Sacrifice and Suffering

Sacrifice and Suffering

          One of my favorite quotes of all time is by St. Josemaria Escriva: “The world admires only spectacular sacrifice because it does not see the value of sacrifice that is hidden and silent.”

          This statement exposes one of the defining characteristics of our culture, and one that has been instrumental in its decline.

          It’s true, isn’t it?  We say that “sacrifice” is laudable, but when we do, we are almost always talking about “spectacular” sacrifices.  We honor (rightly so) those fallen heroes who have procured for us our freedoms and defended them over the years.  They made the “supreme sacrifice,” and of course they should be honored.

          We admire the sacrifices of athletes who put in countless hours perfecting their craft to bring home a championship.  People were duly impressed with Adrian Peterson’s work ethic rehabbing from a torn ACL and MCL, suffered in December, 2011, to come back and win the NFL’s MVP award in 2012.  If the sacrifice wasn’t spectacular, the fruits it bore were.

          It’s good that we honor and appreciate those sacrifices.  Of course, we tend most to appreciate the sacrifices of others from which we benefit.  But what about when we are called to sacrifice, in ways that will not be noticed or garner parades?  Then, we tend to take a much dimmer view.

          How about the sacrifice, for example, of a young person struggling to stay chaste while dealing with same-sex attraction?  That person should “be who they really are,” says our culture.  How about the mother who wants to work through her husband’s infidelities, for the sake of her children and her sacred wedding vows?  She’s choosing to be a “victim,” who should “honor herself” or “actualize her full potential.”

          How about teenagers who sacrifice so much in the eyes of their peers to be people of virtue?  We’ll give them birth control (without the knowledge or consent of their parents), but we will not support them in their quest for purity (at least not in our public schools).

          We could go on and on.  An unwillingness to honor hidden but heroic sacrifice has led to the exaltation of evils ranging from abortion, to broken homes, to same-sex “marriage,” promiscuity, and a lack of religious vocations.

          As Catholics, sacrifice should be in our blood.  At every Mass, we participate in the supreme Sacrifice, and are called to join our daily sacrifices to His for the salvation of the world.  And yet, we seem to understand the concept as poorly as everyone else.

          Beyond sacrifice, what about suffering?  This is something in which our culture sees no value whatsoever.  And yet, it is one of the most powerful weapons we have, and we will never get to Heaven without it.

          Don’t get me wrong, I don’t seek out suffering, and I avoid it when I reasonably can.  I’ll admit that.  But suffering is part of our human experience and only our understanding as Catholics can give true meaning to it.

          Pope St. John Paul II once received a priest who had suffered a broken arm while skiing.  The priest, knowing that the holy father was an avid skier, decided to ask the pope’s blessing over his injured arm.  The pope obliged, but admonished the priest: “Don’t waste your suffering.”

          When we are suffering, Jesus is drawing us to Himself at one of His most intimate moments, on the cross, as He gives His Life for the salvation of the world.  He asks us, in a supreme act of humility, to offer our sufferings, with His, that our pain might be exalted to heights we can not imagine. 

And yet, so often, we waste our suffering.  I know I often do.  I complain, in self-pity, instead of offering my pain to Jesus, on the cross, for the salvation of souls.

St. Paul says in Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church…”  He recognizes that his suffering is a prayer, and that prayer has power.  Why?  Because Christ’s suffering was somehow insufficient in itself?  Of course not.  It’s because Our Lord, much like a mother who lets her young daughter help bake a cake, allows us to contribute something, not because He needs it, but because we do.  And yet, that something that we contribute, is something of value.  Just as every ingredient the young girl pours into the recipe really does go to making the cake, every suffering we offer with Christ really does go to building up the Kingdom.

It is so powerful, so beautiful, and yet our culture misses it.  Worse than that, it fights against it.  Right now in California, we are fighting against SB 128, a bill which would legalize assisted suicide in the state.  Now there are many things wrong with this bill.  It abandons our most vulnerable populations when what they need is support.  It lends itself to horrible abuses, and it sends a terrible message to our youth.

