The Christians Are To Blame

For a minute I thought I was back in First century Rome and I was wandering through the burning embers of the city, but then I looked at the date on the newspaper - no, not AD 64, rather AD 2013.  It's not Nero, just the Irish Times being offensive to Christians...again.

 

The latest swipe is their headline on an article reporting on one of the Woolwich attackers.  I need not explain any further, I'll just quote the headline: "Man arrested for London killing from devoutly Christian family".  So we have "killing" and "devoutly Christian" jumping out at you - the Christians are to blame.

 

I'm sure the Irish Times will say that that was not their intention.  Well I say "rot" to that.  There were many ways to present this story and this is the way they chose, a way which implies, suggests, sneakily points the finger at devout Christians and I believe that is intentional. 

 

This is deeply offensive to Christians, it is snide, provocative and unprofessional.  It undermines the standards of journalistic integrity and objectivity.  And yes, it is now typical of the media in Ireland in general and of the Irish Times in particular. 

 

Aren't they lucky we Christians try to forgive and do not have jihad! 

The Pope, The Devil, The Media And The Exorcism That Might Not Have Been

I was wondering when our beloved media was going to tire of Pope Francis and realise that he is not the great white hope for dissenting Catholics, but rather a traditional and innovative Pontiff who is just quite simple in his way of life and his celebration of the liturgy.  I think it may well be happening now.  It seems the media are getting a little tired of the Holy Father's references to the devil. 

 

When it comes to speaking about the evil one I think Pope Francis has clocked up a modern Papal record.  Since his election he has referred to the prince of lies a number of times and, up until recently, while they may have been shifting uncomfortably in their seats, the people in the media have ignored it.  But, as you are aware, some are now getting a little irate.  Well, I suppose you have to hand it to them, they did endure the orthodoxy for longer than I thought they would, I thought the urge to scratch the itch would have provoked a reaction before now.  But it seems the scratching has begun.

 

The Holy Father is quite right to warn us about the devil and his activity.  I have no doubt Francis sees how much demonic activity is going on around us - and I think there is a lot.  Certainly here in Ireland the evil one is very busy prowling the corridors of power as he works on his plan of destroying human life.  We need to be aware that our main opponents in the struggle for life are not flesh and blood, but, as Jesus said in the Gospel, "powers and principalities". 

 

The way the devil works is to tempt men and women to do his bidding, he then helps them carry out his mission and destroy those who try to prevent this mission, and then he turns on those who served him.  His plan is for total destruction.  In the struggle against abortion he seeks to destroy nascent human life and those involved in the pro-life movement who stand for truth, which he hates; and then he turns on his servants and destroys them.  In doing all this he cares not a whit for men and women, he just wants to hurt God.  The devil wants to separate us from God, lead us to a point where in pride we turn away from God - this happens either by outright rejection, or, more subtly, convincing people that their idea of God is the true God and any doctrine that contradicts their opinion is rejected.  In this second tactic the devil is leading people into idolatry.  So the Holy Father is right to warn us: living in this relativistic age many have reinvented God to their own tastes and ideology.  This "god" is an idol and in worshipping this idol many are lead to implicitly reject the true God.

 

While some in the media are getting annoyed at Francis, others jumped on the story that he performed an exorcism in St Peter's Square. Some sources have said that the young man prayed over is troubled in some way, and I presume at the Audience the priest who accompanied him asked the Pope to pray over the man, providing the Holy Father with some details as to what the affliction was.  What happened, I think, was a simple prayer of blessing and the young man reacted, as those under the influence of the evil one tend to react.  There is no way the Holy Father would have performed an exorcism in full view of the world's media - these things are done quietly so as not to sensationalise what is a delicate ministry in the Church.  Now if the Pope's prayer of blessing (or simple prayer of deliverance) can actually liberate someone there and then, well and good.  It is possible for  the Vicar of Christ, who is a holy man, to liberate in such an easy way if it is what God desires.

