Last February I wrote a blog entry on the New Evangelization, It’s Time to Wake Up!, citing some of the shameful statistics of Church membership: we are hemorrhaging members.  One in ten American adults are former Catholics!  This is staggering, and humiliating, and is a serious indictment: we are failing to live the mission that Jesus sent us to do.  We are shrinking.  We are feeding protestantism with new members, many of them rightfully angry with us for our hypocrisy.  Someone please tell me that somewhere, the New Evangelization is being taken seriously!  That somewhere, we are doing what the Church is sent to do: “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20)

The many former Catholics who become zealous Protestants prove something important: these people didn’t leave because they were not interested in God and the things of God.  They were not cold-hearted secularists.  They were looking for Christ!  And they could not find Him in His own Church.  How many times I have heard from Protestants who are former Catholics, “I wasn’t being fed.  I wasn’t hearing the Gospel.  I couldn’t find Jesus Christ.”

The Pope is certainly aware of the need!  Thank God that our Pope is aware of the religious ignorance of modern Catholics!  He recently said (to French Bishops in a recent ad limina visit),

… one of the gravest problems of our time is the ignorance of religion on the part of many men and women, also among the Catholic faithful”.

“This is why the new evangelisation, in which the Church is resolutely engaged, … assumes such importance”, the Pope continued. ”One of the most formidable obstacles to our pastoral mission is ignorance of the content of faith. Indeed, this is a dual form of ignorance: the ignorance of Jesus Christ as a person and ignorance of the sublime nature of His teachings, of their universal and permanent value in the search for the meaning of life and happiness. In the new generations this ignorance produces an inability to understand history or to recognize themselves as heirs to this tradition, which has shaped European life, society, art and culture”.

I especially appreciate the Holy Father’s precise and complete observation.  Although he is speaking here to French bishops, the problem is certainly not an exclusively French one.  Our problem – certainly for the modern West – is two-fold; there is “a dual form of ignorance” :
1) we are ignorant of “Christ as a person,” and
2) we are ignorant of “the sublime nature of His teachings.”

This grave, profound problem is not “rocket science”!  It is not as though the Church in the West is incapable of meeting the One who died to meet us!  It is not as though we all need theology degrees to know the beauty of His eternal Truth!  We need only His grace, and our desire!  He gives to all who ask; He is found by all who seek; He opens Himself to all who will knock at the door of His Sacred Heart!

The American bishops also, recently, have acknowledged in specific terms the poverty of our souls.  The new draft of the USCCB on preaching has this:

We also recognize that many Catholics, even those who are devoted to the life of the Church and hunger for a deeper spirituality, seem to be uninformed about the Church’s teaching and are in need of a stronger catechesis. At a time when living an authentic Christian life leads to complex challenges, people need to be nourished all the more by the truth and guidance of their Catholic faith. Aware of this present social context and realizing the need for a deeper evangelization among our Catholic population, with renewed vigor the Church’s preachers must inspire and instruct the faithful in the beauty and truth of Catholic Tradition and practice.

Adult formation is needed, to place Catholic adults in communion with Christ as a Person, and to communicate His teachings as received in His Holy Church.  This is rightly called formation in faith – more than merely education, or training, or exposure to “information” about Christ and His Truth.  Exposure is needed to Jesus Christ, God the Son.  We need to meet Him, to hear Him, to learn from Him – and thus to discover in Him, Truth.  Then it is alive in us, and then we are alive in Him.  We need this.  We need Him.  Not programs, not more episcopal papers, not workbooks and videos.  We need the life of God, and He is so very near.

We need a New Evangelization – we really do – not merely as a project, but as a reality.  The Pope pointed out to us in a recent homily, that the need is dire.  We are languishing in a spiritual desert:

“If today the Church proposes a new Year of Faith and a new evangelisation, it is not to honour an anniversary, but because there is more need of it, even more than there was fifty years ago! … . Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual “desertification”. …This, then, is how we can picture the Year of Faith: a pilgrimage in the deserts of today’s world, taking with us only what is necessary: … the Gospel and the faith of the Church, of which the Council documents are a luminous expression, as is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published twenty years ago.

