Magnify the Lord with Mary

Re-post from a former blog:

I received a request to link up my 6th Quick Take with Fine Linen and Purple for the Celebrating the Assumption Link Up, so I am doing so but I'm making it a post in its own right: to justify that move, I revised the text I had and added a good bit more at the end, so if you've already read my Quick Takes, it is worth skimming this to get to the new stuff.

Thursday was the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, a holy day of obligation celebrating that God assumed (took up) the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into Heaven at the end of her life.

The gospel reading was about the Visitation, which is when the newly pregnant Mary went to visit her cousin, St. Elizabeth, who was very pregnant at the time with St. John the Baptist.  The gospel reading included the text of the Magnificat, the "hymn" from Mary to God. The Visitation is one of the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and the Magnificat is a popular prayer said daily by millions during evening prayer. So both have long been considered highly fertile ground for reflection by Catholics.

The homily got me thinking. Mary's soul magnified the Lord. What is magnification? Per Wikipedia, "Magnification is the process of enlarging something only in appearance, not in physical size. A magnifying glass, which uses a positive (convex) lens to make things look bigger by allowing the user to hold them closer to his eye."

By way of analogy, Mary didn't actually make God greater somehow, that is impossible. However, Mary causes God to appear greater by bringing Him closer to the human eye. She brought God closer to the human eye by bringing Jesus, the Image of the invisible God, into the world. The eternal Word of God came into the world through the Virgin Mary and became the Incarnate Word, and like the image of fine print when it comes through a magnifying glass, we better behold the Word.

Mary also brings human sanctification closer to the eye. Through her, we see the work God can do in us, the work God wants to do in us. Assuming the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, Body and Soul, magnifies several great truths. God wants to make us holy, He wants us with Him, in Heaven, and He doesn't just want our souls: He wants our bodies too. He created them and they are part of our eternal destiny: resurrection.

When I was Pentecostal we used to sing a song that reminds me of the Magnificat, Mary's song, called "Magnify the Lord." This is the main verse:

Magnify the Lord
Let us exalt His name together
Magnify the Lord
He has done great things!

Mary was the first to receive Christ, she is our foremost example in faith. Like her, let us make the image of God appear greater, let us make Christ easier to see. Magnify the Lord with Mary.

Mary: Just the Mother of Christ

Happy Assumption Day!

Re-post from a former blog with an update at the end:

I have heard it said - many times - that when a Protestant is seriously considering the claims of the Catholic Church, that his three biggest problems with the Church are Mary, Mary, and MARY! The idea is that many Protestants just can't figure out how to deal with the love and devotion given to the Christ's mother by the average devout Catholic. Some Catholic amateur-apologists (whose lowly ranks I don't merit to even be named amongst) seem to think that if you can persuade the average Protestant to cease objecting to Marian devotion, that said Protestant will be halfway across the Tiber river, approaching the banks of Rome. Clinging, perhaps, to our Blessed Mother much as a drowning man might cling to a life vest.

This may be the case for many Protestant converts. It wasn't for me. Frankly, for me, Mary just wasn't important enough (to me, at that time) to have so much leverage pulling me into the Church. Mary was mostly a character in a manger scene, and not really any more important than Joseph, or the wise men, or the shepherds. The angels may well have been more important than her.

She was just a person; a person who knew Jesus in real life. She ate with Him and talked with Him. He listened to her and he hugged her, and he told her He loved Her. She made Him meals and washed His clothes and kissed His boo-boos when he was a Child. She carried His Body and Soul - the body and soul of God - inside herself for nine months. She was just the person who knew and loved Jesus first. That's all. Not very important, right?

Mary's role in the life of Christ was entirely too physical. Like many Protestants, I wanted the intellectual stuff, I envied the Apostles their three years following Christ during His public ministry, not Mary's 30 private years at home with Christ. This despite the fact that my life with Christ was far more likely to look like Mary's than like that of the Apostles - decades "living with Him" in obscurity, at home.

That didn't matter, because whenever thoughts turned to Mary, I never really got past the thought, "She was just a person - she wasn't that important." Sometimes the thought was slightly different though, along the lines of, "She was only a woman.", or, "She was only His mother." Those thoughts are common for many Protestants (and all too many Catholics, unfortunately). What do they mean?

"She was just a person."

