trump.  Now that a little dust has settled I would like to take a deeper look at this message and the reaction to it.

   I don't believe, and Vatican response confirms this, that the words were meant to say that we should build a bridge and let everyone who wishes cross it without regard to border security. That would be crazy.  What he was doing was calling us to a Gospel, a biblical attitude towards the issue of immigration.  He was saying that we should first think of how to respond to the plight of people who are poor and oppressed who wish to migrate here, or to any country.  How can we help them?  How can we facilitate their transition to a better life?  I also believe that while the remarks were focused on Donald Trump that every one of us ought examine our consciences on this matter. Republicans, rightfully so, take a lot of the heat from proponents of just immigration reform, but Obama and other Democrats are hypocritical, talking of reform while deporting many and breaking up families in detention centers.

   I am not naive.  I understand that some who cross our borders are drug lords and human traffickers.  Others may be terrorists.  Any rational person knows that there has to be security and screening.  That is why the bridge I chose to picture above is the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo, NY and Canada.  There is a US Customs station at one end and a Canadian one at the other.Bridges don't have to be wide open.  Restrictions are necessary.  The question is "Do we think of the bridge first, and the wall or restriction next.?"

  I am in Little Rock, Arkansas this week to preach a parish mission in Spanish. Next week I will do it in English.  I am sure that many of the Spanish speaking are also undocumented.  This is the case in most of the work I do with Spanish speaking.  Most of them are good Catholic hard-working people.  The only reason that they are not with legal status is that we don't grant enough visas for unskilled labor.  They would rather live here under a cloud than live with the poverty and oppression back home. The Pope has called for a year of Mercy.  Mercy, of course, is a Gospel value.  It was not invented by Pope Francis.  I do not favor a blanket path to citizenship, but I do favor a path to legal status prior to citizenship to the many who can show that they are living good and productive lives and have not committed crimes.  I don't think that the crooks would come out of the shadows to apply for this.

   Let us use this Year of Mercy to be merciful to the immigrant by ending the insane impasse we are in now. And yes, let us establish a sane method of border security without responding to irrational fears and keeping everyone out.

  

Bless Me Father: Some thoughts on The Sacrament of Reconciliation and the year of Mercy

 First of all, dear readers of this blog, I want to let you know that I have not stopped writing.  I have gone through a time of just not knowing what to write about.  At any rate the muses are beginning to speak again and this blog is back in business.

  We are now several months into the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis, a year, that among other things, is placing, a new emphasis on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. (aka confession, penance)

   Unlike many my boyhood memories of this Sacrament are positive.  I was never yelled at and no priest ever said, "You did what?"  This is unfortunately not everyone's experience.  I certainly hope and pray that bad memories of confession can be healed and that this wonderful Sacrament can be a positive experience for many.

   One moment from my childhood experience of  Confession is related to the first time I attended a night game of the Boston Red Sox.  It was a Friday night. I was invited by some neighbors to the game and was given refreshment money by my parents.  Completely forgetful of what day of the week it was, my friend and I purchased and ate a hot dog. Shortly thereafter we realized that it was Friday.  I felt as though I had committed a sin second only to mass murder.  The next day I went to confession to Fr. Hart, one of the kindest men there ever was.  When I nervously told him what I had done he said, "I hope you enjoyed it. Try to think the next time."  What a relief.

  Relief, Freedom.  That is what I pray that everyone might experience with this Sacrament even with matters much worse that accidentally eating meat on a Friday. During the past few weeks, while preaching several parish missions, I have encountered a good number of people who found that freedom, freedom from the burden of guilt carried for a number of years.  As a priest I am humbled by these moments, humbled because they have nothing to do with me and everything to do with the power of Christ working through me.  People do not come to me in confession because my name is John Anglin. They come because in this sacrament they encounter the merciful Christ, the same Christ who forgave the woman caught in adultery and who ate and drank with tax collectors.

   In recent years the Church has referred to this Sacrament as the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  I like this terminology because it places emphasis on what is important.  We have called it Confession or the Sacrament of Penance.  Nothing is wrong with those terms.  But, who does the confessing? the penance?  We do.  Who does the reconciling?  The Lord does.

   Folks often balk at telling their sins to another human being.  Why?  In self help, 12 step and therapy sessions we do this all the time.  Those are wonderful, therapeutic tools.  In Reconciliation we encounter, through the priest, our merciful Lord.

   One last thought is for the ordinary person who has no major sin.  We have gone though a time of questioning the place of confession, especially for such persons.  People say, "After all I am basically good."  That is indeed true.  In the past we perhaps so emphasized sin and guilt that we forgot that all are made in God's image and likeness and that there is an original goodness to go along with original sin. For the ordinary person with no major sins it is still important from time to time to admit that he or she is in need of mercy, that we are not the authors of our own salvation.  One does not have to make up a "laundry list."  One can name ones weaknesses and commit to working especially on one of them.  Most importantly the Sacrament is an opportunity to encounter the merciful Lord.

   Maybe you haven't experienced Confession for a while.  In recent years, and especially in this Year of Mercy, various diocese are selecting a day when all churches have their doors open for confession. Make this Lent the time to take advantage of this openness to the gift of Mercy.