If we in the West find ourselves in a spiritual desert – a wasteland – then our Church ought to be a place of life in the wilderness.  Our Church ought to be an oasis of His precious living water – in the midst of barren sand, fertile rich soil – in the midst of ignorance of God and Truth, treasures of blessed and holy wisdom.  How is it, that we have come to such poverty as we now have?  And when will we wake up and remember who we are, and what we are called to be?

Many Catholics are knee-jerk Democrats.  Holding tight the Church’s teaching for a “preferential option for the poor,” these loyal Democrats swallow the pills of free abortions, amoral equality in all ways for active homosexuals (I cannot bring myself to use the word “gay” now distorted to its modern meaning), further destruction of marriage and disintegration of families of the poor, the upending of all Catholic notions of subsidiarity, the discarding of the need for personal responsibility among the poor, the strangulation of personal initiative and the massive expansion of a socialized welfare state – and so on – all these poison pills are in the cup with the one that is labeled “social justice” and so many Catholics swallow them all together.

The result is the election, and now the re-election, of the most pro-abortion president in our history.  I remain astounded that this happened.  Even after these weeks since the election, I want to remain in disbelief and denial.  How did it come to this?  If not for the Catholic vote, it would not have happened.  If not for the Catholic silence in the pulpits, I speculate, and if not for the absence of solid Catholic adult formation in the Faith, it would not have happened.  If Catholics were formed in the truth of our responsibilities to society – and if we lived them – Catholics would not have en masse handed all “preferential option for the poor” over to a political party that promised to do it for us, on the cheap: the Democrats.  Of course, nothing true or good is cheap.  There is poison in that easy-in easy-out fast-food party of “social justice,” and the whole country is showing the growing weakness and sickness of heart that leads eventually to death.  There is a fault in the wall, and the wall will fall.  The Church was sent to be a watchman for the city and a light for the nations, and we have become too drunk with the toys and pleasures of secularism to stand our guard.

A major factor in this misguided political philosophy of the Church in America is the widespread misunderstanding of Catholic social teaching, and social justice.  I recently read an excellent article – superbly crafted and written.  It gives a precise and accurate Catholic analysis of the mess we have gotten ourselves into.  Please read it!  The article is in Crisis Magazine on-line:

Catholic Social Teaching: It’s Time to End the Misrepresentations, by Anthony Esolen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here are a few possibly helpful references:

Catholic Social Teaching on Poverty, an Option for the Poor, and the Common Good

The Catechism on Social Justice, #1928-1948

Compendium on the Social Doctrine of the Church

The fall meeting of the U.S. Bishops begins today, Nov. 12 in Baltimore.  (LINK)  An item on the agenda is preaching, and they will consider a new document on preaching (“Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily”) to express their sense of it in the Church in America today.  Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis, head of the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, shepherded the writing of the document.  Some highlights of the proposed document that have been released include:

• “The homily is intended to establish a ‘dialogue’ between the sacred biblical text and the Christian life of the hearer,”
• “Preachers should be aware, in an appropriate way, of what their people are watching on television, what kind of music they are listening to, which websites they find appealing, and which films they find compelling,”
• “References to the most popular cultural expressions — which at times can be surprisingly replete with religious motifs — can be an effective way to engage the interest of those on the edge of faith.”

The draft of “Preaching the Mystery of Faith” has this: “The ultimate goal of proclaiming the Gospel is to lead people into a loving and intimate relationship with the Lord, a relationship that forms the character of their persons and guides them in living out their faith. … By highlighting his humanity, his poverty, his compassion, his forthrightness, and his suffering and death, an effective homily would show the faithful just how much the Son of God loved them in taking our human flesh upon himself.”

