"Open wide the doors to Christ!"

Goals and the virtue of prudence

2012-01-02T17:08:00.001-05:00

Are you one of those people who set goals at the beginning of a new year? I like to do it too, and it can help to accomplish things.One obstacle to achieving goals is that they never get translated from paper to action. That's a common trap. I've done that too, setting goals only to never accomplish them!There is a virtue that can help--the virtue of prudence. This virtue has three parts:1) deliberating well over an issue2) making a good judgment about it With these first two steps, we haven't left the realm of theory. These are important and necessary steps. But if we don't go beyond them, the goals won't get done. They'll sit in a drawer until next year. We need the third step:3) putting it into action; an executive command of the will.St. Thomas says that this third step is the heart of the virtue of prudence. It's not just a wish or a general intention; it's a concrete decision. It's an executive command. It's like the command a military officer gives the troops. The command is effective--it gets done.With prudence, though, we give the command to ourselves. This is the "push" that moves us from the realm of theory to the realm of action. You've done this--we all have at some time. Recall some thing you really wanted to get done. Perhaps you considered it for a while and nothing ever happened. But then some determination came over you, the resolution that yes, now is the time to do that thing. And you did it. That's the difference the virtue of prudence can make.

Cardinal George on conscience

2011-11-03T09:19:00.003-04:00

Cardinal George of Chicago has written an excellent column on conscience.. It's well worth reading

Happy birthday, Mary!

2011-09-08T16:51:00.002-04:00

In today's liturgy we celebrate the birth of Mary. There are only three birthdays celebrated in the liturgy: those of Jesus, Mary, and St. John the Baptist. Usually, the Church celebrates a saint's feast on the day of death, because that's when they entered eternal life.

But Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist played very important roles in the history of salvation, so their lives on earth were extremely crucial for all of us.

We don't have historical records about Mary's birth. The names of her parents, Joachim and Anne, come from an ancient document called the Protoevangelium of James. It is not a canonical Gospel, so we can't rely on it for historical details. But it was an important source for the development of Marian piety. It was written in the early second century, and shows that, among other things, Christians in that early time believed in Mary's virginity.

Like us, Mary lived a human life on earth. It was hard. She had to struggle, even though she was graced from the first moment of her conception and never sinned. She dealt with suffering and sorrow. But on her birthday, we can celebrate her life as one of us, our spiritual mother, our friend, someone we can always go to for help.

Easter all week

2011-04-28T11:32:00.002-04:00

Liturgically, each day in the octave of Easter is Easter all over again. While the world around us quickly forgets, the Church keeps on celebrating the Lord's resurrection.

In today's reading from Acts, Peter tells the crowd, "Repent...and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away." And Jesus says in the Gospel that "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name."

This coming Sunday is divine mercy Sunday. We celebrate the resurrection because it means our sins are forgiven, wiped away, when we repent of them. Scripture is so clear on this. How could we doubt it?

The Wood in the Water -- What Does the Easter Candle Symbolize?

2011-04-23T09:00:00.001-04:00

I'm reposting this now on Holy Saturday, since the Easter vigil is tonight. It's about the symbolism of the Easter Candle.
Happy Easter to all!

****

The question of the symbolism around the Easter candle is one of the things Dawn Eden mentions in her thesis. As I've noted before, I think she makes a good argument in this regard. Here are some further reflections on the matter. While I’ve drawn the elements of this argument from various authors, the way I’ve put it together is the result of my own reflection on this. Comments are welcome. Thanks!

1. The Candle and the Cross

Fr Hugo Rahner was an expert in patristics. In his book Greek Myths and Christian Mystery, he explains the meaning of the Easter candle in a very beautiful way. The symbolism has to do with the cross, the baptismal water, and the Church.

He cites many quotations from the Fathers, for example:
“What is water without the cross of Christ?” Ambrose asks his newly baptized, and answers, “an ordinary element.”
A post-Augustinian sermon: “Through the sign of the cross you are conceived in the womb of your holy mother, the Church.” Rahner says, “It is only by the procreative power of the cross that the church is fructified.”
He explains that ultimately the symbolism is based on Paul’s Letter to the Romans, with its relation of baptism to the cross. “Baptism is “the mystery of the wood in the water.’” (P. Lundberg)

The main point is that the mystery of the Lord’s baptism is closely related to the mystery of the cross. Rahner says, “In this baptism of Christ there was symbolically enacted all that became reality upon the cross, all that in the mystery of baptism passes back its effects from that cross to man.” St Ignatius of Antioch voiced the same idea in saying, “Jesus Christ was born and was baptized, so that he might sanctify the water by his passion.”

