Franciscan at Home

Heaven is exciting. I do not think this is always made clear. You have doubtless seen several pictures of the Last Judgement. There was often one on the West wall of Mediaeval Churches to remind the departing faithful to live in such a way that they would be among the sheep, not the goats. Many such paintings show the just being welcomed into Heaven, and the wicked cast into hell. Often you suspect that the artist enjoyed painting hell more than he enjoyed painting heaven!

One particular painting, for example, shows Heaven as a city wall, with Angels playing trumpets, while, below, hell is more interesting – a huge dragon breathing fire, inside whom the damned are being boiled in cauldrons, while demons push wheelbarrows full of the wicked into its mouth. You get the impression that the most interesting thing to do in Heaven is to look over the wall and watch what is going on in hell! A limited, even boring, picture of heaven is often seen in modern cartoons showing harps and clouds; a recent survey of children’s views of Heaven showed that they imagined things like endless ice cream. I wonder whether some artists and preachers of the past put too much energy into frightening people off hell because they found it hard to think of ways to attract them into Heaven; and I wonder how many modern preaches and teachers know how to speak excitingly about heaven.

Saints seem to have lost some of the popularity they used to enjoy with Catholics. Perhaps this is because they have too often been seen as impossibly Perfect People, who lived long ago in a world very different from the one we have to live in. They used to be known as ‘heavenly helpers’, but it is hard to see how they could be any help in our modern secular society, where people are full of doubts about everything beyond the here and now. So, why approach the faith, and particularly the history of the faith, through a study of her saints? Why is this a useful approach for teachers and catechists to take? Four important reasons stand out.

After all these years of writing these articles, I surprised myself just recently when I realized that in all the many saints I have discussed in these pages, I had yet to talk about the life and work of St. John Baptist de la Salle. He is known as the Father of Modern Pedagogy. He was the first educator to desire that lessons be taught in French, and not in Latin, as was the case. He believed that students should be grouped in classes according to their age and ability. He believed that the textbooks should be the same for all students in that class. These things are so commonplace for us teaching in the western world that we probably have not realized that these things were revolutionary in the 17th century - and that we owe them to a French priest, the founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the Christian Brothers.

Unfortunately the limited space of these articles does not allow us to delve fully into the life of these catechetical saints. But what we can observe here is that de la Salle became enamored with the education of children and the training of teachers, even to the point of taking the teachers into his own home, to provide them with both physical as well as emotional support in their difficult and often discouraging efforts.

Eventually, de la Salle gathered about him young men who were desirous of following him. In 1864, he distributed his inherited wealth to the poor, and thus the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools had its very humble and simple beginning. He determined that there would be no priests in the Institute. The brothers were to devote their entire lives to the education of youth, and priestly duties would not allow them to be free to engage in such a focused ministry.

Thomas Aquinas is not generally thought of in relation to catechesis. In fact, he is not referred to in the General Directory for Catechesis. However, Aquinas can render a valuable service to catechesis today as a model of pedagogy and a doctrinal resource for catechists.

In his essay entitled “Thomistic Theology and Religious Education,” Fr. Mark Heath provides a great service in bringing Aquinas into modern catechetical discourse. He lays out three main points, which he claims define Thomas’ contribution to catechesis: synthesis (systematic), theocentricity, and doctrine. Thomistic theology integrates all true insights (as seen especially in Thomas’ Aristotelianism), treats all things through and in relation to God, and is ordered toward a deeper understanding of the faith. These three points stand in stark contrast to current trends in catechesis, which focus on experience and praxis, as well as theories that emphasize whole-community catechesis. Therefore, Heath’s essay provides a helpful service in addressing the current crisis of catechesis, particularly by bringing Aquinas back into the discussion.

However, Heath’s essay can only be viewed as a preliminary effort. While he effectively brings forth key elements of Thomistic thought, the full catechetical significance needs further exploration. The content of Aquinas’ theology is actually tightly knit into a methodology intended to order one’s mind and heart to God. By focusing on the content of Thomas’ catechetical sermons (as well as of the Summa Theologiae) one can grasp how Aquinas’ presentation of doctrine is meant to draw the listener/reader into a deeper engagement with the realities that he presents.

The Year of Faith will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, November 24, 2013. In his Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict said, “Let us entrust this time of grace to the Mother of God, proclaimed ‘blessed because she believed’ (Lk 1:45).” In these articles during the Year of Faith, I have been focusing on apparitions of Our Lady, who always leads to her Son. In this article, I want to give a brief account of several apparitions that are less well known.

Certainly we are all familiar with the conflicts in the Middle East. If we are attuned to the news, we are aware of other conflicts in the world. To many of us, they may seem so very far away, and while we may pray for these situations, we may have missed the fact that in many of these countries, Catholics are being persecuted, they are truly suffering! In the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict wants us to look again at the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Our Lady is treated in Lumen Gentium. This document focuses on her motherhood; and because Mary is the Mother of all the faithful, it should not be surprising to us that she has appeared not only in the Western Hemisphere, but all over the world.[i] These little overviews will, I hope, increase your desire to know more about her, and to know about our brothers and sisters who are suffering for the faith. My catechetical goal in this article is that we all become even more aware of the geographic universality of the Catholic Church.