This draft inclusion holds the most promise for me – for homilies that lead to Christ, that bring persons into intimate personal communion with Him, and that encourage and challenge Catholics to faithfully live the truth of Christ.  Including, specifically, I hope:

• The sacred right to life for the unborn!
• The intrinsically sacred character of marriage as traditionally understood!
• The crucial importance of the family for persons and for nations!
• The horrific scandal of Catholic politicians who trample upon the truth of the Catholic Faith in their public lives!
• The false, acidic, corrosive and destructive character of most popular entertainment!

Personally, I hear an occasional reference to some of these contemporary burning issues from some Bishops.  Rarely do I hear these issues preached with the zeal the issues deserve, and the zeal that lukewarm and sleepy Catholics need to hear that they might be awakened.  More often from Bishops, but still not frequently, I have read  written teachings that communicate more an academic analysis than a full-throated call to action.  When the theater is on fire, whispers are not appropriate.  But mostly – mostly – I hear nothing of these matters from the pulpits.

Most of the readers of this blog are in the U.S.  Some are in Canada, some the U.K., the Philippines, occasionally a visit from an African nation, and so on.  How is the preaching in your parishes, and dioceses?  The world is aflame, dear friends, and it is not with the fire of the Holy Spirit!  It is not with the fire of Truth!  There is a fire spreading, world-wide, that has origins in a place we do not want to go, and is being spread by a destroyer we do not want to meet.

Dear Bishops, do you see the fires of destruction spreading throughout the cultures of the nations of the world, in our time?  Do you see the damage already done in the Church, among the people in your flock?  Do you realize how confused so many Catholics are, how weak so many are in their grasp of the Faith, how vulnerable so many are to the lies and seductions of the evil one?

There is a fire reaching into all cultures that must be identified, and resisted, and fought with the light and zeal of holy Truth.  Warnings must not be whispered, dear Bishops!  Warnings must be clear – unambiguous – potent!  You, dear Bishops, are called to be the authentic teachers and preachers for Christ and for His life – and you are the shepherds and overseers of your priests.  We, the people, are seated before these priests every Sunday at least, and we hear their homilies, we read your writings, and we need to hear the Truth preached and taught with the clarity, the simplicity, the unction and the zeal that it deserves.

Romans 8:28 We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

President Obama is better for America, America as she is now, than Mitt Romney would have been.  I say this by faith and with sure hope, even though with deep sorrow.  I see much suffering coming our way, suffering that I hoped could be averted with Romney, but God sees more clearly than I can, and God had a better plan.  President Obama, not because of his own plans or purposes, but because of God’s, will work the greater good for this country and for the world.

Mitt Romney, especially in the closing days of the campaign, called America to an optimism in a future that he could see as possible – and he offered a plan to get there.  Unlike the president, Romney had a record of success to give substance to his promise, but most of America preferred otherwise.  Most of America wanted what President Obama promised – and that is precisely, I submit to you, why God allowed him to win.  We got what we wanted.  Because so many wanted such small and unworthy things, God gave us what we deserved.  We were not ready – not even now are we ready – for more and for better.

America is shrinking.  Her economy, her standard of living, her military strength, her internal security, her civil harmony are all weakening, unravelling, shrinking.  Those criteria are all, however, only symptoms of the deeper things that concern God more, and that ought to concern us more.  America is shrinking, weakening, unravelling in the eternal things – in the moral economy – in the spiritual values that are the foundation of those other things, the things of her economy, her standard of living, her military strength, her employment percentages and so on.  America is increasingly turning away from God, and as she does so she finds the lie more attractive than truth, deceit more convincing than honesty and fantasy more desirable than reality.  America prefers hope for the goods of this world, rather than hope in the good that brings true happiness.  America prefers sugar highs and drive-through gratification, to the substance and perseverance found in the Bread from heaven that brings eternal life.

