Vocations and the Charisms

A Scripture passage occurred to me while praying yesterday, in a charismatic prayer meeting, as it happened. I was praying especially for strength and guidance in my vocational discernment to the priesthood (and possibly to the Carmelites). It is the words of our Lord to Peter on the sea shore, after His resurrection:

Amen, amen I say to you, when you were younger you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go... Follow me. (John 21:18)

Just the night before, in another prayer meeting, of which priestly discernment was the purpose, I asked the question, "To what extent will the charismatic dimension of our faith influence vocations in the future?" To which a wise priest-friend responded (and I paraphrase), "Well, baptism in the Holy Spirit is, first, a total surrender to the will of God, so to that extent, it is essential to being open and responsive to a call from the Lord."

Yes, surrender is essential; and this is the heart of what those in the charismatic renewal (like the Fathers of the Church) call "baptism in the Holy Spirit". We give ourselves totally to God. And I mean totally--none of this "Oh God, make me good, but not yet" stuff. This constant reserve, this unwillingness to let God lead us in all our ways, of which I myself am often guilty.

A personal testimony: Until quite recently, I had never seriously considered a potential call to the religious life. It was always, "Oh, it's possible, but I don't think so." Always, "I'm all about doing the will of God, but I want the relative freedoms (or what I perceived as the relative freedoms) of a diocesan priest." But my faith, and thus my vocation, have grown tremendously in the past year (especially in the past month) and as I devour Carmelite literature, I find myself attracted to Carmelite spirituality. And as I throw myself headlong into the charismatic renewal, I find myself more open and more responsive to God's call... wherever He may lead me.

So I beg you, my brothers and sisters, open your hearts and your minds to the will of God, wherever He may lead you, trusting that He wants more for you than you could possibly want for yourselves, such is His inestimable love for you. Surrender yourselves totally to the movements of the Spirit. Always sing, in the words of John Michael Talbot, "I will go Lord, if You lead me/ I will hold Your people in my heart" ("Here I am, Lord").

This video features a prayer by one of my favorite Carmelite saints, Teresa of Avila. It is translated (roughly), "Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you/ He who has God lacks nothing,/All things pass, God does not change, patience achieves everything/God alone suffices."



In His peace.

Spiritual Warfare

Night Prayer (Compline) for Tuesdays contains a rather alarming passage from 1 Peter:

Stay sober and alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith. (5:8, 9)

Not the most comforting bedtime reading, that. It is, however, well worth reflection.

Intriguingly, Pope John Paul II read this precise passage the night before his assassination attempt. Many theories later developed (during the legal proceedings) in an effort to explain who was ultimately responsible and why: Did Mehmet Ali Agca, the Pope's would-be assassin, act alone, on his own motives, or as a Soviet agent? The Pope, it has been reported, was surprisingly uninterested in such speculation, simply saying, "I know well that the responsible one was the devil."

Again and again the sacred authors warn us of our spiritual enemies. For the first century Christians, these spiritual enemies were as much a reality as were their temporal enemies--perhaps more so. John warns the early Christians, then suffering under the persecution of Emperor Domitian, "woe to you, earth and sea, for the Devil has come down to you in great fury, for he knows he has but a short time" (Revelation 12:12).

The fact is that Satan, whom our Lord calls "a murderer from the beginning" and "a liar" (John 8:44), is real. He is determined to destroy us, to separate us from the love of Christ and join him in that eternal separation that we call Hell (Revelation 12:13-17). His activity is as varied and extensive as human activity, such is his hatred and envy for us; he would, were he permitted, completely derail the entire Christian mission. A spiritual problem, therefore, calls for a spiritual solution.

Before his ascension, Christ told his disciples, "These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages... they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover" (Mark 16:17, 18). These signs correspond to the various spiritual gifts (Greek charismata) that the Holy Spirit often bestowed upon the early Christians (Acts 2:4, 1 Corinthians 12:7-10). In other words, Christ does not leave us defenseless, but gives us His own Spirit to protect us against spiritual attack. What's more, He gives us the protection of Saint Michael and the other angels (Acts 12:6-10, Revelation 12:7-9).

But how often do we invoke the help of our spiritual allies? How often do we, in effect, say, "No thank you Lord... I don't need help... I can handle this"? How many plans have come to ruin through such obstinate self-reliance? How many hearts have been broken, how many hopes crushed and how many faiths destroyed? My brothers and sisters, it is time to WAKE UP! It is time to face the hard fact that we were all born on a battlefield. War rages around us, whether seen or unseen, and we cannot afford to be drunk on "feel good" spirituality.

James instructs us to "resist the devil and he will flee from you" (4:7). Our Lord has given us His own Spirit, along with all the angels in Heaven, for our spiritual defense. What further weapons do we need? As it is written, "If the Lord is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

The prayer in this video (Pope Leo XIII's Prayer to Saint Michael) was recited after every Low Mass from 1888 to 1964.



In His peace.

The Heart of the Matter

Though we are now more than half-way through June, it would pain me to let it pass without sharing my special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to which this month is dedicated (the Feast of the Sacred Heart falls on the first Friday in June).

We may well ask, What is the Sacred Heart? I suppose it is, in the principal sense, the actual physical heart of our Lord, and, inasmuch as He is the Word made flesh, it deserves to be worshiped as a member of the body of Him who was both human and divine. However, the Sacred Heart is much more than a human organ. In a general sense it is a symbol of the love of God, who "so loved the world that He gave his only Son," who Himself "was pierced for our offenses" (Isaiah 53:5). In another, more definite, sense it is the love of God Himself; it is the God who is love itself (1 John 4:8).

