The Mystery of the Visitation and Christ's Resurrection

Archbishop Sheen noted how the Cross cast its shadow backward over Our Blessed Lord’s entire life. I believe the same is true regarding the light of his Resurrection, and I would suggest that we see just such an instance in Jesus’ visitation to Mary and John (while within his mother’s womb). We find Jesus acting there, through the instrumentality of the Blessed Mother, the same way he will in his first post-Resurrection visit to the apostles; and these mirrored events are instructive regarding the Church’s prayer and celebration of the sacraments.

Let us begin with Jesus visitation of the apostles:

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit…’” (Jn 20:19-22)

Note the significant elements: Jesus’ arrival with a greeting of “Peace” (the standard Jewish greeting “Shalom”) and the imparting of the Spirit.

Don’t we find the same elements in Luke’s account of the Visitation?

“[Mary] entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! …Behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. (Lk 1:40-44)

There is of course a difference between the two events. In the visitation to Mary and John, Jesus’ bestowal of the Spirit was tied to his mother’s words. It was Christ acting for only he can impart the Spirit; but he did so from within Mary. It was as if Jesus granted a quasi-sacramental character to Mary’s greeting of “peace.” It points ahead to Jesus visit to the apostles and institution of the sacrament of reconciliation: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (Jn 20:22-23). There is a beautiful symmetry.  

But there’s another element we shouldn’t miss – and that is the reaction of Elizabeth, John, and Mary to being “filled with the Holy Spirit,” as well as the apostles’ reaction at Pentecost. John, while still in utero, “leaped for joy” and Elizabeth “exclaimed” God’s work “with a loud cry”; and the Blessed Mother sang her Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord,/ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,/ …for he who is mighty has done great things for me,/ and holy is his name./ And his mercy is on those who fear him/ from generation to generation./ He has shown strength with his arm,/…He has helped his servant Israel,/ in remembrance of his mercy,/ as he spoke to our fathers,/ to Abraham and to his posterity for ever” (Lk 1:46-51, 54-55).

We see the same reaction when the apostles and Mary were “filled” with the Spirit at Pentecost. They “began to speak in other tongues,” of “the mighty works of God…as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4,11). All of this is the action of the Spirit upon the human heart. As Christ is the source of the Spirit, so is he the author of the Church’s prayer. He inspired Mary to cry out in the Magnificat and he inspires us to cry out in the Our Father, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6).

The glory of the Resurrection and its life-changing affect upon the Church - it’s already foreshadowed Jesus' Marian visitation to Elizabeth and John.

My Friend, the DOOMSDAY PREPPER

I went to Mass with a good friend this past Sunday.  In the middle of the Gospel reading he leaned over to me and and whispered, "DOOMSDAY PREPPERS."  My buddy has talked about this National Geographic Channel show for months and never misses a new episode.  What reminded him of it in Mass?  Jesus' words:  

"Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.  You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." (Lk 12:39-40)

Now I'm always on the lookout for new ways to relate the Faith to pop culture, so after Mass I asked him point-blank, "So if Doomsday was looming, what would a 'prepper' tell me I had to do to survive it?"  And without batting an eye he answered, "You need to stock up on water, find a sustainable food source, shelter (hopefully bomb proof), and then you need to stock up on weapons and ammo."  Sounded pretty thorough to me!

As I listened, I was like, "Yeah - that's exactly what we need to do to survive Judgment Day."  Everything he listed has a corollary in the spiritual life; and if we prepare ourselves in this way, then we will be ready to meet the Lord when He comes - cosmically or individually.

• Stock up on water?  In Scripture the Holy Spirit is frequently spoken of as Living Water.  The Spirit flows from Jesus' Heart as from a spring (Jn.7:37-39), "whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (Jn 4:14).
• A sustainable food source?  The Eucharist is always available to us.  And it just isn't any food.  It is, in the words of the Our Father, epi-ousios, “super-substantial” bread (CCC 2837).  It is Christ Jesus Himself! 
• Shelter?  A bomb-proof shelter?  The Church.  Not only is she the "household of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth" (1 Tim 3:15), but Jesus has guaranteed that nothing can destroy her - "I tell you, you are Peter (Rock), and on this Rock I will build My Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it" (Mt 16:17)!
• Weapons and ammo?  God's Word is the sword with which we confront the deceptions and temptations of the Enemy (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12); and Prayer calls forth the power of Almighty God to both strengthen us for the fight and to tear down enemy strongholds (2 Cor 10:4).  And to quote Sts. Padre Pio and Josemaria Escriva, "The Rosary is the 'weapon' for these times;" "The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results."

