We received the tragic news from the Dominican Republic that a newly ordained Salesian, Fr. Victor Martinez, was killed in a car accident this past Sunday. After completing his studies at the Salesian house of studies in Tlaquepaque, Mexico, Fr. Victor returned to his home country and was ordained on Saturday. He died on the way to his his first Mass. For more details please visit Fr. Steve Leake's blog.
I got to spend time with Fr. Victor and the other seminarians studying in Mexico last year. I can not say I got to know him or the others terribly well since I was only there a few days. But I know the joy of completing initial formation and receiving the gift of the priesthood. This joy was not only mine, but it was shared by my family and friends, especially by my parents. I can not imagine the pain they are feeling at this time.
While there is great sadness that his life was cut short just as his priestly ministry was about to begin, Fr. Victor is a priest forever. In this great Communion of Saints, of which we are all a part, those who have gone before us in death are still active in God's saving plan. God's ways are mysterious, and we can find them difficult to accept and understand. We pray that God gathers Fr. Victor to himself, consoles his family, and that he may serve at the Heavenly altar, now and always.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The Devil: A Commentary by Fr. Barron
I did not have the same experience as Fr. Barron in the seminary, visa vi how my professors dealt with the demonic, but I have encountered many priests who treat Satan and his minions as metaphor. To believe in the reality of the demonic is not to deny psychological or physiological explanations for evil, or even simply strange, phenomenon and behaviors. It is to understand that there are realms beyond our understanding, and these dark, supernatural, forces interact with the natural world just as the forces of good do. Scripture makes distinctions between illness and possession, and does at times mix the two. This is to highlight the ambiguity of reality, not to engage in literary subtlety.
The good news is that these two forces are not equal. Compared to the power of God the devil is a pestering ankle bitter. But if we do not take advantage of the spiritual weapons that Fr. Barron mentions, and I would add the rosary to his list, he can seem like an invincible foe. Enjoy the commentary, and remember to pray the prayer of St. Michael every day.
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
Friday, July 13, 2012
George Harrison: Living in the Material World While Searching for the Spiritual One
Harrison, like fellow Beatle Paul McCartney, was baptized Catholic as a baby. From what I understand McCartney didn't come from a particularly religious household, but a letter Harrison wrote to his mother around the time he began exploring Eastern mysticism shows that there must have been some familial devotion growing up. He assures her that his new found spiritual journey did not effect his "devotion to Sacred Heart." What he meant by this is open to conjecture. In the idiom of northern England there is the habit of dropping the definite article before a proper noun, so whether he's referring to a parish or the devotion is up for grabs. He does say in an interview from the last decade of his life that he rejected Catholicism because, as he saw it, it asks you to believe in something intellectually without really encountering it through experience (my paraphrase). Harrison is not the only person who left traditional Christianity because he found it dogmatic and detached. I would argue that while his experience of life in the Church may have drawn him to this conclusion, his assessment of what the faith demands of us is still wrong.
What George Harrison's experience highlights is the fact that Cradle Catholics are at a disadvantage in many ways when compared to converts. We are baptized for the faith of our parents, who promise to bring us up in the Church. We are then catechized, receive the other Sacraments of Initiation in their time, but our familiarity with them can blind us to their power. Far from being empty ritual, they are the ways we most readily experience the presence of the God we can not see. They are not the only way we experience God; the Scriptures, meditation and prayer are other ways as well. As we progress we should come to see the presence of God in others. But it is through these external signs that we touch grace and are communicated God's friendship. Unfortunately life long Catholics can sometimes become indifferent to the Sacraments either because we were never really catechized properly, or because they became so familiar we stopped seeing how special they really are. Think of a couple who are married for decades; the fire of passion fades with time and they forget what made them fall in love to begin with. Eventually they take each other for granted and fail to see the special gift of the other. This is not the experience of every couple, of course, but far too many. The convert who has been searching throughout his or her life and encounters the Eucharist, for instance, knows what it was like to live without it and often has a greater appreciation for what they've found.
There is also a paradox of sorts in being a Catholic that can be lost on us. The Eastern philosophies downplay the importance of the body, on one hand, while making meditations and mantras, that set us into a trance of sorts so we can feel the presence of God (however He is defined) within, central. Harrison talks about abandoning psychedelic drugs just as they were becoming popular in the counter culture because he saw that they were a dead end, and that most of the hippies weren't really serious about enlightenment, they were just looking for the newest high. The mantras became very important to him, and described how they brought him into a blissful state, that could sometimes last for days. While the body is unimportant, and to some Eastern religions a hindrance to enlightenment, it is still through the bodily senses that these transcendental experiences become possible.