 

Michael Kelly has an interesting article on the issue which is well worth reading.  I would reiterate Michael's last words: "He hasn't gone away".  We need to be aware of that - not fearful: the victory has already been won by the Lord Jesus.  But we need to be one step ahead, and we will be if we give ourselves to Christ, as Pope Francis has been advising us since the first day of his Papacy.

Mary, Help Of Christians

 

Today is the feast of Mary, Help of Christians, so a happy feast day to all my friends, readers and viewers in Australia, whose Patroness she is; and to all the members of the Salesian Family who invoke our Holy Mother under that title.

 

St John Bosco, as we know, had a great love for this title of Our Lady, seeing in it not only a comfort for us the disciples of Christ, but also a message: why should we fear when Mary our Mother is our helper?  Don Bosco was a man of joy, and that joy was built on a confidence conferred by his love of God and his trust in Mary, Help of Christians.  Apart from his love and service, and the Salesian Family, Don Bosco's great gift to Mary under this title is the beautiful basilica he had built in  her honour in Turin.  This church is more than a building, it is a song of love to Mary, a celebration and a concrete expression in the world of her majestic and powerful intercession. 

 

And so taking our cue from that: what can we give to Mary as a sign of our love?  What sign can we construct in the world to honour her and to remind the people of our time of their Holy Mother who is always willing to help us and guide us to her Son?

 

Today, let us commend our prayers to our Holy Mother, our Helper and friend, as we wish her a happy feast day.

 

And to all in Australia and all Salesians: feast well and remember us all in prayer.

Romero Cause "Unblocked"?

 

Over the past few weeks we have been hearing in the news that the Cause of Archbishop Oscar Romero has been unblocked and his beatification is expected soon.   The reports, however, do not indicate as to how it was blocked in the first place - as far as we know, and as Pope Benedict indicated during his reign, work on the Cause is proceeding.  There may be difficulties and issues, the major being whether Archbishop Romero had links to, or supported, extreme Marxist Liberation Theology, but I did not hear of any attempt by Benedict or Blessed John Paul before him to block the Cause.  It is usual for problems and issues to emerge in a Cause, and most of them are ironed out as the investigation proceeds.    Some working on the Cause believe the Congregation for the Causes of Saints blocked the standard review of his writings, but that is coming from people working on a Cause, and I know from personal experience that when a process is going slowly people get frustrated and think someone in Rome is sitting on it.

 

An article in the Catholic Herald today seems to reiterate that the Cause was blocked, reporting on a visit by the President of El Salvador to the Holy Father.  The President brought a gift of a piece of Archbishop Romero's blood-stained chasuble as a thank you to the Pope for "unblocking" the Cause.  I notice in the photograph at the head of the article that the Holy Father is looking rather seriously at the reliquary - maybe that is just my interpretation.  Remember Pope Francis is no fan of Liberation Theology and got himself in trouble with various figures in South America because he cautioned priests and faithful. 

 

Personally I believe that during his life the Archbishop was trying to steer a middle course.  Like John Paul and the then Cardinal Ratzinger, he saw the injustices in his country and understood what Liberation Theology, in its orthodox Catholic dimensions, could do to help.  However, I believe he also saw the dangers and kept a distance from the extreme Marxist theologians who veered Liberation Theology in the direction of revolution.  Given that it was an age of great confusion, it was not always possible to differentiate subtle differences.  As the above article suggests, and as indicated by Pope Benedict, Archbishop Romero may well have been unjustly co-opted as a political figure: he was hijacked as a martyr for a left-wing cause.  Personally I think that happened, and so now there is a suspicion hanging over him.  We see another example of this in Blessed John XXIII who was hijacked by the "spirit of Vatican II" crowd who seemed to present the Pontiff as a screaming liberal who wanted to blow up the Church and rebuild it as a hippie commune.