You can argue the merits of being a Doomsday Prepper, but only a fool will argue the merits of being a Judgment Day Prepper.  "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Cor 5:10).

... And What About Those "Traditional" Gifts of the Holy Spirit?

I had a great time talking with Sean Herriot earlier today on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air.  We started off talking about my last post on the charisms of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, but the focus quickly shifted to talking about the way Confirmation both opens us to these gifts as well as releases the “Traditional” Gifts of the Spirit.  So what are the Traditional Gifts, and where do we hear of them in Scripture?

The come from the Book of Isaiah, in a prophecy about the coming Messiah.  

 “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the Lord” (Is.11:2).

These are the gifts that the Holy Spirit poured out on Jesus’ human nature.  When you and I were baptized, we were united to Jesus’ human nature –as spiritual infants.  In the Sacrament of Confirmation we are incorporated even more deeply into Jesus, so that the gifts lavished upon His humanity are fully active within our own.

Let me say it a slightly different way:  Because we are living in Jesus we can act with the gifts the Spirit poured out on Him - His wisdom, His understanding, His counsel and strength, knowledge, awe, and fear of the Lord! We are empowered to love with His heart and think with His mind (1 Cor. 2:16)!

These seven gifts are traditional in the sense that they are always given; if you had hands laid on you in Confirmation then you have full access to these gifts – guaranteed.  (It is not so for the charisms.) 

Lets take a moment to examine these gifts in more detail.  There are different ways to group them.  I see them building upon one another:

• Fear of the Lord – the respect a child has for his/her parents. We do not stand in terror of God, but we do recognize that our Father in Heaven loves us so much that He will discipline us if need be. He loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to let us remain the way we are!
• Piety – our realization of God’s Love for us moves us to respond to Him in prayer, both private and communal. We come to hear God’s Word for us, both from other believers and within our own souls.
• Knowledge – this entering into the Father’s Presence and listening to His Word empowers us to grow in what we know of the Truth.
• Understanding – as we seek His guidance, the Spirit leads us to penetrate this Truth, perceive its meaning for us and other believers.
• Wisdom – we are the led in applying this understanding.
• Counsel – the Spirit will guide us in making specific decisions, and
• Fortitude – strengthen us to persevere in doing what we now know to be right.

Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist – these are the Sacraments of Initiation, initiation into the very life of Christ Jesus!

Jesus	His Church
Conceived by the Holy Spirit, free from original sin.	Baptism – conceived by the Spirit and freed from original sin (and the guilt of personal sins)
Baptized in the Jordan – Anointed with the Holy Spirit and His gifts to perform His ministry	Confirmation – anointed with the Spirit, and His gifts, to participate in Jesus’ ministry
Gave Himself to the Father, completely and without reservation from the time of His conception right through His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension	Eucharist – incorporation into Jesus as He offers Himself to the Father through His Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension

The Church - Hypocritical or Holy? My Honest Response

I recently heard a gentleman lambasting his "hypocritical Catholic Church."  His comments were somewhat jumbled but it was clear that he thought the Church was very concerned with money and, although it was a lesser concern for this particular gentleman, the Church does not "encourage people to think for themselves."  Two things I will tell you right off the bat:  1) When I hear things like that it gets my dander up, because I love the Church, and 2) Twenty years ago I frequently said the same kind of things about the Catholic Church.

So what gives, right?  Why would I move from offense to defense?  Well, it all comes down to what we mean when we speak of "the Church."

When people like the gentleman above, or a younger Shane Kapler, level charges against "the Church," they are almost always referring to a particular leader - or group of leaders within the Church - with whom they disagree.  And they may or may not have valid reasons for doing so.  There are priests and bishops within the Church who make terrible decisions, even commit egregious sins.  It has always been so and always will be so - both among the clergy and the laity.  (Do not forget, Judas was one of the original Twelve Apostles.)  We individuals are always in danger of going astray; Jesus didn't establish the Sacrament of Reconciliation on a whim - He knew we were going to need it!  It is not wrong to acknowledge wrongs committed by individuals within the Church, or even wrongs committed by a group of individuals in collusion with one another.  But these sins are not the actions of "the Church"!  Stay with me here; I will explain.

