Journey

I confess that I have had my fair share of frustrations with the Church. Or, more accurately, I have had my fair share of frustrations with people--of both high and low station--within the Church. I have repeatedly been vexed by the unkindness, incompetence, and sheer stupidity within its ranks.

And yet, despite the flaws of so many of its members, I cannot help but love the Body of Christ. Even in those moments when my frustration is most acute, I cannot help but appreciate the charity, strength and wisdom one finds in this community of faith. Indeed, twenty four years after my baptism, I frequently think to myself, "I think I'll convert to Catholicism today!"

Of late, nothing has affirmed that re-commitment like Father Robert Barron's Catholicism project. In his television documentary, currently airing on PBS stations around the country, and in its companion volume of the same name, Fr. Barron provides a delightful synthesis of Catholic faith and life. He draws not only on the Church's long and rich theological tradition, but also her art, architecture, music, and history. He invokes the wisdom of Augustine and Aquinas, the genius of Michelangelo and Bernini, and the faith of John Paul II and Mother Teresa. He takes one on pilgrimage from Jerusalem to Rome, and from new York to Calcutta. In short, Fr. Barron offers a faith that is truly incarnational, in contrast with the impenetrably abstract and ultimately unsatisfying spiritualities on the market today.

In the scenes of his documentary and in the pages of his book, God becomes incarnated, enfleshed, for the spiritual seeker. Here is the God who reveals Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the God who deigns to live and move among His people, who identifies with them.

I highly recommend both the film and the book to every spiritual seeker, whether she be a novice or a proficient, with a prayer that she enjoy this "journey to the heart of the faith"!

Happy Halloween/Oiche Shamhna

I love Halloween. I always have. I love dressing up, telling ghost stories and watching horror movies, visiting haunted houses. Further, I think that there is something very psychologically and spiritually healthy about taking a long, hard look at evil and death, and even having a laugh at their expense. As C.S. Lewis said, "The devil cannot stand to be mocked." Here is a levity that comes from the Christian consciousness that evil and death no longer have any power over us.

Still, I recognize that Halloween is the object of no small amount of criticism in Christian circles, particularly in more fundamentalist circles. These generally well-intentioned Christians frequently (and often accurately) cite the pagan origins of Halloween, especially in the Irish harvest festival of Samhain (pronounced SOW-in). They say that such pre-Christian observances have no place in Christian life, that they are at best syncratistic, at worst idolatrous.

But what, historically, has been the Church's attitude toward pre-Christian cultures? What has been her missionary philosophy? Our modern term inculturation describes this ancient phenomenon aptly. Inculturation is the principle by which Christian missionaries affirm all that is good and true and beautiful in a culture, and reconcile it to the Christian faith. One recalls especially the great Jesuit missionaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, priests like Matteo Ricci, who so insinuated himself into Chinese culture as to become Chinese himself. He donned the garb of a Mandarin scholar, and so impressed the Imperial Court with his knowledge of astronomy and mathematics that he was able to convert a good number of them to Christ.

At the basis of the inculturation principle is the assumption that one can be fully Irish or Chinese or whatever AND fully Christian. After all, if Christ could be fully divine and fully human, so also could Ricci's converts be fully Christian and fully Chinese.

Which brings us back to Halloween/Samhain. The missionaries that first preached the Gospel to the Irish knew intuitively that they could not simply level Irish culture and build Christian culture atop it. Beyond being impractical, it is simply impossible, since Christian culture as such does not exist. Rather, they affirmed and reconciled Irish culture to Christian faith. The festival of Samhain was not only a harvest festival, but also a festival of the dead, a time when the spirit world was considered particularly close to our own. Christian missionaries recognized in this belief a shadow of the Christian belief in the communion of the saints, the connectedness of all who have died in Christ. Largely due to the experience of the Irish missionaries, Pope Gregory III (d. 741) fixed the date for the Feast of All Saints (or "All Hallows") on November 1.

Centuries later, Halloween/Samhain remains a festival in which we recall the reality and the imminence of the spirit world, in which we laugh at the devil and laugh with the saints, when we honor the God who reconciles all peoples and cultures to Himself, who has destroyed death and darkness forever.

Why "Christian Witness"?

Well, spring is officially here, and nothing says spring to a Michigander like apple blossoms (except robins, but that wasn't a template option). Hope you enjoy the new look.

