Franciscan at Home

As we begin the Year of St Paul, Alan Schreck assists us in our appreciation of the saints as the greatest educators.

The greatest teachers of the Catholic Church are her saints. True, many of them were not articulate or great preachers, and some were even illiterate. Nevertheless, they are recognised as ‘saints’ because their lives provide us with the clearest and the best instruction in what the Christian life is all about. And what is it all about? In a single word: Holiness, which means becoming like God in character and virtue. What does holiness look like? We see it most perfectly displayed in the Son of God incarnate (God among us in person, or literally ‘in the flesh’), Jesus Christ. But a nearly perfect reflection of holiness, the character and virtue of God himself, is seen in the saints. The saints teach us most fully what God intended us all to be and to become - truly God-like.

If we look at the ‘reflection’ of God in the saints, we don’t find just a single image or portrait, but a marvellous collage of images of God and his love as different as the sun and the moon, or as mountains and the ocean. There were saints who were kings and queens, and beggars; great intellectuals, and simple priests (like St. John Vianney) who couldn’t learn their Latin; girls and boys and octogenarians; world-traversing missionaries and mystics in their cloisters; bloodstained martyrs and ‘clowns’ of God (like St. Philip Neri). There were soldiers (from St. George to St. Joan), prophets and prophetesses, religious foundresses and mothers, servants of the poor and needy...yes, and even some who were teachers by profession. What they all have in common is a passionate love of God that grew in their souls and finally burst into full blossom. Marvellously, there is a saint for everybody - some saint whose life and experience will uniquely touch a particular person and open them more fully to God. The saints remind us of what we are all made for.

Writing from the first Catholic home of John Henry Cardinal Newman, who lived here at Maryvale Institute from 1846-1848, I am struck once again by the profound links between Newman, for whose beatification we continue to pray this year, and St Paul, whose life we celebrate in a particular way from June 29th, 2008 until June 29th, 2009. Both of them were, of course, ‘Men of Letters’; but much more than this, they are united by two great themes in their writings: the converting power of doctrine and the parallel converting power of personal influence.

Newman had a particular conviction concerning the vital role of doctrine in the Christian life. This conviction emerged from his own life experiences. In the Apologia he writes, ‘When I was fifteen (in the autumn of 1816) a great change of thought took place in me. I fell under the influences of a definite Creed, and received into my intellect impressions of dogma, which, through God’s mercy, have never been effaced or obscured.’ During his life, Newman had to fight against the ‘anti-dogmatic principle’ which characterized the evangelical movement of the time. But now he had discovered the converting impact of doctrine. Creeds and dogmas, he said, ‘live in the one idea they are designed to express’. Dogmas are alive; they are living, saving truths and they unite us to the One who alone has the power to save. The heart and the head belong together, and together they lead us to the One who is to be served faithfully with both.

St Paul, also, writes powerfully of the central doctrines of the Faith and of the living Christ dwelling in them. We who were once slaves to sin, he reminds his readers, are now ‘obedient from the heart’ to the rule of teaching, or doctrine, to which our lives have been committed (Rom 6:17). This teaching is folly to those who do not understand it and who are perishing; but to us, says St Paul, who are being saved, ‘it is the power of God’ (1 Cor 1:18). Paul contrasts what he calls ‘plausible words of wisdom’ with the ‘secret and hidden wisdom of God’, a wisdom based on revelation and taught to the Church by the Spirit. This latter wisdom is saving truth, the wisdom of revealed truth. It releases us from being ‘estranged and hostile in mind’ (Col 1:21), bringing us to a transformation and renewal of the mind (Rom 12:2).

The Son, therefore, came, sent by the Father. It was in Him, before the foundation of the world, that the Father chose us and predestined us to become adopted sons, for in Him it pleased the Father to re-establish all things. To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the Kingdom of heaven on earth and revealed to us the mystery of that kingdom. By His obedience He brought about redemption. The Church, or, in other words, the kingdom of Christ now present in mystery, grows visibly through the power of God in the world.

“Si la vida es más dura, el amor también la hace más fuerte, y solo este amor, fundado en el sufrimiento, pueda cargar la Cruz de mi Señor, Jesucristo. El amor sin egoísmo, sin depender de sí mismo, pero prendiendo en la profundidad del corazón una sed ardiente de amar y de sufrir para todos los que están a nuestro alrededor: una sed que ni la mala fortuna, ni el desprecio pueda extinguir.

“Yo creo, oh Señor; pero aumenta mi fe…Corazón de Jesús, te amo; pero aumenta mi amor. Corazón de Jesús, confío en Ti; pero dale un mayor vigor a mi confianza. Corazón de Jesús, te entrego mi corazón; pero enciérralo en Ti para que nunca pueda ser separado de Ti. Corazón de Jesús, soy todo tuyo; pero cuida mi promesa para que yo pueda ponerla en práctica hasta con el sacrificio total de mi vida.” 1 - Padre Miguel Agustín Pro, SJ, escrito poco antes de su muerte.

