Franciscan at Home

As you partner with Jesus to minister in his name, what does abundance look like for you? Over the years, through direct coaching and providing workshops and retreats, we have identified the following eight best practices for living abundantly as a minister.

1. Take up your cross and follow him.
All three synoptic gospels include this sobering commandment from our Lord (see Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:24). Jesus, as the best psychologist, offers this advice not as a dark, oppressive reality, but as a way to understand how to be an effective minister. Note that Jesus says “take up your cross.” So many times in ministry, we are tempted to take up another person’s cross, but this is not the commandment of our loving Lord. There is a fine line between helping someone and actually carrying their cross. We must pray for wisdom to see this fine line, so that we are not carrying the crosses of others.

Furthermore, in all three synoptics, notice what Jesus does next. He takes Peter, James, and John and is transfigured before them (see Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9:28)! The Lord commands us to take up our cross and follow him—to the transfiguration! All the crosses we personally carry, when united to the one cross of Christ, will result in specific resurrections; that is a divine guarantee when we take up our cross and follow him.

For reflection: What personal crosses do you carry? Do you tend to take responsibility for the crosses of the people to whom you minister? How can Jesus help you find balance?

2. Heal your major wounds.
There are two responses to any physical, psychological, or spiritual wound: resurrection or infection. Choose wisely. Every minister has major and minor wounds in life. We need to intentionally address the major wounds and allow the Holy Spirit to heal them so we don’t hurt others with them. Healed ministers heal (through the resurrection), and hurting ministers hurt (through infection). Jesus wants us to devote the time and resources necessary to address and heal the major wounds from our family of origin, our past and present.

Typically, wounds happen in unsafe relationships, so the healing will happen in safe relationships. In our lives, these relationships have been: spiritual direction, Catholic coaching (the best coaches are coachable), and mental health therapy (the best therapists are open to therapy).

We don’t admit anyone into our sanctuary of suffering. We need to be judicious. A good place to begin to heal major wounds is with a trusted priest or deacon. If they are unable or not equipped to journey with you, ask if they know of a good spiritual director or Catholic therapist. If they do not, call your diocesan office of marriage and family; many times this office has a list of therapists who have earned trust over the years. As you go through the healing process, there is cause for great hope based on Romans 8:28 “All things work together for the good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”

St. Paul knew the power of wounds in his life. He knew shame as a result of his previous zeal for persecuting Christians. He experienced betrayal and extreme trial and suffering in ministry. And yet, he had the faith, the audacity, and the courage to write that all things work for the good. In other words, not just the good things I do can be used by God, but all things work for the good for those who love God. This is a divine guarantee that all your past and present wounds can work for the good.

For reflection: Are there any major psychological or spiritual wounds in your life that the Holy Spirit is asking you to heal?

In the first installment of this article, I sketched how Pope St. John Paul II’s teaching on Christocentric catechesis should lead us to view our work as an opportunity for the words of Jesus to be spoken through us in such a way that people encounter him and hear his call to follow him (the sequela Christi). I also suggested that we can best serve as spokesmen for Jesus when we focus on his initial words in preaching the Gospel (the four pillars of Gospel-living: the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent, believe, and come follow me), and I then traced the path to authentic discipleship through the call to seek the Kingdom of God and to repent.

In this second installment, I continue to trace the path of discipleship through the call to believe to its culmination in the sequela Christi, wherein the true meaning of Christian discipleship emerges as the following of Jesus through union with him. Additionally, I recall some common obstacles that people face in embracing this meaning of discipleship.

Believe
Having cultivated the heart through an orientation to the Kingdom of God and a readiness to repent, Christocentric catechesis begins to hit its full stride as it comes to its next basic guidepost: the call to believe. The full theological explanation of belief is at once broad, deep, and complex, with seemingly innumerable details as to how belief unfolds in the human heart. Nonetheless, the work of Christocentric catechesis can help people cultivate greater faith by focusing on how faith means recognizing God and accepting his invitation to experience the impossible through his transforming power.

Cultivating faith begins with understanding that to believe most fundamentally means responding to Divine Revelation, taking up the dynamic begun in God’s initiative toward the human person. God reveals himself in order to invite us into a relationship with him, and believing means making the adequate response to him and to this invitation (CCC 142-143). In other words, we should never present faith as merely (or even primarily) an intellectual assent to truths proposed in an abstract form but rather as the acceptance of the interpersonal relationship that God offers us when he reveals himself.

