January 2011: Doers of the Word
Reflections on Archbishop Dolan's Book Doers of the Word: Putting Your Faith Into Practice

February 2011: Church's Teaching On Sex
Reflections on the Catholic Church's teaching on sex and why it is really "Good News"

March 2011: Liturgical Changes Part I
Reflections on the upcoming changes in the Liturgy.

April 2011: IPod Theology
Spiritual reflections on different songs

May 2011: Liturgical Changes Part II
Continuing reflections on the changes to the Catholic Liturgy.

June 2011: End of Life Issues:
A look at the Church's teachings on the end of life issues.

July 2011: Faith & Film
A reflection on different movies and their theological implications.

August 2011: The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, & the Tradition Part I
A reflection on Cardinal Archbishop Wuerl's book.

September 2011: The Mass: The Glory, the Myster, & the Tradition Part II
A reflection on Cardinal ArchbishopWuerl's book.

October 2011: The Blessed Virgin Mary and Art
A look at the Catholic Church's teaching on Mary through the eyes of famous images of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

November 2011: Virtue Ethics
A look at four differnt virtues and how to develop them in one's own life and in the lives of others.

December 2011: Random Randomness
Four different topics of interest that are really not related in any way. 

Happy New Years to everyone!!!  For the beginning of this New Year I would like to focus this month’s Spiritual Ponderings on some short reflections from Archbishop Dolan that I found in his book Doers of the Word: Putting Your Faith Into Practice.  The Archbishop’s reflections are in red and my small commentary will be in black.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

                Throughout my happy years as a priest, I have often had the privilege of celebrating Mass for different communities of the Missionaries of Charity, the order of sisters founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
                Wherever I have been with them for Eucharist—in St. Louis, in Washington D.C., or in Rome—I find the chapel in their homes for the poorest of the poor the same: simple, stark, with a crucifix on the front wall, and, underneath, always the same quote from Jesus: “I thirst” (John 19:28), one of the last words of the Master from the cross.
                All these years I presumed that Mother Teresa required those two words to be written behind the altar to remind her sisters that they were called to serve the thirsty—and hungry, bleeding, abandoned, dying.
                But now it comes out, a decade after her death, that there’s perhaps another cogent reason behind her choice of those two words. 
                Her writings have revealed that Mother Teresa herself was often spiritually thirsty, her own beautiful soul frequently dry and parched as she herself sensed a profound abandonment, dejection, and frustration of her spirit.  This great woman, of towering faith, hope, and charity, herself often looked at her Lord and whispered, “I thirst.” 
                Mother Teresa’s own bouts of spiritual darkness are the central theme of a new book, Come, Be My Light, by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, himself a Missionary of Charity and the postulator (promoter) of Mother’s cause for hopefully eventual canonization as a saint. 
                His work included a rigorous review of all her writings and letters, and therein found that this great woman experienced hours, days, weeks, months, long years when her prayer seemed sterile, her faith limp, her hope dim, her love for God tepid.  She wrote, with moving humility and honesty, how she often at times even wondered if God had in fact abandoned her. 
                For thirty-five years, Mother Teresa has been a beacon for me.  She animated vibrant believ, and unquenchable hope, an unflagging love and an indomitable joy.  She was an inspiration.  Now that I know about her own interior struggles, I am inspired by her all the more.  I lover here and trust her more than ever.  No “plaster saint,” she.  She’s as real, as genuine, as flesh and blood as Jesus Himself.  For those of us who often sense spiritual fatigue, frustration, and fear—count me in—she’s more a model than ever.
                In her own spiritual sufferings, which she never hid but humbly shared, and with Pope John Paul II spoke about in his homily at the Mass of her beatification, she was more united with Jesus than ever.  With Him on the cross, she prayed, “I thirst,” and uttered with Him, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46)
                As Fr. Brian observes, “Mother was not only sharing in the physical poverty of her poor, but also the sufferings of Jesus.  His longing for union and meaning as expressed in Gethsemane and on the cross.”
                Through her “dark night of the soul”—to borrow a poetic phrase of another spiritual giant, St. John of the Cross, who also went through spiritual agony—she kept at it, she trusted, she never gave up, she persevered.
                No wonder.  She’s the one who noted, “God does not expect us to be successful.  He only asks us to be faithful.”  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!
 
                If there is one thing that I think many of us are good at it is quitting.  I can think for myself the number of times that I said I was going to pray more, begin exercising, eat better, etc. and ended quitting most of the time before I even get started.  It is not that I don’t want to pray more or get into better shape it is rather more that it is really difficult to persevere when things are not easy.  Once we get past a certain point though often the new habit takes hold and it is at least a little easier to keep up the new activity. 
 
                I know from talking with a lot of people that one of the biggest problems is that often people do not “feel” anything and therefore they give up despite the Church’s teaching about the “Dark Night of the Soul” which was best articulated by St. John of the Cross (a medieval Spanish mystic). 
                The idea of the Dark Night of the Soul is a simple one.  When we pray sometimes God removes the good feelings we may be feeling to make sure that we are praying out of a love for Him and not out of an addiction for the good feelings that prayer may bring us.  A person may go through hours, weeks, months, and even years in which God is testing the person.
 
 Often though I believe most of us give up after a few minutes of dryness and go onto other things.  Sometimes the drive in ourselves to accomplish things can be stronger than our desire for prayer and this too is something that we should struggle with.  One of the primary values of prayer is to remind us that our value comes from God and not from accomplishing things.

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I would like to focus this month’s Spiritual Ponderings on some short reflections from Archbishop Dolan that I found in his book Doers of the Word: Putting Your Faith into Practice.  The Archbishop’s reflections are in red and my small commentary will be in black.

Sinners Wanted

                What is the greatest need for the Church today?
                Do we need more committed marriages, more solid families, more efforts on behalf of social justice, peace, pro-life, and charity?
                Do we need more schools, more lifelong faith formation, more parishes?
                Do we need more money and strategic planning?
                Do we need more change in the Church’s doctrine and practices, or more rigorous enforcements of faith and morals?
                What I think the Church needs is more sinners!
                I mean it! We lack persons who humbly recognize their own sins and are willing to confess them.
                A good friend of mine is pastor of one of the most prestigious parishes anywhere.  His parishioners include wealthy movers and shakers, prominent leaders in business, government, education in healthcare.  It’s an attractive parish complex with a stunning array of services and ministries, and gads of cash to fund them.  If he were crass, he’d say, “I got it made.”  You can imagine how stunned his people were one Sunday when he told them he was thinking of requesting a transfer.
                “You don’t need me here,” he explained as the people gasped.  “Like Jesus, I came to call sinners.  And apparently we have none here.  I’ve heard maybe a half-dozen confessions since I got here six months ago.  You’re obviously all saints, I came to serve sinners.  You don’t need me.”
                I don’t know if confessions increased, but I hope so, since all of us “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). 
                When was the last time you went to Confession?
 
One of the things I love most about being Catholic is the simple idea that we are all flawed and messed up people in need of a savior from the Pope always down to second graders who are about to receive the first Reconciliation.  Holiness in our faith has nothing to do with being perfect but rather everything to do with trying.  One of the things that I hate the most about being Catholic is that everyone in our Catholic faith if we are not careful can fall into old sinful patterns that we all should know better – things like judging others, gossiping, tearing other people down, etc. 
 
As Catholics we truly believe that our first instincts are not always the best because we still feel in some way the effects of original sin in our lives.  Our first instincts are often tainted by selfishness and we are often called to purify our way of thinking by aligning our wills up with God’s will for us.  This is not always easy because often this means that we have to overcome fears in our lives - fears that create such things as prejudices, unnecessary competitions with one another, a flawed sense of self worth (too high or too low). 
 
I cannot help but wonder sometimes if Jesus does not feel like the pastor in the story above wondering if anyone really needs Him.  The image of a teacher who wants to help his or her students learn but can’t because they are too afraid of each other to raise their hands and admit their weaknesses in front of their peers.  I know that I was one of those kids in fifth and sixth grade.  I was really blest that my teachers could see past the front that I was putting on for my peers to really help me take my education seriously.  In the end though I had to admit that I needed help before I got the help I need. 
 
When you walk into Church on Sunday or pray at home what do you ask God for?  Do you ask Him for grace or do you presume that you do not need him?  I know that I have done both in my life and I have only found happiness when I relied on God and not myself. 
 
I am a sinner that needs God’s grace and the more that I admit my dependency upon God and the more that I do to fill myself up with God’s love and grace the more I find happiness.  I invite you to open yourself up to the Lord by simply admitting that you need Him.  The opening line of the Liturgy of the Hours is simply “God come to my assistance.”
               
The flip side of this is that we need to learn to be more tolerant of our brothers and sisters and their mistakes and imperfections and we need to be less judgmental which is not always easy especially because people often expect us to judge them or others.  We therefore should pray for the grace to accept others simple for who they are.

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I would like to focus this month’s Spiritual Ponderings on some short reflections from Archbishop Dolan that I found in his book Doers of the Word: Putting Your Faith into Practice.  The Archbishop’s reflections are in red and my small commentary will be in black.
 

Take Up Your Cross

I guess I had better write about the cross.
I’d rather not.
It seems negative, somber, sad, and unappealing to talk about the cross.  You wouldn’t do it at a dinner party…
Yet there is no avoiding it.  According to the Crucified One, we must carry our cross if we want to follow Him.  He came to die on the cross.
When you think about it, the cross comes to us in three different ways:
The first is in the adversity and agony that life brings all of us as part of the human condition.  Every human being has struggle, sadness, and suffering.  Walk the floors of Children’s Hospital, drive the streets of our central cities, watch the news about Darfur and Iraq, listen to our neighbor’s woes, or look into your own heart, and you will find affection.  Everybody has it; everybody wonders why.
We followers of Jesus have it, too.  We call it the cross.  Jesus never promised to take the cross away from us, but now we carry our cross with Him.  He helps us take up our daily cross.  We cooperate with Him in the world’s redemption, and we believe that the cross does not have the last word.  These are powerful motives for us to shoulder our crosses.  Second, we can voluntarily add the cross to our lives by acts of penance and self-denial.  Jesus encouraged fasting and mortification.  So does His Church, and not just during Lent, but every day.  I know of no saint who did not voluntarily invite the cross into his or her life through such penitential practices.  And we’re all called to be saints.
Third, the cross comes into our life as we suffer for our faith.  We may not suffer literal martyrdom here in America, but we may have to suffer for our faith in more subtle ways:
Ask the nurse who, after six years, still has no promotion because she will not assist at abortions in the hospital.
Listen to the attorney, reprimanded by senior partners at the firm, because he’s active in promoting affordable housing for the poor, to the discomfort of one of the firm’s most cherished clients, a slumlord.
Hear how the researcher is denied a fellowship because he opposes embryonic stem cell destruction.
I could add to the litany of examples, but you get the point: if we take our faith seriously, we will carry a cross, because our world, our culture, opposes us.
The Church is the meeting of the cross bearers, a support group for people with weighty ones.  Look around you at Sunday Mass.  Everybody has splinters in their shoulders.
               
A person asked me the other day to pray for a friend of theirs who was going through a spiritual problem in which he was being tempted daily (if not more to a particular sin).  I told the person who had asked me to pray that I would and then he said he hoped that he (his friend) could overcome his temptation.  I responded in a way that kind of surprised myself by stating that maybe it was a part of God’s plan for this person to have these temptations for his lifetime.  I went onto explain that temptations were a part of life and for example while I have taken a vow of celibacy that did not mean that I stopped finding women attractive.  Instead I am to offer that attraction/possible relationship/whatever-you-want-to-call-it to God in a healthy and holy way.  It was part of my cross to bare.  An alcoholic will always be tempted to abuse alcohol and he or she must therefore choose good healthy alternative behaviors in order to avoid taking that next drink.  Both homosexual and hetero sexual people are tempted to have sex outside of marriage but I firmly believe that sex is something reserved for marriage and these people are called by God for the good and happiness of their life and that of the world to offer up these temptations instead of giving into them. 
 
St. Paul himself says that he had a temptation that would not go away: “Therefore that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this that it might leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
 
I cannot help but that in resisting temptation we prove our love for example, I prove my love for God, my vocation, and my parish family by not giving into temptation and remaining faithful to my vow of celibacy.  The sober alcoholic by saying no to a drink says yes to his family.  Couples who refrain from having sex before marriage demonstrate their love for God, possible spouse, and the gift of sex and the Sacrament of Marriage.  When we give into temptation we find ourselves trapped in a mess out made out of selfishness.
 
I sometimes wonder if we don’t sometime walk away from God simply because He has not taken away our problems.  We can sometimes be like athletes who are mad at God for making us do all sorts of exercises to improve ourselves instead of just canceling the big game.  We human beings get stronger through rigorous exercise and I think we get spiritual stronger through rigorous efforts to avoid giving into temptation.  I pray that each of us will put up a real battle against the temptations in our lives and that we don’t simply wimp out. 
 
Jesus promised us the Cross but He also promised us a support system the Church.  I will help you with your crosses will you help me with mine?

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I would like to focus this month’s Spiritual Ponderings on some short reflections from Archbishop Dolan that I found in his book Doers of the Word: Putting Your Faith Into Practice.  The Archbishop’s reflections are in red and my small commentary will be in black.
 

A Grateful Heart

A number of years ago, I called someone to thank her for the amazingly generous gift she had given Catholic Relief Services to help those whose lives had been devastated by the ravages of the 2004 tsunami.
                “You’re thoughtful to call me,” she replied.  “But I hardly deserve any thanks.  The wealth I have is not mine to hoard.  Everything I have—life itself, health, home, family, friends, my country, and yes, my money property and possessions—is God’s not mine.  He entrusted it to me to be shared with others.  Thank the Lord, not me.  I do, everyday.”
                Is that not a great homily of the concept of Thanksgiving?  (By the way, it’s also a beautiful definition of stewardship). 
                Blessed Mother Teresa observed that the saddest people are those who believe they have no reason to be grateful.  She used to remark that she could never be failed to be moved by the “thank you” whispered by the dying beggar after she gave them a drink of water.
                What makes us great is that we admit we are not.
                What makes us rich is to admit that it all really belongs to God.
                What increases us is to thank God for what we have.
                What fills us up is to acknowledge that we are really quite empty.
                What turns us into saints is to confess that we are sinners.
                As the poet George Herbert prayed, “O Lord, you have given me so much.  Please give me one thing more: a grateful heart.”
 
What are you thankful for?  I mean it what are you really thankful for?  How do you show it?  If you have come to confession to me and are a parent who admitted that you have lost your patience with your children then chances are pretty good that you have heard the following mini-sermon. 
 
When I was newly ordained I was given a Play Station 2 for ordination (at the time it was the top of the line gaming system) by Fr. Tom Miller.  I had grown close to Fr. Tom Miller over the last year as he was the associate pastor of the parish that I was assigned to as a deacon.  We used to play his Play Station 2 at the rectory quite often and we had a lot of fun so I was really excited to now have my own. 
 
I treated the Play Station 2 with the utmost respect and care for the longest time but then one day I yanked too hard on the controller and the gaming system came crashing down.  Instead of going right over and putting it back up right, I walked out of the room to do something else.  It would be close to a week before I would go over and pick up and put it away right. 
 
As I was putting it away I was thinking about what had happened and I realize that the Play Station had gone from being a gift from a friend that I really respected to being mine.  When I thought of it as a gift then I treated it well but when I thought of it as mine then I did not treat it so well.  I quickly discovered that the same thing was true for my relationship with people.  I treat my family much better when I think of them as a gift from God and much worse when I think of them simply as my family. 
 
I therefore challenge people to take time each day to thank God for the gift of their family members and to go the extra mile by naming three positive things about each family member.  I know that this helps me treat my family much better. 
 
I have found that there is nothing better for a person’s soul than to have an attitude of gratitude.

I would like to focus this month’s Spiritual Ponderings on some short reflections from Archbishop Dolan that I found in his book Doers of the Word: Putting Your Faith into Practice.  The Archbishop’s reflections are in red and my small commentary will be in black.
 

White Martyrs

                Those who suffer persecution and even death because of their faith are called “red martyrs” because their acts of faith involve the shedding of blood.  This is the type of martyrdom we usually recognize, whether the martyr died during the persecution in the Roman Empire or in various parts of the world today.
                Classically though, the Church recognizes another kind of martyrdom—white martyrs.  These courageous faithful suffer emotionally, spiritually, or physically for the faith, yet not to the point of shedding blood.
                In some way if we take our religion seriously, we will all become white martyrs at some time in our lives. 
                Let me just mention some white martyrs I’ve recently met who have inspired me profoundly:
                The mother who sits night and day at the bedside of her little son as he’s hooked up to chemo at Children’s Hospital. 
                The family with four children who have just adopted a special needs baby.
                The college student who gets snickered at every Sunday morning in the university dorm as he gets up early to go to Mass.
                The young husband who is sticking by his wife for the long haul, even though she’s “fallen off the wagon” again in her constant struggle with an addition to alcohol.
                They are all white martyres.  They are suffering because of their faith.  No one is after them with torches, machetes, or guns, but their trial is real, their faith enduring, their hope unflagging. Sooner or later, we’ll all be there.  It’s part of the dying and rising of Jesus and His people.
               
I honestly think that most people would be totally bewildered and shock by how holy I think they are.  There seems to be some misguided notion in us that still holds good priests up as higher on the holiness scale.  It is like my holiness gets magnified by a factor of 10 simply because I am a priest and I do not think this is right.  First off, I do not think that we should be comparing the different vocations (priesthood, religious life, married life, or single life) as to their holiness because that would be like comparing apples, to oranges, to grapefruits, and to pomegranates. 
 
I find holiness when I see parents take care of their children in loving and sacrificial ways that show me that the parent is not thinking about him or herself but only about the child’s well being.  I find holiness in the people who choose to help out at the soup kitchen or donate time or money to the Saint Vincent DePaul society.  I see holiness in the person who takes a little extra time to send a thank you note or simply chooses not to complain about bad service. 
 
Holiness is spending time at nursing home or taking an older relative into one’s house.   Holiness is giving a stranger a ride, taking the time to pray each day.  Holiness to me is not about big things but rather like Mother Teresa says “doing small things with great love.”  Holiness is above all moving away from a selfish attitude to being more and more selfless. 
 
Holiness does come with a price because to be truly holy means that we are called to be witnesses to Christ and Christ promised that persecution and ridicule will come our way if we follow Him.  There will be sacrifices that need to be made as Archbishop Dolan makes clear in the passage above.  We do so knowing that it is better for us to lose everything in this life in order to find true life in the next. 
 
Take some time this week to write down the people in your life who witness to God’s love through their small daily acts of love.

One of the reasons that I started my weekly “Spiritual Ponderings” column was so that I could help people come to a better understanding of the Church’s teaching.   There is probably no greater area of confusion when it comes to Church teaching then on the area of sexuality.  It is therefore my desire to spend my next few Spiritual Ponderings delving into the Church’s teaching on sexuality. 
 
Before we can dive too deeply into the Church’s teaching on sexuality we must first explore the Church’s teaching on the Universal Call to Holiness.  As Catholics we believe that our God made us simply because He wants to love us and for no other reason.  God in Himself, because He is Trinitarian in nature, is totally complete.  The Father is giving love to the Son and the Holy Spirit and at the same time receiving love from the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The Son is giving love to the Father and the Holy Spirit and at the same time receiving love from the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is giving love to the Father and the Son and at the same time receiving love from the Father and the Son.  There is nothing that we can give God that makes Him more god or a greater god than He already is.  God does not want or need anything from us and therefore He loves us with an everlasting and unconditional love. 
 
What does this mean for you and me?  First it means that we are not God.  Many of us would willingly admit this right away if someone would ask us on the street if we were God but often this is a fact that we only know intellectually and not psychologically or emotionally.  Many of us find ourselves trying to be god by controlling every aspect of our lives only to end up living lives of frustration when we realize that we are really in control of very little.  We may also find ourselves playing god when we give into the illusion of immortality.  I can do anything I want and no harm will come to me i.e. drinking and driving.  We also can give into the illusion of immortality when we assume that we can misbehave today and repent tomorrow because none of us have been promised tomorrow.  Finally many of us pretend to be God when we place ourselves at the center of our moral universe.  When we make ourselves (or even when we make a group of people) the center of what is right and wrong we are forgetting that one day we will ultimately face our maker and judge.  We are also forgetting that just because we decide something that it does not make it true.  We could gather all the people in the world and vote that cake would no longer be fattening but in the end cake would still be fattening.  We could also vote that the rules of gravity no longer apply to human beings but in the end we would still not be able to fly by flapping our wings.  In fact, the more that we live in these delusions the worst things are for us.  Ernst Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham in their book the Spirituality of Imperfection, which is a sort of spiritual history of Alcoholics Anonymous, puts it this way:
 
 
According to the way of life that flows from this insight, it is only by ceasing to play God, by coming to terms with errors and shortcomings, and by accepting the inability to control every aspect of their lives that alcoholics (or any human being) can find the peace and serenity that alcohol (or other drugs, or sex, money material possessions, power or privilege) promise but never deliver).
 
Another lesson that comes forth from this statement that God created us simply out of love develops into that our God is for us and not against us.  One of the greatest effects of original sin in our lives is that it causes us to view others as competition and not as other human beings to love.  We seem to further this idea of competition all too well in our society and not just on the sports fields but also in the classrooms and in the home as we start comparing ourselves to others.  We begin to feel that if someone else is winning then we must be losing.  This often trickles into our relationship with God.  If I give into God and do things His ways then God is winning and I am losing.  If I stubbornly and defiantly do things my way then I can stand up against the tyrant God as some of William Wallace type way.  The sad thing is though is that we are not in competition with God.  He truly wants what is best for us and when we defy Him we are hurting ourselves and not Him.  Other people are not competition either in the game of life but rather brothers and sisters created by the same loving God. 
 
