Aristotle 101 - Introduction

Scripture and Theology - I've spent many years reading them and love them.  Philosophy?  I consider myself woefully inadequate, and have been trying to remedy that.  Trying to read someone like Aquinas however is very difficult because I do not have the vocabulary down.  To start making some headway I have been reading an introduction to the thought of one of Aquinas' heroes, the Greek philosopher Aristotle.   This book came recommended to me from Kevin Vost, Mortimer Adler's Aristotle for Everybody.  My intent is to post my study notes here on the blog so that you can make use of them too.


Adler's purpose in distilling the philosophy of Aristotle for modern readers is to help us think more clearly.  The beauty of Aristotle in his opinion is the way he used common human experiences and notions common to all of us - thing, body, mind, change, cause, etc. - to reason about our existence.  These commonalities are accessible by all, unlike the scientific experimentation that goes on behind the doors of a laboratory and are only read about by non-specialists such as ourselves.

Categorizing things is where Adler begins his exploration of Aristotle.  Categorizing is so basic to our human existence that it's practiced by children playing "Guess Who?"

The most basic categories into which we divide things (or bodies, to use Aristotle's terminology) are living and non-living.  All living things (bodies) take nourishment, grow, and reproduce while inanimate objects (bodies) do not.  We can subdivide living bodies into the categories of plant or animal.  Granted, there seem to be bodies on the borderline between living and non-living or between plant and animal; some things (bodies) have characteristics that seem to straddle the dividing line. 

That we have borderline cases is actually good though.  Unless our minds recognized the clear-cut distinctions between something like a rock and a rabbit, we wouldn't have to puzzle over the borderline cases.  But the human mind does recognize these larger categories, and that sets us apart from all other animals!  Other animals show intelligence, but they do not ask one another questions about the nature of things and work to answer them.

Our minds recognize these categories because it is able to discern the nature possessed by all the individual things making up that category, or class.  Artistotle discerned five main classes of physical things and placed them in an ascending order.  Each subsequent class possesses the characteristics of that which comes before it in the chain, as well as some new characteristic that sets it apart:

Inanimate Bodies

1) Elementary Bodies - have weight, occupy space, and are composed of only one element.
2) Composite Bodies - have weight, occupy space, and are composed of two or more elements 

Animate Bodies

3) Plants - have all the characteristics of composite bodies, but also take nourishment, grow, and reproduce
4) Animals - do this, as well as move and employ additional powers of sense such as touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell.
5) Human beings - in addition to all that has come before, possess rational thought. 


The major differences indicated above, that separate one class of bodies from another, are essential differences.  All the other differences within a class are superficial, or accidental differences.  People have tried to divide our class into many different sub-classes (race, height, hair color, I.Q., place of origin, etc.), but these are all accidental differences.  Rational thought (asking "what" and "why") is the common property of human nature; it's what sets us apart as a class unto ourselves; all the other differences between us are superficial. 

Are You Body Conscious?

Who isn't, right?  I feel it every day when I go to the pool.  After my swim today though, as I was sitting poolside and letting the kids play, I experienced a different kind of "body consciousness."  I was praying the Glorious Mysteries and realized that it had been awhile since I had really been struck by the awesomeness of Jesus' Resurrection.  The Lord that I am praying too is not just spirit, He is flesh and blood!  He is physically alive, like me - well, more than me! 


The day will come when He will share this bodily resurrection with all of us.  The Blessed Mother already experiences it; that's what the Assumption was about.  It wasn't enough for Jesus that His Mother experience eternal life in her spirit; He wanted her to experience it in her body - the same body that carried him to term, nursed him, and served him in hundreds of thousands of ways during earthly life.  And that's what He is going to do for you and me too.

These truths get at the value we Christians attribute to the body.  Don't confuse Christians' talk about bodily health and fitness with society's worship of the body. Catholicism knows that we are, to use Aquinas' terminology, hylomorphic beings. We are a union of body and soul; that's our human nature.  Jesus saved us by offering Himself to the Father in both, not one or the other; and we are responsible to God for the care of both. "The flesh is the hinge of salvation" (CCC 1015). As Paul put it, "I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor.9:27).  Our cognizance of the importance of the body can even be seen in how we express salvation - it's not a matter of "faith alone" but of faith (interior) and works (exterior).  That's the big picture, the "full, body shot" if you will (James 2:14-20); and it's Good News.

I want to recognize my body and those of others for the gifts they are - allowing us, like Jesus, to express our love for God and others.  No need to fret over what people are thinking when they see me at the pool; that's such a myopic view of the value of our bodies, and I want the joy of God's big picture.

Moral Relativism - Making Conversation

Here are some common things you will hear from people who subscribe to moral relativism and brief responses that you can use in challenging them to rethink their position.  Again, let me acknowledge my debt to Beckwith & Koukl's Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air 

“You shouldn’t force your morality on me.”

Is that your conviction?  You honestly believe that?

Well, my conviction is that I should try and convince others of my moral beliefs.  Are you telling me that my convictions are false?  How can you say your convictions are true and mine are false?   What gives you the right to force YOUR CONVICTIONS on me?