Rahner points out that Christian artists began to depict the cross in the river Jordan. There was also a cross put up in the river itself. In Eastern liturgies a wooden cross is dipped in the water during the consecration of the baptismal water, intended to signify the same thing as the cross in the river.

He continues, “This cross symbolizes the fact that the baptismal water has through the death of Christ been made a bestower of life—it is the tree of life.” Then he mentions another important element, that the wooden cross is also a giver of light. The same fire bursts forth from it that was associated with Jesus’ baptism:

The cross is also a bringer of light, and when men seek to express this mystery in explicit liturgical form, they do so by lowering a burning candle into the baptismal font as a sign that, by the power of the cross, the water is a source of the lux perpetua, the everlasting life of light. In a word the cross is both the tree of life and the light bringer and both symbols represent Christ himself who “by his Passion sanctified the water” by giving to it the doxa, the glory which he had won upon the cross, the power of the Holy Ghost.

Rahner mentions an inscription found on a baptismal font at St. Paul’s Basilica in Rome:
A tree bears fruit. I am a tree but I bear light.
Christ is risen. Such is the gift that I bring.

So according to Rahner, the Easter candle is a symbol of the cross of Christ. We can see this also from the five grains of incense that are put into the candle in the shape of the cross. And the candle represents not only the cross, but the light that comes from the cross.

2. The Spirit and the Cross
On the cross, Jesus hands over the Spirit

The Gospel of John tells us that when Jesus died, “he handed over the Spirit.” (Jn 19:30b). What does this mean?
Several very good Scripture scholars say it means that Jesus handed over the Spirit to his disciples who were standing there by the cross. In other words, at the moment of his death Jesus is giving the Holy Spirit to the Church. (Francis Moloney, The Gospel of John, pp. 504, 505, Liturgical Press, 1998; also R. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, p. 1082, vol. 2).

A look at the Greek text shows why this is a very plausible interpretation. The Greek is paredōken to pneuma. The word paredōken is an intensified form of the verb meaning “to give.” It indicates that a person or thing is being transferred to someone else’s possession. The Greek text also uses the definite article to, which points to the Spirit. It means that Jesus is giving the gift of the Holy Spirit, “handing over” the Spirit.
At the Last Supper, Jesus told the apostles, “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (Jn 16:7). When the hour of Jesus’ death had come and he fulfilled his mission, he handed over the Spirit to the disciples, just as he had promised.

In chapter 7 of John’s Gospel, the evangelist had said “There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (Jn 7:39) It wasn’t yet time for the Holy Spirit to be given to the disciples. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is glorified through the cross. He reigns from the cross. So at the moment of his death he is already glorified and can hand over the Holy Spirit.

And who was there? “Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (Jn 19:25-27)

The two principal figures are Mary and the beloved disciple. When Jesus died and handed over the Spirit, they were the first ones to receive the Spirit. At the Annunciation, the Holy Spirit had overshadowed Mary and made her virginity fruitful. She became the Mother of Jesus. Now, at the foot of the cross, the Holy Spirit again overshadows Mary, and she again becomes a mother, not physically, but as the spiritual mother of the beloved disciple. John here anticipates what Luke brings out in Acts on the day of Pentecost. Mary was present with the disciples in the upper room when the Holy Spirit was poured out on them.

In John’s Gospel, the beloved disciple is never named. It’s possible that this is because he represents the disciples of all times. (That’s not to deny he was a real person.) He is the ideal disciple, and is the example of what we are called to be. So we can see in this profound Marian text the biblical basis for calling her Mother of all the faithful, Mother of all the baptized.

Shortly after this scene, the soldier comes and pierces the heart of Jesus. Blood and water flow out, symbolizing the fountain of sacramental life in the Church. “Through the blood we have the water of the Spirit” (St. Hipppolytus).

3. Our Lady of the Font
The Marian symbolism of the baptismal font

The ideas in this section are again drawn from Fr Hugo Rahner, this time from his book Our Lady and the Church (Bethesda: Zaccheus Press, 2004). Chapter 6, “Mary at the Font,” is a most beautiful explanation of Our Lady’s connection with baptism. Fr Rahner quotes a wonderful thought from a sermon of St. Leo the Great, referring to Christ: “He bestowed on the water what he bestowed on his Mother” (Dedit aquae quod dedit matri).

