Monthly Archives: May 2014

The Holy Spirit vs. “Feelings”

29 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in C.S. Lewis, Holy Spirit, Promises of Christ, Sacraments, Thought for the Day

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It is quite right that you should feel that “something terrific” has happened to you (It has) and be “all glowy.” Accept these sensations with thankfulness as birthday cards from God, but remember that they are only greetings, not the real gift. I mean, it is not the sensations that are the real thing. The real thing is the gift of the Holy Spirit which can’t usually be—perhaps not ever—experienced as a sensation or emotion. The sensations are merely the response of your nervous system. Don’t depend on them. Otherwise when they go and you are once more emotionally flat (as you certainly will be quite soon), you might think that the real thing had gone too. But it won’t. It will be there when you can’t feel it. May even be most operative when you can feel it least.

The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III

If we have shared in Christ’s death and Resurrection through Baptism, and especially if we have received Confirmation, then we can and should be confident that God is always with us. Of course, we can choose to turn our back on Him through serious sin. But once we repent and turn back towards Him – going to Confession if needed – then we must trust in the promises of our Lord who said He would be with us always. And this remains true even if we do not “feel” His presence. Lewis is very right here and we would do well to reflect upon his words especially when we do not “feel” God.

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What IS the Atonement Academy?

27 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in Catholic Church, Catholic Schools, The Kingdom of Christ

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It is a very special day for the Atonement Academy, which is the parochial school here at Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church. Today the Archbishop of San Antonio will be coming for the official groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the school. This will give the school much needed room because, while many Catholic schools across the country are struggling to survive, this school continues to grow. As I often point out to visitors – we have so many students that we literally have to use large closets for classrooms. In fact, I am writing this piece from inside of one of those closets, which I call my office. (And although it may be selfish this is one reason I am very glad for the coming expansion – because I will get a real office at the time it is complete.)

But it is not the growth of the school or the standardized test scores of its students that makes this place what it is. Our society has a tendency to view the value of an organization, whether it be a school, business or non-profit organization, based on what it achieves by way of some measurement. For example a school is judged on its ability to get high scores on standardized tests, a business is judged on how much money it makes and non-profits are judged on how many people it serves. But I think this way of thinking is to emphasize the wrong aspect, at least for a parochial school.

When people come here for the first time they always (at least in my experience) remark on the beauty of the place (school and church). And oftentimes people have pointed out to me that the whole complex is styled like a castle. I have never discussed with Fr. Phillips (our Pastor who is also the founder of the parish and the school) why it is styled in such a manner but I have my own thoughts about the meaning behind its style, which also leads to my understanding of what this place is.

First, let us address this question: what is a castle for? Obviously, it is for protection from invading hordes who seek to destroy a society. But while awaiting the coming enemy, those within the walls must be trained for battle so that they will be ready – prepared for whatever may be coming. Because once the hordes have started to advance against that society, it cannot stay hiding within those walls or it will be conquered. At some point you must venture out through the gate in order to protect that which you are safeguarding. True, you may be harmed and take loses by so doing but it is the only way to win the victory and thereby protect that which the society within the castle truly values above all else.

And that is how I view the Atonement Academy, as well as Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church. Within these walls we are preparing for battle against the advancing horde: a secular and pluralistic society that wants to see the destruction of the Catholic Church (and not just this one parish but the entire Church). And we prepare for the coming battle through the teaching in the classroom and the catechesis that takes place in the Mass. But we do not lock ourselves within these walls, instead we go out and defend the Catholic Church to the best of our abilities because it is worth protecting – in fact, it is worth dying for if necessary. And with every graduation from the school and every dismissal from Mass that takes place we go forth to do battle with the hordes that await us at the gates.

But there is still one very important element that is necessary: within every fortified castle is one who leads so that the society might be victorious against the advancing horde. In a castle it would be the king and the success of the society within would depend upon the effectiveness of the one in charge. With the Catholic Church it is no different. Jesus Christ is the King that defends the Catholic Church against the advancing horde and it is He who has promised that the “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18b, KJV) But within the Kingdom of Christ on this earth, which is the Catholic Church, there are many outposts, many castles that are established to defend the faithful against the advancing horde. I am speaking of dioceses and within them the parishes and the ones who leads them – the pastor, whether it be Bishop within his diocese or a priest within a parish. And we must thank God for all good and faithful pastors that seek to follow the teachings of the King, which is the only way any diocese or parish can win its various battles against secular society.