 

I note at the end of the article Fr. Lombardi may well be slapping the wrists of those speculating on the status of Romero's Cause: he said the Cause is going forward according to Church rules and it is up to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to inform us about the process's status. And let's be realistic - the Church has to be careful when it comes to Saints.  If there are issues they have to be examined; if there are questions, those questions have to be answered satisfactorily.  Remember, Saints are raised up in God's time, not ours.  And just because our Pope is from Latin America doesn't mean he's going to throw caution to the wind and do a job for the boys back home.  If we have learned anything about Pope Francis since his election we know he has a wise head on his shoulders and he is very astute.  And let us not forget, he comes from that part of the world so he knows a lot more about the subtleties, the difficulties and the hidden agendas.  And if Archbishop Romero needs to be taken back from left-wing revolutionary groups who have co-opted him, then the Holy Father will know how to do that. 

Not Just For The Desperate

 

St Rita of Cascia is often invoked for "impossible situations" - when Anthony has not earned his fiver, or Jude has too many desperate cases on his books, people turn to Rita, the patron of impossible cases.  Now Catholic devotional history can be quirky at times, and yes it has been known to verge into the realm of the mad, the strange and the downright heretical.  So great care must be taken to keep us on the right road.

 

The first thing to note on the feast of St Rita is that it is God who answers our prayers - the Saints make intercession for us, and that intercession is most welcome for our lives, as is their friendship, their example and their writings.  Saints do have particular patronages, and we should indeed invoke the various Saints under their patronages, but we must be careful not to think that one Saint can trump another when it comes our requests.  God may well grant a request when a particular Saint is invoked rather than when another is invoked, but this is because God wants us to look at that Saint for a particular reason - for their example or for a lesson.

 

St Rita teaches us many lessons, one of the most important being endurance in faith.  She had her troubles, and what troubles!  An unhappy marriage, wayward children, opposition to her vocation, and then when she finally became a religious other problems emerged through her mystical life.  Yet in spite of it all she never lost her faith in God, nor stopped striving to love him more.  In this fidelity and love, she was sanctified.  Rita is indeed a Saint to invoke when we find ourselves with difficulties we may think are impossible to overcome. Rita reminds us that for God all things are possible, and if we put our trust in Christ we will be not be confounded and we will be delivered.  That is good news for today.

 

There are many beautiful stories too from St Rita's life - the story of the bees will appeal to the more ecological among us - how the bees gathered around her cradle after her birth and became a sign of the sweetness of the holiness which would mark her life.  The story of the twig is also lovely - how a twig she planted in the ground began to grow and became a vine which to this day produces grapes - that is most certainly a sign whose meaning we find in St John's Gospel.  

 

Her stigmata has attracted attention - instead of wounds in her hands, feet and side, she bore a single wound on her forehead, a wound from the crown of thorns.  This wound led to her isolation within the community because of its odour - some of the sisters could not cope with the smell, so Rita spent most, if not all her time, in her cell.  Often, those who are united to Christ and endure his suffering find themselves alone in the world either through misunderstanding, fear or even hatred.  St Rita teaches us that despite this, we should cling to Christ all the more and never stop loving our brothers and sisters regardless of how they treat us.  In reality, the more we conform to Christ, the more the world becomes suspicious of us.  Despite her isolation in the community because of the wound, Rita was still loved and her sanctity was obvious. Her suffering gained many graces for the sisters in her community and for those who asked her prayers: as followers of Christ we must always remember that suffering bears fruit, much fruit.

 

Today I greet all my Augustinian friends! St Rita is one of their great Saints, and as a true daughter of St Augustine and St Monica, she reveals in her life, both in the ordinary events of that life and the mystical, how to follow the Lord.  Like Augustine her heart was aflame with love and she sought to set others on fire with that love.  I pray today that her Augustinian brothers and sisters will continue to set hearts on fire with love for God; to help people remain faithful to Christ and his Church, and in the spirit of St Augustine, to explain those teachings which are often rejected by many but within which we find the way to true happiness.  Happy feast day to them all!

