Remain Firm in the Unity of Christ's Body through the Enduring Bond of Love

From St. Fulgentius of Ruspe in the Office of Readings for today:

"The spiritual building up of the body of Christ is achieved through love. As Saint Peter says: Like living stones you are built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And there can be no more effective way to pray for this spiritual growth than for the Church, itself Christ’s body, to make the offering of his body and blood in the sacramental form of bread and wine. For the cup we drink is a participation in the blood of Christ, and the bread we break is a participation in the body of Christ. Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, since we all share the same bread. And so we pray that, by the same grace which made the Church Christ’s body, all its members may remain firm in the unity of that body through the enduring bond of love.

"We are right to pray that this may be brought about in us through the gift of the one Spirit of the Father and the Son. The holy Trinity, the one true God, is of its nature unity, equality and love, and by one divine activity sanctifies its adopted sons. That is why Scripture says that God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit he has given us. The Holy Spirit, who is the one Spirit of the Father and the Son, produces in those to whom he gives the grace of divine adoption the same effect as he produced among those whom the Acts of the Apostles describes as having received the Holy Spirit. We are told that the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, because the one Spirit of the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is one God, had created a single heart and soul in all those who believed.

"This is why Saint Paul in his exhortation to the Ephesians says that this spiritual unity in the bond of peace must be carefully preserved. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, he writes, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, with all humility and meekness and with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit.

"God makes the Church itself a sacrifice pleasing in his sight by preserving within it the love which his Holy Spirit has poured out. Thus the grace of that spiritual love is always available to us, enabling us continually to offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to him for ever."

Enter into Life

I'll be honest with you.  Things are falling apart over here.  Big time.  And after staying up all night with my sick baby, it may not be the best time to make a big decision, or it may be the best time to make this decision.  In the early hours of the morning when I could do nothing but take care of Michael and think without a screen in front of my face, I spent some time pondering about how I spend my time during the day.  In some ways, it seems as though I'm really living out my vocation, but in reality, I am avoiding it every chance I get with needless distractions and a desire to "fit in".  But the problem is that I will never fit in anywhere but the Heart of God.  As St. Augustine says, "Our hearts are restless O Lord, until they rest in You."  He is out there in each one of you and I have had the privilege of meeting some wonderful people online.  For that I am so thankful and trust that God put certain people in my life for a reason.

Yesterday, I read a post at Vultus Christi, where Father Kirby wrote a letter to a novice Oblate (married with children) about how she, as a wife and mother, can enter into the their charism of Adoration and Reparation.  Here is how Father Kirby began his letter:

My dear daughter in Christ,


Praying at Home
Recently, you asked me how you, as wife and mother, with children to look after from morning 'til night seven days a week, can enter into our monastery's charism of adoration and reparation. It will be many years, I think, before you will have the freedom to spend any significant amount of time in adoration before the Tabernacle, or before the Most Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance.


Your Divine Office
Your duty now, and the expression of your love for God, is to be fully present to your family. Your "Divine Office" is to cook, and clean, and change dirty diapers, and run errands, and keep the littlest ones amused, and find time to listen to the older children, and to bandage cuts, and look after bruises, and welcome guests -- and every now and then -- to steal a moment or two alone with your husband. Is this incompatible with your desire as an Oblate of our monastery to offer yourself to Our Lord in adoration, in reparation, and in supplication for the holiness of priests?

... Read more here.

This letter makes me weep in both joy and sadness.  I know God is calling me to enter fully into the life He has given me, and I trust that the relationships which God wants me to nurture are right here around me in my own living room, those with my husband and my children.  God has blessed me with a few really close friends and many acquaintances to encourage me and hopefully in some small ways I can encourage them as well.

This morning in my email inbox was an article from Matthew Warner at Fallible Blogma, "What's Your Idle?"  Well, my idle has been checking email, checking in on social media, reading blogs, writing blog posts and reading political news.  My husband is very generous in giving me the time I need to go to weekly Adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, to attend daily Mass at least once or twice a week, and to go out with friends just for some down time.  But it is the daily idle time that has me falling apart.  And, like Matthew, I am going to change what I do with that idle time.  Here is a 40 second prayer that Father Kirby included in his letter to his daughter in Christ:

A 40 Second Prayer
Here is a prayer that I wrote for this purpose. It takes exactly 40 seconds to say. Over time, it can be memorized. Use it to mark the beginning of your hour of adoration and reparation and, then, go about your business, trusting that Our Lord has heard your prayer and received it into His Heart.