Keep in mind all the points above about Jesus handing over the Spirit when he died on the cross. He bestowed the Holy Spirit on his Mother. So too, he bestowed the Holy Spirit on the water of baptism.

Going back to the Easter Vigil, what is the symbolism of the priest dipping the Easter candle into the water blessed for baptism? The candle represents the cross. Dipping it into the water symbolizes what Christ did as he died—he handed over the Spirit. The power of the risen Christ, given through the Spirit, is now communicating to the blessed water the power to bring the new life of grace to those who are baptized. In the water that flowed from Jesus’ pierced side we can also see a reference to the waters of baptism. The imagery here is so rich.

At the cross, Mary stands there with John, and becomes the mother of the Church as Jesus hands over the Spirit. Just as she was a virgin in conceiving Christ, Mary is a symbol of the virginal Church bringing life to those who are baptized.

At the Easter vigil, dipping the candle in the water symbolizes the Holy Spirit flowing forth from the cross of Christ and consecrating the water to be used in baptism. Mary is mother; so too the Church is mother. That is why the baptismal font is compared to the immaculate womb of Mary.

Fr Rahner mentions an inscription found on an ancient baptistry at the Lateran, written by Leo the Great when he was still a deacon:

The Church, Virgin Mother, brings forth from the river
The children she conceived by the breath of God.

The breath of God, of course, is a reference to the Holy Spirit. After citing a few more texts, Fr Rahner states, “And it therefore follows in the strict symbolism of theology, that the womb of Mary is a true symbol of the baptismal font, from which Christians go forth as newborn children of God.”

He cites another beautiful quote from St. Peter Chrysologus:

Therefore, my brethren, when the Spirit of heaven through his mystical light has given power to the virginal womb of this water, by this power all who are made from the dust of the earth and are born earthly, are reborn heavenly, into the likeness of their Creator.

Note that the saint specifies that it is the Spirit giving power to the water. The prayer of blessing over the water at the Easter vigil also brings this out, for example, “At the very dawn of creation, your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellspring of all holiness….. By the power of the Spirit give to this water the grace of your Son, so that in the sacrament of baptism all those whom you have created in your likeness may be cleansed from sin and rise to a new birth of innocence by water and the Holy Spirit.” Then, precisely at that point, the priest lowers the candle into the water, saying, “We ask you, Father, with your Son to send the Holy Spirit upon the waters of this font.” Thus, the prayer of the liturgy confirms that this action represents the sending of the Spirit.

Again, this is about the action of the Holy Spirit sanctifying the waters. With that in mind, it becomes very clear that any kind of sexual symbolism in regard to the candle is completely out of place. Christ’s handing over the Spirit is not analogous to a sexual act. Let’s briefly recap the sequence of what is happening:

The candle represents the cross.
At his death on the cross, Jesus handed over the Spirit.
Lowering the candle into the water symbolizes the Holy Spirit sanctifying the waters.
The Holy Spirit empowers the Church, through the waters of baptism, to become the mother of the newly baptized Christians.
Mary as a type of the Church is also in this picture, the spiritual mother of believers. The Church is a virginal mother, just as Mary is a virginal mother.

So the action of dipping the candle into the water is not a sexual symbol, because Christ’s sending of the Spirit is not analogous to a sexual act. There is no basis for saying the Easter candle is a phallic symbol, or that dipping the candle into the water is meant to symbolize a sexual act. Such an interpretation would go against the meaning of the liturgy itself as well as the meaning of the Gospel.

Some Clarifications

All of this is not to deny the spousal imagery of the Church as the bride of Christ, the Bridegroom. That too can be a rich and fruitful source of reflection. But it seems clear that any spousal imagery in relation to the baptismal font seen as a womb concerns the mystery of virginity. It concerns the Holy Spirit imparting the life of grace through the baptismal water. Those who say that the symbolism of the womb requires a phallus are missing the point: this is a matter of a virginal conception, one that takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit. The proper comparison is when Mary conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s power at the Annunciation. It is an overshadowing of the Spirit.

When it comes to particular elements of the liturgy, there has to be some basis for making a connection with the spousal mystery. It can’t just be something haphazard that happens to strike our fancy, like the shape of a candle. The candle could have been designed in another shape. In fact, James Monti points out, “During the Middle Ages, paschal candles more often than not were made with a square cross-section, rather than the cylindrical shape we are familiar with in our own day” (This Week of Salvation, p. 330).

