Despair is an illusion

For those who not only understand the theological virtue of hope, but take it to heart, and see the world 'through God's eyes', it becomes apparent that despair or even a lessening of hope can only be a temporary thing, an illusion whereby our supernatural vision - which gives us the perspective of eternity and inserts our lives into the grand narrative of salvation history - is momentarily clouded by fear or by sin, or by our over-reliance on using our fallible human reasoning to see the way out of a problematic situation.

The answer is to turn back to God with all our hearts, to rely on the sacraments he has given us to strengthen us on our journey, to abandon oneself entirely into God's hands and accept his will. A Christian who has truly understood the necessity of the Cross in each of our lives will learn to receive the suffering he encounters with a spirit of patience and willingness to offer it to God the Father together with his crucified Son, for the needs we see around us in our daily lives. This is the only way to peace of mind, and to hope, in a world where suffering, evil and despair are only too common.

Be of good cheer, for Christ has conquered.

Conception and Being

The words of Our Lady at Lourdes are mysterious in their grammar: "I am the Immaculate Conception". Why did she not say "I am the woman conceived immaculate"?  The obvious answer is the miraculous message she wished to impart through St Bernadette, the confirmation of the traditional doctrine. However, perhaps there is another dimension to this: leaving aside the immaculateness of Our Lady, we can apply her statement to ourselves, viz. "I am a conception". This strange and unfamiliar phrase says something profound on the question of the personhood of each of us from the first moment of our being: at conception, my being begins. I as a subject am defined in that moment. My status as a human being is defined in that act of conception. It is the ever-present ground of my being. I am neither an object nor an angel; I am a conception. My being originates in that procreative act of love between my parents; my being, my humanity exist forever within a particular local network in the great spreading web of the human family. 

Consider then too the damage wrought to the identity of those whose conception is not within love, not within the natural embrace ordained by God. Consider the violence done to their souls. Consider how far removed this is from God's plan as reaffirmed through the words of Our Lady at Lourdes. Mary, save us from this destructive rebellion against God. 

The light that shines in the world, though we see it not

I know someone who recently, when praying before the Hidden Lord in the tabernacle of the altar, following confession, felt his soul filled with light and suddenly saw in his mind's eye a network of light of which he was part, between all those souls praying at that moment throughout the world; and he saw in a moment the hidden good, the hidden light that was bathing the world through the prayers of all these souls. And he was filled with hope and understanding that the forces of light have triumphed, will triumph over the temporary darkness of this world.

Such a bringer of light was buried today. A female relative-in-law who with simple faith had become prayer, praying constantly; who always prayed for me and my family, and continues to do so now, just as she promised. May she rest in peace; I am confident that she does.

Levels of Praying the Rosary

The Rosary is a very rich prayer which can be prayed at many levels according not only to one's own personal nature, but also according to one's mental mood and ability at any given point in time.


I'd just like to state here the various levels, with a view to developing later my thoughts on the Mystical level.


Basic: act of will and patience. I desire to pray the Rosary because Heaven asks it of me, because it please Jesus and Mary, because I know that the prayers I say will benefit myself and my neighbour and glorify God. This is the most basic level because it is that which I fall back upon when my mind is unable to concentrate and I am overwhelmed with tiredness or other difficulties. 

Verbal: becoming familiar with the words of the prayers, understanding their meaning. At this level I begin to consider the words I am praying, to consider what I am asking in each of the petitions.

Meditative: learning to dwell on the mysteries while speaking the prayers. When I am able to pray at this level, then I am aware of each of the mysteries as I pray: I begin to immerse myself in the narrative of each episode. Being able to pray at this level does of course require one to research and read the Scriptural passages concerned.

Moral: allowing the virtues displayed in the narrative and the words of the prayers to form one's soul. At this level I am more open to formation by the Holy Spirit. I may be moved by the sufferings of Our Lord and Our Lady, or shown the way to holiness in my life through the pattern of Joseph, Mary, Jesus, the disciples.

