On the Conduct of Christians

I've been thinking a lot recently about the relationship between the Church and the world, especially in regards to its relationship with the current culture. The main question that has been on my mind and in my heart has been this: How do we, as sinners, interact with and correct a sinful world? We know there must be correction of those outside the Church. Out of a true desire to see them know the love of Christ we become convinced that we must tell people what they are doing will leave them unhappy.

However, Jesus himself challenges us on this point. He says, "How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Mt. 7: 4-5) As sinners ourselves our own vision is skewed. Sin is a distortion of vision, and thus the sinner loses sight of the good. In turn, it becomes more difficult to turn and preach to a world even further lost in sin.

This problem of sinful Catholics in a sinful world is well documented by the Church's enemies. In today's world, it is often the hypocrisy of Catholics, not their love, that makes the national headlines. Of course, part of this is due to the modern news cycle which is mostly focused on the spreading of scandal. Today, most people know the Catholic Church from the news stations, and not from interaction with their local parish. This cultural loss of the local, a strategic move by the Culture of Death to cut man off from reality, has resulted in the faults of some Catholics being emphasized more than the charity of others

So, in today's world, Catholics must overcome both their own personal sinfulness and the sinfulness of other Catholics in preaching to a world that does not know its own sins. Quite the task, to be sure. Where do we begin? Can we still effectively preach Christ's love with sin so prevalent?

To begin with, my Dad always likes to point out that Christ doesn't say, "Never take the speck from your brothers eye" but only "take the beam out of your own first." The first step to spreading the Gospel, then, is to draw close to the Word Himself. If we are going to show the world God's mercy, we must first know it for ourselves. To know God's mercy, though, we must be weak. It is not necessary to sin to know God's mercy. Mary knew His mercy well; she experienced it in the fact that she was saved from all sin. For ourselves, though, we can experience His mercy in our sins. St. Therese of Lisieux used to enjoy telling her sins to Our Lord because she recognized that sins were an opportunity for Him to pour out His mercy, His love, on her. Of course, this does not mean sin freely, since the act of sinning is a rejection of God's Love! Rather, when we do sin, we must recognize it as an opportunity to allow Christ further into our hearts.

It is in our acceptance of His mercy, then, that the beam is removed. He wipes away our sins with His Love, and He restores our sight. By immersing ourselves in His mercy we're able in turn to reach out to those outside the Church in the hope they will accept the same mercy. We must show them mercy, not prejudice. We must show them love, not harshness. We must remain small, while helping those who are also small. Most of all, we have to trust in Christ, for when we are small we can be easily injured.

The reason I mention all of this, and the reason I have been thinking of it, is because I have often noticed many instances of Christians acting uncharitably on the internet, both Catholics and non-Catholics. Anger is expressed against bishops, politicians, enemies of the Faith. Christians (myself included) so often forget that we are told to love our enemies, and yet there are so many examples on the internet of Christians telling others they are going to Hell. They make a judgement that is not theirs to make, for only God judges the final resting place of a soul!

Such arguments, such anger and bitterness, only further alienates those who are outside the Church. And if we are responsible for such alienation, it will be something we must answer for in front of God. "You can't use the Devil's tools to do God's work." We cannot be prideful, we cannot threaten violence, we cannot shout, we cannot offer harsh judgement when we come in contact with those outside the Church. These tools are not available to the Christian. Instead, we are offered the weapons of humility, peace, silence, mercy and love to fight our battles with. It is a lie of this world that these are not effective weapons, for they are the weapons the Son took up when He walked this earth, died, and was raised three days later.

Course Correction

Every once and a while, God sends us something that is meant to redirect us towards Himself. Sometimes, this comes in the form of great changes such as a new baby, a job loss, or a serious illness. Other times, though, God sends us small things to correct our course. He sees when we are beginning to veer off, and before we can get too far He brings us back to Himself. It is up to us, though, to respond to this direction.

Yesterday was one of those "off" days for me. Some would say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. For some reason, all day I was overly concerned with myself. I was stressed about work, stressed about finances, and just generally stressed about getting everything done that needed to get done. As a result, I was impatient with those around me, with my co-workers, with Liz. I was convinced that I was God's greatest contribution to society, and I couldn't understand why people wouldn't just let me do what I needed to do. (Well, that might be an exaggeration of what I was thinking, but you get the drift). In short, I was a grump.

