Franciscan at Home

The Lord continues to send priests to serve in his Church. The latest figures from the Vatican Yearbook show a slight increase in 2009 over the 2008 figures worldwide for candidates to the priesthood, and the whole period from 2000 onwards is also one of stability, with a slight increase in numbers. Globally, also, the percentage of the world population who are Catholic continues to rise (it now stands at 17.4%). We can praise God for this, not because we are interested in numbers for their own sake, but because each number represents a person, precious to the Father.

What, then, is a priest? The answer was given to us existentially by St Maximilian Kolbe. When this friar martyr of Auschwitz was asked why he wished to take the place of a Polish father and husband, Francis Gajowniczek, in the punishment bunkers where camp inmates were starved to death, Maximilian Kolbe gave only one reason: ‘I am a Catholic priest’. Pope Paul VI called this an ‘incomparable’ response. The response came, he said, ‘from a heart trained to give itself’. And is not a Catholic priest, Pope Paul asks, a ‘second Christ’, who is the redeeming Victim of mankind? ‘What a glory it is for us priests, and what a lesson…to find such a splendid exemplification of our consecration and of our mission!’ Maximilian Kolbe provides us with an outstanding manifestation of the very heart of Catholic priesthood.

Sr. Mary Michael Fox shares the richness of St. Thomas Aquinas’ profound hymns on the Eucharist which are excellent catechetical tools.

The Eucharistic hymns of Saint Thomas Aquinas are an eloquent synthesis of the same profound and insightful theology found in his Summa Theolgiae—a work that is, I daresay, indispensible for catechists and one that the Church considers preeminent theology.[ii] Yet, the Summa is indeed somewhat daunting due to its structure and sheer magnitude. Fortunately, Saint Thomas offers more than one way of studying, contemplating and teaching the profound doctrine of the Eucharist. His Eucharistic hymns, Lauda Sion, Verbum Supernum, Pange Lingua, and Panis Angelicus, are a perfect convergence of theology and poetry. Their truth is beautiful and their beauty is true; and for this reason, they are perfectly catechetical.

John tells the story this way: There was a wedding in Cana. Mary was there as a guest. So was Jesus, her Son. So were His first disciples. Mary noticed that the wine was running short, a terrible embarrassment to the hosts of the wedding. In going to her Son, Mary simply said: ‘They have no wine.’ Imagine Jesus looking at her deeply, accompanied with a bit of a sigh. ‘How does this concern me? My hour has not yet come.’ The best was yet to come. Mary’s response. She said nothing. She found the wine servers. She pointed back to her Son. She said: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ And that was her exit out of the story. She left it up to her Son Who instructed the servers to fill the large stone jars with water. That water became the good wine. That good wine was the beginning of the signs and wonders that ‘revealed His glory’ to the world, even and especially to this day. John’s story of the Wedding Feast of Cana is like peeling an onion. There are so many layers, ever so delicate and unique that we can gather from this chapter of Scripture.

Saints offer us living theology. How do we draw on the saints for this living theology, both for our own lives and for our work as catechists?

In my experience as a catechist, I have found that, in general, people relate to saints in one of three basic ways.

First, there are those who have little or no relationship with saints. Secondly, there are those whose love for the saints may indeed replace their relationship with the members of the Blessed Trinity, or may border on superstition. Thirdly, there are those who understand that the saints lead us to the intense relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The key to understanding the saints is that they lead us into relationship with God and with others. In our desire to follow the example of the saints, we cannot just be configured into a narrow relationship of the ‘saint and me’. Saints did not, and we do not, live in isolation.

Teaching on St Catherine of Siena can be a powerful and inspiring way to teach a love for the Church.

‘Be certain of this…if I die, the cause of my death is the zeal which burns and consumes me for the Church. I suffer gladly, and am ready to die for her, if need be.'[i] Saint Catherine of Siena

When was the last time you headed off to your RCIA class or Religious Education class with such bold desire to sacrifice your life for your lesson on ecclesiology?! Yet, is this not the fire that every catechist is called to have for Holy Mother Church? While St. Catherine of Siena may not be your average ‘catechist,’ nevertheless, this fiery woman of Tuscany has a lesson or two to teach us about catechesis and loving the Church. We should not be surprised that they are the same lessons, on the nature and mission of the Church, which we find in the Church’s magisterial documents.

We have just finished celebrating the Year of St Paul, and it is fitting that the theme for this issue of The Sower is ‘Loving the Church’, for that is a wonderfully succinct way of summing up the essence of Saul’s conversion and of his receiving a new name rooted in a new calling. Saul was converted to an abiding love for the Church.

After all, what was Saul before his conversion? He was one who loathed the Church. He found the Church not so much irrelevant or simply unattractive, as deeply offensive and hateful—to himself and, he was convinced, to the God of his fathers. Saul, we know from the Acts of the Apostles, was present for the stoning of Stephen: those who had acted as the witnesses against Stephen, the first Christian martyr, ‘laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul’ (Acts 7:58). ‘And Saul was consenting to his death’ (8:1). Following the death of Stephen, Acts describes how Saul ‘laid waste the Church’ (8:3). He ‘dragged off men and women and committed them to prison’ (8:3), ‘breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord’ (9:1).