Mystical: to see the theological patterns behind the mysteries, to learn to resonate with the Rosary such that it becomes the pattern of one's soul and leads one to spiritual and theological insights. In this level, which cannot be attained except through patience and the humble praying of the Rosary at the other levels mentioned, one is given great grace and understanding. One espies the grand narratives and themes of the Gospel and of Salvation History as concisely summarised and laid out in the patterns of the Rosary. One's soul begins to become modelled after the Rosary and so closer to Jesus and Mary.

The Vocation to the Professional Lay Apostolate

The modern history of the Catholic Church has been marked by an increase in the importance of the laity within the Church and for the Church. One may see this starkly by comparing the actuality of the Catholic Church with its prior form during the Middle Ages, when there was a clear separation between those who laboured for the Gospel and those who laboured in the world: it is significant that those laymen who became involved in third orders and confraternities at that time did so precisely by “putting on” religious garb, both physically in the sense of wearing special habits to indicate that this was so, and in the spiritual sense that their spirituality was modelled after that of religious under vows.

It has only been in modern times, since the 19th century but really only in the 20th and 21st centuries, that the Church has acquired a new understanding of the value of secular Christians – that is to say, the emphasis has changed from understanding such people as being “of the world” therefore not “of the Church” (a relic surely of the Augustinian separation of the “City of God” from the Earthly City), to seeing such people as being “in the world but not of the world” and therefore well placed to influence the world for the good by the living out and sharing of the Gospel.

The Church’s understanding of this mission and role of the laity has been set down within the fairly comprehensive Christifideles laici of John Paul II. My purpose here is not to review that document but rather to focus precisely on one small yet key part of the lay apostolate which is touched upon in that document but not elaborated in full. I am talking precisely of those laymen whose “love for the common cause”[1] leads them into forms of apostolate which are not additional to their professional lives but indeed constitute their chosen profession. CL 23 cites Evangelii Nuntiandi as follows, which I find a helpful summary of the scope of the professions under discussion:

“their own field of evangelising activity is the vast and complicated world of politics, society and economics, as well as the world of culture, of the sciences and the arts, of international life, of the mass media. It also includes other realities which are open to evangelisation, such as human love, the family, the education of children and adolescents, professional work, and suffering.”

My own interest in this area comes from my own work in the sphere of religious publishing, and perhaps this is a good place to start when considering this phenomenon. For me this is more than simply a choice of profession. Rather it is a vocation that stems from my own conversion and reception into the Catholic Church, a deep calling I feel to use my skills and effort in the service of the advancing of the Gospel – for the hour is late and the labourers are few.

Is the call of persons such as myself simply a response of the Holy Spirit and of willing hearts to the fact that there are today fewer priests and religious to perform these tasks? Perhaps. But it has to be said that the evangelisation of the spheres of activity in question is not always best achieved by priests and religious, and the vocation I feel is precisely to bring my professional worldliness to bear on the practical challenges faced in proclaiming the Gospel in a secular age which has scant respect for the Christianity which begot it.

Let us delineate the sorts of professions we are really talking about: for I think they fall into three categories, according to the three transcendentals and the three theological virtues:

Truth / Faith

Teaching

Academia

Evangelisation

Writing

Publishing

Campaigning

Beauty / Hope

Arts

Culture

Science

Goodness / Charity

Relief of suffering

Assisting the poor

etc

In all of these spheres, the professional lay apostle not only pursues a career, supporting himself and his family, but also lives out a vocation. The sign that this is a vocation is of course the personal sacrifice involved – there is no vocation without suffering.

Some of the potential sufferings involved can be listed as follows:

1. remuneration is often inadequate, not on a par with purely secular equivalents; hence pressure may be felt especially when balancing the needs of one’s family with the demands of one’s professional vocation.
2. employer or supervisor may be a clergyman or religious, with an insufficient understanding of the employee’s perspective
3. one may encounter and suffer from the hidden battles between factions within the Church, as well as the more obvious battles between the Church and secular forces
4. as the laity are not under obedience, and secular employment law has little sympathy for ecclesiastical employers, disobedient laity may become entrenched in positions where they damage the witness of the Church.
5. one can suffer from the scandal of seeing supposed “men of God” as sinners – the seamy side of the Church can undermine faith
6. career opportunities outside of the niche of evangelical works may diminish.