Lord Jesus Christ, although I cannot, during this hour, approach Thee physically in the Sacrament of Thy Love, I would approach Thee by desire and by faith.

Transport me, I beseech Thee, by the lifting up of my mind and heart, to that tabernacle in the world where Thou art, at this hour, most forsaken, utterly forgotten, and without human company.

Let the radiance of Thy Eucharistic Face so penetrate my soul that by offering Thee adoration and reparation, even as I am busy doing ordinary things in an ordinary way, I may obtain from Thy Sacred Heart the return of at least one priest to the Tabernacle where Thou waitest for him today. Amen.

I offer all of this to Your Sacred Heart, my Lord and my Love, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my Mother.

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Not sure this post is going to gain me any readers, but that's not what this blog is about anyway.  And if you make it to the end of this post, I will be thoroughly impressed. 

I am reading a great book by Michael O'Brien, Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture.  This is my first Michael O'Brien book, and I must admit, I love his writing style and am looking forward to reading more, including his fiction. 

In all honesty, it has been over ten years since I have read J.K. Rowling's series, and even then I only read the first three books.  At the time, I found them mildly entertaining, but nothing that really stimulated me intellectually, so I never was too interested in reading more.  As an avid reader and lover of adventure, I looked forward to the series when it was first released, but never really fell in love with the series like so many people did.  And though I was not formed in my faith at all during that time, I was a bit unsettled when I read them, but I did not understand why. 

No matter what side you are on in the debate over the Harry Potter books, O'Brien's take will open your eyes to so much more than what is superficially visible in reading J.K. Rowlings popular series.  O'Brien presents his thoughts in a rational, thought provoking manner that touches on what is happening in our culture at large.  In one section entitled "The pacification of the mind", he writes:

In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, media theorist and New York University professor Neil Postman describes how television has reshaped our society.  In the past, when Western man moved from an oral culture to the print-dominated or "typographic" culture, significant changes resulted in our capacity to absorb experience and abstractions.  The volume of information fed to the mind increased while the mind's ability to sort and evaluate the influx of data did not always keep pace.  With the advent of television another quantum leap occurred.  Flooded with powerful stimuli that bypassed the mind's normal faculties for filtering and interpretation, both the rational and the imaginative aspects of our minds became increasingly passive.  As a result, Postman warns, our ways of perceiving reality itself are becoming fundamentally distorted.  We now imbibe a massive amount of impressions in small bites that demand of us neither sustained attention nor truly critical thinking, thus rendering us vulnerable to manipulation.  We are dangerously close, he says, to that condition described by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World.  No longer conscious of our bondage we are soothed by endless entertainments.

Ouch.  That really hit home for me, being practically raised by the television (well, not really, but I did watch T.V. a lot growing up and it has somewhat formed me, for good and for bad).  The good news is that I hardly watch television anymore.  Every once in awhile I like to watch Journey Home on EWTN, but that is about it for me, except when coerced with popcorn by my dear hubby :).  Unfortunately, about 90 percent of the conversations happening outside of my normal circle of friends revolve around television programming of which I have no input.  The bad news is that I must admit to an internet addiction, so I can very much relate to what O'Brien says, "We now imbibe a massive amount of impressions in small bites that demand of us neither sustained attention nor truly critical thinking, thus rendering us vulnerable to manipulation."  There is good and bad on the internet, and as a person who is in love with her faith and a very healthy appetite for learning more (virtue studiositas), I am quite often susceptible to crossing over into the vice of curiositas.