If Mary is unimportant because she was "just a person," that implies that people, are not important. People, made in the image and likeness of God, it implies, are not important. Why did Jesus, who is "the image of the invisible God", take on "human likeness" if people just aren't that important? Why did He come to save us? To die for us? People, are supremely important to God the Father and His only Son Whom He sent. Every person has inherent dignity because they are made in God's image, because they are important to God.

"She was only a woman."

This thought, which many would dare not think or say about any other woman is too often thought and said about Christ's own mother - by those who love Christ! If Mary is unimportant because she was "only a woman," that implies that women are not important. Women, who - like men - are made in the image of God; Women, who - like men - Christ came to save.

"She was only His mother."

Are mothers not important? Was Mary merely a character in the Christmas story? A plot device designed to bring Christ into the world and nothing more? Was God's use for Mary merely utilitarian? If so, when Mary was lovingly caring for the Christ Child, she something akin to a nanny engaged by God the Father to watch after His Son. Just a servant. Even if that was all she was - isn't "servant of Christ" the highest honor most Christians could ever hope for?

If Mary was "only His mother," then when she carried His precious Body - which one day would bleed and die to save us - she was, essentially, just a womb. Just a body, just flesh, supporting the life of Christ until birth. Such sentiments remind me of another oft-repeated phrase: "It's just a fetus, just a lump of tissue... it's not important."

In Pro-Life circles we often point out the obvious, "If the mother matters, so does the child."

Amen! And if the Child matters, so does the Mother."

***In this post, I am not attempting to exhaustively cover the importance of Mary or to convince anyone on Catholic Marian dogma, only to demonstrate the absurdity of several common claims as to why Mary isn't even important.***



Update:

As I have blogged ad nauseum, my wife is now expecting twins. I'm a dad now. Since my children are currently inside my wife's womb, I cannot interact with them except by going through my wife. She tells me how the pregnancy is going, and I watch her for signs of it too. I kiss her belly and speak to my babies. I know they can become accustomed to my voice that way. Some day, they will likely kick in response to my voice and my touch. Just two days ago, my wife felt them for the first time. Two separate tiny flutters from opposite sides, too subtle for me to feel yet from the outside. An anniversary gift from each of them to Mommy and Daddy.

I'm not going to belabor this point, suffice it to say, that my relationship with my children depends on their mother, and that really is good food for thought when I think about the role of Mary in our relationship with Christ.

Twins: Unexpected When You're Expecting

Once upon a time, not very long ago, we knew my wife was pregnant, but we didn't know we would be having twins. Assuming we would start parenthood with one child, we began to prepare, trying to get a head start on a few things during early pregnancy. Mostly, we began to sort through the junk in the guest room and in the office, both of which had devolved into junk rooms. I was hit by the urge to purge pretty hard. Having been a bit of a nomad throughout my childhood, I don't have as much stuff as most people, so thankfully I didn't have as much to get rid of. My wife however came from a stable family that has lived in the same house for nearly 20 years - and recently most of her stuff from there had arrived at our house.

Anyways! We purged a lot. We're still working on that. I moved furniture around so the guest bedroom could serve as an office also. It was a nice set up. Both Alison and I liked it better than we had before. The former office, though the smaller of the two small rooms, would serve our baby nicely enough.

Then we found that we weren't having a baby. We were having two babies. A couple days after the shock began to wear off, I realized that there was no way we were going to be able to fit a second crib into the already planned to be rather sparsely furnished bedroom we had chosen for the baby. There was just no way. The other bedroom though, we could fir two cribs into. Just barely, when you add a changing table, a dresser, and a chair for rocking and nursing.

"These kids are already causing twice as much work!" I exclaimed.

And I went back upstairs and starting swapping furniture from one room to the other. A work still in progress since we are going to have to sacrifice a few more pieces of furniture than we had planned to do previously.

We anticipated having a baby, but not twins, of course. So many people these days seem to think that every child must be planned, but even when you plan to conceive, twins, at least when conceived the old-fashioned way, are surprises. They are unplanned. Twins are God's way of reminding us that He is in charge and our plans are not always His plans, but that His plans are better.

This Is My Blood

Many pro-lifers are familiar with the eerie similarity between Christ's words at the Last Supper, when He instituted the Eucharist, and said, "This is my body," and the cry of the pro-abortion advocate "It's my body." It has been remarked upon many times.

