Got Gratitude? It Does a Body Good!

My Thanksgiving cactus bloomed abundantly at Thanksgiving. It continued to bloom at Christmas. The show continued in celebration of Easter and there is no sign that it is giving up yet. New blossoms continue to form. This has never happened before and I've had this plant for at least a decade. This morning I was reflecting on why I am being so blessed with continuous blooms and I decided that the Lord is giving me a metaphor through this gorgeous cactus.

It's all about gratitude!

When Obedience is Used as a Tool of the Devil....

Who is like unto God?

Obedience is a great virtue. In fact, it is often called a foundational virtue, one that stands as a pillar to others. Whom are we called to obey? God first, of course. Then those who have lawful authority over us. Children owe obedience to their parents. Catholics owe obedience to the doctrine and precepts of the Church. We owe obedience to those in lawful authority in government. We owe obedience to the Truth, who is a person, Jesus Christ.

Gratitude: A Great Virtue for Lent and Every Day!

I read an article this morning on gratitude which reminded me of a Chesterton quote. We say grace

before meals to thank God for the food we eat. But here's what Chesterton said:

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”—G. K. Chesterton

Monday Morning Musings on Modesty

Is Dad guarding your family?

I was just reading a great post on Dymphna's blog about modesty.

So many parents these days seem to consider Mass as no different from a day at the beach! Hey, you want to wear short shorts and a tank top to meet the Lor of the Universe?, No problem. But really, parents, modesty is the guardian of chastity. Do you care about your kids' souls?

Dymphna mentioned the responsibility of the mother and so did someone commenting on the post, and clearly, moms are the ones who generally go shopping with their kids, so the purchase of modest clothing falls squarely on Mom. She plays a major role in fostering the virtue of modesty.

But Mom is not, ultimately, the one who has the greatest responsibility to protect her children. DAD DOES! He is the guardian of the family!

DAD IS THE SPIRITUAL HEAD OF THE FAMILY AND THE GUARDIAN AT THE GATE! IF HE ABANDONS HIS POST, HE WILL ANSWER FOR IT!

A Saint for Our Time: St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

St. Agatha by Caravaggio

St. Agatha, one of the early Roman martyrs, lived during a time of tremendous sexual immorality. What is known of her is from the tradition of the Church. Wealthy and renowned for her beauty, many sought her in marriage, but she dedicated herself to God praying, "Jesus Christ, Lord of all, you see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am. I am your sheep: make me worthy to overcome the devil."

A determined young woman, Agatha resisted the advances of a high Roman official, Quintian, who thought he could force her into an immoral relationship. When she spurned him he retaliated. As a judge, he sent her to a brothel where she refused the advances of the customers. Quintian had her tortured, her breasts cut off, and ordered her rolled in hot coals. Nevertheless, she prayed as she was dying, "Lord, my Creator, you have always protected me from the cradle; you have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Receive my soul."

Tomorrow is First Friday: Take Advantage of the Graces!

I'm focusing on the nine First Fridays devotion to secure the promises of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary. They're wonderful! What a consolation if you've made them!

Larry and I fulfilled the requirements in June. They're easy: go to Mass on the first Friday of the month for nine consecutive months, receive Holy Communion worthily, and go to confession within eight days before or after. There's even a website to help you keep track and send you reminders as First Friday approaches. I signed up and I hope you will too. And if you haven't enthroned the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts in your home, why not ask your pastor about it. The Legion of Mary happily visits families to carry out the enthronement. If your parish is blessed with a Legion, ask them about it.

I probably made the nine first Fridays when I was a child, but I want First Friday to become a perpetual devotion in my life. That will insure I go to Confession at least once a month as well as making sure each month starts out with reflecting on the grace mercy and love of Our Lord. What a win-win situation. So please join me by going to Mass tomorrow aware of the day's significance and reflecting in your heart on the goodness of God who desires us all to become saints.

Liturgy of the Hours Increases Hope

For the past few weeks, I've been praying Morning and Evening Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours. I'm finding it gives me a big infusion of hope despite my pessimism for the future of the United States. Take today's Morning Prayer. The first psalm (87) reminds us that it's the Lord who builds the city and gives each of us our place in it. The psalm prayer harks back to Jesus weeping over Jerusalem,  "soon to be destroyed for its lack of faith." But Holy Mother Church doesn't leave us with that gloomy picture. She tells us, "He established the new Jerusalem firmly upon rock and made it the mother of the faithful" leading us to "rejoice in [our] Church."