And there is music too.  Sigh.  I love music.  Music is another form of entertainment that can evoke powerful memories and emotions.  But with God's grace, He is helping me to seek the good, the true, and the beautiful of His creation.  So much of my life has been formed by entertainment, but I am thankful for the grace of God's protection and bringing my heart to His, despite some of the bad influences I have had over the years.  And I'm thankful for the gift of imagination and memory, now in light of a conscience being properly formed (it's still a work in progress).  So why do I bring up music?  Well, because I found this for your entertainment (!!!) by Roger Waters (I am a Pink Floyd fan), Amused to Death:

Coming Together with the Heart of the Church

Recently, news of Archbishop Patrick Zurek asking Fr. Frank Pavone to cease public ministry outside of the diocese of Amarillo due to financial concerns has been in the pro life and Catholic blogosphere. This post is not about Fr. Frank Pavone, but his situation is what finally gave me the courage to write it.

In speaking of this with a friend, she made a point about what happens to the priests who aren't well known who become accused?

We must not abandon our Spiritual Fathers. Yes, I do believe we must pray, always we must pray, and fast for our priests. But to put love into action requires a bit more. When a priest is accused, first, he deserves the presumption of innocence until a full investigation takes place. In this presumption of innocence, he deserves the public support of his diocese, and the Church at large. I do not mean blind support, but support with the Heart of the Church, with Mercy and Love as our foundation, always taking into account the great hurt that may have been committed against the victim.

We have recourse to our Mother Mary, who will not abandon us or any of her children who flee to her for protection. If guilt is found, we must follow Mary as our guide and still must not abandon our Spiritual Fathers. We all desperately need the Mercy of Christ. Forgiveness is a necessity for healing, even for, especially for, the victim. Justice cannot be served without repentance and forgiveness. Believe me, this is something that I have lived and know.

This past Sunday, we heard about forgiveness in the Gospel. We cannot control the response of other people, but we can our own. It is my prayer that we will come together and support our priests in a public way, with the presumption of innocence to begin, and with mercy and forgiveness always, both for the priest and the accuser. If we come together in loving support and become stronger when this happens, maybe, just maybe, some of the nonsensical false accusations will cease. If not, then those who make false accusations are only accomplishing what they mean to do and that is to tear us apart. Our mercy must also extend to those who are making false accusations; however, mercy does not mean standing by and letting a great wrong persist just to keep from offending people who are hurting. It does no good to real victims of crimes to let a false accusation stand.

For more information about falsely accused priests, visit Fr. Gordon MacRae's blog These Stone Walls. He had a wonderful post a few months ago, If Night Befalls Your Father, You Don't Discard Him. You Just Don't!

Also at Fr. MacRae's blog is commentary, including an article about priests who have been found guilty and who have been "discarded." Let us not abandon our priests ever. This does not mean condoning or accepting horrible crimes. This means living with the reality of Christ's call to repentance in our own lives, and to forgive as we have been forgiven. God's mercy is greater than all of this.

St. John Vianney, pray for us! St. Joseph, terror of demons, pray for us! St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! Our Lady of Good Help, pray for us! Christ, have Mercy on us!

UPDATE: Read Fr. MacRae's latest post: SNAP Judgements Part II: Ground Zero of the Catholic Scandal.

Studiositas versus Curiositas

I read an excellent post over at Catholic Spiritual Direction called "Is curiosity bad? I seem to have an appetite for information about all things...." Father Bartunek writes:

Learning involves all the good things that you describe above. We cannot love what we do not know. Studying God’s creation can help us know God better, just as studying the works of an artist can help know an artist better, and by knowing God better we can love him better – which is the purpose of our existence. Our intelligence is meant for this, in fact. That’s why the Christian spiritual tradition catalogues studiositas as a virtue – the virtue of study, of applying our minds to studying and learning, so that we can grow in knowledge and understanding of the world, ourselves, and God.

and

But like every power of the human soul, this capacity to learn can be de-formed. Instead of applying ourselves to develop the virtue of study, we can fall into the vice of curiositas, or curiosity. In the Christian spiritual tradition, this word, like studiositas, has a technical meaning. The vice of curiosity refers to the superficial gathering of information, the thirst to imbibe the latest headline or rumor just because it’s new. Curiosity stops where learning begins. It’s like the butterfly that flits from flower to flower without gathering any nectar, whereas the bee will settle into a flower and drink up, taking time to gather all that the flower has to offer.

