The created order is good

God is more glorified by a man who uses the good things of this life in simplicity and with gratitude than by the nervous asceticism of someone who is agitated about every detail of his self-denial. The former uses good things and thinks of God. The latter is afraid of good things, and consequently cannot use them properly. He is terrified of the pleasure God has put in things, and in his terror thinks only of himself. He imagines God has placed all the good things of the world before him like bait in a trap. HE worries at all times about his own "perfection." His struggle for perfection becomes a kind of battle of wits with the Creator who made all things good. The very goodness of creatures becomes a threat to the purity of this virtuous one, who would like to abstain from everything. But he cannot. He is human, like the rest of men, and must make use like them of food and drink and sleep. Like them he must see the sky, and love, in spite of oneself, the light of the sun! Every feeling of pleasure fills him with a sense of guilt. It has besmirched his own adored perfection. Strange that people like this should enter monasteries which have no other reason for existing than the love of God!

- Thomas Merton

It is easy enough to tell the poor to accept their poverty as God's will when you yourself have warm clothes and plenty of food and medical care and a roof over your head and no worry about the rent. But if you want them to believe you - try to share some of their poverty and see if you accept it as God's will yourself!

- Thomas Merton

Dogmatism and Bigotry - G.K. Chesterton

" A common hesitation in our day touching upon the use of extreme convictions is a sort of notion that extreme convictions, specially upon cosmic matters, have been responsible in the past for the thing which is called bigotry. But a very small amount of direct experience will dissipate this view. In real life the people who are most bigoted are the people who have no conviction at all. The economists of the Manchester school who disagree with Socialism take Socialism seriously. It is the young man in Bond Street, who does not know what socialism means, much less whether he agrees with it, who is quite certain that these socialist fellows are making a fuss about nothing. The man who understands the Calvinist philosophy enough to agree with it must understand the Catholic philosophy in order to disagree with it. It is the vague modern who is not at all certain what is right who is most certain that Dante was wrong. The serious opponents of the Latin Church in history, even in the act of showing that it produced great infamies, must know that it produced great saints. It is the hard-headed stockbroker, who knows no history and believes no religion, who is, nevertheless, perfectly convinced that all these priests are knaves. . .Bigotry may be roughly defined as the anger of men who have no opinions. It is the resistance offered to definite ideas by that vague bulk of people whose ideas are indefinite to excess. Bigotry may be called the appalling frenzy of the indifferent."

- G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

Suffering - Pope Benedict XVI

“We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi

God and Mammon

1. Christ says: "The dollar you have
is the dollar you give."

2. The Banker says: "The dollar you have
is the dollar you keep."

3. Christ says: "You cannot serve two masters,
God and Mammon."

4. "'You cannot.' And all our education consists
in trying to find out how we can,"
says Robert Louis Stevenson.

5. "The poor are the true children of the Church",
says Bossuet.

6. "Modern society
has made the bank account
the standard of values",
says Charles Péguy.

- Peter Maurin, Easy Essays

Detachment

Wherefore, if the soul rejects and denies that which it can receive through the senses, we can quite well say that it remains, as it were, in darkness and empty; since, as appears from what has been said, no light can enter it, in the course of nature, by any other means of illumination than those aforementioned. For, although it is true that the soul cannot help hearing and seeing and smelling and tasting and touching, this is of no greater import, nor, if the soul denies and rejects the object, is it hindered more than if it saw it not, heard it not, etc. Just so a man who desires to shut his eyes will remain in darkness, like the blind man who has not the faculty of sight. And to this purpose David says these words: Pauper sum ego, et in laboribus a indenture mea.⁸⁵Psalm lxxxvii, 16 [A.V., lxxxviii, 15]. Which signifies: I am poor and in labours from my youth. He calls himself poor, although it is clear that he was rich, because his will was not set upon riches, and thus it was as though he were really poor. But if he had not been really poor and had not been so in his will, he would not have been truly poor, for his soul, as far as its desire was concerned, would have been rich and replete.