Since God has revealed himself as Trinity, Christian faith obviously entails the recognition of the God who has revealed himself as Triune, and specifically means acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God and the Holy Spirit as the Advocate given to us. Yet, such a recognition is not possible by our natural powers and must be received as a gift from God himself. The words of Jesus to Peter tell us that not from “flesh and blood” can we recognize God and his Son but rather only when such recognition is given to us from the Father in heaven (Mt 16:17). For this reason, the first movements of faith consist of opening ourselves to the gift of faith and being ready to cooperate with the work of God that takes us beyond our natural powers. We can believe only by opening ourselves to the supernatural, anticipating the impossible.

We must open ourselves to the supernatural, not just to recognize the Triune God but also to accept his invitation, which reveals a plan equally beyond our natural powers. The plan of God expressed in Divine Revelation culminates in his offer to bring us into the Communion of the Trinity, which orientates us to heaven where this communion will be realized in its fullness but also has the immediate significance that we become his dwelling place in this life (CCC 257-260). The words of Jesus clarify that God’s revelation includes not only the promise of eternal life and also the invitation to become the dwelling place of God (Jn 14:23). These two elements of God’s plan converge in the “divinization” of man, encapsulated in our tradition by the idea that the Son of God became man so that man could become God (for example, St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, and St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusculum 57, On the Feast of Corpus Christi).

To believe, we must accept the stupendous plan of God, whereby we will enter into the Communion of the Trinity for eternity and become the dwelling place of the Trinity in this life through our own divinization; therefore, faith necessarily means opening ourselves to something that only God can accomplish. In a certain sense, this explains why we begin our Profession of Faith with the proclamation that God is almighty. However, the words of Jesus also invite us to see the vital role of our faith in unleashing the almighty power of God. As he does with the ten lepers (Lk 17:19), the woman with a hemorrhage (Mt 9:22), and the blind beggar (Lk 18:42), Jesus often attributes his miraculous healings to the faith of those healed, saying at one point that if we believe “everything is possible” (Mk 9:23). In doing this, Jesus highlights a core meaning of faith wherein the power of God awaits the “obedience” of faith (CCC 144): our yes to his will and our trust in the power that accomplishes this plan. Faith is the power to move mountains (Mt 17:20 and 21:21) because it is the power of God unleashed by our obedience to him and his plan.

Our tradition points to Abraham in the Old Testament and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the New Testament as the premier models of faith, not because they intellectually grasp obscure truths but because they exemplify obedience to the (seemingly impossible) plan of God made known to them. The Gospel accounts of the call of the Apostles likewise exemplify the obedience of faith that unleashes the power of God, as do the lives of many saints of our tradition who heard the voice of God and obeyed (for example, St. Athanasius, The Life of St. Antony, St. Gregory, The Life of St. Benedict, and St. Bonaventure, The Life of St. Francis of Assisi). Learning from these examples, we can also see that the obedience of faith extends from a trust in God to a willingness to leave off one’s former way of life and the readiness to accept the dignity that God’s plan confers on us.

Faith necessarily rests on God’s trustworthiness and requires us to “trust God in all circumstances” (CCC 227); however, faith must also embrace the radical transformation that the power of God seeks to accomplish in us and the dignity that his plan confers on us.

Opening ourselves to the power of God in faith requires a willingness to become a new creation, or in the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, to be “born again” (Jn 3:3). These words of Jesus highlight the utter newness of what comes forth from the power of God. We are not talking about a dramatic makeover or a simple upgrade, so faith takes the form of a consent to radical transformation. Yet, such a transformation remains frustrated unless we are willing to cease being what we have been in order to become the new creation that God wills us to be, and this is why the process of repentance and renunciation logically lays the foundation for answering the call to believe.

Such a radical transformation also includes embracing the magnificence of what God brings about through this radical transformation: the magnificence of being divinized, of becoming the dwelling place of God, of entering into the communion of the Trinity, and of being entrusted with the role of unleashing and manifesting the power of God. Simply put, faith requires us to accept the dignity that God bestows on us and to trust ourselves as much as God does when he entrusts his plan to our faithful obedience. To be commissioned by God with the fulfillment of such a magnificent plan speaks volumes about his trust in us, and faith requires us to view ourselves with the same high opinion in order to embrace his plan.

All of this gives us more than enough reason to ask, like our model of faith, “how can this be?” (Lk 1:34), and we should expect the same response she received: by the power of the Holy Spirit. Until we have that moment when the plan of God seems impossible, faith cannot find its proper context, and unless we become convinced that the Holy Spirit can accomplish the impossible in us, faith cannot lead us to genuine Christian discipleship. As such, Christocentric catechesis must seek to bring people to both of these pivotal moments.