Using the spousal analogy could be compared with reading Scripture. Any sound exegesis of a Scripture text has to have some basis in the text itself. If it does, we have exegesis, or a reading drawn out of the text. It it doesn't, we have eisegesis, or a reading into the text. We can’t just dream up our own interpretation of Scripture based on something we see in it that we like, or what it reminds us of. It's not like looking at clouds and imagining shapes. So too, in the spousal mystery in the liturgy, there has to be some basis in the liturgy itself for making a particular connection. As Fr Hugo Rahner points out concerning the Easter candle,

What we witness here is a symbol of Christ crucified giving to the water the illuminating power of the Spirit, and those who insist on seeing a phallic symbol in the candle appear to be completely oblivious to what not only the Roman, but all other liturgies have to declare on this particular point, of what, in point of fact, they declare with considerable emphasis. It is that the baptismal font is immaculatus uterus, and that, like Mary, the Church bears her children solely by the power of the Spirit. (Greek Myths, p. 83).

Another important point to keep in mind is that made by David Delaney in his blog post about analogy in reference to the Easter candle: “The marital act reflects the eternal Trinitarian embrace but as a pale foretaste. Thus the visible liturgical imagery must not point to the pale foretaste but to the perfect Source from which it has drawn its participated perfection.” Any analogies made have to work in the correct direction. The Trinity is the fullness of life and love. Our human loves and its expression are only a pale shadow. Our love can resemble and point to that of the Trinity, but not vice versa.

In summary, then, I have hoped to show:

1. The Easter candle is a symbol of the cross of Christ, and indeed of Christ himself.

2. On the cross, as he died, Jesus handed over the Spirit to the Church, represented by Mary and the beloved disciple.

3. At the Easter vigil, the action of dipping the candle in the water symbolically represents the sending of the Spirit to sanctify the waters of baptism. Mary, Our Lady of the Font, is a symbol of the virginal Church bringing life to the baptized.

4. This meaning excludes any supposed phallic symbolism of the Easter candle.

A Concluding Prayer

I beg you, holy Virgin, that I may have Jesus from the Holy Spirit, by whom you brought Jesus forth. May my soul receive Jesus through the Holy Spirit by whom your flesh conceived Jesus.... May I love Jesus in the Holy Spirit, in whom you adore Jesus as Lord and gaze upon him as your Son. (St. Ildephonsus, On the Perpetual Virginity of Holy Mary)

Amen!

St Peter the Gatekeeper

2011-04-08T11:41:00.002-04:00

For spiritual reading during Lent I've been using The Hour of Jesus in the Gospel of John by Ignace de la Potterie, SJ.
The passage concerning Peter's denials took on a new meaning for me. When the servant girl asks Peter if he was one of Jesus' disciples, he denies it. The word the Gospel uses for the servant girl means literally in Greek "gatekeeper."

Suddenly the irony of it all jumped right out. John uses a lot of irony, and here consider what's going on. Peter holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus had commissioned him to do that. So Peter was the gatekeeper to heaven, or he would be eventually. That was the role he was destined for.

But he was afraid of a servant girl who was keeping the door to the palace of the high priest Annas. Peter cowered before this girl. John's Gospel speaks much of the theme of darkness. So we see it here: the kingdom of darkness taking over to the point where the one holding the keys to the kingdom of God quakes in fear before the one holding the keys to an earthly place. And out of fear, Peter denies the Lord.

And what about today? Doesn't this continually happen? As baptized Christians, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and the grace of God. Yet do we sometimes cower in fear before those who would ridicule our faith? But in the Spirit, we are stronger than the power of evil. The devil's greatest lie is to get us to believe that evil is stronger than good. It is not; it may gain the upper hand for a while but in the end, God will scatter the forces of darkness. Christ has already won the victory for us.

Sr Cecilia's funeral

2011-03-18T21:29:00.006-04:00

Yesterday we had Sr Cecilia's funeral. It was a wonderful experience of faith and hope. At the wake the evening before, the sisters had prepared a truly beautiful slide show of pictures from Sr Cecilia's whole life. It also included a recording she had made shortly before her death, when she knew she was approaching eternity.

