Don't Look Away, Don't Blink

It can be hard to gaze upon the Crucified Christ, let alone not avert our eyes when he gazes back at us.  It may be even harder to look into the face of Our Lady of Sorrows; it's much easier to look away.

With only a week to go until Pope Francis arrives, I wonder whether Catholics in the U.S. will have the courage to look him in the eye.  After all, it will be very tempting to selectively choose what already fits with our political or economic (self)interests, and then collectively ignore anything that challenges our personal or cultural status quo.

Since his election as pope in 2013, evidence of this dynamic has been legion (the pun is not intentional but may be fitting).  A recent and ongoing example of this "look away" dynamic centers on Pope Francis' new environmental encyclical.

Political liberals have lauded Laudato Si', even as they continue to ignore the Holy Father's relentless promotion of so-called "social issues" such as marriage and family, religious liberty and protection of those who are most vulnerable.  Political conservatives, on the other hand, seem intent on finding ways to dismiss this encyclical, even as they cheer Pope Francis' rejection of gender theory and his critique of the "ideological colonization" of families.

Laboring against Nationalism this Patriot Day

With Labor Day falling as late as possible this September, our shortened holiday work week closes with Patriot Day this Friday the 11th.

This week of national holidays raises a question: Can you still remember where you were on September 11, 2001?  A fantastic four-minute clip from SkitGuys.com invites us to reflect on and remember the devastation of that day:  "9/11: On That Day"; it reminds us that faith, hope and love are still the most fully human ways to move forward, even in the face of intentional evil.

As with all suffering, the September 11th experience brought with it the paradoxical potential for God's grace to deliver an even greater good.  Whether it was a call to conversion, deeply felt by so many, or an opportunity to comfort those mourning and in a state of shock, 9/11/2001 saw the United States pull together in many important ways.  The world as a whole seemed to feel our pain, and signs of sincere compassion abounded.

Fourteen years later, the juxtaposition of a week book-ended by both Labor Day and Patriot Day seems to raise another question: What have we been working for as a nation since 2001?  Have we been laboring to ensure that our country is more deeply committed to the common good, to just treatment of the most vulnerable--particularly children and the elderly--and to solidarity with all people?  These are the traits of a healthy love of country, an authentic patriotism.  This is the work which would honor those who died on 9/11.

Alternatively, we should ask whether our efforts to work together out of a sincere love of country have been threatened by a not-so-subtle nationalism.  Has this seductive ideology convinced us that our country and its agendas are of paramount importance?  It may take the form of "American exceptionalism", or of old-fashioned "isolationism".  It may be matter of sacrificing those who are most needy, or of imposing the will of the most powerful.  It may be the justification of our "preemptive" acts of violence, or it may be the passive refusal to assistance to those in need--for lack of compelling self-interest.

What Does Preparing for a Papal Visit Look Like?

If you received news that Pope Francis was going to visit your home, would your preparations include some vacuuming and light dusting? In my house, it might also include some fresh paint in the living room and an industrial carpet cleaner!

So what should our spiritual preparations look like as we count down to the Holy Father's visit to the U.S.? It's great to envision Pope Francis enjoying a cheese steak in Philly, or looping around DC's beltway in the pope mobile, or smiling as the faithful snap "selfies" in Times Square. But what else might we do to make September's Apostolic Visit as grace-filled as possible?

Here are a couple suggestions, following the lead of Francis himself:

• Embrace the "World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation". Now that Papa Francesco has claimed September 1st as an annual day of prayer for all of creation, isn't it time to explore what "going green" and following Christ might have in common? In Laudato Si', Holy Father Francis writes that "the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she 'groans in travail' (Rom 8:22)" (n. 2).
  
   
• Sign the petition to support the Pope's call for a human ecology. Contrary to the impression given by those who want to drive a wedge of discontinuity between the Pope and his predecessors, the Holy Father's new encyclical explicitly builds upon the foundation laid by St. John XXIII, Bl. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Using John Paul's luminous phrase, "human ecology", Francis quotes Benedict's insight that "the deterioration of nature is closely connected to the culture which shapes human coexistence" (LS, n. 6). The myth of limitless human freedom has damaged both the natural and the social environments; concerted action on many different fronts can alone counteract such destruction.
  

"I am a link in a chain"

So, what does "everyday evangelization" look like in your life?

Over the past few years, for me, it has been a matter of first letting myself be evangelized.  That is, it has been a process of opening myself to a deeper encounter with the basic proclamation of the Gospel as Good News--both for me personally and for the whole world.

Throughout the past couple of years, "everyday evangelization" has also been closely tied to a prayer written by Bl. John Henry Newman:

God has create me to do Him some definite service;

He has committed some work to me

which He has not committed to another.

I have my mission--

I may never know it in this life,

but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain,

a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good.  I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of peace,

a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it--

if I do but keep His Commandments...

It seems that the idea of being a "link in a chain" fits nicely with "everyday evangelization," since I typically envision the people with whom I am directly connected--such as my amazing family, wonderful friends, and committed colleagues.  Their inspiring influence helps bond me more closely to the Church, supporting and encouraging me.

However, the phrase in the prayer that "I may never know it in this life" has slowly started to gnaw at me in recent months: What if the chain of connections is not as linear as I tend to imagine?  What if it turns out that God has created each of us to have countless connections, in so many different directions that it is beyond our capacity to fully understand? What if I'm a link in a chain that's shaped more like a net or a web than a few simple straight lines?

God's Gumption and the Assumption

 

Given the fact of our God's game-changing Incarnation,

Mary's Assumption is Love's logical implication.

 

The audacity of Spirit taking on human flesh
has transformed the way heaven and earth intermesh.

 

A sacramental cosmos unfolded in Mary's dear baby--
The Infinite disclosed in the finite--no if, but, or maybe.

 

Having taken on a body, the Son would thus suffer;
witnesses probed transformed wounds directly, without any buffer.

 

Disciples still reverence Christ's empty tomb, long since grown cold,

and we honor earthly remains from our saints of old.

 

Yet no burial place or relics of Mary exist,
her singular life was clearly destined not to desist.

The body, it turns out, is no mere shell to discard,
but the key to expressing our soul's eternal regard.

Neither a gnostic escapism from some meaningless realm,
nor reductive materialism with a godless helm.

Rather, earth enters Heaven when Christ goes to the Father;

first-fruits will soon follow when he repatriates our Mother.

 

Their glory will be ours if confidently we do trust
that the spark of divine life shines through this earthly dust.

 

So why does the Creator yearn for our creaturely presence?
  Triune Love is Integration and Communion in essence.