“You shouldn’t force your morality on me”

Why Not?  If you think about it, you are trying to force your morality on me - your belief that it is wrong for me to try and "force" my beliefs on someone else.  You are trying to get me to change my behavior; and that's the very thing you just told me not to do.

“Who are you to say?”

You can respond with, “Who are YOU to say, ‘Who are you to say?'  I’m not asking you to agree with me because I’m some kind of moral authority.  I’m asking you to explore this issue with me rationally, in the belief that intelligence and reason can lead us to an understanding of right and wrong.

“Jesus said, ‘Judge not lest you be judged.’”

I like to respond, “and what was Jesus next statement?”  It was “condemn not, lest you be condemned.”

When Jesus said that we are not to judge, he meant it in the sense of not concluding that an individual was damned in the eyes of God. He did not tell us to refrain from judging actions.   

HE SAID THIS IN THE MIDST OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.  It’s a three chapter sermon on what ACTIONS, on what BEHAVIORS, are virtuous and which are sinful - which behaviors will lead you to the kingdom of heaven or Gehenna!

Tolerance is given to people, not ideas or behavior.  I won’t despair of a pedophile's salvation, God can bring anyone to repentance.  But I do want him incarcerated, and I will shout that pedophilia is a disgusting wrong from whatever tower you’ll allow me.  I’ll do that for a long list of human behaviors.  
Jesus certainly has not revealed to me who is going to heaven or hell - there is such a myriad of variables involved that no one but Him should ever attempt to make that kind of statement.  What Jesus has done is tell to us, objectively speaking, what actions lead to each destination.  No one but He is aware of an individual soul's culpability.

Battling Moral Relativsim - Resources

Hey, here are those links to resources I promised on today's radio show. 

Lets start with links to writings from Blessed Pope John Paul II:
Faith & Reason (Fides et Ratio)
The Splendour of Truth (Veritatis Splendor)

Next, let me recommend a very readable, down-to-earth presentation of the issue, Francis Beckwith & Gregory Koukl's Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air
 
Now, for the more philosphically-minded out there, looking for a bit of a challenge.  Let me point you to pertinent sections from St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa:
Natural Law, Summa Theologica > First Part of the Second Part > Question 94
Truth, Summa Theologica > First Part > Question 16

And then there a some helpful articles on these same points in the Catholic Encyclopedia (they break down Aquinas' thought a bit more):
Natural Law
Truth

If you come back tomorrow I'll put up some of those tips Dr. Vost and I shared for talking with people who embrace moral relativism.

An Analogy for the Relationship Between Different Groups of Christians

I find the image of the family ideal for considering the relationship between different Christian groups.

My siblings, Andy and Amanda, and I have the same set of parents. You could say that our parents’ life adheres in us; any DNA test would show that we came from the same source. Now if my teenage sister was to strike out on her own – tell dad that she appreciated his advice over the years but could handle things on her own now; moved out of the house; stopped coming over for Sunday dinner; heck, even changed her last name – none of this would change the objective, biological fact that she is my sister. We would still have the same “life” of our parents within us. In fact, I bet she would unconsciously use a lot of Kapler phrases, mannerisms, and traditions. Oh, she may choose never to speak to my brother or I again; and yet, in a very real sense she could never be completely rid of us – our blood ties and common upbringing ensure it. We will always be family. What is true of the Kapler family (at least in this regard) is also true of God’s Family, the Church.

There is only one Family of God, stretching from heaven down to earth. The heavenly branch of the Family is in perfect unity; the earthly has obviously not been as fortunate. What is common to every member of the Family is that we have the same Life of God adhering in our souls; each of us has been born from the same “imperishable seed” (1 Peter 1:23). People of every “tribe and tongue and people and nation”(Rev. 5:9) are welcome in this Family, and for that reason it took the name “Catholic,” or universal. The Founder of the Family, enthroned in Heaven, has raised up the Pope as a visible source of unity - an older brother if you will, to image the Father’s love and care for us. It is Jesus’ and the Father’s will that we love him as an older brother and respect and obey him in Jesus’ physical absence. If one of God’s children, or a group of them, decide to “move out of the house” – no longer feel bound to the Pope’s decisions in disciplinary matters or doctrinal pronouncements, abstain from the Eucharist, change their name from Catholic (to Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) - that wouldn’t change the objective fact that we still draw our life from the same Heavenly Father. You might say that we have the same “spiritual DNA;” maybe we can’t confirm it in a laboratory, but I am sure angels and demons see the Family resemblance quite clearly. Nothing can erase this spiritual reality. And not only is there the connection on the level of the spirit, but so many who “moved out of the house” held onto a lot of the Family’s outward “characteristics”, or “habits” – the Bible, Sunday worship (for the most part), the early Ecumenical Councils’ statements on the Trinity and Jesus’ divine and human natures, baptism (albeit with different emphasis), and the order of worship (of many groups). There are other similarities, but these are major ones which leap out at me. 

