Actually, We're Not OK

We often go along and get along in our faith journeys with the “I’m OK, you’re OK" attitude,  but it benefits us now and then to pause and reflect upon things “not OK”, lest we become too comfortable. We can breakdown this “OK” and “Not OK” thing in terms of four quadrants.

Quadrant I

I’m OK, you’re OK:

This relates to the sin of presumption. God loves us just the way we are, therefore our salvation is assured, regardless of any sins or non-sins. Just do whatever you feel is right.

Quadrant II

I’m not OK, you’re OK:

This relates to false humility. True humility is submitting to the Truth. False humility involves putting oneself down. Thinking yourself stupid, worthless or beyond hope is not proper for a child of God and it offends Him, so stop it!

Quadrant III

I’m OK, you’re not OK:

This is pride mixed in with presumption; the self-defeating attitude of “everybody’s stupid, but me”.

Quadrant IV

I’m not OK, you’re not OK:

When we compare ourselves directly to the holiness of God, quadrant IV is where we encounter reality. We are all sinners.

Although we know we are not perfect, we may hear from time to time about how "good" we are. Most of us tend to follow the ten commandants, more or less, and we throw in The Golden Rule, now and then. We try to make the world a better place when it’s convenient. We volunteer, we donate to charities, we’re kind to animals, we recycle and we even practice safe-sex! If you think we’re good people who don’t do anything "bad" (we’re OK), one needs only to ponder what comes after The Sermon on the Mount in Mathew 5 to begin a terrifying examination of conscience.

• If you are angry with someone, you are liable to the fires of Hell (Mat 5:22).

• If you look at a woman lustfully, you have committed adultery (Mat 5:28).

• Be perfect as God is perfect (Mat 5:37). To me, this verse reads more as a command than a suggestion.

Do you still think you’re in pretty good shape? I once ran across a reflection that practically sent me running off to the confessional. See if some of these might apply to you or anyone you know.

With the sin of pride we scheme to push ourselves forward with white lies, showiness, sarcasm, passive aggressiveness and exaggerations intended to show that we know more than we really do, to make us look good and others look bad. We refuse to admit our own faults; we’re stubborn and impatient with harshness of words and judgment. We have no use for human creatures that won’t or can’t see things the way we do.

Sloth relates to our negligence, gluttony, weakness of will, jealousy, discouragement, resistance to grace, omission of the good we should be doing, and an undisciplined imagination that daydreams, allowing for voluntary anxiety. We allow our imaginations to “stew”. We review again and again all that arouses our anger, sadness and melancholy. We exaggerate things in our mind in order to make our own fantasy world of misery. We make tragedy where there is none, allowing our emotions to be extreme and uncontrolled. To sum it up, we act like the spoiled children of God. We are monstrous.

God’s light shows us the many blemishes of our conduct and we get the ominous feeling that there are many more yet to be discovered. Once we see this, we no longer seek to depend upon ourselves; we seek dependence on God, but the journey is not easy.

Jesus' response to the question of salvation in Luke 13:23-24 is also sobering. “Strive to enter through the narrow gate…" He describes the gate into heaven as narrow. This means it is not easy. In order to get through a narrow gate one must be deliberate in purpose and focused. It would seem NOT to happen just by accident. He also says "...many...will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough." What does He mean by “strong enough”?  Don’t we only need to believe? I need to worry about strength? I’d rather hear the stuff about the burden being easy and the yoke being light.

All this sounds pretty discouraging; we cannot be perfect; we are not God. How can we be “strong enough”? The answer is God’s grace, and here is a plug for more frequent confession.

The sacrament of reconciliation is a channel of God’s grace in the world. Sin blocks God’s grace; even “small” sins begin to block the pipes through which grace flows. All the little sins accumulate and the clog gets worse and worse and soon you’re dried up. Confession clears the pipes and the precept of going once per year is not enough for a smooth, continuous flow. You will receive more grace at your next communion after confession, which will in turn allow you to make a better confession next time, which makes a better communion, which makes a better confession, and on and on. It’s an upward spiral to holiness!

This is how we can be “strong enough”. Grace can be the grease that will help get us through the narrow gate. It gives us the strength so the burden seems easy, the yoke seems light. With grace we can begin to obey the command of Jesus to be more than just OK, we can “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”.

Go to confession!