Today I was thinking about this, and then I thought of the next words Christ said, "This is my blood," and I thought of this:

My children are my blood. They have "drank of my blood" (taken my DNA) to have life within them.

It made me think of how every time a woman justifying abortion says "This my body," there is also a man who could say, "This is my blood."

In Communion with Heaven

Yesterday morning my wife and I arrived at our parish about thirty minutes before the beginning of Holy Mass. At our parish our deacon exposes the Blessed Sacrament thirty minutes before Holy Mass, and we pray the rosary and then the Deacon leads us in the Divine Praises while Father hears confessions. It's wonderful. I hope that this somehow continues even after our current pastor is reassigned at the end of the month.

Anyways, I went to confession and received absolution and then I attended Holy Mass. Father mention Father's day in the Prayers of the Faithful but didn't dwell on it much. I went to Holy Communion and received the Body and Blood of Christ and returned to my seat to kneel and pray.

I knelt at my seat with the Eucharistic Host still in my mouth, and the Precious Blood swallowed but still tasting sweet upon my tongue. I started to turn my thoughts to the reality of the Real Presence and the blessed privilege of consumming Christ* when suddenly I was powerfully confronted with a sensation my late paternal grandfather being with me. I immediately, without forethought, internally exclaimed "Oh Grandpa, you are with me because we are both in Communion with Christ right now!" Then I started to cry and I discreetly cried for quite a while because the sensation was so strong and so unexpected.

Despite it being Father's Day, I hadn't really been thinking of my Grandpa that day - certainly not when I had been going up for communion. Also, as much as I hate to say, I can be quite a doubting Thomas about consolations and the like - despite or perhaps because of my charismatic background - and while I usually don't doubt that there's something real about my consolations, I tend to give myself a hard time about how to interpret them - especially when I like the interpretations.

I'm a convert, and like most of my relatives, my grandfather was not Catholic. His background was Baptist, but he wasn't particularly religious. Shortly before he died - almost ten years ago- he did tell me that he believed in Jesus. He was a partier, but he had a very generous heart and I've hoped that the mercy of Christ would've secured him a time of purifaction (Purgatory) that led to the fullness of the glory of eternal union with Christ in Heaven. I've prayed for his soul quite abit, though probably not nearly enough.

So while I have long had hope that my grandfather made it into purgatory - and therefore would eventually be in Heaven - and while also aware that time in Eternity doesn't work like it does here - nonetheless, I was quite surprised to so powerfully and so unexpectedly feel like I was in communion with grandfather in and through Christ. I'm also very surprised to feel no inclination to doubt or second guess it - contrary to my nature. Even more than 24 hours later.

God's mercy is very great. Thanks be to God.

*Goodness, this all makes me sound so much more pious than I really am - I'm not really this pious - but I should be.

10 Ways That Catholics Pray

1. Catholics Pray By Simply Talking to God

First and foremost, prayer is laid on a foundation of the ability to speak to God, our Father who loves us, knowing that He will listen. That He loves all prayers, including and especially simple conversation style prayer.

Jesus, I'm having a hard day. Would you help me please, Lord? I love you so much!

2. Catholics Pray By Reciting the Scriptures

Catholics pray by reading/saying/reciting the Scriptures, especially the Psalms. A very common way to do this is to pray the Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, wherein several psalms are prayed several times a day. For example, yesterday morning, millions prayed Psalm 33, an excerpt of which is below:

Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
O sing him a song that is new, play loudly, with all your skill.

3. Catholics Pray By Saying Rote Prayers to God

Rote prayers are prayers that you don't just make up yourself, they are prayers that you've memorized or read that someone else composed. Many rote prayers are traditional and widely popular. Catholics don't believe that all prayers have to be thought-up on the spot, we are happy to pray the words of others, we just make them our own each time. One rote prayer frequently said by most Catholics is the prayer that Jesus taught us, the Our Father.


Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.


4. Catholics Pray By Asking Mary, Angels, and the Saints to Pray to God With Us

Catholics believe that Mary and the Saints are alive in Heaven, intimately united to Christ. In Christ, in Heaven they can and do pray for us who are here on Earth. We ask our friends on earth to pray for us, and we ask our friends in Heaven, Mary and the Saints, to pray for us also. The most frequently prayed prayer to Mary is the Hail Mary, most of its words come from the Scripture.


Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, 
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.