The Canticle (Isaiah 40) shows us the power of God "who rules by his strong arm." He is no tyrant like so many worldly leaders, but a loving God. "Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs." We have nothing to fear because it's He "Who has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea...Who has held in a measure the dust of the earth....Behold, the nations count as a drop of the bucket, as rust on the scales; the coastlands weigh no more than powder." Yes those blue "coastlands" on our eastern and western shores and all the nations of the earth "are as nought, as nothing and void he accounts them."

So, let us never stop fighting the Culture of Death, but neither should we let the state of the world get us down. As Psalm 99 and its antiphon remind us today, "The Lord is king....He is throned on the cherubim; the earth quakes....He is holy, full of power."

And for the faithful who persevere, "The Lord, the mighty conqueror, will come; he will bring with him the prize of victory."

God will never abandon us and so, "Let us joyfully cry out in thanks to God the Father whose love guides and nourishes his people." Amen!

If you need an infusion of hope, pray the Liturgy of the Hours. 

The Legionaries of Christ: an example of blind obedience

Chiesa News has an interview with Fr. Thomas Berg, a former member of the Legionaries of Christ. The Vatican investigation of the order begins this week and Fr. Berg, who is now incardinated in the Archdiocese of New York, addresses some of the problems in the Legion. He gave an extensive commentary on the Legion's practice of "unquestioning submission" to superiors:

At the core of serious problems in the internal culture of the congregation is a mistaken understanding and living of the theological principle - in itself valid - that God's will is made manifest to the religious through his superior. The Legionary seminarian is erroneously led to foster a hyper-focusing on internal "dependence" on the superior for virtually every one of his intentional acts (either explicitly or in virtue of some norm or permission received, or presumed or habitual permissions). This is not in harmony with the tradition of religious life in the Church, nor is it theologically or psychologically sound. It entails rather an unhealthy suppression of personal freedom (which is a far cry from the reasoned, discerned and freely exercised oblation of mind and will that the Holy Spirit genuinely inspires in the institution of religious obedience) and occasions unholy and unhealthy restrictions on personal conscience.

Furthermore, Legionary norms regarding "reporting to," "informing," "communication with," and "dependence on" superiors constitute a system of control and conformity which now must be considered highly suspect given what we know about Fr. Maciel. They furthermore engender a simplistic, and humanly and theologically impoverished notion of God's will (its discernment and manifestation) that breeds personal immaturity.

More seriously, the lived manner in which Legionaries practice obedience is laced with the kind of unquestioning submission which allowed the cult of personality to emerge around the figure of Maciel in the first place and covered for his misdeeds. Legionary seminarians are essentially trained to suspend reason in their obedience and to seek a total internal conformity with all the norms, and to withstand any internal impulse to examine or critique the norms or the indications of superiors.

Granted, the primary motivation behind such living of obedience is the ideal of total "immolation" of oneself for the love of Christ as embodied in the relentless living of all norms and indications of the superiors. This "immolation" of intellect and will is at the heart of the "holocaust" that the Legionary is invited to live for love of Christ and the Church. While the motivation is valid, and generations of Legionaries have pursued this in good faith, in the long run it not only proves profoundly problematic, but also explains the negative personality change which many, if not most, Legionaries undergo over time: the shallowness of their emotional expression, the lack of empathy and inability to relate normally to others in so many contexts, the general sense of their being "out of touch," etc. Only exceptionally do Legionary priests move beyond this, but only thanks to the multiple talents and human gifts they brought with them to the Legion.

It is more important than ever for Catholics to understand what constitutes legitimate authority and obedience to God's will. Those exercising authority may never infringe on the legitimate exercise of free will by those under them. Pray for the discernment of the Legionaries and their openness to God's will.

Blind Obedience is not a Virtue

The latest issue of Christifidelis, from the St. Joseph Foundation, is out and it's a corker! The lead article by Philip Gray, J.C.L. is a great discussion on what obedience is and when a person is required to obey a lawful authority. Obedience is a subset of the cardinal virtue of justice which requires us to give to God and neighbor what is due to them. We owe absolute obedience to God, so all other laws are subservient to and subject to God's laws. When there's a conflict between God's law and a lower law, guess what we have to do? "We must obey the higher [law] lest we sin."