She said that even though after death she would no longer be present with us physically, she would be with us spiritually, united in Christ and the Holy Spirit. She added that she wanted to be able to help those she left behind, and encouraged us all to ask her to intercede for all of our special intentions. It reminded me of what St Therese had said, that she wanted to spend her heaven doing good on earth.

Finally, she summed it all up by saying that the most important thing is to love each other. Looking at the imminent end of her life, she commented that everything looks so different when we approach death. Love is the goal, love of God and love of one another. This message was printed on her memorial card: "There are in the end three things that last; faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians, 13:13).

Thank you, Sr Cecilia, for this beautiful legacy of your life, a life so well lived with such a great example of holiness. We will miss you!

Sr Cecilia Paula Livingston, RIP

2011-03-11T11:56:00.005-05:00

This morning around 3:30, Sr Cecilia Paula died of complications from cancer. She was 57 years old and had battled cancer for the past few years.

I got to know Sr Cecilia a little better when she was the local superior of our Boston community about, in the late 90s. She was always a very conscientious sister, careful to observe the vows and a spirit of poverty.

Sr Cecilia had a good sense of humor too. One summer I went with her and a couple other sisters (including her blood sister, Sr Jane) to the Courage conference in Ottawa. We had a book display and recorded the conference talks, as we do every year. It was an eventful trip when a lot of funny things happened. On the way up we stopped at a friend's house in Vermont. As we drove into the parking lot of a nearby plaza, our car conked out. Right at that moment, our friend just happened to drive in and saw us. Then the car mysteriously started up again and was fine for the rest of the trip. We got stuck in a huge traffic jam on a bridge in Montreal because a lawn mower had fallen off someone's truck. Sr Cecilia had a really good humor about the whole thing. Then when we arrived at the conference, we found we were staying in a remoter part of an old retreat house. The hot water to that part had been shut off, naturally. Then a bat got in and was flying around the hallway near our book display. On the way home we narrowly avoided an accident when some lady went through a red light and barely missed us, but looked at us as if we had no right to be on the road. It was a funny trip and Sr Cecilia kept her good humor throughout the whole thing.

Now she is with the Lord. I am grateful for the gift that she was in my life. May she rest in peace, and enjoy the eternal reward she so richly deserves.

Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus

2011-03-08T09:44:00.003-05:00

Today, Shrove Tuesday, is the feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. This feast is not on the liturgical calendar anymore, but it may be observed privately through prayers and devotions.
The devotion was popularized by a nun, Sr Pierina. She died in 1945 and was beatified in 2010 by Pope Benedict.

Some prayers to Jesus honoring his Holy Face are here. This devotion was a favorite of St. Therese, whose full profession name was "Therese of the Infant Jesus and of the Holy Face."

Ask a Catholic Nun is Facebook finalist

2011-02-11T10:58:00.004-05:00

I haven't blogged as much lately but have been doing more on Facebook. We have a site called "Ask a Catholic Nun" in which Sr Susan and I answer questions people have about the Catholic Faith. Now it's been nominated as one of the 5 finalists for the best Catholic facebook page!

Please help us by voting at this link. Thanks very much!

The site is part of our evangelization efforts. At least one person has told us that she came back to the Catholic faith because of it. Praise God!

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

2011-01-28T09:44:00.003-05:00

St Thomas is one of the greatest doctors of the Church. He was a masterful theologian and philosopher,who wrote an amazing amount of material in these fields.

Thomas was also a poet and hymn writer. He wrote the famous Latin hymns for the Office of the feast of Corpus Christi (Catholic favorites such as Pange Lingua, Tantum Ergo, etc.)

But Thomas was a religious first of all, a humble Dominican friar. He spent his entire religious life carrying out the work of preaching and teaching that St. Dominic started.

Thomas is not a saint because of his intellectual brilliance. He is a saint because he practiced the virtues of faith, hope, and charity to a heroic degree. That's something we can imitate.

It's said that one day Thomas had a mystical vision of Jesus on the cross, who said to him, "You have written well of me, Thomas! What would you like as a reward?"
And Thomas replied, "Only you, Lord, only you!"

That was the secret of his holiness.He didn't seek honors or fame, but to do the will of the Lord in humble obedience and service.

Sr Briege McKenna on the sacraments

2011-01-14T15:54:00.003-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while -- due to some computer problems and other things. But now that's fixed.