Ever since jumping into the online world (back in 2006 when I was on bed rest with our 3rd), I have had to fight the battle of spending too much time online. Before that, I viewed the computer as a tool I used at work, but spending time at a computer screen was never something I wanted to do with my free time. I checked email periodically and that was about it.

Image Credit:

Association of Catholic Women Bloggers

It is interesting that right before this is when I really started to experience an exponential growth in my faith and formation in the Catholic Church. I began researching the teachings of the Church through reading books, attending prayer groups, Bible studies, anywhere I could go to learn more about Christ and His Church. It is a wonderful thing to be so in love with Christ and want to know more about Him! And I still have that desire and am so thankful that God has given it to me.

But like with all desires, our unchecked human appetites can become vices (I type this as I eat chocolate chips since we have no other chocolate in the house....hmmm). Another good point that Fr. Bartunek makes in his post is the following:

On the other hand, it [knowledge] also can keep us distracted. In this case, the thirst to have new experiences and develop new areas of expertise is inordinate, out of proportion to our mission in life. The enjoyment of acquiring new knowledge, which is legitimate in itself, becomes so all-consuming that the duties of one’s state in life are neglected.

This is exactly what my struggle is right now with intellectual curiosity, it too often becomes inordinate and then I neglect the duties of my state in life. What seems to be a good thing becomes a vice. I need God's grace to keep this desire within His will. Pray for me.

Interestingly enough, right now as I am typing this, my daughter brought the mail in, and in it is a book I just ordered, No Greater Love, by Mother Teresa. It isn't supposed to be a used book, but thumbing through it, I noticed several sentences were underlined. Here is a sentence that was underlined:

Words that do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.

So not only do I need to watch the amount of time I spend online, but also discern what I am reading online. Thank you Mother Teresa!

I'm excited now to go start reading this book! After I get the laundry put away and dinner started, of course ;)

Pray for us, Blessed Mother Teresa!

Do go read all of Father Bartunek's post at Catholic Spiritual Direction. And go check out Association of Catholic Women Bloggers at:

In Case You Missed It....

Archbishop Chaput: "Renewal begins not in vilifying others...."

H/T- or as she says, "veil tip" :) Diane at te Deum laudamus!

From Salt and Light TV, Archbishop's homily at the Knights of Columbus convention opening Mass in Denver, Colorado:

The dynamic in Family of Moses is not so different from the dynamic in the family of today’s Church. God has chosen to lead his people. Miriam and Aaron, the sister and brother of Moses, resent his taking a Cushite wife. But the disputed marriage is merely a pretext for the siblings. What they really resent is Moses’ elevation above themselves, his special relationship with God. Moses if very much a flawed human being. By this point in scripture he may be “meek,” but he is not without sin. Nonetheless he is chosen by God. Therefore, Miriam’s and Aaron’s criticism – which flows out of their own rebellious pride – is really a criticism of God himself. Miriam, as the instigator, is struck with leprosy, but at least there is a kind of negative dignity to her own willfulness. Aaron is almost worse: a portrait of male spinelessness. This is the man who went along with the Golden Calf. Now he goes along with Miriam, and when Miriam is punished, he becomes obsequious with Moses.

Something similar can be said about conflicts in the modern church. Bishops, priests, and deacons are too often weak and sinful. They need to be held to high standards. Some deserve to be chastised. The clergy’s leadership in the Church should always be marked by humility and service, and never by a sense of entitlement. But men and women didn’t found the Church, they don’t own her; and they have no license to reinvent her. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ, and the different roles with the Christian community – clergy, laity, and religious life – have equal dignity but different purposes. Sin and failure, including by the clergy, need to be named. But when people deride their bishops and priests out of pride and resentment or some perverse desire for they perceive as “power,” they undermine the Church herself, and they set themselves against the God whose vessel she is. And that, as Scripture suggests, leads in a painful direction.

