A Challenge for Christians

Before entering into the current article I would like to point out an error, a typo, in my last blog entry. it has been corrected. The first line should say 2007, not 2017.  Some of you thought that I was currently suffering from cancer. Thankfully that is 10 years in  the past. 

G.K. Chesterton in his book What's Wrong with the World? made the statement, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried."

I thought of these words when I reflected on today's Gospel passage from Matthew 5:38-48.  This is the section where we are told things like "turn the other cheek", and "love your enemies and pray for your persecutors."  When is the last time that you or I tried out those practices?  In so many ways Chesterton was right.  Yes, there have been shining examples to the contrary.  I think of St. Francis of Assisi, among others, who truly lived the Gospel, but the great majority of us have a long way to go.

   Today's Gospel text is part of the Sermon on the Mount which is given in the entire fifth chapter of Matthew.  It begins with the beatitudes and continues on with an invitation to a radically different way of living.  Today's verses are not instructing us, by the way, to let people walk all over us.  When properly understood they are an invitation to non-violent opposition to evil.  They are ways of shaming an opponent.  There is an marshal art called aikido. As Bishop Robert Barron explains in his meditation on today's Gospel, "The idea of aikido is to absorb the aggressive energy of your opponent, moving with it, continually frustrating him until he comes to the point of realizing that fighting is useless."  A good example of this is in Jesus exhortation to walk two miles if someone asks you to walk one with him (or her).  In Roman law one was required, under certain circumstances to accompany someone for one mile, perhaps to help carry a heavy load.  By going beyond that the other person would start to think, "What's this guy up to?", and get frustrated.

   Perhaps something we can all practice right away is the invitation to "love our enemies and pray for our persecutors."  These days I see on social media so much hatred from both the left and right side of the political and ecclesiastical spectrum.  To love our enemies, both personal ones and members of other religions, nations and groups, does not been to agree with them or to put up with evil attacks on us. It does mean that we understand that every human being is worthy of dignity and respect.  In praying for them we may not pray that their attacks succeed, but perhaps pray for the healing of the violence and anger that is in them.

    Lent is coming soon (March 1). Maybe for Lent we can pray for our enemies, big and small. Just maybe that will herald a deeper transformation in us.

A 10 Year Old Gift--A Confession and a Thanksgiving

  On January 18, 2007 I was treated with  radioactive seed implants for prostate cancer.  Prior to that I had had 5 weeks of beam radiation as well as several medications as part of that treatment.  I am not unique in having successfully undergone such treatments.  They were not particularly harsh and I know others who have received much more difficult treatments for different cancers.  That having been said this article is not about comparing the harshness of my treatments with those of others, it is rather about saying that I am grateful to God and to many people for being alive today.

   In subtle, but profound ways my life changed when I received the call telling me that I had cancer. That news lead me to several life-changing awarenesses.

   First of all it made me face my own mortality.  The fact that I, as well as every human being, is going to die some day, is not news.  It is, however, a fact, a truth, that we run away from.  Yes, even those of us who believe in the next life, in sin, forgiveness, redemption and all the rest of the good news of the Gospel, tend to hide from this truth.  We don't deny it. We just don't pay a lot of attention to it.

   Sometimes people are faced with this reality at a young age and in a blunt and forceful way.  There are accidents, grave illnesses and tragedies.  Military people and first responders are asked to write out a will, confronting them with the truth of the risk they are taking out of love for our country.

   In my case the news that I had cancer was not a blunt, harsh confrontation with the possibility of death.  I knew that the success rate of prostate cancer treatment was high.  Nonetheless I was faced with the fact that something was growing in me that would kill me if I did not do something about it.
What a blessing. What freeing news.

   Freeing news, a blessing?  Yes, because it forced me to evaluate my life and decide what was really important.  Too much of my time was caught up in the trivial.  More importantly I was carrying way too much anger and resentment.  Yes, on the surface I was gentle and serene, but underneath there was a pot load of anger that I had carried for years. Realizing the shortness of life helped me to just let go of resentments that I could do nothing about.   Much of this anger was tied to loyalties to ideologies and led me to anger towards those who didn't see things my way.  I still have my opinions and preferences, but have them more in perspective.  I really think that one of our main problems today is not "those liberals"' "those conservatives", etc.  It is the anger that we carry towards one another.

  A more important part of the blessing has been the deepening of my prayer life, a movement towards a more contemplative style of prayer, a realization that prayer is ultimately about union with God and not an effort to get God to do things.

    Gratitude is another product of this blessing.  I am so grateful for the Doctors who treated me and for all of the nurses and technicians who were part of that process.  I also came to see how loved and supported I was by so many people who sent prayers and support my way.