I grew up in a Catholic home, where most years of my elementary education were at a Catholic school, where we practiced Catholic traditions and devotions from time to time, where we always went to Mass on Sundays, and where I knew my parent’s greatest inheritance for me was the faith. In hindsight, however, I was a mediocre Catholic. If I participated in the mission God gave me at my baptism, it was purely by accident, not by intention. As a young adult, I was in the Army and moved around quite a bit. In each new place I would search the chapel or parish bulletin for opportunities to learn more about my faith. I almost never found anything suited for me. Activities and events in the parish were for children and families, but I was a single young adult. What about me? I was basically living from my eighth grade understanding of the faith.
By these experiences, I learned that we Catholics need to be continually formed in our faith, in a lifelong process, so that we might be equipped to perform our God-given mission from baptism. But where must this formation take place? It first takes place in the home, the domestic church, and then in the parish, the house of formation for the laity.

The Parish is the Curriculum
Once young adults leave home to make their way in the world, how are they to receive ongoing formation in the faith? This is where the parish must augment what happens in the home and must continually provide various opportunities for adult faith formation. In 1999, the U.S. Catholic bishops produced Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States, which highlights the irreplaceable “dimensions” and “concrete approaches” of adult faith formation.

The Six Dimensions of Adult Faith Formation
According to the U.S. bishops, “The ongoing development of a living, explicit, and fruitful Christian faith in adulthood requires growth in all six [of these] dimensions. Each of them is a fundamental aspect of Christian life and a foundational content area for adult faith formation.” The six dimensions are as follows.

Estamos en un siglo de inventos. Ahora no hay que tomarse ya el trabajo de subir los peldaños de una escalera. … Yo quisiera también encontrar un ascensor para elevarme hasta Jesús, pues soy demasiado pequeña para subir la dura escalera de la perfección. … ¡El ascensor que ha de elevarme hasta el cielo son tus brazos, Jesús! Y para eso, no necesito crecer; al contrario, tengo que seguir siendo pequeña, tengo que empequeñecerme más y más.
Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús, La historia de un alma

Estas palabras sencillas, pero profundas, de Santa Teresita la Pequeña Flor ilustran algo revolucionario que he llegado a comprender acerca de cómo ser efectivo y fructífero en nuestros esfuerzos de evangelización en la cultura altamente secularizada en la que vivimos hoy en día. Hay una manera más fácil y más eficiente para invitar a esta generación a que abra su corazón a Jesucristo y, por la gracia, conducir a los hombres a una conversión profunda que les cambie la vida.

Para abrazar este sencillo enfoque a la evangelización, primero tendremos que reconocer el hecho de que ya no nos hallamos en la Cristiandad – el catolicismo cultural ha muerto. Por lo tanto, las condiciones para un camino a la conversión son muy distintas de las del pasado: “En nuestro tiempo, en el que en amplias zonas de la tierra la Fe está en peligro de apagarse como una llama que no encuentra ya su alimento…Dios desaparece del horizonte de los hombres y, con el apagarse de la luz que proviene de Dios, la humanidad se ve afectada por la falta de orientación, cuyos efectos destructivos se ponen cada vez más de manifiesto.

He visto, por medio de mi compromiso por evangelizar a los estudiantes de las universidades a lo largo y ancho de Canadá durante los últimos treinta años, que hay una creciente resistencia y oposición a la Iglesia y a lo que ella propone. Lo que es aparente es la falta de interés en las devociones de la Iglesia que en otro tiempo condujeron a nuestro pueblo hacia una conversión continua mayor. Mucha de nuestra gente no ve la relevancia de nuestros sacramentos, se opone a nuestras doctrinas, les tiene mucha antipatía a nuestros dirigentes, y opinan que gastamos demasiado dinero en nuestras hermosas iglesias.
Lo que es evidente es la creciente polarización entre los católicos que viven la Fe y las grandes multitudes que se han alejado de la Iglesia. Como resultado, ya no nos debemos de esperar a que el camino común a una vida católica vaya a ser el mismo. A medida que crezca la brecha entre los creyentes y los no creyentes, los evangelizadores deben de estar listos para navegar conversiones que son significativamente más decisivas y dramáticas.