Although my separated brothers and sisters may not agree, I recognize them, objectively/spiritually, as united to the Catholic Church. I believe that that is how the Lord Jesus views all of us. Oh the visible, or formal, unity may not be there – the same as if my sister cut off her ties with my parents and I - but the common origin and family characteristics remain.
___________________________
Excerpted from Chp.13 of The God Who is Love: Explaining Christianity From Its Center
 

NEW BOOK ALERT

My good friend Cheryl Dickow has just co-authored a book with Teresa Tomeo titled Wrapped Up: God's Ten Gifts for Women.  Their publisher even created a trailer for it that is running on YouTube:  click here to watch.  I highly encourage you to check it out; these are two ladies with incredible depth and a ton of encouragement to share with other women.  The book is already available for pre-order through Amazon.

Beautiful

"Yeah, she caught my eye, as we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was flying high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again, but we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you."

Heard this song by James Blunt as I was driving this morning, and a few things came to mind:


I had an experience like this some years back.  I was at a study group when a young lady entered the room, and I literally had to catch my breath!  Her face, especially her eyes, seemed radiant.  My heart honestly skipped a beat.  There was no forethought nor lust; it was just my immediate reaction to her beauty.


Christians recognize these transcendent moments as pointers to God, the truly Beautiful.  “For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator” (Wisdom 13:5).  How amazing that God gives we human beings a participation in His beauty!  That's part of the Theology of the Body - our physicality is a window on the Divine.


I never saw the young woman from the study group again.  I've had many fleeting encounters in my life though - that cool person that I met at a party while on vacation, or the neat people I've struck up conversations with in waiting rooms.  We're each on different life paths, but our lives intersected for a moment; and I glimpsed someone that I would have liked to know more of.  It's natural to feel a tinge of sadness, of longing.


What snaps me out of it is a fact:  God's plan is to give me an eternity, a literal eternity, to get to know that person.  Our paths might have only crossed for a moment here and now, but He intends for all of them to culminate at the same place - before His throne.  I don't just recall this after the fleeting encounters either; I've recalled it at graduations, job changes, and the funerals of loved ones.  It's a reality that gives meaning to all of the experiences of the "almost, but not yet" of this life.  

In the end, not only will encounter God's goodness and beauty through the children He has made, but directly, "face-to-face."
________________________
Oh yes, and the final thing James Blunt's song always make me think of - my daughter Lily.  During her life hundreds of thousands of people will look at her and have to catch their breath . . . but I'm blessed to spend every single day with her, here on earth and hopefully (in my case at least) in heaven.

The Life I Dreamed - Book Review

Truth told, I rarely read fiction.  My coffee table is covered by theology books, and when I do need a good “story” I get it the way God intended – the SyFy Channel.  When I heard “pro-life novel” however, my interest was piqued.  I am thrilled to report that Kari Burke’s The Life I Dreamed was well worth my break with tradition.

Burke has crafted a novel that advances the culture of life without being preachy.  She uses the  interaction between her multi-dimensional characters to paint a realistic vision – something much needed in Christian fiction –of both the struggles and opportunities facing people of faith in the present culture. 

Burke’s protagonist, Emmy O’Brien, could be one of a dozen young mothers I know:  devoted to the teachings of the Church but struggling with the ramifications of living them in the day-to-day.   Her husband is a youth minister heavily involved with the lives of the kids from the parish.  She admires his devotion to them, but at the same time she’s extremely frustrated with how his job leaves her with the lion’s share of the work in parenting their own kids.  Her husband’s work for the Church also means living on a shoe-string budget.  Combine that with couple’s refusal to use contraception, their four young children, and their families’ and friends’ consternation with their Catholic lifestyle; and you have a young woman just barely making it emotionally from one day to the next. 

Imagine how frustrated and overwhelmed this character feels when her husband comes to her with the request that they help a pregnant and homeless sixteen year old.  Seriously, how much can be asked of one person?  This book explores that question in an extraordinarily honest way.  It doesn’t show angels and demons fighting spiritual battles behind the scenes.  As much of a reality as that is, this story sticks to what we see and hear and feel – and how God’s grace is at work through seemingly mundane channels.  There are no magical fixes in this book; rather, it’s the kind of hard fought redemption we actually see going on around us.  And that’s what makes this an authentic story of hope!

If you find yourself fed up with the state of the world or dragged down by the pressures you face, I recommend foregoing the escapism of television for a couple of nights to let yourself be nourished by The Life I Dreamed.  It’s a story about a family just like yours – Catholic, struggling, but able to rise to the occasion through the grace of God.

"Who Touched Me?"

Today's Gospel reading (Mark 5:21-43) was a really good reminder for me about how I live my life with God.  A woman afflicted with "hemorrhages" for 12 years (possibly what we today call endometrioisis) came up behind Jesus, convinced that if she could just touch the tassels on his garment (tzitzit, Num.15:38-39) she would be healed.  I was very struck by what came next:

Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?"
But his disciples said to him, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'"
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

There were a crowd of people in physical contact with Jesus, but only one person really "touched" him; and it was her faith that allowed her to.

