There is a malformation of the gospel occurring in our day and it is called the “Prosperity Gospel”.  The basic tenet of the Prosperity Gospel (from what I can tell) is that if you have faith then God will bless you abundantly (which means materially).  Faith leads to success in all of ones enterprises and endeavors and to comfort in ones life.  The Prosperity Gospel proclaims that you can indeed have your best life now!  This take on the Gospel is out there, it is prevalent and it has many adherents … the only problem is that it is not Christian.

My question to those who proclaim the Prosperity Gospel is this: if faith equals success, material blessings and comfort then why did Peter and Paul die penniless, in chains and – according to all counts – unsuccessful?  Was their faith not strong enough?  Did they not really believe in Christ as Lord and Savior?  And what about all the other martyrs of our faith (Lawrence included)? 

The Prosperity Gospel leaves no room for the martyrs because they stand in witness against its basic tenet. 

St. Lawrence was a deacon of the early Roman Church.  He lived his faith in a time when the Church was being persecuted.  Lawrence was known for his love of the poor and his service to them.  He also oversaw the temporal goods of the Roman Church.  This was widely known and at one point the prefect of Rome brought in Lawrence and demanded that he hand over the wealth of the church.  Lawrence asked for a few days to gather the wealth.  After a few days Lawrence once again came before the prefect and presented to him the poor, the beggars, the sick, the elderly, the foreigners and said, “Here, this is the treasure of the church!”  Lawrence was martyred (tradition has it by being grilled alive, this is why he is often pictured with a grill). 

Lawrence knew that the true prosperity of the gospel is not found in material blessings but in the abundance of love which God has shown for us and which we, in turn, are to show to one another.  We have been loved abundantly so we, in turn, must also love abundantly!  The treasure of the church continues to be the poor, the outcast, the sick, the foreigner, the elderly, and the one who is hurting because they are the beloved of God and Christ is with them.  They might not count much to our world but they are precious in God’s eyes! 

The abundance of love is the true prosperity of the gospel. 

St. Lawrence and all holy martyrs, pray for us!     

Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family in Breslau, Prussia in 1891.  During her life Edith was to become a well respected scholar and prolific writer.  In 1922 she entered the Catholic Church.  She was a leading thinker in the Catholic women’s movement in Germany and entered the Cologne Carmel in 1933, making final profession of vows in 1938 taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  Being of Jewish descent, she was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz/Birkenau and died in 1942.

Her writings are of great value and offer great wisdom for the life of discipleship.  Below is an excerpt that speaks to trusting in God even in the temptation of disbelief and despair of nothingness.

Anxiety, to be sure, is under ordinary circumstances not the dominant mood of human life.  It overshadows everything else only under pathological conditions, while normally we go through life almost as securely as if we had a really firm grip on our existence.  This may in part be explained by the fact that we feel tempted to pause at any superficial view of life which stimulates an appearance of lasting existence within a static temporal continuum and which under the veil of our multiple cares hides from us the sight of life’s nullity.  Generally speaking, however, this feeling of security in human existence cannot be called a mere result of such an illusion of self-deception.  Any circumspect reflective analysis of the being of people shows clearly how little reason for such a feeling of security there is just in actual human existence, and to what extent the being of people is indeed exposed to nothingness.  

Does this mean then that the feeling of existential security has been proven objectively groundless and irrational and that therefore “a passionate … consciously resolute and anxiety-stricken freedom toward death” represents the rational human attitude?  By no means.  The undeniable fact that my being is limited in its transience from moment to moment and thus exposed to the possibility of nothingness is counterbalanced by the equally undeniable fact that despite this transience, I am, that from moment to moment I am sustained in my being, and that in my fleeting being I share in enduring being.  In the knowledge that being holds me, I rest securely.  This security, however, is not the self-assurance of one who under her own power stands on firm ground, but rather the sweet and blissful security of a child that is lifted up and carried by a strong arm.  And, objectively speaking, this kind of security is not less rational.  For if a child were living in the constant fear that its mother might let it fall, we should hardly call this a rational attitude. 

In my own being, then, I encounter another kind of being that is not mine but that is the support and ground of my own unsupported and groundless being.  And there are two ways in which I may come to recognize eternal being as the ground of my own being.  One is the way of faith when God reveals himself as he who is, as the Creator and Sustainer, and when our Redeemer says, “He who believes in the Son possesses eternal life” (John 3:36).  Then I have in these pronouncements clear answers to the riddle of my own being.  And when he tells me through the mouth of the prophet that he stands more faithfully at my side than my father and my mother, yea that he is love itself, then I begin to understand how rational is my trust in the arm that carries me and how foolish is all my fear of falling prey to nothingness – unless I tear myself loose from this sheltering hold.  