Therefore, let me end with a personal note to Fr. Phillips: Congratulations on the official groundbreaking we will have today because with the expansion of the school we will be able to train more people to go out and do battle with the advancing hordes. And in addition let me say thank you for being a true and faithful pastor. May this place that is prospering through your hard work produce more pastors like you.

Our Desire in this Life is Found in the Next

24 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Liturgy of the Hours, Salvation, Thought for the Day

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Emphases in bold are mine.

Our thoughts in this present life should turn on the praise of God, because it is in praising God that we shall rejoice for ever in the life to come; and no one can be ready for the next life unless he trains himself for it now. So we praise God during our earthly life, and at the same time we make our petitions to him. Our praise is expressed with joy, our petitions with yearning. We have been promised something we do not yet possess, and because the promise was made by one who keeps his word, we trust him and are glad; but insofar as possession is delayed, we can only long and yearn for it. It is good for us to persevere in longing until we receive what was promised, and yearning is over; then praise alone will remain.

From a discourse on the psalms by Saint Augustine, Bishop

A Bishop Doing What He is Called to Do

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Excommunication, Sacraments

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This post is from CatholicVote.org and can be found here.

DEAR WOMAN PRIEST, YOU’RE EXCOMMUNICATED…LOVE, BISHOP PAPROCKI

And P.S. – You’re not a priest.

That pretty much sums up Bishop Paprocki’s response to a local Catholic woman’s recent attempt to get ordained.

The woman in question is Mary F. Keldermans of Springfield. Bishop Paprocki wrote to her last month asking her to reconsider her plan, but evidently she ignored him and tried to be ordained a priest at a Unitarian church on May 5.

Bishop Paprocki promptly issued a decree of excommunication (and if you’ve never seen one of those before, they look like this).

The bishop also issued this statement to his diocese:

Please be advised that Ms. Mary F. Keldermans of Springfield, Illinois, has attempted to be ordained a priest for “Roman Catholic Womenpriests, Inc.” in a ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Springfield on May 5, 2014. As a result, she has incurred an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

That is what you call a bishop who’s not afraid to bishop.

At the same time, we should be careful not to tout this as some sort of righteous smack-down or triumphant display of authority. Bishop Paprocki is much too holy and charitable a bishop for that, and I have no doubt that his declaration of excommunication was issued with sorrow, not pleasure.

But he didn’t hold back from issuing the decree of excommunication either, or from publishing it prominently on the diocesan website.

This is one of the things I love about Bishop Paprocki. Whether it’s standing up forthe unborn, for marriage, or for Holy Orders, he doesn’t shy away from confronting those who threaten his flock, nor from explaining his position to themwith charity.

He prays intensely, he acts decisively, and he teaches clearly.

Lord, send us more bishops like this one!

Amen!

Union of Man with God

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Christian Unity, Liturgy of the Hours, Salvation, Theosis, Thought for the Day

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Just as the head and body of a man form one single man, so the Son of the Virgin and those he has chosen to be his members form a single man and the one Son of Man. Christ is whole and entire, head and body, say the Scriptures, since all the members form one body, which with its head is one Son of Man, and he with the Son of God is one Son of God, who himself with God is one God. Therefore the whole body with its head is Son of Man, Son of God, and God. This is the explanation of the Lord’s words: Father, I desire that as you and I are one, so they may be one with us.

From a sermon by Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot

Emphasis in bold print is mine.

My Peace I Give to You

20 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in Forgiveness, Loving our Neighbor, Peace

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Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.

John 14:27a, RSV-CE

This is from the Gospel reading for Mass today. For me, just hearing these words brings an immediate peacefulness to my soul. But when I look at the situations in which I usually hear or read these words I must take notice of something: it is usually at Mass or at prayer that I come across these wonderful words of our Lord. But both of those are times when you are not having to do a multitude of things; instead, you only have to be still and put yourself in the presence of God. But this is not the peace of which our Lord speaks.

The peace that our Lord wants for us is not simply the absence of those distractions and happenings in our life that can take away the calm demeanor we might have when things happen to be going our way. (Like when we can leave all our cares behind for a while when at Mass or at prayer. Or even at other times: when on vacation, a day off from work, etc.) Instead, the peace He wants for us can be ours at all times – even when it feels like we are caught in the middle of a violent storm.

