Quote for the Day

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Deacon Bob

“May we never be callous to the goodness of Christ.  If he were to treat us according to our actions, we would be lost.” — St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians

2 Comments

Caritas In Veritate

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Deacon Bob

I am stilll pouring over the Pope’s encyclical. 

In sections 53 and 54, he talks about humanity being defined through relationships.  He makes the comment, “… the relation between individual and community is a relation between one totality and another”, quoting St. Thomas Aquinas.  He then goes on to say that true openess in relationships does not lead to loss of individual identity, but rather “profound interpenetration.”  He uses the mystery of the Trinity as the example par excellence of this.  “The Trinity is absolute unity insofar as the three divine Persons are pure relationality,” he says.

In other words,  you don’t lose your individuality when you enter into profound relationships.  This applies to individual human beings (marital couples are good examples), as well as to individual cultures.

The interpenetration of one with another, of one culture with another, is becoming more and more evident with the advancement of globilization.  There is a real temptation to either lose one’s personal or cultural identity here in some sort of effort to become a global melting pot.  There is also the temptation of evaluating all religions and cultures as equally “true” and in doing so, losing the awareness and acknowledgment of the Truth.  Finally, there is the temptation of religious intolerance, isolationism and in the extreme, religious terrorism.

The point of the whole encylical comes to bear here.  Love in Truth. Love is possible only when one knows the truth.  Acknowledging the truth frees one to love as one ought. Love is a response to the interrelatedness, one with another, that defines us.  If we fail to acknowledge the truth, which comes to us from God Himself, we fail in our efforts to love as we must.  Then, human development fails in the last analysis.

Comments Off on Caritas In Veritate

Attention Deacons

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Deacon Bob

Our director of the diaconate sent this around to all of us today.  Written by our former bishop, now Archbishop of Portland in Oregon, John Vlazny.

It is worth the read.

http://sentinel.org/node/10179

Thanks, Archbishop Vlazny!

Comments Off on Attention Deacons

Diaconal Service is the Norm for all

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Deacon Bob

Diakonia, was described as the normal manner of loving by Pope Paul VI (then Archbishop Montini) at an ordination in Milan on June 26, 1955.

Diaconal service is the norm for all loving in the Church.

That statement is pregnant with meaning, from which a great theology is being developed.

Here are his words:

“The normal manner of loving others is that of placing oneself at their service, of being from this day forward at their disposition, of not being able anymore of saying no, of being in their midst not as one who comes to be served, but to serve. So said the Lord: “Non veni ministrari sed ministrare”. I did not come so that others may be inconvenienced or that they may care for my well-being or happiness, but I am ordered to the happiness, well-being and salvation of others.”  — Montini 1955

My bishop during my pre-ordination interview reminded me that after ordination, I would be a public figure. I would be at the service of others. My life was to become one of life poured out for the sake of others.

He also reminded me of the necessity of protecting my marriage from the demands of diakonia to the larger community.

How can one do both?

The answer comes, partially at least, from recognizing the diakonia of marriage.  One cannot be a good deacon to the larger community if one is not a very good deacon to one’s wife and family.

Part of the answer comes too, I believe, from recognizing how my diaconal calling flows from the strength of my marriage and harmonizing the graces of marriage with the graces of ordination.

Diaconal service is the norm for all in the Church. Makes sense doesn’t it, when one reflects on the fact that Jesus is the norm for all of us.  Jesus the Servant.

Comments Off on Diaconal Service is the Norm for all

More Prayers than Battles

Posted on July 18, 2009 by Deacon Bob

Here are some words from Pope John Paul I, taken from his Angelus address on September 3, 1978. 

“Up there in Veneto I heard it said: every good thief has his devotion. The Pope has a number of devotions; among others, to St. Gregory the Great, whose feast falls today…. It so happens that today, 3 September, he was elected Pope and I am officially beginning my service of the universal Church. He was a poor Roman, who became the first Magistrate of the city. Then he gave everything to the poor, entered a monastery, and became the Pope’s Secretary. On the Pope’s death, he was elected and he did not want to accept. The Emperor, the people, intervened.  Afterwards, he finally accepted and wrote to his friend Leandro, Bishop of Seville:  “I feel like weeping more than talking.” And to the Emperor’s sister: “The Emperor has wanted a monkey to become a lion.”…… He was so good to the poor; he converted England.  Above all he wrote beautiful books; one is the “Pastoral Rule”; it teaches bishops their trade, but in the last part, it has the following words: “I have described the good shepherd but I am not one, I have shown the shore of perfection at which to arrive but personally I am still in the breakers of my faults and my shortcomings, and so: please…..so that I will not be shipwrecked, throw me a safety belt with your prayers.” I say the same: yet it is not just the Pope who needs prayers, but the world.  A Spanish writer has written: “The world is going wrong because there are more battles than prayers.” Let us try to see that there may be more prayers and fewer battles.”  — John Paul I, Sunday, 3 September 78.