 So what does God desire for us?  He desires that we become like Him, that we can develop enough with His grace to participate in His Divine life of continual love.  This can only happen though with God’s grace and our willingness to weed out of our lives those things that are not of Him.  We call God’s plan for us, His desire for us, His hope for us, the Universal Call to Holiness.
 
He wishes each of us to love and not in some sort of fictional/movie/erotic way but in a true loving way in which we love each person unconditionally and in return we are loved unconditionally.  While we all know that there are many definition of love  the two that I like the best are that love is wanting what is best for the other person and that love is making oneself and giving oneself as a gift to the other.  True love models the life of the Most Blessed Trinity and it is from these ideas that the Church develops her teaching on sex so that we can learn to love like God loves.

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After last week, laying down the foundation of the Church’s teaching on sex by exploring the Church’s teaching on the universal call to holiness, I think that it is important to look at why this is such a difficult teaching for people to follow.  It is my personal belief that all the problems in the world come down to the simple fact that we all want to be love but we all fear that we are unlovable.  If I were to take a moment and ask you to examine every conflict that you have ever had in your life, I am willing to bet that it eventually comes from you or the other person being afraid that they are unlovable.  When we feel that we are unlovable we begin to lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate all in some futile effort to earn love because we feel that if people knew the real us then they would not want to be around us.  It is a futile effort though because love must be freely given and love that is earned really is not love at all.  Why do I lie in life?  I lie because I am afraid that if people knew me deep down they would not like me.  Why do I cheat or steal?  I cheat or steal in life because I want to get ahead because I want people to love me because of my accomplishments because if they would look to deeply at the real me without the accomplishment they would all run away.  Why do I manipulate people?  I do so because I want to control people and keep them away from seeing the real me because once again I am afraid. 
 
The Good News (the Great News) of the Gospel is that our God loves us unconditionally.  He loves us in spite our sinfulness.  He loves us simply because He is love.  Meister Eckhart (a medieval mystic) said something like “In order to get at God in his greatest, we must get at ourselves at our worst”.  God’s greatness is shown that even know that He knew that we would turn away from Him and sin that He created us anyway and even though He knew that there would be those who rejected Him He chose to sacrifice His Son for all of us and not just for some.  God’s love is unconditional.  The message of the Gospel is “Do not be afraid” God does love you and when we are unafraid then we no longer feel a need to lie, cheat, steal, or manipulate because God pours out His love freely upon us. 
 
The other great part of the Good News is that God incarnates His love.  The word “incarnate” means to make real, to give flesh too, to make visible through the senses.  It is one thing to hear a person say “I love you” and it is quite a different and better thing when those words are backed up with actions especially the action of self-sacrifice.  I mean how would you feel if I told you that “I loved you,” and then gave you a sucker punch to the gut?  You would know that my words were false.  If however I told you that “I loved you” and then made a personal sacrifice to show that love then you would know that my words were true.  God made His love for us visible to us through the Incarnation of His Son and through the Paschal Mystery.  God proved His love for us by dying for us while we were sinners.  Holding nothing back God gave all that He had to save us so that we could see His love was more than mere words.  Our God first incarnates His love for us through Jesus, then through His Church (the Body of Christ on earth), and finally through the people around us. 
 
The strange mystery paradox that I had to learn in life when it came to making friends is the more that I am myself the more that people will love me.  The more that I trust in God the more I can be myself.  My true friends in life love me because of me and not because of my accomplishment and these people in return show me God’s love.  I in return am attracted to people who trust in God’s love enough to be themselves and I therefore become one of the many people who show them God’s love through my actions. 
 
We can sometimes be hurt though when our efforts to earn love fail we can also be hurt in this dynamic when other people’s allow their fears to overtake them and they stop being the manifestation of God’s love.  This is why there are no private sins. 
 
 So as we continue to explore the Church’s teaching on sex, I think that you will discover that disagreement over Church’s teachings often come about if not always as a result of our fear of being unlovable and the more that we come to accept God’s love for us the more we will see the wisdom in the Church’s teaching especially in the area of our sexuality. 
 
I will leave you all today with three last thoughts from Christopher West who has become one of the great spokespersons for the Church’s teaching on sex.  Christopher West in his book: Theology of the Body for Beginners: A Basic Introduction to Pope John Paul II’s Sexual Revolution puts it like this:  In essence, Christ life proclaims: “You don’t believe God loves you?  Let me show you how much God loves you.  You don’t believe that God is ‘gift’?  This is my body given for you (see Lk 22:19).  You think God wants to keep you from life?  I will bleed myself dry so that my life’s blood can give you life to the full (see Jn 10:10).  You thought God was a tyrant, a slave-driver?  I will take the form of a slave (see Phil 2:7); I will let you ‘lord it over’ me to demonstrate that God has no desire to ‘lord it over’ you (see Mt 20:28).  You thought God would whip your back if you gave him a chance?  I will let you whip my back to demonstrate that God has no desire to whip yours.  I have not come to condemn you, but to save you (see Jn 3:17).  I have not come to enslave you, but to set you free (see Gal 5:1).  Stop persisting in your unbelief.  Repent and believe in the good news” (see Mk 1:15).
 
Two other thoughts from Christopher West from his book: Good News about Sex and Marriage will help us lay our foundation for our spiritual ponderings on the Church’s teaching on sexuality.  First: “Man cannot live without love.  He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.  This is why Christ the Redeemer “fully reveals Man to himself.” – John Paul II
 
And second: When we search out the true meaning of sexuality, we touch on the core of our being, as men and women.  We encounter our deepest longing and aspirations and, at the same time, our deepest fears, wounds, selfishness, and sins.  Here lies the challenge: we must face the reality of our humanity—the good and the bad—if we are to discover the truth about our sexuality.  Inevitable this leads us to the cross.  For it is Christ who, by showing us the truth about love, shows us the meaning of life.

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In today’s edition of my Spiritual Ponderings, I would like to look at some of the Scriptural reasoning behind the Church’s teaching on sex.  We therefore must travel to the beginning of the Bible to the Book of Genesis where we get a faith-filled account of the creation of the human race.  In the first creation story Genesis 1:24-31:
 
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds." And so it happened: God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. God saw how good it was. Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth." God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened. God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed--the sixth day.
 
We see that human beings are created on the sixth day.  It is as if all of creation is leading to this point.  Also I think that is worth noting that while humans were created on the same day as other animals that the human author of Genesis (and thus the Divine as well) strongly points out that human beings were created in a completely different act.  God created animals and then after a moment of self-reflection created human beings.  He created human beings in His own image we are told.  “…He created them male and female He created them,” is a phrase that shows that man and woman were created equally.  Man is not better than woman and woman is not better than man in fact it seems to be that only together can they complete the image of God.  I think that it is also important to point out that God blesses them as says “Be fertile and multiply,” pointing out that fertility, pregnancy, and children are a blessing and not a curse.  Sometimes today it seems that we treat fertility more of as a disease and children more of as a curse instead of realizing that both were a part of God’s plan from the beginning.
 
 In the second creation story found in Genesis (4-25) we gain more insights into God’s great divine plan.
Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--while as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, but a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground-- the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad… The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him."So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body. The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.
 
This second story of creation begins with the creation of the “dust man” Adam.  Adam is given the gift of God’s breath (or another translation would be God’s Spirit).  God provided Adam with everything but He was not happy or fulfilled because He was not able to give himself away in love or able to receive love and so God went about to create a suitable mate for Adam.  It is important to note that none of the animals were a suitable mate because they were not Adam’s equal.  He had dominion over them and therefore there could be no love.  When God creates Eve in the story from Adam’s side Adam recognizes Eve as his equal “bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.”  The Catholic Church teaches us that the differences between men and women are not created to put  us at odds (in completion) with one another but rather to compliment (to complete) each other.  Sin unfortunately has distorted the relationship between men and women. 
 
This passage ends with the odd phrase “the man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.”  What did the author of Genesis mean by “no shame”?  Did he mean that Adam and Eve had no moral value system?  No, what the human author of Genesis (and thus the Divine author as well) is trying to express is that Adam and Eve were able to look at each other and have no desire to use the other person for his or her pleasure.  In other words Adam could look upon Eve and Eve could look upon Adam and not objectify each other.  They were able to look at each other and see each other as persons and not as objects.  Christopher West puts it forth in the following way:
 
How does Adam know that she’s the one he can love?  Remember that they were naked.  It was their bodies that revealed the spiritual truth of their persons.  In their nakedness they discovered what John Paul II calls the “nuptial meaning of the body,” that is, “the (body’s capacity of expressing love: that fulfills the very meaning of his being and existence.)
 
Adam looked at himself, he looked at Eve.  He realized this profound reality:  “We go together.  God made us for each other.  I can give myself to you, and you can give yourself to me, and we can live in a life-giving communion of love”—the image of God, marriage.
 
Once sin entered the world though and we began to fear that God did not love us.  Adam and Eve began to look at each other and they began to see each other in a new light (or should we say a new darkness).  Adam began to look at Eve and think of all the ways he could get pleasure from using her and Eve began looking at Adam and began to think of all the ways that she could use him for her pleasure.  Also they each realized that if they were not thinking these sinful thoughts then the other person must be thinking these sinful thoughts and because we do not wish to be used shame entered the world and Adam and Eve began to make clothes.  Once again let me use Christopher West to explain what I have been trying to say in a much better and succinct way:
 
Adam and Eve no longer clearly saw in each other’s bodies the revelation of God’s plan of love.  They each now saw the other’s body more as a thing to use for their own selfish desires.  In this way the experience of nakedness in the presence of the other—and in the presence of God—became an experience of fear, alienation, shame:  “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself (Gn 3:10).
 
Their shame was connected not so much with the body itself but with the lost.  For they still knew that since they were created as persons for their own sakes, they were never meant to be looked upon as things for another person’s use.  So they covered their bodies to protect their own dignity from the other’s lustful “look.”  This is, in fact, a positive function of shame, because it actually serves to protect the “nuptial meaning of the body”.
 
The Good News of the Catholic Faith is that Jesus Christ came to redeem all of humanity including our sexuality so as we talked about last week.  We with the grace of God can grow and develop back into our ability

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As I wrap up this month’s Spiritual Ponderings, I think that it is important to point out some great insights into this topic from Pope John Paul II.  Pope John Paul II has emerged as the Church’s leading authority on this important topic.  How can this be that in the Church’s two-thousand plus history is someone so recent the expert?  It is because for the longest time the Church did not have to defend the dignity of the marriage or sex.  All religions and majority of people proclaimed in one voice that sex should only be done in the context of marriage.  It is only recently that the Church has had to come up with a define and clear teaching on this topic.  With that being said the late pope did not just think these things up off the top of his head but rather he developed much of his thoughts on this topic through reflection on scripture, the Church’s teaching, and on his own personal reflections and experiences (which included a lot of time spent with young people and young married people while he was a young priest in Poland). 
 
 The first thing that John Paul II states that I think is truly revolutionary is that “The opposite of love is not hate but rather objectification.”  When we love someone we want what is best for them even to the point of making personal sacrifices to secure their well-being.  The opposite then of love is then is using someone to secure my own personal gratification even if I will wound them in the process.  This is objectification.  When someone says they love someone and then leads them down a path that will harm them then they really do not love that person but rather are using that person.  In fact all of the Church’s moral teaching especially its teaching on sex can be boil down to this one statement: “Always treat a person as a person and never as an object.”  Christopher West on the John Paul II’s teaching:
 
In his book Love and Responsibility, John Paul II speaks of the moral principle that should guide all human behavior.  He calls it the personalistic norm.  Stated negatively, it says that persons have such great dignity that never, under any circumstance, is it acceptable to use a person as a mean to an end.  Stated positively, the personalistic norm says that the only proper response to another person is that of love.
 
The second thing that John Paul II states that I think is truly revolutionary in thought is that “body language is a real language and all languages are meant to convey truth.”  Christopher West has this to say about John Paul II’s emphasis on language:
 
Language is meant to convey truth.  It’s an abuse of language to convey lies, and it can never be loving to do so.  The “language” of the body is also meant to convey truth.  John Paul II actually speaks of the “prophetism of the body.”  The body is a “prophet” because it speaks the language of God, which is love.
 
 In John Paul II’s great writings on the Theology of the Body states that sexual intercourse is meant to be a renewal of one’s wedding vows in the language of the body and thus if one is not married then one is using one’s own body to lie. 
 
The third thing that I would like to point out is that we Christians believe that Jesus Christ came to redeem all of humanity including our sexuality.  We can overcome our sinful tendencies with the help of God.  Let us turn to Christopher West once again:
 
 Resisting the sinful distortions of sexual desire and living in accordance with the truth is very difficult struggle even for someone with a solid moral formation.  In a sense, this struggle brings us to the heart of the spiritual battle (see Eph 6:12) that we must fight as Christians if we are to resist evil—both in the world and in ourselves—and love others as Christ loves us.  Winning this battle takes faith in Christ, dedication, commitment, honesty, with ourselves and others, and a willingness to make sacrifices and deny our own selfish desires.  But love is not afraid of those things; love is those things.
 
Finally I would like to point out that “handle with care” does not mean something is bad.  The Church’s view on sex is not negative rather it is more positive then the world’s view.  While the world would treat sex like costume jewelry the Church teaches us the handle sex like a fine diamond as something precious that should be protected.  One last quote from Christopher West:
 
For the present, we must clarify the simple fact that saying, “Handle with care” or even “handle with extreme care”—is no way synonymous with saying, “This is bad.”  In fact, what are those things in life that we handle with the most care?  The things that have the most inherit value.  It’s because sex is so valuable, because it’s so precious in the eyes of Christ and his Church, that it must be handled with extreme care.
 
When we venture into the realm of sex, we are on holy ground.  Only those who are properly disposed can handle the mystery.
 
There’s a parallel here with another holy mystery of the Church: the Eucharist.  The Church has many “strict” teachings about who can and cannot receive the Eucharist, how it’s to be received, and with what spiritual disposition.  If would be absurd to conclude that the Church is therefore “down on the Eucharist.”  It’s no less absurd to conclude that the Church is down on sex because of her strict moral teaching about it.

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Starting Sunday November 27, 2011 (the first Sunday of Advent) there will be some changes to the way in which we celebrate the Mass.  Some of the common phrases are going to change for example when the priest says “Lord be with you” everyone will respond “and with your Spirit” instead of “also with you.”  I wish to spend the month of March reflecting on the Mass and some of the changes that will be taking place. 
 
The first thing that we much realize is that this is a new translation and not a change in the original text.   The official language of the Catholic Church is Latin and therefore all important Church documents are written first in Latin and then later translated into the various languages of the world.  While there are many advantages to having Latin as the official language of the Catholic Church and one of those things is that Latin is a very particular language. 
 
When we translate a word from Latin into English we therefore must often make a judgment call on what is the best English word is.   For example the Latin word “poculum” means “cup” (according to one English to Latin online dictionary I found).  Did the original author (the one who used the word “poculum” really mean cup or did he or she mean “a mug”, “a glass,” or even maybe “a chalice.”  It is therefore important from time to time to see if the word chosen like for example “cup” is really portraying the meaning that the original author meant. 
 
Maybe another way to look at it is to think of a book that you loved and knowing how excited you were to hear that the book was going to be turned into a movie only to find out later that the movie did not due the book justice because of the limits of movie making certain characters were left out or certain scenes were changed.  As you were leaving the theatre you were probably already thinking of ways that you could have changed the movie to make it more true to the book.  In a very similar way the Church is trying to make the translation to be more faithful to the original.  Another consequence of this new translation will be to make our English translation more in line with the way the Mass has been translated into other languages like French, Spanish, and Italian for example. 
 
We will begin looking at the individual changes next week but before we can do that I would like to share with you one of the most important things that I learned about liturgy in the seminary and that is the idea of low and high Christology.  Let us begin with the story of three blind-men who encounter an elephant for the first time.  The first blind-man grabs the elephant by the tail and declares that “an elephant is like a rope”.  The second blind-man grabs the elephant by one of the elephant’s big legs and says “an elephant is like a tree trunk.”  Finally the third blind-man grabs the elephant by the elephant’s trunk and shouts “an elephant is like a snake.”  Each blind-man is correct to some extent but is to a greater extent wrong because there is much more to the elephant than they can literally grasp.  In the same way when dealing with the mysteries of God we cannot grasp fully the truth of what is happening and so we normally fall into one of two camps.  The high Christology camp approaches the mystery of the faith with a stronger belief and emphasis in Christ’s divinity and those in the low Christology camp approaches the mysteries of faith with a stronger belief and emphasis in Christ’s humanity.  Both groups are equally right and both groups are equally wrong.  An example of a high Christology person would be someone who likes to think of God as an awesome being and savior and often enjoys grand Church liturgies often with chant and incenses.  A person of a low Christology is a person who likes to think of Jesus as his or her brother or friend and focuses on the liturgy is folksier.  Both are right but both are wrong.  It’s one of the great beauties of our Church’s faith and the doctrine of Jesus Christ being true God and true Man. 
 
I personally believe that I am a high Christology person.  I enjoy the incense and high church stuff more than some people I know.  I therefore challenge myself to not attack the preferences of others whose come from the low Christology camp but rather I try to embrace their way of thinking because it allows me to get a fuller picture of the great mysteries of God.  For example a high Christology person who cannot appreciate low Christology becomes rigid and afraid of making mistakes and a person of low Christology who cannot appreciate high Christology becomes a wander and a thinker but never a doer.  It takes both. 

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Starting Sunday November 27, 2011 (the first Sunday of Advent) there will be some changes to the way in which we celebrate the Mass.  Some of the common phrases are going to change for example when the priest says “Lord be with you” everyone will respond “and with your Spirit” instead of “also with you.”  I wish to spend the month of March reflecting on the Mass and some of the changes that will be taking place. 
 
The first change that we will encounter in the Mass is right at the beginning the Mass.  When the priest says “The Lord be with you”.  People will not respond “And with your Spirit” instead of and also with you.  When I do my teaching Mass, I like to focus on the fact that four times throughout the Mass the priest will say the words “The Lord be with you” and awaits the proper response from the people.  The first time is at the beginning of the Mass, the second time is right before the proclamation of the Gospel, the third time is as a part of the Preface before the Eucharistic Prayer and the last and final time is at the end of Mass right before the final blessing and dismissal.  Scott Hahn (a contemporary Scripture scholar) has commented in many of his books that the words “the Lord be with you” should be considered the scariest words in the whole Bible because when ever God assures someone of His divine presence it is because God has a task for them.  In a very similar way we begin by assuring ourselves of God’s presence at the beginning of Mass as we enter God’s presence and prepare for our mission to celebrate Mass.  Again we assure ourselves of God’s presence as we listen in a special way for Him to speak to us in the Gospel and before we prepare to offer God our sacrifice of praise we reassure ourselves once again of God’s loving presence.  Finally before we go out on mission into the world to bring Christ to those we meet we once again remind ourselves of God’s holy and loving presence.   When we hear the words “The Lord be with you” therefore we are reminded of our sacred responsibilities to fulfill the mission that God has given us and we profess that the only way that we can succeed in our mission is with the grace of God. 
 
When looking at the Latin text: “Et cum spiritu tuo” one cannot help but see “and with your spirit” is a better translation than “and also with you.”  What though is this spirit that the Church is speaking about?  “And with your spirit “ is inspired by St. Paul’s closing passages in 2 Timothy, Galatians, Philippians and Philemon and try to express the fact that the Spirit of the Lord is present when the community gathers for worship.  It is a reminder to the priest that he is standing in the for the person of Christ and for the community that it has nothing to do with the personal holiness of the priest but rather the Spirit of Christ in at work in the Church.  What is the Spirit of Christ?  It is the Holy Spirit and what is the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit is literally the Love of God and so we begin Mass by proclaiming that we a community called together in Love. 
 

Current	New Translation
Priest:Lord, we have sinned against you: Lord have mercy. People:Lord have mercy Priest:Lord, show us your mercy and love. People:And grant us your salvation.	Priest:Have mercy on us, O Lord. People:For we have sinned against you. Priest:Show us, O Lord, your mercy. People:And grant us your salvation.

The next change in the translation may or may not be noticed.  As the priest begins the penitential rite he has a couple of options.  The first is that he can choose to substitute a sprinkling rite instead of doing the penitential rite or he can do the “Lord have mercy”, “Christ have mercy”, and “Lord have mercy,” that we are all used to.  The priest may however choose a third option of having everyone confession the prayer known as the Confiteor together.  The old translation of the prayer is in red and the new translation is in blue.

The key to understanding this change in the translation is to understand the true intent of the penitential rite.   We do not confess our sins at the beginning of the Mass to have them forgiven or to wallow in them.  We do so in order to proclaim God’s greatness and mercy.  Like the Israelites who began their feasts by recalling all the great things God had done for them, we begin our liturgy by recalling God’s wonderful and awesome love and mercy.  We are not afraid to talk about our “most grievous fault” because no matter how bad our sins our God has already forgiven them.  We are proclaiming to the world that despite of our sinfulness God has loved us and therefore we have nothing to be afraid of.
 
There is a fourth option that I will not go into much detail on because I believe that it is seldom used and most of the wisdom behind it is the same wisdom behind the penitential rite in general.

 
One final example is I heard someone say this is the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas (high Christology at its best, he composed some of our great hymns like Tantum Ergo) and the Church of St. Francis of Assisi (a man who truly embrace Jesus and all of creation as his family).  The Church celebrates both of them and holds them both up as role models for us.