In Catholicism the body is extremely important. It is how we perceive, learn and communicate love. We believe that we will rise in a glorified, spiritual body, at the end of time. But we still need to move beyond feelings if we are truly to reach the experience of God fully. We must pass through experience, through the deprivation, almost annihilation, of the senses and them come back again into communion with the infinite, which is Bliss itself. It is not that the senses, and by extension the body, is to be destroyed, but rather purified. Harrison was smart enough to know that he had not reached the heights he was looking for, but in concentrating on the experience he never was. It is only through the paradox of Christian asceticism, that disciplines to body so it can be later exalted, that true union with God becomes possible.
As his cancer progressed and he knew the end was near, George Harrison had a press release put out with a quote that he had evidently used many times before: "Everything else can wait, but the search for God can not wait, and love one another." My purpose here is not to judge him in how he went about that search. I only want to say that he was closer than he thought he was to finding Him when he was near the Sacred Heart of his youth, and the Sacraments he passed by.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Quick Notes: July 9, 2012: Religious Liberty, Fr. Pavone, Spider-Man
Fortnight For Freedom
Last week saw the end of the Fortnight for Freedom, the two week period of prayer for religious liberty here in the United States. I can't say that we did much at St. Anthony's beyond saying a special prayer at the end of the intercessions everyday. I did include the theme in my sermons, but I'd been doing that anyway. One of our organists, who also plays at a couple of other parishes, told me that we were the only place she goes to that did anything special to observe the Fortnight. It's sad, but all too predictable.
Many of our clergy have heeded liberation theology's call to become a partisan church. While I'm not sure Gustavo Gutierrez meant the phrase to be taken exactly this way, there are many who identify Catholic social teaching with the platform of the Democratic Party, and would be against anything that would seem to contradict the policies of the present administration. Catholics who identify as conservatives can be accused of the same thing in regards to the Republican platform. We are called, not to be a partisan Church, no matter how you defign it, but a prophetic one. We can only function prophetically when we can step back and call out both sides when necessary, something we can't do when we're cheering from on one or the others bleachers.
Beyond the politicizing of the Church's mission, the apparent apathy toward the Fortnight demonstrates the rift between the bishops and their clergy, and between the hierarchy and theologians. Until we can all come together the Church's mission will be hindered. The bishops are not perfect, but neither were their predecessors, the Apostles. But they have been given a particular role to teach and govern, from Christ himself. The work of the pastors, clergy and theologians is to aide them in that role, not be in competition with them. As I've consistently said to my parishioners, we should not exaggerate the threats to our religious freedoms, but we should not be naive about it either. It is only united that we can witness to Christ and His Gospel in an age turning more secular and, in some corners, more hostile to our Lord's message.
Fr. Pavone
While my activity at the Ax has been curtailed a bit do to pastoral obligations, which has led quite understandably to less traffic, I have noticed a spike in visits to my posts on Fr. Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life. I did some digging and as I suspected there was some movement on the story. A Vatican decree, issued in May but only made public at the end of June, allows Fr. Pavone to minister outside his home diocese of Amarillo, where he was incardinated in 2005. He must still get permission on a case by case basis from his ordinary, Bishop Patrick J. Zurek. Priests for Life are declaring a victory, the bishop is a bit more guarded, and as Phil Lawler points out there are still more questions to be answered. I was critical of Fr. Pavone's handling of the situation, not because I'm against his work, but because I saw it as another case of a priest publicly defying his superior, thus leading to greater scandal. On the surface it seems like both sides got a little of what they want. I pray for peace and concord in Amarillo, and that the continued struggle to defend the unborn can go on unhindered.
The Amazing Spider Man in IMAX-3D
I liked director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002), and like most people was confused as to why the franchise needed to be rebooted only five years after Spider-Man 3. Actors move on or out grow a role, we get that. James Bonds and Batmans are switched out all the time without necessarily having to start from scratch. When we do decide to go back and show our hero's origin story it's decades after the series began, not simply a few years. The Bond franchise, for example, had gotten tired after 45 years and 2006's Casino Royale was a welcomed updating. But Spider-Man? It seemed like he was just coming into his own and now we're back to square one.
The good news is The Amazing Spider-Man is a very good movie, in some ways better that the original. I recommend it as a pure summer entertainment, but I agree with some critics I read who felt that going back and retelling the origin story, even with its few new tweaks, bogs down the first part of the movie. The 3-D is actually a bit understated; it enhances the movie without being a distraction. The I-MAX, while more expensive, does add to the fun. All the same, I have no doubt it it would work just as well on a standard screen.
