"I am living here in the wilderness of Calabria, far removed from all human habitation. There are some brethren here with me, some of whom are very well educated, and they are keeping assiduous watch for their Lord, so as to open to Him at once when He knocks." St. Bruno
It is important to set the record straight about some incorrect statements made by John Freml in his letter to the editor (December 21, 2015). He notes that Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago has said that people in “irregular” situations, such as those who are divorced and civilly remarried and those who are in same-sex government marriages, should work with a spiritual director to come to a decision “in good conscience” about receiving Holy Communion.
Of course, those who are in “irregular situations” should talk to a qualified spiritual director or a priest in the context of sacramental confession, but forming a “good conscience” means that they will recognize and repent of their sins, resolve to reform their lives in accord with Christ’s teachings and receive absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving Holy Communion.
According to the canon law of the Catholic Church, Canon 916 directs those “conscious of grave sin” to refrain from receiving Holy Communion. Individuals must form their consciences in accord with Church teaching. Conscience assesses how a person’s concrete action in a given situation accords with Church teaching — not to determine whether one agrees with or accepts Church teaching in the first place.
Canon 915, however, in contrast with Canon 916, directs ministers of Holy Communion to withhold the Sacrament, not from “sinners” per se (since no one can read the state of another person’s soul), but rather, from those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.” In Catholic tradition, attempting marriage following a civil divorce without a declaration of nullity and entering a “same-sex marriage” are examples of the kind of gravely wrong public action that require ministers not to admit to Holy Communion those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin” under Canon 915.
When withholding holy Communion from those whose conduct is described in Canon 915, a minister is not assessing personal “worthiness,” but rather, is acting in accord with an age-old sacramental discipline designed to protect both the Sacrament from the risk of possible sacrilege and the faith community from the harm of scandal caused by someone’s public conduct that is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Thus, when Mr. Freml says that people may receive Holy Communion in such cases “even when the church hierarchy says that they should not,” this is simply not true. It is true that Jesus welcomes everyone. But as Jesus said at the last supper, so we say in the Eucharistic prayer at Mass, Jesus poured out his blood “for you and for many,” since not everyone accepts what Christ offers, just as Judas did not accept what Christ offered him.
Maybe one way of learning how to show love to our husbands, our wives, our children and neighbors, is to begin by saying it to God. Surely the rest will follow.
"It is our part to seek, His to grant what we ask; ours to make a beginning, His to bring
it to completion; ours to offer what we can, His to finish what we cannot."
St. Jerome
Be not afraid to tell Jesus that you love Him; even though it be without feeling, this is the way to oblige Him to help you, and carry you like a little child too feeble to walk. St. Therese of Lisieux
Solitude is not loneliness and loneliness is not simply being alone.
Loneliness is a condition of the heart, not the circumstances of life. When one is lonely there is a lack of knowing love in the depth of the human heart. Loneliness is a symptom of the yawning absence at the foundation level of each human person. It is an unhappiness at being alone which grows into a restless search for something–we know not what.
So we spend an enormous amount of time, money and energy trying to fill that gap. We try to fill it with entertainment, drugs, sex, possessions, family, friends, career. In a multitude of ways we try to fill that gap, then when all those things are over the gap is still there because we never succeeded in filling it because we were trying to satisfy a hunger with the wrong thing.
Feeding the hunger for love with everything else but love is like trying to nourish your physical hunger with anything else but food. You will not make hunger go away by drinking water or taking pills or doing exercise or sitting still and taking deep breaths and telling yourself you are not hungry.
You need food.
So your heart also needs Love. I capitalize “Love” because I am not referring to human love, (although that helps to fill the gap). I am referring to the Divine Love. We are made for God. We hunger for God’s love and that is the only thing that will satisfy the hunger.
Loneliness is the deprivation of the knowledge of that Divine Love. That’s why you can be lonely in a crowd. That’s why you can be lonely at a party. That’s why you can be lonely in a family. That’s why you can be lonely in a marriage.
The monastic life (and the word comes from monos–to be alone) is a witness to the truth that the human person is able to be solitary but not alone. The photograph is of a Carthusian monk–hermits who live the most complete life of solitude as hermits.
The solitary hermit has learned that he can live in complete peace with no one but God. This is the witness the hermit gives to the whole church. He says to me and he says to you–“See, I am a living illustration of the truth that God will supply all of your needs according to his riches in glory!” (Philippians 4:19) The hermit says, “See, I live in this cell with nothing but God. I am a living witness to the truth that you do not need all that ‘stuff’ in your life to make you happy. I am happy with nothing but God!”
Finally, the hermit is a living witness that the follower of Jesus Christ needs never to be lonely. We may be solitary, but we do not need to be lonely. We can move out of loneliness by developing a life of prayer, and through the life of prayer we will learn that “He who has God is lacking in nothing.”
The media had very little impact on Vatican I, but by Vatican II, you have a full-blown media blast. There was no planning or provision for dealing with this at the Vatican. The secular media took tremendous interest in the Council and did a tremendous amount to interpret what the Council was about. Bishops participating in the Council got more information from outside (from the media) than from inside the Council. This was a very unfortunate situation. There was no provision for the Council to communicate within itself.
