Franciscan at Home

Kyle Neilson helps us to find ways to awaken Catholics to their baptismal gifts.

The Spiderman movie provides an evocative analogy for Baptism. Most of us know the story: after Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically-modified spider, he discovers he possesses strange new powers: he can shoot webbing from his wrist, his reflexes and eye-sight are uncommonly sharp, he can climb walls, and more.

I was baptized in the Protestant tradition at the age of 18, and experienced its effects in dramatic ways. To offer but one example, prior to my Baptism I habitually treated my exemplary parents very poorly. Within a few weeks following my Baptism, I realized the gravity of my behaviour; I understood the fourth commandment: ‘Honour your father and mother.’ I also experienced a new desire and capacity to love my parents. After a sincere apology, we enjoyed a beautiful reconciliation and started afresh.

At the time, this change in me surprised all of us. Only years later, after becoming a Catholic, did I come to understand that such a change was, in fact, par for the course. Like Peter Parker, I discovered powers given ‘from above.’ The virtue of faith allowed me to grasp the truth about honouring one’s parents, even though I knew about the commandment since childhood. Through charity, I was given a new heart for my mother and father. I possessed an immediate growing desire and power to love them.

This liturgical meditation is taken from Romano Guardini's book, Sacred Signs.

We have often gone into church through the door. And each time it has said something. Have we realised it? What is the door there for? Perhaps this question astonishes you. ‘So that we may go in and out,’ you answer. It is not a difficult question – you are right: but to go in and out there is no need of a door! Any opening in the wall would be enough, with a few planks and beams for opening and closing. People could go in and out; it would be cheap and just as useful: but it would not be a door. A door does more than merely serve this purpose – it talks.

Just think – when you pass between the portals you feel: ‘Now I am leaving outside things – I am walking in.’ Outside is the world – beautiful, full of life and activity – but also with much that is ugly, low. It has the character of a market: everyone is running about, everything is spread out on show. We will not call it wicked, but still something of that kind the world has in it.

Dr. Alan Schreck begins his commentary on the first part of Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, which teaches us of the primacy of the gift of the Eucharist for us individually and as members of the Body of Christ.

‘The Church draws her life from the Eucharist’, which is ‘the heart of the mystery of the Church.’ (EE 1). It is to draw the Church more deeply into this mystery that Pope John Paul II issued his final encyclical letter on Holy Thursday of 2003, a day that the Holy Father traditionally issued a letter to all priests. But on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pontificate, John Paul wished to ‘involve the whole Church move fully in this Eucharistic reflection, also as a way of thanking the Lord for the gift of the Eucharist and the priesthood’ (7). Especially in this ‘Year for the Priest,’ it is fitting that we should all reflect on this great gift of the Lord to his Church.

The Eucharist, ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’ (cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 11), is one way that Jesus fulfills his promise: ‘Lo, I am with you always to the close of the age’ (Mt 28: 20). The Eucharist ‘contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and our living bread.’ Christ’s own flesh is ‘now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit’ (Vatican II, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, 5).

In this article Fr. Vivian Boland discusses the vocation to catechesis within the context of Religious Life.

Pope John Paul II’s post-synodal exhortation Vita Consecrata (1996) is now the best point of reference for a reflection on the vocation to catechesis within the context of religious life. The exhortation is in three main parts, concerned with the confession of the Trinity, the sign of communion, and the service of charity. Religious life, the Pope says, is the icon of these things, realizing for the whole Church a total dedication to contemplation, communion and mission. The work of catechesis also finds its deepest theological and spiritual meaning in relation to contemplation, communion and mission.

A properly Christian understanding of any profession or occupation requires that we refer it to the Blessed Trinity, the communion of life and love that God is. All gifts, ministries and services find their ultimate significance in the mutual presence, communion and giving of the Persons of the Trinity. This mystery, revealed to us by the Son in the Holy Spirit is the source from which we draw our understanding of Christian life. This presence, communion and giving flows from the Father into the Church through the Son and the Spirit giving rise to myriad forms of religious life, Christian ministry and charitable care.

We know that all Catholics are called to witness to the Gospel and to tell others of their Catholic faith.[i] However, religious could be said to be prime witnesses to the faith: ‘those who are called to the consecrated life have a special experience of the light which shines forth from the Incarnate Word... “How good it is to be with you” (Matt.17:4), to devote ourselves to you, to make you the one focus of our lives!’[ii]

They have (or should have!) the time to ‘imbibe’ Christ, so-to-speak, to sit at his feet so that they can go out, reflecting this light of the Incarnate Word.