How has America so dumbed herself down, and so quickly?  How has she cast aside so thoughtlessly the treasure bequeathed to her by heros, by history?  How has she sold her birthright so cheaply, her honor for such counterfeits?  How, America, has it come to this?

I look to the Church for answers, because the Church was sent for this reason: to bring the saving Truth of God to a dark and fallen world, even to America.  I look to the lampstand for light, but the lamp flickers dimly and the glass is covered with soot!  It sounds one moment strong and clear, then it flickers and falls to mumbling words with no meaning.  Where is the Church!  I see the buildings, I see the people, but where is the mission?  I hear words, I see activities and programs – where is the Word?  Where is the Life?  Where is the Fire?

America got what she deserves.  The watchmen sent to stand duty on the towers were not looking out toward the enemy, they turned their backs to the danger and were preoccupied with parties and celebrations inside the walls.  The world grows darker, America grows darker, and the Church is sleeping.  The Church is busy with many things, but one thing is lacking.  Has the one thing been forgotten entirely?  Has the one thing been cast aside forever?  Does she even know and can she recognize, anymore, what she has forgotten?

One person commented, maybe tongue in cheek and not intending to be prophetic, that we need to hang on and try to survive the coming 4 years of purgatory.  God does work that way – He allows suffering for His purpose of remediation, for correction, for purging of that which is unworthy, and for the purity of holiness.  Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden and into a world of suffering, that humanity might begin a journey of return to God.  Divine justice is one with His mercy, because God is ever and always and only True.

Holy Church, will you awaken now?  Will you see the poverty of your people, their hunger, their thirst?  Will you hear their cries for that which you were given and entrusted with, cries for Him whom you were sent to reveal and proclaim?  For now, He continues to give us all time.  Church in America, will you now do what He commanded you?

Mt 28:18 Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

I watched the movie today – “2016: Obama’s America.”  A deep sadness has come upon me, a sadness close to anger, but anger is a temptation I resist.  So I fall back to this sadness, realizing that it did not have to be this way.  There ought to have been clearer voices, prudent voices, and ears listening for truth.  There was a nobility in the America soul – a goodness – not perfection, not by a long shot, but a goodness that knew simple truths and held them up as our principles and our guiding light.  ”We hold these truths to be self-evident…”  God put those truths in the American soul; God sent us His Church to help us keep true to the truth!  And God blessed this country with wealth, with power, with freedom.  But instead of holding true to His truth, we let ourselves be seduced by the easier pleasures of wealth, and of power, and of license.

I am deeply sad; I grieve over this sick land that is so confused and divided, pathetic in her foolishness – can we see what we have done, and change now while we still can?  Can we wake up?  Can we sober up?  Can we stand up and return to the wisdom of our fathers?  Or are we doomed to destroy ourselves in fiscal insanity, in moral denial, in spiritual destitution, in cultural bankruptcy – in national suicide?  Can we yet recover our humanity that hangs on an unravelling thread close to snapping?  Can we yet piece together and restore what remains of the God-given human dignity in us?

Please see the movie, “2016: Obama’s America.”  It can help explain how we got here, having elected a president without a resume, without a vetting, without national debate, with only a hope – and a hope unjustified, but used nevertheless and potent to its unconsidered end.

This blog entry, however, is about the solution to the problem, if it is not too late.  The solution is simple: turn to God, Catholics.  Fall to your knees and pray for His mercy on us His Church, and on this poor nation so blind and undeserving.  We in America do not deserve His mercy – we have sought every evil up to now, and we continue to bath in self-satisfaction when we ought to be in penance, on our knees.  We need His grace.  We, His Church, need Him.  We need His truth!  Catholics need to hear His Truth!  We need to repent of our lukewarmness, our compromises with the world, the flesh and the devil.  We need to convert and become who we have been called to be, because the world needs His light.