The way the media covered the Council built up a lot of push behind the things the secular media wanted. The things they were for received a tremendous amount of publicity and consideration. They were cheered on.
The secular media, in general, have been, increasingly in my lifetime, not in the business of reporting, but in promoting. They’re trying to bring about change in the world, rather than being concerned primarily with accuracy. I think they were very skillful in “playing up” people. Promoting the “right” ideas became a very big thing, and if you disagreed with what they considered the “right” ideas, you didn’t get much coverage; the media didn’t mention it. If you had a good argument, you never heard anyone repeat it. Even the telling of the story was a falsification, because the arguments were over-simplified and important points left out.
Reading Christopher Dawson’s writings in college left a lasting impression upon me. The great historian, a convert to Catholicism, helped me understand the Christian sense of history. The pagan notion of time, and thus history, is an endless, circular repetition of events – similar to the annual cycle of the seasons. Yet this repetitive way of interpreting reality imprisons man in a pointless round. Where are we heading if there is no end point to time, just a constant replay involving a changing cast of characters who come and go?
Christian revelation, of course, solves this dilemma. Creation has a beginning and an end. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. Our world and our lives come from Him, and our journey through life is a quest both to walk with Him at all times (“I am with you always, to the close of the age,” Mt 28:20), and to find Him as our merciful judge when our days on earth come to their end (“Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” Mt 25:34).
Given this linear understanding of history, stretching from the creation to the redemption and reaching fulfillment on the Last Day, our place in time and space is relatively easier to figure out. We want to be in that great procession of pilgrims which is the Church. God has put us on this earth at the time of his choosing to accomplish His purposes. Our duty is to seek his will as we look forward to seeing him face to face either at the moment of our death, or at his Second Coming on the Last Day, if we live to see that day.
Seeking to do God’s will involves repetition of many good acts: prayers, sacrifices, reception of the sacraments, good works and kind deeds, especially towards the poor. That holy cycle of repetition is carried out in the perspective of our journey in time towards our goal, Christ. The Church has given us the Christian year as the organizing principle of our daily efforts to be with Christ, now and forever. We contemplate and celebrate Christ’s life in the liturgical calendar. The Church repeats this cycle, year after year, to instruct and guide us on how to journey towards the eternal Jerusalem. This cycle of days and years is not endless and self-contained. It is directed towards the Last Day, when the Lord will return.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reminds us[1]: “The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas. The final days of Advent, from December 17 to December 24, focus particularly on our preparation for the celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas).”
[2]Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca, c. 1455 [Museo della Madonna del Parto, Monterchi, Italy]
The first part of Advent directs our thoughts to the second coming of Christ on the Last Day. Thus we begin our Christian year mediating upon the end of time. We walk now with the hidden Christ in order to be with Him when He will come to judge the living and the dead. That hidden Christ, in whom we believe though we have not seen him, was born in Bethlehem a little over 2,000 years ago. He was once seen by humble, pious men who were sent to the manger by the angels. Those same angels will herald his return when all “will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Mt 24:30)
The second part of Advent directs our thoughts to the birth of Him who fulfills all the prophecies given to the people of Israel. The awesome reality of the Incarnation calls for our full attention. Which brings me back to Dawson, particularly his observation that every day is a dress rehearsal for the Second Coming. That really captures the Christian sense of time and history. We are always to be ready to greet the Lord at his return. No one knows the day or the hour (Mt 24:36), but we do know that He will come.
Advent is a strong reminder that we are supposed to be ready to meet Christ. The penitential nature of the season (witness the violet vestments and no Gloria at Mass) teaches us that sin, and the habit of sin, need to be addressed by each of us. We best honor the birth of the Savior by making ourselves ready to meet him on the Last Day, which means seeking his pardon of our sins and his grace to live better as his true followers. A good confession of our sins during Advent is a most pleasing gift to the Christ Child; the absolution of our sins is Christ’s gift to those who long to see his face.
But is any of this is reflected in the way most Catholics nowadays observe Advent? Our vestigially Christian, media-dominated culture has banished most references to Christmas from the public square in America, leaving us with the consumerist creed of buy, buy, and buy. The popular celebration of the feast of the Incarnation has degenerated into spending lots of money to celebrate “the holidays.”
Advent is meant too remind us that the fitting celebration of God’s coming among us demands that we do penance and pray more. This is the necessary path to follow if we want to be truly ready for Christ’s Second Coming, and if we are to honor his birth in Bethlehem with the spirit of adoration shown by the shepherds and the Magi. Sharing gifts on Christmas is a way to imitate God’s supreme gift of His Son on Christmas. As we look forward to that celebration of God’s love at Christmas, let us re-consider the importance of Advent. The dress rehearsal is now.
it to completion; ours to offer what we can, His to finish what we cannot."
![Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca, c. 1455 [Museo della Madonna del Parto, Monterchi, Italy]](http://s3.amazonaws.com/faithandreasoninstitute/thecatholicthing/wp-content/uploads/Madonna_piero_della_Francesca.jpg)
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