It reminded me that there is a danger I need to be wary of, a fine line that always needs to be walked.  It's important to have fixed times of prayer throughout the day.  It's also important to be faithful to specific forms of prayer; for me that's Sunday Mass and the daily Rosary.  I do a lot of spontaneous prayer in addition to those, but those are the meat and potatoes of my spiritual life.  The daily Rosary ensures that I make time to meditate on Jesus' life in Scripture; I have a set time every day for God to speak to me through His Word.  Sometimes I receive incredible flashes of insight, but much of the time it is just thinking on the mysteries and trying not to get distracted.

So there is that, and it is good.  But I need to be careful that I do not let prayer become routine.  That doesn't mean that I break my commitment to the Rosary - or even worse Sunday Mass - but that I strive to always remain cognizant that I am in contact with the Living God!  It's faith in a Person - trusting in, clinging to, and relying on God in absolutely everything I think, say, and do - that allows me to "touch" Jesus, to receive the grace He wants to pour out.

Making "reparation" for our sins?

When a non-Catholic Christian hears that Catholics believe in making acts and offering prayers in reparation for our sins and those of others, it sounds like we don't believe that Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient to atone for all sin.  That would certainly be a problem . . . if that's what we were saying.  But it isn't. 

Jesus received baptism, a baptism of repentance, as our representative.  He redeemed us by giving the Father the loving obedience we had denied him.  In the desert, he withstood temptations to which Adam and Israel had succumbed.  Jesus lived his identity as Son even when it meant being scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a tree, and pierced with a spear.  By saying “yes,” and enduring it all in obedience to God’s will, Jesus redeemed the “no” of our sins.  Let me be absolutely clear: the eternal punishment of sin, the separation from God that we call hell, was atoned for – totally, completely, even superabundantly – by the sacrifice of Jesus.  Having said that we Catholics also believe that, joined to Jesus, we are called to offer satisfaction, or reparation, both for our individual sins as well as other members of the Mystical Body.   I’ll do my best to explain why this is.

From time to time you hear of  a “jail house conversion.”  Someone was baptized in infancy but received no real formation in the Faith, and went from one bad decision in life to another.  He finally murdered someone and was jailed.  While in jail he experiences a profound conversion.  He understands that he has done something incredibly evil and vows to live a new life.  The visiting priest hears his confession and gives him absolution.  The convict’s sins are really and truly forgiven.  Jesus’ sacrificial death (pure love) atoned for the act of murder (hate) and reconciles the prisoner’s soul to God, saving him from hell.  Since the prisoner has been forgiven in this way, shouldn’t he be released?  Something tells me I’m not the only one out there saying “no.”

We understand that even though the eternal punishment of his sins have been atoned for by Jesus’ death and that heaven now stands open to the man, there is still an earthly penalty to be paid here in time and space.  It’s called the temporal punishment of sin; and it’s not just the state requiring this of the man, but God. 

 Analogously, this is why the Church insists that even though we’ve been absolved of our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we need to perform an act of penance.  Penance is a concrete act meant both to repair, or when that is impossible, to make amends for, the harm we have done as well as to get us walking in the right direction again.  (You no doubt remember how Peter, who denied the Lord three times; was asked by the Risen Jesus to reaffirm his love three times.)  

Note, the Church says this to baptized Christians, members of Christ’s Mystical Body.  A state board of corrections will not recognize it, but the Church understands that Baptism wipes away eternal punishment, as well as all temporal punishment earned prior to Baptism.   The baptized soul has been regenerated by grace and made a child of God.  As a “newborn” it is completely free of all punishment!    

But when a Christian sins after Baptism, when she act out of selfishness instead of love, then her loving Father disciplines her. “Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required” (Luke 12:48).  Don’t’ be discouraged by this. “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him . . . God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?” (Heb.12:5,7).  And you’re not going through this discipline by yourself – you’re filled with the strength of Christ (Phil. 4:13).  Jesus’ love of the Father is so superabundant that it erupts into acts of love in our own lives, acts that make satisfaction for our sins.  “I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit” (John 15:5).  The branches produce fruit because of the sap they receive from the vine, and we produce acts of love because of the Holy Spirit we receive from Jesus.

We also can’t forget that the Christian life isn’t just “me and Jesus.”  He isn’t at work just in us, but in the whole communion of saints!  In the Body of Christ, “if one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor.12:26).  That is why St. Paul went on to say, “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). United to Jesus and empowered by his grace, Paul made reparation for the sins – the failures to love – of other members of the Body.  

We can consciously choose to enter into this great act of making reparation.  We intentionally ask Jesus to fill us with strength and allow us to express his love for the Father, in reparation both for our failings and those of his whole Body.  We can perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  Perhaps we tighten our belts, literally through fasting or figuratively by almsgiving.[1] Like St. Paul we embrace and offer up the frustrations and sufferings God allows to come our way.  Reparation can be performing a kind act, additional Mass attendance during the week, or asking the Lord to forgive another person’s sins.[2]  Any element of the Divine Mercy is an incredible prayer of reparation!  All of this spring from the same love, the same Holy Spirit, that Jesus poured forth on the Cross. 