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Current Translation

New Translation

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.    Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.    Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world have mercy on usl you are seated at the right hand of the Father receive our prayer.    For you alone are the Holy one; you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will.   We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King O’ God, almighty Father.   Lord Jesus Christ, Only begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of god, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world receive our prayer you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.    For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Starting Sunday November 27, 2011 (the first Sunday of Advent) there will be some changes to the way in which we celebrate the Mass.  Some of the common phrases are going to change for example when the priest says “Lord be with you” everyone will respond “and with your Spirit” instead of “also with you.”  I wish to spend the month of March reflecting on the Mass and some of the changes that will be taking place. 
 
After the penitential rite we move into the Gloria (except Sundays during Advent and Lent and weekdays).  The Gloria is a hymn that comes from the song the angels sang at the birth of Christ to the shepherds.  The previous translation will be in red and the new translation in blue.  The bold parts are the parts that changed.

The biggest change to the Gloria is the addition of the large litany of the names of God that were left out of the last translation: “Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father…”  At first this might seem overkill but maybe that is the point.  We are called to remind ourselves of God’s magnificence and majesty.  We are not worshipping a wimpy God who cannot help us with the struggles of life that we face and bring with us to the liturgy.  We are worshipping the one true God who created the world out of nothing, who led the Israelites through the Red Sea, who raised a poor shepherd boy to become the great King David.  This is no weak God that we are worshipping but in the words of Rich Mullins (a contemporary Christian singer) our God is “An Awesome God!” 
 
If we were going to meet Albert Pujols for the first time with someone who did not know baseball, we would not tell them that Albert is simply a ball player but rather that He is one of the best baseball players that ever lived.  In a similar way when we sing God’s praises in the Gloria we are saying our God is not a god like money, drugs, sex, etc but rather our God is THE GOD.
 
There will also be some changes to the opening prayers and closing prayers of the Mass.  The prayers that begin with the priests saying “Let us pray…” will be different but there purpose remain to same to collect all our prayers and to allow us to offer them all to God as one body and that is why these prayers are also called “Collects”.

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Current Translation

New Translation

We believein one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of allthat is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day he rose again infulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

I believein one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of allthings visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the OnlyBegotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day inaccordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Starting Sunday November 27, 2011 (the first Sunday of Advent) there will be some changes to the way in which we celebrate the Mass.  Some of the common phrases are going to change for example when the priest says “Lord be with you” everyone will respond “and with your Spirit” instead of “also with you.”  I wish to spend the month of March reflecting on the Mass and some of the changes that will be taking place. 
 
The next big change in the people’s part is the Nicene Creed.  The recitation of the Creed was one of those things that I have only recently begun to appreciate.  Growing up I only knew that the Creed made the Mass longer and therefore I did not like it very much.  Now I understand that not liking the Creed would be similar to not liking the National Anthem being sung before ball game because it delays the start of the ball game.  As the National Anthem helps gives us an identity as citizens of the United States so does the Creed for us Catholics.  It allows us to stand up next to each other and proclaim in unity what we believe and what we hold most dear. 
 
The old translation is in red and the new is in blue with the highlighted parts being what has changed.

The first major change to the Creed is that instead of starting off “We believe” we will begin with the words “I believe.”  It is a reminder that it is our choice to be a part of this community of believers and that the community is made up of individual believers whose faith needs to be nurtured and care for. 
 
The phrase “of all things visible and invisible” reminds us that our God is the creator of the entire universe and that He created everything in the material world and in the spiritual world.  There is nothing that is outside of God’s plan and nothing exists without God allowing it to exist.  God is not in competition with anyone or anything. 
 
“Only Begotten,” and “Born of the Father before all ages,” helps to express more clearly our Catholic’s belief that our God is a Trinitarian God - One God in three persons who has always existed.  God existed even before there was time and He will exist even after time has ceased.
 
“Consubstantial” is a big philosophical term meaning that two things are of a like substance or made of the same thing.  For example a wooden hanger is consubstantial with a wooden baseball bat especially if they were made from the same tree.  Jesus is of the same substance of God (Godliness). 
 
The word “Incarnate” instead of the word “born” reflects a greater emphasis on the fact that the Word of God became flesh.  Jesus is not just another baby.  He is the Word through whom the universe itself was made.
 
“Suffering Death” and “In accordance with the Scriptures” reminds us that this was all a part of God’s plan of Salvation and these things took place in history and not in some prehistoric land or in the distant future but rather in a very specific way God has acted in the world. 
 
While there are some other small differences in the rest of the Creed I think they simply focus on the “I” being a part of the believing community. 
 
I hope that this month’s reflections have been helpful in preparing your for the liturgical changes coming our way at the beginning of Advent this year.  I will make sure that I dedicate another month to understanding the changes that will be taking place in regards to the Liturgy of the Eucharist before the changes take place. 

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On the first Sunday of Advent this year we will be changing how we celebrate Mass with a new translation of the original Latin text of the liturgy. Earlier this year, I focused on the changes in the Liturgy of the Word and now I am ready to focus on the changes in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  As I sit down to write this month’s Spiritual Ponderings about the changes, I have come to the conclusion that it would be more beneficial to just give you a chart of the particular changes and instead reflect this first week on the changes of the people’s parts and the following weeks on each of the four main Eucharistic Prayers.
 

The New Translations of the People's Part in the Liturgy of the Eucharist

Part	Old Translation	New Translation
Suscipiat Dominus	May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good, and the good of all his Church.	May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.
Preface Dialogue	Priest: The Lord be with you. People:And also with you. Priest: Lift up your hearts. People: We lift them up to the Lord. Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. People:It is right to give him thanks and praise.	Priest: The Lord be with you. People: And with your spirit. Priest: Lift up your hearts. People: We lift them up to the Lord. Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. People: It is right and just.
Sanctus	Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.	Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Mystery of Faith (formerly the Memorial Acclamation)	Priest: Let us proclaim the mystery of faith: People:A – Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. or B –Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory. or C – When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory. or D – Lord, by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. You are the Savior of the World.	Priest: The mystery of faith. People: A – We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again or B – When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your death,  O Lord,  until you come again. or C – Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free.
Sign of Peace	Priest: The peace of the Lord be with you always. People: And also with you.	Priest: The peace of the Lord be with you always. People: And with your spirit.
Ecce Agnus Dei	Priest: This is the Lamb of God who takes away  the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper. All: Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.	Priest: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called tothe supper of the Lamb. All: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word andmy soul shall be healed.
Concluding Rites	Priest: The Lord be with you. People: And also with you.	Priest: The Lord be with you. People: And with your spirit.

Each Eucharistic Liturgy begins with a plea on behalf of the priest to everyone present inviting and encouraging them to join in offering the sacrifice that is about to take place: “Please pray with me my brothers and sisters…”  What is it that we are offering?  At first we may say that are offering the bread and wine that the people just brought up at the end of the offertory but the truth of the matter is that the bread and wine symbolize so much more.  The bread and wine are supposed to symbolize our hopes, our dreams, and our very lives.  When we place our offering into the collection basket (in modern times it is often in the form of money but in the days of the early and medieval Church people often brought livestock and crops with them to Church and they would be collected at this time) we are offering ourselves to God and we do this because all that we have is God’s to begin with.  It also demonstrates in a real way our gratitude and our reliance on God and not material things.
 
“It is right and just,” reminds us and proclaims to those around us that it is proper to thank God for all that we have and that God created us so that we may come to know love and serve Him.  This does not mean though that our God created us to be His slaves but rather God created us to come to know His goodness, experience His love and from that develop a sense of love and gratitude ourselves which compels us to want to serve God much in the same way a good spouse loves and serves his or her spouse.
 
In the Sanctus (the Latin word for the “Holy, Holy, Holy”) we are changing the words “God of power and might” to the new translation of “God of hosts” but we are not talking about altar breads here.  We are rather invoking the Old Testament title of God as the “Lord God of Hosts”.  This Old Testament image presents God as a great warrior and military leader and while at first the image of God as a warrior or military leader might seem disturbing to us, I do think that it is good for us from time to tome to hold up this bold image of God to remind us that He is the powerful warrior aiding us in our battle against sin and evil.  In fact He has already defeated evil through the Cross and Resurrection.
 
The next part of the Eucharistic prayer that the people have a speaking part in is the Mystery of Faith.  When it is time to do proclaim the Mystery of Faith we will have three options to profess our faith that: God entered time through Jesus Christ, that He did so in order to show us His great love by dying for us, and that He will come again to judge the living and the dead.  Each of these things should be motivation for us to do His will but all three of them should be more than enough to remove any spiritual sloth from our lives if we truly ponder what we are proclaiming at this part of the Mass.
 
At the beginning of the Lamb of God with the words “Behold the Lamb of God” and the end with “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof” we find ourselves in line with other parts of the liturgy where we are quoting Sacred Scripture itself.  It is a reminder to us that we are not just making this stuff up but that the liturgy comes from both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
 
And the last change in the people’s part in the Eucharistic Prayer comes at the end of the Lamb of God.  We will go from saying “Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed” to saying “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”  Where did all of this talk of a “roof” come from?  It actually comes from a story in Mathew Gospel:
 
When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." He said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. (Mathew 8:5-10)
 
Scott Hahn, a former Protestant and anti-Catholic, minister who eventually became Catholic said that one of the first things that attracted him to the Mass was that so many of the Mass parts were actually quotes from Sacred Scripture.  He went onto say it was if the Mass brought the Scriptures alive for him in a new way, and I think that is part of the reason why we are moving to this new translation of the Latin text which is more closely aligned with the Gospel passage that inspired it. 
 
Being reminded of the passage in a new way with this new translation will allow us to call the mind the humble way that the Centurion asked for Jesus’ help and Jesus’ loving concern for all even the servant of this Roman (who were the occupying enemies of the Jews) soldier.  In a real way Jesus put into practice His teaching of “love your enemies” for while the Roman soldier was not Jesus’ personal enemy, he was Jesus’ cultural enemy because of Jesus being a Jew and the Centurion being a Roman.  We too when we receive the Eucharist are called to imitate Jesus and love our enemies also.

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The first Eucharistic Prayer also known as the Roman Cannon and probably by more people in the pew as “the long one” is really in my opinion the most magnificent of the four commonly used Eucharistic Prayers.  Even before this translation, Eucharistic Prayer I carried with it a greater sense of awe and wonder in my opinion of the miracle that is taking place before our eyes when we celebrate the Mass.
 

Eucharistic Prayer I

Part	Old Translation	New Translation
Te igitur	We come to you, Father, with praise thanksgiving, through Jesus Christ your Son. Through him we ask you to accept and bless these gifts we offer you in sacrifice. We offer them for your holy catholic Church, watch over it, Lord, and guide it; grant it peace and unity throughout the world. We offer them for N. our Pope,for N. our bishop, and for all who hold and teach the catholic faith that comes from the apostles.	To you, therefore, most merciful Father, we make humble prayer and petition through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord: that you accept and bless these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices, which we offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church.  Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world, together with your servant N. our Pope and N. our Bishop, and all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith.
Commemoration of the Living	Remember, Lord, your people, especially those for whom we now pray, N. and N.  Remember all of us gathered here before you.  You know how firmly we believe in you and dedicate ourselves to you.  We offer you this sacrifice of praise for ourselves and those who are dearto us.  We pray to you, our living and true God, for our well being and redemption.	Remember, Lord, your servants. and N. and all gathered here, whose faith and devotion are known to you.  For them, we offer you this sacrifice of praise or they offer it for themselves and all who are dear to them, for the redemption of their souls, in hope of health and well-being, and paying their homage to you, the eternal God, living and true.
Communicantes	In union with the whole Church, we honor Mary, the ever-virgin mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God.  We honor Joseph, herhusband, the apostles and martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew, [James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; we honor Linus, Cletus, Clement and Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian] and all the saints.  May their merits and prayers grant us your constant help and protection.  [Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.]	In communion with those whose memory we venerate, especially the glorious ever-Virgin  Mary,Mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ, and blessed Joseph, her Spouse, your blessed Apostles and Martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude: Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian) and allyour Saints: we ask that through their merits and prayers, in all things we may be defended by your protecting help.  (Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.)
Hanc igitur	Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us fromfinal damnation, and count us among those you have chosen. [Through Christ our Lord. Amen.]	Therefore, Lord, we pray: graciously accept this oblation of our service, that of your whole family; order our days in your peace, and command that we be delivered from eternal damnationand counted among the flock of those you have chosen.  (Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.)
Quam oblationem tu	Bless and approve our offering:make it acceptable to you, an offering in spirit and in truth. Let it become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, your only Son our Lord.  [Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.]	Be pleased, O God, we pray, tobless, acknowledge, and approve this offering in every respect; make it spiritual and acceptable,so that it may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Institution Narrative	The day before he suffered he took bread in his sacred hands andlooking up to heaven, to you, his almighty Father, he gave you thanks and praise.  He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you. When supper was ended, he tookthe cup.  Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.  It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.	On the day before he was to suffer he took bread in his holy and venerable hands, and with eyes raised to heaven to you, O God, his almighty Father, giving you thanks he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat of it:for this is my Body which will be given up for you. In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took this precious chalice in his holy and venerable hands, and once more giving you thanks, he said the blessing and gave the chalice to his disciples,saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new andeternal covenant, which will bepoured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.
Mysterium fidei	Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:	The mystery of faith.
Anamnesis	Father, we celebrate the memory of Christ, your Son.  We, your people and your ministers, recall his passion, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension intoglory; and from the many gifts you have given us we offer to you, God of glory and majesty, this holy and perfect sacrifice: the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation. Look with favor on these offerings and accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchizedech.	Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed Passion, the Resurrection from the dead, and the glorious Ascension into heaven of Christ, your Son, our Lord, we, your servants and your holy people, offer to your glorious majesty, from the gifts that you have given us, this pure victim, this holy victim, this spotless victim, theholy Bread of eternal life and theChalice of everlasting salvation. Be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as you were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.
Epiclesis	Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. Then, as we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.  [Through Christ our Lord. Amen.]	In humble prayer we ask you,almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son maybe filled with every grace andheavenly blessing.  (Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.)
Intercessions	Remember, Lord, those who have died and have gone before usmarked with the sign of faith,especially those for whom we now pray, N. and N.  May these, and all who sleep in Christ, find in your presence light, happiness, and peace.  [Though Christ our Lord. Amen.] For ourselves, too, we ask some share in the fellowship of your apostles and martyrs, with John the Baptist, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, [Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia] and all the saints.  Though we are sinners, we trust in your mercy and love.  Do not consider what we truly deserve, but grant us your forgiveness.  Through Christ our Lord.  Through him you give us all thesegifts. You fill them with life and goodness, you bless them andmake them holy.	Remember also, Lord, your servants N. and N., who have gone before us with the sign of faithand rest in the sleep of peace. Grant them, O Lord, we pray, and all who sleep in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace.  (Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.) To us, also, your servants, who, though sinners, hope in your abundant mercies, graciously grant some share and fellowshipwith your holy Apostles and Martyrs: with John the Baptist, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, (Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia) and all your Saints: admit us, we beseech you, into their company, not weighing our merits, but granting us your pardon, through Christ our Lord. Through whom you continue to make all these good things, O Lord; you sanctify them, fill them with life, bless them, andbestow them upon us.
Doxology	Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever.	Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, for ever and ever.

The first Eucharistic prayer begins right away with in the new translation with a renewed sense of what we are doing.  We are coming before the Lord to “make humble prayer and petition.”  What are we asking God therefore to do for us?  We are asking Him to bless the gifts that we are bringing to the altar.    Think back to last week’s Spiritual Ponderings about the offertory and how we are not only offering bread and wine but also our hopes, dreams, and our very lives to God at Mass.  We are asking God to bless these gifts.  The prayer goes on to state why we are offering these gifts to God.  We offer them for the Catholic Church (our spiritual mother, our guide, our moral compass, the family of God, the Body of Christ) and in a special way for our pope and our local ordinary (bishop in charge of our diocese) and for all “holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith.”  In other words we pray for those who teach us about Christ, who taught us about God’s love and who invites us to God’s table in the first place.
 
We also remind ourselves that we offer these prayers for ourselves because we want to be good and faithful servants of God who commanded us to “do this in remembrance of me”.  Only in Eucharistic Prayer I can the priest actually mention the name of a living person who is not a pope or bishop but most of the time we simply pause and allow each of us to add our own intention in silence.  We express that we are all not perfect but we will leave the judging of others up to you “whose faith and devotion are known to you.  When we pray “for the redemption of their souls, in hope of health and well-being, and paying their homage to you, the eternal God, living and true,” we are praying for the gift of salvation in the way Jesus would have understood it.  For a first century Jewish person “salvation” had less to do with getting into heaven and more to do with experiencing the blessings that comes from being in right relationship with God and others.
 
The next part of the Eucharistic Prayer labeled “Communicantes” above reminds us that the Mass in not just our sacrifice but rather the sacrifice of the whole Church and through the Mass we are connected in a special way with the saints in heaven.  The first list of saints mentioned are Mary, the mother of God, and Joseph “her spouse,” reminding us of the Holy Family.  They are followed then by the list of Apostles and some other saints.  I am not sure why these saints are listed and others are not but the idea is the same – heaven unites with earth.  There are also special forms of the beginning “In communion with those who we venerate…” for particular feast days like Christmas, Epiphany, Holy Thursday, and Easter. 
 
After telling the Father, why we are offering the offering and that we are doing so with all the angel and saints in heaven we ask God to “graciously accept this oblation”.  We then trust Jesus’ saying that we should ask the Father for anything in His name and it would be granted for us.  We therefore ask God to save us from every evil.
 
The next part of the Eucharistic prayer labeled “Quam oblationem tu” also has the priest speaking to God on our behalf asking God very politely to accept our offering. It makes me think of Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses pleading to God for the Israelites, and the high priest entering into the temple to offer sacrifice.  I think that it is important to speak to God in this way because we are reminded just how awesome God is and when we are reminded that this awesome God loves us we should be on cloud 9. 
 
We also have the word “oblation” in the new translation instead of the old word “offering.”  I personally like the word “oblation” better because it is a reminder that we are to offer everything we have to God and not just part of ourselves.  We are to offer him the good parts of our lives and the bad parts, the times of sorrow and the times of joy trusting that he will change them into something great.  We should never hold anything back.  I think the word “oblation” better expresses this idea.
 
I also like the words “the flock you have chosen” as a visual person but also because of its connection to Scripture and God being the Good Shepherd. 
 
Following all of this so far we move to the Institution Narrative.  This is the part when we recall what Jesus has done for us.  Through the Institution Narrative in the new translations we focus on a higher vocabulary for example in the Old Translation we use the word “cup” and in the new translation the word “chalice.”  Once again we are reminded God’s power and the special things that we are a part of.  What we are doing is not some ordinary thing.  It is extraordinary.
 
 We will focus on the other parts of the Eucharistic prayer as we look at Eucharistic Prayer II, III, and IV.

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As we continue to explore the new translation of the Eucharistic Prayers and the parts of the Eucharistic Prayers we come now to the shortest of the Eucharistic Prayers Eucharistic Prayer II.  When I think of Eucharistic Prayer II, I think of the Gospel of St. Mark in that it is the shortest of the Gospels but just because it is the smallest does not mean that anything is lacking.
 

Eucharistic Prayer II

Parts	Old Translation	New Translation
Preface	Father, it is our duty and our salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  He is the Word through whom you madethe universe, the Savior you sent to redeem us.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, he took flesh and was born of the VirginMary.  For our sake he opened his arms on the cross; he put an end to death and revealed the resurrection.  In this he fulfilled your will and won for you a holy people.  And so we join the angels and the saints in proclaiming your glory as we say:	It is truly right and just, our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy, through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, your Word through whom you made all things, whom you sent as our Savior and Redeemer, incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin.  Fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people, he stretched out his hands as he endured his Passion, so as to break the bonds of death andmanifest the resurrection.  And so, with the Angels and all the Saintswe declare your glory, as with one voice we acclaim:
Thanksgiving	Lord, you are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness.	You areindeed Holy, O Lord, thefount of all holiness.
Epiclesis	Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.	Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Institution Narrative	Before he was given up to death, a death he freely accepted, he took bread and gave you thanks. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you. When supper was ended, he took the cup. Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.  It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.	At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his Passion, he took bread and, giving thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat of it:for this is my Body which will be given up for you. In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice and, once more giving thanks, he gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new andeternal covenant, which will bepoured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.
Anamnesis	In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread, this saving cup. We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you.	Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection, we offer you, Lord, the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation, giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you.
Epiclesis	May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit.	Humbly we pray that, partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, we may be gathered into one by the Holy Spirit.
Intercessions	Lord, remember your Church throughout the world; make us grow in love, together with N. our Pope, N. our bishop, and all the clergy. In Masses for the dead: Remember N., whom you have called from this life.  In baptism he (she) died with Christ: may he (she) share his resurrection. Remember our brothers and sisters who have gone to their rest in the hope of rising again; bring them and all the departed into the light of your presence.  Have mercy on us all; make us worthy to share eternal life with Mary, the virgin Mother of God, with the apostles, and with all the saints who havedone your will throughout the ages.  May we praise you in union with them, and give you glory through your Son, Jesus Christ.	Remember, Lord, your Church,spread throughout the world, andbring her to the fullness of charity, together with N. our Popeand N. our Bishop and all the clergy. In Masses for the Dead: Remember your servant N., whom you have called (today) from this world to yourself.  Grant that he (she) who was united with your Son in a death like his, may also be one with him in his Resurrection. Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and all who have died in your mercy: welcome them into the light of yourface.  Have mercy on us all, we pray, that with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with the blessed Apostles, and all the Saints who have pleased you throughout the ages, we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life, and may praise and glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ.

 
As we begin to focus on the second Eucharistic Prayer, I want to focus first on the Anamnesis.  This part of the Eucharistic prayer refers to a special way of remembering something.  It is more than calling to mind something that happened a long time ago.  It is more about using a whole body and senses to travel back in time to be present at the actually moment through symbols, signs, gestures and of course the grace and power of God.  The Jewish people believe that they do this when they celebrate the Passover.  They are not simply recalling the Exodus event, they are there.  We believe the same with the Eucharist.  We are in the upper room at the Last Supper and Good Friday at the Crucifixion, and at the empty tomb on Easter Sunday.
 