Saul’s conversion was a complete turning around, a total change of direction, so that what was hated now became the occasion for his deepest and most ardent love. The Risen Jesus appeared just as Saul had apparently gained new powers for persecution of these followers of ‘the Way’ (9:2). After this meeting, Saul completes his journey to Damascus, no longer seeking those whom he might imprison but, in his own words, ‘a prisoner of Christ Jesus’ (Philemon 1). The capturer has been captured. His physical journey and destination is unchanged, but he has undergone a dramatic spiritual reversal of direction. He receives a new name, Paul, and a new vocation. There is a ‘new creation’ and now nothing else is to count for anything apart from this new reality, this new love (see Gal 6:15).mHis persecution of the Church is now to be remembered as his most reprehensible activity: he is ‘the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God’ (1 Cor 15:9).

‘Catechists…are the ambassadors of Christ, God as it were exhorting by their mouths. They have the honor of collaborating in the spread of the Gospel in virtue of divine power. Their office is not derived from men but from God through Jesus Christ.

‘This consciousness of the Christian teachers’ divine mission must be the law of his moral attitude, the first rule of his thoughts and discourses, the basis of all his activity. It must arouse in him the sentiments of his duty and dignity and counteract the ennui of daily routine. In the life of St. Paul it created two sentiments, two passions, one might say: a high-mindedness without pride and a devotion without reserve.’[i]

St. Paul knew that God has made it possible for every person to know right from wrong. He lived in a world fraught with political turmoil. As a Jew, he was exposed to the bickering between the various sects of Judaism. And as such he was also a victim of the oppression of the Roman occupiers of his land. Later, as he traveled throughout the Mediterranean, he was often dragged into court, and finally he died at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero.

In this issue of The Sower, Sr Johanna Paruch continues to focus on St. Paul as the outstanding catechetical saint for our times.

In his audience on October 8, 2008, Pope Benedict continued his addresses to celebrate the year of St. Paul. He was speaking of Paul’s treatment of Jesus’ teaching, ‘when he brings about a form of transposition of the pre-Paschal tradition to the situation after Easter.’ Pope Benedict wants to show us that St Paul is true to the teaching of Christ, even though the ways in which he presents the teaching of Christ can be very different. Benedict notes that this fidelity is particularly apparent when Paul writes about the Kingdom.

‘For example, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican (cf. Lk 18:9-14), imparts a teaching that is found exactly as it is in Paul, when he insists on the proper exclusion of any boasting to God. Even Jesus’ sentences on publicans and prostitutes, who were more willing to accept the Gospel than the Pharisees (cf. Matt 21:31; Lk 7:36-50) and his decision to share meals with them (cf. Matt 9: 10-13; Lk 15:1-2) are fully confirmed in Paul’s teaching on God's merciful love for sinners (cf. Rom 5: 8-10; and also Eph 2:3-5). Thus the theme of the Kingdom of God is reproposed in a new form, but always in full fidelity to the tradition of the historical Jesus.’

Jesus announces, ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel’ (Mk 1:14). The proclamation of the kingdom by Jesus is, as we know, the very heart of his message. Pope Benedict confirms that this provides us with the core content of the Gospel. He writes, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand. A milestone is set up in the flow of time: something new takes place. And an answer to this gift is demanded of man: conversion and faith. The center of this announcement is the message that God’s kingdom is at hand.’[i]

As I read the Holy Father’s homily preached as he formally opened the Pauline Year, I was struck by his repeated emphasis of the shared martyrdom of Peter and Paul. In the Catholic Church it is the practice to commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of its saints rather than their births, except for those of Mary and John the Baptist. Their deaths are, however, really their births into a new and heavenly life.

In the light of Christ’s passion and death, Christians should expect to suffer, and perhaps to die for him. Already in the Old Testament, suffering was a part of the price made for following the will of God. Abraham, Moses and David were all wrenched from their previous way of life to answer in obedience God’s special call to them. The prophets experienced the same thing. Jeremiah protests:

‘The word of the LORD came to me thus: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” “Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I know not how to speak; I am too young.” But the LORD answered me, “Say not, ‘I am too young.’ To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.” ’ (Jer 1:4-7).

Paul echoes this in the account of his conversion in his Letter to the Galatians. He speaks of God, ‘who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace’, who then ‘was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles’ (Gal 1:15-16).

If St. Paul were visiting us her today, what advice would he give to catechists?

Dynamic catechesis is a dialogue of salvation. In this sacred conversation we share the revelation of Jesus Christ and invite our hearers to faith. Catechesis is an act of communication. It is a form of communion with others.

Among other examples of catechesis in the New Testament, I draw your attention to three of them in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Paul involves himself personally and passionately with people. He speaks. He listens. He persuades. He testifies. He trusts enthusiastically in the power of the Spirit to convince his listeners. If he were visiting us today, I think he would inspire us to use the following guidelines for catechesis.

Share the theology of the Cross
Illumine the hope of the Resurrection
Explain the Power of the Eucharist