Almost everyone has heard the story of Fatima, how the Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children in Portugal during World War I.  Europe was experiencing the natural result, or the “temporal punishment,” of abandoning its love of God and neighbor.  Mary came to request a return to the Gospel and reparation for sin through the praying of the Rosary and acts of penance.  What many are unaware of was how the children were prepared for Mary’s visitation, over a year before, through the appearance of an angel and the prayer he taught them.   Prostrating themselves with their foreheads to the ground, he instructed them to pray three times, “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love you!  I ask pardon of you for those who do not believe, not adore, do not hope, and do not love you.”  

 Pope Pius XI, who became pope shortly after the events at Fatima, made a profound connection between our prayers and acts of reparation and Jesus’ Passion.  In his encyclical On Reparation to the Sacred Heart, he speculated that the angel who “strengthened” Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane did so by crossing time and space to bring him our acts of reparation!

---

[1] As water extinguishes a blazing fire, so almsgiving atones for sin” (Sirach 3:30).

[2] ““If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal” (1 John 5:16)

Corpus Christi Visitation

NO, not this kind of visitation - 
 








I was going for this one,
which is clearly far more awesome; God Himself was in Mary's womb!  And I love Elizabeth's reaction, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk.1:42-43)

So there's the Visitation part of my post, but where does Corpus Christi come in, the celebration of Christ's Body and Blood present in the Eucharist? Well, when you and I receive him in the Eucharist He comes into our bodies just as truly as He did the Blessed Mother's!  Take that in.  Throughout Mary's 75 mile journey to Elizabeth, she guarded and nurtured Jesus inside of her.  You and I are supposed to do the same!

And look at Elizabeth's reaction again.  Do we greet our friends at Mass with that kind of joy?!  They just received Jesus into themselves whole and entire in the Eucharist.  God Himself is dwelling inside of them!  So at Mass this weekend, when you hug those friends, try and have yourself a Corpus Christi Visitation.

"By What Authority?" A Lesson for American Catholics

I've always loved today's Gospel.  When I read it aloud today, it spoke to me in a different way though.  I'll share the passage and then what struck me:
 As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him
and said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?"
Jesus said to them, "I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me."
They discussed this among themselves and said, "If we say, 'Of heavenly origin,' he will say, '(Then) why did you not believe him?'
But shall we say, 'Of human origin'?"--they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know." Then Jesus said to them, "Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things."

Now of course I had always enjoyed seeing Jesus verbally out-maneuver His opponents, but today I finally understood that what Jesus is saying to them is that faith is all a matter of authority - whose word you believe.  John came claiming to speak for the Lord, and calling people to a baptism of repentance.  Because the chief priests, scribes, and elders didn't believe that John had the authority to do this - that he really spoke God's word - they ignored what he said and did.  So when they ask Jesus by what authority he teaches and acts, it will not matter if He says "from God" or not, because they have already decided that His message, critical of them, could not possibly be from God.  It strikes me that something similar is playing out before our eyes on the evening news.

Watching CBS's national news last night, I saw an interview with Sr. Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the group recently criticized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).  Sr. Pat has been a religious for the past 47 years and took great exception to the CDF's assessment.  The CDF is also requiring Archbishop Sartain of Seattle to meet with LCWR leaders, representing 80% of U.S. women religious, "in order to implement a process of review and conformity to the teachings and discipline of the Church."

What issues did Sr. Pat take exception at being criticized for?  Sisters recommending birth control to low income women they minister to, and the sisters affirmations that homosexual acts are valid forms of affection in God's eyes.  Alright, if you're a person who really does accept the authority of Jesus of Nazareth, then those are not issues up for discussion.  Jesus, the Apostles, and all of her male and female saints, Bishops, and Popes throughout two thousand years have taught that birth control and homosexual acts are objectively - always objectively - wrong.  A person's ignorance of that obviously mitigates their culpability for engaging in these acts, but it does not change the fact that they are objectively disordered.  

The sisters should obviously continue reaching out to the people they have been serving - that is part of the Gospel imperative.  But in their service to these people they cannot say that parts of Jesus' teaching are not true.  It's the Truth that sets people free, that gives supernatural life, a life that lasts forever.  Otherwise, sisters who espouse the thoughts of Sr. Pat will be meeting needs that only pertain to this present, fallen world.  And it will soon pass away.  The U.S. already has plenty of social workers.  It needs Christian, faithful women religious, social workers, hospital administrators, teachers, doctors and nurses.

As we watch this play out on the evening news - the sisters "being bullied" by the big, bad Vatican - we need to ask, "By what authority?"  What authority are the sisters claiming for their disagreement with Church teaching, which is nothing but God's word?  

