I happened upon this passage in Magnificat for the 2/18/10 readings. It was written by St. Catherine of Siena.
Oh blessed gentle Mary! She gave us the gentle Jesus as a blossom. And when did that blessed blossom produce fruit? When he was engrafted onto the wood of the most holy cross— then we received perfect life. And when we say that the seed’s husk remained in the earth, what do we mean? This husk was the will of God’s only-begotten Son. In so far as he was human, he was clothed in this will, in his desire for the Father’s honor and our salvation. So strong was this boundless desire that he ran like one in love, enduring pain, disgrace, and abuse, all the way to his shameful death on the cross. Mary did exactly the same, venerable father, for she could desire nothing but God’s honor and the salvation of his creatures. This is why the doctors tell us, referring to Mary’s immense love, that she would have made a ladder of her very self to put her Son on the cross if there had been no other way. All this was because her Son’s will remained within her.
Leon Suprenant, Catholic author and Catholic Dad member, is blogging at Catholic Hour – a blog for the e-learning company My Catholic Faith Delivered. The blog is only a couple months old, and I have become aware of it only recently. While all of the posts look exceptional, I know I will be checking in frequently for Leon’s Lenten postings. He already has two up:
Give it Up – a discussion of some of the pitfalls we can fall into during Lent
Today begins another Lent. Lent is a time of turning to God, a time of repentance, and sacrifice. Lent has figured prominently in my own spiritual life. Through the Lenten experience, and my cooperation with God, I was granted grace to overcome certain sins. Other times I was drawn closer to our Lord through prayer and spiritual discipline. Sometimes, I must admit, I squandered the call by merely checking the Lenten requirement box without entering into the grace God offers through really living this season.
With this in mind, I call all Catholic Dads to enter into this season seeking to move forward in their own spiritual journey. We do this through surrender and repentance. It is only when we give up control and realize that God alone satisfies all we need; that God alone can lead us out of our wilderness; that all our struggles are empty without God that we can truly move in the direction of our call.
As part of this, I ask that you share with us some of your journey as well as any advice you can give to one another.
These are Disney shows but they’re nothing in moral content like those from the Wonderful World of Disney decades ago. So, I’m cutting out cable TV. And I’ll give a good-night talk in the way St. John Bosco did to his homeless youth. The good-night talk is done after night prayers and contains a moral lesson from something that happened during the day. That is how St. John Bosco made faith part of life. And psychologically, it is a most effective time to instill good thoughts. The talk is followed by the great silence – in the monastic tradition where no one talks unless it is an emergency. That silence ushers in sleep but also combats dissipation and distractions. The serenity and stillness brings recollection and a sense of God’s awesome and mysterious presence.
The classical spiritual writers call the culprit the predominant passion; behavioral scientists call them pre-neurotic tendencies. Bishop Eugene James Cuskelly in his book “A Heart to Know Thee” lists them below. What we can do is pick out the one that suits us and check ourselves. It’s like a car that’s veering to the side that needs to be pulled back constantly.
I try to instill the same spirit at home by asking my kids to help each other with their chores. While they have their assignments, they’re not allowed to say, “That’s not my job.” I set the example by helping my wife. When I come home and the house is filthy, I don’t complain. When I see my wife reading a magazine, I don’t resent that dinner is not ready. Instead, I sauté some meatballs then mix it with tomato sauce while boiling the water for the noodles – still in my work clothes. I know how it feels to stay home with 4 kids because I do it every Saturday when she works. And it helps. My wife feels loved and she continues to pass that to the kids.
St. John Bosco (1888) may have scandalized others in his efforts to attract and educate boys. Rather than detaching himself from the world and limiting himself to priestly work, he got involved in contract negotiations with the employers of the exploited boys who flocked into the city from the countryside. Rather than wait for them to knock at the Rectory, he went out to find them in the alleys near liquor stores. Rather than keep himself so prim and proper with well starched vestments, he pulled his cossack up as he raced in the town square with the boys.