Catholics, vote and vote the Truth!  Do not be ashamed of the holy sacrament of marriage.  Do not be ashamed that sin is still sin – and all sin is an abomination to God.  Do not be ashamed to be repulsed at the murder of the innocent: abortion.  Do not be ashamed of Christ who died on the Cross for you and for me, that we might be free of the fear of the opinions of blind men, and free instead to love them and bear the witness of truth to them that they might be saved.

The Catholic Church – in my humble opinion, of course – needs half-way houses.  The “half-way” that I’m talking about is a half-way place between the godless, morality-free, anti-religious secular culture outside of the Faith, and the radically different Sunday celebration of the Catholic faithful in Holy Mass.  We need something in between!  As things are, how can we “invite a friend” to come with us to a Mass?  How can we expect an unbelieving friend who “lives” in the secular culture, who has not a clue about Catholic Tradition and the celebration/sacrifice of the Mass, to walk in cold and understand anything at all of what we do on Sundays?  If not to a Mass, exactly where and how can we invite such a friend to look into the saving Catholic Faith?  We need a half-way house for Catholic evangelization, to help men and women who might want to move out of a lost darkness into His radically different light and life.

Protestants can invite such a friend to their Sunday service, or to their Wednesday Prayer Meeting, and even the most secular-minded non-believer can grasp what is happening and can understand that “the Gospel” is being preached and taught, and lots of hymns are being sung.  They will probably be able to hear and understand “an altar call,” inviting them to entrust their lives to Jesus.  They will probably understand the sermon that is closely connected, commonly, to a story that is explained from the Bible.  They would discern rather easily the challenge being set before them: to accept a Teacher that promises eternal life, or reject Him.  Such a church service lends itself very easily to evangelization: it is obviously, simply and immediately “evangelical” already.

Not so, our Catholic worship services.  We do have easily understood music – although usually not sung with full-throated enthusiasm by the congregation.  We do have Scripture readings – although not always unfolded, explained or discussed.  We do have prayers – although rarely expressed with obvious sincerity, personal conviction or human emotion.  The highly scripted liturgical format is disinviting to strangers who don’t know what to do next, and who can only awkwardly enter it or follow along with it.

Catholic homilies, when they are closely tied to one of the Scripture readings, are typically ten minutes – too brief a time to allow important and foundational truths of the Faith to be adequately developed.   Our homilies – even the best of them –  usually do not allow time for reflection and silence afterward (even though the liturgical norms call for such silence), for hearers to really consider their own lives in the light of God’s Truth.  Our homilies, like our prayers,  are often not presented with conviction or with unction, so as to communicate the life-transforming power that God has infused into His living Word.

Also, our homilies and the entire Mass usually include a great presumption: that everyone listening is a believer, a faithful Catholic!   Studies show a much more problematic reality, which is typically ignored in our homilies: many Catholics do not believe all that the Church teaches!  Many disbelieve even the Real Presence in the Eucharist!  Many do not consider contraception a problem!  Many Catholics support same-sex marriage!  Many Catholics are prepared to re-elect a President who believes not only in same-sex marriage, but even in abortion!

In the face of a great disconnect between “the Catholic Faith” and a typical congregation, homilies in some parishes at least rarely if ever proclaim the radical call to discipleship that many in the pews need to hear.  Many have never heard, but need to hear the challenge to give their minds and hearts to Jesus – to a radical change of life, to a life of discipleship, to a life of total conversion to Christ and fidelity to His Catholic Church.  More likely than not, typical homilies are gentle nudges to presumed believers, that we should trust God a little bit more, and be a little nicer to everyone.  Then, after such a ten-minute talk, the scripted liturgy resumes.  This is no place for evangelization.

Where does an atheist, or an agnostic, or for that matter a confused and unformed Catholic, hear about the Catholic Faith?  Where does a Protestant or a confused Catholic go, to hear the clear and full truth of Christ in Whom we believe?  Where does a young Catholic take his girlfriend to help her understand why he is a Catholic and what he does to worship God and what he believes about marriage and family – if (as is typical) he is unable to articulate it himself?  How does a potential spouse of a poorly catechized Catholic learn about this Church?  Too often our only answer is, “RCIA”.