It's Alive!

In his Farwell address last Thursday, B16 referenced Romano Guardini and compared the Church to a living body.

Guardini says: “The Church is not an institution devised and built at table, but a living reality. She lives along the course of time by transforming Herself, like any living being, yet Her nature remains the same. At Her heart is Christ.”

B16 then said: “This was our experience yesterday, I think, in the square. We could see that the Church is a living body, animated by the Holy Spirit, and truly lives by the power of God. She is in the world but not of the world. She is of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, as we saw yesterday. This is why another eloquent expression of Guardini’s is also true: 'The Church is awakening in souls.' The Church lives, grows and awakens in those souls which, like the Virgin Mary, accept and conceive the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Since a lot of this blog is about the connections between spiritual realities and physical realities, here is some information on (physical) living things as they could compare to the Church:

A Living Thing: Any organism or living form that possesses or shows the characteristics of life or being alive. Living things are those that display the following characteristics:

Ø  An organized structure, being made up of a cell or cells

Since God is orderly, His Church is also orderly; not just a bunch of people that “believe”. Every baptized person is a cell grafted into “the body”. Of course, one could become a dead cell via mortal sin, but is still a cell nonetheless.

 

 

Ø  Requires energy to survive or sustain existence

I would call the power of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual food of the Eucharist a kind of energy; wouldn’t you?

 

 

Ø  Ability to reproduce

Although it remains as one and only one body, quite a few dioceses and parishes have popped-up over the centuries.

Ø  Ability to grow

Could relate to reproduction in this context, but the Church has not only grown in size & number, but also in the knowledge of God.

Ø  Ability to metabolize

Metabolism is a set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of living organisms. This compares to the set of life-sustaining sacraments that provide Sanctifying Grace resulting in transformations inside of us.

 

Ø  Ability to respond to stimuli

This made me think of the many counsels held over the centuries in order to properly and definitively “respond” to problems and heresies.

Ø  Ability to adapt to the environment

Simply stated, “The Church in the Modern World”. The Church's on going teachings about humanity's relationship to society, especially in reference to economics, poverty, social justice, culture, science, technology and ecumenism. We might add, however, that the Church adapts more IN the world than TO the world.

Ø  Ability to move

Animated by the Holy Spirit, the Church has gone and continues to go forth and make disciples of all nations, even to the farthest reaches of the newest continent…the internet.

Ø  Ability to respire

Respiration is sometimes just another way to say “breathing”. The breath of God is often related to the Holy Spirit or God giving life. In Genesis, God breathed into Adam to make him a living being (see Gen 2:7); in the New Testament Jesus breathed on the apostles so they could receive the Holy Spirit (see John 20:22). The Church continues to breathe God’s life into the world today.

 

 

If Church is a living organism as described in 1 Corinthians 12,  it makes sense that it would change, mature, grow and gain knowledge over the centuries; if it did not it could be described as something “dead”.

It is common fallacy to say things like the Immaculate Conception, Papal Infallibility or the Assumption of Mary are just man-made doctrines, made-up as time went on. The reality is that they were finally and properly understood with the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the Body grew; a natural consequence of a living thing. Although “Non Habemus Papam” for now, we can still enthusiastically say, “It’s Alive!"

 

 

You Are a Thief and a Murderer

WARNING: The following might make you feel bad. For this reason you are not likely to hear it in a typical Sunday homily. It is based on a reflection I happened across from St. Bernard of Clairvaux; a doctor of the Church.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

As is often the case, we need to start with the basics. Our souls consist of a will and an intellect. To love God is the highest act of the will and to know God is the highest act of the intellect. In this life, we can choose to move our will and intellect either toward God or toward “self”.

Are we really thieves? How can it be so? Since we were made by God and for God, we do not own ourselves. Therefore, when we commit acts of selfishness we are thieves who try to steal ourselves away from God. The only things we can truly claim ownership to are our sins and our vices.

How can we be murderers? Well, think about what murderers do. They kill a person and try to conceal the crime, perhaps by burying the victim in the ground. Likewise we too are murders, since we kill our souls, which is of far more value than our body. What do we do once we kill our souls? We try to hide the crime by burying our souls under mounds of filth. Gluttony, greed, addictions and perversions of every sort hide the fact that we are dead.  Even everyday “innocent” distractions like texting, gaming and Facebook can prevent us from seeing the crime that has happened.