The next part of the Eucharistic Prayer II, I wish to focus on is called the Epiclesis.  At the Epiclesis the priest prays that God the Father will send His Spirit upon the gifts on the altar.  God has the power to do anything with His Spirit as we know from Genesis as God spoke and breathed His Spirit over the world.  I personally like the fact that we remind ourselves of our need to “humbly” pray.  It reminds me of the many time that people came to Jesus and demanded a sign and He refused and so we come to God not demanding a sign but asking politely for Him to be faithful to His promise.
 
 I would lastly like to reflect upon the following words: “At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his Passion.”  Imagine if you will that you are tied to a chair and sitting on the tracks of a railroad train and the railroad train is heading right toward you.  Then all of a sudden someone knocks you out of the way of the train and is himself killed.  I think that it would be safe to say that you would feel a sense of gratitude to that person.  We should remind ourselves that this is something similar to what Jesus has done for us.  He took the punishment for us and He did this willingly.  Why would He do such a thing?  Love!

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We are now approaching Eucharistic Prayer III and while very similar to Eucharistic Prayer II there are some very unique and insightful parts that are worth some time to reflect on.
 

Eucharistic Prayer III

Part of the Prayer	Old Translation	New Translation
Thanksgiving	Father, you are holy indeed, and all creation rightly gives you praise.  All life, all holiness comes from you through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, by the working of the Holy Spirit.  From age to age you gather a people to yourself, so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name.	You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.
Epiclesis	And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. We ask you to make them holy by the power of your Spirit, that they may become the body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this Eucharist.	Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ at whose command we celebratethese mysteries.
Institution Narrative	On the night he was betrayed, he took bread and gave you thanksand praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you. When supper was ended, he took the cup.  Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.  It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.	For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread, and giving you thanks he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat of it:for this is my Body which will be given up for you. In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and giving you thanks he said the blessing, and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new andeternal covenant; which will bepoured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.
Anamnesis	Father, calling to mind the death your Son endured for our salvation, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, andready to greet him when he comes again, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.	Therefore, O Lord, we celebrate the memorial of the saving Passion of your Son, hiswondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.
Epiclesis	Look with favor on your Church's offering, and see the Victim whose death has reconciled us to yourself.  Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ.	Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church, and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Bloodof your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.
Intercessions	May he make us an everlasting gift to you and enable us to share in the inheritance of your saints, with Mary, the virgin Mother of God, with the apostles, the martyrs, (Saint N. – the saint of the day or the patron saint) and all your saints, on whose constant intercession we rely for help. Lord, may this sacrifice, which has made our peace with you, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Strengthen in faith and love your pilgrim Church on earth; your servant, Pope N., our Bishop N., and all the bishops,with the clergy and the entire people your Son has gained for you.  Father, hear the prayers ofthe family you have gathered here before you.  In mercy and love unite all your children wherever they may be. Welcome into your kingdom our departed brothers and sisters, and all who have left this world in your friendship.  We hope to enjoy for ever the vision of your glory, through Christ our Lord,from whom all good things come.	May he make of us an eternal offering to you, so that we may obtain an inheritance with yourelect, especially with the most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with your blessed Apostlesand glorious Martyrs (with Saint N.: the Saint of the day or Patron Saint) and with all the Saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help. May this Sacrifice of our reconciliation, we pray, O Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world.  Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant N. our Pope and N. our Bishop, the Order of Bishops, all the clergy, and the entire peopleyou have gained for your own. Listen graciously to the prayers of this family, whom you havesummoned before you: in your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your childrenscattered throughout the world. To our departed brothers and sisters and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom.  There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord through whomyou bestow on the world all that is good.

The first thing that stands out to me about Eucharistic Prayer III is the Trinitarian way it begins.  We are addressing God the Father, and talking to Him about His action in our lives through our Lord Jesus Christ and the “power of the Holy Spirit”.  I also like the phrase “so from the rising of the sun to its setting” because it speaks to me of both time and distance in a very poetic way.  “As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us,” Psalm 103 verse 12 tells us.  Think of it in the terms how far the place where the sun rises looks so far away from where the sun sets.  We can also think of it as a measure of time that shows us that we are united with the great saints of the past and future generations to come.  In other words we are united with all Catholic who have, are, and will be celebrating the Mass throughout time.

Once again we implore God to “make holy these gifts.”  We are asking God to set them apart and designate them for a particular use.  A chalice and a coffee mug are both cups but a chalice is holier than a coffee mug because it has be set aside for a particular use.  We are now asking God to set aside the bread and wine for us and to use them for this special purpose and He will do this by making them into the Body and Blood of Jesus. 

Maybe one of the biggest debates around the new translation of the text comes in the institution narrative.  The old translation read like this: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.  It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.” And the new translation changes the word “all” into the word “many” as we see: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new andeternal covenant; which will bepoured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.” 
 
Did Christ not die for everyone sins?  Yes He did but I think changing “all” to “many” symbolizes the honest truth that we must accept His love and allow His death to have an effect on our lives.  Jesus Himself tells us that many will not be let into the heavenly wedding feast.  We must therefore remind ourselves to be ready at all times because we do not know when the Son of God will return to judge us.
 
The third Eucharistic Prayer allows the priest to insert the name of a saint into the prayer and to speak it out loud.  Normally the priest will add the name of one of the dioceses or parish patrons and sometimes the saint of the day.  This is where the term canonization comes from.  When you are canonized, your name is not fit to be read in the Eucharistic Canon (prayer).

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We are now upon the both the last Sunday of May and the last of the standard Eucharistic Prayers.  Eucharistic Prayer IV is in some ways the most unique of all the Eucharistic Prayer and relies heavily on setting up the story of Salvation History at the beginning.

Part of the Prayer	Old Translation	New Translation
Preface	Father in heaven,it is right that we should give you thanks and glory: you are the one God, living and true. Through all eternity you live in unapproachable light.  Source of life and goodness, you have created all things, to fill your creatures with every blessing and lead all men to the joyful vision of your light. Countless hosts of angels stand before you to do your will; they look upon your splendor and praise you, night and day.  United with them, and in the name of every creature under heaven, we too praise your glory as we say:	It istruly rightto give you thanks,truly just to give you glory, Father, most holy, for you are the one God living and true, existing before all ages and abiding for all eternity, dwelling in unapproachable light; yet you, who alone are good, the source of life, have made allthat is, so that you might fill your creatures with blessings andbring joy to many of them by the glory of your light.  And so, in your presence are countless hosts of Angels,who serve you day and night and, gazing uponthe glory of yourface, glorify you without ceasing. With themwe, too, confess your name in exultation, giving voice to every creature under heaven as weacclaim:
Thanksgiving	Father, we acknowledge your greatness: all your actions show your wisdom and love. You formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures.  Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death, but helped all men to seek and find you.  Again and again you offered a covenant to man, and through the prophets taught him to hope for salvation. Father,you so loved the world that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.  He was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, a man like us in all things but sin.  To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to those in sorrow, joy.  In fulfillment of your will he gave himself up to death; but by rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life. And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace.	We give you praise, Father most holy, for you are great, and you have fashioned all yourworks in wisdom and in love. You formed man in your ownimage and entrusted the whole world tohis care, so that in serving you alone, the Creator, he might have dominion over all creatures. And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the domain of death.  For you came in mercy to the aid of all, so that those who seekmight find you.  Time and again you offeredthem covenants and through the prophets taught them tolook forward to salvation. And you so loved the world, Father most holy, that in the fullness of time you sent your Only Begotten Sonto be our Savior.  Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he shared our human nature in all things but sin.  To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and tothe sorrowful of heart, joy.  To accomplish your plan, he gave himself up to death, and, rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life.  And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose again for us, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe, so that, bringing to perfection his workin the world, he might sanctify creation to the full.
Epiclesis	Father,may this Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings.  Let them become the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord as we celebrate the great mystery which he left us as an everlasting covenant.	Therefore, O Lord, we pray: may this same Holy Spirit graciously sanctifytheseofferingsthat they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the celebration of this great mystery, which hehimself left us as aneternal covenant.
Institution Narrative	He always loved those who were his own in the world. When the time came for him to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, he showed the depth of his love. While they were at supper, he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you. In the same way, he took the cup, filled with wine.  He gave you thanks, and giving the cup to his disciples, said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.  It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.	For when thehour had come for him to be glorified by you, Father most holy, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end: and while they were at supper, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take this, all of you, and eat of it: for this is my Body which will be given up for you. Ina similar way, taking the chalice filled with the fruit of the vine, he gave thanks, and gave thechalice to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant; which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.
Anamnesis	Father, we nowcelebrate this memorial of our redemption.  We recall Christ’s death, his descent among the dead, his resurrection, and his ascension to your right hand; and, looking forward to his coming in glory, we offer you his body and blood, the acceptable sacrifice which brings salvation to the whole world.	Therefore, O Lord, as we now celebratethe memorial of our redemption, weremember Christ’s death and his descentto the realm of the dead; we proclaim his Resurrection and his Ascension to your right hand; and as we await his coming in glory, we offer you his Body and Blood, the sacrifice acceptable to you which brings salvation to the whole world.
Epiclesis	Lord, look upon this sacrifice which you have given to your Church; and by your Holy Spirit, gather all whoshare this one bread and one cup into the one body of Christ, a living sacrifice of praise.	Look, O Lord, upon the Sacrifice whichyouyourself haveprovided for your Church, and grant in your loving kindness to all whopartake of this one Bread and one Chalice that, gathered into one bodyby the Holy Spirit, they may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ to the praiseof your glory.
Intercessions	Lord, remember those for whom we offer this sacrifice, especially N. our Pope, N., our bishop, and bishops and clergy everywhere. Remember those who take part in this offering, those here present and all your people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart.   Remember those who have died in the peace of Christ and all the dead whose faith is known to you alone.  Father, in your mercy grant also to us, your children, to enterinto our heavenly inheritance in the company of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and your apostles and saints.  Then, in your kingdom, freed from the corruption of sin and death, we shall sing your glory with every creature through Christ our Lord, through whom you give us everything that is good.	Therefore, Lord, remembernow all for whom wemake thissacrifice: especially your servant, N. our Pope, N. our Bishop, andthe whole Order of Bishops, all the clergy, those who take part in this offering, thosegathered here before you, yourentire people, andall who seek you with a sincere heart. Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ and all the dead, whose faith you alone have known.  To all of us, your children,grant, O merciful Father, that we may enter intoa heavenly inheritancewith the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and with your Apostles and Saints in your kingdom.  There, with the whole of creation, freed from the corruption of sin and death,may weglorify you through Christ our Lord,through whomyoubestow on the world all that is good.

Eucharistic Prayer IV Part of the Prayer Old Translation New Translation Preface Father in heaven,it is right that we should give you thanks and glory: you are the one God, living and true. Through all eternity you live in unapproachable light.  Source of life and goodness, you have created all things, to fill your creatures with every blessing and lead all men to the joyful vision of your light. Countless hosts of angels stand before you to do your will; they look upon your splendor and praise you, night and day.  United with them, and in the name of every creature under heaven, we too praise your glory as we say: It istruly rightto give you thanks,truly just to give you glory, Father, most holy, for you are the one God living and true, existing before all ages and abiding for all eternity, dwelling in unapproachable light; yet you, who alone are good, the source of life, have made allthat is, so that you might fill your creatures with blessings andbring joy to many of them by the glory of your light.  And so, in your presence are countless hosts of Angels,who serve you day and night and, gazing uponthe glory of yourface, glorify you without ceasing. With themwe, too, confess your name in exultation, giving voice to every creature under heaven as weacclaim: Thanksgiving Father, we acknowledge your greatness: all your actions show your wisdom and love. You formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures.  Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death, but helped all men to seek and find you.  Again and again you offered a covenant to man, and through the prophets taught him to hope for salvation.

Father,you so loved the world that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.  He was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, a man like us in all things but sin.  To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to those in sorrow, joy.  In fulfillment of your will he gave himself up to death; but by rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life. And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace. We give you praise, Father most holy, for you are great, and you have fashioned all yourworks in wisdom and in love. You formed man in your ownimage and entrusted the whole world tohis care, so that in serving you alone, the Creator, he might have dominion over all creatures. And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the domain of death.  For you came in mercy to the aid of all, so that those who seekmight find you.  Time and again you offeredthem covenants and through the prophets taught them tolook forward to salvation.

And you so loved the world, Father most holy, that in the fullness of time you sent your Only Begotten Sonto be our Savior.  Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he shared our human nature in all things but sin.  To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and tothe sorrowful of heart, joy.  To accomplish your plan, he gave himself up to death, and, rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life.  And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose again for us, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe, so that, bringing to perfection his workin the world, he might sanctify creation to the full.”
 
 
I am also very fond of the petition in this Eucharistic Prayer because of the petitions section: “Therefore, Lord, remembernow all for whom wemake thissacrifice: especially your servant, N. our Pope, N. our Bishop, andthe whole Order of Bishops, all the clergy, those who take part in this offering, thosegathered here before you, yourentire people, andall who seek you with a sincere heart.”  I just love the line “and all who seek you with a sincere heart

Over the past few weeks, I have been approached by a variety of different people who needed help understanding the Church’s teaching on end of life issues.  It forced me to admit to myself that while I knew the basics of the Church’s teaching in this area that I was not on top of the issue the way that I would like to be and so I made sure to check my opinion with those who were experts in the field and I began to seek out more information on the subject.  I thought therefore that end of life issues would be a good topic for this month’s Spiritual Ponderings.
 
As we begin, I think that it is important to go over some basic moral theology principles that guide all of the Catholic Church’s teaching.
 
1.            Every single human being is made in the image and likeness of God.  We hear in the first chapter of Genesis: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27).    We believe that each human being carries this image of God inside him or her and because of that each person has infinite value.  
 
2.            Our value is not determined by or dependent upon where we are, how much we produce, or how “normal” we may be.  We may be an embryo (an egg fertilized by a sperm –because life begins with conception) in a Petri dish or in the womb, we may be a two year-old in his or her mother’s arm or in an orphanage, we may be a sixteen year-old star athlete and scholar or a sixteen year-old confined to a wheelchair or suffering from some mental illness, we may be an adult who is the most caring and generous person in the world, or we may be an adult who is the meanest and most selfish person you would ever met, we may even be someone in their nineties fully living on our own or we could be confined to a hospital bed in a nursing home; we are all loved infinitely by God and our priceless because we carry His divine image within us. 
 
3.            Maybe most importantly, we Catholics believe that we are all tainted by original sin and therefore our first inclinations are not always the right ones.  Our first tendency and instincts in life because of original sin is not to be unconditionally loving and caring as God wants us to be but rather to be self-centered and selfish.  Personally when my grandmother was getting on in her age, there was a part of me that did not want to visit her because visiting her reminded me of my own mortality and part of the challenged I faced was to overcome my sinful-self who wanted to remain comfortable by ignoring her and to challenge myself to love like God loves.  I am grateful to God for giving me the courage and the grace to overcome my sinfulness and to spend time with her toward the end because from that experience came some of the memories I treasure most about my grandmother.
 
4.            God makes all things possible.  One of the cruelest things I could do would be to hold up to you these high moral principles if there were no way for us to reach them.  It would be something similar to an adult holding a piece of candy just out the reach of a little kid laughing at him or her as he or she strived to get the candy.  The good news is though that we can live up to these moral principles and while it may not be easy it is possible because all things are possible with God.  As we Christians grow in our faith and prayer life we begin to grow more and more unselfish and we begin to love more and more unconditionally.  I think one of the reasons that we do grow more unselfish in life is because we begin to recognize that our human dignity does not rest upon what we have or do but rather it rests of the fact that we are all priceless children of God.
 
5.            While I could go on and on by talking about the Beatitudes, Jesus’ command to love one’s enemies, the Law of Love and the 10 Commandments etc as foundational pieces of Catholic morality (and they are), I think that they can all be summed up in the one simple principle from John Paul II: “Respect everyone and always treat each person as a person and never as means to end.”  The opposite of love for John Paul II was not hate but rather selfishly using someone with no regard for them.  See if love is wanting what is best for the other person even if it requires a sacrifice on your part then the opposite is using another person with no regard for what is best for them or for your own selfish reasons.
 
Now that the basics are out of the way, with next week’s Spiritual Ponderings, I will begin to talk about some particular issues. 

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Every human being, no matter what their health, outward appearance, or stage of development has been willed into existence by our loving God and for this reason all human life is sacred with no exceptions.  We also realize that to deprive someone of life is a grave wrong but we also must admit that we are mortal beings and that we will one day die.  Where is the line that separates the side of prolonging one’s life too long and preventing God’s natural plan to take place verses not doing all that we can or should do to keep our love one alive?
 
The first step in finding that line is to rule out all selfishness as much as possible and truly want what is best for the person in the situation even if they do not want it for themselves.   There are some phases that people use should be automatic warning signs telling us that we could be heading down the wrong path.  Any phrase containing the words “quality of life,” should automatically send up red flags.  When we begin to talk about “quality of life” we are normally beginning to place ourselves as judge on what “quality of life” is and not God.  For example I do not personally want to end up in a nursing home suffering from dementia when I get old and I would think that I am like most people in that way, however this  does not mean that me ending up in a nursing home suffering from dementia is not a part of God’s plan for me and maybe as a patient in a nursing home, I end up saying something to one of the nurses or volunteers that changes his or her life for the better.  God has worked in stranger ways.  I know personally there are times when I do not always want to do God’s will for example forgive someone who has hurt me just because I don’t want to does not mean that forgiving that person is not what is best for me.  Remember our faith tells us that there is no actually difference in the value of a person between people confined to a bed in a nursing home  and people running the fifty yard dash.  It is only our human sinfulness that makes that distinction. 
 
The second step is to try to figure out if the medical procedures that are your options are what the Church would call “ordinary means” or “extraordinary” means.    Something that is ordinary means is something that is routine, basic, non-complicated compared to other medical techniques.  For example if you cut your hand, ordinary means would dictate that you put a bandage on it.  Extraordinary means is the term for when something is out of the ordinary, burdensome, experimental, may not provide a huge benefit in regards to the amount of pain and trauma undergoing the procedure would require.  An example of extraordinary mean is to imagine that cut on your hand and instead of putting a bandage on it, you amputated the hand, put a bandage on it, and then reattached it.  While there might have been some medical value to going through all the extra steps there was definitely more trauma involved than needed to be. 
 
In the Church’s teaching in end of life issues ordinary means must always be tried and extraordinary means may be tried but are not required.  Please note though that one procedure might be ordinary in one situation may not be in another.  For example chemotherapy has become pretty much ordinary means in our country when dealing with a stage one cancer.  It would still be considered extraordinary means for someone suffering a stage four cancer because the trauma of receiving the chemotherapy would be considered pretty great and the benefit (a possible few more months of living) would seem relatively small.  I wish to caution people though because I do know of walking miracles.  People who doctors have said would live only 2 years and are now living 10 to 15 years past the doctor’s diagnosis.  Remember doctors are not infallible.  It is important to get a second or third opinion if necessary.  Just recently “Baby Joseph” an infant whose doctors in Canada said would never breathe on his own is now breathing on his own because of the doctors at Cardinal Glennon Children’s hospital.
 
I think the third step in dealing with end of life issues is to be as open and honest with someone as we can.  If I am the patient, then I must admit my fears to a love one – my fear of being dependent, being in coherent, possibly even my fear of death.  If I am the relative or friend, then I must let that person know that I am here for them and I want what is best for them.  It is important for everyone to remind everyone that they are loved by God and that this world is not the only world but rather that our true home is in heaven.  Above all of this, pray for guidance and talk to someone who is well informed on these issues.

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As we continue to look at the end of life issues, I wish to reflect real quick on two sections from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
 
                Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons.  It is morally unacceptable.
                Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator.  The error of judgment into which one can fail in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded. (2277).
 
                Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of “overzealous” treatment.  Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted.  The decision should be made by the patient, if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always, be respected. (2278)
 
                With these two paragraphs from the Catechism as our guide let us look at the issue of food and nutrition.  I will admit that seeing a feeding tube in someone is an unsettling site but just because something is unsettling does not mean it is not the right thing to do.  The question that should drive our decision about “feeding tubes” should simply be this: “If I remove the feeding tube from the person, will he or she die of starvation first or from the illness?”  If they would die from starvation first and not from the illness then I would venture to say that most of the time (I will leave room for some exceptions here because I cannot for see every possible scenario) then the patient should receive the food and hydration.  Biblically, I cannot see how one can get around the idea of having to help your neighbor in need, and logically if I say there is no difference between an old man in a nursing home and a newborn baby who cannot feed himself either then I must treat them the same and because I would be compelled to feed the newborn baby, I am also compelled to feed the patient in the hospital bed.
               
                On the other hand, if a person would die from the illness first and not from starvation then one could in most cases (once again leaving room for some exceptions) think of food and nutrition as extraordinary means and thus not necessary.  I personally have witnessed one case in which food and nutrition would have hastened death (because of the type of cancer absorbed the nutrients and grew quicker) and therefore it was refused. 
 
                John Paul II said the following about the issue of food and nutrition: “I should like particularly to underline who the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.  Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as any until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering.” 
 
                While seeing our love one suffering with a feeding tube may be hard for us to endure, it may be the moral choice.  I would like to end today’s reflection with a quote from Pope Benedict XVI.” “The true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer.  A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their sufferings and to bear it inwardly through ‘com-passion’ is a cruel and inhuman society.”
               
A great resource that I found in regards to ethical and moral issues is the National Catholic Bioethics Center’s 24 hour hotline – 215.877.2660 (free of charge).