To understand the peace that Christ wants to give us we must first understand what the world understands peace to be. Peace for the world is simply the lack of violence. For instance, think of the Middle East: when people call for peace amongst those countries what they mean is for the people in those countries to stop killing each other. But this is not peace – it is only a lack of violence. Even if they are not killing each other the people in those countries still hate one another and in times of ‘peace’ the least thing can set them off and they will be killing each other once again.

So we find that it is hatred that is at the root of the world's lack of peace. And the virtue needed to correct this lack of peace is love; but love is only possible if there is forgiveness. But, due to the fallen nature of mankind, there can be no true forgiveness amongst the various peoples of the world without the forgiveness that comes first from God. It is true that people can forgive one another and live in relative peace for a while. But, because of our tendency to sin, if we lose or have never known the forgiveness that comes to us only from God then we will inevitably come back into conflict with the people with which we formerly had peace.

So, how do we obtain this peace that Jesus promises us? It comes to us through the forgiveness we receive from Him through His one and only perfect Sacrifice on the Cross. When we are born into this world we are born into Original Sin and therefore, we are alienated from God because sinfulness can have no place with God Who is all good. Therefore, because we were created by God and for God, we can never be at peace, whether with God, within ourselves or with others, while we are alienated from Him. God, though, has rescued us from this alienation through the perfect Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. And it is through Baptism that we participate in Christ's Sacrifice: we are buried with Him and rise again to a new life – a life of Grace.

Through this Grace, which is God's very life that He puts within us, we are put into a right relationship with God. We are therefore no longer alienated from Him. Having been created to be with Him our lives are necessarily disordered, which means there can be no true peace, until we are brought out of that alienation. Once we are made right with Him then peace within our souls is restored because we are at peace with the One who created us. But, of course, this state of Grace we have received through Baptism can be lost if we mortally sin – meaning that through some serious sin we deliberately and with full knowledge of the wrong done turn our back on God. When that happens then the peace we had is lost – until we turn back to God for forgiveness through the Sacrament of Penance.

But in connection with the forgiveness we receive from Christ we must remember His own words of warning, “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15, RSV-CE) The logical conclusion then seems to be this: if we want peace with God, with others and within ourselves – that being true peace and not just the absence of conflict or strife in our lives – then we must forgive others just as God has forgiven us.

On the Validity of C.S. Lewis’ Marriage

17 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in C.S. Lewis, Canon Law, Matrimony, Morality, Sacraments, Thankfulness

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The quote below is an excerpt from one of Lewis' letters to his friend Dorothy Sayers. The reason I am posting it is because it has given me a bit of information that I did not know about Lewis, and I am sharing it because it is something that everyone who loves Lewis needs to know.

25 June 1957

I ought to tell you my own news. On examination it turned out that Joy’s previous marriage, made in her pre-Christian days, was no marriage: the man had a wife still living. The Bishop of Oxford said it was not the present policy to approve re-marriage in such cases, but that his view did not bind the conscience of any individual priest. Then dear Father Bide (do you know him?) who had come to lay his hands on Joy—for he has on his record what looks very like one miracle—without being asked and merely on being told the situation at once said he would marry us. So we had a bedside marriage with a nuptial Mass.

The important thing to note here is that Lewis' marriage to Joy was completely valid! I had always thought that Lewis was ‘living in sin’ in his marriage because he had married Joy, who was divorced. This always bothered me because Lewis does not seem like the type that would do such a thing. Also, for such a prominent Christian apologist to do such a thing it would cause scandal by making others think that divorce and remarriage is OK, which it is not. But from his own writing in this letter it appears that he knew that Joy's first marriage was invalid because she had married a man who was already married and then civilly divorced. And, as Catholic teaching tells us, once you have entered into marriage any attempt to enter into another marriage is impossible until the death of the spouse. (And, by the way, this is a universal law – not just one for Catholics.)

Truly, I give thanks to God for having discovered this. Now my love and respect for Lewis has grown immensely. And now there only remains one thing about Lewis that makes me sad – that he was never able to see the full Truth of the Catholic faith and convert. But still – his witness to Christ has led many into the Catholic Church and I am grateful to be one of them.