El camino comprobado y cierto hacia una conversión más profunda y continua sigue siendo relevante para las personas establecidas dentro de la Iglesia, pero para las enormes multitudes que no están dentro de la Iglesia, que no conocen a Cristo o que no lo conocen suficientemente bien, consideremos un camino más rápido. Santa Teresita, quien se inspiraba en el heroísmo y fortaleza de carácter de los grandes santos, se consideraba incapaz de seguirles: “soy demasiado pequeña para subir la dura escalera de la perfección”. Descubrió una nueva vía hacia la perfección presentándose sencillamente al Padre como niña pequeña, pidiéndole que la tomara en sus brazos para experimentar su Amor: “¡El ascensor que ha de elevarme hasta el cielo son tus brazos, Jesús!”
Reconociendo cuán lejos se han alejado de la Fe muchos de esta generación, invitémosles a que entren por medio de un ascensor, que abran su vida a una relación con Jesucristo. Esta relación de amor les abrirá los ojos a la belleza de la Iglesia Católica y a un deseo mayor de una conversión más profunda y continua. Dicho esto más claramente, debemos de comenzar por medio de la evangelización y darle seguimiento con la catequesis.

El Sínodo sobre la Nueva Evangelización del 2012 intentó traer claridad al lugar de la evangelización dentro de la Iglesia. Lo que se hizo patente entre los participantes fue la confusión en lo que se refiere al mensaje que debemos de proclamar. Para fomentar una mayor claridad, el Sínodo le propuso al Papa Benedicto XVI la necesidad de desarrollar “una enseñanza sistemática sobre el kerigma” que pudiera utilizarse para formar a los fieles en su obra de evangelización.
En mi experiencia, la evangelización es fructífera y efectiva cuando el evangelizador habla de forma clara y sencilla y tiene confianza en el poder sobrenatural del mensaje evangélico para cambiar vidas. Examinemos cinco principios para un proceso efectivo y fructífero de evangelización que comience con un encuentro con Jesús.

"We are living now in an age of inventions, and we no longer have to take the trouble of climbing stairs … I wanted to find an elevator which would raise me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection … The elevator which must raise me to heaven is Your arms, O Jesus! And for this I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more." St. Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul

photo of crowd going up escalator by Johannes Wünsch at Pixabay.com
These simple but profound words of St. Thérèse the Little Flower illustrate something revolutionary I’ve come to understand about how to be effective and fruitful in our evangelical efforts in today's highly secularized culture. There is an easier and more efficient way to invite this generation to open their hearts to Jesus Christ and, by grace, lead them to a profound life changing conversion.

To embrace this simple approach to evangelization we will first have to come to terms with the fact that we are no longer in Christendom—cultural Catholicism is dead. Therefore, the conditions for a path to conversion are very different than in the past: “In our days... in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame, which no longer has fuel... God is disappearing from the human horizon and, with the dimming of the light, which comes from God, humanity is losing its bearings, with increasingly evident destructive effects.[1]

I have seen, in my commitment to evangelizing students on campuses across Canada for the last thirty years, that there is a growing resistance and opposition to the Church and what she proposes. What is apparent is the lack of interest in the Church’s devotions that at one time led our people to greater ongoing conversion. Many of our own people don't see the relevance of our sacraments, they oppose our doctrines, they dislike our leaders, and they think we spend too much money on our beautiful churches.

What is evident is the growing polarization between Catholics living the faith and the great multitudes that have wandered far away from the Church. As a result, we must no longer expect that the common pathway to a Catholic life will continue to be the same. As the gap between believers and non-believers grows, evangelizers must be ready to navigate conversions that are significantly more decisive and dramatic.

While the tried and tested path to deeper and ongoing conversion is still relevant for those established within the Church, for the great multitudes who are not in the Church, who do not know Christ or do not know him well enough, let us consider a quicker path. St. Thérèse, who was inspired by the heroism and strength of character of the great saints, thought herself unable to follow them: “I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection.”[2] She discovered a new way to perfection by simply presenting herself to the Father as a little child, asking to be taken up in his arms to experience his love: “The elevator which must raise me to heaven is your arms, O Jesus!”[3]

Recognizing how far many in this generation have wandered away from the faith, let us invite them to enter by way of an elevator, opening their lives to a relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship of love will open their eyes to the beauty of the Catholic Church and a greater desire for deeper and ongoing conversion. More clearly stated, we must lead with evangelization and follow up with catechesis.