Many critics noted how deep the relationships are developed in this move, unusual for the comic genre. What I saw was how the traditional Spider-Man theme of responsibility (with great power comes great responsibility) is fleshed out. Comics usually take profundities and turn them into cliches. While it's still a comic book tale, the idea of using your talents and ability to serve others isn't simply presented as the throw away line.
Last week saw the end of the Fortnight for Freedom, the two week period of prayer for religious liberty here in the United States. I can't say that we did much at St. Anthony's beyond saying a special prayer at the end of the intercessions everyday. I did include the theme in my sermons, but I'd been doing that anyway. One of our organists, who also plays at a couple of other parishes, told me that we were the only place she goes to that did anything special to observe the Fortnight. It's sad, but all too predictable.
Many of our clergy have heeded liberation theology's call to become a partisan church. While I'm not sure Gustavo Gutierrez meant the phrase to be taken exactly this way, there are many who identify Catholic social teaching with the platform of the Democratic Party, and would be against anything that would seem to contradict the policies of the present administration. Catholics who identify as conservatives can be accused of the same thing in regards to the Republican platform. We are called, not to be a partisan Church, no matter how you defign it, but a prophetic one. We can only function prophetically when we can step back and call out both sides when necessary, something we can't do when we're cheering from on one or the others bleachers.
Beyond the politicizing of the Church's mission, the apparent apathy toward the Fortnight demonstrates the rift between the bishops and their clergy, and between the hierarchy and theologians. Until we can all come together the Church's mission will be hindered. The bishops are not perfect, but neither were their predecessors, the Apostles. But they have been given a particular role to teach and govern, from Christ himself. The work of the pastors, clergy and theologians is to aide them in that role, not be in competition with them. As I've consistently said to my parishioners, we should not exaggerate the threats to our religious freedoms, but we should not be naive about it either. It is only united that we can witness to Christ and His Gospel in an age turning more secular and, in some corners, more hostile to our Lord's message.
Fr. Pavone
While my activity at the Ax has been curtailed a bit do to pastoral obligations, which has led quite understandably to less traffic, I have noticed a spike in visits to my posts on Fr. Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life. I did some digging and as I suspected there was some movement on the story. A Vatican decree, issued in May but only made public at the end of June, allows Fr. Pavone to minister outside his home diocese of Amarillo, where he was incardinated in 2005. He must still get permission on a case by case basis from his ordinary, Bishop Patrick J. Zurek. Priests for Life are declaring a victory, the bishop is a bit more guarded, and as Phil Lawler points out there are still more questions to be answered. I was critical of Fr. Pavone's handling of the situation, not because I'm against his work, but because I saw it as another case of a priest publicly defying his superior, thus leading to greater scandal. On the surface it seems like both sides got a little of what they want. I pray for peace and concord in Amarillo, and that the continued struggle to defend the unborn can go on unhindered.
The Amazing Spider Man in IMAX-3D
I liked director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002), and like most people was confused as to why the franchise needed to be rebooted only five years after Spider-Man 3. Actors move on or out grow a role, we get that. James Bonds and Batmans are switched out all the time without necessarily having to start from scratch. When we do decide to go back and show our hero's origin story it's decades after the series began, not simply a few years. The Bond franchise, for example, had gotten tired after 45 years and 2006's Casino Royale was a welcomed updating. But Spider-Man? It seemed like he was just coming into his own and now we're back to square one.
The good news is The Amazing Spider-Man is a very good movie, in some ways better that the original. I recommend it as a pure summer entertainment, but I agree with some critics I read who felt that going back and retelling the origin story, even with its few new tweaks, bogs down the first part of the movie. The 3-D is actually a bit understated; it enhances the movie without being a distraction. The I-MAX, while more expensive, does add to the fun. All the same, I have no doubt it it would work just as well on a standard screen.
Many critics noted how deep the relationships are developed in this move, unusual for the comic genre. What I saw was how the traditional Spider-Man theme of responsibility (with great power comes great responsibility) is fleshed out. Comics usually take profundities and turn them into cliches. While it's still a comic book tale, the idea of using your talents and ability to serve others isn't simply presented as the throw away line.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
The Meaning of Vatican II: A Commentary by Fr. Barron
Here's that first part of Fr. Barron's commentary on the Second Vatican Council.
Monday, July 2, 2012
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