All of these require a constant spiritual direction of the layman involved, through the sacraments but also through personal prayer and the advice of priests and other laymen. Employers too have a moral obligation to make an especial effort to understand these pressures and give spiritual and practical support to such laymen.

On the positive side there are a number of benefits that this way of life can bring to the layman involved:

1. Personal holiness through a way of life which has unity and is directed towards the Gospel
2. Motivation in one’s work through the pursuit of an activity which resonates with the deepest aspects of one’s identity, and which allows one to bring one’s professional skills into the service of the Church.
3. Catechetical advantage to one’s family and to one’s friends in the social sphere: the layman who dedicates his career to advancing the Gospel is a powerful witness.
4. A powerful sense of being part of the Communion of Saints, of joining in a common enterprise at the service of the Gospel, and the inspiration one finds not merely in the work that ones sees being done for the Lord, but in encountering the many saints working for this end.

So I have set out here the shape of this special vocation and attempted to give it a name. Now I leave it to others to draw out the implications of this: What spirituality should such people cultivate? How can we ensure we are properly formed so as to avoid the sort of pitfalls mentioned above? How can we find a solidarity and communion between ourselves and others who have similar but diverse vocations? How can we benefit each other through our shared experiences and wisdom? How should the Church encourage and support us? Is it even properly aware of us and does it see us as a force for good?

All of these are questions that I am beginning to examine for myself, but which I feel should be more widely discussed and considered.

---

[1] John Paul II, Homily at the Solemn Eucharistic Concelebration for the Close of the Seventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 30, 1987): AAS 80 (1988), 598. Cited in Christifideles Laici, s.2.

What is the purpose of the Rosary?

The purpose of the Rosary is twofold and corresponds to Jesus's commandments to love: firstly, the commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and strength leads us to want to pray in such a way that we worship and glorify him; secondly, the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves leads us to seek prayer that brings spiritual and moral benefits to ourselves while at the same time is an act of intercession for others. The Rosary is all of these things, thanks be to God.

The Cornerstone

The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone.
This is the work of the Lord, a marvel in our eyes.

It wasn't until today's Mass that I associated this familiar verse from Ps 117 with St Peter, the rock on which Christ built his Church. Usually we think of Christ as being that rejected but key foundation stone - and indeed such he is. Yet when this verse is considered in the light of Mt 16, there is a clear echo. Simon Peter, so prominent in the liturgy of the word in recent days, through his hotheaded declarations of loyalty, his subsequent disavowal, his witness of the risen Lord, and his repentance and commissioning by Our Lord at the sea of Galilee, is shown in today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles as the pre-eminent wonderworker and witness to the Resurrection, the Prince of the Apostles who continues the miraculous healing ministry of his master. Truly the rejected stone has now become the cornerstone of the newborn church, and is himself a builder of the community of believers through his words and his great miracles.

Doubt no more, but believe.

The First Joyful Mystery - The Annunciation

The Annunciation which we celebrate this day is the true hinge of history. In truth it deserves a greater feast than Christmas, though its hiddenness is appropriate for what it celebrates. In that crucial moment so often portrayed in art, the realm of the spirit meets with the realm of the flesh, and through Mary's consent the supenatural is infused into the natural, transforming it in a moment and changing the destiny of mankind. O how greatly Mary deserves our love, praise and gratitude!

The fourth joyful mystery - The sorrows of Our Lady prophesied

It may seem curious that this 'joyful' mystery speaks so much of sacrifice and suffering. But such is the Christian way, the joy of the cross! The prophecy of the 'sword' of Mary's sufferings may seem to undermine the joy, but with hindsight we can see that this is a deliberate and merciful action of God to prepare Mary for the sufferings to come, lest they overwhelm her. As so often in the Christian spiritual life, the grace precedes the suffering to come, thus giving a supernatural meaning to it which reduces the mental torment. Christ had to suffer - it was part of God's plan to which Mary had freely submitted her will; so her suffering as the mother witnessing her son's torments was inevitable. God wished to ease her torment by this prophecy, and also to elevate her through this pain she bore to the exalted status she now has for all those who follow Christ in the way of the cross.