But spiritually, it is even worse.  It operates under the principle that suffering is the worst possible evil (a lie which has destroyed societies greater than our own).  Instead of tapping into powerful spiritual riches, it destroys them.  We should also remember how suffering of the body often leads to conversion and the salvation of souls.  (Not to mention the serious nature of the sin of suicide.)  I am quite confident that the suffering of my father’s cancer was instrumental in his salvation.  How grateful I am that his doctor could not have prescribed him a deadly medication!  The little suffering it might have spared him on earth might have caused an eternity of suffering.

Rebuilding our culture is a tall order.  And there is no doubt that we will have no real renewal in our country or in the Church until we again recognize the value of sacrifice that is hidden and silent, and of suffering.  All we can do is try to recognize that value ourselves, and share it with those within our sphere of influence: at home, at work, in our parishes.  That may add up to quite a few mustard seeds, and we know what Jesus can do with those.

A Bulletin Announcement for C. and E. Catholics

A Bulletin Announcement for C. and E. Catholics 

The following is one of the best bulletin announcements I have ever seen. The priest, like a good fisher of men, knows that to haul in a catch sometimes you need a hook with a bite to it: 

From the Pastor: No Marshmallow World Today


There is an old song I remember from childhood which is often played alongside Christmas Carols. Sung by Dean Martin, it starts off, “It’s a marshmallow world in the winter, when the snow comes to cover the ground. It’s the time for play, it’s a whipped cream day. I wait for it the whole year ‘round.” It is a catchy little ditty, a simple tune with simple words and it makes you feel good about the cold weather. “The world is your snowball, see how it grows...” Admit it, you are singing it in your head right now. But as for it being a Christmas song, well, it simply isn’t one. It never mentions the baby Jesus, the Virgin Birth, Salvation, Peace on Earth, choirs of angels, or anything else that could be truly considered Christmasy. There is no depth to it. Just as a bag of marshmallows should never be devoured as if it were a nutritious meal, this song should never be sung as if it were a real Christmas Carol. Yet too often such distinctions, obvious though they are, are not made by anyone, me included, nowadays.

Looking back at my past Christmas bulletin articles, I think I have been too quick to give you all a marshmallow world message. I write nicely pleasing words of welcome to all of the C&E Catholics and remind them that we actually celebrate Mass every day, every week, every year. Ho ho ho! But that message, while being a truthful one, is really no different than, “Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly, in the arms of the evergreen trees...” So this year instead of serving marshmallows I think it is time to feed you some real meat, even though it is harder to chew and digest.

After writing, “Merry Christmas! I welcome all of you who are here!” I am going to mostly ignore those of you who come here daily or weekly. You are already striving for holiness and, even though not yet perfect, you are sinners on the path to Heaven. I will focus instead on those of you who only occasionally bother to show up for Mass. You are sadly on the path toward hell. Yes, hell. You likely are not so much afraid of hell as of being informed that you are heading there. We celebrate Christmas because Jesus is “God who saves” us from hell, which we all deserve due to our sin. Those who die denying that in thought, word or deed can never enter Heaven. The Savior revealed the fullness of the Father’s love in His plan for our salvation and that plan essentially, not tangentially, includes the supernatural graces found only in the Catholic Church, Her teachings and Her sacraments. Therefore, if you willfully reject the Church—even partially—you reject Jesus and you reject salvation itself.

Consider these truths. Those who deny mortal sin being mortal (deadly to the soul) and/or refuse to avail themselves of the grace of Confession for those sins, refuse absolution, refuse salvation, refuse Heaven. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass re-presents the very act of salvation—Jesus giving His life in exchange for ours. We are to participate in this greatest of all acts of love at a bare minimum of every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, not just Christmas and Easter, weddings and funerals. If you purposefully miss Mass on even one of these days and die without being reconciled to God and His Church (i.e., through Confession) you have rejected salvation, rejected Heaven. If you deny that Jesus is truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist, you will either skip Mass and refuse this “true food” which “gives life to the world” or you will receive Holy Communion without being in a state of grace and either way you condemn and damn yourself.

