Veteran's Day

Heavenly Father,

In every age, You call certain persons to defend the human family from oppression, tyranny, and evil. Since our founding as a nation "conceived in liberty," countless American men and women have stepped forward to defend our country and many others from aggressors, and to liberate those held captive.

Today we revere all our veterans: those who rest in honored glory, those who still suffer from the wounds of war, and those who, with us, enjoy the blessing of living in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O God, thank You for the selfless sacrifice of these veterans and of their families. Help us to remember them, to pray for them, and to care for them. Please bring all our departed veterans into Your Kingdom, and console their families with Your unfailing love. Please heal our wounded veterans through the power of Your Holy Spirit, and give to all our veterans the satisfaction of having served You even as they have served us.

Thank You for Your gifts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May we fight to keep these rights available to all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

(Originally posted at Literary Compass, Nov 9, 2007.)

Anti-Christian Violence

CatholicCulture.org Latest Headlines...

from Bishop Urges Christians to leave Iraq:

“I say clearly and now-- the Christian people should leave their beloved land of our ancestors and escape the premeditated ethnic cleansing,” said Archbishop Athanasios Dawood, one week after a massacre at the Syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad. “This is better than having them killed one by one.”

(Watch an interview with Archbishop Dawood here.)

and from Iraqi priest, torture victim leads school esteemed by Muslim neighbors:

Father Douglas al-Bazi, a Chaldean Catholic priest...has decided to stay in his Baghdad neighborhood despite being kidnapped and tortured in 2006. “It’s not that I’m a hero-- I don’t care about that,” the priest says. “I care about staying with my people. My people never asked me to be a hero, they just want to see me here with them.”

Genocidal violence in Iraq has been escalating against Christians since 2003.

MORE:
Iraqi Christians' long history
Wave of anti-Christian violence spreading in Iraq
Baghdad church hostage drama ends in bloodbath
Death toll rises to 58 in Iraq church standoff
All Christians 'targets,' Iraqi militant group says

Two Loves

The following is an excerpt from one of Pope St. Leo the Great's sermons.  (Click here to read the entire text of Sermon 90).

"(T)here are two loves from which proceed all wishes, as different in quality as they are different in their sources. For the reasonable soul, which cannot exist without love, is the lover either of God or the world. In the love of God there is no excess, but in the love of the world all is hurtful.

"And therefore we must cling inseparably to eternal treasures, but things temporal we must use like passers-by, that as we are sojourners hastening to return to our own land, all the good things of this world which meet us may be as aids on the way, not snares to detain us. Therefore the blessed Apostle makes this proclamation, "the time is short: it remains that those who have wives be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they wept not; and those who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those who buy, as though they possessed not; and those that use this world, as though they used it not. For the fashion of this world passes away (1 Cor 7:29-31).

"But as the world attracts us with its appearance, and abundance and variety, it is not easy to turn away from it unless in the beauty of things visible the Creator rather than the creature is loved; for, when He says, "you shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and from all your mind, and from all your strength (Mt 22:37),"  He wishes us in noticing to loosen ourselves from the bonds of His love. And when He links the love of our neighbour also to this command, He enjoins on us the imitation of His own goodness, that we should love what He loves and do what He does.

"For although we be "God's husbandry and God's building," and "neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters, but God that gives the increase," yet in all things He requires our ministry and service, and wishes us to be the stewards of His gifts, that he who bears God's image may do God's will. For this reason, in the Lord's prayer we say most devoutly, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done as in heaven, so also on earth." For what else do we ask for in these words but that God may subdue those whom He has not yet subdued, and as in heaven He makes the angels ministers of His will, so also on earth He may make men? And in seeking this we love God, we love also our neighbour: and the love within us has but one Object, since we desire the bond-servant to serve and the Lord to have rule."


(On the Fast of Seventh Month, V.; III. The love of God contrasted with the love of the world. All paragraph breaks are mine to facilitate reading.)

The Temple of God

You are God’s building.

According to the grace of God 
given to me,

like a wise master builder 
I laid a foundation,

and another is building upon it.

But each one must be careful how 
he builds upon it,

for no one can lay a foundation 
other than the one that is there,

namely, Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 3:9c-11

The Lateran Basilica has been through wars, fires, earthquakes, vandalism, the changing times--and throughout history the faithful has rebuilt her again and again.

As we should. After all, she is the Cathedral of the Holy Father, and thus the Cathedral of each one of us, the faithful around the world. We truly are one body in Christ.

I pray today for the Church that is the Body of Christ; for those who continue to struggle against forces of darkness that desire nothing but the destruction of Christ's people; for those who suffer at the hands of the world, who continue to hope in Christ Jesus who promised to be with us until the end of time, and find the courage to rebuild again and again.