5. Catholics Pray With Posture and Gestures

Posture and gestures can be filled with meaning. Waving at someone means hello, for example. Catholics pray via gesture and posture in many ways. The most common gesture in prayer is the Sign of the Cross. The Sign of the Cross, while usually accompanied by a verbal prayer - "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" - the gesture is itself a prayer. By making the Sign of the Cross, we recall our Baptism, the event that washed away our sins and imbued an indelible mark upon our souls declaring us to belong to Christ.

By making the Sign of the Cross, we symbolically say to the Lord and to ourselves "I have been baptized: I belong to the Lord."

6. Catholics Pray By Listening to God in Silence

Part of prayer is listening, and to listen, it help to be quiet. Silence is a big part of Catholic spirituality. One of the times when Catholics are most likely to pray in silence is when adoring the Blessed Sacrament. Such prayer has been compared to sitting and soaking in the sun, but instead we're just soaking in the radiance of Christ's presence.

7. Catholics Pray By Singing to God

Like for most Christians, singing is important for Catholics. We sing at Mass and elsewhere. Many prayers are sung or are accompanied by hymns. At Sunday Mass, we usually sing (or always at least say)  the Gloria, the first few lines of which are below.

Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good will. We praise You. We bless You. We adore you. We glorify You. We give You thanks for Your great glory. O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty.


8. Catholics Pray By Meditating

Meditating is important to Catholic prayer. In Catholicism, meditating can be described primarily as dwelling deeply on God's truth and/or His presence. It's more than thinking, it's something like being in love.


9. Catholics Pray By Speaking in Tongues

Speaking in tongues isn't typically associated with Catholic spirituality, but millions of Catholics pray in tongues frequently. I'm one of them. Speaking in tongues fits very well into the meditative style of prayer common to Catholicism. Much like when we say rote prayers, especially during the prayers like the Rosary, praying in tongues allows the ability to focus beyond the words and instead to focus on the spiritual connection happening with God.

10. Catholics Pray the Holy Mass

Above all, Catholics pray the Holy Mass. The Liturgy is the source and summit of our spiritual lives. Many of the above types of prayer are part of praying the Mass, but there's even more to it. By being prayerfully attentive at Mass, Catholics present themselves at the Foot of the Cross. When we receive Holy Communion we experience the most intimate union with Christ possible. The point of prayer is connection with God, and the greatest connection we ever could ever have with God on Earth is by praying the Holy Mass.

Ten Catholic Tweets

These are ten tweets about Catholicism that I've recently tweeted. Trying to communicate Catholic truth in 140 characters or less is a real challenge - because you can't give context. It's easy to be misunderstood, especially since we live in a culture where people have been trained to practically try  to be offended, and to seek out points to disagree with, or to be upset that what you said could  possibly be misconstrued.

That said, I tried anyways. What do you think?

1. Receiving the Holy Eucharist is the most intimate experience imaginable.

2. Disobedient Catholics presenting themselves for Communion is much like unfaithful spouses expecting sex at home. Intimacy without fidelity.

3. Catholics don't have open communion for many of the same reasons that I do not have an open marriage. No intimacy without total commitment.

4. Bringing a disobedient heart to Holy Communion is like bringing a mistress to your wife's bed.

5. Communion means "with union." Sounds pretty intimate to me.

6. You can receive Holy Communion without faith; you can also have sex without love: however, I don't recommend either.

7. Catholics receiving Communion outside of the Catholic Church is like kissing your wife's picture while she's waiting for you at home. Reality trumps symbols.

8. The typical Evangelical understanding of salvation is like having a wedding; the Catholic understanding is more like having a marriage.

9. Baptism is like getting married: you can never undo it; tho you can renounce it; also, it initiates a lifetime of deepening a relationship.

10. So in Catholicism, baptism is like the wedding but salvation is like the marriage; it is an initiation into a new life united to another.

Three Reasons I Love Catholicism

There's a great new monthly link-up at California to Korea: Three Reasons  I love Catholicism. Many different bloggers are linking up to share three things they love about Catholicism. I've decided to join the fun. Keep in mind that these are not the TOP three reasons I love Catholicism, there just three reasons. Trying to pick the TOP three reasons would land me in analysis paralysis Purgatory.