The way of faith, however, is not the way of philosophic knowledge.  It is rather the answer of another world to a question which philosophy poses.  But philosophy has also its own specific way: It is the way of discursive reasoning, the way or ways in which the existence of God is rationally demonstrated. 

“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” 
(Luke 12:32)

What the Father has done for us in Christ … it is truly amazing.  Amazing grace…

A song of praise on the lips witnesses to joy in the heart!

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  St. Ignatius lived from 1491-1556 and is the Founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).  St. Ignatius and the Jesuits have and continue to contribute greatly to the life of the Church and the development of Christian thought. 

In the history of Christian spirituality and discernment, Ignatius developed a spirituality that views imagination and feeling as positive components of the spiritual life rather than just distractions to be moved beyond.  The correct use of imagination and the gauging of feelings, Ignatius realized, are means by which we can grow in discipleship and in an awareness of God’s presence in our lives. 

One of the disciplines of this spirituality is to take time at the close of each day for an examen – time to review the day and ones conduct and thoughts during the course of the day. 

Below is a simple examen developed by John Veltri SJ followed by a Prayer for Generosity attributed to Ignatius himself.  The discipline of the daily examen is a great aid in discerning God’s will in ones life.

An Awareness Examen at the End of the Day

Ask for the light of the Holy Spirit to see through God’s eyes…
1.  What gifts I have received during the day that I can be grateful for.
2.  Where God has been working during the day in my life; where I am cooperating with God today; where I am cooperating with the sinful element within me and not doing what I want to do in the Lord (Rom. 7:15-20)
3.  The forgiveness God offers for the times when I have not been attentive and responsive to God’s presence and love in my life.
4.  How God’s help will guide me through tomorrow, and that God’s Spirit will be with me. 

Prayer for Generosity (attributed to St. Ignatius)

Eternal Word, only begotten Son of God,
Teach me true generosity,
Teach me to serve you as you deserve.
To give without counting the cost,
To fight heedless of wounds,
To labor without seeking rest,
To sacrifice myself without thought of any reward
Save the knowledge that I have done your will.  Amen. 

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Sts. Joachim and Ann – the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus. Joachim and Ann are never mentioned in the canonical gospels. Most of what we know about them comes from the Protoevangelium of James – stories regarding the youth of Mary that come out of the oral tradition of the Church. The Protoevangelium of James has had a significant influence in the history of the Christian faith beginning in the early centuries of the Church through the Middle Ages and still has a lot to offer.

We may not know much, biographically, about Joachim and Ann but we can say that someone had to teach Mary the history of her people and someone had to instill within her the hope and dreams of Israel. Someone, had to help prepare Mary for her being able to say “yes” when the angel Gabriel came to her.

From the prayers for today’s feast:

God of our fathers,
you gave Saints Joachim and Ann
the privelege of being the parents of Mary,
the mother of your incarnate Son…

and

Father,
your Son was born as a man
so that men could be born again in you.
As you nourish us with the bread of life,
given only to your sons and daughters,
fill us with the Spirit who makes us your children.

So … kudos to you Joachim and Ann! You done good! And thank God for all those grandparents and parents who simply and humbly and in often daily and unseen ways pass on the beauty of faith and hope!

The more that I grow in faith the less I believe in coincidence. Providence is the opposite of coincidence.

Providence is God’s plan for achieving the final purpose he has in mind for creation. This purpose is for all of God’s creation – the physical and the spiritual realities.

From our perspective providence can be seen as the unfolding of God’s plan over the course of time. God has set a goal to which all of creation is moving, God is active in attaining the goal and God is the goal itself. Through the revelation of the Son we have come to realize that God’s purpose for creating all that exists is that God wants to share the eternal glory and joy of the Trinitarian communion (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) with his creatures. God is fully aware of the plan, we catch glimpses of it.

There are implications to a belief in divine providence and I want to look at some of these because I believe that they can provide a needed corrective to the tenor of our times (a time more awash, it seems, in a vague notion of coincidence and fatalism than anything else).

Here are some implications as I see them:

Providence implication #1 – God is bigger than evil. A belief in divine providence is not naive to the reality of evil in the world and in the life of each individual. In fact, a belief in providence demands that one truly confront and wrestle with the dynamic of evil but to do so in the recognition of the larger scope of God’s plan. This recognition of a larger scope and plan is key both to a correct understanding of evil and also to the avoidance of despair. (Our Catholic thought has much wisdom and insight to offer on the problem of evil, frankly too much to share here … maybe in a later post. Suffice to say; God is not the author of evil, evil is freely chosen on the part of creatures and because God’s providence is bigger and precedes evil then what goes wrong through evil can always be ultimately embraced and transformed through divine providence.) Even though it can hurt, harm and kill, evil is fighting a losing battle.