Here is one such group of believers:

(from GOD IN CHINA: The Struggle for Religious Freedom, produced and distributed by Rome Reports.)

 

The stairs upon which stood our Lord as he was judged by Pilate and condemned to death.  These stairs now lead to the Sancta Sanctorum in the Lateran Palace, the personal chapel of the Popes of the Early Church.

Buy This Book! Between Allah & Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims

I know, it's a touchy subject. Islam has a pretty nasty reputation here in the West, thanks to the political realities of our times. These political realities, however, shouldn't stop us from seeking out peace, and finding ways to dialogue with Muslims, and to better understand their beliefs and culture. How else will we ever succeed in evangelizing them?

Between Allah & Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims by Peter Kreeft (IVP Books, 2010) is a series of fictionalized conversations between a Muslim, a Secular Humanist, a fundamentalist Christian and a Catholic priest (and a few other minor "characters"), designed to discuss the broader philosophies and thinking behind the Muslim belief system. Within the conversations, Kreeft is able to discuss how these belief systems clash with the West, and where we all go wrong in our assumptions about each other.

If you happen to be looking for political commentary, look elsewhere. Between Allah and Jesus is about theology and spirituality, and how these are meant to be lived in practice. He does discuss politics, but only in a very narrow, controlled context of where religion and religious beliefs have a direct effect on politics. The point Kreeft is making here is a pretty gutsy one--every side is right in some ways, but very wrong in others.  For example, in his introduction Kreeft makes the following point:

There are two Islams in the world today. (1) There is the Islam of the Qur'an, which is one of the great religions of the world. It is a religion of peace (not of pacifism nor of aggression) and of divine justice (not of divine tyranny nor of divine intimacy). (2) There is also the Islam of the terrorists, who are murderers and assassins, especially murderers of their fellow Muslims.  Shiites and Sunnis hate each other for their "heresies" more intensely than either hates the West. (The London bombings deliberately targeted Muslim neighborhoods.)

 ...It is very tempting, if you see either if these two things, to ignore the other one. (Kindle Edition, Loc 118-120, 125)

Kreeft deals with these two points very effectively in the narrative as well by building some flaws and prejudices into each of the western characters, and giving his Muslim character, 'Isa, a chance to discuss them. He admittedly idealized 'Isa in both his knowledge and his practice of Islam, which is a smart approach, particularly because Kreeft in no way idealizes Islam. He presents Islam honestly, including those areas where it is fundamentally incorrect according to the truth of Jesus Christ.  At the same time he's taking on Islam's theological inadequacies, he also takes on Christians, who have become weak and ineffective in the material traps of Western culture.

One of Kreeft's strengths across his body of work is his ability to boil down what could be difficult theological ideas and lengthy psychological assessments into very accessible text. This work is no different. By using the context of conversation he was able to deliver complex information concisely without sounding too elementary, while at the same time delivered the harder truths without sounding too combative. He did use a few forced colloquialisms, and some of the conversations seemed a little unnatural, but as Kreeft explains in his introduction, this is not a novel, but a means of information delivery.

As to what exactly it is that we have to learn from Muslim spirituality, well, you'll have to read the book to find that one out for yourself.  I will tell you this much: it made me really think about just how well I practice my own Catholic faith, and what kind of reflection of my Catholic faith I am on the rest of the world.

You can purchase this book here.

I wrote this review of Between Allah and Jesus for the Tiber River Blogger Review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Oplatki and Advent Calendars. For more information and to purchase, please visit Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.

Brick By Brick

"A lifelong conversion consists of many reasons and arguments, much study and discerning," writes J.W. Blakely in his conversion story for the Word On Fire blog.

"Despite what the modern world tells us, conversions are not simply some irrational process by which we leap blindly and flailing into the dark. They are rather an act of construction, of care and of building, of change and of practice. Like the building of a solid church they are slow and methodical, brought up brick by brick, the cracks patched and kept up through bad weather. But unlike the construction of a church, the building itself is invisible, its materials the extension of our own lives through time."

(click here to read more at Fr. Robert Barron's Word On Fire, and click here for Blakely's entire conversion story.)

I venture to guess that many of us would use a similar description when considering our own conversion stories. I know it's true of mine. It would take years to find the words for all I've come to know (which when considered amid the wonders of all of creation, is practically nothing). We need the metaphors because what we have come to know about our God cannot possibly be funneled into a cleverly turned phrase or slogan for which the world has been conditioned. As Thomas Aquinas said, "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." Yet we are compelled to explain it, because what we've found is what everyone seeks from within their inmost being whether they know it or not, whether they believe it or not.