Yes, let there be more prayers than battles. Good advice. When we are tempted to do battle, even among our kin or our neighbors or our coworkers, let us offer a prayer instead!

Posted in Papa Luciani (Pope John Paul I) | 1 Comment

Quote for the Day

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Deacon Bob

“You are my God, teach me to do your will!”  — St. Francis of Assissi

Comments Off on Quote for the Day

To Possess God

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Deacon Bob

“Jesus is present and Jesus is hidden, because he wishes to bring forth in us those actions and virtues, those merits that will render us one day capable of seeing him, worthy to rejoice in him in the fullness of light and life.

“Jesus is present and hidden to teach us  to believe, to hope and to love.  Jesus trains us in the exercise of faith, of hope and of love, of those theological virtues, that is those virtues that are the ways given to us in the present life to arrive at the final stop of religion:  the possession of God.” (My English translation of the Italian original) — Pope Paul VI, 28 May, 1964

The final stop of religion is the possession of God.

We always want that which is good.  We always want to possess what we come to know as true and good. Think of it: the real purpose of religion is to bring us to the fullness of the Truth and Goodness, to “possess” God by being in eternal direct relationship with him. The Beatific Vision.

Comments Off on To Possess God

Dying — Seeing God

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Deacon Bob

In the Old Testament we read, “No one can see God and live.’ (Exodus 33, 20)  It has always made me a little frightened to think about that.  God would kill me if I saw him.  That is how I rather childishly conceived of it.

It isn’t about God striking us dead if we were to gaze upon him. We can’t really, in this world, even if we sought to do so. 

But perhaps it is about something else.  We often want to get caught up in the glory and glitz, the splendor and the divine pleasures that can be given us at times by God.  We strain for the consolations of the spiritual life.  We cling to life as we have it but want God to boot.

St. Bonaventure, whose feast we celebrate today,  reminds us that we ought embrace the fogginess, the cloudiness, the darkness of life if we are to see God.  Only in dying do we come to the vision of God.  And we don’t have to wait for physical death.  We can die a little each day by letting go of the extraneous, of whatever leads us into pride and embrace that which leads us to faith.  Only in death to ourselves do we find life in God; this is the paradox of Christianity.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Pro-Life and Pro-Environment – Intertwined

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Deacon Bob

One cannot be a true environmentalist and at the same time be pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia or  pro-death. 

Said positively, real environmentalists are ardently pro-life, and vehemently anti-abortion, anti-death.

This makes intuitive sense to me and helps me understand myself.  I have always felt this way and have always advocated for life and for the environment.  I just haven’t ever heard a pope put the two together as has Benedict.

Take a look at Pope Benedict’s comments in this regard:

“If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology. It is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them respect themselves….Our duties toward the environment are linked to our duties to the human person.” (bold lettering mine)— Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 51

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Pro-Life and Pro-Environment – Intertwined

Caritas in Veritate

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Deacon Bob

I am trying to grasp some of Benedict’s ideas in Caritas in Veritate. I am referring to paragraph 38 of the encyclical where he talks about the “fraternity of reciprocity” leading to “economic democracy.”  He identifies three logics: economic (contractual) logic, political logic, and the logic of unconditional gift.  He then goes on to discuss three subjects of these logics:  the market, the State, and civil society.  Economic life, then, is multi-layered, and at every level “fraternal reciprocity” must be present.  He talks later in the letter about how human development can no longer be understood only in terms of a market economy generating wealth and the political system ensuring proper distribution of that wealth.  He says that increasingly there needs to be the development of a “civil economy” oriented toward social welfare that embraces both the private and public spheres in which profits are used to develop a humane market and economy.  This, he says, will give rise to a civilized and more competitive market. (see paragraph 46).