Yes, I know, RCIA is sometimes made the entire adult formation offering for the parish.  But it is no “halfway” place of true inquiry, discussion and reflection.  RCIA as practiced is typically a scheduled and scripted program, beginning in the Fall and having a set length and terminus at or shortly after Easter.  The “inquiry” phase is typically perfunctory, limited to a few structured meetings, and is swept quickly into the scheduled presentations meant to complete “formation” in the Faith.  There is no true place of open-ended inquiry for seekers who have no pre-existing desire and expectation of becoming Catholic.

So to answer my question, we have no half-way houses for evangelization, and we need them.  We need something, whatever it might be called, and however it might be structured.  We need some way to evangelize, because at the present we are very poorly prepared to do it – and “it”, evangelization, is the mission the Christ gave us.  The Church exists to evangelize, as Paul VI said.  When, in this darkening culture of the modern West, will we begin?

When I read the Catechism description of the theological virtue of Faith, I am forced to conclude that we Catholics are not doing justice to the gift of faith given to us.  The Catechism has this, first of all:

Catechism 1814 – Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself.

OK – most Catholics would probably assent easily and quickly to that definition.  Catholics do believe in God, and we readily recognize the authority of the Church to preach and to teach in His name.  The Catechism continues, however, to include this also:

Catechism 1816 – The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.”<LG 42; cf. DH 14> Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”<Mt 10:32-33>

Hearing this, many Catholics whom I know would pause and look down to the floor.  I’ve heard too many Catholics, who have a beautiful and quiet relationship of faith with God, have to admit about their Catholic faith and their Catholic Church, “But I can’t explain it to anyone!”  They feel very awkward in trying to “confess Christ before men,” or giving “witness of the faith” that is “necessary for salvation.”  They would never want intentionally to “deny” Him before men!  But they are ill-prepared to “acknowledge” Him explicitly, clearly, intelligibly.

Yes, all these Catholics have received the Sacrament of Confirmation – with the grace needed to make one a witness of Christ before men!  Yes they receive Eucharist weekly, if not more frequently.  Yes they know the common and traditional prayers of the Church.  But they do not know the Catechism – they do not “know” in the sense of being able to state and explain it – our faith.  They are not at ease with the Bible, nor able to locate particular books quickly, nor able to quote or easily find important passages for the sake of witnessing to others.  They are not able to defend the Catholic faith when questioned or attacked by relatives or neighbors or “friends.”

The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross,…

These are strong words, and they expose a grave weakness in us: we are not able to do what we “must” do.  The faith among us in the Church is weak, and the challenges and attacks aimed at and assaulting us are growing in ferocity and strength.  What are we, the Church, doing about it?

In a recent address to the bishops of Colombia, the Pope listed several points of concern for bishops in this age of religious pluralism that is luring Catholics away from the Church:

• Hence, it is about being better believers, more pious, affable and welcoming in our parishes and communities, so that no one will feel distant or excluded.
• Catechesis must be promoted, giving special attention to young people and adults;
• homilies must be carefully prepared, as well as
• promoting the teaching of Catholic doctrine in schools and universities.
• And all this to recover in the baptized a sense of belonging to the Church and to awaken in them the aspiration to share with others the joy of following Christ and of being members of his Mystical Body.
• It is also important to appeal to the ecclesial tradition, to promote Marian spirituality and to take care of the rich devotional diversity.

Since he listed several of keen interest to me, I repeat them:  We need adult catechesis and formation in the faith!  We need more substantial and more fervent homilies!  We need to awaken the baptized!  We need to promote, enable, guide, strengthen, ignite the interior life of prayer in the faithful, as Mary our mother in Christ shows us!

