Monthly Archives: February 2012

First Sunday of Lent (B): Do we want a savior or a superhero?

26 Sunday Feb 2012

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One of my favorite Lenten images is the painting “Christ in the Desert” by Ivan Kramskoy (pictured above).  In the painting we have the “fully human” Christ.  He does not have a halo.  There is not a choir of angels around him.  He is not is some majestic pose.  Rather he sits alone in the hot desert.  There is a weariness and fatigue to his posture.  His shoulders are hunched and burdened.  In his expression it is easy to see that he is lost in his own thoughts.  The painting carries with it a sense of grave silence. 

I contrast this image with that of the superhero
Iron Man (image to the right). 
This figure does stand in a majestic pose.  He is all metal and strength.  His eyes gleam forth in vision and leadership.  His weak humanity is completely covered over by a suit of iron.  This is the superhero who rights wrongs and triumphs over evil … or so we are told. 

But Iron Man is a myth and not a savior and Jesus is real and never pretended to be a superhero. 

In Scripture we are told that Christ is like us in all things except sin.  In fact, Paul in his letter to the Philippians tells us that Christ emptied himself and took the form of a servant.  He humbled himself even being obedient unto death.  (Philippians 2:5-11)

If Christ is like us in all things except sin then he is not a man covered in iron but rather a man living in flesh and blood like all of us.  He knew limits and weariness.  He knew hunger and thirst.  He experienced disappointment, fear, anger and loneliness.  The whole gamut of human reality he knew even unto infinity as Pope Benedict XVI points out in his second volume of “Jesus of Nazareth” precisely because he experienced the full human condition in all its fears, uncertainties and limits without reverting to sin.  The “except sin” of Christ does not shield Jesus from the fullness of the human condition; rather it leads him ever deeper into it.  We are the ones who shield ourselves precisely through our sins. 

Our sins remain a running away from the human condition. 

Why not a superhero?  Why not a man covered in iron to save us? 

Here a poem entitled, Letter to Genetically Engineered Super Humans by Fred Dings might instruct us:

You are the children of our fantasies of form,
our wish to carve a larger cave of light,
our dream to perfect the ladder of genes and climb
its rungs to the height of human possibility,
to a stellar efflorescence beyond all injury and disease,
with minds as bright as newborn suns
and bodies which leave our breathless mirrors stunned.

Forgive us if we failed to imagine your loneliness
in the midst of all that ordinary excellence,
if we failed to understand how much harder
it would be to build the bridge of love between such splendid selves,
to find the path of humility among the labyrinth of your abilities,
to be refreshed without forgetfulness,
and weave community without the thread of need.

Forgive us if you must re-invent our flaws
because we failed to guess the simple fact
that the best lives must be less than perfect. 

Today we sit in the desert with the savior Christ – human like us in all things except sin.  He is not a superhero nor does he want to be.  In the fullness of the human condition, the much “less than perfect reality”, he turns again and again to God and he binds himself to the Father’s will.  This is what makes him both savior and brother to us.  In his grace we are now invited to also bind ourselves to God not despite of but through our imperfect human condition and to be restored in relationship to God, to one another and to our very selves. 

Now, as always, we need a savior rather than a superhero.   

Pope Benedict’s message for Lent, 2012

21 Tuesday Feb 2012

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As the Church enters into this season of preparation for Easter I though it appropriate to share our Holy Father’s message for Lent.  As always, it offers much food for thought…

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2012

“Let us be concerned for each other,
to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24)