 

The body of St Rita exposed for veneration at her shrine in Cascia

Sometimes....

Sometimes the easiest answer is not always the most obvious....

Ma And Pa

 

 

The story of Adam and Eve has created difficulties for many in recent years: how do we square it with the scientific explanation of the creation of the universe and the human race?   Does the scientific account contradict our faith?  Does our faith fly in the face of science? 

 

Well, the answer to both questions is no.  Blessed John Henry Newman did not have a problem with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution when he published his research.  As Victorian England was reeling and many were losing their faith, Blessed John Henry, a man of faith and reason, read Darwin and could reconcile it with the faith of the Church.  Blessed John Paul II did the same and told us that evolution and creation are not mutually exclusive.

 

So, how do we approach Adam and Eve, our first parents?  Well, Fr Dwight Longenecker has an excellent post that sums up what I believe and I recommend it as a good read and as an apologetic.

A Friend To Help us In These Times

St Toribio Romo

 

Yesterday I was talking to a young Mexican woman who was telling me all about her great-grand uncle.  He was a priest in Mexico in the 1920s, a man devoted to the poor and to immigrants in particular.  For his fruitful priestly ministry, and his obvious holiness, he was murdered by anti-clericals in 1928 during the Cristero war.  He was canonised in the year 2000 and today is his feast day.  He is St Toribio Romo.

 

Today is the feast of holy Mexicans put to death for their allegiance to Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church.  The group is headed by the saintly pastor St Christopher Magallanes and consists of twenty-two priests and three laymen of various ages who were martyred between 1915 and 1937.   Speaking about them at a St Genesius prayer group last night, I was asked how Catholics could martyr other Catholics.  Well, the Catholics that were responsible for the martyrdom were lapsed Catholics: men and women who gave their first allegiance to an ideology that not only contradicted Christianity, but was deeply antagonised by it.  As these lapsed failed to convert their coreligionists, and as their hatred of their former faith grew, in their anger they saw only one way of dealing with the stubborn - persecute them even to the point of killing them. There are none so bitter and antagonistic towards the Catholic faith than lapsed Catholics. 

 

The parallels with our current situation are all too clear. Among the lapsed in Ireland there is the potential for persecution, although if one occurs it will not be as obvious as the Mexican and Spanish persecutions - it would be more subtle and insidious.  Sneakily, as only the Irish can do it. Our national virtues are great, but our national vices are dreadful.

 

A word on St Toribio.  Born in 1900, he entered the seminary at the age of twelve - not unusual at the time. He made a deep impression on his fellow seminarians and formators - he combined a devout soul with a mischievous personality.  He was ordained in 1922 and threw himself into the pastoral ministry.  As I said above he had a deep concern for the poor, and he was dedicated to the work of catechesis - that was enough to make him an enemy of the state.

 

On a personal level, Toribio had his trials.  He seemed to have experienced a dark night of the soul, revealing that he was troubled at times.  That said, he was a priest of intense devotion, making time for prayer and devotions.  He had a tender love for Our Lady, often leading the Rosary in public gatherings.  The centre of his life was the Holy Mass and the time he spent in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  When persecution heightened in 1927, these activities began to be curtailed as he found it more difficult to find a place to say Mass. 

 

In that year, 1927, he was sent to a factory in Tequila for safety, and there he lived with his sister Maria and his brother Roman.  A quiet life of prayer, secret priestly ministry and uncertainty followed.  On the 22nd February 1928 Toribio sensed that danger was coming.  Fearing for his brother's safety, he sent him away.  Three days later, after a hard day of work, he got to his bed at 4am.  As he was sleeping, at about 5am, government troops arrived and broke into the house.  As Toribio jumped up from his bed, the soldiers cried out "Here is a priest, kill him!"  Toribio responded, "Here I am, but do not kill me."  The soldiers had no mercy, but shot the young priest.  His sister had arrived at this time and Turibio fell into her arms.  As he lay dying, Maria encouraged him: "Courage, Fr Toribio. Merciful Jesus receive him! Long live Christ the King!"