The parable of the ten virgins seems especially relevant, at this time in church history:

Mt 25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
Mt 25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
Mt 25:3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
Mt 25:4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
Mt 25:5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
Mt 25:6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
Mt 25:7 Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps.
Mt 25:8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
Mt 25:9 But the wise replied, ‘Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’
Mt 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.
Mt 25:11 Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
Mt 25:12 But he replied, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Mt 25:13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

The darker the night grows – and the darkness is growing! – the more needed is the precious oil to give light.  Some have sufficiency for the night, but some do not.  In the mystery of this oil – this unction – this that burns with the light of Truth – we cannot give to another what they must gain for themselves.  Now is the time for Catholics to fill their hearts and souls with His precious oil!  May He help us awaken, while there is still time.

Thomas

Pope Benedict, a while back, called the Church to make a “space” for unbelievers, for questioners, for seekers, following the Old Testament literal space in the Temple area, the Outer Court, called “the Court of the Gentiles.”  He calls us to a dialogue with the world, with “the Gentiles” so to speak, so that through such genuine and sincere encounter we might be witnesses to the saving Truth that all men must seek.  He wrote:

Dear young people, it is up to you, in your own countries and in Europe as a whole, to help believers and non-believers to rediscover the path of dialogue. Religions have nothing to fear from a just secularity, one that is open and allows individuals to live in accordance with what they believe in their own consciences. If we are to build a world of liberty, equality and fraternity, then believers and non-believers must feel free to be just that, equal in their right to live as individuals and in community in accord with their convictions; and fraternal in their relations with one another. One of the reasons for this Court of the Gentiles is to encourage such feelings of fraternity, over and above our individual convictions yet not denying our differences. And on an even deeper level, to recognize that God alone, in Christ, grants us inner freedom and the possibility of truly encountering one another as brothers and sisters.

Deborah and I are creating a new blog, to be in addition to this one, to be devoted to such an outreach to non-Catholics and to non-believers who are truly open to dialogue and mutual respect.  I invite Catholics to be part of the dialogue also!  I invite you all to visit there, to comment for the purpose of true dialogue.  We want to try to give account of the faith we have been given, and to listen to the questions, the beliefs, the thoughts of non-Catholics as well.

The new blog is called “Court of the Gentiles: Seeking the Absolute.”  Please visit the blog, and if you would like to be part of the discussions then know you are welcome and invited!  I hope we can have many contributors, both Catholics and non-Catholics and non-believers.

Thomas

In this age of creeping (or surging) practical atheism, a very beautiful witness to “true religion” was broadcast in the country last night – by a Mormon. One of the interesting twists in this presidential race is that a Catholic will definitely be elected Vice-President, no matter who wins. We can’t see into hearts, of course, but Mr. Ryan seems to take his Catholic faith seriously, praise God, whereas I grieve to say that Mr. Biden seems to consider it an option. I haven’t heard from him, or from the Democratic Party, a recognition of the inviolable right to life or the sanctity of marriage. To me, the right to life is crucial – essential. Without the right to life, all further discussion of any other rights is hypothetical. A dead child has no rights anymore, not in this world.

So a Catholic will be our Vice President. The question is, will he be to the shame of the Church or to her honor? Will he add to the illusion of “disposable religion” for public officials or will he counter this corruption with a contrary example of honoring the Catholic Faith? Practical atheism is a deadly lie, an insidious infection in the heart of the West now spreading throughout the American culture, a lethal moral virus that kills from within the very humanity of its victims. The Church continues mostly to sleep, but thank God some of her members are awake and alive and not ashamed to be different from the world around them.