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 
 

The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity. This is a favourable time to renew our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community, with the help of the word of God and the sacraments. This journey is one marked by prayer and sharing, silence and fasting, in anticipation of the joy of Easter.
This year I would like to propose a few thoughts in the light of a brief biblical passage drawn from the Letter to the Hebrews:“ Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works”. These words are part of a passage in which the sacred author exhorts us to trust in Jesus Christ as the High Priest who has won us forgiveness and opened up a pathway to God. Embracing Christ bears fruit in a life structured by the three theological virtues: it means approaching the Lord “sincere in heart and filled with faith” (v. 22), keeping firm “in the hope we profess” (v. 23) and ever mindful of living a life of “love and good works” (v. 24) together with our brothers and sisters. The author states that to sustain this life shaped by the Gospel it is important to participate in the liturgy and community prayer, mindful of the eschatological goal of full communion in God (v. 25). Here I would like to reflect on verse 24, which offers a succinct, valuable and ever timely teaching on the three aspects of Christian life: concern for others, reciprocity and personal holiness.
1. “Let us be concerned for each other”: responsibility towards our brothers and sisters.
This first aspect is an invitation to be “concerned”: the Greek verb used here is katanoein, which means to scrutinize, to be attentive, to observe carefully and take stock of something. We come across this word in the Gospel when Jesus invites the disciples to “think of” the ravens that, without striving, are at the centre of the solicitous and caring Divine Providence (cf. Lk 12:24), and to “observe” the plank in our own eye before looking at the splinter in that of our brother (cf. Lk 6:41). In another verse of the Letter to the Hebrews, we find the encouragement to “turn your minds to Jesus” (3:1), the Apostle and High Priest of our faith. So the verb which introduces our exhortation tells us to look at others, first of all at Jesus, to be concerned for one another, and not to remain isolated and indifferent to the fate of our brothers and sisters. All too often, however, our attitude is just the opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked as a respect for “privacy”. Today too, the Lord’s voice summons all of us to be concerned for one another. Even today God asks us to be “guardians” of our brothers and sisters (Gen 4:9), to establish relationships based on mutual consideration and attentiveness to the well-being, the integral well-being of others. The great commandment of love for one another demands that we acknowledge our responsibility towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God. Being brothers and sisters in humanity and, in many cases, also in the faith, should help us to recognize in others a true alter ego, infinitely loved by the Lord. If we cultivate this way of seeing others as our brothers and sisters, solidarity, justice, mercy and compassion will naturally well up in our hearts. The Servant of God Pope Paul VI stated that the world today is suffering above all from a lack of brotherhood: “Human society is sorely ill. The cause is not so much the depletion of natural resources, nor their monopolistic control by a privileged few; it is rather the weakening of brotherly ties between individuals and nations” (Populorum Progressio, 66).
Concern for others entails desiring what is good for them from every point of view: physical, moral and spiritual. Contemporary culture seems to have lost the sense of good and evil, yet there is a real need to reaffirm that good does exist and will prevail, because God is “generous and acts generously” (Ps 119:68). The good is whatever gives, protects and promotes life, brotherhood and communion. Responsibility towards others thus means desiring and working for the good of others, in the hope that they too will become receptive to goodness and its demands. Concern for others means being aware of their needs. Sacred Scripture warns us of the danger that our hearts can become hardened by a sort of “spiritual anesthesia” which numbs us to the suffering of others. The Evangelist Luke relates two of Jesus’ parables by way of example. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite “pass by”, indifferent to the presence of the man stripped and beaten by the robbers (cf. Lk 10:30-32). In that of Dives and Lazarus, the rich man is heedless of the poverty of Lazarus, who is starving to death at his very door (cf. Lk 16:19). Both parables show examples of the opposite of “being concerned”, of looking upon others with love and compassion. What hinders this humane and loving gaze towards our brothers and sisters? Often it is the possession of material riches and a sense of sufficiency, but it can also be the tendency to put our own interests and problems above all else. We should never be incapable of “showing mercy” towards those who suffer. Our hearts should never be so wrapped up in our affairs and problems that they fail to hear the cry of the poor. Humbleness of heart and the personal experience of suffering can awaken within us a sense of compassion and empathy. “The upright understands the cause of the weak, the wicked has not the wit to understand it” (Prov 29:7). We can then understand the beatitude of “those who mourn” (Mt 5:5), those who in effect are capable of looking beyond themselves and feeling compassion for the suffering of others. Reaching out to others and opening our hearts to their needs can become an opportunity for salvation and blessedness. 