   Finally this blessing has given focus to my life as a friar and to my ministry of preaching.  Living religious, fraternal life as a friar is not always easy, but I am so blessed to be part of a community of brothers that cares for me and that challenges me to care for them as I move into the latter years of my life.  My ministry, above all, amounts to letting people know that God loves them, and reaching out to the most vulnerable of people who need to be reassured of that.

   An old song has the line, "What a Wonderful Life".  I have been blessed with a wonderful life and hope to make the most of the years that I have left.

On the Twelth Day

  The popular Christmas carol celebrating the 12 days of Christmas was originally a coded catachetical song in England in the days when Catholicism was banned there. Perhaps in another article I will spell out the meaning of the turtle doves, etc.  For now I would like to emphasize the fact that there are 12 days of Christmas, not just one, and for good reason.

  In Luke 2:19, after the shepherds visit the manger revealing what had been told to them, we are told that "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."  An older translation, which I prefer, tells us that Mary "pondered" these things in her heart. This experience of Mary makes us aware that the great mystery of the Incarnation is not something that can be celebrated quickly.  It has a richness of meaning that must be pondered by all of us.  And so, while the stores have put away the trees and other decorations and are already hanging up the hearts for Valentine's day we must ponder the great mystery that is being celebrated.

    I remember as a child that while our tree usually came down on New Year's Day because it was a real tree and therefore a fire hazard if it stayed up too long, the creche always stayed out until the Feast of the Epiphany was over on January 6.  Of course there was no deep theological reflection done at home but the various "shades" of Christmas, as I like to think of it, were acknowledged.  Everyone knew that the feast of Stephen that sent good king Wenceslaus out, was December 26, the day after Christmas.   On December 28 we heard the story of the Holy Innocents, and on January 6, even though it generally fell during the week and not on Sunday as is now the case, we heard the story of the Magi.

    We can add to the 12 days of Christmas the 4 weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas.  As we "ponder" during this time we look at a world that yearned and still does for the coming of the Lord.  We celebrate that the Lord deeply enters into humanity and most especially into the poverty, sinfulness and brokenness of the human condition, though without sin himself, and finally we see that His coming is for all as He is revealed to the Magi and adored by them.

   This only touches the surface of what we need to ponder.  Our world today likes so many things to be "one and done".  Christmas deserves more than that. 

Emmanuel--God With US

I am feeling under the weather today due to a cold.  I was hoping to write but it is just not happening. In the meantime I read this article by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI in the Dec. 23 edition of the Boston Pilot. It beautifully sums up the message I had hoped to deliver.. Merry Christmas everyone

Incarnation – God is with Us

December 19, 2016

For many of us, I suspect, it gets harder each year to capture the mood of Christmas. About the only thing that still warms are hearts are memories, memories of younger, more naïve, days when the lights and carols, Christmas trees and gifts, still excited us.  But we’re adult now and so too, it seems, is our world. Much of our joy in anticipating Christmas is blunted by many things, not least by the commercialism that today is characterized by excess. By late October we already see Christmas decorations, Santa is around in November, and December greets us with series of Christmas parties which exhaust us long before December 25^th. So how can we rally some spirit for Christmas day?
It’s not easy, and commercialism and excess are not our only obstacles. More serious are the times. Can we, amid the many cruelties of this year, warm up to a season of tinsel and festivity? Can we continue to romanticize the pilgrimage of one poor couple searching for shelter two thousand years ago amidst the plight of the millions of refugees today who are journeying without even a stable as a refuge? Does it mean anything to speak of peace after various elections this year polarized our nations and left millions unable to speak civilly to their neighbors?  Where exactly is the peace and goodwill in our world today?
Closer to home, there are our own personal tragedies: the death of loved ones, lost marriages, lost families, lost health, lost jobs, lost time, tiredness, frustration. How do we celebrate the birth of a redeemer in a world which looks shockingly unredeemed and with hearts that mostly feel heavy and fatigued? The Christmas story is not easily made credible. How do we maintain the belief that God came down from heaven, took on human flesh, conquered all suffering, and altered the course of human history?
This isn’t easy to believe amidst all the evidence that seems to contradict it, but its credibility is contingent upon it being properly understood. Christmas is not a magical event, a Cinderella story without midnight. Rather its very centre speaks of humiliation, pain, and forced fleeing which is not unlike that being experienced by millions of refugees and victims of injustice on our planet today. The Christmas story mirrors the struggle that’s being experienced within our own world and within our own tired hearts.
Incarnation is not yet the resurrection. Flesh in Jesus, as in us, is human, vulnerable, weak, incomplete, needy, painfully full of limit, suffering. Christmas celebrates Christ’s birth into these things, not his removal of them. Christ redeems limit, evil, sin and pain. But they are not abolished. Given that truth, we can celebrate at Christ’s birth without in any way denying or trivializing the real evil in our world and the real pain in our lives. Christmas is a challenge to celebrate while still in pain.
The incarnate God is called Emmanuel, a name which means God-is-with-us. That fact does not mean immediate festive joy. Our world remains wounded, and wars, strikes, selfishness, and bitterness linger. Our hearts too remain wounded. Pain lingers. For a Christian, just as for everyone else, there will be incompleteness, illness, death, senseless hurt, broken dreams, cold, hungry, lonely days of bitterness and a lifetime of inconsummation. Reality can be harsh and Christmas does not ask us to make make-believe. The incarnation does not promise heaven on earth. It promises heaven in heaven. Here, on earth, it promises us something else – God’s presence in our lives. This presence redeems because knowing that God is with us is what ultimately empowers us to give up bitterness, to forgive, and to move beyond cynicism and bitterness. When God is with us then pain and happiness are not mutually exclusive and the agonies and riddles of life do not exclude deep meaning and deep joy.
In the words of Avery Dulles: “The incarnation does not provide us with a ladder by which to escape from the ambiguities of life and scale the heights of heaven. Rather, it enables us to burrow deep into the heart of planet earth and find it shimmering with divinity.”  George Orwell prophesied that our world would eventually be taken over by tyranny, torture, double-think, and a broken human spirit. To some extent this is true. We’re a long ways from being whole and happy, still deeply in exile.
However, we need to celebrate Christmas 2016 heartily. Maybe we won’t feel the same excitement we once felt as children when we were excited about tinsel, lights, Christmas carols, and special gifts and special food. Some of that excitement isn’t available to us anymore.  But something more important is still available, namely, the sense that God is with us in our lives, in our joys as well as in our shortcomings.
The word was made flesh. That’s an incredible thing, something that should be celebrated with tinsel, lights, and songs of joy. If we understand Christmas, the carols will still flow naturally from our lips.