1. The Mystery of the Incarnation

Incarnation means en-flesh-ment. Specifically, it refers to the en-flesh-ment of Jesus Christ. Catholics often speak of "the Mystery of the Incarnation;" in fact, it's one of the "Joyful Mysteries" of the Holy Rosary. The Mystery of the Incarnation centers on astonishing implications of the teaching that our God, a Spiritual Being, took on human flesh, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was conceived as a physical being in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His Mother.

In the west we are overly familiar with this idea: we often think of it as just a Christmas thing. The Incarnation is a HUGE DEAL though. It is one of the things that makes Christianity different from other major religions. In some religions, since God is above humanity it is considered insulting to God that He would condescend to become a physical human person. That is not what Christianity teaches: our God is above humans but He did not stop Him from humbling Himself to become one of us:

⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-8 (NASB)

This reality has enormous implications for the inherent dignity and value of humanity, the body, and the created world. God Himself entered into humanity, into a body, into the created world. Catholicism, taking its cue from this mysterious reality, and affirms life, the body, and humanity vigorously. We are not hesitant to get physical with our spirituality. Posture, motions, verbalizations, fasting, feasting, work, water, oils, smoke, incense, wood, stone, bread, wine, etc., the physical world is incorporated into our spiritual life because it is part of our life, our world: like Christ who incorporated (the word means "embodied") Himself into our world which He created.

2. The Catholic Understanding of Salvation

Catholics, like other Christians, affirm that salvation is a gift that comes from Jesus Christ and that nothing we can do could ever make us deserve to receive it. Jesus gives that gift despite that fact that we don't deserve it, never will, and never could. We differ somewhat with many other Christians in how Christ gives us this most precious gift. A key to my conversion was realizing that Catholics define the very nature of salvation differently than the way some other Christians do. All Christians agree that all people are in need of salvation in order to go to Heaven. Salvation, is "that which makes us fit for heaven." Many Christians believe that faith alone makes one fit for Heaven, many would go on to state that a one-time declaration of belief that Christ alone can get them to Heaven is all that is needed to be saved. This view is sometimes called "justification." Christ "justifies" you and makes you fit for Heaven just because you ask Him to do so. Sanctification (becoming holy) is a separate - though important - matter.

Catholics have a different understanding. Salvation does not consist only in being declared holy by God because of an act of faith (such as saying "the Sinner's Prayer). Rather, the Catholic view is that Salvation is "being made holy." Nothing that is not holy will enter into heaven. Catholics do not believe that God pretends we are holy simply because we have faith in Jesus. Protestant reformer Martin Luther famously compared salvation to dung being covered by snow. That's a pretty crappy concept, in my opinion.

God doesn't ignore the fact that we are sinners just because Christ died for us, rather, because Christ died for us He makes us Saints (sanctified, or "holy ones"). The grace of Christ doesn't just "cover over our sins" but also transforms our very nature. We are not merely pardoned, we are also rehabilitated. I don't have time to go on now, but this understanding flows right into the Catholic understanding that both faith and works are part of becoming holy (and therefore, part of being saved) and also why we believe that God finishes the process of making us holy after we die - if necessary - in Purgatory (Purgatory means "purification.") 

3. The Holy Eucharist

The Holy Eucharist is "that which is received" during Holy Communion, also known as "the Lord's Supper." The "bread and wine" thing. During a Passover meal the night before He died, Jesus Christ took bread and wine, said "This is my body, this is my blood" gave it to His disciples to eat and drink, and told them "do this in remembrance of me." He also said at another time that to gain eternal life one had to "eat his flesh and drink his blood" and that His flesh was real food and His blood was real drink.

Many other Christians (strangely, most of those who pride themselves on taking Scripture literally) going out of their way to not take Jesus at His word. They don't believe that Jesus really meant what He said.  Catholics do. For the past two thousand years, we have understood that when a priest prays over the bread and wine, it becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, although it still looks and feels like bread and wine. It's a hard teaching; but it's also an astonishing blessed privilege. God not only humbled Himself to become a man, God humbles Himself to become our food and drink, He hides His Glory under the forms of bread and wine.

It is difficult to explain how amazing and precious the Holy Eucharist is in Catholicism. The Eucharist is Christ. Through the Eucharist, Christ is physically present with us. Through the Eucharist, Christ is working on making us holy. The Eucharist is so precious, that consecrated Bread, the flesh of Christ is always kept in reserve in every Catholic church, in a cabinet called a tabernacle.