I think a personal testimony is appropriate here. Since I was born (or so it seems) I only ever wanted to attend Michigan State University; the first song I learned was the Fight Song and Sparty was among my earliest heroes. Consequently, when the time came (in my Senior year of high school) to apply to colleges I chose just one, MSU. This, in itself, was a leap of faith; one might say blind faith. Frankly, I had mediocre grades, minimal community involvement, an application essay that was (to put it charitably) less than stellar, and no other means of working the system (Irish Catholic not being far enough removed from the WASP category to qualify as ethnically diverse).

Thus was I brought, quite literally, to my knees... to pray. Bypassing the entire communion of saints (not a practice I would generally recommend), I appealed directly to the love of Christ in the form of the Sacred Heart. Every night I knelt before an image of the Sacred Heart, pleading for acceptance to my college of choice, State. When I received a letter from the Admissions Office requesting my spring mid-semester grades, I tucked it behind that image. Then, after weeks of anxious waiting and fervent prayer, I was accepted.

Of course, one may well argue that it was not divine intervention but my own effort and merits that opened the doors to those ivy-covered halls. Experience, however, would suggest otherwise. As time passes I see ever more clearly the love of Christ working in my life. I have grown immensely in these past two years; I have, by turns, known a despair that has suffocated my soul and a love of which I though myself incapable, and yet, in everything, the steady rhythm of the Heart of Jesus, which beat wholly for me. That Heart beats for you too, forever saying "come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest... learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart" (Matthew 11:28, 29).

May you forever rest in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This video explains in greater depth the history and theology of the Sacred Heart Devotion. Enjoy!



In His peace.

The Eucharist: Power and Presence

Add to World Youth Day another momentous event this summer, the forty-ninth Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City, Canada. The theme: "The Eucharist, gift of God for the life of the world". Though not as high-profile as World Youth Day, Eucharistic Congresses serve an important purpose, the renewal of Eucharistic devotion, a renewal desperately needed in our day.

The theme recalls (to my mind, anyway) the "Bread of Life" passage from John 6:

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (48-51).

This is just a small part of the discourse in which our Lord, in every way possible and often repeating ideas, enunciates the doctrine of His presence in the Eucharist. And the more I read this passage the more my belief in this Presence is confirmed; scholars even note that the Greek verb meaning "eats" (as in "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, etc.", which occurs later) is not the verb commonly used to describe human eating but animal eating, being alternatively translated as "munch" or "gnaw". So long before Dane Cook successfully marketed Christchex, our Lord invited us to "munch" on Him!

Now since Vatican Council II, much of our discussion of the Eucharist has emphasized the missionary dimension of this sacrament; we are sent forth (Latin "missa", from which we derive the term "mass") to be Christ for others (CCC 1332). In a society that generally lacks the vocabulary to engage in serious theological discussion, our conversation about these issues often devolves into questions of "emphasis" (e.g. "We must not emphasize sacrifice over meal" or "adoration over communion", etc.). Such familiar expressions are unhelpful, and long past their expiration date. The presence and power of the Sacrament, which is the subject of this post, are inseparable. We can only be Christ for others because we have received Him (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) in the Sacrament; in the Eucharist we are conformed to Christ, thus receiving the grace necessary for Christian witness.

And that is an awesome gift.

As with World Youth Day, EWTN will provide full coverage of this event.

Here is another excellent video, which captures a Eucharistic procession for vocations in NYC. Listen well to the words of John Paul the Great.



In His peace.

More on World Youth Day

Here is an excellent video inviting young Catholics to participate in World Youth Day.



And here is the WYD 2008 theme song, "Receive the Power".



Enjoy!

World Youth Day 2008: A New Pentecost

With all that has transpired in the course of the presidential campaigns, it may be hard to imagine it's only mid-June. No doubt, there will be much demand upon our senses and sensibilities in the coming months and, no doubt, we will--if somewhat ruefully--allow our collective attention to be consumed with the rhetoric of partisan politics. But let me invite you to take a brief respite from the pundits and polls this July, which marks the twenty-third World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia.

The theme: "You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). You will notice that I have taken this theme for my blog, intent as I am (and as the Holy Father clearly is) upon promoting Christian witness, especially among youth, who deeply desire a personal experience of the love of Christ and to share that experience with others. As if there were any doubt, the Holy Father re-affirms the need--indeed, the imperative--for Christian witness, which is integral to our faith. This imperative to share what we have received stems from our fundamental understanding of God as love (Latin caritas, Greek agape) itself (1 John 4:8). This gift of love, the promise of the Father, which is the Spirit (Acts 1:5), must be shared!

The question is, do we believe that the Holy Spirit continues to work in us and through us, even in our own day? Do we believe Jesus when He says that He "will not leave [us] orphans," but will send us His Spirit? (John 14:18). Or that we are left to build the Kingdom with our own devices alone? No, never! Trust in the Holy Spirit is the antidote to the poison of fear--fear of rejection and failure--that too often prevents us from going out and proclaiming the Gospel among our peers. I speak from experience when I say that when we surrender ourselves to the will of the Holy Spirit in our lives, those fears simply melt away, and, like Peter on Pentecost, we are emboldened to proclaim that Jesus is Lord (Acts 2:36). This is exactly what our community needs today!

And so I ask you to pray with me, in the words of Blessed John XXIII, that the Lord "renew [His] wonders in this day, as by a new Pentecost." Pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Catholic Church, upon our Holy Father and all who attend World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia. Pray for our own community, that the Holy Spirit fill us with the love of Christ and empower us to proclaim the Gospel.

As usual, EWTN will provide complete coverage of World Youth Day, which you may watch via their live internet feed. A complete programming schedule is also available on their website or, if you have the good fortune of knowing me, from... well, me!

In His peace.