Anointing of the Sick

   Last night at evening prayer our community celebrated the Anointing of the Sick.  It was a beautiful ceremony, one that left me feeling a special kind of inner peace. It is also a sacrament that is not understood by many so I thought that I would use this blog post to enlighten my readers on how this sacrament is to be used and understood.

   Many people still think of anointing  as something done only at the time of death.  While it can be done then the Church has reflected on the development of this beautiful sacrament and want us to be annointed as soon as any serious or ongoing disease is detected in us. This is why many parishes now have communal anointing services.  We in the Franciscan Ministry of the Word often do anointing as part of our parish mission and in my friar community, made up mostly of retired friars, we celebrate it  several times during the year. Advent is a particularly good time to do this because the Advent daily readings often tell stories of the healing miracles of Jesus, miracles which are a sign of the future coming of the Reign of God when all sin and sickness and death itself will be overcome.

   Many people grew up when this sacrament was called Extreme Unction.  The word extreme, translated into English from the Latin, does not mean in extreme danger, It refers to the anointing of the extremities because years ago the hands and feet as well as the forehead were anointed.  To clarify this misunderstanding the Church now refers to the sacrament as The Anointing of the Sick.  The forehead and hands are now anointed.

    We often hear the expression Last Rites when speaking about anointing.  Actually the official last rites of the Church are special prayers for the dying and Holy Communion received as Viaticum and when appropriate a final absolution.  These rites may also be given together with the Anointing of the Sick.

   So why do I as well as the other members of my community get anointed?  Among other things one of the criteria for reception of this sacrament is to be feeling the effects of advancing age.  Enough said right there.  Also almost all of us have some condition which is serious but because of modern medicine does not kill us.  I, for example, am diabetic.  Also anyone who is about to undergo surgery or who recently has undergone surgery may present themselves. 

   Some ask if they can be anointed more than once.  The answer is yes and while I have not seen any rigid guideline on frequency I would think that every few months is fine unless a new disease or illness enters the picture, then get anointed right away.

   Over the centuries miracles have occured through the administration of this sacrament.  I have heard some beautiful accounts of outright miracles or of medical procedures that went exceptionally well after anointing.  I would like to stress however that we ought not use this sacrament to get "fixed".  At the deepest level presenting oneself for anointing is a way of affirming that our sufferings are joined to those of Christ, not joined so that we might just wallow in suffering but rather so that we might be transformed and renewed in some way and claim hope in His Resurrection, the great mystery in whgich all suffering will be overcome.  St. Paul, in the second letter to the Corinthians, expresses this wonderfully.  He says, "We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesn (2 Cor. 4: 8-11)

     I have been anointed many times over the last few years.  While I certainly have not had a miracle cure of anything I have received many blessings. To name just a few I have been given the strength to engage in the process of visting doctors, having medical procedures done, and of following the diet and exercise regimens recommended to me. (No, I have not been perfect at the latter, but by placing my health in the Lord's hands, especially through this sacrament I am a lot better at it).  Most importantly I am a growing to be more at peace with the routine of managing illnesses because I am more deeply aware that my life situation is part of a bigger picture.  Also, at age 72, I am feeling young at heart, but likewise am aware that the end of life beckons, hopefully not for a while yet, and I am at peace with that.