When I became Catholic, the greatest desire of my heart came true: I was able to sit at the feet of Jesus and adore Him, simply by sitting by the tabernacle. 

The Spirit of Christ is present everywhere in the world. The Body and Blood of Christ is truly present in every tabernacle of every Catholic church, and on every Catholic altar during every Catholic Mass.

The Shepherd Comes for Thomas

Today I want to talk about the gospel reading from today's Holy Mass. Today was the Second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday.

This is from the gospel reading:

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe."

Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

What I love in the passage is that we clearly see Jesus the Good Shepherd come after His one lost sheep and carry him back to fold. Thomas in previous gospel passages was ready to go die with Jesus (John 11:16), and he demonstrated a concern with knowing "the way" to where Jesus was going (John 14:5).  He loved Jesus, he wanted to know the way of where to follow Him, but he was unable to believe in the Resurrection proclaimed by the other Apostles. He falls into error and is headed the wrong way. What does Jesus do? He goes out of His way to show Thomas the truth, to lead him the right way.

I concluded some time ago that if I truly love the Lord and I want to know the way and if I'm willing to follow Him wherever He is going (even if it's imperfectly, after all, all the disciples fall short regularly in the gospels), that Jesus Himself will be my Good Shepherd and make sure I know where to go. The sheep doesn't know where to go, and if given directions he wouldn't understand. All he can do is listen for the voice of his Shepherd when he calls (John 10:4) and if he has strayed out of earshot, the Shepherd will come get him (Luke 15:4).

I used to spend a lot of time worrying that when the Shepherd calls I might not hear His voice and therefore might fail to heed His call. It was a great relief now to know that the Shepherd rejoices to come put the lost sheep upon His shoulder and take it home (Luke 15:5-7).

The merciful love of Christ is more than generous enough to guide me if I intend to follow, so I am no longer afraid that I will somehow prevent Christ from leading me when I want to follow. How could I ever be so lost that Christ could not bring me home so long as I lay meekly on His shoulder as he carries me there?

Have You Prayed for Your Parish Today?

Tonight I was perusing The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic by Matthew Kelly. It looks like a good book, get a free copy.

Anyways, of the many things that struck me as I leafed through the first few chapters, the thing that struck me hardest was a line about how infrequently most Catholics pray for their parish. I was immediately convicted. I hadn't prayed for my parish today. I didn't pray for my parish yesterday. Or the day before. I didn't even pray for my parish last Sunday, which was Easter, the Holiest Day of the Year! I hadn't prayed for my pastor any of those days either.

In fact, I couldn't recall the last time I had prayed for my parish. The last time I had prayed for my pastor had been a few days after the election of Pope Francis, when my wife and I said an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the intentions of Pope, the Archbishop, and our pastor while we were in the car on our way to go get sushi one Friday evening.

I remarked to my wife that evening that I thought it would be a good custom to regularly say those three prayers for the intentions of those three men each Sunday on the way to or from Holy Mass. She readily agreed. I also remarked that I would probably forget all about it. I was right. I did forget.

So tonight, the Holy Spirit convicted me for withholding from my prayers from parish and my pastor. It is my duty to pray for them. It is my blessed privilege to have them to pray for at all! I quickly rattled off a Hail Mary for my parish and for my pastor, and as I finished I realized I wasn't paying attention! I was thinking about writing this blog post!

So I started over again, and slowed down. I said a Hail Mary again, with greater reverence and better attention (not necessarily great, but greater). Then I slowed down even more and I thought about my parish and my pastor, and I spoke (inside my head) to God about them. I asked God for the things I thought my parish needed, the needs I figured my pastor has. I placed them both in His hands, He knows best.

I thought about the financial needs my small, indebted parish has. I thought about the fundraising endeavors I'm participating in as part of the new fundraising committee. I thought about our committee's desire not to just acquire new financial resources but to acquire new spiritual resources via evangelization. I asked God to bless us, lead us, and to grant us favor and success.

I thought about my pastor, what a good man he is! I thought about how much wisdom and discernment he needs to lead our parish. I thought about how important it is for him to be healthy, physically, mentally, emotionally and especially spiritually! I asked God to provide to our pastor all his needs and to make him very strong and to draw him ever closer to Himself.

