Franciscan at Home

What is the secret to living the Christian life? The Christian life – the ‘moral life’, as it is often called – is simply a participation in the life of Christ himself. Morality and spirituality are never to be separated. As St Paul put it, ‘For to me, to live is Christ’ (Phil 1:21).

The Catechism leads us to this answer in three stunning paragraphs (1693-1695) that present the overview to Part 3, Life in Christ. The secret, it indicates, is to enjoy a living relationship with each of the Three Divine Persons of the Trinity. It is in this relationship that all of our actions find their authentic source, and it is from this clear spring that the heart is purified so that our thoughts, words, and acts might flow pure and clean.

It is to live in the sight of the Father who sees in secret (CCC 1693). We do not come to fulfilment in our lives in isolation. We live alongside others. We look at others and are looked at in our turn. And the eyes that look upon us can be eyes of love or disdain. The gaze of others affects us profoundly. This paragraph in the Catechism reminds us that the Christian life prioritises interiority, fostering a contemplative receptivity, because it wants us to allow ourselves to be ‘seen’ and be ‘gazed’ upon by the infinitely loving eyes of the Father who made us and who has created us for one thing only – to have the joy of knowing that our identity, our secret name, flows from that gaze and, knowing this, to echo this back as a friend of God. The person who allows himself to be seen by infinite Love and knows himself as an image of that Love can become ‘perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’. The Christian life, then, prioritises this interiority. Being precedes doing. We all know this truth instinctively: we call ourselves ‘human beings’, not ‘human actions’.

'On the Spot' aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. [cf I Peter 3:15] Here we look at the challenge faced by those who try to present the faith in a hostile and aggressive environment.

‘Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from ...a magical tree...yeah, makes perfect sense.’

Of course, it makes no sense at all - and it certainly isn't Christianity, even in an extreme fringe form. Yet, quite suddenly it seems, the beliefs of Christians are no longer either quietly respected or ignored. Whatever the cause, many who do not accept Christianity, or even the existence of God, now feel able to publicly deny, ridicule and attack Christian belief in a way that would have not been accepted before, nor would it be tolerated now if directed towards other religions. This attitude now pervades our public life, our schools, homes and even parishes to an extent that would have been unthinkable even ten years ago. The parody quoted above has been passed around by those who find it very funny; it's possible those people would not have found it so amusing had their own deepest beliefs been lampooned in a similar way.[i]

Here we continue to explore the second part of Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter on catechesis,issued in the second year of his pontificate, October 16, 1979.

The Holy Father begins the fourth section of Catechesi Tradendae (henceforth CT) by noting that the content of catechesis and evangelization is the same—the Good News of salvation. However, in catechesis the Word is “probed unceasingly” through reflection, study and simply living the Faith (no. 26). The source of this Good News, of course, is Scripture and Tradition, the “single sacred deposit of the Word of God” (cf Vatican II, Dei Verbum, no. 10).

t was the Associate Pastor’s first Sunday in his new assignment. He was counseled (or cautioned) by the pastor that the congregation was somewhat unenthusiastic during Mass. The idea came to him to begin Mass with a joke or humorous story as a way of engaging them. As the choir concluded what seemed like their Broadway debut, he tapped the microphone to test its sound. Nothing! He panicked and tapped it again this time speaking apologetically to the congregation, ‘Something’s wrong with the mic.’ To which everyone dutifully responded, ‘And also with you, Father!’

Ah, the familiarity of the Mass responses! We could say them with our eyes closed - and perhaps sometimes many of us early risers do! Yet familiarity can be a good thing, for it allows us to concentrate on the symbolic gestures during Mass and to ponder the depth of their meaning. However, come November 27, 2011 when the Church begins to use the revised translation of the 2002 Roman Missal, some of this familiarity will diminish, and for many Catholics this will be a challenge. Even if priests spend the recommended year preparing their congregation for the new texts, it is most certain that for a few Sundays following November 27, 2011, some in the congregation will continue to profess proudly their faith in Christ who is ‘one in being’ with the Father, instead of ‘consubstantial.’ Habits are hard to change - especially prayerful ones.

Often our struggles with change - especially in the area of Church discipline or teaching - result from misunderstandings, which in turn can lead to camps or ‘extremist ideology.’ At one extreme we can find a certain ‘dogmatic fundamentalism’ or ‘traditionalism’ that views change, especially liturgical change, as a ‘rupture from the past.’ At the other extreme lies a kind of ‘enlightened progressivism’ that sees reality in ‘continuous flux’ and theology in a state of ‘process.’

Neither position is true, as Blessed John Henry Cardinal Neman insightfully demonstrates in his magnificent work, The Development of Doctrine. Organic growth in doctrine is always rooted in the unchanging reality of Jesus Christ and His revelation, even as it matures or develops into fuller expression.