“Being concerned for each other” also entails being concerned for their spiritual well-being. Here I would like to mention an aspect of the Christian life, which I believe has been quite forgotten: fraternal correction in view of eternal salvation. Today, in general, we are very sensitive to the idea of charity and caring about the physical and material well-being of others, but almost completely silent about our spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters. This was not the case in the early Church or in those communities that are truly mature in faith, those which are concerned not only for the physical health of their brothers and sisters, but also for their spiritual health and ultimate destiny. The Scriptures tell us: “Rebuke the wise and he will love you for it. Be open with the wise, he grows wiser still, teach the upright, he will gain yet more” (Prov 9:8ff). Christ himself commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin (cf. Mt 18:15). The verb used to express fraternal correction – elenchein – is the same used to indicate the prophetic mission of Christians to speak out against a generation indulging in evil (cf. Eph 5:11). The Church’s tradition has included “admonishing sinners” among the spiritual works of mercy. It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness. Christian admonishment, for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other. As the Apostle Paul says: “If one of you is caught doing something wrong, those of you who are spiritual should set that person right in a spirit of gentleness; and watch yourselves that you are not put to the test in the same way” (Gal 6:1). In a world pervaded by individualism, it is essential to rediscover the importance of fraternal correction, so that together we may journey towards holiness. Scripture tells us that even “the upright falls seven times” (Prov 24:16); all of us are weak and imperfect (cf. 1 Jn 1:8). It is a great service, then, to help others and allow them to help us, so that we can be open to the whole truth about ourselves, improve our lives and walk more uprightly in the Lord’s ways. There will always be a need for a gaze which loves and admonishes, which knows and understands, which discerns and forgives (cf. Lk 22:61), as God has done and continues to do with each of us. 
2. “Being concerned for each other”: the gift of reciprocity.
This “custody” of others is in contrast to a mentality that, by reducing life exclusively to its earthly dimension, fails to see it in an eschatological perspective and accepts any moral choice in the name of personal freedom. A society like ours can become blind to physical sufferings and to the spiritual and moral demands of life. This must not be the case in the Christian community! The Apostle Paul encourages us to seek “the ways which lead to peace and the ways in which we can support one another” (Rom 14:19) for our neighbour’s good, “so that we support one another” (15:2), seeking not personal gain but rather “the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved” (1 Cor 10:33). This mutual correction and encouragement in a spirit of humility and charity must be part of the life of the Christian community. 
The Lord’s disciples, united with him through the Eucharist, live in a fellowship that binds them one to another as members of a single body. This means that the other is part of me, and that his or her life, his or her salvation, concern my own life and salvation. Here we touch upon a profound aspect of communion: our existence is related to that of others, for better or for worse. Both our sins and our acts of love have a social dimension. This reciprocity is seen in the Church, the mystical body of Christ: the community constantly does penance and asks for the forgiveness of the sins of its members, but also unfailingly rejoices in the examples of virtue and charity present in her midst. As Saint Paul says: “Each part should be equally concerned for all the others” (1 Cor 12:25), for we all form one body. Acts of charity towards our brothers and sisters – as expressed by almsgiving, a practice which, together with prayer and fasting, is typical of Lent – is rooted in this common belonging. Christians can also express their membership in the one body which is the Church through concrete concern for the poorest of the poor. Concern for one another likewise means acknowledging the good that the Lord is doing in others and giving thanks for the wonders of grace that Almighty God in his goodness continuously accomplishes in his children. When Christians perceive the Holy Spirit at work in others, they cannot but rejoice and give glory to the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:16). 
3. “To stir a response in love and good works”: walking together in holiness.
These words of the Letter to the Hebrews (10:24) urge us to reflect on the universal call to holiness, the continuing journey of the spiritual life as we aspire to the greater spiritual gifts and to an ever more sublime and fruitful charity (cf. 1 Cor 12:31-13:13). Being concerned for one another should spur us to an increasingly effective love which, “like the light of dawn, its brightness growing to the fullness of day” (Prov 4:18), makes us live each day as an anticipation of the eternal day awaiting us in God. The time granted us in this life is precious for discerning and performing good works in the love of God. In this way the Church herself continuously grows towards the full maturity of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13). Our exhortation to encourage one another to attain the fullness of love and good works is situated in this dynamic prospect of growth.
Sadly, there is always the temptation to become lukewarm, to quench the Spirit, to refuse to invest the talents we have received, for our own good and for the good of others (cf. Mt 25:25ff.). All of us have received spiritual or material riches meant to be used for the fulfilment of God’s plan, for the good of the Church and for our personal salvation (cf. Lk 12:21b; 1 Tim 6:18). The spiritual masters remind us that in the life of faith those who do not advance inevitably regress. Dear brothers and sisters, let us accept the invitation, today as timely as ever, to aim for the “high standard of ordinary Christian living” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). The wisdom of the Church in recognizing and proclaiming certain outstanding Christians as Blessed and as Saints is also meant to inspire others to imitate their virtues. Saint Paul exhorts us to “anticipate one another in showing honour” (Rom 12:10).
In a world which demands of Christians a renewed witness of love and fidelity to the Lord, may all of us feel the urgent need to anticipate one another in charity, service and good works (cf. Heb 6:10). This appeal is particularly pressing in this holy season of preparation for Easter. As I offer my prayerful good wishes for a blessed and fruitful Lenten period, I entrust all of you to the intercession of the Mary Ever Virgin and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing. 
From the Vatican, 3 November 2011
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Learning to welcome as Jesus welcomes!