To those “good” Catholics that never go to confession or maybe go once per year because they really don’t do anything “bad”. To those that firmly believe “I’m okay and you’re okay”……

Ø  Have you committed any selfish acts? Yes?

· You are a thief! Go to confession.

Ø  Have you committed the kind of sin that kills the soul? Yes?

· You are a murderer! Go to confession.

Ø Have you injured your soul with any type of sin at all? Yes?

· That is assault; you are an assailant! Go to confession.

Really….just go to confession, because I’m NOT okay and you’re NOT okay. As mentioned, you’re not likely to hear this in a Sunday homily because it is an unpleasant reality. There is a phrase we use at work to remind us of harsh realities and to express the emerging consequences thereof. We often say…. “You’ll have that”.

 

Sacraments Map II

The feast of Corpus Christi had me thinking about sacraments again. Months ago I did a post called Sacraments Map that showed how the sacramental life parallels our earthly life. I was a little “off” about Confirmation, which is rather sad since I teach a confirmation class, so I decide to correct it and re-post the whole thing after stumbling across something on The Pulpit. Msgr. Charles Pope helped me on his blog to understand the sacrament of Confirmation better in terms of “growth” as opposed to “adulthood”.

Catholics believe that the physical world is good, although flawed, and God becoming man somehow elevates it to a new level; for not only had God created it, He also dwelled in it.

Stop and think about Catholicism and the use of physical things from incense for smell, art for the eyes, music for the ears, motion for the body (kneeling, genuflecting, crossing ourselves, etc.). Sacraments take this even further with the required use of corporal things like bread, wine, water, oil, touch, garments, physical speech. Catholics understand how the physical relates to the spiritual and vise-versa, and how reality encompasses both. This is mirrored in the sacraments and can even be expressed as a kind of map that parallels our earthly life. God is Emmanuel, truly “with us”, all the year and all our life through the sanctifying grace of the sacraments.

Baptism:

Just as we are born into physical life we are born again into the spiritual life of Christ in baptism. By the way, if you are a baptized Catholic and someone were to ask you “Are you born again?” The answer is unequivocally “Yes”. Although we can sin afterwards, Catholics are “born again” at baptism. This is the reality.

Confirmation:

We experience growth in our physical life. In the United States we are given more “power” and responsibility as we grow, like the right to vote at age 18. This happens regardless of how we feel about it or how mature we may think we are. Confirmation begins a process of maturation and strengthening and is considered a completion of baptism. We experience growth to go forth and preach the good news and we have the responsibility to do so, whether we like it or not; whether we think we are mature enough or not.

Sacraments of Vocation (Marriage, Holy Orders):

As we grow and mature we discern some duty within society; some type of job/career or perhaps raising a family. In the spiritual life there are vocations and certain sacraments to help us advance the Kingdom of God.

Eucharist:

As we live, we continuously need physical sustenance (food/water) for our physical journey. Jesus gave himself as our spiritual food; our daily bread (body/blood) for our spiritual journey.

Reconciliation:

As we go through life we experience sickness and injury which require healing. Many never experience serious injury or disease, but no one gets through life without the slightest sniffle, cough, bruise or cut. With no healing it gets worse and worse to the point of death. What these things do to the body, sin does to the soul, thus the need for spiritual healing.

After all, we can injure our own flesh whenever we want, but to heal it we look for a doctor who has skill, training & medical authority. In the same way we are perfectly able to sin and injure our soul, but to heal it we seek the help of “another”, a spiritual doctor.

Anointing of the sick:

Our physical life eventually comes to an end, and so there is a sacrament for this as well. Although the anointing of the sick is not always administered just before death, it should be received at some point before we die.

This sketchy outline of the sacraments is very simple (almost pathetic). But like so much in this blog, what is here is only a beginning; we have the rest of our lives to draw out Truth from an inexhaustible well.

Click on the mini-map below for a larger PDF version of The Sacraments Map

Only Say The Word

What power do words have? They can be powerless or have infinite power depending on the circumstances. Father Robert Barron made some poignant analogies that show how this relates to the Eucharist in one segment of his Catholicism series.

Can words actually change reality?