The Synod on the New Evangelization in 2012 attempted to bring clarity to the place of evangelization within the Church. What became evident to those participating was the confusion surrounding the message we are to proclaim. To help bring about greater clarity, the Synod proposed to Pope Benedict XVI the need to develop a “systematic teaching on the kerygma” that could be used to form the faithful in their work of evangelization.[4]

In my experience, evangelization is fruitful and effective when the evangelizer speaks clearly and simply and has confidence in the supernatural power of the Gospel message to change lives. Let’s examine five principles of an effective and fruitful process of evangelization that begins with an encounter with Jesus.

“La evangelización es la misión fundamental de la Iglesia. Es también un proceso continuo de encuentro con Cristo, un proceso que los católicos hispanos han hecho muy suyo en su planeación pastoral. Este proceso genera una mística (teología mística) y una espiritualidad que conduce a la conversión, comunión y solidaridad, tocando cada dimensión de la vida cristiana y transformando cada situación humana.”[1] 

“Evangelization is the fundamental mission of the Church. It is also an ongoing process of encountering Christ, a process that Hispanic Catholics have taken to heart in their pastoral planning. This process generates a mística (mystical theology) and a spirituality that lead to conversion, communion, and solidarity, touching every dimension of Christian life and transforming every human situation.”[1]

On the occasion of this important milestone marking the publication of the USCCB’s seminal document on adult faith formation, Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us (hereafter “the document”), issued on the cusp of the new millennium, it is worth reflecting on its impact and influence on Hispanic ministry in this country. Much has taken place since that time, while significant ongoing challenges remain.

Some Pertinent Principles
Although the document does not explicitly address the Hispanic or other specific cultural communities, a number of its organizing principles do speak to some noteworthy realities. These principles will be the touchstones for this reflection. First, persons will always prefer to worship where they feel comfortable and at home. Second, faith as it relates to the family is a critical factor in any religious tradition. And lastly, social customs and popular devotion in harmony with the Gospel are to be respected, affirmed, and celebrated.

First Things First - Welcoming and Hospitality
While data are generally lacking regarding the number of Hispanics who have left the Catholic Church, current information suggests that a significant number of Hispanics who were baptized as Catholics join other Christian denominations and religious traditions every year; including fundamentalist groups and “storefront” churches—many of which maintain Hispanic cultural traditions that might otherwise be considered to be “Catholic,” including quinceañeras (fifteenth birthday blessings) and Epiphany celebrations. New arrivals often find the structure of the parish and the style of worship to be very different from what they experienced in their native country. In this unfamiliar environment, they are frequently targeted for what could be considered aggressive proselytizing by non-Catholic groups, and are offered transportation, many kinds of assistance, skillful scriptural preaching, as well as a friendly community to which to belong.

All this highlights the compelling need for Catholic parishes to provide a welcoming and hospitable atmosphere to newcomers, including Spanish-language and/or bilingual worship, ministries, parish pastoral leaders, and personnel whenever possible. In addition, Catholic parishes must be aware of several factors that can make Hispanics feel unwelcomed in the Catholic Church and make them more open to seeking a home in other faith traditions. Among these factors are: an unspoken attitude from parish staff or parishioners that they are “undesirable”; excessive or overwhelming administrative rules and forms; and being required to produce evidence of contribution envelopes before they can receive the sacraments.[2]

Do you feel the Holy Spirit working? Do you sense that deeper calling, that desire for renewal, that burning within your heart? Yes, it is the same burning that the disciples on the road to Emmaus felt as their Lord and Savior journeyed with them.

Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us was written twenty years ago as a prophetic and challenging document calling parishes and dioceses to re-examine the faith formation they are providing to children and adults so that the right priority and emphasis was being lived out. When we see adult faith formation taking a primary role in catechesis, we see adults being transformed by the Gospel to become missionary disciples who go forth to transform the world. In many ways, this document has yet to be fully implemented and embraced, but as it continues to be, parishes and dioceses will see wonderful fruits of disciples ready to run back to the Church, to embrace the call of Christ to evangelize.

If you are anything like me, for much of your journey and even today, we fail to recognize the many times that Christ is present with us in our midst. We have a sense (a burning) of his presence but we aren’t quite ready to fully give ourselves (our work, our ministry, our concerns, etc.) over to him. Just as the disciples wondered, “could it really be true, could he really have risen from the dead?” so do we wonder, “can he really free me from my sin, will he really transform the lives and hearts of those I minister to?” Our work in adult faith formation, as it is in our own lives, is to help form “women and men of prayer whose faith is alive and vital, grounded in a deep commitment to the person and message of Jesus” (2).

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of one of the most important publications the U.S.