19 Sunday Feb 2012

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On February 10th the Church celebrates the feast of St. Scholastica – the sister of St. Benedict.  There is a touching story told about this sister and brother. 

Once a year, Benedict would leave his monastery and Scholastica would leave her convent and the two would meet and spend the day together enjoying one another’s company and spending the time in spiritual conversation.  Once, during a visit, their conversation continued on and on and the hour grew late.  Noticing how late it was Scholastica asked her brother to stay and to continue their conversation until the morning.  Benedict refused.  He felt he had to return to the monastery.  As her brother stood to depart, Scholastica joined her hands and bent her head in prayer.  Immediately there was a flash of lightning, a mighty roar of thunder and the sky let loose a heavy downpour of rain that would not allow Benedict nor any of his monks to leave!

Seeing the rain Benedict looked at his sister and complained, “Sister, what have you done?”  Scholastica answered, “I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen.”  (The moral of the story – never cross a nun!)

At the heart of Benedictine spirituality is welcome and hospitality.  In his Rule, Benedict urges his monks to recognize that when they welcome another, whomever that person may be, they are in fact welcoming Christ. 

This sense of gratuitous and warm welcome is witnessed by Christ himself throughout the gospels.  In fact we could say that Christ again and again welcomes the other person throughout his ministry.  Christ welcomes the poor fishermen and tax collectors as his disciples.  He welcomes the public sinner, the outcast, the foreigner and the possessed.  He welcomes the one who is ill and the leper.  Again and again, Christ welcomes! 

One of the dynamics of today’s familiar gospel story (Mk. 2:1-12) – often illustrated in children’s Bibles – of the paralytic being lowered through the ceiling by his four friends is that Jesus warmly welcomes the man and his friends.  “Child,” the Lord says with gentleness, “your sins are forgiven.”  “These are words of forgiveness, a welcome that touches the foundations of our lives.” (Bishop Vincenzo Paglia)  Our Lord could have just healed the man – being very efficient about the whole matter (an attitude prized so highly by our modern age) – and gone about the rest of what needed to be done.  But he does not.  Our Lord recognizes that the paralytic man is not just a “medical and social problem” needing to be solved but a child of God yearning and needing to be noticed and loved.  Jesus acknowledges this and so he first welcomes the man; sharing God’s mercy and forgiving him of the sin that weighs him down and then he heals him of his physical ailment. 

We need to learn to welcome as Jesus welcomes. 

We live in a very cold and efficient age with many voices that encourage us to view the poor, the elderly, the foreigner, the sick, the disadvantaged as solely problems to be solved and problems best kept “out there” and “at a distance”.  We need to resist these forces that seek to separate and divide (the modern day voices of the scribes who cannot fathom the healing depth of God’s mercy).  It is not enough for a disciple of Christ to just help “at a distance”.  We need to learn to welcome to the table; to welcome just as Jesus welcomed! 

And as we learn to welcome as Jesus welcomed; the one we may be saving might just be our very selves!