I thought a reminder of why I have entitled this blog "Christian Witness" might be in order. This blog was inspired, in large part, by World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. The theme that the Holy Father chose was the scripture you see at the head of this page, "You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). In his "Message On the Occasion of the XXIII World Youth Day", Pope Benedict XVI observed that "the Holy Spirit continues today to act with power in the Church, and the fruits of the Spirit are abundant in the measure in which we are ready to open up to this power that makes all things new" (5). Further, "By allowing themselves to be guided by the Spirit, each baptized person can bring his or her own contribution to the building up of the Church because of the charisms given by the Spirit, for 'to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good'" (6, cf. 1 Cor 12:7). Finally, he declared, "Together we shall invoke the Holy Spirit, confidently asking God for the gift of a new Pentecost for the Church and for humanity in the third millennium" (8).

I was, at that time, experiencing something of a spiritual renewal in my own life. I was learning about the power of the Holy Spirit, as manifested in His charisms, and about the grace of the "new Pentecost". I began, that summer, to discover my own gifts, and to consider how I might best use them to build up the Church. I was especially intrigued by the idea that the Spirit is the "first agent of evangelization", and therefore of witness, as articulated by Pope Paul VI.

Now, "witness" in the context of this blog has a twofold sense. First and foremost, it denotes a witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that God exists and that He has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, who out of love for mankind suffered and died, and on the third day rose again as a proof of His divinity and a promise of eternal life for those who believe in His Name. However, it also denotes a particular manner of seeing things, aided by the light of the Holy Spirit. By this reading, even as I "witness to" the Gospel, I also endeavor to "witness" literature, music, film, politics, etc., from a uniquely Christian perspective. Whether this endeavor is successful will be for my readers to judge. (So please comment on my posts!)

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of Thy faithful, grant that by the same Spirit we may be truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

"She Who Conquers the Serpent"

After following with awe and wonder the festivities surrounding the December 12 celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe--both north and south of the border--I realized that I knew next to nothing about the Morenita, her appearance to Saint Juan Diego or the miraculous tilma imprinted with her image. So, when I happened upon Paul Badde's María of Guadalupe: Shaper of History, Shaper of Hearts in a Catholic book shop in Savannah, I leaped at the chance to learn more. Badde, a German journalist and former papal aide (to John Paul the Great), weaves together the history and science of the tilma with his own journey of discovery, which takes him from Germany to Mexico and from Jerusalem to Rome, in the footsteps of the Morenita.

Perhaps more amazing than the miraculous qualities of the tilma itself (which continue to confound modern science) are the conversions that the encounter with the Morenita has occasioned, from the day of Juan Diego to today. Badde recalls how the Spanish conquistadores, the worst possible missionaries, "were incapable of evangelizing the Aztecs" (145). That came with the appearance of the Blessed Mother to a poor Indian man on Tepeyac Hill (just outside modern Mexico City) in December 1531. She came in the guise of an Aztec princess, proclaiming the Gospel of her divine Son, whom she bore in her womb. As proof of her visitation, she left behind her miraculous image on Juan Diego's tilma (a kind of cloak woven of agave fibers). A shrine was soon built in her honor.

What occurred thereafter is something wholly unique in the annals of world history: not only were the Aztecs converted to the religion of their often brutal conquerors, but the conquerors themselves were inspired to lay down their swords and live in peace with the Aztecs. Badde observes:

After the apparition, both military cultures, people who before were seeking to annihilate each other, literally began to embrace each other like lovers before this picture! ... There are no more Spaniards or Amerindians. From that moment there was a radical new beginning: the Mexicans have been shaped into a new people. (146)

Badde observes further:

Evangelization went very deep, with colossal speed, for both Aztec and Spaniard. Eight conquistadors of Hernan Cortés' inner circle became churchmen, Franciscan, Dominican or hermit. No one campaigned as passionately and boldly for the rights and defense of the Aztecs as the mendicant orders. (148)

Never has such a reconciliation of peoples and cultures occured in recorded history.

A final, interesting fact: it is likely that the Spanish title Guadalupe is a corruption of the Nahuatl (the language spoken by the Aztecs) Coatlaxopeuh, which means "she conquers the sepent" (Cf. Genesis 3:15, wherein "he" has also been interpreted as "she").

Let us pray that Mary, the Queen of Peace, might reconcile all her children to each other and to her divine Son, especially in her own Land.

Mañanitas for the Morenita

Brothers and Sisters,

With exams finished and papers turned in, this blogger is officially ready for Christmas! We will not, alas, be spending Christmas amongst the snow-covered splendor of Michigan. As in years past, we will be spending this Christmas with our good friends (my sister's godparents) in Savannah, Georgia. Though we will miss the winter wonderland that is the (ahem) Spartan State, we will have a chance to golf, wade along Tybee Beach, and attend the always beautiful Midnight Mass in Savannah's historic Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.