Chances are pretty good that if you are attending Mass today and have read this far without bursting into flames you know that what I have written is true. You want to be saved, you want to be a better Catholic, you want to go to Heaven. Now start acting like it. Meet me in the confessional and I’ll welcome you back to the path to Heaven. I promise to be gentle. After all, “It’s a yum yummy world made for sweethearts...”

With prayers for your holiness,

The Three Comings of Christ

The Three Comings of Christ

We often speak of three “Comings of Christ” into this world: His coming in history; His coming in mystery; and His coming in majesty.  This holy season of Advent is about all three.

Most obviously it is about Christ’s coming in history.  This refers to the historical fact that 2,000 years ago a Baby was born in Bethlehem, and that Baby was God.  (Actually, His coming really occurred nine months earlier at the Annunciation.)  During this season it is good to meditate on the fact that the world had been waiting for many thousands of years, since the fall of Adam and Eve, for the promised Redeemer.  During this three-to-four weeks of Advent, it is important to reflect on the importance of that event.

God became Man.  Why?  There are many reasons, but primarily, to die.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Every man in history, save one, was born to live.  One was born to die.”  Jesus Christ, the God-Man, was born so that He could die for the sake of our salvation, and build an eternal covenant, opening the gates of Heaven for all eternity to all who would choose to enter.

He became so weak that He depended on His own creatures even to eat.  He was vulnerable to their wrath and scorn.  And He was first made known to all but a few on that first blessed Christmas.

It is no coincidence that the readings for the first week of Advent focus on the end of the world.  Advent should also remind us of Christ’s Second Coming, His coming in majesty.  Christ will come again.  We know that.  And when He does, it will not be hidden, as a vulnerable infant in a stable in some no-name town.  He will come riding the clouds with His angels, to separate the sheep from the goats (Mt. 25: 31-46).  John the Baptist hints at this in the Gospel for the second week of Advent.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord, we should also reflect on His Second Coming.  We should be getting ready.  That is one key to the Christian life to begin with – always being ready for Christ.  It should come as no surprise that while the world considers Advent the shopping season, the Church considers it a penitential season.

Finally, this Advent should lead us to deeper contemplation of Christ’s coming in mystery, specifically in the Eucharist.  Jesus told His Apostles, “I will be with you always, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt. 28:20).  This promise has been most beautifully kept in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.  In the Eucharist, Jesus Christ has been with us, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in every age, from the time of the Apostles to the present day, and He will continue to be, until the end of time.

I’d like to share a meditation I had recently.  This is no supernatural vision, simply a meditation.  I was praying the third Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, the Nativity, and in my imagination I approached the manger.  Mary was sitting there holding the Infant Jesus, and she handed Him to me.  I stood caressing the tender, precious, fragile God of the universe for a few moments and reached out to hand Him back to Our Lady.  She kept still, however, and said, “Take Him with you.”  At that the Infant transfigured into the Eucharist and took rest, shining brightly in my heart.

It was a very profitable meditation and reminded me that the wonder we have over the Baby in the manger should be present at every Eucharist.  He has come to stay.  Eucharistic Adoration would be a very appropriate preparation for Christmas this Advent.

So as we plunge ahead with our shopping, cooking and decorating this season, let us not forget what it is truly about.  And may we help others to remember as well.

The Challenge of Funerals

The Challenge of Funerals

Catholic pastors face many difficult challenges.  I suspect that often, weddings and funerals are two of the big ones.  I wrote on the importance of good marriage preparation recently.  Like weddings, funerals are important Catholic services, with very specific religious purposes.  And like weddings, our culture has totally secularized them.  Unlike weddings, which are usually planned over a period of months when people are in happy, excited moods, funerals are often planned in only a couple of days by people suffering through emotional turbulence.  I imagine that presents a very unique pastoral challenge.

I have been to numerous beautiful, spiritual Catholic funerals.  But we all know that our culture sees funerals as very different events than the Church does.  What happens when a non-practicing child, for example, has to plan a funeral for a deeply religious parent?  The parent deserves a proper Catholic funeral, but the child is not as interested.  And because of the deep pain the child is suffering through, it is not the most opportune time for catechesis.