For that reason we call this detachment night to the soul, for we are not treating here of the lack of things, since this implies no detachment on the part of the soul if it has a desire for them; but we are treating of the detachment from them of the taste and desire, for it is this that leaves the soul free and void of them, although it may have them; for it is not the things of this world that either occupy the soul or cause it harm, since they enter it not, but rather the will and desire for them, for it is these that dwell within it.

- St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk 1; Ch. 3:4

The darkness of faith

Stripped of all consolation whether human or divine, the soul must walk in the darkness and obscurity of faith. This is the true test of love for God. He requires that we give our entire being to Him when things seem the most challenging and the most trying. It is easy to say "I love you Lord" when we have received all sorts of human consolations, when we have achieved great material comforts, when our lives undergo a minimum of obstacles. It is easy to walk with Our Lord when He was receiving the adulation from the crowds, the same ones who shouted "Hosanna" on Palm Sunday, yet how difficult it is to walk with Our Lord towards Mt. Calvary. A love which is completely self-centered, which seeks everything from the other but does not seek out the good of the other,is simply no love at all.

Please Lord help me to continue loving you.

Rich and Poor

1. Afraid of the poor
who don't like to get poorer,
the rich who like to get richer
turn to the State for protection.

2. But the State is not only
the State of the rich
who like to get richer,
it is also the State of the poor
who don't like to get poorer.

3. So the State sometimes chooses to help
the many poor
who don't like to get poorer,
at the expense of the few rich
who like to get richer.

4. Dissatisfied with the State,
the rich who like to get richer
turn to the Church
to save them from the poor
who don't like to get poorer.

5. But the Church can only tell the rich
who like to get richer:
"Woe to you rich
who like to get richer,
if you don't help the poor
who don't like to get poorer."

- Peter Maurin, Easy Essays

Christ's Way

Christ wants More:
Ignatian Principles and Ideals on Prayer and Action
Fr. Frank Holland, S.J.
Published in 1962
pp. 88-91

Christ's Way

Enthusiasm...that's the secret of working for Christ. We've got to have it or we just won’t last. Not the frothy kind of enthusi­asm that lives on the surface but the kind that’s deep, solid, ma­ture, often quiet, but real dynamite when the time comes for action. Enthusiasm that will lead us to fight constantly against the effects of original sin which have so weakened our natures.

The Crusaders had it. Even the children were heard through­out Europe, "God wills it. God wills it." And St. Francis of Assisi also had it. What kept him smiling as the doctors burned his eye­balls when treating his eyes? No one acts like that in a time of crisis unless he first thinks that way and loves that way.

We have been baptized and confirmed. All the power we need is there in potential. When are the effects going to show themselves? What has to happen to us to make us realize that we' re born for tre­mendous things, that working and living for Christ is the answer to our deepest dreams, that the only worthwhile things we do in this life are those that have their effects in the supernatural order? When will the grace of our Baptism and Confirmation be allowed to show itself?

Christ has called us. "Come follow Me." How many years have we put off answering that call? No guided missile was ever better directed than that plea. But we can't hear anything unless we want to. And the hard things of life are just the things we don't want to hear most of the time.

Sometimes we're held back because a decision for Christ seems ridiculous according to the standards of the world. Sometimes it de­mands heroism to the point of folly. One has to be willing to go the whole way. Living for Christ means total giving according to His example.

Others have followed Him and we can learn from them. Many years ago it was Cardinal Pacelli, later Pius XII, who as Papal Nuncio to Germany stood up to the muzzle of a Communist gun and told the intruders to "get out" of the House of God. Fear played no part in his thinking.

A wealthy young couple who chose to adopt a child that no one else would take from an orphanage were choosing according to Christ's standards. So was the woman who adopted the crippled, deformed child. The child was anything but inviting... except to one who had Christ's way of thinking, and this is the only way.