In preparation to celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord, I had the privilege to join (if in spirit only) with our brothers and sisters south of the border in honoring the woman who made it all possible. Readers might not be familiar with the beautiful customs associated with the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, affectionately known amongst Mexicans as "la Morenita" or "the Little Dark One" (my very rough translation). This feast, which commemorates the appearance of the Blessed Mother to Saint Juan Diego in 1531, is the patronal feast of Mexico and, in a sense, of all the Americas. In fact, Venerable John Paul the Great (i.e. Pope John Paul II) named her "Queen of Mexico and Empress of America" in 2002. The reason is simple: she achieved by love what waves of Spanish Conquistadors could not achieve by force, the conversion of the native peoples of Mexico to her divine Son. In a startling turn of history, an entire nation was converted to Christ by the sole intervention of the Mother of Christ. She is the "misionaria celestial", the "heavenly missionary"!

To honor the "Morenita", millions of devout Christians flood churches across Mexico to sing songs of love before replicas of the "Tilma" (the cloak of Saint Juan Diego on which an image of the Virgin miraculously appeared) or, at the Basilica in Tepeyac, the Tilma itself. These festivities, called "Las Mañanitas a la Virgen de Guadalupe" and televised annually by Univision, begin at midnight and carry on into the wee hours, culminating with the Holy Mass. Often, in a moving display of national devotion, they are led by Mexican celebrities:



I'm thinking that staying up late to watch "Las Mañanitas" might well become a personal tradition!

Here's a helpful link to the Catholic Education Resource Center regarding the science and symbolism of the Tilma.

Virgen de Guadalupe, reina de México y emperatriz de América, ruega por nosotros!

A Home-grown Holocaust

Heated rhetoric, non-sequitors and eptithets are generally not effective forms of argument, still less evangelization. There are, however, ideas and behaviors that are simply evil--I would even say diabolical--and should be named as such.

The suggestion that abortion is just one issue among many, and that citizens must not vote on this single issue, is such an idea. Let me be quite clear: THIS IS A LURE OF THE DEVIL. It is, perhaps, the chief means by which he sways good men and women--unwittingly--to his cause, the destruction of human life. He fills their minds with false or misguided compassion for the poor, the oppressed, the sons of war, whose lives they feel would be better served in voting for a pro-abortion candidate. Again, I say, this is a lie of Satan!

Consider, for a moment, the implications of such a position. The God-given right to life, and the defense of life, which is the primary purpose for which governments are formed, is the cornerstone of our nation. Remove the cornerstone and all the others, the many and varied rights and liberties that we as Americans enjoy, come falling down. When governments take it upon themselves to decide when life begins, and the termination of life becomes a multi-billion dollar industry that preys upon the most innocent and defensless... when we blind ourselves to our own home-grown holocaust with transparent euphemisms and deafen ourselves to the silent screams of 4,000 unborn children every day, then we throw our futures away with the minute and mangled corpses that litter the bio-waste bins.

My brothers and sisters, do not be deceived! Seek always and everywhere the will of God, even and especially in the voting booth. The Lord says, "to whom much has been given, much shall be expected" (Luke 12:48). And we have been given so much; we hold within our hands the lives thousands, millions, of innocents. Do any of us desire to stand before Christ in judgement and explain why we did not stay the hand of the abortionist when the opportunity arose? Our Lord also says, "as you did to these least of my brothers, you did to me" (Matthew 21:40). Shall we be counted among the people of Jerusalem who, though they hailed Him as their King just days before, cried for His crucifixion, or simply said nothing at all? Shall we say with Pilate, "What is truth?" and wash our hands of all accountability? God forvive us!

I have a challenge for you all. Jesus, as always, is our best model for prayer. He was disciplined in silence and solitude; He was led by the Spirit into the desert where he fasted and prayed for forty days. In immitation of our Lord, and for the sake of the thousands unborn children for whom He gave is own life, I ask that you participate in the national 40 Days for Life campaign. Devote yourselves, I beg you, to prayer and fasting from September 24-November 2. And pray, especially, for wisdom from the Holy Spirit, to vote in conformity with the will of God, which is always the preservation of human life.

Below is an excellent video from Catholicvote.com. I encourage all to watch it with a listening heart.



In His peace.