One of the most astonishing realities that parish catechists will discover throughout this Year of Faith is that the faith, articulated in the Church’s magisterial documents, is not only heartbreakingly beautiful –it is also true! Once catechists are clear about this point they can resolve to speak the more boldly, empowered by grace. And then a New Evangelization can truly take place.

I would like to look at this question of the truth of the faith through the lens of the “first echo” of some of our early Church Fathers. These early Christians said that “The world was created for the sake of the Church” (CCC 760). The Catechism goes on to say:

“God created the world for the sake of communion with his divine life, a communion brought about by the ‘convocation’ of men in Christ, and this convocation is the Church. The Church is the goal of all things.”

How many Catholics would be willing to say that in public? How many catechists believe that? Before any real re-evangelization can take place those evangelizing must believe this and be able to articulate its meaning. Good catechesis depends on a clear understanding of the role and authority of the Church and from where that authority is derived.

Mother Théodore Guérin came from France to cultivate the seed sown in the wilderness of Indiana. Her difficulties were that which none of us really experience today, unless we are truly in mission territory. However, we do share similar obstacles: the seed falls on the rocky soil or falls on the pathways, but we must understand that we can cultivate the soil so that the seed may come to fruition. “The Gospel seed makes fertile the history of mankind and promises a rich harvest. Jesus also cautions, however, that the word of God grows only in a well disposed heart.” (GDC 15)

Mother Théodore certainly had reasons to shed tears in her life as a pioneer evangelist and teacher in the woods of Indiana. She was born in Britttany, France in 1798. She was given the name Anne-Therese. Like many of the French saints, she was born into the aftermath of the French Revolution, in which the Reign of Terror sought to destroy the Catholic Church by killing thousands of priests and religious. Her religious upbringing was guided by her mother. When she was 15, her father was murdered and her mother was totally distraught, so the care of the other children and the family farm was left to Anne-Therese. Despite the reluctance of her mother to allow her to become a religious, she finally entered the Sisters of Providence in 1823.

De repente me transporté unos 40 años atrás al área de juego de mi escuela primaria y mi primera introducción a una “libreta animada” al echarle una ojeada a las páginas del nuevo YOUCAT [Catecismo Joven de la Iglesia Católica]. Un solitario muñeco de palitos al calce de cada una de las hojas, al darles la vuelta rápidamente como conjunto desde delante hasta atrás, cobra vida como un converso entusiasta que ha encontrado al Señor. Este atributo, junto con acertadas caricaturas e imágenes, ha sido diseñado con las aportaciones de jóvenes para animar a los lectores a que se conecten nuevamente con las enseñanzas del catolicismo.

Aparte de su atractivo visual, el YOUCAT destaca de manera singular las palabras de la Beata Madre Teresa de Calcuta, más que cualquier otra inspiración de entre los santos. Desde hace muchos años ha tenido un status mundial icónico entre personas de todas las edades, y de manera especial entre los jóvenes, por su devoción implacable a los más pobres de los pobres.

Sus palabras empapadas de oración marinan cada sección del catecismo. Es necesario regresar a ellas frecuentemente para saborearlas. Al integrar la enseñanza de la Madre teresa en este artículo, mi intención es permitir al lector ver el paisaje pleno de su pensamiento, agregando tan solo breves comentarios como auxilio para la navegación.

Decimos al final del Credo, ‘Creo en el Espíritu Santo, la santa Iglesia Católica, la comunión de los santos…’ Esta ‘comunión de los santos’ es un misterio de mucha importancia en nuestra fe.

Y, sin embargo, nuestra fe en ese misterio puede pasar desapercibida ‘así nomás’. Decimos, ‘…el Espíritu Santo, la santa Iglesia Católica, la comunión de los santos, el perdón de los pecados…’ ¿Permitimos que aquellas frases del Credo se deslicen inadvertidas porque nos acostumbramos a ellas?

Debemos de tener en mente el misterio de la comunión de los santos y recordar que vivimos esa comunión muy especialmente en la Misa. Cuando llegamos al momento de la gran Plegaria Eucarística y nos invitan a ‘levantar el corazón’, eso significa que vamos místicamente al cielo. Por la liturgia de la Iglesia, el Espíritu Santo nos recuerda a todos la verdad acerca de Jesús. Y en la Misa somos levantados místicamente al cielo y allí estamos con el Señor, con María, la Reina de todos los Santos, con José, con todos los Apóstoles, con los mártires, y los ángeles. Nos levantan para estar con todos los santos.

As you have read in the last issue of The Sower, because this is the Year of the Priest, the articles this year will be devoted to priests. In all the years that we have studied the lives of catechetical saints, we have seen many, many priests who devoted their lives to handing on the faith. The General Directory for Catechesis notes that,

‘The function proper to the presbyterate in the catechetical task arises from the sacrament of Holy Orders which they have received. “Through that sacrament priests, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are signed with a special character and so are configured to Christ the priest, in such a way that they are able to act in the person of Christ the head.”…

‘In catechesis the sacrament of Holy Orders constitutes priests as “educators of the faith.” They work, therefore, to see that the faithful are properly formed and reach true Christian maturity (224).

In this issue, I want to focus on the priest and the Eucharist. We need the Eucharist in order to undertake our work as catechists. The priest, as well as being only our catechetical leader, is also the one who makes it possible for us to receive the Eucharist.