Amazing stuff.  I have to think a lot more about it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Caritas in Veritate

Quote for the Day

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Deacon Bob

“While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.” — St. Francis of Assissi

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Encore on Church Unity

Posted on July 12, 2009 by Deacon Bob

I attended a piano concert last night conducted by Ian Shapinsky. He gave three encores. I thought it was a bit much, but then I don’t frequent piano concerts often, so maybe that is the standard for world class pianists.

I thought about blog encores, if you will. Follow up posts and how often to do them. I get feedback at times that I should abandon a certain theme, that I have said enough.

Well, here is an encore posting.  Not that I got any standing ovation for the first. 

I was praying the Office of Readings this morning.  St. Ambrose was talking to catechumens.  There was a piece though that made me think about my post last weekend about on-line parish reviews and dividing the Body of Christ along lines of “contemporary” or “traditional” or “nothing special.”  St. Ambrose encourages us to look beyond the appearances.  Here is my translation from the Italian.

“Before the baptismal fount you saw the deacon, you saw the priest, you saw the bishop. Do not pay attention to the externals of the person, but to grace of his sacred ministry. It was in the presence of God’s messengers that you have spoken, as it is written, “The lips of the priest must preserve knowledge and from his mouth one finds instruction, for he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts.” (Mal.2, 7). You cannot be mistaken here or negate this: He is a messenger who announces the reign of Christ, who announces eternal life. You must judge him not by appearances, but by his role. Reflect on what he says, ponder the importance of his task and recognize what he does.” — St. Ambrose, Catechism on the rite of Baptism

One of the comments made to last week’s post on this topic was that every priest, deacon and bishop has something to offer us. I agree. Let us look to the message and beyond the messenger.  Let us look to Christ who deacons, priests and bishops represent.  

I suspect that some of the Twelve Apostles lacked a bit in their style. Not all had the flair and eloquence of St. Paul, or the mystery of St. John.  But they were apostles of Jesus.  They were all sent to be messengers of the Good News.  It wasn’t about them, but about the message and the person of Jesus.

Posted in Ecclesiology, Saints and Prophets | 1 Comment

Laudable Quotes from Caritas in Veritate

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Deacon Bob

Some more wonderful quotes from the Pope’s Encyclical:

“Man is not a lost atom in a random universe: he is God’s creature, whom God chose to endow with an immortal soul and whom he has always loved.” (29)

“Knowledge is never purely the work of the intellect…. if it aspires to wisdom capable of directing man in the light of his first beginnings and his final ends, it must be ‘seasoned’ with the ‘salt’ of charity.” (30)

“Deeds without knowledge are blind, and knowledge without love is sterile.” (30)

“Intelligence and love are not in separate compartments: love is rich in intelligence and intelligence is full of love.” (30)

Posted in Ethics and Morality, Popes | Comments Off on Laudable Quotes from Caritas in Veritate

A Deacon’s Story

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Deacon Bob

Thanks to Deacon Greg Kandra, (see my link to his blog below) I ran across this great article about a New York deacon and his work as a chaplain in a state prison.

 www.pressrepublican.com/0100_news/local_story_190232750.html

I am aware of this prison, as my sister and her family lived  in Plattsburgh, New York for a few years and I had the chance to visit them.  Didn’t get a chance to visit with Deacon Donald Dashnaw though.

Posted in Deacons | Comments Off on A Deacon’s Story

Quote from Caritas in Veritate

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Deacon Bob

“Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away.” — Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 28

Here Benedict again makes the point of the intrinsic connection between life ethics and social ethics.  He, in effect, is saying there is a real connection between Humanae Vitae and Populorum Progressio.  He is calling for a “new humanistic synthesis” (Caritas in Veritatis, 21) in our understanding and implementation of political, social, and economic development based on the foundation of respect for and openess to human life.

As he quotes from Gaudium et Spes from Vatican II: “..the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: ‘Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life’ [Gudium et Spes, 63]” (Caritas in Veritate, 25)

An amazing insight into the thinking of Pope Paul VI and his two encyclicals.  It puts Humanae Vitae into a whole new light when it is read in the light of human development.

Posted in Ethics and Morality, General Interest, Politics, Popes | Comments Off on Quote from Caritas in Veritate