But then, last night, Liz and I sat down to watch the movie "Of Gods and Men". It had been highly recommended to us from a number of people, and after watching it, I can also highly recommend it to all those who haven't seen it. It is the story of seven French Trappist monks in Algeria facing persecution from Muslim fundamentalists and is based on actual events that occurred in 1995-96. As time goes on for these monks, it becomes clearer and clearer to them that if they stay where they are the radical Muslims will kill them. The movie shows the process each monk goes through in making his decision and frames the story within the daily rhythm of monastic life. It is a beautiful portrayal of the decision to offer oneself up to Christ, a decision that is ultimately a response to His love for us.

Watching the movie, God gave me a gentle course correction. The movie presented me with a number of beautiful lessons in silence, humility, love, devotion, and ultimately, self-sacrifice. I knew that throughout the day, I had been so focused on WHAT I had to do, and not WHOM I had to do it for. My soul was "loud;" it had strayed from the desert of God into the city of Babel . The movie was a reminder of the silence and humility that form such an integral part of the Christian life. These two gifts from God are always available to us, but we must accept them. For the larger part of the day, I had not been accepting them.

This tiny course correction was just another way in which God shows His love. The greatest challenge of this correction is to absorb it and make it my own. It's so easy to slip back, to return to the way I was acting before. But the beautiful thing about these course corrections is that they teach us to always return to God. Why would I need one of these corrections if I were not weak? And if God gives me a correction, shouldn't I trust Him all the more afterwards? One of the most beautiful lines in the movie came very early on. It was in a hymn the monks were singing, and unfortunately I may butcher it here. However, it summed up what God corrected in me: "Recognizing weakness is not a virtue, for weakness is a fact. The virtue comes from the response of Faith, Hope, and Love."

The Power of Nature, and the Weakness of a Child

The earthquake this past week and the promise of a hurricane this coming weekend have gotten me thinking about man's existence in this great big powerful world of ours. Though the earthquake was relatively minor, it was still the first time I had ever seen the earth move like that. It made me realize that there are physical forces at work in the world that go far beyond my ability to cope with. When an earthquake hits, you can run under doorframes and everything, but in the end you are stuck just waiting for it to end.

Similarly, as Irene takes aim at the East coast, I fear for the safety of all our brothers and sisters in the storm's path. From the looks of it, there will be injuries and possibly even deaths. Homes will be damaged, businesses may be lost. In short, lives will be changed and there is not much man can do about it. It's not like we can physically stop the storm.

The complete helplessness of man in these situations reminds me that we are only small children in this world. So many days we go about our business not thinking how fragile we are. We are beings that like to be in control of everything, and while stability and security are good, we sometimes believe we have more stability and security than we do. This false sense of security is especially true in today's world where everything is on demand. We are becoming very used to having every wish of ours fulfilled (just ask anyone how they feel when their internet connection goes down.)

This desire for stability, for security, is something natural in man. It is ultimately rooted in man's desire for God, who is immutable. In his desire for stability, man cries out for the permanence of union with God. The unstoppable nature of these storms reminds us that true stability, true security, true peace is found only in God. Everything we have can be taken away from us in an instant; everything, that is, except our relationship with God. Only we can forfeit that gift, only we can separate ourselves from His Love. "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Our desire for permanence, though, should ultimately compliment the knowledge of our littleness. If we recognize how small we are, and we desire permanence, than we must trust in God completely. Small children who are just learning how to use their legs find stability in their littleness by turning to their parents. They are willing to throw themselves about because they firmly believe their parents will catch them. Similarly, when we recognize our littleness in the face of these storms, we must trust totally in God. Only in trusting completely can we find the stability we truly long for. It may not be a material stability, and in this world there is still suffering, but it will be an interior stability. It will be a foretaste of the changeless vision in Heaven.

Humility

Recently, a friend of mine and I were talking about the virtue of humility and about its central role in the Christian lifestyle. Since then, I've been struck by exactly how central it is. I've noticed how many occasions throughout the day we have for pride. Whether it be something happening at work or at home, there are so many instances where our pride rears up, and we feel wronged by the situations around us.

As fallen human beings, we tend to believe in ourselves far more than we should. We often have a disordered desire to be seen as important or noteworthy to the world around us. This is something universal to human experience throughout the ages, but there are so many examples of it in our own times. I believe the obsession with fame witnessed through the phenomenon of reality TV is largely a result of this desire for importance. Similarly, many of our politicians are in office not because they necessarily feel called to the self-sacrifice of leadership, but rather they wish to be viewed as powerful. Or, when I become jealous because a conversation has turned away from me to another person, this is another example of pride. 