When I was an Evangelical Protestant, I lived with my pastor's family for a year and half - at the beginning of my college years. Every evening, his family gathered for prayer. On Saturday evenings, the night before Sunday morning services, prayer was usually especially focused on the church community. We always prayed that the service would go well, that people would be touched by the music and inspired by the sermon. We prayed the visitors would come and that they would be drawn to Christ. We prayed that the music and the sermon would be good. We prayed that our members would be welcoming.

You know what? The music was touching. The sermons were inspiring. The people were welcoming. Visitors came fairly often, and not only a few were drawn to Christ. Prayer works. Don't we believe that? Why not act like it then?

Pray for your parish! Pray for Sunday Mass! Pray that the liturgy would be reverent and that people would see its beauty. Pray that the organist prays well and that the cantor sings well, to the glory of God. Pray that the lectors read well and that when they speak the Word of God that the hearts of the people would be open. Pray that the books go from in the red to in the black! Pray that the pews would be full of repenting lapsed Catholics, curious Protestants, and seeking non-believers. Pray that after Mass your parish social hall would be the best hang-out in town! Pray that the confessional lines are full.

Pray for your pastor to be so holy, wise, and effective that he gives serious competition to the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney!

Have you prayed for your parish today? Have you prayed for your pastor? How long has it been?

What are you waiting for?

My Favorite Prayers

I'm linking up with Amanda at Worthy of Agape for the Favorite Prayers Link-Up. It has been going all through Lent, and I wanted to sneak a link in before it ended.

I like to pray many ways. I like to pray spontaneous, free-form prayers. I like to pray the "rote" prayers that have drawn millions closer to God, such as the Rosary, or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I like to pray with the scriptures, sometimes by saying the Daily Office, or simply praying over the Scriptures lectio divina style (I especially love this in a  group). I am very fond of the Stations of the Cross according to St. Alphonsus Ligouri.

I began my relationship with God in a Pentecostal ecclessial community, and I identify - to some extent - as a charismatic Catholic, so I like to pray in tongues.

One of my favorite ways to pray is to sing. I love to sings praise songs, hymns, chant. I love it all.

When I prayed about my favorite prayer, however, I realized that my favorite prayers are prayers of praise. I pray them "off-the-cuff" but there are patterns I return to again and again. I learned to pray as a Pentecostal, and many of my patterns remain from then. Pentecostals tend to focus very heavily on praising and glorifying Jesus and His Holy Name. Obviously they also ask God for things, thank Him for things, repent of their sins, etc. but praise is very important.

Catholicism embraces all that is true and good, and it is right to give God thanks and praise. While my prayers are now peppered with petitions to the Saints and traditional prayers that I memorize or read, simple prayers of praise still form the backbone of my personal interaction with God in prayer.

Why Do I Have to Eat Fish This Friday?

It is nearing the end of the season of the Catholic year known as Lent. About 40 Days before Easter, Catholics begin observing a special "holy season" of preparation to remember the suffering and death of Jesus, and to celebrate His resurrection. In English this season is called "Lent" which means spring. In most other languages it's called something like "The Forty Days."

Lent is mean to be somber and serious in many ways. It is a time of reflection and of penance. Penance is a traditional Christian practice that is done in response to one's sins and/or the sins of others. Penance does not  "make up for" our sins and it's not a punishment from God. Jesus Himself makes up for our sins and we receive no punishment for them. Essentially, penance is a way of training ourselves to do better. Penance is an action prayer (often the act of praying) that communicates to God our sorrow for our sins and our seeking His mercy.

During the holy season of Lent, many people give something up as an act of general penance. The thing given  usually is not something that is sinful. The most common things given up are some type of luxury food, such as chocolate, coffee, soda-pop, snacks, etc. These things are not evil. People give up things like these during Lent as a prayerful action that is meant to train them to make it easier to set aside their own desires. Such training makes it easier to put God and other people ahead of ourselves.

So, what does all of this have to do with the fact that on this Friday I'm probably going to eat fish?

During Lent we reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus. Jesus died on a Friday. We make even more of an effort to remember His death on Fridays during Lent. One way Catholics do this is by participating in a group prayer action called abstinence. This kind of abstinence isn't about sex, it's about meat. On Fridays during Lent, Catholics refrain from eating the flesh of land animals. 

There are some exceptions, people who are pregnant, sick, too young, or too old are not asked to abstain. Everyone else is asked to abstain. Many people think that this penance is too easy, especially because Catholics used to abstain every Friday of the year and every day of Lent. Some people think it is too easy because in many parts of the world, fish is no longer the food of the poor - it's an expensive treat.