This light of Christ grows brighter through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience - and in my own Dominican tradition, it grows brighter also through the assiduous study of sacred truth and through the monastic observances. Through these observances we endeavour to give something back to God, to ‘praise Him, to bless Him and to preach His Gospel’. Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare is the motto for the Dominicans. And how appropriate is the motto for the work of catechesis, for in catechesis we are surely assisting others to respond to his grace so as to praise, bless and preach Him.

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.

In this article Fr. Michael A. Caridi givse us a reflection on the primordial bond and intrinsic link between the Eucharist and the Priesthood.

Shortly after being named Archbishop of Saigon in 1975, Francois-Xavier Nguyen van Thuan was arrested by the Communist authorities and imprisoned for the next thirteen years. In his account, Five Loaves and Two Fish, Cardinal Thuan tells of offering clandestine Masses while in prison, using meager amounts of bread and wine that had been smuggled in. After Mass, he would fashion a tiny container from the paper of cigarette boxes in which to reserve the Blessed Sacrament for later adoration. He would secretly carry the makeshift tabernacle with the consecrated Host within the breast pocket of his shirt, close to his heart.

While, over the course of those thirteen years in prison, the Communists time and again relentlessly tried to break the Cardinal and strip him of his emotional, spiritual and moral dignity, they couldn’t. Why? Because his was a priestly dignity, a dignity not based upon comfort, position, or honor, but on the fact that Jesus Christ is always close to the priest’s heart – an intense union stemming primarily from his ability to make Jesus present in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist, a bond that offers the priest the necessary strength to endure all the demands his vocation implies.

Simply put, Cardinal Thuan survived his years of imprisonment because he could find a way to offer Mass, thus keeping Jesus near to his heart.

Fr. Stravinskas argues that young people today are looking for a form of worship that is ennobling and uplifting, based on traditional forms of liturgy.

We hear a great deal today about ‘culture’: the youth culture, the culture of life, theculture of death, the anti-culture. And so, I would like to begin my reflections by demonstrating the connection between culture and worship. As a die-hard Latin teacher, I want to establish the etymological linkage. The word cultura (culture) comes from the word cultus (cult, as in ‘worship’). To enter into a language is to enter into the mindset of a people.

Thus, one can say that for the ancient Romans, ‘culture’ was rooted in ‘cult’ or worship. We can smirk at the Greeks and Romans of old with their thousand little gods and goddesses inhabiting the Pantheon but, for all that, they still lived within a transcendental horizon. In other words, the individual human being was answerable to a higher and ultimate authority. And within that horizon, those peoples forged impressive cultures. Similarly, within the Christian scheme of things, we find that what historians have dubbed ‘TheAge of Faith’– the high middle ages – produced a nearly unimaginable font of literature, art, music and architecture – unrivaled to this very moment.

This liturgical meditation is taken from Guardini’s book, Sacred Signs.

We have spoken of reverence towards the eternal God as demanding a definite, respectful attitude. He is so great, and we are so little, that we must acknowledge this even outwardly: it makes us small, it bids us kneel.

But this reverence can also be shown in another way. Imagine that you are lolling in a chair, either at rest or chatting with others. Someone comes who is worthy of special respect and begins to speak to you. Immediately you stand up and hold yourself upright, while you hear and answer. What does this signify?

Standing signifies, above all, that we pull ourselves together. Instead of the slack position of sitting, we take up a stiff, controlled attitude. It means that we are attentive: we are, as soldiers say, ‘at attention’. Standing has in it something of stress, of watchfulness. It shows that we are ready: he who stands can immediately go off here or there; he can undertake any task without delay; he can begin any work, as soon as he is shown what to do.

The catechist is called to know and echo on the richness of God’s saving act in Christ which is readily accessible through meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary.

The Rosary is a valuable methodological tool for catechists because it can provide precious insights into how the various mysteries apply to the catechetical vocation. Catechists who seek to receive such lessons from the Rosary will understand more deeply how the events of Christ’s life relate to teaching Catholic doctrine and spirituality. Finally, those who use this tool will gain the help of Mary, who is the preeminent example of fruitful catechetical methods.

To begin, a simple exercise is necessary. Catechists should listen to or read the Scripture passage that corresponds to a mystery of Christ’s life. Then, the appropriate prayers should be recited along with meditations on how that mystery relates to handing on the Deposit on Faith. This exercise will confirm catechists in their vocations, and it will assist in bringing learners toward holiness. The following is an example that is the fruit of this author’s meditations on the Joyful Mysteries over several months.