There's a particular temptation to pride, also, when one possesses the truth. This is something we see even in Jesus's time in the example of the religiously orthodox Pharisees. How many times in the Gospel are the Pharisees shocked that Jesus associates himself with sinners? They are appalled that this man, who claims to be "the way, the truth, and the life" eats with those who don't follow the Jewish regulations. For the Pharisees, they have fallen into this mindset of "We have the truth, and these sinners do not, why does he socialize with them?" It's their pride that blinds them to who Jesus is, and I can't help but notice that I and others within the Catholic Church sometimes have this attitude as well. We look at those who disagree with us: proponents of same-sex marriage, advocates for abortion, immodestly dressed women and like the Pharisee we say, "God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers" instead of repeating the prayer of the publican: "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"

The effects of our pride, though, are the same as the effects of the Pharisees' pride - we are cut off from Jesus Christ. How can we recognize how important we are to Him, if we are constantly seeking to be important in the eyes of others? How can we see Truth in our souls if we are focused on His apparent absence in others? Humility is not a degradation of one's self, but rather it is an opening up of the heart and mind to God. By removing ourselves from the center of the universe, we allow God to bring us in to the center of Himself. This is primarily done, though, in the smallest situations of day to day life. It involves accepting the injustices that come, and not dwelling on the faults of others. It means that we must always be mindful of the thoughts we are entertaining and the emotions we are actively engaging in. But most of all it means recognizing our littleness and pleading for Christ's help. Lord, that I may be humble, so that I might love!   

St. Martha, Model of the Active Life

Happy Feast Day of St. Martha!

"The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." Lk 10: 41-42

As some of you may remember, this quote and the image to the left were what Liz and I chose to put on prayer cards at our wedding. We got a lot of questions about that, since the quote doesn't seem to be directly related to marriage. However, for us, this quote is essential for us to remember as we strive to live our vocation.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this passage is that Christ is not rebuking Martha for what she is doing, namely serving, but rather for how she is doing it. The act of serving Christ, of using talents in the kitchen and around the home, is an admirable one. Martha is a devout disciple of Our Lord, and she is using her talents to serve Him. As Dr. Janaro pointed out on Facebook today, Martha is the woman who responds to Jesus, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world." Martha is a woman of profound faith (she is a canonized saint).

So what is Martha's fault during this meal? I think there are two aspects to it. First, Jesus points out that she is anxious. What is she anxious about? From the context of the text, it seems that she is anxious about the amount of work involved in serving Our Lord. One can assume that she is anxious about getting all the food together, preparing the table, perhaps cleaning. She wants everything to be perfect for Our Lord. And while this desire for perfection is good in and of itself, Martha goes too far and lets it disturb her peace. Jesus is teaching her that while serving Him, His disciples must remain at peace.

But how do we accomplish this when there is so much to do? That's where the second fault of Martha's comes in: she doesn't seem to understand the primacy of the contemplative life her sister Mary has chosen. These two sisters are the picture of the active and the contemplative lives. Martha's time is spent in active service, while Mary's time is spent sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His teaching. Jesus teaches Martha here that what Mary has chosen is the "good" portion (this is also sometimes translated as "better.") Listening to Christ in silence, sitting at His feet and gazing upon Him lovingly, is higher than actively serving Him. Both are good, but one is closer to what we were made for.

In order to remain at peace while living in the active life, one must adopt certain practices of the contemplative life. We "active" disciples must find time to silently sit at the feet of Our Lord and listen to his teaching. This is the reason Liz and I chose to make this passage and St. Martha such key aspects of our wedding day. We wished to be always reminded that no matter how busy we become, only "one thing is needful." And that one thing is loving contemplation.

St. Martha, Pray for us!

God is in the Details

This article that Michael Collins recently posted on Facebook got me thinking about the work that lies ahead for Catholics across the world. Specifically, this section stood out to me:

"We have depreciated work that is done with back and hands, because we don’t have to do that work; we’re educated, you see, and can do such necessary things as come up with Five Year Plans for the teaching of gender diversity. 

I have no quarrel with studying the humanities. It’s how I earn my living. But I know well that all that I’m privileged to do, I do upon the bent backs of thousands of men who sweated more than I ever will. I am reminded of it every time I take a walk; I see roads, and houses, and bridges, and stone walls, miles of stone walls that once were the boundaries of farms and pastures in my neighborhood, and I know that all those stones came from the acres and acres of fields cleared by man and horse, and all those walls were built up of stones either muscled into place by the men, or lifted to their place by winch and pulley."