I have no criticism for the practice, just the opposite in fact. The major point of penance is to learn to place God and others ahead of self. By doing for my penance what the Church asks of me, I am putting aside my desires both to eat meat, and also to not be told what to do. Honestly, learning how to do what I'm asked without grumbling or criticizing is a very important thing that I need more practice doing.

So this Friday, one of the last Fridays of Lent, I will yet again practice putting aside my own desire, my own autonomy, my own desire to do exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it, and to not be told what I "can and can't do." If I happen to enjoy what the Church says I can do - eat fish even while abstaining from other meat - that's not a problem. After all, doing God's will may be different from doing my will - but that doesn't mean it's going to make me unhappy.

Bring on the fish!

Why I Pray To Mary and the Saints

Before I tell you why I pray "to" Mary and the Saints, let's get one thing straight. Catholics do not worship Mary. The Church specifically permits only the worship of the one Holy Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Church does encourage us to honor Mary and the Saints however. Mary is the mother of Jesus, so He honored her Himself, and we have this thing, as Christians, about imitating Jesus. Also, all the rest of the Saints are people who are in Heaven, and we also have this thing, as Christians, about wanting to go to Heaven so we tend to look up to the Saints since they have done what we wish to do (so cooperate with God's grace as to be made truly holy and to be fully united with Him in Heaven.)

I should also clarify that I don't really pray to  Mary and the Saints, I pray with them. Specifically, I ask them to pray for me. Kind of like how I ask my wife to pray for me. When I ask my wife to pray for me, I expect her to pray to Jesus and the Father, and I expect my prayer to be answered by Jesus and the Father. When the answer comes, I thank my wife for her prayers for me, and I thank God for being the One who answered them. The glory belongs to God, but my wife still deserves some recognition.

It's much the same with Mary and the saints. The main difference is that they are not physically present when I ask them to pray for me. This confuses some people, because all Christians speak to a God who is not physically present, but not all of them speak to people who aren't physically present. Most of them do however, most Christians are Catholic, or Orthodox, and most of them regularly ask for prayers from people who are not physically present: they ask for prayers from people who are in Heaven, the saints.

People who are in Heaven have died, but they are not dead. Like Jesus. Now, Jesus has already rose from the dead, and the saints will not do so until the last day, but alas, they are now alive in Heaven nonetheless. Jesus came to give us eternal life. So when Catholics ask for prayers from the Saints, we are not talking to dead people. The Saints are alive, in Heaven. They are with Christ, so they are if anything more alive than we are now.

How do they hear our requests for their prayers? They hear them because they are fully united with Christ, and Christ hears all our prayers.

So why ask for the prayers of the Saints, if Christ already hears them? That's an excellent questions. Why should I ask for my wife to pray for me, when Christ hears me ask her? When I ask my wife to pray for me, it gives me strength and comfort to know she is praying for me. I know that Christ likes it when people "agree in prayer." I know that it is good for her to pray for me because Christ loves to grant our requests for ourselves, but He loves it more when we selflessly request things for others. 

It's the same with Mary and the Saints. They are people - people alive in Heaven, people perfectly united with Christ - but they are people. Christ is a Savior, a Hero. He wants to come through for people, and the more people He comes through for, the greater it reflects the glory of His Father.

Another analogy: suppose I were a little child and my mother had a jar filled with cookies she had baked. I want one but I cannot reach the jar, up on the counter. I could ask my mother for a cookie, and she could give it to me and that would be good. I would be grateful to my mother for making me the cookies and for allowing me to have one.

I could also ask an older sibling, who can reach the jar, to get me the cookie. My older sibling, a very wise, kind, and obedient child, so he is willing to assist me. First he asks our mother if he may get a cookie for me. She agrees and then he gets it and brings it to me. This is also good. In fact, it is somewhat better. I still have a cookie due to the provision and permission of my mother, by I also have it via the assistance of my sibling.

When I thank my sibling for their help, my mother gets credit also. After all, if it were not for my mother I would not have a sibling. If it were not for the training and direction of my mother, my sibling would not be wise and kind, and may not be willing to get the cookie for me. Think about it? How much do parents love it when others praise their child for a good deed?

In much the same way God delights when His children bless one another in His name.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!
Saint Joseph, pray for us!