This shouldn't be a difficult issue for American Catholics.  If you believe Jesus spoke the Father's word, if you believe that the prophets and apostles were inspired to speak His Truth, then you embrace it 100%.  The sisters have given amazing service to God's people, and the Vatican praises them for it.  But there also appear to be a significant number, such as the LCWR's president on the evening news, who disagree with Jesus on significant moral issues.  This should not be and should be corrected.  And that is exactly what the shepherds of Christ's Church were given authority by Him to do! (Mt.18:15-18)

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Dr. Vost and I drew from a number of resources in preparing our program for EWTN Radio about the Gifts of the Spirit (both the seven traditional from Isaiah 11 and the "charisms" discussed by St. Paul in Rom.12 and 1 Cor.12), and I thought it would be a good idea to post links.  I beg your forgiveness for beginning with our own works.  Within those however, we share more extensively what we were able to touch upon on the radio, as well as summarizing points from several of the works recommended below:








Other links of interest:
International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services  (located in Vatican City)
U.S. Catholic Charismatic Renewal National Service Committee


And for my discussion of the Charism of Tongues, please click here, for a separate blog post on the issue.

A Catholic Take on the Gift of Tongues

"There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning 'favor,' 'gratuitous gift,' 'benefit.'  Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church." 

- Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2003

Please note that what follows is a Catholic understanding of tongues.  I have no delusions about it being the definitive understanding.  They are my personal reflections, excerpted from Chp.4 and Appendix VI of my The God Who is Love: Explaining Christianity From Its Center

The Purpose of Praying in Tongues

If you have never been exposed to it, you are probably wondering why someone would want to pray in a language they do not understand. It is a fair question, no doubt about it. I cannot claim to give God’s final answer, His rationale for tongues. I can speculate though, given the texts of Scripture[1] and the opinions of myself and others.

First, I believe that tongues allows us to open our spirits to God - to express our deepest longings, our most profound inclinations of love to Him. Because we have been fused to Jesus, we are caught up into His Loving of the Father (in the Spirit). Praising God in tongues is an earthly manifestation of the Son’s eternal adoration of the Father – manifested through members of His Body. Through this charism we are given the opportunity to express things our conscious mind could never adequately formulate.

The second benefit builds upon the first. Not only does tongues allow someone to praise God, but also to intercede– the Holy Spirit allowing a person to pray Jesus’ intentions for the members of His Mystical Body. It is a visible manifestation of something going on within the soul of every Christian:

…the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).

The third value I see is the potential for personal spiritual development. Paul said in First Corinthians that “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (14:4). One way this spiritual edification occurs is for a person to yield to tongues in the knowledge that they are worshiping and interceding on behalf of other members of Christ’s Body. They are, in a sense, allowing the Head of the Body, Jesus, to more fully conform the intercession rising from earth to Heaven to that of His sacred heart. In cooperating with Him, the Christian’s soul progresses in grace, being molded more in Jesus’ image and thus more responsive to the stirrings of the Spirit. When Paul said that the person who speaks in tongues builds himself up he was not saying that that was the only way a Christian is built up interiorly; that is foolishness. The same happens within souls whenever they cooperate with the Lord’s will. For example, when a Christian serves someone in need they have allowed Christ to meet that person’s need through them, and the Christian’s soul grows in the image of the Master. 

Humility before God is the final value I see in tongues. What is more childlike than “babbling” before our Father? With the gift of tongues one yields to God in a simple but concrete way, trusting Him to supply each word in turn. Such an act can build faith - the type of faith necessary to pray with a sick person, or speak out what you believe are His words to a prayer group (or your classmates). Tongues is a gift which has benefited me personally.

I do not, however, believe that everyone needs to receive it. The Holy Spirit knows what each of us needs to progress in grace, and He wants to bestow those gifts in abundance. It is our part to be open, not to dismiss any gift He wants to give: “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Charisms are no guarantee of personal union with God. When a charism is manifested it only means that at that moment, that individual was open enough for God to work through them. Jesus warned that on the Day of Judgment there will be many who say, “’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? …and do many mighty works in your name as well?’ to whom He will reply, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Matthew 7:22-23). The evidence of a person’s union with God is not charisms, but how much they love with Jesus’ Love (His Spirit).

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Should Every Christian Receive the Gift of Tongues?

There are some believers who hold that without evidencing the gift of tongues a person cannot have been “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” There are others who do not go that far, but claim that each Christian has a prayer language, if they would only yield to it. I am convinced, from looking at Scripture and the face of the Church today, that both positions are in error. I will restrict myself to explaining my disagreement with the latter position since those reasons automatically apply to the former. 

First, I do not see the gift of tongues always accompanying the “release” of the Spirit in Acts of the Apostles. We are told in Acts 10:45-47 and 19:6 that tongues accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on new Christians; in the second example this occurred when the Apostle Paul laid hands on the newly baptized. In Acts 8:14-17, however, we are told that the Holy Spirit came upon the newly-baptized Samaritans through the laying on of Peter and John’s hands – but without a mention of tongues. An oversight on the author Luke’s part? Well, consider also that there is no mention of the three thousand who were baptized on the day of Pentecost receiving tongues either. In fact, if you went through all the other conversion stories in Acts you wouldn’t find another mention of the charism.

St. Paul is clear that tongues is not an integral part of everyone’s Christian experience. In The First Epistle to the Corinthians he wrote:

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess the gift of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol” (1 Corinthians 12:27-13:1).