Going back to the story of Benedict and Scholastica…  Three days after their visit and the downpour of rain, Scholastica died.  Benedict instantly is made aware of this by seeing her soul, in the form of a dove, ascending to heaven.  At the time of their last visit, Benedict did not realize what little time remained but God knew that Benedict needed more time with his sister.  Benedict himself needed more healing and comfort from the welcome, love and hospitality of Scholastica. 

As we learn to welcome as Christ welcomes we can help bring healing to others in a truly deep and abiding way and we can also allow healing to be brought to our own hearts.   

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Being imitators of Christ

11 Saturday Feb 2012

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To begin my thoughts on this Sunday’s readings I would like to pull from the reflections of two men much more astute in Scripture and theology than I am. 

The first is Fr. Robert Barron.  In the first episode of his Catholicism series, Fr. Barron focuses on who Christ is.  The heart of the Christian faith revolves around this central compelling figure.  Fr. Barron points out that in the time of Jesus the people of Israel were yearning for the Messiah and that the true Messiah would be known by some very distinctive qualities; one of which was that the Messiah would gather the scattered tribes of Israel.  Jesus fulfills this quality but in his own unique way and not in the commonly expected way.  Jesus gathers not by political or military might but by his power to heal. 

As we see in today’s first reading (Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46) illness, most especially leprosy, in Jesus’ day carried with it the thought of God’s condemnation.  The leper was cut off from the community of faith.  The leper must “dwell apart, making his abode outside of the camp.”  Due to this exclusion the leper and all the ill were considered unclean and therefore unable to participate in the worship and ritual life of Israel.  On a whole host of levels these poor people were removed and scattered from Israel even as they actually lived within the geographic and community boundaries of the people.  Within the very midst of society they were isolated and cut off. 

The healing act of Jesus meant not just restored health for the individual but also restored relationship with the community!  This is why Jesus in today’s gospel (Mk. 1:40-45) instructs the leper once he is cleansed, “…go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”  The healed man is now restored in his relationship with the people of Israel. 

Jesus, as Messiah, is gathering the tribes of Israel; not through political or military might but through healing. 

The second insight comes from Bishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Community of Sant’Egidio and his reflections on today’s readings.  Bishop Paglia focuses on the singularly striking fact of the leper approaching Jesus.  What enabled the man to do this when the overwhelming cultural force of the time was total exclusion of the leper?  The leper must keep far away even under pain of death yet this man had the confidence to approach Jesus.  Why?  The answer: where everyone else kept at a distance out of fear Jesus did not.  Bishop Paglia notes, “Contrary to custom, when lepers heard that Jesus was coming, they would overcome all barriers of fear and mistrust and run to him.  The young prophet from Nazareth created around himself a new environment filled with compassion and mercy that attracted the sick, sinners and the poor.”         

Jesus, as Messiah, gathers in to full relationship the ones who are isolated and cut off and he does so by subverting the dominate force of fear through a movement filled with compassion and mercy.

There are many lepers in our world today.  There are many persons isolated, cut off and imprisoned in our very midst!  They are isolated both by an imposed cultural fear from without and by their own fears and hurts within – the poor, the immigrant, the mentally handicapped, the elderly, the one who seems “different”.  What are we to do?

Paul’s advice to the Christian community in Corinth is worthy of note:

“Brothers and sisters, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.  Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved.  Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”  (1 Cor. 10:31-11:1)

Be imitators of Christ!  Not seeking our own benefit but that of the many!  One of the benefits that we are all very good at holding very close to our chests and continually nurturing is the benefit of our own fears, our own prejudices and our own hurts.  In the light of the gospel these must be exorcised.  They must be let go of and released!  We must be imitators of Christ in the truest sense – subverting the dominate forces of fear in our lives and our world through movements of compassion and mercy! 

This is what it means to be an imitator of Christ and what it means to be the Church; the Body of Christ in our world.  This is the amazing movement of God’s grace – as we welcome the outcast in compassion and mercy; we ourselves are healed of the weight of our own fears! 

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18)  

God does not expect us to be perfect; God just asks us to be open to being perfected.  How are we perfected?  Through the movements of compassion and mercy. 