Our task is hard because the world of today will have nothing to do with Christ even though it belongs to Him as much as when He made it. It is singing the same song it sang two thousand years ago, "Crucify Him." But it has different words. It doesn't rant against Him; it just ignores Him. Abandonment is a crucifixion, too.

Perhaps we get along with that world too well. Maybe we've compromised with it by following its dictates instead of Christ's. We can't be on Christ's side unless we are willing to go the whole way in the manner of St. Peter. St. Peter was on his way OUT of Rome when he met Christ carrying His Cross on His way into Rome.

When Peter asked Christ where He was going, Christ replied: "Back to Rome to be crucified again... in your place." Peter needed no more. He was crucified right there in the Eternal City just like his Master... only upside down.

Today Christ speaks to us as He did to Peter. He calls us to crucifixion... to the crucifixion of choosing HIM, His way of think­ing, of speaking, of acting... on the dance floor, at school, at work, at home. And this in spite of "what everyone else does." We need have no trouble knowing what He asks. His Church tells us.

But are we willing to choose as St. Peter chose? Are we will­ing to go the whole way to the cross? Do we choose Him no matter what the consequences may be? This is a choice which allows no compromising, no half-way measures, no long relaxations. It means being on the side of the saints, the HEROES of every age.

We must be convinced that total surrender in the manner of the saints is POSSIBLE for us. The cost will be great as it was for them and must not be underestimated. The Way of the Cross was different for each of God’s saints. It is different for each of us. We must discover what it is Christ asks of us.

A certain Jesuit once begged God to be forgotten, and he was…all along the line. When the time came for vows, to go out teaching, to be ordained...he was the last to be remembered. This might be asking too much for most of us, but the spirit of Christ was certain­ly there. Benedict Joseph Labre had his own way of following the Master as he played the role of a "tramp" for so many years... without home, without bath, without friends. Nobody understood... but Christ did. And that did matter.

To many, the Little Flower, St. Therese, was a young, pious, over-emotional French girl who took "the easy way" to Christ. A second glance at some of the things she did for the One she loved might be a bit more convincing. Only a will of iron could have done the tremendous little things she did for Christ. The big things most of us could do; the little ones aren't usually applauded.

Damien didn't have to go to Molokai. He wanted to. And that meant that he was willing to take on leprosy eventually. And that meant he invited pain... and death... and the cross. And why? What explains a man such as Damien? Where does he get the where­withal to live that way, die that way, suffer that way? Is there something that he has that we haven't? Or is there Someone who in­spires Him whom we don't have for a good friend? What's the secret?

Similar is the case of Peter Claver who lived with the Negro slaves at Cartagena for forty years. Just breathing the same air with the slaves in the "ship's hole" after they landed was enough to put most people out of the running. He fed them; he doctored them; he loved them; he often took their lashings for them. Why? Why? Why? The only reply we can find is that he literally saw Jesus Christ in them. He went beyond flesh and bone, looks and character, color and smell. He went right to the Heart of Christ.

Christ's way was never the easy way. Calvary can answer that. There is no room in Christ's army for the mediocre, for those who can't take it. Total giving of self is demanded. The Cross is IT, and we have to quit looking around for something else, something nicer, something more comfortable, something more human. God has set the pace. The question is-do we want to follow or not?

If we do, then we must dare to be different-in the way we think, in what we love, in whom we follow, in the way we live; and yet, we must not be repelling... or strange... or queer... or hard to take... or stuffy... or small... but just different in the sense that Christ was different because He lived this life in terms of the next life.

To act in today's world as Christ would act, we must be con­vinced to the hilt that He is right, that He is God! And that demands thinking, being alone with God, loving the right things, being tre­mendously sincere with God, with self, with others. And we must be convinced not merely that this is the only life, but that this life is meant for us and that we are called and are meant to live it.