The Christian Faith recognizes "the Church" as the Body of Christ (1 Cor.12:12-27; CCC 792-801).  Jesus Himself is its Head (the Mind),  the Holy Spirit is its Soul (its Heart, or vivifying force), and each of us are Cells (the physical component visible to the world).  Because of this the Church is HOLY (Nicene Creed, Apostles' Creed).  "The Church," understood in this way, understood by faith, does not sin - because it is the Body of Christ, and Christ does not sin.  

Individual members, cells, can and do sin; but these are not the actions of the Body, directed by its Head and made possible through the energy of the Spirit.  They are "rogue" actions - like when a cell in one of our bodies becomes cancerous.  It is still attached to our bodies, but it no longer lives in harmony with the other cells; it is at war with them.  And so it is when individual cells, individual members of the Body of Christ, fall into sin.  These are not the actions of "the Church" but of individuals or groups of individuals (analogous to tumors) afflicting the Body.  But these "cancers" are no more "the Church" than a tumor is the patient being afflicted.

I do not expect the media or people outside of the Faith to make these distinctions.  But if you are a Christian, and you desire to be faithful to the Truth that has come to us from Jesus and the Apostles, then you must.  That desire is what forced me to change my tune.  The Church is Christ's Body.  To speak ill of her, is to speak ill of Him.  We can and must deal with the sins of individuals - ours and others - the cancers afflicting the Body.  But we must never attribute these things to "the Church;" it is slander.

"He Must Increase; I Must Decrease"

Those were the words of John the Baptist when his disciples came to him concerned that Jesus had started to attract larger crowds than John.  It's such an awesome thing to say, "He must increase; I must decrease" (Jn.3:30) - so incredibly noble.  It sounds so spiritually "romantic" ... but then you yourself are called to live it, and all of the air goes out of the tires.  

Each of us is going to experience times, probably many times, in our efforts to serve God when all of our plans come to nought.  As best we can tell, our hearts are in the right place; and we are using our abilities as we believe the Lord wants, but our efforts do not appear to meet with success.  But when we look around at our brothers and sisters we see just the opposite - their efforts to tell others about the Lord Jesus and to be of help to others are flourishing.  We have to beware of the Enemy at moments like that; he would love nothing more than to encourage a spiritual jealousy in our hearts.

St. Paul encouraged the us to keep our heads on straight, guarding our thoughts with "the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph.6:17).  And what does the word tells us?

• “My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity.  Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great. Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient; For in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation. Trust God and he will help you; make straight your ways and hope in him.” (Sir.2:1-6) 

• Not to say that any of us find ourselves in this position, but when other Christian preachers were trying to outshine Paul in proclaiming Christ, his attitude was, "What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice" (Phil.1:18)

• "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mt.20:28)

• "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty." (Lk.17:10)

It's not our kingdom that we are building.  It is not our names that we wish to magnify.  The trials we face, the setbacks are not truly defeats; they create opportunities for us to persevere in loving the Lord, in expending ourselves for love of Him.  These are the moments when He grows our souls, transforms them to be more like His - poured out on the Cross for love of the Father ... and us.  Trials in our efforts to serve purify us.  They provide opportunity to overcome, to burn away, any residual desire we have to build our kingdoms, to make a name for ourselves, with the Fire of Love - the Holy Spirit who made saints of John the Baptist and Paul.

Come Holy Spirit, 

Love of the Father for the Son,

Love of the Son for the Father,

Soul of the Mystical Body,

Font of Life,

Fire of Love,

Sweet Anointing from Above.

Holy Spirit or Guardian Angel?

Something a friend emailed me earlier today spawned this post.  Let me frame the question:  When you need guidance, to whom do you pray - the Holy Spirit or your Guardian Angel?

I never directly ask my Guardian Angel to do anything for me - or the Blessed Mother or any of the saints for that matter.  I ask them to intercede, to pray for my needs and others.  The Book of Revelation shows the saints and angels offering our petitions to God (Rev.5:8; 8:4), and the angels carrying out missions at God's command; but Scripture never portrays them simply responding to requests a person directed toward them.