All real reform in the Church requires two things. Today’s Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 51 – gives us the first thing. We find it in the lines “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow;” and “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” Renewal begins not in vilifying others, but in examining ourselves honestly, repenting of our sins and changing ourselves. This applies to every baptized person, from the Pope to the average man or woman earning a wage. We are all sinners. We are all in need of repentance and God’s mercy. When we really understand that, we can speak to each other with both honesty and love, and restoring the mission of the Church can begin.

Today’s Gospel gives us the second thing needed for any lasting reform: faith. Not faith as theology, or faith as a collection of doctrines and practices; but faith as a single-minded confidence in God; faith as the humility – and in a sense, the imprudence, the passion, the recklessness – to give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ. That kind of faith changes people. That kind of faith shifts the world on its axis, because nothing can stand against it. As long as Peter keeps his eyes and his heart fixed on Jesus Christ, he can do the impossible – he can walk on the water. The moment he gives in to doubt and fear, he begins to sink. So it is with our personal faith, and so it is with life and the health of the Church.

In light of our Gospel reading, it’s fitting that our Mass today commemorates the French priests and saint from the 19th century, Peter Eymand. Eymand was a friend of Sts. Peter Chanel and Jean-Mare Vianney, and the founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. He was an intriguing man. The great French sculptor, Auguste Rodin, once entered Eymand’s congregation as a lay brother, having given up art after the death of his sister. Eymand served as Rodin’s spiritual spiritual counsellor, and eventually sent him back to his work in the world as a sculptor, because he believed that Rodin glorified God more truly through the beauty of his art. The focus of Eymand’s life was an intense love of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. He was tireless in preaching a deep devotion to the Eucharist as a key to re-igniting the vocation of Christians in the world. The Church honours him as “the Apostle of the Eucharist,” and his most famous line is worth remembering. When he decided to leave the diocesan clergy to become a religious priest, his sisters begged him to wait and reflect just a little longer before he acted – even just one more day. He answered, “God calls me now. Tomorrow will be too late.” God is calling each of us here today – clergy, lay, and religious – to love him with all our hearts and to renew the life of his Church. God is calling us now. Tomorrow will be too late. So let’s pray for each other, and support each other – and begin.

A Pearl of Great Price - Pay it Forward Tuesday

Pay it Forward is hosted by Holly at A Life-Size Catholic Blog. Thanks Holly!

One of my favorite priest bloggers (or rather, a priest who happens to blog), Fr. Andrew, has a great post from his homily this past Sunday at his website Catholic-Vision in which he challenges us to live the wisdom of Scripture:

The wisdom of Scripture says to sell everything for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Like a great pearl there is no price too great. Like treasure in the field we must sell all to acquire that field. The wisdom of the world says to hold something back for yourselves and don’t trust the Kingdom of Heaven to provide for you—which is the wisdom of our enemy, the master of this world, Satan.

He reminds us of the 43rd Anniversary of Humanae Vitae and the consequences of choices our culture has made regarding the use of artificial contraception. His post is not about what is right and what is wrong, but about our trust in God. Fr. Andrew speaks to us with love and with challenge, as a good father does. Thanks Fr. Andrew! Read his post here.

It's Not Me, It's You

Okay, I've admitted before that I am a bit of a political junkie. I try not to get too political on this blog, but sometimes I just can't help myself. I just read a really good take on what's going on in the political field right now. David Paul Kuhn hit the nail on the head about the desperate tone of politicians who are blaming voters rather than taking some responsibility for the mess we are in. Here's the money quote from the article in my opinion:

Democrats are failing to say the "buck stops here." They're passing the buck. And not often, but still too often, Democrats are now asking voters to take some of the blame. Presidents are expected to lead people out of the wilderness, not blame the public for being lost in the woods. Americans don't want to be lectured on how they got lost. They want a way out.

Of course, we all share some responsibility for the mess we are in, whether from our own irresponsibility, lack of engagement, apathy, or whatever the case may be. But when politicians start blaming the voter, you know they are in deep trouble. The way out is going to be tough, and we will not be out at the end of this next election, nor in the next. And one political party or another is not going to lead us out either. As Catholics, we must stand by Truth and live our faith unreservedly and with courage. The only way out is through God and Godly leadership.

Do go read Kuhn's post at RealClearPolitics

H/T HotAir