This interview with Sr Briege McKenna is about her recent book on the power of the sacraments. Sr Briege has such a marvelous way of putting things. I love what she says in the interview about confession. She points out that people today feel a need to unburden themselves, and do it everywhere, even the internet. She says that people have told her their sins countless times, even on airplanes. But -- and here's the key point -- she can't give absolution. Neither can anyone on the internet. Only the priest can in confession.

Christmas Novena, Day 8, Dec 23

2010-12-23T18:26:00.005-05:00

Christmas Novena, Day 8

Today we finish the 7 "O" antiphons. The final one is Emmanuel, God with us!

Here's an interesting tidbit about the O antiphons. If you take the first letter of each antiphon in Latin and put them in reverse order, you get ERO CRAS. In Latin, it means "tomorrow I will be." (ero = I will be; cras = tomorrow, from which we get the word procrastinate)

E Emmanuel
R Rex (king)
O Orient (radiant dawn)

C Key of David (clavis)
R Root of Jesse (radix)
A Lord (adonai)
S Wisdom (sapientia)

Come, Lord, do not delay!

.

The Pope did NOT say child porn is normal

2010-12-23T10:10:00.002-05:00

At times it seems like the media indeed goes out of its way to distort the pope's words.

A news article from the Belfast Times quoted him out of context, suggesting that he thinks child porn is normal and no big deal.

Quite the contrary. The article left out the significant fact that the pope was actually condemning this view. He was trying to explain why some people justified it (and still do, for example, NAMBLA). When the Pope says, "Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on the circumstances and on the end in view. Anything can be good or also bad, depending upon purposes and circumstances," you know he is simply stating a false view that he will go on to correct. It's like the objections St. Thomas puts in the Summa; you know he's going to refute those positions.

And refute them Benedict did. Read the whole thing for yourself. He quotes a very somber vision of Hildegard of Bingen regarding evil infiltrating the church.

Here's a larger excert from the Pope's address:

We were all the more dismayed, then, when in this year of all years and to a degree we could not have imagined, we came to know of abuse of minors committed by priests who twist the sacrament into its antithesis, and under the mantle of the sacred profoundly wound human persons in their childhood, damaging them for a whole lifetime….

We are well aware of the particular gravity of this sin committed by priests and of our corresponding responsibility. But neither can we remain silent regarding the context of these times in which these events have come to light. There is a market in child pornography that seems in some way to be considered more and more normal by society. The psychological destruction of children, in which human persons are reduced to articles of merchandise, is a terrifying sign of the times….

In order to resist these forces, we must turn our attention to their ideological foundations. In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children. This, however, was part of a fundamental perversion of the concept of ethos. It was maintained – even within the realm of Catholic theology – that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a “better than” and a “worse than”. Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on the circumstances and on the end in view. Anything can be good or also bad, depending upon purposes and circumstances. Morality is replaced by a calculus of consequences, and in the process it ceases to exist. The effects of such theories are evident today. Against them, Pope John Paul II, in his 1993 Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, indicated with prophetic force in the great rational tradition of Christian ethos the essential and permanent foundations of moral action. Today, attention must be focused anew on this text as a path in the formation of conscience. It is our responsibility to make these criteria audible and intelligible once more for people today as paths of true humanity, in the context of our paramount concern for mankind.

Christmas Novena, Day 7, Dec. 22

2010-12-22T20:39:00.000-05:00

Christmas Novena, Day 7

Today we ask Christ, our King, to come and lead all nations to peace.

Why Christmas is important to society

2010-12-22T17:47:00.002-05:00

While each year Christmas seems to be getting turned into a generic "holiday," this essay is a profound reflection on what Christmas has contributed to Western civilization.

Christmas Novena, Day 6, Dec 21

2010-12-21T10:21:00.000-05:00

Christmas Novena, Day 6

Today's O Antiphon is:

O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice,
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and
in the shadow of death.

With the winter solstice, the days will be getting longer now, even if only by a minute.
This is a fitting symbol for the coming of Christ, the Light of the World.

"The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light" (Is 9:2)

"For Wisdom is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness" (Wis 7:26)

Graces for Christmas

2010-12-21T10:10:00.002-05:00

The real "gift" at Christmas is Jesus himself. All of us can receive this gift -- if we want it!
Blessed James Alberione, the founder of the Daughters of St Paul and the whole Pauline Family, wrote this about asking for the real grace of Christmas:

In spirit, let us enter the grotto of Bethlehem where Jesus taught his first lessons–lessons of radical poverty and love. What prompted the Son of God to come to earth, clothe himself in human flesh and dwell among us? Love…. And what does Jesus want? Two things: the glory of God, that is to say, the glory of the Father, and then holiness–the salvation of all people of good will…. Let us ask ourselves if we have the firm will to become holy and to carry out the mission God has given us. Is this our predominant thought? When a person’s ideal is to become holy, when she wants to place everything in Jesus Christ and live in him, when she wants to imitate him, enter his school and serve him, then her good will is blessed by the Lord. If we ask for many things but fail to ask for this good will, then we are not asking for the graces proper to the manger.