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As I come to the end of this month’s reflection, I know that there is much more that I could write about on these issues but there is a part of me that is reluctant because I feel that it is more appropriate when facing these issues that we do so while in consultation with those who know Catholic ethics like your parish priest or someone he recommends. 
 
The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) put out a pamphlet called “The Gift of Life n the Face of Death” and I want to reflect a little on the following quote from it as I end this month’s Spiritual Ponderings:
 
                “Dying need not be a time of pain and despair.  It can be a time when we come to terms with life.  A time to say ‘I love you’ and receive love from others.  A time to concentrate on what is really important, and to make our peace with God.  It can be our final stage of growth, and our gateway to eternal life. 
                ‘Assisting’ death abandons people whose real problems we do not want to deal with.  What people need—especially when they are sick and helpless—is assistance in living with dignity. 
                Pope John Paul II called such assistance ‘the way of love and true mercy.’  It requires true compassion, which means to “suffer with” the person in need.  It involves controlling pain, caring when we can no longer cure, and treating each person like the unique and precious individual that he or she is.  Each of us deserves nothing less.
 
                If you are facing end of life issues or if you want to “assist others to live with dignity” as they face end of life issues here are a few things that you can do:
 
1.            If you are a caregiver join a support group.  Do not think that you have to do this alone or even try to do this alone.  You will get burnt out too quickly.  Allow others to support you as you support the person whom you are caring for.
 
2.            Seek out people in your family and community who are at a risk of dying alone and keep them company.  Your presence will mean more to them then you will ever know.
 
3.            Volunteer or provide assistance to your local hospice organization.
 
4.            Pray for dying patients and their families at home and at Sunday Mass.  Pray that they may receive the respect and care they need and that they will trust in the Lord’s plan and not give into any fears.
 
5.            Become an extraordinary (Eucharistic) minister in your parish or hospital and bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and those who are homebound.
 
6.            Volunteer at a nursing home, or provide respite care for families caring for their seriously ill members at home.
 
7.            Learn more about moral issues involving the end of life, and share your knowledge with others.  For more resources check out the Archdiocese of St. Louis’s Respect Life Apostolate’s  webpage: www.archstl.org/respectlife.
 
8.            Teach your children about the value of all human life. 
 
9.            Pray for those who do not respect human life
 
10.          Choose your language carefully when talking about end of life issues and talk to a trusted family member expressing them your wishes to follow God’s will.
 
I will leave you with one final quote: “The measure of love is to love without measure.”

 
I thought for the month of April that I would take a look at some songs that have either recently inspired me and helped my faith or some songs that I have find disheartening because of the message they promote. 
 
When it comes to music, one of the big things for me is variety.  A song that I may have liked the first time I heard it can quickly become a song I despised if I hear it too many times within a twenty-four hour period.  Part of the way that I get the variety that I want is that I switch radio stations a lot in the car.  In fact I am more likely to change radio stations while driving because I am tired of hearing the same old (even if it is a newly released song) song than to avoid commercials.  On Sunday mornings while sitting in my office between Masses, I like to listen to “The Spirit” which is KEZEK’s HD2 station.  I simply go to www.kezk.com and click on the “The Spirit” banner.  It is all Christian music and no commercials.  While I do not listen to Christian music all the time I do find that I enjoy listening to Christian music because it adds to my love of variety and sometimes I find a song or two that are truly inspirational.  Right before Christmas I began listening to a Christian artist by the name of Matthew West because of a song that I heard called: My Own Little World.  So I would like to begin this month of reflections on music by reflecting on two songs from Matthew West.
 
Fr. Bob Barron, who is a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago who has his own website and cable television show (WGN) on Sunday morning, wrote a book called And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation.  A key point to his book is that we human beings because of original sin and its effects are imprisoned by our fears to focus solely on ourselves.  He refers to this phenomenon as being entrapped in our “pusilla anima” or “small soul.”  The first verse of the song is all about Matthew describing living in his own little world oblivious to all the problems of others.  While life is good for Matthew in his own little world he cannot help but think that there is something more to life.  He is beginning to have an epiphany that there has to be something more than just getting his needs met.  Some spiritual writers talk about this feeling as coming to realize that we have a “God size hole” in our heart and that we must, as human beings search to find something to fill it.  Another way of looking at it is that there is a part of us that cannot find fulfillment without making some sort of sacrifice. 
 
Matthew West’s journey out of his small soul to his “magna anima” or “larger soul” begins with his sacrificial act of helping the homeless widow.  It is more than just giving the widow money but rather it is more about seeing the homeless widow as a person also.  He sacrifices not only money but also his world view that everything is alright and that other people’s problems are not his own. 
 
Jesus tells us over and over again that the “one who loses his life will save it.”  In other words we need to know that the world is not about us and that to truly live life we must realize that it is all about love (or sacrificing for others).  What is the population of your world?

The second song today is also by Matthew West and is called: The Reason For The World.  In this song Matthew West attempts to tackle the Problem of Evil.

The Problem of Evil is a philosophical and theological term referring to the question of how evil can exist if God is all good, all powerful, and all knowing.  If God was all good would he not stop evil, if God was all powerful would he not stop evil and if God was all knowing why does He allow evil to happen?  I believe that the Problem of Evil is something that each human being must grapple with at some time or another and a person’s answer to the Problem of Evil can either help a person grow closer to God or can hinder his or her relationship with God. 
 
The Catholic answer to the question of the Problem of Evil is to begin by stating that God does not will evil but rather evil is the result of free will.  Evil in one sense does not exist but is rather the absence of something.  When God allowed human beings to choose in order to assure free will He had to allow human beings to choose things that were always in align with His plan for us and so evil is the difference between the right choice and the choice made.  For example if sharing something with someone was the right choice (symbolized by the number 5) but instead a person chose to be selfish (symbolized by the number 3) then the amount of evil would be symbolized by the number 2.  God does will evil He allows it to protect human being free will. 
 
This answer to the Problem of Evil makes a lot more sense to me when I think about it in terms of relationships especially parent child relationships.  How often do parents wish their child to do things one way (like do their homework without having to be asked) but the child has other ideas (and thus do not do their homework) which results in evil in the forms of hurt feelings, resentment, etc. despite the fact that the parent still loves the child.  God’s love goes beyond all that of a parent’s love for his or her child.  The reason or the world then is to help us make a choice for God.

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Continuing our look this month at the spiritual messages for good are bad promoted by the music we listen to, I would like to focus on one of my favorite artists Jewel.One of the things that I think I like about Jewel is that at one time she was homeless as she strived to make her dreams come true. 
 
The first song that I would like to focus on is called “Satisfied”.  What I like about this song is the simple idea that love has to be more than feelings and words there has to be some sort of action involved.  I love the opening to the song: “If you love somebody you better let it out.  Don’t hold back while you’re trying to figure it out. Don’t be timid, don’t be afraid to hurt.  Run toward the flame.  Run toward the fire.”  Let us take Jewel’s advice and reflect on it in the context of the Law of Love as found in the following passage from Mark (12:28-31):
 
One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
 
Do we let our love for God out or do we quietly sit back and hope no one notices that we are people of faith?  Are we timid and afraid to be hurt if in our relationship with God?  Is this possibly holding you back from a deeper and more intimate relationship with God.  Do we run toward God or do we try to do just the minimum? 
 
In our relationships with others, do we stand up for other people even if it means personal sacrifice on our part?  Do we hold back instead of getting involved because we don’t want to get in too deep? 
 
Every Sunday we profess our faith by reciting the Nicene Creed (We believe in God the Father…), we profess our faith every time we make the Sign of the Cross that our God is a loving God who died for us so that we might have eternal life with Him.  So “did you say it? Did you mean it? Did you lay it on the line? Did you make it count? Did you look’em in the eye.  Did they feel it?  Did you say it in time?  Did you say it out loud?”
 
We as Catholics believe that God will provide for all our needs and that He is the only one that can satisfy us.  He is after all pure love.

The second song for this week is also from Jewel and is called “What You Are”. 

This songs speaks about our need to realize that God will not give us anything more than we can handle.  All the difficulties in life in no way compare with the power of God.  I think sometimes in life when we encounter difficulties we want to get these difficulties over with as quick as possible instead of seeing that sometimes it is our difficulties that make us who we are and give us character and definition.  I love the image of stained glass windows to represent people because it is a combination of both the light and the stains that give the image life.  When difficult times come our ways then we should see them as opportunities to let God’s life shine through us.  I know in my own life that it has been dealing with difficulties in my own life that has allowed me to be a better minister of the Gospel today.

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Continuing our look this month at the spiritual messages for good are bad promoted by the music we listen to, I would like to focus on two songs about relationships.  The first song is a song by a Christian artist by the name of Andrew Peterson called “Dancing in the Minefields”

I am almost at the point in my life where if people tell me that priests should get married that I can almost not stop myself from laughing out loud.  While there are parts of married life that I look at and yearn for I also realize that marriage is hard work.  In many ways marriage is truly like dancing in a minefield.  Marriage is more than just two people living under the same roof but rather it is about two people coming together in mutual self-surrender so that two do become one.  Husband and wife must mold their hopes and dreams together to and this is not easy because often it means sacrificing one’s owns way of doing things and a lot of compromising.  I know that there is no way that I could be both a priest and a good husband.  I sometimes wonder though that part of the reason why the divorce rate is so high now days is partially because people have forgotten how much effort good marriages really take and therefore enter into marriage too quickly. 
 
I think that the image of dancing (because the word “dance” gives off the impression of beauty and elegance) is a great image of marriage because as the couple begin to move as one the beauty only increases and minefield is a particular good image of the world today in regards to marriage because there are many things out there that are hazardous to one’s marital health and need to be avoided at all cost. 
 
Marriage is about couples learning to dance with each other despite the problems the world will throw at them and so they are challenged to never take their spouse for granted.  One psychologist that I read said something about the key to marriage is to “seize the mundane moments of life and to make them special. 
 
Scott Hahn has the following to say about marriage in his book First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Holy Trinity:
                Yet the young couple, too, have to learn those lessons.  First as individuals and then as a couple, they must learn that their own happiness must be subsumed into a larger happiness, the family’s happiness.  Moreover, they must learn that their individual happiness is inconceivable apart from the family’s happiness.  If they learn their lessons well, they will find that they are happiest when making others happy.
And he has the following to say in his book: Swear to God” The Promise and Power of the Sacraments:
Since marriage is a sacrament, family life is a kind of domestic liturgy, with its own responses, antiphons, and times of silence.  There are lines we must never tire of repeating: “Thank you,” “I’m sorry,” “I love you,” “I forgive you,” “Tell me about your day,” “I’d be glad to do that,” and “How about a date?” At Mass we know how to respond when the priest says, “Lift up your hearts” or “Lord, have mercy” or “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith.”  In a similar way, we need to learn the responses of the domestic liturgy.  When one of us says, “I am sorry,” the other replies, “I forgive you.”  This liturgy, like any sacramental liturgy is not something mechanical or magical, but rather a habit-forming pattern of love. We don’t always feel the emotions when we say the words, at Mass or at home; but if we are sincere, God makes up for what we lack.

First thing you can tell about Avril’s song is the self-centeredness she proclaims to be her highest value.  She has no desire to make any sort of sacrifice that will be necessary for a good and healthy relationship.  She is enjoying the power she has over another “You’re on your knees begging please stay with me.”  She is not interested in the well being of the other.  She states at the end of the “All my life I’ve been good but now…” speaks of a person who has tried to do the right thing all of her life but that she has also never developed a good relationship with God.  She is heading toward trouble in her life and a lot of messed up relationships because she is sinking into her small self-centered soul.

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I hope everyone has enjoyed this month’s spiritual ponderings and reflections on different song lyrics.  I know that I gain a lot by taking a step or two back and examining the words to the songs that I hear on the radio all the time.  I always find a lot of things to think about.  For our last two songs this month, I would like to focus on two songs by a very popular artist name Katy Perry.  The first song is called “Firework” and the second son is called “Teenage Dream”

I really like the image of the “plastic bag, drifting through the wind”.  I believe that many times throughout our lives we can find ourselves thinking that our life is worthless and no one really cares about us.  We have been used by people and discarded and we are now just floating around with no real purpose.  This of course is totally against our Catholic faith that proclaims to us that God cares deeply for each of us and that He has a plan and a purpose for each of us.  “You don’t have to feel like a waste of space.  You’re original, cannot be replaced.” 
We do have so much to us.  We are like a firework.  Listening to this song I could not help but think of the following quote by Marianne Williamson:
 
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Let us take look at our second song “Teenage Dream”.
The first part of the song that struck me was “Before you met me I was a wreck but things were kinda heavy you brought me to life.”  While it is cute and romantic to talk about how the other person “completes you,” the reality is that no person can ever be your cure or give your life meaning.  You must choose to change your life for yourself.  I tell engaged couples all the time that “if you cannot live without the other person then you should never live with the person.”  Marriage is about to independent people choosing to come together so that they can flourish together and not to dependent people coming together to enable each other’s addictions. 
 
I also do not like the idea of “no regrets”.  How can anyone in life really think that we make any decision in life and not have consequences especially in the area of sex?  Each time a person has sex he or she gives a piece of his or her soul to her that person and there is no way to get it back. 
 
Let us pray that everyone may know how special they are in God’s eyes and find their source of identity and peace in Him and not in any other places.

A good day to all, July is finally here and you know what that means.  It is time for my Spiritual Ponderings column to focus on movies.  As I prepare for this month’s columns I realize that I have not seen very many movies this past year so I will have to make sure I see some soon because July has five Sundays in it this year. 
 
Despicable Me
My first movie that I am going to dive into this July is the movie is the cartoon Despicable Me.  To be honest with you, when I saw the previews for Despicable Me, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the movie.  I did not want to see a movie that glorified a bad guy.  I believe there is a part of our society right now that is celebrating people who do bad things because they are frustrated with “being good.”  There seems to be more and movies and songs that celebrate people who have lived a good life choosing to bad things either for a moment, a weekend, or an extended period of time.  While I can understand this to a certain point I really wonder if our society should be promoting it.  It used to be that movies and songs (at least most of them) held up the person who stayed the course in the midst of adversity but now we seem to be celebrating those who give into momentary indiscretions.  How are these movies influencing our society ?
 
A friend of mine told me that I needed to watch Despicable Me and I gave in one night during the snow storms of last winter and downloaded it from ITunes.  I will admit that I found the movie enjoyable and spiritual insightful.  The first thing that I really saw in the movie was that the main character Gru voiced by Steve Carell is bad because he is trying to earn his mother’s love.  Throughout the movie and mostly through flashbacks we see Gru trying to impress his mother and failing miserably at it.  It was not that Gru was unsuccessful or untalented it was just his mother seemed like she could care less about him.  It reminded me of a poster that I sometime see hanging in doctors’ offices and teachers’ lounges.
 
If A Child Lives With. . .
by Dorothy Law Nolte
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive.
If a child lives with jealousy, he learns to feel guilt.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to be appreciative.
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with recognition, he learns that it is good to have a goal.
If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to trust in himself and others .
If a child lives with friendliness, he learns the world is a nice place in which to live.
 
The second thing that I really enjoyed about the movie is that Gru’s heart is changed by three little girls that he ends up adopting.  He learns to look past his past hurts only when he chooses to love the girls.  At the moment of his greatest triumph – he actually steals the moon – he realizes that it means nothing without the girls.  Demonstrating the simple fact that we are made to love and to receive love and that our value comes not from doing or being successful.  I think it is also very powerful story because it portrays children in a very positive light.  These three little girls enter his life and change it forever for the better.  Our society often likes to tell us that children are more of a burden then they are worth but the reality is each child is priceless. 
 
So while I still do not like the idea of idolizing bad guys, I think that Despicable Me has enough of a conversion story (as I think about it – things are completely opposite here from what I was complaining about in my first paragraph.  He got tired of being bad and so chose to become good), that I am glad to count Despicable Me as a part of my movie collection.

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As I write about these different movies and how they show something about our faith, I think that I should clarify that I do not go to the movies just to analyze them for their spiritual content.  I do go to the movies to be entertained.  It is only afterwards that I sit down and think about how it relates to my faith.  As an adult, I should know my faith well enough to be able to see similarities and especially differences from the movie message and the teachings of my faith.  If I do not then I can subconsciously begin to assume that things I see in the movies are morally good or at least I begin to desire the falsehood that they proclaim in some cases.  For example one movie that I refused to see was Hall Pass.  From the premise of the movie it seems like a married couple decides for one weekend to pretend not to be married and to allow the husband to fulfill some of his sexual dreams.  While I may know that it is a movie and that my spouse would never give me a “hall pass” I may start wanting one or dreaming what I would do with one and thus mentally I am already heading down the wrong path. 
 
The Fighter
This week’s movie that I would like to look at is The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.  Mark Wahlberg plays “Irish” Micky Ward who  is a professional boxer and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund played amazingly well by Christian Bale.  The movie starts off with Micky trying to make a name for himself in the boxing world while being managed by his mother Alice and trained by Dicky.  Dicky, whose claim to fame was once having knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in a televised HBO match, is now having his life filmed for a documentary for HBO.  He thinks that the documentary is about his comeback but it is really about his addiction to crack cocaine and how far he has fallen. 
 
The movie does a good job of showing the dysfunctions in the family and it is seeing some of these dysfunctions that I see some great spiritual insights.  First in Dicky’s drug addiction, I see a sad and tragic sequence of events that seem to be effecting more and more people in our world today.  The country singer Tim McGraw wrote a song called “Drugs or Jesus” a while ago pointing out that most people are trying to fill a whole in their heart and in the end they either fill it with Jesus (faith) or with drugs (other poisonous things).  Dicky has definetly not chosen Jesus and it is shown by the way he cares for himself and others.  He is more interested in getting his next hit then being there for his family.  We must pray for those addicted to drugs and for their families and we must help people find Jesus in order to fill in that hole.  Luckily Dicky has a wakeup call in prison when he sees how far he has sunk when he sees the HBO documentary.  What becomes important to him then is his family especially his younger brother Micky.
 
I think the movie also should serve as a warning for parents because Alice (the mom) clearly demonstrates a greater love for Dicky then she does for Micky and even more amazingly a total lack of awareness that she is doing it.  While I know each child needs a different amount of attention, support, etc from their parents, I think it is important that parents also take the time to make sure each child knows that he or she is loved and to just now assume it. 
 
The last thing I would like to point out in the movie is Micky’s determination.  Micky went from allowing his mother and others tell him what to do to being his own boss in a positive way.  He knew what his goal was and he was going to reach it.  He chose to train hard, he chose to let his half-brother back into his life, he chose to stick with Charlene (his girlfriend/future wife) and he chose who is manager and other trainers would be.  He also trained hard to be a champion.  As Catholics we should be as dedicated to our faith.  We should train hard through prayer and good works and we should avoid things that will lead us away from our goal.  Micky began to succeed when he stopped caring what others thought of him and did what he needed to do.  In a similar way we succeed in our faith when we don’t worry about what others think and we practice our faith with true devotion and energy. 

A-Team
One of my favorite television shows growing up was the A-Team.  I loved all the action and drama and how crazy each of the characters was.  You had Hannibal who thought anything was possible, B.A. (Bad Attitude) Baracus (a.k.a Mr. T.) who was one tough dude with a loving heart, Face Man who was a kind and caring conman; and who could forget the wild and crazy antics of “Howling Mad” Murdoch their pilot.  I admired their friendship and their willingness to help other people despite their own personal problems (they were outlaws and were convicted for a crime that they did not commit.)    Almost every time the A-Team came on, you could find me sitting in front of the television.   It was only after seeing a commercial for A-Team reruns on TV-Land that I realized how no one ever got hurt on the show.  Despite being trained marksman and blowing things up, I do not think one villain or bad guy ever died on the show.   TV-Land’s catch phrase was something like “In this day of senseless violent why not choose the safe alternative—The A-Team—no one ever dies in the A-Team.  It was much excitement that I looked forward to watching the new A-Team movie starring Liam Neeson that came out last year.
 
Enough reminiscing about the past though, the first Spiritual Insight I would like to write about is the idea that leaders can sometime betray you.  In the movie Hannibal, B.A. Face, and Murdoch are betrayed by their leader General Morrison.  I love though that despite the betrayal the A-Team does not give up what they believe in.  With our “Church being a hospital for sinners and not a hotel for saints” (St. Augustine) there have been times when people in authority in the Church have at least failed us if not betrayed us.  It is important at those times to remain faithful to what we believe in and that is the love of God and the saving power of Jesus Christ.  My faith in Christ does not rest upon my faith in the Church but rather my faith in the Church rests on my faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.  The sure fact that the Church has survived this long shows us in my mind that there must be a higher power protecting it. 
 
The second spiritual insight I would like to share is the power of a team.  One of the things that make the A-Team such a great military unit is its team work: each of them while very different from each other come together to form a community and care deeply about each other.  Hannibal for example shows it after escaping from prison by rescuing the others from their military prisons.  I know in my life that I have grown a lot in my faith when I am a part of a team.  Being a part of a core team working to serve the youth of the parish, being a part of a group of friends who study the Bible, and being a part of a priest support group have all been ways in which my faith has been infinitely nourished.  I feel God’s loving care and concern for me often through these groups.  I feel that many Catholics are not living up to their full potential because they have not joined a prayer group of some sorts.
 
The third and last insight that I would like to focus on is based on one of Hannibal Smith’s catchphrases: “I love it when a plan comes together.”  Most of the time in the TV show and to a lesser extend in the movie, Hannibal’s original plan falls apart in the midst of the operation but he quickly comes up with alternatives that help save the day.  Sometimes in life we can become mad and angry with God when we feel that He is not paying attention or when our personal plans fall apart.  I have found though that if we are faithful we will see that God’s plans always come about and are always much better then we could have imagine.  The challenge is to trust.  The apostles had to trust that Jesus’ plan of the cross was better than their plan of military conquest.  Sometimes we must trust that God’s plan of love and forgiveness is much better than our plan of power and revenge.
 