So what is a funeral?  We often hear funerals described as, “A celebration of the life of…”  It is certainly important and praiseworthy to celebrate the lives of our deceased loved ones, but that is not what a funeral is for.  Neither is it primarily a tool to help grieving family and friends cope, though that too is essential, and is certainly an important role of the Church.  A funeral is not a pseudo-canonization ceremony, dedicated to extolling the virtues of the departed and contemplating on the effect he is now having on Heaven.

A funeral is a commending of a soul to God.  The focus is the deceased, and the focus should be on prayer for the deceased.  It usually takes place in the context of a Mass, so worship of God is central.  And it is an opportunity for the Church, the family of God, to commend a brother or sister into the Hands of the Lord with prayer, and if that person be in Purgatory, to offer sacrifice for the sake of his or her purification.

It is a very beautiful thing.  And for those who understand it, it provides deep spiritual healing for grieving family and friends, not to mention spiritual benefits to the deceased.  It can even be considered, in some ways, “a celebration of the life of,” since there is no better celebration than the perfect worship of God, offered for the soul of our beloved.

The Church sees funerals so differently than our culture does because the Church sees death so differently than our culture does.  “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones” (Psalm 116:15).  It is a sign of beauty, love, and eternal hope.  We have so much more to offer than does our culture, but when someone who does not understand is planning a funeral, it can pose a difficult pastoral challenge.

Understandably, the community wants to be sensitive and supportive, but also to give the deceased the dignified, prayerful, proper funeral that he deserves.

The time to start teaching people these things is not the three emotional days during which a funeral is being planned.  It is now.  It is always.  We must be sure that people understand the beautiful spiritual treasures the Church wishes to dispense, so that when the time comes, they are received with joy.  It also may lead to the essential practice of continued Masses being offered for our beloved dead.  They should not be forgotten at the altar when the funeral Mass is over.

Another difficult issue is the proper burial of one’s earthly remains.  It is critical that we make known our belief in the resurrection of the body.  We say we believe in it during every Creed.  When we die, our soul goes to God for particular judgment.  A soul, being purely spiritual, can not be killed.

Our bodies, of course, are buried.  But, at the end of time, when Christ returns, our bodies will rise, and our soul and body will be reunited for all eternity.  The saved will receive glorified bodies, but they will be their bodies.  As such, the treatment of earthly remains is very important.  It has been throughout all of Christian and Jewish history.

Generally a body is to be buried on sacred ground.  A body can be cremated, provided it is not meant to display a lack of faith in the resurrection of the body (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2301).  But the ashes should be buried or placed in a mausoleum.  Again, our bodies should await their resurrection with a dignified burial on sacred ground, whenever possible.

This, too, provides a difficult pastoral challenge.  Many people want the ashes of their loved ones kept in their homes or scattered at some place they found special during life.  Again, this is such an emotional issue and such an emotional time, pastorally, priests want to be sensitive and supportive.  But the fact is, the deceased (and God) deserve to have the remains properly buried.

I remember the struggle a friend of mine had at the death of her brother.  His wife wanted his ashes dumped into the ocean because he enjoyed being out there on his boat.  My friend gently requested a proper Christian burial and even offered to pay for it.

Not only was this offer rejected, my friend suffered great scorn from her sister-in-law and even her family, who found the request to be selfish.  But there was nothing selfish about it.  She did not wish it for her own sake, but for her brother.  She felt, out of love for him, that he at least deserved that she make the offer, even though she found it very uncomfortable.  It was profoundly unselfish.  Many of us have found ourselves in similar situations.  It is at these times we need to pray for both courage and prudence.

But we also need to pray for greater catechesis on these issues all the time.  May the beauty of the Church’s teachings, received from God Himself, be known and celebrated.  During this time at the end of the year, when our readings focus on the end times, it should remind us that even those not alive to see those days, will face their own end at some point.  Perhaps it is a good time for us as individuals, and as a Church, to prepare.