“God our Father, in your wise and loving care you made your servant, John Paul, Pope and teacher of all your Church.
He did the work of Christ on earth.
May your Son welcome him eternal glory, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Taken from a memorial card I picked up in Italy shortly after his death.)
“You have given us bread from heaven; bread of the angels!” — Second Vespers for Corpus Christi
I am borrowing a term from a Deacon Dave Plevak of my home diocese when I say “borders”. He gave an excellent talk to us several months ago about protecting yourself from burnout in ministry by establishing good borders.
This morning I met with my bishop, and interestingly, he too talked of protecting one’s marriage and personal life from constant infringement that can occur in diaconal ministry. Although he didn’t use the term, he was talking about “borders”.
It seems to me that married deacons are especially adept at maintaining boundaries, moving from one side to the other as required or needed. At least deacons happily and fruitfully living out their vocations. Perhaps that comes from necessity; perhaps from our experiences in the professional world that most of us have lived and thrived in for so many years before ordination. Perhaps it comes with the graces of sacramental marriage. Quite frankly, I think the biggest contributor to our ability to do this is our wives. They seem to be able to identify border crossings quickly and accurately.
One thing that does not seem to have been studied with any rigor is how God speaks through the wives of deacons. How in other words, diaconal spirituality is dovetailed into marital spirituality. Most of what seems to have been written is couched overly theological, churchy language. Perhaps our wives are a key medium through which our diaconal call comes, and is sustained. Each deacon certainly knows how this is true in his personal situation. It would be interesting to study it on a national level. Better yet, on an international level.
“Borders” is a good term. Another way of discerning just what God may be calling us to at any given time of our lives. A portal through which our wives participate in our vocations. A brush by which we, as Icons of Jesus the Servant, are brought into sharper focus for the People of God.
Thank you for your patience the past few days. I have been away from computer access since Tuesday for a couple of reasons. My computer completely died necessitating a new one on which I now type, and secondly, I was away at some diaconal training, finishing this morning.
More posts in short order.
My computer is down and I will be away from my office computer for five days, so you probably won’t see any posting until next Monday.
Have a great week!
Today is the memorial of St. Ephrem, who was a deacon and a doctor of the Church. He was born near Nisibi around the year 306 into a Christian family. He was ordained a deacon and exercised his office in his native land and in the church of Edessa, where he founded a theological school. Even though he dedicated himself to asceticism, he did not neglect the ministry of preaching and publishing books that corrected the errors of his time. He died in 373.
Anytime we have a chance to celebrate the life of a deacon, I leap at the opportunity. Too bad today’s memorial is an optional feast in the Church! It must have been exciting for Ephrem to have lived during a time when Christianity went from an outlawed religious movement to a publicly sanctioned faith. I wonder if he was concerned about that change, or perhaps had a different vision initially of how the Church was to develop. One of those questions I will be able to ask when, I hope, I enter heaven and am able to ask him directly.
“It never pays to become discouraged at the faults of others or at our own.” — Ven. Solanus Casey, OFM Cap.
If today was not the memorial of St. Boniface, we would have read from St. Baldwin of Canterbury in the Office of Readings. St. Baldwin said:
“It is written in fact, ‘There are roads that seem good to man, but actually lead to an abyss’ (Proverbs 16, 25). To avoid this danger, the Apostle John warns us, saying, ‘Put to the test inspirations to discern whether they truly come from God’ (1 Jn 4,1)…..DIscernment in fact is the mother of all virtue and is necessary for all to guide us in life… This then, is is discernment: the union of right thinking and virtuous intention.” — St. Baldwin, Tratt. 6; PL 204
I comment on this today as I have been thinking how often I am hearing and seeing good people gobbling up in the popular press various books on spirituality without, it seems to me, having read and understood the classic Catholic and Christian writings on spirituality. People seem to be entertaining many new ideas, and interest in non-Christian spiritualities are on the rise. I wonder how well we are truly discerning the various spirits and teachings. There are so many voices out there vying for our attention, that I suspect many are confusedly wandering from the truth.
I love St. Baldwin’s comment that discernment includes “right thinking”. Right thinking is founded on the truth, our desire to orient ourselves to the truth, and freely choosing it. When our thinking gets cloudy (filled with attractive ideas founded on something other than the truth which comes from God) then our discernment fails us and we run the risk that St. Boniface (whose feast it is today) tells us of, i.e., being invaded anxiety and fear with the risk of abandoning “the helm of the Church”. St. Boniface says in today’s reading in the Office:
“We preach the design of God to the great and the small alike, to the rich and the poor. We announce it to all classes and all ages while the Lord gives us strength, when convenient and inconvenient….” St. Boniface Lett. 78; MGH, Epistolae, 3
Without knowledge of God’s plan, and purity of intention, we go astray.
“Courtesy is one of the properties of the Lord, who serves out sun and rain and all his things which we need for our life, to the just and the unjust alike. For Courtesy is a sister to Charity, and she extinguishes hatred and keeps Charity alive.” — St. Francis of Assissi
I couldn’t help but notice the Patristic reading in the Office of Readings for today. It seems to mesh well with yesterday’s post on non-violence. St. Dorotheus had this to say (my translation of the Italian):
“He who takes blame on himself, serenely accepts everything when he runs into whatever injury, slander, offense, adversity or other affliction; through it all he remains deserving and nothing in any way can disturb him. Who is there who is more tranquil than such a man?