While I thought the TV show was better than the movie, I did enjoy the A-Team movie and hope that there is a second.  It was nice thinking about some of my childhood memories and remembering what it was about the show that I loved so much and I guess in some ways the reason why I value team work, planning, and loyalty so much is because of the show that I watched as a kid.  I wonder what children who watch TV now will value.  I pray that they will emulate only the virtues and none of the vices.

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Shrek IV
I recently went through and updated the Faith and Film section on my website.  (This is the section where I take past Spiritual Ponderings about movies and highlight them).   I was surprised to find out that I have not done a Spiritual Ponderings on Shrek the Fourth because it by far and away was one of the best movies I have seen in regards to its spiritual content. 
 
The main premise of the movie is that Shrek, who is now happily married to Fiona with three little baby ogres of their own, has begun to look back upon his past when he was the feared monster of the swamp with more than a little fondness.  He strikes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin in which Shrek agrees to give Rumpelstiltskin one day from his past in order to enjoy one day of being the scary old ogre from his youth.  In the midst of the movie though Shrek finds out that the day that Rumpelstiltskin chooses was the day that he was born and since he was never born, he never freed Fiona from the castle and Rumpelstiltskin is now ruler of the kingdom Far Far Away.   So the first spiritual lesson to be found in the movie is that everyone’s life is important.  I remember someone saying (It might have been Mother Teresa) that one of the children who have been aborted may have been the future scientist who would have cured cancer or some other disease.  I know that my life has been touched by hundreds of people who I did not know when they were born but I know that because of them my life has been impacted for the better.  I wonder how many good friends that I would have had if abortion was illegal. 
 
The second lesson in the movie is that Shrek was missing the boat totally.  He did not see the blessings that laid right before his eyes.  He allowed his day-dreaming of the good old days to effect the way that he was parenting.  Instead of seeing his wife and children as a blessing he saw them as a limit to his freedom.  He saw them not as gifts from God but rather as a cocoon that he had to escape in order to reach his fulfillment.  Luckily for him, he realized in time all the blessings that he had and was able to live happily ever after.  Do you see your family as a blessing or as a curse?  Do you thank God for the gift of your family?  I think the line “be careful for what you wish for” may apply to this movie along with the Garth Brook’s song “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”
 
The part of the movie that struck me the most though was its cleverly hidden message of chastity.  Shrek discovers that in order to break the curse he must have true love’s first kiss with Fiona again and so he sets out to get that kiss.  Fiona meanwhile has freed herself from the castle and leads a group of fellow ogres against the evil King Rumpelstiltskin.  Shrek constantly badgers Fiona until she finally gives in and kisses him but nothing happens.  It is at that moment that Shrek realizes that the act of kissing does not necessarily imply love and that Fiona does not love him because he had not given her a reason to love him.  So Shrek out of love for her sacrifices himself by turning himself over to Rumpelstiltskin in order to save Fiona and the other ogres.  Fiona impressed by his sacrifice falls in love and they eventually share true love’s first kiss for a second time.  The movie makes a great point though in that I think much of society is interested about having sexual intercourse because that in some way means that they are loved but in the end most people just feel used.  This is one of the reasons why the Church holds the idea that sexual intercourse should only be done between husband and wife as a way to protect us, protect the sanctity of life, and protect the gift of sexuality itself.    Sexual intercourse is a magical experience like loves first kiss if done in the context of marriage with both spouses respecting each other’s personhoods.  It is something though that used outside of the marital context that leaves both people wounded and hurt because the fairytale they were hoping for did not come true. 
 
The good news though is that God is always there for us and forgiving us so that we may become better people.

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Well this is the last Sunday of July and so my last reflection on movies for another year.  I realize that I need to make more times to see more movies.   For this last movie reflection I went into my DVD collection and pulled out The Bourne Identity.    I personally love all the Bourne movies for their action and intrigue and I could watch them over and over again. 
 
The first Spiritual Insight from The Bourne Identity is the feeling of not knowing who oneself is.  The movie starts off with Jason Bourne being pulled from the ocean by a fishing boat near the south of France.  Jason eventually regains consciousness but has no idea of who he is.  While I am sure that most of us have never had a bout of amnesia as seriously as Jason Bourne did I am also certain that from time to time we wake up questioning who we are.  Why did God create us?  What is my purpose in life?  As Jason Bourne begins his search for who he is he also has knowledge of having many great skills that he is not sure what to do with.  As we continue our reflection on who we are we to realize that we also have many different skills and gifts and this self-revelation just intensifies our questioning of who are we.
As we search though we also come to realization that we have not always used our skills for good.  Jason Bourne discovers that in his pre-amnesia life that he was an assassin.  The important part of the movie though is that he decides that he does not have to go back to that way of life.  He can be who he wants to be and who he wants to be is someone for good.  When we discover that we have done bad things we can beat ourselves up and decide that we will never be any good or we can choose to be the person we want to be.
 
The second spiritual insights comes actually from the third movie The Bourne Ultimatum when we along with Jason Bourne discover that he chose to become the super soldier in order to help save American lives.  His choice is based on good intentions unfortunately the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” comes true and the people running the program take advantage of him and turn him into an assassin for their benefit.  Sometimes we try to do good things but they end up doing very bad things or making the situations worse.  We must therefore be very careful, prayerful, and reflective on our choices.  Our first instincts are not always the best. 
 
The third spiritual insight it is his relationship with his girl friend Marie Kreutz that allows him to stop being a killer.  She brings out the best in him.  If we want to be the best person that we can be then we must enter into healthy relationships with others who are determined to bring out the best in us.  If Bourne would have continued to hang out with his spy friends then he would most likely went on to be a killer again but because he is associating with a new person who has different morals he is able to become a better person. 
 
An additional bonus spiritual insights, the movie was filmed with all hand held cameras (no tripods) so the film has a sense of realism because the camera is bumping around verses being steady.  I cannot help but think that this is a good analogy for life.  Our real life with all its bumps is much more exciting than life that is steady.  We can sometimes dream and think life would be better without all the bumps and problems but our life would also be pretty boring and unlivable if we had no relationships and no one to love or love us.

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"Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side... whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament." - St. Augustine,
 
The Catholic Church proudly declares that the Eucharist is the source of our Christian existence and at the same time the summit (the highest form/expression) of that same Christian existence.  To be Catholic then is to be a person who attends Mass.  Sadly though more and more of our Christian Brothers and sisters are choosing not to gather around the Lord’s table each Sunday morning.  The lack of Catholics in the pew each Sunday has in my opinion nothing to do with any protest against Church teaching but rather is a result of the Church failing to educate the faithful about the importance of the Mass.  Many of our Christian brothers and sisters just do not see any value in attending Mass.  If we in my opinion to correct this current downward and destructive trend in our Catholic Communities we will need to renew ourselves through new efforts to educate people on the great gift and mystery the Mass truly is.  It is with much join then that I recommend to you Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s new book on the Mass.  Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington D.C., (with Mike Aquiline as his co-author) has sat down and wrote a very simple but profound explanation of the Mass.  The book is called The Mass:  The Glory, the Mystery, The Tradition and I would like to devote my Spiritual Ponderings for the month of August and September to exploring this great book.  I will pull different quotes from the book that I found interesting or exciting (they will be in red) and I will follow those quotes with some personal commentary (that will be in black). 
 
If we ponder the doctrine, if we pray for light, we will discover that the Mass has many dimensions.  It is Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, now made present in an unbloody manner in the sacrament of the altar.  It is the banquet where we are fed by the living Christ and come to deep and intimate union with him.  It is Christ’s real presence, a unique presence, a presence not just in action, but in himself: body and blood, soul and divinity.  Our Eucharist is a “who,” not a “what.”  It is Someone.
 
The culture of the world today with all its scientific knowledge does not like the idea of mystery.   People in the world today seem to lack the ability to simply be awed by things.  Beautiful and terrifying events like rainbows and storms are simply explained away by science and its theories of degrees of light, spectrums of color, and reactions of molecules bouncing into one another at high and unobservable speeds.   Relationships though require mystery.  There is no way that we can predict how another person will respond a hundred percent of the time or with absolute certainty because of the element of free will.  Mystery therefore is an essential part of our lives and faith requires us to believe that God is “more than we can imagine.”  If we can imagine it then it cannot be God because God is so totally other.  The Bible tells us quite plainly that the God who created the universe by simply speaking His Word also told us that this bread and wine offered at Mass becomes His body and blood.  We should never let our societies dislike of mysteries make us believe that awesome things cannot happen. 
 
There is a certain objectivity about the Mass because it begins with Christ, not with our religious experience.  The Mass is the action of Christ himself, made visible and shared through the sacramental action of the Church.  Its basic symbol system comes to us from the apostles, and the Church is not free to change it.  If someone “consecrates” cornbread or chocolate cake rather than bread made from wheat, there is no sacramental action; no Mass is celebrated.  The sacramental signs make visible the action of the risen Lord, and the Church is not free to change them.  Since religion is purely personal project for many people today, this recognition of limits can be confounding.  But those who argue about the essentials of the sacraments are arguing with Christ not with the Church.
                If we accept Christ on his own terms, our time is better spent trying to understand the symbols he gave us, rather than attempting to reject or replace them.
 
When we believe that God is personable (meaning that He is capable of entering into a relationship) He becomes more to us then divine forces that can be manipulated.  He becomes a friend, a companion, a leader, a Father.  When He is the Supreme Being that has given us everything that we have are we really comfortable telling God that His way is stupid and thus He should do things our ways.  The Church respects the gift that she has been given precisely by using the gift the way in which the Holy Spirit instructs her too.  When we do not understand something about the Mass or the Mass seems boring we are invited not to change things to suit our needs but rather to dive deeper into the mystery of the Mass by exploring the meanings behind each of the different symbols that make up the Mass.  We, as Church, must realize that the Mass is a gift to us as part of a community.  A few years back, I owned part of a cabin with three other priests and because the cabin was the communal property of all four of us we had to come to accept that there were certain things that we could not do without the consent of the others.  For example, I could not have gone out there and installed a swimming pool in the back yard without the consent of the other four.  We must therefore not change the Mass without God’s consent. 
 
There is also, however, a “subjectivity” about the Mass, because Christ calls us to cooperate with him in his actions.  We participate in something only the Lord can accomplish; we take part in his action in order to become “one body, one spirit in Christ.”  In the liturgy we are brought into contact with the saving work of Christ made present under the sacramental signs.  There, God’s grace transforms us into Christ’s own likeness.  Our response to Christ’s action, the kernel of our active participation in the liturgy, is twofold: we adore and we obey.  In and through adoration, we respond to the infinite God who is our creator and redeemer.  Through obedience, we accept and allow the God who we adore to shape our personal existence in the patter of his love.
 
While the Mass is a communal prayer, it does affect each person individually.  Often how much it affects a person is dependent upon how much one participates in the Mass.  The question is not “what am I going to get out of the Mass?” but rather “what am I going to put into the Mass?”  Some key ways in which we can participate more or better…
 
1.            Come early and pray.  Sometimes it takes us a little while to settle down and to quiet ourselves when we step out of our busy world.
2.            Stay late.  Ask yourself what one or two things struck you about the Mass?  Why do you think these things stood out to you?
3.            Dress appropriately.  Without saying what is appropriate dress or not, I do want us to be aware of how clothes can affect our attitude and our attention span.  
4.            Read the Scripture Readings a head of time.  Take the time to read the Scripture readings before Mass and meditate on them.
5.            Come with an intention or two.  God really knows what we want but it is important for us to tell Him so that we can demonstrate that know that He cares.  Good times to recall this intention are at the Prayers of the Faithful and the Offertory. 
6.            Volunteer to be a minister.  Just as an actor becomes more familiar with a play that he or she is staring in so we to grow to a deeper understanding of the Mass by being a minister at the Mass.
7.            Learn more about the Mass.   Take time to read about the Mass and all its symbolism. 
8.            Learn more about your Church’s architecture.  Take time to learn the spiritual meaning of the placement of the altar, the tabernacle, etc.
9.            Sing.   No matter what type of voice you have one should sing at Mass so that he or she literally joins in producing a joyful noise to the Lord.
10.          Learn about the saints and what they had to say about the Mass, for example Maximilian Kolbe and how he celebrated Mass in a German concentration camp.

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"Jesus taught a new sacrifice which the Church received from the Apostles and offers throughout the whole world."
- St. Irenaeus
 
As we continue to endeavor to learn more about the Mass by taking a deeper look at Cardinal Wuerl’s new book The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition.  Remember that quotes from the book are in red and my commentary is in black.
 
                The Mass is the most familiar and recognizable element of the Catholic faith; and still it is also the most enigmatic.  In the Mass we see postures, gestures, and items of clothing that would seem out of place anywhere else.  We hear words that hint at deep and ancient mysteries.  Even the more familiar words sometimes mean something quite different from their meaning in ordinary usage.
                The words, the vestments, and the gestures of the Mass took their origins in times long past.  Nevertheless, they hold infinite meaning for Catholics today.  For we believe that the Son of God took flesh and became man in a particular time and place, and that he used the language of that time and place to convey truths that speak to every age and nation.  Jesus insisted on this point; and so, “on the night he was handed over took bread and after he had given thanks, broke it and said ‘This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.  In the same way also the cup after supper saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26
 
I was talking with a youth lady the other day about all the symbols of the Church and as we were talking, I reminded her that for most of the Church’s history the majority of her members were illiterate and thus they relied heavily upon symbols to communicate with one another.  For example a person’s coat of arms (a shield with the family logo on it) was just as important an identifier to a medieval person as a person signature today.  We still use a lot of symbols in our secular world today when one thinks about it for example a police officer’s badge is a symbol that represents that the person is law enforcement. 
 
When we go to Church it is helpful to recognize some of the meanings behind the symbols and gestures at Mass.  For example folding our hands with palms flat and fingers together (like most of us do when we pray) was a medieval sign for surrender, and loyalty.  When a medieval knight wished to swear loyalty to a king or other authority figure, he would hold his hands together and allow the other person to put their hands on the outside of his and have them push them together.  This prevented the knight from going to grab his sword and made him vulnerable to whoever he was surrendering to or pledging his loyalty to.  When we pray we show symbolically our inner design to surrender to God’s will by folding our hands in the same way. 
 
The very fact that the Mass has been handed down for close to 2,000 years with very little changes makes one realize how important the Mass was for the early Christians.  In times of persecution they would gladly risk their lives going to Church on Sunday because the Mass meant so much for them.
 
                We can compare the Mass to a parade.  There are two ways you can experience a parade: you can stand on the curb and watch it go by, or you can join the ranks and march along with the band.  Marching in a parade is essentially different from watching one go by.  Sacramental life means taking our place as God’s children and truly sharing in divine life—not just standing on the sidelines and watching Jesus go by, or talking about his passing.  That’s what the Mass is all about.
 
I really liked this analogy.  Many of us are comfortable just sitting on the sidelines and letting the Mass pass us by for many reasons.  Maybe the number one reason is that we are afraid that others will not think that we are good enough or holy enough to participate in Mass.  Casting Crowns, a contemporary Christian music group, I think summarizes this feeling so well in their song “Stained Glass Masquerade”.

Is there anyone that fails, is there anyone that falls. Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small cause when I take a look around everybody seems so strong. I know they’ll soon discover that I don’t belong. So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay. If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too. So with a painted grin, I play the part again so everyone will see me the way that I see them.
 
Are we happy plastic people under shiny plastic steeples with walls around our weakness and smiles to hide our pain but if the invitation’s open to every heart that has been broken maybe then we close the curtain on our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been there are there any hands to raise.  Am I the only one who’s traded in the altar for a stage.
The performance is CONVINCING and we know every line by heart only when no one is watching can we really fall apart.

But would it set me free if I dared to let you see the truth behind the person that you imagine me to be? Would your arms be open o would you walk away? Would the love of Jesus be enough to make you stay

Well if the invitation’s open to every heart that has been broken maybe then we close the curtain on our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone that fails? Is there anyone that falls? Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small
 
Part of the challenge of coming to Mass is to offer God everything including our weaknesses and allowing God to transform all that we offer into something greater.  We have to stop worrying about what others will think and trust that the Love of God will be enough.

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As Catholics, we fully participate in the celebration of the Eucharist when we receive Holy Communion. We are encouraged to receive Communion devoutly and frequently. In order to be properly disposed to receive Communion, participants should not be conscious of grave sin and normally should have fasted for one hour. A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord without prior sacramental confession except for a grave reason where there is no opportunity for confession. In this case, the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible (canon 916). A frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance is encouraged for all.

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."  - St. Maximilian Kolbe
 
I can’t believe that this is the end of August.  School is back in session let us continue our look at Cardinal Wuerl’s book.  Remember that quotes from the book are in red and my commentary is in black.
 
                Some have pondered the ritual of the Mass as a kind of symbolic re-enactment of the historical events in the Gospels.  Jesus’ life begins with an overshadowing of the Spirit at the Annunciation to Mary (see Luke 1:28).  So at the beginning of Mass, the priest echoes the words of the angels as he says: “The Lord be with you”; and the people respond, “And with your spirit.”  A typical Sunday Mass then proceeds to the prayer that begins: “Glory to God in the highest,” which is based on the angels’ hymn at the first Christmas (Luke 2:14).   The proclamation of the readings then corresponds to Jesus’ public ministry.  The Liturgy of the Eucharist corresponds to his sacrifice: his Passion, death, and Resurrection.
 
                I personally found this interpretation of the Mass to be very intriguing.  I have never heard of this idea before.  I do think that this might be a good time to point out that people who have a hard time with the Eucharist because they cannot imagine God becoming present in the form of bread and wine should have just as equally a hard time with idea of God becoming a human being.
 
                Others have emphasized the heavenly aspects of the Church’s worship.  We begin Mass by acknowledging the presence of “all the angels and saints” as confess our sins.  We sing of God’s glory in highest heaven, and we join the song that the angels sing in heaven: “Holy, holy, holy” (see Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4;8).  In the great Eucharistic Prayer we mark the union of heaven and earth, as the whole Church on earth joins with the angels to give praise and thanks to God. 
 
                Another important aspect of the Mass is its heavenly feature.  We as Catholics believe that we are united with relatives past (if they have gone to heaven) other holy people in heaven, and angels at Mass.   Our senses may prevent us from seeing them but that does not mean that they are not there.  God came down to heaven in order to draw all things unto himself.
 
                The vessels and cloths are to serve, after all, as thrones of Christ the King, who is really present in the Eucharist. 
 
                I think that it is important that we remind ourselves visually just what it is we believe by keeping the altar linens and vessels as special as possible.  When children see adults take care of things they learn that the thing being taken care of is special. 
 
                The priest wears special clothing called “vestment,” which are quite unlike ordinary garments.
 
                The vestments the priest wears should remind each of us that what we are doing is not ordinary but rather something extraordinary.  The priest vestments and actions scream out to us that “this is a special time and what we do is special.”  There is nothing ordinary here. 
 
                The stole is a long, narrow strip of cloth, sometimes embroidered, that hangs around the neck and down the front of the alb.  The sole symbolizes the priest’s sacramental power as he represents Jesus Christ.  It the Savior’s “yoke” that the priest has accepted (see Matthew 11:29-30).
                The chasuble is the outer vestment the priest wears at Mass.  Some historians trace its origin to a sort of sleeveless poncho that was worn by shepherds in ancient times.  They could use it almost as a shelter, a tent.  As a vestment, then, the chasuble would symbolize the priest’s role as a leader, after the Good Sheperd (see John 10:11, 14).
 
                Remember that symbols help to unlock the deeper mystery of what is going on at Mass.  The stole for examples reminds all of us that it is not the priest who has the power to do anything but rather Christ working through the priest.  The chasuble points us to the idea that Jesus is guiding us today.

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"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."  - St. Maximilian Kolbe
 
I can’t believe that this is the end of August.  School is back in session let us continue our look at Cardinal Wuerl’s book.  Remember that quotes from the book are in red and my commentary is in black.
 
                Some have pondered the ritual of the Mass as a kind of symbolic re-enactment of the historical events in the Gospels.  Jesus’ life begins with an overshadowing of the Spirit at the Annunciation to Mary (see Luke 1:28).  So at the beginning of Mass, the priest echoes the words of the angels as he says: “The Lord be with you”; and the people respond, “And with your spirit.”  A typical Sunday Mass then proceeds to the prayer that begins: “Glory to God in the highest,” which is based on the angels’ hymn at the first Christmas (Luke 2:14).   The proclamation of the readings then corresponds to Jesus’ public ministry.  The Liturgy of the Eucharist corresponds to his sacrifice: his Passion, death, and Resurrection.
 
                I personally found this interpretation of the Mass to be very intriguing.  I have never heard of this idea before.  I do think that this might be a good time to point out that people who have a hard time with the Eucharist because they cannot imagine God becoming present in the form of bread and wine should have just as equally a hard time with idea of God becoming a human being.
 
                Others have emphasized the heavenly aspects of the Church’s worship.  We begin Mass by acknowledging the presence of “all the angels and saints” as confess our sins.  We sing of God’s glory in highest heaven, and we join the song that the angels sing in heaven: “Holy, holy, holy” (see Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4;8).  In the great Eucharistic Prayer we mark the union of heaven and earth, as the whole Church on earth joins with the angels to give praise and thanks to God. 
 
                Another important aspect of the Mass is its heavenly feature.  We as Catholics believe that we are united with relatives past (if they have gone to heaven) other holy people in heaven, and angels at Mass.   Our senses may prevent us from seeing them but that does not mean that they are not there.  God came down to heaven in order to draw all things unto himself.
 
                The vessels and cloths are to serve, after all, as thrones of Christ the King, who is really present in the Eucharist. 
 