We are called to live Christ's life NOW, in the circumstances of THIS CENTURY and this country in which He has placed us. But we are called to be saints no less heroic than those of any other age. Each one must discover what Christ is asking of him. The tasks differ. The standard is still the cross. The pledge of victory is the Resurrection. The leader is Christ.

It's a very wonderful thing to be sure we can't lose if only we persevere in it. And the secret of not giving up is to keep our eyes on Christ, not on ourselves. Anyone could get discouraged looking at self. No one who keeps his vision fixed on Christ will ever stop fighting for Him. It worked for Peter and thousands of others. You try it!

Thoughts on Lent - To die to self

Lent, the time wisely provided by the Church for our interior mortification, for the renouncing of our own selfish desires, for our intimate embracing of Our Lord's sufferings during His Passion and ultimate death upon the Cross, so that we may fully and joyously accept Christ risen from the dead on Easter.

Year by year goes by and we make lofty resolutions to get closer to the Cross but year by year goes by and we find ourselves back to square one. Why do we fail to keep our resolutions? Quite simply, it is because we do not love enough. Our wills are weak because we still have not learned to practice virtue the days before Lent. While Lent is a special period dedicated to the intense building up of the interior life every day should be a "little Lent". Surely we are to feast and to be specially aware of the joyous nature of Sundays, holy days of obligation, and those magnificent days so dear to the Church in her liturgy but if we are not already striving to achieve Christian perfection all year round Lent will become a superficial endeavor seen in a begrudging manner with us murmuring till the last day.

During Lent we must die to self which means more than "giving up" eating sweets or even dare I say the internet. We may give up all these things but lack a true spirit of mortification. Why are we doing all these things? It is not to say at the end of the day "Look at all the good I have accomplished. I am holy!". Of course we would never say that in public but all throughout a secret, hidden pride takes root in our souls. The goal is to get closer to Our Lord. Indeed, this may seem obvious but do we truly believe it?

Before Our Lord started His public ministry, He went into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights in preparation for his 3 years of public life. These 3 glorious years of planting the seeds of His Church, choosing the poor fishermen to become the pillars for this Church with one rather stubborn man having a special role in leading it, teaching a New Law which did not destroy the Old but perfected and elevated it and which astounded the Jewish leaders who could not rise above their corrupted legal prescriptions, in a manner were the fruit of His deeply intense seclusion from the world. So Lent should be a time where we "seclude" ourselves from the world as much as our state in life permits. Common sense, reason, and prudence should make it clear what we should do.

This Lent should be a time where we think of the things of God with great love and yes joy. It is a time where even if we have not been particularly cognizant of living a mortified life we are then given a chance to redouble our efforts at true mortification. No saint ever became one without living a life of mortification.

If we have not prayed as we ought, let us do so now. If we have been too attached to creature comforts, let us detach ourselves from these things to free ourselves for God. If we have never thought of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, let us do so now so we can internalize it where it will become a constant source of meditation throughout our lives. Lent is not about being sad, gloomy, or aloof but it is to help us lovingly accept the Cross. We have read it hundreds of times perhaps: "If you wish to be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me". If we have constantly sought to avoid the cross, then let us see in the Cross during this glorious season of Lent the wisdom of Our Lord's Passion and His sufferings which He was not bound to undergo for us.

40 days of denying self, of emptying self, of acquiring humility to rejoice so wonderfully on Easter. Lent will be fruitful if we love Our Lord enough.

To wander in this world

It is easy to wander in this life. After a man has reached a certain age he should have figured out through much prayer, preparation, and perseverance what he must do in his life. The support from a family (Ideally this support should come from the extended family as well) and the good example he has received from his parents and in particular his father should help a young man find his own state in life instead of aimlessly going about in the world. It seems eminently natural for this to be the case. Yet how many young men wander in this world, not knowing if they should follow a vocation or if they should marry or even remain single?