At this point some “charismatic” believers will object to my citation of the above passage. They interpret Paul as saying that not all Christians should expect to speak a prophetic message in tongues, one in need of interpretation; but every Christian should expect to pray in tongues. I acknowledge that the gift of tongues has two different manifestation – but I see no justification for dividing it up into two different gifts. In the list of gifts given in First Corinthians 12 Paul listed tongues – just tongues; he did not speak of a gift of praying in tongues and a separate gift of speaking in tongues.  He then went on in Chapter 14 of the same letter to discuss different manifestations of this one gift – primarily a gift of prayer, but sometimes a gift of prophecy when combined with the gift of interpretation. Notice how Paul goes back and forth between the terms “speaking” and “praying” in the following passage:

Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how can any one in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue (14:13-18). 

When you come together…if any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to God (14:26-28).

Do you see what I mean about the terms praying in tongues and speaking in tongues referring to one and the same gift?  In time I experienced both forms. When I was finally moved to speak a message in tongues at a prayer group I wasn’t receiving a new gift; I was only moved to direct toward others what up until that time had been directed only toward God. (An interpretation in English followed and the group heard the message the Lord had for them.)

I think that the overemphasis some Christians have placed on tongues flows from the blessing it has been in their own lives – because it has been a great blessing for them they conclude that it should be a blessing received by all. It is a pretty common human reaction. The reality, however, is that the Holy Spirit decides which gifts each member of the Body needs to best fulfill their assigned task:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit…To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith…to another gifts of healing…to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy…to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills (1 Cor. 12:4-11).

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[1] Paul stated in his First Epistle to the Corinthians that “A man who speaks in tongues is talking not to men but to God. No one understands him, because he utters mysteries in the Spirit” (14:2). It’s evident that St. Paul saw a value in tongues, “I should like it if all of you spoke in tongues” (14:4) and “Thank God I speak in tongues more than any of you” (14:18).

Not Your Average QUEEN

Praying the Rosary as I walked today, I really felt inspired to think about the mystery of Mary's Coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth.  Probably 90% of the times I have prayed this mystery in the past year, I have thought about how each of us are called to persevere in following Jesus and receive the "crown of righteousness" at the end of our lives (2 Tim.4:6).


Today however I really wanted to focus on Mary's experience of receiving not just a crown of righteousness, but of Queenship.  And I was immediately struck by how different this Queen is.  Most women destined for queenship were born into nobility.  From their earliest days they were surrounded by the finest things and taught the ins and outs of high society.  The best are taught that royalty bear a responsibility toward the care of their subjects, but those subjects are kept at a distance.


Our Lady, the Queen of queens, is so completely different!  She was born into poverty, but with the nobility of a spotless soul.  Her training to be queen was much different:  She worked side-by-side with the other women of her village throughout her life.  She knew the pain of a spouse considering divorce, the ache of widowhood, and the death of a child.  And through it all she persisted in saying "Yes," to God, "yes," to whatever He permitted.  Instead of resting aloof in glory, she is a Queen accessible to the most sinful and most scorned among us, wrapping her motherly arms around us and lifting us up in prayer to her Son.  

She really is a Queen unlike any other, and she has to be -  she sits beside a King Who was crowned with thorns.

Pentecost, Here We Come!

It's only Tuesday, but I'm already getting excited for Pentecost Sunday.  Jesus said some wild things to the Apostles:   "I am sending upon you what My Father promised; so stay here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Lk.24:49); ". . .these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues . . . they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mk.16:17-18); and "the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father" (Jn.14:12).


Greater works than Jesus?  Yes, because the Church is the extension of Jesus' life in time and space! (See 1 Cor.12:27 & Eph.1:22)  In His Physical Body the Lord proclaimed the Kingdom in the Judea and Galilee of the first century, but through the Church He has proclaimed it throughout the world - delivering and healing people as He went!  We read how it began in the Acts of the Apostles, but it continues today all around us!


If we're not seeing like the early Church did - and like the saints throughout history have - we need to ask ourselves "Why?"  The only difference I can see between us and a Therese of Lisieux or a  Francis of Assisi is the quality of our "Yes." Lets take a minute or two to think about what we need to say "yes" to, to allow the Lord to "clothe" us with "power from on high."

Hard to Imagine the Afterlife?

I know. St. Paul had the same problem though, “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:10). Right now our knowledge of God is conceptual, we use analogies from this created world to speak of the Totally Other: “now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face…[we] shall understand fully, even as we have been fully understood” (1 Cor. 13:12). Don’t take this “darkness of faith” too hard though –we’ve all been through it before; and it turned out great.

None of us remember our first 40-or-so weeks, but they were lived in complete darkness. Our entire world was that wet, increasingly-cramped space inside our mom's womb. And we couldn’t even begin to imagine that there was this entire world, entire planet, awaiting us outside. We lived beneath our mother’s heart, exposed to its constant rhythm, and yet we had never seen her face! We had grown to recognize her voice, but we hadn’t developed to the point of understanding any of her words. And birth – talk about TRAUMA! All of that amniotic fluid we’ve been swimming in, gone in an instant; our heads compacted and squeezed through the birth canal; the light; the cold; that humiliating slap on the butt! But we finally entered the real world, finally got that chance to see mom face-to-face, to eat through our mouths instead of our belly buttons, and a million other experiences that we’re impossible to conceive of from the darkness of the womb.