• If you are a baseball fan sitting behind home plate declaring a runner to be “safe”, it means nothing, no matter how loud you shout or how sure you are. If the umpire says he is “safe”, then he is safe and his team scores a run, regardless of what you saw or what you think you saw. The umpire has the authority.

• If an ordinary citizen walks up to you and says “you are under arrest”, it means nothing. If an on-duty police officer did the same thing, then you are under arrest. Even if you did nothing wrong, your reality has now changed.

These analogies from Fr. Barron made me think of another:

• If you are out to dinner with your boyfriend or girlfriend and you both say “I do” with the intent to be married, you are still not married. If you say “I do” in the context of a wedding in front of the proper authority, then you are married. Although you may look the same and act the same as when you were single, you are now married. There is a difference; reality has changed.

What does this have to do with the Eucharist? This is my body; this is my blood. When God says something IS, then it IS, regardless of what we say, see or taste. In fact, if there was some physically measurable change with the bread and wine, it would contradict Church teaching.

When Jesus says to do this in remembrance of Him, we obey. Jesus has the proper authority and he passed it on to his apostles, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). This verse begs a question; how did the Father send Jesus? With all the authority in heaven and on earth (see Mat 28:18). I'd say that’s an impressive amount of authority to pass on. What say you? 

In the new Mass translation we use the words of the centurion who said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Mat 8:8). The centurion understood how authority works and knew that Jesus’ word was enough to save his servant. He did not need to see something extraordinary or be shown further evidence. We ask for our soul to be healed at Mass instead of our servant. Our words are a bit different, but our faith needs to be the same.

The Sacraments Map

As Christmas approaches, we prepare for the coming of Emmanuel which means God is with us. How could the joining of the physical and the spiritual happen more profoundly than God incarnate? Catholics believe that the physical world is good, although flawed, and that God becoming man somehow elevates it to a new level; for not only had God created it, He also dwelled in it.

Stop and think about Catholicism and the use of physical things from incense for smell, art for the eyes, music for the ears, motion for the body (kneeling, genuflecting, crossing ourselves, etc.). Sacraments take this even further with the required use of corporal things like bread, wine, water, oil, touch, garments, physical speech. Catholics understand how the physical relates to the spiritual and vise versa, and how reality encompasses both. This is mirrored perfectly in the sacraments and can even be expressed as a kind of map that parallels our earthly life. God is truly “with us” all the year and all our life through the sanctifying grace of the sacraments.

Baptism:

 Just as we are born into physical life we are born again into the spiritual life of Christ in baptism. By the way, if you are a baptized Catholic and someone were to ask you “Are you born again?” The answer is unequivocally “Yes”. Although we can sin afterwards, Catholics are “born again” at baptism. This is the reality.

Confirmation:

At some point in our physical life we are considered an adult by the rest of society. In the United States we are legal adults at age 18. This happens regardless of how we feel about it or how mature we may think we are. With Confirmation we are considered adults in the Church with the same basic mission to go forth and preach the good news, whether we like it or not or whether we think we are mature enough or not.

Sacraments of Vocation (Marriage, Holy Orders):

As we grow and mature we discern some duty within society; some type of job/career or perhaps raising a family. In the spiritual life there are vocations and certain sacraments to help us advance the Kingdom of God.

Eucharist:

As we live, we continuously need physical sustenance (food/water) for our physical journey. Jesus gave himself as our spiritual food; our daily bread (body/blood) for our spiritual journey.

Reconciliation:

As we go through life we experience sickness and injury which require healing. Many never experience serious injury or disease, but no one gets through life without the slightest sniffle, cough, bruise or cut. With no healing it gets worse and worse to the point of death. What these things do to the body, sin does to the soul, thus the need for spiritual healing.

After all, we can injure our own flesh whenever we want, but to heal it we look for a doctor who has skill, training & medical authority. In the same way we are perfectly able to sin and injure our soul, but to heal it we seek the help of “another”, a spiritual doctor.

Anointing of the sick:

Our physical life eventually comes to an end, and so there is a sacrament for this as well. Although the anointing of the sick is not always administered just before death, it should be received at some point before we die.

This sketchy outline of the sacraments is very simple (almost pathetic). But like so much in this blog, what is here is only a beginning; we have the rest of our lives to draw out Truth from an inexhaustible well.

Click on the mini-map below for a larger version of The Sacraments Map & Merry Christmas from Two Catholic Men and a Blog!