Each of us has a guardian angel, from the moment of birth until death (Mt.18:10; CCC 336).  God has entrusted us to their care.  Like a good "babysitter," they take their orders from the Parent, not the child.  (Angels execute the will of God, not ours - thank Goodness.)  We ask them to intercede for us, but we don't issue them directives.  I ask the Lord to protect me and guide me through the work of my angel.  I have also asked my angel to intercede for these things, "Please ask the Lord to empower you to protect me in this situation," and "Please ask the Lord that He allow you to guide me through this."

Most of the time however I simply ask God for His help.  I ask the Holy Spirit to give me His grace - illumination to know what I need to do and the strength to do it.  I leave it up to the Lord whether He chooses to effect these things directly in my soul, or whether he does so through the mediation of my angel.  It's the Lord who answers the prayer.  He may do it with His "bare Hand," or a with a gloved hand (my guardian angel), but it's ultimately His action.  

Painting by Pedro Berruguete

Reflect on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane:

[He] knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. (Lk.22:41-43).

1) He petitioned the Father, and 2) even though His human soul was united to His Divine Person, his soul was strengthened for what lay ahead through the mediation of an angel.  If such was the case for Jesus, I have to imagine it is for you and me from time to time too.  So ask the Holy Spirit for His inspiration, allow Him to deliver it how He wishes, and give Him thanks when it comes.  (And every now and then thank your angel for how he faithfully loves you and delivers God's helps.)

Baptized with the Spirit and Fire

Praying the Rosary and meditating on Jesus' Baptism by John took a different turn this morning. My attention became focused on John's reaction to Jesus. "I need to be baptized by you" (Mt.3:14). Now, of course John recognized Jesus' superior holiness, but there is something else we ought to recognize: Part of John's preaching was how the Messiah would offer a baptism superior to his.   John had told the crowds, "I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt.3:11).

The baptism offered by Jesus, the Sacrament of Baptism, changes us in the deepest parts of our humanity.  We are given sanctifying grace, meaning that are damaged souls are repaired and renewed as the Holy Spirit rushes in and takes up residence in them.  We still retain however inclinations toward old patterns of behavior that need to be undone - "burned away" you could say, and that is an ongoing process, one that God wants us to take part in.  It can hurt.  On some rare occasions God may seem like an old-fashioned doctor using a piece of white-hot iron to cauterize a wound and prevent further infection!  It takes faith to recognize God as a Father, Who always has our eternal best-interests at heart.

“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord

or lose heart when reproved by him;

for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;

he scourges every son he acknowledges.”

Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are without discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards.  Besides this, we have had our earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not [then] submit all the more to the Father of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a short time as seemed right to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we may share his holiness. At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. (Heb.12:5-12)

I rather like the way C.S. Lewis paraphrased this in Mere Christianity.  I do not have my copy in front of me but if memory serves, he wrote,  "God loves us now, just as we are; but He loves us too much to allow us to remain the way we are!"

Incarnation & Pentecost

Another brilliant insight from Monsignor Cirrincione: Mary acted as Mother, in birthing the Church on Pentecost. Just as Jesus' physical body was formed in her virginal womb through the power of the Holy Spirit, so too we find her joined in prayer with the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came in power to form Jesus' Mystical Body, the Church.

Bottom Line

I was praying while driving back to the house this afternoon - feeling down about events this past year. "God, this can't be Your will...Well, it's obviously Your will to allow it...so I guess passing through this IS Your will...But when are You going to set things right?" And suddenly the "ground" under me was a bit more solid. Because if it is within His will, then there isn't failure; it's not the end of the story. He didn't give me any indication how or when He would bring something of value out of this; but the realization that this was within His permissive will made a difference.

The second movement in my prayer had to do with the thoughts that have come to me repeatedly these past weeks: "Give up. Stop struggling like this. Why do you 'stay'?" And the answer that came from within, very matter-of-factly, was "Because He wants me to." No emotion to it, no passion in it. At the deepest part of me though, there He is. He is my reason for being...I love Him. And its not flowery; there's no sweetness right now. But there is commitment - there is Love. I feel frazzled and so self-centered with all my concerns, but somehow the Holy Spirit has managed to plant this seed deep down, to lay this foundation. Isn't this exactly what St. Paul wrote about though? "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 5:5). What MERCY - God enabling us to Love Him! If He hadn't, a weak heart like mine would have given out long ago.

My prayer for us in this new year - "God, let this foundation You laid in us through Baptism endure. Clear away whatever we've built on it that isn't of You. Let us have the peace of trusting in You, trusting in this good future You have planned."