                I think that it is important that we remind ourselves visually just what it is we believe by keeping the altar linens and vessels as special as possible.  When children see adults take care of things they learn that the thing being taken care of is special. 
 
                The priest wears special clothing called “vestment,” which are quite unlike ordinary garments.
 
                The vestments the priest wears should remind each of us that what we are doing is not ordinary but rather something extraordinary.  The priest vestments and actions scream out to us that “this is a special time and what we do is special.”  There is nothing ordinary here. 
 
                The stole is a long, narrow strip of cloth, sometimes embroidered, that hangs around the neck and down the front of the alb.  The sole symbolizes the priest’s sacramental power as he represents Jesus Christ.  It the Savior’s “yoke” that the priest has accepted (see Matthew 11:29-30).
                The chasuble is the outer vestment the priest wears at Mass.  Some historians trace its origin to a sort of sleeveless poncho that was worn by shepherds in ancient times.  They could use it almost as a shelter, a tent.  As a vestment, then, the chasuble would symbolize the priest’s role as a leader, after the Good Sheperd (see John 10:11, 14).
 
                Remember that symbols help to unlock the deeper mystery of what is going on at Mass.  The stole for examples reminds all of us that it is not the priest who has the power to do anything but rather Christ working through the priest.  The chasuble points us to the idea that Jesus is guiding us today.

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"Words cannot express the perfection of his adoration. If Saint John leaped in the womb at the approach of Mary, what feelings must have coursed through Joseph during those six months when he had at his side and under his very eyes the hidden God! If the father of Origen used to kiss his child during the night and adore the Holy Spirit living within Him, can we doubt that Joseph must often have adored Jesus hidden in the pure tabernacle of Mary? How fervent that adoration must have been: My Lord and my God, behold your servant! No one can describe the adoration of this noble soul. He saw nothing, yet he believed; his faith had to pierce the virginal veil of Mary. So likewise with you! Under the veil of the Sacred Species your faith must see our Lord. Ask St. Joseph for his Lively, constant faith." - St. Peter Julian Eymard
 
I pray and I hope that you have found all the quotes from Cardinal Wuerl’s book and my commentary insightful.   The quotes for the month of August were from the first section of his book dealing with the history of the Eucharist.  For the month of September I would like to focus with Cardinal Wuerl’s help again on the different parts of the Mass.  I think Cardinal Wuerl, in his book The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, The Tradition has some great insights and analogies so let us dive back into this wonderful book.  Please remember that quotes from the book are in red and my commentary is in black.
               
                But the procession is part of the ritual, and so it is rich in meaning.  It symbolizes our earthly pilgrimage toward heaven.  We are a pilgrim people, and we’re making our way through life to God.  We do not travel alone.  Like the tribes we read about in the Bible, we move through life as a family, and that family is the Catholic Church.
               
Sometimes it is the small things that can make a big difference, a new insight that unlocks new meaning to something that we have done time and time again.  Symbolically the procession crosses over a river (the baptismal font or holy water fonts at the doorways) reminding us of our baptism and of the Israelites crossing through the Red Sea into freedom and later them crossing into the Jordan out of the desert of sin and into the promise land.  We then process down the aisle to the base of our mountain that we call a sanctuary.  Though out Scripture special times of God’s presence happen on mountain tops for example the calling of Moses, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the building of the Temple, Elijah’s personal encounter with God, Jesus being transfigured, Jesus crucifixion, and Jesus ascended into heaven.  We will encounter God in a special way at our holy mountain as He comes down from heaven in the Eucharist. 
 
I think that it is important also to believe that Catholics do not believe their faith is a private faith in which one must succeed on his or her own or not at all.  Instead one of the key aspects of the Church is community.  We come together to worship our Lord and to encourage and aid ourselves in our faith journey. 

The Sign of the cross takes no more than a few seconds, but it speaks volumes of truth and sounds the depths of theology.
 
                When talking about the Sign of the Cross, I like to remind people about how the early Church was an illegal institution and so Christians had to find unique and secret ways to identify each other.  One such way became the Sign of the Cross.  One person for example may move his arm vertically up and down and look around the room for someone to move her arm horizontally.  Theologically the Sign of the Cross reminds us of two key Catholic dogmas.  First it reminds us of the Holy Trinity for we say “In the name of” (note the word “name” is singular) symbolizing one God but then we have three names “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”  As Catholics we believe in one God and three persons.  The second dogma that we profess by making the Sign of the Cross is the Paschal Mystery.  We believe that we are save through the death and resurrection of Christ. 
 
                The Church has used this simple prayer since ancient times, sometimes as a part of a long litany of petitions at the beginning of Mass.   Now, we pray, repeating after the priest: “Lord have mercy…Christ, have mercy… Lord, have mercy.”  We address the three petitions to the three persons of the Blessed Trinity.  Sometimes people refer to this prayer as the Kyrie; Kyrie is the Greek word for “Lord”.
                Jesus once told a story that illuminates this part of the Mass.  “Two people went up to the temple area to pray,” he said “One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.  The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous--- or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14)
                The one Jesus praised was the one who recognized his own failings.  Both men needed mercy.  Only one asked for it.  Can we doubt that we, too, need forgiveness before we enter the presence of the all-holy God.
 
                One of the hardest things in life is to admit that we are not perfect.  It is funny though because we all know that we are imperfect and confessing our imperfection actually helps unites us with the ones that we have hurt and others who share the same weaknesses.  When I introduce this part of the Mass, I like to mention something about how by acknowledging our sinfulness we are proclaiming God’s greatness.  God’s power is shown by His willingness to get over any sort of resentment and bitterness and simply forgive us.  He does not get trapped up in all the emotional games and things that we get trapped up in. 
                I think it is also important to profess our sinfulness because it reminds us of our need of a savior.  If I am self-sufficient and do need anybody then I have no need to be at Church but on the other hand if I am dependent upon others and God for all that I have then I need Church. 
 
                The Gloria adds a touch of Christmas to our celebrations throughout the year.  It celebrates that Jesus Christ is the Son of God become man for our salvation.  And the early Christians thought it proper to sing the same song in the Mass; for it is there that we experience, firsthand, the mystery of the Incarnation.  Listen to St. John Chrysostom: “The wise men adored this body when it lay in the manger; they prostrated themselves before it fear and trembling.  Now you behold the same body that the wise men adored in the manger, lying upon the altar; you also know its power and saving effect.”
 
                If we believe God became man at Christmas then we should really have no problem that God would become our food in the Eucharist.  God is so much more powerful and loving then we can imagine.  The magi might have asked themselves if they had gone all that way for nothing when they found the child in the manger and not in a castle but in the end they believed and offered their gifts.  We might have the same feeling when staring upon the Blessed Sacraments and we are challenged to offer our gifts and to worship God also despite not finding Him in a place where our human nature would suspect Him to be.

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"Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you - for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart...don't listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love...
"Receive Communion often, very often...there you have the sole remedy, if you want to be cured. Jesus has not put this attraction in your heart for nothing..."
"The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us - that is all He asks."  - St. Therese of Lisieux
 
As we continue to look at Mass using Cardinal Wuerl’s book: The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition, let us move on from the Introductory rites to the heart of the liturgy words.  Please remember the quotes from the book are in red and my commentary is in black.
 
                “Faith comes from what is heard,” Saint Paul said (Romans 10:17).  And so we receive the words of the Bible as the earliest Christians receive them.    We receive them from the Church.  Remember that, for many centuries, there were not printing presses; books were very costly; and many people could not read.  Still, Christians received the Scriptures in an orderly fashion as they attended Mass, week after week, year after year (and sometimes day after day), throughout their lives.  In fact, the early Church defined the Scriptures as those books that could legitimately be read during the Mass—for no other documents, no other words may be proclaimed as “the Word” at Mass.
 
                I heard that the ancient Chinese had a proverb that went something like “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and the straightest path between two truths is a story.”  Stories help to convey more than mere words as they help to evoke feelings and memories from its listeners.  As we marvel at how God worked in the Scripture we should see very similar things happening in our life.  As we learn about God’s faithfulness to the Israelites, we learn also of God’s faithfulness to us. 
 
                Christianity is unintelligible apart from the religion of ancient Israel—God’s primordial covenant with his chosen people.  Jesus understood himself and explained himself in light of the Old Testament: “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, (Jesus) interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27).  Following his master, Saint Paul taught the Church that the Israelites “were entrusted with the utterances of God” (Romans 3:2).  Thus Christians have always venerated the Scriptures of ancient Israel.
 
                I know learning more and more about the Old Testament helps me understand the New Testament better.  For example how the Old Testament Joseph was thought to be dead and sold into slavery only for God to raise him up to a high position in the Egyptian government to save people from famine, we cannot help but see so many comparisons with Jesus who was thought to be dead, who humbled himself to take the form of a slave, who God raised so that we all may be saved.  I know the more I learn about the Old Testament the more I come to know about Jesus.
 
                When we pray the Psalms this way, we are praying as Jesus did, as Mary did, as the apostles did.  The Psalms of Israel came easily to their mind in all circumstances.  The Book of Psalms is the Old Testament book most often quoted in the New Testament
 
                I have had the privilege of traveling a few years ago to the Boston area and I was so impressed to have been standing in the spot that the first battles of the American Revolution took place.  I felt a connection with the soldiers of Lexington and Concord in a way that I had not reading about them in text books.  It is much the same way when praying the psalms realizing that these are the very psalms that Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the Apostles prayed. 
 
                Alleluia is one of two Hebrew words that have endured untranslated, for use in the Mass.  (The other is Amen). 
                Alleluia (sometimes spelled Hallelujah) means “Praise the Lord.”  That is what we do when we rise to hear the proclamation of the Gospel. 
                Praise is the purest form of prayer, because it seeks nothing for itself, but only God’s glory.  We ask God for good things.  We thank God for graces we received.  Our gratitude, however, moves us to consider not just what God ahs don for us, but who God is.  And so we praise the Lord.
 
                Before we read about the Incarnation (God made flesh) in the Gospels we stop to praise God because of how awesome He is and how marvelous His love is for us.  God chooses to love us even though He did not have too.  He sent us a redeemer instead of an executioner.  Praise be God for His love and mercy.

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Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again in glory. These words contain the very essence of the Eucharistic mystery. In them we find what we bear witness to and share in every day as we celebrate and receive the Eucharist. In the Upper Room Jesus effects the consecration. By virtue of His words, the bread - while keeping the external appearance of bread - becomes His Body, and the wine - while maintaining the external appearance of wine - becomes His Blood. THIS IS THE GREAT MYSTERY OF FAITH! THIS IS THE LIVING BREAD WHICH CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN!" – Bl. John Paul II
 
Moving from the second week of September into the third week and realizing that this month to is almost over, I wish to move from the Liturgy of the Word to the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Please remember that my commentary is in black and quotes from Cardinal Wuerl’s book are in red.
 
                We begin by bringing our gifts to the altar.  That’s a very general way of describing what happens, but it’s accurate.  We bring our gifts—material gifts and spiritual gifts.  We bring what we have and what we are, and we acknowledge that it all comes from God and it all belongs to God.
                Since the earliest days of the Church, Christians have used this time to “take up a collection” or “pass the basket.” Today we collect money that is used for the upkeep of the Church and the funding of charitable activities.  IN the first centuries, Christians would bring whatever they had and place it by the altar, leaving it at the disposal of the priest or the local bishop.  Saint Hyppolytus wrote of the contributions left at the altar in third- century Rome: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, pears, apples, blackberries, peaches, cherries, almonds, and plums—and sometimes flowers especially roses and lilies
 
                If there was one part of the Mass that I wish people had a better understanding of it is the offertory.  I believe that all too often we become cynical and assume that this is the most part of the Mass because the Church needs money in order to pay its bills.  The truth of the matter is that I firmly believe that the Church would somehow survive without our offering because the source of its power is the Holy Spirit.  What makes this part so important is because this is the part where we offer our very lives to God through this symbolic action.  As the priest accepts the bread and wine from the people and places it on the altar the priest is accepting our dreams and our hopes, our fears and concerns.  Is there a concern that you have, a sin that you struggle with, someone in need of prayers, etc?  This is the time to lay it at the feet of God and show God that you need Him and trust Him.  I challenge each of you to bring with you to each Mass an intention and to intentionally call it to mind at this part of the Mass. 
 
Such charity has always been the mark of Christianity, setting it apart, in the ancient world, from pagan philanthropy.  In the pagan world, wealthy people were expected to placate the poor for the sake of the social order; many rich people gave money to earn fame or immortality.  But Christians gave for God’s sake.
 
The Catholic Church has been the leader of social justice in the world.  Our international agencies like Catholic Relief Services, our domestic services like Catholic Charities, and our parish level services like St. Vincent DePaul Society have been major parts of our Church in one form or another since the beginning.  We hear in Scripture of St. Paul taking up a collection to help those in need elsewhere.  The goal has always been not to earn God’s love or favor by giving but rather we show everyone that we are like God in our generosity and love – unconditionally.  We give to people no matter what their religion is because even if they do not believe we believe that they were created by the same God who created us.
 
   Why does the priest mix a little bit of water with the wine?  There is a practical, historical reason and several symbolic interpretations.  The historical fact is that it was the custom for most Mediterranean people living in the time of Jesus Christ.  They stored wine ia concentrated form, and then diluted it at mealtime.  Most of the ancient descriptions o the Passover meal describes the mixing of water and wine.
…Saint Cyprian, a North African, saw the mixture as a symbol of the communion of Christ with the Church—again, so close as to be indistinguishable from one another.  And, of course  down the centuries, many saints have seen the mixture of wine and water as a vivid image of the blood and water that poured forth from the pierce side of Christ on the cross (see John 19:34)
 
So much of our symbolism at Mass started off as being very practical but through time meaning was added to it like Cardinal Wuerl points out about the mixing of the water and wine.  Is it not amazing how God uses ordinary things to speak to us.  Think about St. Cyprian’s idea that we are so caught up in God’s divinity that we are now inseperable from Him.  Where do we start and God stop? 
 
Since the root meaning of the word Eucharist is “thanksgiving,” it is fitting that we begin our great Eucharistic Prayer on a note of gratitude.  Thankfulness is indeed the dominant theme in the prayers used for the preface: “Father, all-powerful and every-living God we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
 
How is it that “do well always and everywhere to give you thanks?”  It is only “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Jesus makes up what is lacking in our gratitude.  Jesus makes up what we lack to be in God’s presence to make us holy.   While all our sacrifices by themselves fail when united with Christ they succeed because He makes up the difference.

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The bread that you see on the altar is the Body of Christ as soon as it is sanctified by God's word. The chalice, or better what is contained in the chalice, is the Blood of Christ as soon as it is sanctified by God's word," - St. Augustine
 
We have reached the last Sunday of September and this will be my last reflection on Cardinal Wuerl’s book: The Mass: The Glory, The Mystery, The Tradition.  I strongly encourage you to purchase this book for yourself and to take time to read about the many different aspects of the Mass.  For this last week I will focus on two quotes concerning the structures of the Eucharistic Prayers used at Mass.  Please remember that the quotes from the book are in red and my commentary is in black.
 
                In the Roman Missal, there are four primary Eucharistic Prayers the priest may choose from.
                -              Eucharistic Prayer I (also known as the Roman Canon) is based upon the great Latin liturgy of the Ancient Church In its presence form, it was published by Pope Saint Pius X in 1570, but it is substantially the same as the rites described in the writings of the great fathers of the Western Church, Saint Ambrose (fourth century) St. Augustine (fifth century), and St. Gregory the Great (sixth century).
-              Eucharistic Prayer II is based on a liturgy in the Greek language recorded around A.D. 215 by Saint Hyppolytus of Rome.  It may have been long established by the time he wrote it down.  It fell into disuse for more than a millennium, but was reinstated in the second half of the twentieth century.
-              Eucharistic Prayer III follows the patterns of the Roman canon, but in a more abbreviated form. It was composed during the later part of the twentieth century.
                -              Eucharistic Prayer IV was modeled after certain liturgies of the Easter Church.  It includes a longer very poetic retelling of the history of salvation.  It begins with an account of God’s life in eternity, proceeds through creation, original sin, and then through the history of the covenants culminating in the redemption won though the life of Jesus Christ.
                In addition to these four the Church has other Eucharistic Prayers to be used in special circumstances—for the Masses of Reconciliation and for Masses with children.
 
                In the past I attended a non-Catholic funeral and I was sadly disappointed to find out that the majority of the service was made up by the minster presiding over the service.  He had decided that there would be three readings followed by three songs, followed by a sermon.  I thanked God then and there that I have an 2,000 year old institution guided by the Holy Spirit telling me how and what liturgy should look like.  I found the minister to be a little bit full of himself if he thought he knew better than the Church.    I feel much the same way when it comes to the Eucharistic Prayers at Mass.  I thank God for giving me these words through His Church to say, after all God’s words are always better than any words that I can make up. 
                I would also like to point out the St. Hyppolytus of Rome mentioned in the paragraph about the second Eucharistic Prayer was at onetime an anti-pope but praise be God repented of his evil ways and became a saint.  Maybe the power of the Eucharist can change hearts if we let Him?
                Does anyone else think that it is kind of funny that we have four main Eucharistic Prayers of varying lengths and wordings just like we have four different Gospels.
                I like Eucharistic Prayer I because of the grandeur of the words and the naming of all the saints.
                I like Eucharistic Prayer II because of its shortness (I will admit it) but also because of its noble simplicity.  Sometimes a few words can say things more eloquently then many words.
                I like Eucharistic Prayer III because of its intro where we talk about Jesus gathering all people to Him from East to West.  “East to West” is a term liturgically that can be speaking of geography but also of time with “east” meaning beginning of time and “west” meaning the end of time.
                I like Eucharistic Prayer IV for its recounting of salvation history before the epiclesis and for the phrase “and for all who seek you with a sincere heart.”  I like the idea that the Mass is for more than just Christians but rather is offer for everyone who truly is seeking God.
 
                We will, instead divide our discussion as the Church divided its own in the Missal and the Catechism.  Every Eucharistic Prayer includes:
                -Thanksgiving and acclamation—these take places most prominently in the preface and “Holy, Holy, Holy”.
                -A prayer for the sending of the Holy Spirit (also called the epiclesis).
                -The institution narrative—the story of the Last Supper
                -Remembrance (also called anamnesis)
                -Offering
                -Intercession
                -A final doxology
 
                We begin the Eucharistic Prayer by thanking God for all that He has given us and praising Him by joining the heavenly song of the angels “Holy, Holy, Holy.” 
                The epiclesis follows (as the priest places his hands over the gifts) and the priest calls down the Holy Spirit (God’s love) to change the bread and wine into the Eucharist (Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ)
                The Institution narrative reminds us of why we gather and what is expected of us as we “do this in remembrance.” 
                We offer the gifts to God and trust in His love to accept them and then to give them back to us.
                We offer small prayers for the pope, local bishop, and for all who are gathered at Mass asking God to help us become His loving presence on earth and one day welcome us into heaven.
                Finally there is one last moment of praise as the priest proclaims God’s glory and we all respond “Amen.” 
 
                I hope that these last two months have helped you come to a better understanding the Mass and all its many dimensions.  I encourage you to keep learning more about this great gift from God that is the source and summit of our Christian lives.

The Catholic Church sets aside the month of October each year as a special time of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I believe that this is because of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th. Growing up, I used to wonder why we Catholics put such an emphasis on Mary. I also wondered if our putting so much emphasis on devotion to Mary was somehow taking away the praise and devotion that we should be giving to Jesus. Somewhere though someone helped me understand that God is not in competition with any human being much less with the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is no Promethean competition between God and human beings. For one thing, if we were in some competition with God we would simply lose. All God has to do to eliminate us is to stop thinking about us. There simply cannot be any competition between Creator and creation. Rather I was taught to think of God as an artist and the Blessed Virgin Mary as His masterpiece and so by praising His artwork we are praising Him the artist. For example every word of praise said about Leonardo Divinci’s “Last Supper,” actually increases Leonardo Divinci’s praise and fame. In much the same way when we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary we are honoring the Blessed Trinity. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a Doctor of the Church, put it this way: “Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that whatever we say in praise of the Mother gives equal praise to the Son.

For the month of October I would like to take a closer look at the Catholic Church teachings concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary because I know ultimately the more we learn about Mary the more we will learn about her divine Son Jesus. To provide sort of an outline for our exploration of the Church’s teachings on the Blessed Virgin Mary, I wish to reflect each week on a different image/title of Mary.

The first image I would like to reflect on is an image that I believe is called Our Lady of Apostles or Queen of Apostles. I first saw this image of Mary at the Daughters of St. Paul Catholic bookstore on Watson Road (Pauline Book and Media). What strikes me the most about this image of Mary is how she is holding the Christ-child up as if offering Him for us to hold. She is offering up to world. As I see Mary holding the Christ-child out for someone to hold, I cannot help but think of the great enthusiasm that I have developed for being able to hold my nieces and nephews. Everyone loves holding a baby and making goofy faces at a child. I wish everyone had the same energy and zeal when it came to embracing Christ in our everyday lives.

The second thing, I like about the image is that the Christ-child is holding his left hand (the hand without the scroll) up in blessing. This is a great reminder to me of two things. The first is that my faith is a gift from God. It is a blessing to receive Christ and His teaching into my life. I sometimes think that my life would be better if I remembered this more often. The world is pushing forth the message that faith is not a blessing but rather a curse. I think that people who push this idea often view themselves in conflict with God. I think that this would be the effects of Original Sin. John the Baptist though told us that we had to think in a new way. Jesus spoke about God not being a tyrant but rather a loving Father. If we see God as a loving Father then we see our faith is a blessing and God’s commandments as a way to happiness.