El tesoro del alma

Una pregunta que a menudo me he hecho es, “Estaría dispuesta a morir por el Credo?” Es natural pensar que moriríamos por Jesucristo o por la Iglesia – bueno, por lo menos creo que es natural. Pero, ¿moriríamos por lo que creemos? ¿El Credo es para nosotros, como lo fue para San Ambrosio, “sin dudar, el tesoro de nuestra alma”? El Directorio general para la catequesis afirma,

“Al fundir su confesión con la de la Iglesia, el cristiano se incorpora a la misión de ésta: ser « sacramento universal de salvación » para la vida del mundo. El que proclama la profesión de fe asume compromisos que, no pocas veces, atraerán persecución. En la historia cristiana son los mártires los anunciadores y los testigos por excelencia.” (DGC 83)

'Acogemos el símbolo de esta fe nuestra que da la vida’ (CIC 197). 2

Pope Benedict XVI has declared that from June 28, 2008 to June 29, 2009 the Church will celebrate a year dedicated to St. Paul. In his homily during First Vespers on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, 2007, the Holy Father stated, “The extraordinary apostolic results that he was able to achieve cannot, therefore, be attributed to brilliant rhetoric or refined apologetic and missionary strategies. The success of his apostolate depended above all on his personal involvement in proclaiming the Gospel with total dedication to Christ; a dedication that feared neither risk, difficulty nor persecution.”[1]

It is not without good reason that so many Vicars of Christ have taken inspiration from this saint. Pope John Paul II has also admired the work of St. Paul, and desired to imitate him:

…I would like my words…to set your hearts aflame, like the letters of St. Paul to his companions in the Gospel, Titus and Timothy… Yes, I wish to sow courage, hope and enthusiasm abundantly in the hearts of all those many diverse people who are in charge of religious instruction and training for life in keeping with the Gospel.[2]

Catechists should be especially eager to celebrate this special year of St. Paul. Josef Andreas Jungmann, a Jesuit scholar of the 20th century, articulated the importance of St. Paul for catechists. St. Paul, he asserted, epitomized the teaching methods used by the early Christian Church. Jungmann wrote, “[I]t is Paul who surpasses the other witnesses of the primitive Church in the power of expression…the predilection for seeing and depicting the Church, grace and salvation from the viewpoint of Christ.”

The evangelist Luke has reproduced in the Acts of the Apostles the journeys that the Apostle Paul undertook along with others in order to set up Christian communities the length, and breadth of the Roman empire. Highly significant is the use of the Greek verb ‘discipling’[i] that is used towards the end of the first journey (see Acts 14:21). Discipling could be considered as a synonym for catechesis. The very purpose of catechesis is to make disciples, disciples in the true sense of the word. In this article we shall examine the first journey of Paul (Acts 13:1­-14:28) so as to take note of the methods that the Apostle Paul used in order to win converts as well as to confirm them in their faith.
Luke has presented the person of Paul as an ideal catechist who is able to consolidate with his own personal life the faith of those entrusted to his care. What Paul is, is no doubt as important as what he does on behalf of the community by way of imparting faith formation.

At the outset of the first missionary journey, Luke refers to Saul [Paul] and Barnabas (along with three others) as prophets and teachers. This is what Paul is—a prophet and a teacher. These are two complementary gifts given by God in order to establish others in the faith.

A question I have often asked myself is, ‘Would I be willing to die for the Creed?’ It is natural to think that we would die for Jesus Christ or for the Church – well, at least I think it is natural. But would we die for what we believe? Is the Creed for us, as it was for St Ambrose, ‘unquestionably, the treasure of our soul’?[ii]

The General Catechetical Directory states, ‘In fusing his confession of faith with that of the Church, the Christian is incorporated into her mission: to be the “universal sacrament of salvation” for the life of the world. He who makes the profession of faith takes on responsibilities that not infrequently provoke persecution. In Christian history the martyrs are proclaimers and witnesses par excellence’ (GDC 83).

Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest, understood this very well. He was born in 1891, in the tiny Mexican village of Guadalupe. His father was a mining engineer and Miguel learned compassion for the poor and suffering at an early age. He also learned his love for God and for the Church from his parents.

Catechists can learn from two Popes, beatified together by John Paul II: each called a Council; each loved Tradition; each wanted the Faith to reach today’s new audience.
During the Jubilee year, John Paul II beatified two of his predecessors: Pius IX and John XXIII. He said, ‘By divine design their beatification links these two popes who lived in very different historical contexts, but beyond appearances, share many human and spiritual similarities.’ Each of these Popes called an Ecumenical (universal) Council of the Church: Pius IX called Vatican I and John XXIII called Vatican II. Each of these Popes can be seen as deeply concerned to ensure both continuity with the past, within a dynamic sense of Tradition, and were also preoccupied in how to meet the challenges presented by their contemporary situations.

This Summer, the National Association of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd announced the that one of the founders of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Dr. Sofia Cavalletti, 94, died peacefully in her home in Rome, Italy. She died on Tuesday, August 23, 2011.

Sofia Cavalletti is certainly one of the most significant figures for catechesis, and in particular children’s catechesis, in this century. Dr. Cavalletti, together with her colleague Gianna Gobbi, began to work with children in 1954 in the area of children’s religious formation. She was first inspired to understand children’s spirituality following a discussion over a passage of scripture with several children. The children’s engagement and response to the discussion caused her to seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between God and the child.

Sofia Cavalletti and Gianna Gobbi collaborated for more than 50 years listening to and observing children in the context of a prepared religious environment called an atrium, basing their approach on the principles of education developed by Maria Montessori. What children revealed to them was, above all, their profound capacities for relationship with God. Children from very diverse geographical, social and cultural environments responded to this relationship with a profound sense of joy which, Sofia Cavalletti said, “puts them in a particular state of peace, such as to make us think that this relationship satisfies a vital need within children.”

As well as visual appeal, YOUCAT significantly highlights the words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, more than any other saintly inspiration. She has for many years had world-wide iconic status among all age groups, especially the young, for her relentless devotion to the poorest of the poor. Her prayer-soaked words marinate every section of the catechism. They need to be returned to often so as to savour them. By bringing Mother Teresa’s teaching together in this article I intend to allow the reader to view the full landscape of her thought, adding only brief commentary as a navigational aid.