The second interesting twist in this campaign is the head of the Republican ticket: a Mormon, Mitt Romney, who is not ashamed to take very seriously the biblical moral demands of his faith. The Bible teaches:

James 1:22  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:23  For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror;
James 1:24  for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
James 1:25  But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.
James 1:26  If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is vain.
James 1:27  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Friends and co-workers of Mr. Romney testified at the Convention of his quiet and selfless heart-felt obedience to this religion that is “pure and undefiled before God.” What a refreshing and different political experience was that Republican Convention: their focus on goodness, the goodness of life, the goodness of freedom, the goodness of the human spirit, the goodness of courage, commitment, sacrifice and work, the goodness of honor, of family, of marriage, of children, of life! This country needs to be stirred again by goodness, to goodness! The deadening spirit of godlessness, of moral relativism, of emasculated entitlement and dependency – let these lies be cast aside as unworthy of human persons and cultures.

It is claimed that the Romney-Ryan ticket means there is no Protestant on the presidential ballot of a major party for first time. To me, the significant fact is that both of these candidates on the Republican ticket – both for president and for vice-president – are men who know, who hold, and who live by that Natural Moral Law set by God in the heart of every man. They live a practical theism – not the practical atheism that is killing Western culture, whatever religious label men might appropriate to themselves. They live a religion that honors God and every man, especially the very least among us.

How our country needs men and women of righteousness as our leaders.

“She kept all these things in her heart.” the Virgin Mary demonstrates a humble openness to matters of God – matters she did not understand at first. Mary does not insist on everything from God being immediately simple, plain and clear. Mary teaches us something about patience in the midst of holy mysteries.

Lk 2:48 And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.”
Lk 2:49 And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Lk 2:50 And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them.
Lk 2:51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

Mary, the Mother of our Lord, demonstrates a related quality that comes easily to some, but may require intention and commitment of others: a contemplative spirit. Some have this gift and live it easily – as did another Mary, the sister of Martha. Martha heard Jesus point to her sister Mary as an example for her, that she also might develop this virtue, a virtue the Lord called the one thing needful.

Lk 10:38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house.
Lk 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
Lk 10:40 But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
Lk 10:41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;
Lk 10:42 one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Two Marys, one example of the human essential. Commenting on Mary the Mother of our Lord, Card. Ratzinger said the following in the book, Mary – The Church at the Source (Ignatius Press 2005, p. 71):

… with the scene centering on the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple. The first stage is “they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them” (Lk 2:50). Even for the believing man who is entirely open to God, the words of God are not comprehensible and evident right away. Those who demand that the Christian message be as immediately understandable as any banal statement hinder God. Where there is no humility to accept the mystery, no patience to receive interiorly what one has not yet understood, to carry it to term, and to let it open at its own pace, the seed of the word has fallen on rocky ground; it has found no soil.
Even the Mother does not understand the Son at this moment, but once again she “kept all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51).

Every human person must listen to this, and hear it. A contemplative spirit, a listening and remembering heart, a focus on the holy truth of God – this is essential to us all. There must be humility. There must be patience. There must be a heart of good ground, allowing the mystery of God’s truth to be carried to term and come forth in holy wisdom. We see here in the Blessed Mother Mary an essential characteristic of a disciple of her Son. We see it in the example of Mary the sister of Martha. And we see in Martha, a woman caught in a busyness that distracted her from the one thing necessary, something to be overcome in us all.  As Jesus said, it is a choice to be chosen.  We cannot allow ourselves to hide behind busyness, or be distracted by the noise and the empty activity of this world.

We must develop in ourselves an attitude of prayer. We must learn to listen to Him, so as to hear – really hear – God who speaks to us. We must look so as to find Him, here and now, present every moment. What a tragedy it would be to realize too late that the very One we have been seeking was all the while right beside us, waiting for us to know Him.

What Pope Benedict XVI said bears repeating:

“Even for the believing man who is entirely open to God, the words of God are not comprehensible and evident right away. Those who demand that the Christian message be as immediately understandable as any banal statement hinder God. Where there is no humility to accept the mystery, no patience to receive interiorly what one has not yet understood, to carry it to term, and to let it open at its own pace, the seed of the word has fallen on rocky ground; it has found no soil.”

(See also The One Thing Necessary blog post.)