 

The martyred body of St Toribio laid out before burial

 

St Toribio and his companions offer us Catholics an example of hope and courage in difficult times. While we can never trust other people, we can always trust God, and so in these times we must reaffirm our faith in Christ.  As the Scripture tells us - he is in our midst and as we are called by his name, he will never desert us (cf. Jer 14:9).  We have friends in heaven: St Toribio, like all the saints, is a friend to help us in these times.

In Case You Missed It....

 

In defiance of Church teaching on the sanctity of human life, a Jesuit priest confers an honorary doctorate from a Catholic College on Enda Kenny.  I doubt if St Ignatius would be pleased. 

A Blessing And A Curse

 

The Holy Eucharist has come up for discussion again, and the media are trying to create a storm over the possibility that the Bishops may well enforce canon 915 when it comes to Catholic TDs and Senators who vote for the abortion legislation.  I explained this canon and what could happen in an earlier post, so I'm not going to do so again here.

 

There are, however, a few things which need to be said with regard to this issue.  If you follow me on Twitter you will have seen earlier today that I tweeted part of a text sent into a radio show this morning.  The full text read: "How dare the Church decide who receives Communion in this day and age". 

 

In response.  First "this day and age" does not matter, a period of time does not decide what is true and what is not.  Murder was wrong in the 5th century, it is still wrong in the 21st. God's law is as true in the 21st century as it was in the 1st - it is only human arrogance which disputes that. 

 

It is the Church's prerogative to refuse the Eucharist to certain individuals in accordance with the divine law.  Without the Church there would be no Eucharist - so it is a bit rich, and I suppose the result of pure ignorance, to suggest that the Church should mind her own business when it comes to the Eucharist. While all Catholics have the right to receive the Eucharist, that right is a qualified right - those who through schism, for example, have removed themselves from communion with the Church no longer have the right to receive Holy Communion since receiving the Eucharist is a sign of communion with the Church - a communion that exists now and not one which may exist in the future.

 

But there is another point which must be made in this regard, one politicians should carefully note.  The Church refuses the Eucharist at times for the sake of the person seeking it.  To receive the Body and Blood of the Lord is indeed a blessing - the greatest of blessings, but for those who receive it unworthily it becomes a curse, a curse because in the unworthy reception a serious desecration is committed.  St Paul puts it quite bluntly in his First Letter to the Corinthians (see 1 Cor 11:27-29). This is a text our pro-abortion Catholic politicians should read very carefully before they get on their high horses and denounce the Church for her position.  To have the curse of God upon you is not a nice thing and the Church wants to spare even her worst enemies this blight. 

 

Now there will be those who say that such a thing is ridiculous - God is a God of love, he would never curse anyone, and he will forgive.  Yes, he will forgive - he will forgive all those who are truly penitent, but let's face it a politician who votes for abortion and then defends why he or she voted for it is certainly not penitent, and if they maintain that position at their death then they may well be lost.  (At this point we need to remind ourselves that death can come suddenly, and that we tend to die as we live - deathbed conversions are rare) 

 

When it comes to the curse, we curse ourselves because we have had the arrogance to presume that we can lay hold of the sacred even though we are in a state of serious sin.  Those things which are holy overpower those things which are evil; when a person has willingly given themselves over to evil, as in the case of providing for and defending the killing of the innocent, then contact with the All Holy will have devastating results.

 

And for those politicans who try and laugh this off, let them remember: one day they will stand before the throne of God for judgement, the same God who has told us we should not kill, and they will have to answer for their part in killing of every child who dies as a result of the forthcoming legislation - every child.  Political waffling will not save them.  These are matters of life and death - salvation and damnation, why make things worse by desecrating the Eucharist?