Turns out that was just the warm-up; we’re still in utero, and the REAL world awaiting us "outside" remains inconceivable. We’re going to get the chance to enter it though; and just like before, we don’t have a clue when. This time around though, we get to participate in our own growth process. Each "yes" to God allows our spiritual "organs" to develop a bit more. If we haven't come to full term when the moment of birth arrives though, God has a top-notch NICU experience planned for us (the Church calls it purgatory; 1 Cor.3:10-15). Listen to the Apostle John:

"Beloved we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when [Jesus] appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure." (1 John 3:1-3)
 
St. Francis of Assisi was right on, "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Hot 'N' Cold

"Someone call the doctor
Got a case of a love bipolar...
'Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in and you're out
You're up and you're down
You're wrong when it's right ..."

Katy Perry's lyrics always give me something to think about. (My first post was a reflection on her "I Kissed a Girl.") This evening I find them to be a perfect segue for discussing some hard words to hear from Jesus:  "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16). 

Everyone holds up signs reading "John 3:16;" but why not Revelation 3:16? I ask that rhetorically. It's easy to see why not - most Christians prefer a caricature of Jesus to the actual Person recorded for us in Scripture. We prefer an imaginary Jesus, who forgives our failings but makes no demands. The imaginary Jesus never gets upset - unless it's at religious bullies, and they've got it coming, don't they? He came to relieve suffering (because pain, not separation from God, is the ultimate evil) and to teach us that if we'll just be "tolerant" enough of everyone else's opinion (translation = truth does not exist in fact; truth is what we individually believe it to be), peace will finally come.

That is NOT the Person we find in the New Testament - or in any kind of historical research on Jesus of Nazareth. "Caricature Jesus" isn't the type of guy that gets nailed to a Cross! (And calls his followers to join him.) The real Jesus is a passionate lover, who forces us to make a decision, "He who is not with Me, is against me" (Matthew 12:30); "Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth, but the sword" (Matthew 10:34). No, not a sword of physical violence, but of Truth/Reality:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 12:12-13)

Jesus is like the doctor who has to tell the patient he has cancer; hiding the gravity of the situation, denying the need for aggressive treatment, wouldn't be doing the patient justice.

Recently, a friend of mine (also Catholic) got very excited when she found out I had a blog. I don't think that excitement lasted very long though; when we next spoke she diplomatically told me, "I don't agree with you on many things." She didn't elaborate; and my sense was that it wasn't the right moment to ask her to either. From little things she's shared in the past though, I fear her disagreement has to do with Jesus' s teachings regarding sexuality; and that makes me terribly sad. We are supposed to be in a real, life-giving relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, our brother and God. We can't pick and choose what parts of His message we are going to live by. That's like picking which part of the marriage vow you're going to honor. Oh, plenty of people try to do it...and thus our 50% divorce rate. Hot or cold - thinking that you can exist as "lukewarm" is self-deception. I'm not saying this as someone looking down from a summit; I think I've blogged enough about going to Confession to prove that that isn't the point. Christianity is Life-giving, it gives Divine Life; but only when we fully surrender ourselves to Jesus. We come, broken as we are, sinful as we are, and allow Him to embrace us - embracing Him in turn. We ask for, and receive, the help of His Holy Spirit. And then we have the ability to Love and Live the Reality, the Life that Jesus (the real Jesus) proclaimed!

If you're reading this, please pray for me. Please pray for my friend too - a beautiful, smart, young woman looking for her heart's completion.

Mary for Mother's Day

Norman Rockwell's Mary, Queen of Heaven

My mind honestly wasn't on it when I got to Mass; it wasn't until the music leader started singing "On this day, oh beautiful Mother . . ." that I thought to wish Mary a happy Mother's Day.  But she warmly deserves it.  I am amazed when I think of my Grandma Kapler being the mother of twelve kids, but Mary is mother to over a billion!  (See Jn.19:26-27; Rev.12:1-5,17)

And please don't let your mind be troubled by accusations that the honor we give Mary today - and at today's Mass for that matter - takes anything away from the worship we give to God.  We sure aren't worried that the honor we pay our biological mothers today slights Him!  Mary is the daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit (as we are all called to be).  Believe me, whatever expression of love you show her, it won't hold a candle to the love and honor Jesus is showering upon her!

Scripture tells us that we are made in the image and likeness of God (Gen.1:26), and that all fatherhood is rooted in Him (Eph.3:15).  Now which of us human fathers ever feels slighted when someone praises our daughter?  Are you kidding?  When someone praises my Lily, my heart leaps!  And my fatherly heart is only the palest reflection of God's!  So don't let this Mother's Day end without telling Mary how much you love her and how much you appreciate her "yes" to God's will.  And thank the Father for giving you such a beautiful mother.