Yet even if a young man has lived a life without that full support and guidance, he is not a lost cause! By no means! Our Lord, His Blessed Mother and the Saints are always there to help. How this takes a great faith to realize! Undoubtedly, it would be foolish and presumptuous to simply say "God will help me with everything" when we do not do our part to get order in our own lives but as Catholics we cannot ever forget this supernatural element. Is prayer useless? Of course not! However, how many times do we actually pray for guidance?

(to be continued)

Catholicism is True

The Catholic should never fear critical analysis of the Faith since it is in harmony with reason but to a certain degree he should fear bigotry masquerading as science and rationality proposed by the pseudo-intellectuals of our world who are puffed up with their pride in a life devoid of God.

Poverty

Living in a consumer society, the idea of being poor is often viewed as the greatest "sin" that can befall an individual or a family. We in the United States, and by we I mean Catholics as well, have inherited the spirit of Protestantism or in particular of Calvinism which equates salvation with one's material prosperity. Bear in mind I am not a theologian so I am open to correction. I am reminded of the words of Nicholas Berdyaev who once said:

"There is nothing more inconsistent with Christianity than the optimistic idea that the economically strongest and most successful are of necessity the best, that wealth is a favour granted to man as a reward for his virtues".

We often look at the poor with a secret disdain as if their worth as human beings who were created in the image and likeness of God and who are meant to be with God in heaven is somehow tainted because they do not possess an abundance of material objects while we bask in our affluence. How false this view is because a man's worth must be based on his virtue and on how close he is to Our Lord Jesus Christ through sanctifying grace. This is what Pope Leo XIII has said in Rerum Novarum:

"As for those who possess not the gifts of fortune, they are taught by the Church that in God's sight poverty is no disgrace, and that there is nothing to be ashamed of in seeking one's bread by labor. This is enforced by what we see in Christ Himself, who whereas He was rich, for our sakes became poor; (2 Cor. 8:9)....From contemplation of this divine exemplar, it is more easy to understand that the true worth and nobility of man lies in his moral qualities, that is, in virtue; that virtue is moreover the common inheritance of men, equally within the reach of high and low, rich and poor; and that virtue, and virtue alone, wherever found, will be followed by the rewards of everlasting happiness."

The "bum" on the street who has no possessions of his own, no house to live in, no luxurious car to drive, no 50 inch tv with a satellite dish, may be closer to God than the man who has a sizeable home (more than he needs since he is more interested in status than sufficiency for his family), who has the newest car which is completely computerized or has the biggest SUV, the fanciest big screen tv, and who goes to Mass on Sunday more out of duty than love but whose life is completely disconnected from the faith.

This is never to argue that the hard-working man who wants to provide for his family is somehow automatically at fault. One has a right to enjoy the fruits of one's labor but one must never become attached to material things which are only meant to help us achieve our supernatural end. At the same time, Catholics should be content with a certain frugality and dare I say embrace poverty not in actuality for no one with common sense would suggest a Catholic living in the world should take a vow of poverty but what seems to be forgotten is that every Catholic should practice the "spirit" of poverty. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" says Our Blessed Lord. This detachment from material things will truly liberate us. This is a difficult thing to practice because of original sin and because our culture bombards us with advertisements to purchase things simply for the sake of having them.

I think if more people acquired the spirit of poverty,and I include myself, our society would be much more just. It takes great fortitude to reject the enticements of our consumer society which produces an environment ripe for avarice but in the end the less we are attached to creatures the more joy we will have in being free to give our entire energy to God who is the ultimate source of happiness. Why would Our Lord tell the young rich man in the Gospel that his perfection lie in abandoning all his riches to follow Him? I think there is a lesson there which we easily gloss over thinking perhaps that it has no bearing on our state in life or that it was merely a "nice" teaching which is unsuitable to "real reality".

Some of the richest men in the eyes of God have indeed been the poorest in the eyes of the world but their joy in Christ was something the world could never take away. The material world was given to man to use appropriately in order to guide him to everlasting happiness. Hopefully, we will never forget this.