His attitude of change has been immortalized in the Rules of the Salesians. This has been why his order has thrived and grown to be the third largest in the world today.
To adapt to the needs of times requires the ability to read the “signs of the times“. Being stuck in age old ways is not fidelity; it can be blindness. If one is wearing shades, then everything is seen in that hue. When something fails, it is blamed on everything other than oneself.
I remember meeting two Salesians back in the 80s. The younger talked about the modem setup in the school while the older talked about the book binding shop. It is not good when people get stuck in a rut; because, if all they have is a hammer, then everything else looks like a nail.
To innovate is risky. It is safer to be reactionary, to sit back and wait for the innovator to fail. But as St. Theresa of the Avila wrote, “One who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.” People nowadays are severely criticizing the experiments and abuses
Did Ben Benanke’s tactics avert the recurrence of a debilitating depression or did he simply delay it’s onslaught? This video suggests imply that the economic stimulus had the same effect as a shot of morphine that numbed the pain without healing the cause. Worse, it has turned us into a junkie needing fixes until we OD or hit rock bottom.
Perhaps there is a quick rehab and will get us back on our feet sooner – like a new mix of fiscal and monetary policies or a new global approach that makes markets more efficient than ever. Until that’s found, the only way out is the old fashioned cold-turkey and pick-ourselves-up-by-the-boot-straps approach.
It starts with the humbling acceptance of the truth that we messed up followed by embracing those old school values and boring life styles that values temperance over excess, patience over instant gratification, thrift over living large, saving over borrowing and discipline over letting go.
To go beyond the mundane, this renewed way of living is the classic spirituality of sacrifice, the way of the cross. The virtue of humility disposes us to be patient and put up with doing without or with less. It makes us temperate in living within or even beneath our means. Discipline is fortitude or the strength to say no or go, without fear of hardship and deprivation. This is the old school of asceticism; this is why people voluntarily take the vow of poverty. And after being mortified and purified, one enters into mysticism where sacrifice is no longer an uncomfortable state. Rather, it becomes transforming as a seed dies to sprout into a plant that will produce fruit. Or we join the Lord Jesus in His “kenosis” where He suffered and died to bring us eternal life.
It’s called life — it happens; God made us because he thought we’d like it. And in general, we do. Still every parent wonders sometimes how they’re doing raising their kids. This month Wynken turns 11 years old. Eleven! Where does the time go?
So it’s probably illustrative of how we’re doing to see what the boy wants for his birthday.
First, Star Wars stuff or Legos – okay, pretty typical for his age.
Next, a memory card for his new DSi – again, typical.
His own adult Bible (not a kid’s version).
Wait.
Did he say his own Bible? Okaaay.
That’s an encouraging sign that he would actually ask for his own. Granted, the boy will literally read anything you put in front of him — newspapers, encyclopedias, dictionaries — but those are targets of opportunity, boredom, curiosity, whatever. He asked for his own Bible. I guess they do listen, they just pretend like they don’t hear you.
So here it is: the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition by Ignatius. Bonded leather with the symbols of the four Evangelists and an icon of Christ embossed on the cover.
The RSV Second Catholic Edition made some changes and added footnotes according to Liturgiam Authenticam, and features new typesetting and maps. The main difference between the RSV-CE and the Second Catholic Edition is the updating of some of the more archaic language. [source]
Apparently this is the translation that we will be using in the near future at Mass; he may as well get used to it.
Today begins another Lent. Lent is a time of turning to God, a time of repentance, and sacrifice. Lent has figured prominently in my own spiritual life. Through the Lenten experience, and my cooperation with God, I was granted grace to overcome certain sins. Other times I was drawn closer to our Lord through prayer and spiritual discipline. Sometimes, I must admit, I squandered the call by merely checking the Lenten requirement box without entering into the grace God offers through really living this season.
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