   My advice.  If you are young and healthy.  Thank God for that.  Not everyone needs to be anointed.  If, however, you are feeling the effects of advancing age, or if you are dealing with a chronic illnes, or diagnosed with a serious illnes, ask your priest about Anointing of the Sick or participate in a communal anointing if your parish has one.



    
 
   

What are You Doing for Advent?

Advent Wreath

  When Lent begins we often get asked, "What are you doing for Lent?"  We respond be telling of the things we are giving up as well as the positive actions we are taken.  I would like to suggest that the same question be asked for Advent, though the answer should be much different.

   In Lent we focus on our personal conversion as we prepare to celebrate the Death and Resurrection of Christ.  We give up things that lead us to sin or that stand in the way of following the Lord more closely.

  Advent is different. It is the time not only to prepare for the celebration of the Lord's birth, but to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God. How do we go about that?

  At the end of the Church's liturgical year and at it's beginning in Advent we are invited to focus on the end times, on the coming of God's reign in its fullness.  We are reminded that we do not know the day or the hour, that we must always be ready.  We are also invited to wait for these times in hope, not in gloom and doom, as the realization of all of God's promises and all of humanity's hopes.

   Practically then what are we to do? 

1.  Realize that even now the Kingdom of God is among us, not yet in its fullness, but among us nonetheless.  With all of the negative news around us, with all of the divisiveness brought about by our recent election it is easy to get mired in negativity.  Perhaps part of an Advent penance would be to daily look for signs of the Kingdom among us.  There are countless stories of forgiveness, of differences being overcome, of extraordinary kindness being granted, of harmony between races and religions.  The mainstream media don't highlight these, but they are there.  Look for these things daily, thank God for them and say "They Kingdom come!"

2.  Try to be an instrument of the coming of the Kingdom.  Strive to be a light in the darkness.  Reach out to someone or some group that feels alienated or marginalized.  Work for justice where there is injustice.  Be a peacemaker where there is violence.  This may be on a grand scale or within your own circle of family and friends.

3.  Don't give into cynicism.  This is one of the most unchristian of virtues. Remember that we "wait in blessed hope for the coming of the Savior, that in God's time All will be well.

4.  None of us can help but getting swept up in the secular, commercial celebration of the holidays, but take time to prepare your heart for celebrating the birth of our Lord. Hold back a bit on getting up decorations as a reminder that Advent is a time of waiting, waiting for the birth of Jesus to be celebrated, and waiting for His coming.

    So what are you doing for Advent?

   

 

Blessed Are The Peacemkers

  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.  (Mt. 5:9).  This particular beatitude was certainly lived by St. Francis of Assisi whether it was meeting the Muslim Sultan during the crusades or making peace between the mayor and the bishop in Assisi.  Being a peacemaker is at the heart of being a Franciscan.  It is also a call that is difficult to live out today, but I am going to give it a try.

   On Tuesday we are going to elect a president. Like many of you I will not be happy with either candidate. Those on the losing side may be tempted to anger, reprisal and violence.   Those on the   winning side may be tempted to gloat and take it out on the opposition.  Others may be tempted to give in to despair.  I pray that neither of the above options is exercised.  I address here neither Mr. Trump, not Mrs. Clinton.  I doubt that either of them care what I think.  I address you, the readers of this blog, and whomever you may share this with.

  What to do?  Here are some suggestions.

  1.  Don't insult or disown your friends and acquaintances who voted for the other candidate.  Avoid saying "How could you?" or "He/she's evil." Rather suggest that we discuss together how we can move forward.

   2.  No matter how disappointed and you are with the winner (Yes, there is reason to feel that way no matter who wins.) try to find something that you can get behind, even if it is just a few things.

   3.  Contact both the new president-elect and you representatives in Congress and plead with them to find a path that enables them to work together.  We have had several years of deadlock.  We have to get past this.

   4.  Above all pray, pray and pray some more for the healing of our nation.

    5.  Any further suggestions that you have that do not involve hostility will be most welcome as comments or e-mail responses to this blog post. Since the blog will go on to Facebook be free to give respectful suggestions there.