St. Malachy's Church in NY The Actor's Chapel

2010-12-20T21:09:00.003-05:00

This story on Catholic News Service caught my eye. It's about the role the Catholic Church helped play in renewing some of the area in Manhattan's Theater District that had fallen into decay in the 1970's.

St. Malachy's Church is called the Actor's Chapel because it serves the people of the theater district. Many of those who work in and around the theater industry are Catholic. Before I entered the convent, I worked for about a year in an office on 7th Avenue and 53rd St., and sometimes I would go to St Malachy's for an afternoon Mass. That was during the time the area around the church was run down. The article notes that with the rejuvenation of the area, younger families are moving into some of the newer apartment buildings, and coming to St Malachy's for their weddings and the baptism of their children.

Christmas Novena, Day 5 December 20

2010-12-20T16:07:00.000-05:00

Christmas Novena, Day 5

The Golden Mass December 20

2010-12-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

Today's Mass was historically called the "golden Mass" and celebrated with special solemnity, because it focuses on the role of Mary in the Incarnation.
The first reading is the famous prophecy from Isaiah about the virgin who will conceive and bear a son. The Gospel is the Annunciation account.

Mary is a special Advent figure. The expectant mother is a sign to us of what our Advent waiting is all about: the coming of Christ, our Savior.

Today's first reading from Isaiah is the same one we had yesterday (for the Fourth Sunday of Advent). Ahaz, the king, had entered into political alliances in an attempt to save Israel from her enemies. But the prophet Isaiah was telling him not to trust in politics, but in God. Only God could deliver Israel. In refusing to ask for a sign, Ahaz was not being humble, but tricky. He was keeping his options open, so to speak, by refusing to trust the Lord.

Mary, instead, was completely committed to doing God's will. By her "yes" to the angel Gabriel, Mary totally surrendered to what God was asking of her. She didn't know exactly what would happen. It was very risky--in those days a woman in an irregular pregnancy could suffer severe penalties. What would Joseph think?

Mary turned all those worries over to God. And God made it all work out. Whatever problems we face, God will help us also to work them out, if we turn to him in trust.

Christmas Novena, Day 4, Dec 19

2010-12-17T10:57:00.000-05:00

Christmas Novena, Day 4

Christmas Novena, Day 3, December 18

2010-12-17T10:56:00.000-05:00

Christmas Novena, Day 3

Christmas Novena, Day 2, December 17

2010-12-17T10:49:00.001-05:00

Novena, Day 2

Today we begin singing the famous "O antiphons."

Today's antiphon:
O Wisdom eternal
proceeding from the mouth of the Most High,
who reaches from end to end and orders
all things mightily and sweetly:
come now to direct us
in the way of holy prudence.

Jesus, eternal Wisdom, enlighten us!

Christmas Novena, Day 1 (Dec. 16)

2010-12-16T09:58:00.001-05:00

Christmas Novena, Day 1 (Dec. 16)

This is the novena recorded by Sr Anne Joan at nunblog.

Christmas novena starts tomorrow

2010-12-15T21:29:00.002-05:00

When I entered the convent, one of the treasures I found out about is the liturgical Christmas novena. This particular novena originated in northern Italy, and has very beautiful hymns and chants, including the O Antiphons. We use it for our morning prayer during this last part of Advent.

Last year Sr Anne Joan recorded and put it on youtube (sung by herself and another sister or two with good voices--not me!) I hope to link to it each day of the novena. It's a great way to spend a few minutes praying and thinking about the real purpose of Advent.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Verbum Domini Now available

2010-12-10T12:11:00.003-05:00

The Word of the Lord Verbum Domini is now available in printed booklet form from Pauline Books & Media.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary

2010-12-08T10:36:00.002-05:00

Today's feast of the Immaculate Conception means that Mary was conceived free of original sin, and filled with grace from the very first moment of her conception by her mother, St Anne.