The Lord’s Prayer can be very helpfully used as a prayerful focus for catechising in morality. One of the advantages of this is that those we teach will gain the vital perspective that how we live and act flows from our prayer and is an expression of it. One on the gravest errors of our time is the dichotomy between faith professed and the practice of lives.[ii] It will help all of us to remember, as well, that the commandments begin with God and our relationship with him.

When teaching morality, it is important to present our final ‘end’, or goal, very clearly. Then we need to present how to reach that goal, cooperating with God’s grace. Finally, we explain and discuss how to behave towards others in the light of these convictions. The structure of the Our Father lends itself very well to this approach. Our true fulfilment is to draw close to God, whom we call Abba, Father. The ‘how’ is reflected in the central part of the prayer; and the prayer closes with an appeal for help in relationships with others and in remaining faithful to the life he has in mind for us.

We cry out to our Father in heaven revering his name; life in its fullest sense consists in a loving relationship with him. We are created in his image and he has placed in us a desire for him.[iii] So in teaching morality the focus is to be on the Father, his kingdom,[iv] and our eternal destiny. When we adopt this perspective, challenges in daily life can be seen to help lead us to the very place where we learn to be our true selves, the heart of the Father.

‘On the Spot’ aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us (see I Peter 3:15). This time we look at what ‘Providence’ may mean to those we teach, and we consider the distinction between Providence and the God who provides.

‘God’s Providence Is Mine Inheritance’. These words are to be found on the front of an old building in the City of Chester in the North of England. They can probably be attributed to those who lived in a previous building on the site and were spared from the plague. Others, most notably the Earl of Cork in the seventeenth century, have taken these words for their family motto, though I suspect that they may have been thinking of the words in a different light (‘Mine Inheritance is God’s Providence’), rather than expressing a trust in God to provide for the future!

Jason Gale draws some important lessons for catechesis from the Church’s understanding of Creation.

God’s work of Creation is both once and for all and at the same time continuing. When we speak of Creation, we sometimes speak of it as a past act from which everything else flows. But the truth is that God continues to create. His act of creation continues both in the creation of new things and persons and also in the continuing existence of those persons and things already in existence.

Pope John Paul II stated, “Having created the cosmos, God continues to create it, by maintaining it in existence. Conservation is a continuous creation.”[i] We can draw many implications from this truth, and we can draw two conclusions which are particularly important for our work as catechists.

Do we, does each one of us Christians, believe in God’s love, which stretches over and covers the entire world and each one of us? Deists—and many Christians—say, “I believe in the Creator of the world, but I don’t believe he plays a role in the life of the world.” St. John Chrysostom says that those within the bosom of Christ’s Church who reason in this way are worse and more dangerous than unbelievers. We may boldly, and without fear of error, add to the words of this “Teacher of the Whole World” that the rejection of God’s Providence—that is, the rejection of God's continued care for the world—contradicts reason.

My dear ones, we know that the Creator’s plan for the world is a loving plan. And therefore it is impossible for God the Creator to deprive the world of His care.

Most catechists will have experienced the frustrating situation where those being taught are not actively disagreeing with anything being presented – and yet there is not the smallest spark of interest in what is being communicated. The presentation leaves the listener cold. No spark has been generated.

It is noteworthy, therefore, that the Catechism places a section on the desire for God and for the truths of the Faith at the very beginning of the work (CCC 27-30). At the heart of the catechetical process there must be a desire, in the one being catechised, to receive the Revelation which is being transmitted.

We find similar thoughts centuries before the preaching of the Gospel, in Plato, the Father of Western philosophy, who understood the central importance of motivation for learning. His dialogue the Meno revolves around the question of how knowledge can be gained, and in this dialogue Socrates insists that there is no way that knowledge can be imparted independently of the learner’s desiring to receive it. The learner must be motivated to learn, and must be active in the learning process. The General Directory for Catechesis echoes this idea, insisting that catechumens need to understand themselves to be ‘co-responsible’ in the learning process (GDC 167).

‘On the Spot’ aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. [cf I Peter 3:15]

This time we look at the ways in which we can help adults respond to the grace of God which draws the human mind and spirit towards him who is the desire of every heart.

The analogy of a feast is central to the Christian life. Our Baptism is a washing and making ready for this feast; a “Nuptial Bath” preceding the wedding feast of the Eucharist. (CCC 1617) Not only do we share in the life of the Blessed Trinity even now through our participation in this holy food, but we also look forward to the Heavenly Banquet, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

This imagery is not accidental. The need for food is universal and draws everyone by their desire to eat. Anyone who is no longer interested in food is probably sick or dead, unless they have deliberately tamed their physical appetites for some purpose. Our daily lives are punctuated by our interaction with food, and every celebration or occasion will be marked with a meal of some kind. We are drawn to food by our human need to eat or die, even though we frequently eat more, and more richly, than is necessary for our health. We are drawn by the loveliness of fresh, well prepared food; its smell, its appearance, the promise of relaxation and laughter with friends and family. We are drawn by our own delight.