There are limits on human authority. "Directives that violate divine law must be ignored, and in many circumstances we have an obligation to resist them actively." Gray gives China's forced abortion laws as an example.

We must obey legitimate authority. However, if those in authority act outside the boundaries of their authority, they need not be obeyed. For example, parents have authority over their children, but don't have the right to demand that an adult child follow a particular vocation. So when St. Clare fled from home to become a nun she did not act in disobedience.

My own mom left Cleveland against her mother's will (but with her father's support) to fly to California and marry my dad before he was deployed to Pearl Harbor in 1940. Even if her father had joined in opposing the marriage, she would not have been disobedient to ignore their wishes because parents have no authority to choose the marriage partners of their children. (I guess that means I can't arrange any marriages for my grandchildren. Darn!)

Gray points out that "to develop the virtue of obedience, we must develop an adequate knowledge of divine laws and those human laws that regulate our lives. We have to know the limits of authority. If we do not know the limits of authority, we can be easily manipulated or used by lawful authority." In other words, just because someone has authority over me doesn't mean I'm obliged to follow every directive. He cannot demand unlawful obedience. Those who "when faced with a direction...neither seek to know options and consequences nor deliberate their choices" show an attitude that "is not true obedience nor is it virtuous." In other words, blind obedience is the cop-out of a lazy individual who doesn't want to take the trouble to study and understand the nature of obedience, its requirements and its limits.

Gray goes on to say that "we have an obligation to know the divine laws and what our obligations to God are. Only with knowledge of divine laws and the legitimate boundaries of lawful authority can we obey." The person who claims authority must also be able to prove it because "we are not bound to obey someone who cannot provide proof of his authority and who does not stay within the bounds of his power."

Gray uses the example of options for Communion as an example of the abuse of legitimate authority, perhaps because it's been so common over the years. In the Latin rite, the communicant has the option of kneeling or standing for Communion and the priest may not infringe on that right. "If a priest demands that a kneeling communicant stand, the communicant does not have to obey....If the communicant follows the priest's demand, this is not obedience. Obedience takes place only when we give authority its rightful due. In this case, the priest went beyond his lawful authority and the communicant allowed him that privilege....If the communicant did not follow the directive, he would not be acting in disobedience...because the priest does not have the authority to demand the standing posture during the reception of Holy Communion. The priest would be acting outside his legitimate bounds, and the communicant would have no obligation to 'obey.'" The same type of abuse of authority comes into play when a priest or religious education teacher instructs communicants they must receive in the hand and may not receive on the tongue. I know of a parish in Maryland where this was routinely demanded by the pastor for First Communicants. This is a serious violation of his authority as well as a violation of Canon Law.

More and more today it's essential for Catholics to understand the nature of obedience and legitimate authority and to know their rights. Last May when Notre Dame police ordered pro-lifers off what is an open campus, similar to a small town, simply because they were carrying signs showing aborted children or pushing baby strollers with dolls covered in stage blood, were they disobedient for refusing to comply? I don't think so. Under the first amendment of our Constitution people cannot be discriminated against due to the content of their speech. Since Notre Dame allowed others to carry pro-Obama and pro-Fr. Jenkins signs on campus they could not legitimately discriminate against others just because they found the content of their signs objectionable. It will be interesting to see what happens in court as the cases are heard, but I do not think those who refused to comply with the order to leave campus were "disobedient" according to Gray's article. Sidewalk counselors, videographers attending gay pride parades, protesters, etc. are all subject to abuse by over-vigorous authorities violating their boundaries.

I'll close with one personal example. About ten years ago I set up a pro-life table at my polling place. I was the proper distance from the entrance so I wasn't violating any election rules. However, someone complained about the graphic pictures and the fetal models and an election official came out, ordered me to put everything away, and called the police. The responding officer told me if I didn't remove the "offensive" materials, I'd be arrested. I complied, but went home and called the American Center for Law and Justice who telephoned the polling place. The election officer backed down (actually apologized) and I put my materials out again. Had I refused to comply I would not have been disobedient. Rather I would have been challenging the boundaries of their authority which they clearly abused. More and more today, Catholics in the public square need to know and understand God's law, the nature of obedience and legitimate authority, and the limits and boundaries of that authority. Only then can they make intelligent choices and act in ways that are truly just and prudent and will help us, as Gray says, "freely choose to exercise the virtue of obedience and gain merit directed to our salvation."