When I think of Mary as the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Apostles, one may say that Mary was not an Apostle. All I have to do to answer this question in my mind is think of the following verse the Gospel of Luke: “Then his mother and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” (Luke 8:19-21). At first this passage may sound like Jesus is down playing the role of His Blessed Mother, but in all honesty He is telling us that Mary’s true glory does not come from simply being a blood relative. Her true glory does not come from simply being a blood relative but rather it comes from actually doing the will of God all the time. Mary truly is the one who heard the Word of God and acted on it by saying “yes” to the Father’s will. The Church therefore holds Mary up as a true role model for all believers.

In the left hand of the Christ child, Jesus is holding a scroll. I have no idea what is actually on the scroll but I assume it is a symbol of the Gospel. Mary once again shows us that we are to bring the Gospel of Christ into the world by doing the simple things like taking care of a child. Mary’s last words in the Gospel were: “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5).

“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly to you O Virgin of virgins, my mother, to you I come; before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

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As we continue our look at the teachings of the Catholic Church on the Blessed Virgin Mary, I would like to look at what I think has been the most common image of the Blessed Virgin Mary in my life and that would be Our Lady of Grace.  This image depicts Mary standing on the world, stomping on a snake, dressed in blue and white, and when in painting form she is often found with 12 stars around her head and rays of light coming forth from her.
 
Most of the theology of image comes from what theologians called the proto-gospel (which means first Gospel).  It refers to Genesis 3:5: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; they will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.”  This verse in Genesis is the first reference according to theologians of the coming of Christ.  This image speaks to me of God’s providential care.  At the moment of the first sin God is already preparing for reconciliation.  I wish that I was that quick when it comes to forgiveness and reconciliation but instead I tend to brood over things.
 
So in this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary we see Mary stepping on the head of a snake.  The above Bible verse helps me to think of the similarities and differences between Eve and Mary.  First both Eve and Mary make a choice that effects the whole world.  Eve chooses not to trust in God and so her choice (along with Adam) and sin entered the world.  Mary’s choice to say “yes” to God and she brought Jesus into the world.  Sometimes we think that our choices do not affect anyone but in reality our choices do affect the world.  For example a father’s choice to sin effects the whole family because he is not the spouse and parent that he is supposed to be.  May we always be like Mary and say “yes” to God’s will so that we may bring God’s love into the world and not sin and division.
 
I see the colors that Mary is wearing as being especially symbolic.  Whenever we see the color white in religious art most of the time the artist wants us to think of purity and sinlessness.  So Mary wearing white is a sign of her sinlessness.  Blue is a color in art work often signifies humanness.  Mary is fully human and thanks to the grace of God completely sinless.  Sometimes we begin to think that it is impossible for us to avoid sin because we are human beings.  Jesus and Mary show us that to be truly human (to be the way God created us) means to be sinless.  The only way for that to happen though is for us to rely on God’s grace and not on our own ability.
 
What is this grace that I am talking about?  Grace is God’s free gift of participation in His Divine life.  Grace is receiving the love that keeps the Blessed Trinity into our very being.  We call Mary “Our Lady of Grace” because we believe Mary plays a role of intercession for us.  Think for a moment of the Wedding Feast of Cana.  The young couple is celebrating their wedding and is about to run out of wine.  This would have been seen as a major social disaster for the young couple.  Mary, instead of gossiping or rejoicing in the young couple’s misfortune or lack of planning, brings the servants to her Son Jesus.  She tells her Son of the problem and Jesus of course as we know turns the water into wine.  The Blessed Virgin Mary invokes a response in her Son.  This is why we as Catholics pray to Mary for assistance.  It is not a magical thing but rather it is quite Biblical.
 
I thought I would end today’s reflection with one of my favorite Marian Prayers:
"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - Saint Maximilian Kolbe
 
Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Let us continue our look at the Catholic Church’s teaching on Mary and how Mary is portrayed in art.  I wish to move from last week’s image of Our Lady of Grace to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.    In Mexico and in the year 1531 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to an Aztec peasant and recent convert to Catholicism Juan Diego.  Juan Diego was traveling home from Church when he encountered a young woman who told him that he needed to go to the bishop and tell the bishop to build a church on the spot where she was standing. 
 
Juan Diego went to the bishop and reported to him everything the young woman had told him.  The bishop told Juan Diego that he needed some sort of sign or proof before he would do anything.  Juan Diego went back to the lady and she told him to gather some of the beautiful roses that were blooming even though it was not their season.  Juan Diego went back to the bishop and as he emptied his tilma (a long bib like piece of clothing made of cactus fibers and used for carrying things) of the roses.  The bishop looked past the roses to see that there was an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary imprinted on the tilma itself.  One of the things that make this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe so special is that is an image that Mary herself gave us.
 
The tilma itself is an amazing relic that an ordinary tilma would only last about 20 years at the most because of the cactus fiber that it was made of but this tilma still exists today.  The Church has not just taken the word of Juan Diego when it comes to the tilma or even that of the bishop but rather has turned to science to see if there is any natural or synthetic way that the image could have been made.  For more information about the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (and the tilma) I would suggest the following two books: A Handbook on Guadalupe by Francis Mary and Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness by Warren Carroll.
 
The tilma itself is an amazing relic in that an ordinary tilma would only last about 20 years at the most because of the cactus fiber that they were made of but this tilma still exists today.  For more information about the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe I would suggest the following two books: A Handbook on Guadalupe by Francis Mary and Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness by Warren Carroll. 
 
Let us take a closer look at the image itself.  One of the most common misperception, I believe is about the little angel boy at the bottom of the image.  Many people who do not know anything about the image assume that the little angel is an angel of God holding the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The little angel boy though is actually a symbol for the Aztec serpent God.  So like the image of Our Lady of Grace the Blessed Virgin Mary in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is stomping on the head of the serpent  as mentioned in the proto-gospel. 
 
The most fascinating part of the image for me when it comes to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the stars on her mantle.  Scientists tried to match the stars from the mantle to the stars that appeared in the sky over Mexico on the night that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego.  However there was no match until one of the scientists accidently flipped the star chart over and then the stars matched.  So the stars on her mantle match the stars in the sky the night the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego but only if one was looking at the world from outside the universe!  What a wonderful reminder that God is just not part of the universe or the universe as a whole but rather God is greater than the universe. 
 
Another unique thing about the image is that Mary appears to be pregnant in the image.  The sash that Mary is wearing was an Aztec symbol for pregnancy.  Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the patroness of the pro-life movement.  It is an awesome reminder that Jesus himself in the words of Christian song writer Michael Card was a “holy embryo.”  Besides the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing pregnant in the image, there is another reason for Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the patroness of the pro-life movement. 
 
When the Spanish made their way to the “new” world the Aztec religion was practicing human sacrifice and really was a culture of death.  The idea was that the Aztec gods needed human blood to live and so the Aztec priests would cut out the hearts of the human victims with a sacred knife.  The Catholic missionaries quickly explained to the Aztecs that the gods did not need to drink human blood but rather we needed God’s blood (the Eucharist).  While the Catholic religion was more appealing because it did not have human sacrifice not many converts came right away because of the harsh treatments the Aztecs received at the hands of the Spanish.  When Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared as an Aztec peasant and not a European lord or bishop helped convert an entire nation. 
 
Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me...”
 
O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church!, who from this place reveal your clemency and your pity to all those who ask for your protection, hear the prayer that we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our sole Redeemer.

Mother of Mercy, Teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you, who come to meet us sinners, we dedicate on this day all our being and all our love. We also dedicate to you our life, our work, our joys, our infirmities and our sorrows. Grant peace, justice and prosperity to our peoples; for we entrust to your care all that we have and all that we are, our Lady and Mother. We wish to be entirely yours and to walk with you along the way of complete faithfulness to Jesus Christ in His Church; hold us always with your loving hand.

Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you for all the Bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service of God and souls. Contemplate this immense harvest, and intercede with the Lord that He may instill a hunger for holiness in the whole people of God, and grant abundant vocations of priests and religious, strong in the faith and zealous dispensers of God’s mysteries.

Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God. Blessed Virgin Mary, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children.

Our hope, look upon us with compassion, teach us to go continually to Jesus and, if we fall, help us to rise again, to return to Him, by means of the confession of our faults and sins in the Sacrament of Penance, which gives peace to the soul.

We beg you to grant us a great love for all the holy Sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth.

Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which come to us from your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
 
His Holiness John Paul II
Mexico, January 1979. Visiting Her Basilica during his first foreign trip as Pope.

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As we continue to reflect on the Church’s teaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary with the help of art, I would like to move onto what I believe will be another familiar image of the Blessed Virgin Mary called Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  Our Lady of Perpetual Help is an icon that depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary comforting Jesus after Jesus has had a nightmare in which two angels show Jesus the tools of the Crucifixion.  The dream has scared the Christ-child so much that He has almost lost His sandals because He was running so fast to be in His mother’s arm. 
 
Our Lady of Perpetual Help speaks to me of finding holiness at home and of Mother Teresa’s saying: “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”  Our Lady of Perpetual Help shows Mary taking care of Jesus and showing Him love by doing the very simple thing of comforting Him after a nightmare.  Often we think God wants us to love in some extraordinary way (like becoming a missionary and traveling to a far off land) but most of the time God wants us to simply love the people around us as He loves them.  I like to think of holiness as a kind of super spice that makes the ordinary tings of life into something special which reminds me of another Mother Teresa quote: Be faithful in small things because it is in them your strength lies.  Mary’s holiness is shown not in one moment of her life but rather through her continue “yes” to God every moment of her life.
 
This image of Mary also speaks to me of the what we sometimes refer to the “quiet or hidden” life of Jesus described in the Gospel of Luke:  “Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man. (Luke 2:41-55)
 
The image shows me that Mary saw Christ’s dignity even in their home life in Nazareth.  What must it have been like for her to encounter the divine in such an amazing way anytime she picked up her child?  There is a part of me that desires to be that close to Jesus.  I also desire to see God in the ordinary moments of life.  Many parents confess in the confessional how they had been impatient with their children or tell me that they pray often for patience when it comes to their relationship with their family.  I encourage them to take time each day to think of their family as a gift from God.  I find myself treating my family much better if I simply take the time to say a prayer of thanksgiving for them before I interact with them.
 
Hail Mary, poor and humble Woman, Blessed by the Most High! Virgin of hope, dawn of a new era, We join in your song of praise, to celebrate the Lord’s mercy, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom and the full liberation of humanity.

Hail Mary, lowly handmaid of the Lord, Glorious Mother of Christ! Faithful Virgin, holy dwelling-place of the Word, Teach us to persevere in listening to the Word, and to be docile to the voice of the Spirit, attentive to his promptings in the depths of our conscience and to his manifestations in the events of history.

Hail Mary, Woman of sorrows, Mother of the living! Virgin spouse beneath the Cross, the new Eve, Be our guide along the paths of the world. Teach us to experience and to spread the love of Christ, to stand with you before the innumerable crosses on which your Son is still crucified.

Hail Mary, woman of faith, First of the disciples! Virgin Mother of the Church, help us always to account for the hope that is in us, with trust in human goodness and the Father’s love. Teach us to build up the world beginning from within: in the depths of silence and prayer, in the joy of fraternal love, in the unique fruitfulness of the Cross.

Holy Mary, Mother of believers, pray for us. Amen.
By John Paul II

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Our Last image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is called Our Lady of Czestochowa and is also known as the Black Madonna.  The image claims a long and rich history with some Catholics believing that the image was painted by St. Luke on the table where he interviewed the Blessed Virgin Mary for his Gospel.    Whether or not St. Luke actually painted this picture or not, I think it is good to remind ourselves that the Church does not simply make things up about Mary but rather all that the Church teaches us about Mary comes from Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
 
When I look at this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary the word “regal” comes to mind.  Mary and Jesus are all decked out with fine linens, jewels, and crowns invoking forth the idea of majesty.  This of course does not point to any event in the lives of Mary and Jesus.  The only crown Jesus wore in His life on earth was a crown of thorns.  The artist must therefore speaking of a spiritual reality.  The artist is seeing Mary and Jesus as God sees them because to God we are all priceless. 
 
 
St. Athanasius said something along the lines that “God became man so that man could become God.”  If we only knew of our royal dignity would we be so obsessed with material things?  Our riches though are not material but rather the divine love of God.   
 
Mary and Jesus though does not allow their knowledge of being divine (Jesus naturally and Mary through the merits of Christ her Son) to separate them for others.  In fact the more they know that they are loved by God the more they commit themselves to serving others. 
 
 St. Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Philippians: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.  Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,  Who, though he was in the form of God,  did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness;  and found human in appearance,  he humbled himself,  becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2)
 
Mother Teresa put it this way: “Intense love does not measure, it just gives.” Mother Teresa   speaks to me of how unconditional love Mary had for Jesus.  In the same way, we as Mary’s spiritual children can count on Mary to comfort us as we struggle to pick up our crosses and follow her Son.  A simple Hail Mary can help us resolve to trust in God and to overcome our sinfulness.  Mary shows us in this image of how we are to love.  We are to just love and not count the cost. 
 
I would like to end today’s reflection with the Salve Regina or Hail Holy Queen in English:
 
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy! Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement , O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Amen.

As Catholics we believe in what is known as a “Virtue Ethic” which means that we believe that all human beings are called to develop into better human beings by creating good habits.  We are all morally like athletes in as much as an athlete is called to develop good habits of diet, exercise, and sportsmanship, we are called to develop our consciences and moral habits so that we can be the morally upstanding people God is calling us to be. 
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following about virtues in general:
 
"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions.
The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.  (CCC1803)
 
Last November, I started to take each Sunday in November to talk about a different virtue with the help of a book written by Barbara C. Unell and Jerry L. Wyckoff’s called 20 Teachable Virtues: Practical Ways to Pass on Lessons of Virtue and Character to Your Children.
 
Caring
This Sunday I would like to focus on the virtue of Caring.   So what does it meant to be “caring”?  Unell and Wyckoff’s definition is below in bold:
 
Caring vb. 1. To feel interest or concern 2. To give care (for the sick) n. 1. A sense of responsibility 2. Painstaking or watchful attention 3. Regard coming from desire or esteem.
 
Caring is an odd virtue because it is fueled by one’s soul.  Caring is a lot like music, dance, or art in that there is something more than reason that motivates one to being a caring person.  It is also mystical in the fact that it cannot simply be taught but it must also be modeled.  A young person must experience and witness another person being caring if he or she wished to be caring.  Caring is also a great virtue to develop because it invokes an almost immediate reward of good feedback and rewards.  Early in the development of the virtue of caring it is important that the person learning caring receives positive feedback.  To be a caring person, one develops the ability to think about the needs and feelings of others. 
 
10 Steps to Help Develop the Virtue of Caring:
1.            Make sure to reinforce the idea that our behaviors affect others.  When we realize that we can have a positive or negative effect on others we will strive hard naturally to avoid hurting others.
2.            It is important to have the virtue of caring modeled for us since it is an abstract concept. 
3.            When teaching others about caring it is important to do so in a caring way and not a demeaning way.
4.            When correcting others make sure to explain what it is that they did wrong or how you expected them to behave.  Simple do not tell them “to behave.” 
5.            Take a moment, if you see uncaring activities on television or movies, to think about what the caring act would have been.
6.            When watching children play make sure to correct uncaring behavior.  It is often better to suggest alternative ways of acting instead of lecturing.
7.            Perform caring activities with others like going to a soup kitchen with a parish group.
8.            Remember to give positive feedback often when you see people being caring
9.            Focus on being empathetic to others needs and not our own.
10.          Focus on wanting what is best for the other person.

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Last Sunday I looked at the virtue of Caring and this Sunday I wish to look at the virtue of courage.  Before I dive deeper into the idea of the virtue of courage I wish to share with you another passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) about virtue.
 
Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.
The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love. (CCC1804)
 
Courage
I have always like the quote: “There is a fine line between courage and stupidity.”  I think therefore that is important that we define exactly what we mean by the word “courage”.  Unell and Wyckoff’s definition is below in bold:
 
Courage n. 1. The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., with firmness and without fear; bravery.  Syn. Fearlessness, dauntlessness, intrepidity, fortitude, pluck, spirit.  Have the courage of one’s conviction vb. To act in accordance with one’s belief, esp.  in spite of criticism.
 
Courage in its basic form is standing up against something that can or does create the feeling of fear in us.  Often this fear is brought to us by peer pressure.   To teach people courage means that we are teaching them to take reasonable risks, admitting mistakes, and to stand up for one’s belief.  It is important to realize that courage does not mean trying to do the impossible.  There is a need to be rational while being courageous otherwise it is not courage but stupidity one exercises.  The second thing is to have the courage to admit that we have made mistakes and then to learn from them.  Finally one demonstrates courage by standing up for one’s belief as Edmund Burke put it “The only thing necessary for the triumph (of evil) is for good men to do nothing.”
 
10 Steps to Help Develop the Virtue of Courage:
1.            First try to model courage to others or look for others who are courageous to model courage to you.
2.            Examine the role of peer pressure in your life and what is it that you fear?
3.            Identify your fears and examine them to see if they are rational
4.            Teach children to stand up for their rights and the rights of others.
5.            “Discretion is the better part of valor.”  It is important to realize that one does not have to win every battle.
6.            Never assume another person should just get over their fears but rather help them develop courage.
7.            Read Scripture passages about God’s faithfulness and love for us.
8.            Do not climb to the top of a diving board and throw someone who is afraid of water into deep end of the pool.  This will most likely result in them developing a lack of trust in you.
9.            Look for examples of small ways to help in cultural situations.  Reaching out to a homeless person.
10.          Talk to others about your pressure and fears with others.

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We have looked at the virtues of caring and courage and so now we move onto the next virtue which is humor.  Before we move to this virtue let us look at another passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God's help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. The virtuous man is happy to practice them. (CCC 1810)
It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance. Christ's gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. Everyone should always ask for this grace of light and strength, frequent the sacraments, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and follow his calls to love what is good and shun evil. (CCC 1811)
                Humor, may not be consider by some to be a virtue but being able to laugh with others even in the midst of trouble and chaos. 
 
                Humor n 1. A comic quality causing amusement: the humor of a situation. 2. The faculty of perceiving, appreciating, or expressing what is amusing or comical.  3. Comical writing or talk in general. 4. Mental disposition or temperament. 5. A temporary mood or frame of mind: He’s in a bad humor today. 6. A capricious or freakish inclination; whim or caprice; odd trait.
 
                According to Unell and Wyckoff’s book: “Humor evokes a uniquely human emotional response.  Babies are able to laugh with joy at moments of discovery, simply bubbling over with surprise of their growing awareness.  But children can lose the virtue of humor when they feel unloved and when their lives lack models of how to flavor life with a sense of humor.  To be able to see the humor in life requires an appreciation of its spontaneity and its imperfections.  This appreciation is best developed in the context of a caring and supportive environment that encourages feeling a joyful sense of wonder about the world and looking for humor and solutions in adversity rather than looking for someone else to blame or to be responsible for life’s ups and downs.” 
 
When talking about humor I think it is important to remind ourselves that the virtue is always in the middle of two vices.  If we have no sense of humor then we can take ourselves, our lives and others too seriously and if we have too much humor in our life we can become sarcastic and insensitive.   Another problem with humor is that we often have to judge the effects of our humor on other people.  Sometimes a joke that one person finds harmless another person takes too seriously.
 
10 Steps to Help Develop the Virtue of Humor:
1.            One must model humor without laughing at the person you are modeling the virtue of humor to.
2.            Remember that it is alright to be imperfect with humor as long as you are willing to apologize when someone does not take your joke in the way that you intended.
3.            Remember that no one is perfect
4.            Laugh at children’s jokes or attempts at humor.
5.            Make sure your humor is not direct at other peoples faults.
6.            If children tell you an inappropriate joke do not overreact but rather explain to them why what they said was wrong.  Remember that children are most likely repeating something that they had heard.
7.            Remind people to be concerned about other people.
8.            Remember to avoid fighting fire with fire.
9.            Remember that God loves everyone
10.          Remember to laugh a lot.

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       We are now here for the final Sunday of the month and we are now ready to look at the virtue of respect.  Here though is two more passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
 
The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  (CCC 1830)
Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. (CCC 1833)
 
                Our last virtue for the month is respect.  So let us see what Barbara (Unell) and Jerry (Wyckoff) have to tell us about the definition of the virtue of respect.
 
                Respect vb. To consider worthy of high regard: ESTEEM n. 1. The quality or state of being esteemed: HONOR 2. Expressions of respect or deference.
 
                Respect means caring about others even if it means an infringement of one’s own right.  Often respect comes from thinking positive about others.  A lot of respect comes from living the Golden rule: do onto others as you would have them do unto you.  Wikipedia had the following to say about the Golden Rule: “The Golden Rule is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, in which each individual has a right to just treatment, and a reciprocal responsibility to ensure justice for others. A key element of the Golden Rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people with consideration, not just members of his or her in-group. The Golden Rule has its roots in a wide range of world cultures, and is a standard different cultures use to resolve conflicts.”
 
10 Steps to Help Develop the Virtue of Respect:
1.            Remember the best way to model respect is to remember that each person is a gift from God.
2.            Remember to try to think of most people in positive terms.
3.            Remember to see other people’s problems as important to them
4.            Remember not to attack other’s people characters.
5.            Make sure to praise kind and caring acts.
6.            Remember that a key way to show respect is to watch one’s language
7.            Listening is a great way to show respect.
8.            Remember that showing respect often (if not always) entails some sort of sacrifice on your part.
9.            Remember to be aware of respect people’s private space. 
10.          Do not assume that because you are comfortable with a gesture (hugging) that the other person is.  Remember, if you are not sure to ask and not impose your will on others.
 
Barbara C. Unell and Jerry L. Wyckoff’s called 20 Teachable Virtues: Practical Ways to Pass on Lessons of Virtue and Character to Your Children.