The Conformity of Our Minds with What Is

15 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in Truth

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Yesterday, while reading Leisure: The Basis of Culture, I came across a term with which I was unfamiliar: capax universi. Therefore, as I usually do, I looked it up on my iPad. This term seems to mean, at least in philosophy, that the mind has the ability to know all things. I found this definition from one of the first entries that popped up in the search engine: an article by Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. This name immediately caught my attention because he happens to be the man who wrote the foreword for Leisure: The Basis of Culture, which is, of course, where the term came from that I was looking up! To this many may say that it was mere coincidence. But I do not believe in coincidence. Things like this happen for a reason and, therefore, I read the whole article.


It is interesting that the article was very similar in meaning to Leisure: The Basis of Culture, and he even mentions the book in the article. But there is one thing in particular that caught my attention. In his discussion of truth he says the following, “Truth is the conformity of our minds with what is.” By this he would not mean that the veracity of something is dependent upon human thought nor would he mean that truth only exists if the human mind has conceived it. After all, Jesus Christ is the Truth and He exists whether or not we understand Him or even if we think He doesn't exist at all. No, truth is not dependent upon the human mind. Instead, (what I think) he means is that we can and do know the truth if our understanding is in conformity with how things truly are. For example, we cannot possibly understand the truth of the universe around us if we start with the false premise that it is all here by some big cosmic coincidence. Certainly, there are many atheistic scientics that know plenty of ‘facts’ about the universe but they will never understand the truth of it until they accept it for what it really is – God's own creation.

But this understanding has consequences outside the lives of atheistic scientists. In fact, it is something every Christian needs to know and understand in order to come closer to God. If we would come closer to God then we must start with a correct understanding of the universe: God created all things – including ourselves. Therefore, we do not belong to ourselves and we cannot make our own rules concerning what is right and what is wrong. True, God gave us all free will and we can do as we please whether it be right or wrong. But to go off and blaze our ‘own’ path in the name of freedom with no regard for the truth of things (that we are creatures under Someone's authority) would be to become less than human because a creature cannot become something that it was not created to be. A mouse could not become an elephant even if it could desire to do so. And man cannot become God just because he makes up his own rules. In the end he may get some of the ‘facts’ right (like the atheistic scientist) but he will never understand the Truth.

Christ’s Body and Blood: source of eternal life

10 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Liturgy of the Hours, Sacraments, Salvation

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When the life-giving Word of God dwelt in human flesh, he changed it into that good thing which is distinctively his, namely, life; and by being wholly united to the flesh in a way beyond our comprehension, he gave it the life-giving power which he has by his very nature. Therefore, the body of Christ gives life to those who receive it. Its presence in mortal men expels death and drives away corruption because it contains within itself in his entirety the Word who totally abolishes corruption.

From a commentary on the Gospel of John by Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Jesus, being God, has life-giving power within Himself. Therefore, when we receive His Body and Blood He bestows that life to us who worthily receive Him. That is why He said, “he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54)

Love the Sin – Hate the Sinner?

09 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Forgiveness, Loving our Neighbor

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It is more than likely that we have all heard the phrase, “hate the sin – love the sinner.” This is the example we have received from our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, though, it occured to me that Satan does just the opposite and “hates the sinner but loves the sin.” It is, therefore, ironic that we so often emulate Satan instead of our Lord. What do we do (unless we are living saints) when someone offends us? If we are honest we would have to admit that our immediate reaction is, to a greater or lesser extent, to hate the person that offended us. We think to ourselves, “How could he do that to me?!” Or, “He thinks he's so great: I'll show him!”

Satan hates us and wants to drag as many of us to hell with him as possible. When we think such evil thoughts in regards to those who offend us then we are effectively doing the same thing: we are sending people to hell with our thoughts. But is that what we really want to do? Do we really want to condemn people to an eternity of despair and pain for a momentary pain they may have caused us? (And any pain in this life is only momentary.) If we really want someone to go to hell then we have probably condemned ourselves to the same fate because we have become just like Satan.

But I think for most of us, if we really thought about the consequences of our evil thoughts toward others, we would see that in the big scheme of things what has been done to offend us pales in comparison to our wrath at the offense. So the next time someone hurts us we should try to remember that that person has an immortal soul created and loved by God every bit as much as He loves our own. And if we desire to be happy for eternity then let us emulate Him when we are hurt. Yes, we should hate the sin because sinfulness can have no place with God. And we should then love the sinner with the realization that the sinner is our very self.