The idea of hard work is something that I think gets lost sometimes in our modern idea of work. I'm not solely talking about the back-breaking work Mr. Esolen refers to, but also the menial, tedious tasks that often accompany work. There is a tendency today to look only at the big picture, and to lose sight of all the little things that must be done before the ultimate end of our work can be reached. A solid foundation must be laid before the roof of a cathedral can rise towards heaven.

Of course, attention to detail is at the center of St. Therese of Lisieux's "Little Way." We find God in the details of our work. We are called to a faithfulness in small actions that the majority of people (myself included) just don't comprehend. Each action, each choice is a chance to love God. How often do we remember this? How often do I purposely make a choice because I know it is pleasing to Jesus? In my own life, I know that the answers to these questions are quite difficult to hear. Sure, I go to daily mass and pray with Liz each day, but there are so many more opportunities to love God than just these!

The true value of a menial task is the fact that it is an opportunity for love of God. This is first and foremost why it is important that we perform the menial tasks. However, there is a practical value to the details as well. The larger goals, such as the conversion of the world, cannot be accomplished without first understanding the details that go into such a large goal. However, since the details are no fun, I find that a number of people are eager to skip them in order to just get on to the larger goals. They rush through the gritty details of work in order to try to achieve the larger goals. A system set up like this is doomed for failure, though! Eventually, details do catch up. If the details of work are consistently ignored, at some point they become major problems with the capacity for derailing the whole project.

The small details of work, whether it be paperwork to set up a new project or the joys of taxation laws, must be appreciated in all endeavors so as to provide a solid foundation for the work. Most importantly, though, we must take the words of Jesus into consideration, "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much." Lk 16: 10

New York, Modernity, and Christian Citizenship

So, the state of New York has opened up marriage to homosexual couples, and I'm left thinking "How should a Christian respond to this?" Disgust should certainly be there. We should be disgusted when the state sanctions and glorifies an intrinsically disordered act. We should weep that the state is teaching people that sexuality is purely about themselves, about the couple, when in fact this is a cheapening of sexuality. We should be upset that the nature of sexuality as procreative love is so derided and debased in our culture.

However, I find it really easy to be disgusted. What I mean is, it seems like it's very easy for us Catholics to simply be upset about the current state of affairs. When I hear of losses in the culture wars, I can become down and depressed and just stay there. While repugnance of sin is certainly necessary for the spiritual life, its not enough.

This decision to allow gay marriage in New York is a chance to turn back once again to Christ. It's a chance for us, His followers, to ask the important questions "Why do we want the culture to be Catholic? Why is the acceptance and glorification of homosexuality against this?"

We are living in a post-Christian culture. The moral traditions of thousands of years have already crumbled, so it should come as no surprise when this culture glorifies something disordered. As Catholics, as Christians, we are living in a culture that is not really our own. I feel like this is something I tend to forget. Sometimes I lose sight of Our Lord and hope for a Catholic culture just so that I can be in the majority again. It's very easy to look around at all the entertainment and material goods our culture can give and forget that Our Lord has said we are not of this world. But when something like this happens, something that wasn't inevitable but was a logical conclusion of so much that came before, we are reminded of our citizenship in another world and another order.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we definitely all strive to spread his gospel. Like St. Andrew in John's Gospel, we are called to meet Christ in a personal relationship and then introduce others to this relationship. The real reason we hope to restore a Catholic culture to the world is not simply so we'll be in the majority again, but so that the culture of the future will be more conducive to a relationship with Christ. I find that to be the real tragedy of a state accepting gay marriage: it teaches people falsehoods about themselves that inhibit a relationship with the Truth. It teaches people that their sexuality is purely about themselves, rather than the truth that it is about others. It teaches people to turn inwards and enjoy what they have now, rather than to put themselves aside. If people are constantly turned in on themselves, they do not turn their eyes outward to gaze on Christ.

If our hope is for a culture conducive to loving Christ, we must first love Him and speak to Him ourselves. We need to speak with Him, trust Him, and confidently ask Him to pour forth His love into the hearts of our fellow countrymen. In short, we must all pray. Christ is the one that provides the victory, not us. The evil of the homosexual agenda is too strong to be defeated by any other means. It is like the demon that threw the boy in Matthew's Gospel into fire and water, "this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." Mt. 17:21.