Providence implication #2 – We are part of something much bigger than ourselves and we only have to worry about our particular moment. A belief in divine providence allows for an honest assessment of life and our place in the great procession of creation. It is said that when Pope John XXIIIrd would turn in at night he would often say (here I paraphrase), “God, it is your church, it is in your hands, I am going to bed.” We are not very good at seeing the big picture anymore and because of this we easily fall into the false assumption that “everything depends on me”. Well, it doesn’t. We need the humble wisdom of John XXIIIrd, a wisdom founded in a belief in God’s plan. God is in charge, we are just asked to do our part – now to do it well – but only to do our part.

Providence implication #3 – God is active in our lives and has a purpose for each of us. It is my humble estimation (now as a priest of fifteen years and disciple for longer) that despite our often loud proclamations of our relationship with Jesus Christ we are not really all that comfortable with God truly being that intimately involved in our daily lives and at work in the stuff of creation. We do like God nearby in moments of struggle and upheaval to give us comfort and assurance but other than this we generally like God up on his throne … far, far away, either benignly smiling upon us or shaking his finger at us. Whenever God shows up he tends to upset the apple cart and make a mess of things. The fact is that God stomps his feet, makes us uncomfortable, and demands that we examine ourselves, our lives and our actions and this is not always agreeable to our refined sensibilities. God is not always the polite visitor. A belief in providence is a belief that God is around and that God is intimately involved, both in the “stuff” of the world and also the “stuff” of our lives and we better get comfortable with it because, like it or not, God is here.

Also, because God is around and God is involved then God does have a plan for each of us and it is only when we wake up and start listening to what God has to say – whether it agrees with our plan or not – that we will come to know the joy and fulfillment that only God can give.

There is a lot to be said for providence.

Every so often I plan to share a song that I enjoy and that I believe has something good to say. This song is from one of my favorite artists – Diana Krall. The song is entitled, “Narrow Daylight”. The grace of God steals in like narrow daylight filling our hearts and bringing forth life and peace. Enjoy!

As a priest it is my continuing privilege to witness the union of a husband and wife on their wedding day. The Christian wedding is the celebration of the binding of a man and woman in a sacrament based precisely on the conviction that the couple has been brought together not by happenstance, nor coincidence nor some vague notion of “fate” but by nothing less than God’s own providence and love. The Christian sacrament of marriage is a beautiful, increasingly counter-cultural and needed witness to our world.

Through my years as a priest working with couples and celebrating with them on their wedding day I have found that through this ministry I continue to have my own life vocation strengthened as well as gain more insight into the reality of vocation itself – whether that vocation be marriage or priesthood.

A recent realization that has struck me is how a vocation from God is never something that we own or control. Vocation is always fundamentally a gift that we are called to safeguard and continually nurture. I do not “own” my vocation to the priesthood. It is not mine to do with as I please. Neither does a married couple “own” their relationship to one another nor do they “own” their spouse nor their children.

A vocation is a gift pure and simple. It is a gift from God. We cannot own it nor control it according to our wills but we are meant to safeguard it, to nurture it and to live it – specifically in service.

A Scripture reading (often proclaimed at weddings) that expresses this truth is the very tender scene of Tobiah and Sarah on their wedding night. Before all else, the newly married couple brought themselves before God in the humility of prayer.

On their wedding night Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife, ‘Sister, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance.’ Sarah got up, and they started to pray … They began with these words, ‘Blessed are you, God of our fathers; praised be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever. You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended. You said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.’ Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age.’ They said together, ‘Amen, amen.” (Tobit 8:4b-8)

Tobiah and Sarah gathered in the humility of prayer because it is only humility that can lead us into the true awareness and realization of vocation as gift. It is precisely humility; Scripture tells us again and again, that is the key to true wisdom and insight.

And it is precisely when we fool ourselves into thinking that we own or control a vocation in order to do with as we please and shape as we will, either individually or as a society, that we get ourselves into trouble.

If you are trying to figure out your call in life then my advice, first and foremost; is to pray, and pray again, and pray some more for the gift of humility. And for us who have answered a call to a life vocation; pray, pray again, and pray some more for the humility to never take it for granted and to continually safeguard the great gift that we have been given.

“Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance … Amen, amen.”

I know a young man by the name of Mark. Mark was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school through junior high. During his high school years Mark received the sacrament of confirmation and was semi-involved in his parish youth group. During his junior year he began attending a non-denominational youth program with his best friend. This program maintains no connection with any christian church denomination and specifies that its mission is to help young people realize that faith can be fun. True to its mission, the group does have energetic and fun gatherings, it specifically targets certain young people that it would like to see as members (generally young people of a certain socio-economic grouping) and it offers a summer camp experience replete with all sorts of extreme activities. Through it all the message is consistent: “Faith = fun”.