“Perhaps someone will object: ‘If a brother attacks me and examining myself I find I have not given him any reason to do so, why should I accuse myself?’ Certainly, if with fear of God, I diligently examine myself, I will never find myself to be completely innocent and I will find either by actions or words or attitude that I have given him reason. Even if in the present situation I do not find myself responsible, certainly at another moment I will treat my brother harshly or in some new or old matter I will have brought harm to him or some other brother. Because of this, I rightly suffer because in other innumerable ways I have sinned.” — St. Dorotheus, Doctr. 13, De accusatione sui ipsius, 2-3; PG 88, 1699
Perhaps a medieval manner of speaking, but he touches on a subject many of us would rather not consider: When someone attacks us, especially when we are at peace, perhaps our response should ultimately be self-examination, and a sincere search for how we may have contributed to a broader context that gives rise to violence, rather than using violence to counter violence.
How unhappy I am today, learning as I came to work this morning that someone murdered Dr. George Tiller down in Kansas. As you probably know, Dr. Tiller was a late-term abortionist. He was killed by someone in the lobby of the church he attended.
You cannot be pro-life and advocate violence. No way, no how.
This is even more disturbing to me this morning because I had a very stimulating conversation late last night with a friend whose car stalled yesterday, and he and his wife spent the night at our house. He and I got into this very issue last night — the pro-life movement and the advocacy of violence/war in national and international relations. My friend is a pacifist, and he practices what he preaches. He has radically altered his life to live as a pacifist. It has cost him dearly in many ways. Our conversation was spirited and delightful. How can one say, “I am against abortion!” and support capital punishment or war as it is fought in today’s world? How can one say, “I am against all war and violence to others!” and advocate for the “right” to choose abortion? Either position is inherently inconsistent and the arguments made by both camps collapse if looked at with any moral or intellectual honesty.
As I have said to many over the years: 1. I have no real political home. 2. I am about two inches from being a pacifist myself. 3. I am totally against abortion. 4. Abortion needs to be outlawed because a well-legislated law would protect our freedom and ability to orient ourselves toward life and to choose it. 5. Legislating against abortion is only part of the task. (We must get this right.) We also must develop just social, political, economic and legal structures that support life, especially for vulnerable women and the poor.
One cannot be consistently pro-life and advocate for the right to choose abortion. One cannot be pro-life and fail to work toward a more just social and political and economic reality that will support life.
One cannot be pro-life and then murder someone.
Life is sacred.
“Praise to you, my Lord, through Brother Fire. Through him you illumine our night, and he is handsome and jocund, robust and strong.” — St. Francis of Assissi
“Live always in truth, that you may die in obedience.” — St. Francis of Assissi
Obedience to the truth always leads to freedom and beatitude. Thus, the importance of always knowing the truth, directing ourselves to it, and choosing it freely. This is the core of the moral life.
Log on to www.ncrlc.com/tabletalk.html
This is the website for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. You will find there “Ethics of Eating” that is worth your while to read. I will quote a short piece from it below.
“Eating is a moral act, and sometimes a religious act. Yet, the gratitude for holy food and the salvation it brings is fully expressed only when we remember the unleavened bread was first eaten by slaves on the run and the cup of some drink is a cup of suffering.
“Just as I believe that Bread and Wine are transformed, so we are transformed… transformed into a people of compassion, people who see what others overlook, people who can begin to trace the vague outlines of the prophetic vision of the Reign of God where justice and mercy embrace and a grand table is set.
“Where bankers sit next to farmers, boarder (sic) guards converse with the undocumented and ranchers share toasts with environmentalists. Where work gloves lie next to linen napkins, hands are scrubbed, feet are washed, thirst is quenched, hunger satisfied and there’s no hint of injustice, no whisper of enslavement, no sign of barbed wire anywhere!
“Eating is a moral act. Our tables need to include those who’ve been excluded. Our talk needs to include our farmers, their families, the rural communities, our environment, our landscape, our countryside, religious and moral values. We are what we eat. By our choices we shape the world. By our conversations, our talking, we influence others. Let us remember the challenge we have to shape a world of justice and peace.” — Br. David Andrew, CSC, 2-13-01
The USCCB is reporting that President Obama has promised to support conscience clauses in health care facilities. There had been concern that conscience clauses that exist would have been eliminated with the current administration, putting thousands of Catholic health care providers in positions of having to quit their jobs, or being forced to participate in morally objectionable practices. Catholic hospitals would have been faced with closure decisions if such clauses were to have been stripped.
Log on to www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-116.shtml for the report. I would offer you a quote from that page:
“I am grateful for President Obama’s statement on May 17 that we should all ‘honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion,’ and his support for conscience clauses advancing this goal.
“Since 1973, federal law protecting the conscience rights of health care providers have been an important part of our American civil rights tradition. These laws should be fully implemented and enforced. Caring health professionals and institutions should know that their deeply held religious or moral convictions will be respected as they exercise their right to serve patients in need……Catholic providers, in particular, make a large and essential contribution to heath care in our society. Essential steps to protect these conscience rights will strengthen our health care system and enhance many patients’ access to necessary life-affirming care.” — Cardinal Francis George