We often refer to our life as a journey--a trek up a mountain, or through great mansions, or on pathways straight and narrow or long and winding, or as Blakely has in his conversion story, as a process of building something. Conversion isn't an overnight thing--we don't just wake up one day and "get it", and we don't find answers through intellectual exercises around Scripture, the Doctors of the Church, the Catechism or any other resource.

      The Truth Speaks To Us Without Noise Of Words
      "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." 1 Kings 3:9

      ...Let not Moses nor any of the prophets speak to me, but speak Thou rather, 

                 O Lord God, who art the inspirer and enlightener of all the prophets, 

                 for Thou alone without them canst perfectly instruct me, but they 

                 without Thee will avail me nothing.

      They may indeed sound forth words, but they give not the spirit.
      They speak well, but if Thou be silent they do not set the heart on fire.

      They deliver the letter, but Thou discloseth the sense. They publish mysteries, 

                  but Thou explainest the meaning of the thing signified.
      They declare the commandments, but Thou enablest us to keep them.
      They show the way, but Thou givest strength to walk in it.
      They work only outwardly, but Thou instructest and enlightenest the heart.
      They water exteriorly, but Thou givest the increase.
      They cry out with words, but Thou givest understanding to the hearing.

- from My Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
Book III Chapter 2: How Truth Speaks

It took Blakely being almost incapacitated with an undiagnosed illness to finally be in a state of mind where he could actually discern the voice of God, and begin to know the truth that God so desperately wants us all to know. You will be thoroughly enriched by his conversion story.

Devotion

AWHC...er...I Mean ACLU Unholy Request

EWTN.com - Obama Administration Considering ACLU’s Request To Mandate ‘Emergency’ Abortions At Catholic Hospitals

Pray in reparation for the injuries to and deaths of women
because of Abortion and Birth Control.

What's the WHC?
(Click the picture)

Lunch

I think the world would be a better place if everyone felt like this:

Twelve Traits of Jesus Christ

Last night Deacon Ron Bunofsky of St. John the Baptist Parish, Campbell, OH, presented Spiritual Direction on a practical imitation of Christ. It couldn't have come at a better time for me, as I've been in a little dry spell in my Christian formation. Spiritual direction is one of those things that you don't really think about until you get some, and then you wonder how you ever lived without it.

"As Christians", he said, "we know how important it is to use Jesus Christ as our model. There have been many books written on the subject. We've all probably heard of My Imitation Of Christ by Thomas à Kempis." Many early Christians, he explained, thought that Jesus was only God, and wasn't really human, but He was fully human, and lived a fully human life.  It's why the Christian walk begins with imitating Christ.  "The more we are like him," he went on, "the more human we will be. To be fully human is to imitate Christ, and NOT to give excuses as to why we're "messing up"."

Until last night, I forgot that I had a copy of this book, one of those pocket-sized books with the super-thin tissue pages that you have to highlight with a colored pencil. I'll be locating that book rightly. Deacon provided us with a list twelve traits of Jesus and some scripture verses for our private study and reflection during the next few weeks, along with these questions to consider:

Which of these traits do I admire in others?
The lack of which traits in others upsets me?
Which of these traits do I need more?
Which of these is my strongest trait?

Twelve Traits of Jesus Christ

1. Forgiveness: Lk 6:37, Mt 6:14
2. Authority: Mt 1:22; Jn 16
3. Humility: Mt 18:4
4. Compassion: Stands out in Christ's ministry
5. Generosity: A loving response to others needs
6. Love: Jn 13:34; Jn 15:9; Jn 23:34
7. Purpose: Jn 10:10
8. Patience: Poise, inner calmness, confidence, quiet endurance
9. Prayerfulness: Lk 18:1
10. Faith: Mk 5:34, Lk 7:50; Mt 8:12; Mt 21:22
11. Courage: Ro 8:31
12. Receptivity: Like Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Magi, the Shepherds

Becoming A Saint

"Our ultimate goal is to be a saint. It is our greatest calling and what is desired for us by our Creator. Father Robert Barron paints a beautiful and mysterious image of what it takes to be a follower of, 'the One who is, Jesus Christ.'" Read more about Untold Blessing: Three Paths To Holiness at the Word On Fire online store.

I bought Untold Blessing in the Viewer's Choice DVD Pack, and I think it was some of the best money I ever spent. I've purchased quite a few of Fr. Barron's videos, and have loaned them all out over the last few months to friends and family for a variety of reasons and applications.

I think what makes Fr. Barron's media so compelling is his ability to hold our culture up against the truth, and to explain how our culture measures up against it in a way that everyone can understand. He doesn't shy away from those harder truths, either. In Untold Blessing: Three Paths To Holiness, Fr. Barron lays out for us what it means to have a properly ordered life and how to achieve it, in a way that inspires the viewer to strive for the prize.

Today as we honor all the saints in Heaven, may we each rededicate ourselves toward achieving our places with them.