Christ the Messiah and Gentle Shepherd continues to gather the isolated and the outcast through healing and through mercy.  The “outcasts” here being both others and our very selves. 

  

Virtues Matter – Hope

06 Monday Feb 2012

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“The power of God is capable of finding hope where hope no longer exists, and a way where the way is impossible.” (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

In imagery and description the virtue of hope is a play between tensions. Hope moves one into the future – “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing out trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC #1817) – yet hope is often symbolized as an anchor – “Hope is the ‘sure and steadfast anchor of the soul … that enters … where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.’” (CCC #1820) This play of tensions reveals the always dynamic quality of true hope and also why hope always eludes a static definition. It seems that it is the very nature of hope to remain unbounded.

This unbounded nature to hope is due, I believe, to the fact that God himself has placed a yearning and “not yet” quality in the heart of every man and woman. “The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven…” And also that God has answered this yearning in Christ and in the continual unfolding of the Kingdom, “Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Christ. (CCC # 1820)

The yearning is within us and the answer to that deepest yearning of the human heart is found without in that which is so much more than any one individual and that to which all creation is moving – the very Kingdom of God. Due to this the theological virtue of hope fulfills our deepest individual yearning yet does so in a way that connects us to one another and to all creation. A “hope” that would separate and divide is, in fact, a false hope.

True hope also respects freedom. It cannot but respect freedom in order to be true to itself. I am now a priest of seventeen years and I have served in a variety of settings and I must admit that I have never before been in a setting (college campus ministry for five years) where people and groups are so intent on forming other persons in their own image while at the same time there is so much talk of “respect for free thought” and “being yourself”.  Why is it that “being yourself” means you have to look and act like everyone else?  This is across the board: social groups, academic groups and settings, religious groups, opposed to religion groups, whatever. There is this overwhelming push it seems to form others in one’s own image and this can be subtle or just outright blatant and manipulative in nature. In this context, if a group does not seek to form others in its own image and has developed the maturity to respect freedom then it is written off as just naïve, out of touch at best or questionable and even suspect at worse.

But true hope respects freedom. It must. This is why any form of totalitarianism (and there are many) that would restrict freedom and conscience, sometimes under the seemingly most benign and even most “positive” of reasons, in fact, ends up suppressing hope. Yet even though hope can be wounded it can never fully be lost because the author of hope is God himself.

If hope can be suppressed (but never fully lost) then it can also be cultivated in one’s life. How might we cultivate the ground of our lives in such a way that hope might come to dwell within us? Our faith gives some strong advice: turn to God and develop a relationship with him in both prayer and sacrament, avoid sin and evil, if one has sinned ask for mercy and pardon (i.e. the sacrament of reconciliation), get out of yourself and strive to live in harmony with others and even go beyond just that to specifically doing good for others and serving others – especially the poor and even those who oppose you, live in a community which supports and strives for all of the above mentioned, i.e. the Catholic Church.

Our own actions and also the actions of others upon us (both positive and negative) can either cultivate our life for hope or turn us further away from the possibility of hope. In this regard our choices and the choices of others do have effects and do carry consequences.

Hope is truly beautiful and when it is authentically found in the life of a person it does speak to the souls and deep yearning of others. In the person of hope we know that there is just something there that we ourselves are searching for.

Hope does not disappoint.

Why the recent HHS mandate is important to Catholics and why it should matter to everyone

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

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On January 20, 2012 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reaffirmed a rule that under the new health care law, virtually all private health care plans must cover sterilization, abortifacients, and contraception.

The rule is set to take effect August 1, 2012. Non-profit religious employers that do not now provide such coverage, and are not exempt under the rule’s extremely narrow definition of religious employer, will be given one year to comply.  One commentator noted that even Jesus and his disciples would not fall under the rule’s narrow definition of what accounts for a “religious employer”.

This ruling will force Catholic hospitals, universities and charity organizations that have historically provided immeasurable service to our society (especially to the poorest and most vulnerable) to provide this coverage for its employees even as it contradicts firmly held beliefs about the dignity of life and morality that these institutions are founded upon.

Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York has noted that this mandate is unprecedented in its narrow definition of what accounts for a religious employer and that it has drawn a definitive line in the sand.  “In effect, the president is saying that we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.”  
 
This is why this mandate matters to Catholics.  
 
Why should the mandate matter to others?  People of goodwill may not agree with the Catholic Church’s teachings on when life begins or about the purpose of the sexual union of man and woman but the mandate to violate ones conscience should give everyone pause.  One of the core beliefs that our nation is founded upon is the free exercise of religion and the right of men and women to live as their conscience determines.  
 
In May, 2011 Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. of Chicago published a book entitled, “God in Action: How Faith in God Can Address the Challenges of the World.”  I would like to share a few quotes from this book that in many ways are proving to be quite prophetic.  
 
Public life, from a secularist point of view, must be constructed on the assumption that God does not exist or, if he does, that his existence makes no difference.  Secularism’s espousal of public atheism in this country is based not on racial superiority, as was the case in Nazi Germany, or on supposedly scientific history of class warfare, as was the case with Leninist states, but on the myth of human progress carried exclusively by a scientific method limited to the study of material reality.  This project occupies the entire ground of public human action and public discourse in the pursuit of truth. 
 
Freedom of religion extends beyond freedom of personal conscience and beyond freedom to worship.  It includes freedom for religious institutions to have a public voice, to be public actors.
 
When secular life is constituted without respect for religious freedom, it becomes profane, and persecution of religion becomes inevitable.  There is no guarantee that even democratic institutions will prevent this outcome.  Independent courts, a free press, an elected legislature can all be manipulated, and have been in our own history, to subvert various freedoms and reflect the prejudices of controlling interest groups as well as those of ordinary citizens.  
 

A government that determines what is a religious ministry and what is not, what is the nature of an institution such as marriage, which predates both Church and state and is the creature of neither, when human life begins and when it can be taken without a penal trial has exceeded the boundaries of limited governance and is already on the road to totalitarianism.  While democratic in form, it has betrayed human freedom.   
Some have referred to the recent HHS mandate as the “Obama administration’s war on the Catholic Church”.  I do not believe I would go that far and I think it wise to avoid such inflammatory and specific language which can make it seem like this is just a Catholic issue when it, in fact, carries truly important ramifications for everyone in our society.  Yes, Catholics, all Christians and all religious persons need to be concerned about this mandate but so do all Americans.  It is a First Amendment issue.  I respect the good that the Obama administration has achieved in very turbulent times and I am sure, that there are ways that the Church and the administration can work together for the common good.  But I would also say that it is exactly in turbulent times that we need to hold to our core principles rather than abandon them.   

 
I do not see the administration as so much intentionally opposed to religion as just more secularist in outlook and, I would say, a specific understanding of secularism that just does not “get” religion and therefore, knowingly or unknowingly, seeking to bracket religion off and leave it out of the equation.  Elsewhere in his book, Cardinal George (building on the thought of Bl. John Paul II) proposes an understanding of secularism as “the ground between the sacred and the profane” (“profane” here being used not in a negative, pejorative context but as that distinct from the purely sacred).  Proper secularism does not necessarily have to be held in opposition to the sacred and it is an injustice to both when it is solely understood this way.  Secularism can actually be the ground where religious thought and non-religious thought encounter, dialogue and mutually enhance one another.    
 
I remember being struck by a news clip I saw of the White House Christmas celebration and President Obama remarking how the Christmas “story” has inspired people throughout the centuries.  Now, Mr. Obama is our president and I respect him for that and he is a politician who knows how to choose words that appeal to a vast variety of people while not offending but I would beg to differ here with the president.  It is not a “story” that is at the core of my life and the purpose of my life; it is a continuing encounter I have with the living God who refuses to be controlled or locked away.  A secularism that seeks to bracket off the sacred just does not get this and that is a sad thing and it does not bode well for the future.  
 
Due to the reasons shared above, the HHS mandate does matter to everyone and to who we are as a nation and to what we say our core principles are. 
 
I encourage everyone to truly reflect and weigh out the consequences of this mandate. 
 
I encourage people to work to overturn this mandate and to respect the right of conscience.