Mary was given this grace in view of her future mission to become the Mother of God, when she conceived Jesus virginally by the grace of the Holy Spirit. So the Immaculate Conception is not to be confused with the virgin birth; they're two separate things.

We, on the other hand, are very much subject to sin. Yet this does not put up a barrier between us and Mary, like a concrete highway divider no one can cross. No, the grace given to Mary makes her more human, not less. And she doesn't look down on us. She is a tender Mother who loves all her children, no matter how wayward and caught up in sin they may be.

While we came into the world with the taint of sin, we can go out without it. That's the point of our Christian life. This might be a bit fanciful, but sometimes I like to think about the parable of the Good Samaritan in that light. The man he helped, the one who was beaten up and left for dead, is like a symbol of ourselves in sin. We can become a sorry mess, all spattered with mud and blood and left for dead. We don't hear much about him, but the implication is that after being checked into the inn by the Good Samaritan, the man recovered. He left the inn all cleaned up, and could walk out on his own power.

Mary is like the Good Samaritan. She checks us into the inn of God's grace, where Jesus cleans us up and heals our wounds. He forgives our sins so that we can walk away from sin.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary reminds us that sin doesn't have the final word. Grace does. And grace can triumph over any sin.

Janet Smith and Pope's remarks

2010-12-01T19:02:00.003-05:00

Dr Janet Smith has a good article here on Zenit putting the Pope's remarks into a wider context of people's attitudes toward sexuality. Some very good insights!

Where your treasure is....

2010-11-29T21:08:00.003-05:00

This video shows a crowd of people in a store in Buffalo pushing and shoving each other to get in when the doors opened at 4 AM last Friday.

They wanted to get a good deal on buying some consumer item.

If people really understood what graces we receive from the sacraments, they would be fighting like this to get into the churches. Instead, in most dioceses in the USA today only about 20% of Catholics go to Mass regularly.

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be."

The Pope did not approve condoms

2010-11-22T12:19:00.002-05:00

This article by George Weigel is a good explanation of what he actually said about it in his new book.

And this article is also helpful. Janet Smith explains more about what the Pope really said.

Pope Benedict XVI's Verbum Domini summary continued Part One Verbum Dei

2010-11-16T11:08:00.002-05:00

The document has three parts, and part one is titled Verbum Dei, the Word of God.

It has three main sections:

The God Who Speaks

Our Response to the God Who Speaks

The Interpretation of Sacred Scripture in the Church

Section one The God Who Speaks

Here Pope Benedict summarizes Catholic teaching about divine revelation. God reveals himself in many ways, and revelation comes to a high point in Christ. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, this revelation comes to us through the Church. The proper relationship of Scripture and Tradition is a key element. Here are the various parts under this first section. This will be a brief summary. I hope later to expand on some of these very beautiful points.

God in dialogue

God wants to speak to us. This dialogue comes to a high point in the Incarnation, when the Word became flesh. The Prologue of St. John's Gospel presents us with this beautiful gift of God's love.

The analogy of the word of God

The expression "word of God" has different meanings, since God reveals himself in different ways. Its high point refers to Jesus himself, the Word made flesh.
God also reveals himself through creation, the book of nature.
The history of salvation details the many ways God has spoken to us.
The preaching of the apostles and of the Church through the centuries is another facet.
Benedict makes the important point that "the Christian faith is not a 'religion of the book,'" as is sometimes said. Instead, "Christianity is the 'religion of the word of God,' not of 'a written and mute word, but of the incarnate and living Word.'" That is why receiving the Word within Tradition is so important. It comes to life especially when we hear it within the Church, in the liturgy in particular.

As an aside, sometimes it has happened to me that hearing a familiar Scripture text, one that I know very well, read in the liturgy puts it in a completely different light. Sometimes it's almost been as if I was hearing it for the first time. Those can be powerful moments when God calls us to a closer following of the Lord. Has that happened to you too?

I will add to this post later as there are more points to cover.

Pope Benedict XVI Verbum Domini Summary : Introduction

2010-11-15T15:58:00.000-05:00

In October 2008 there was a Synod of the world's bishops on the theme of the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. Pope Benedict has released a very beautiful document summing up the fruits of the synod. In this post I will give a summary of what he says in the introduction of the document.

First he gives the background about the Synod. Here he reminds us that "we find ourselves before the mystery of God, who has made himself known through the gift of his word." The Word became flesh in Jesus Christ. This is the good news of our salvation.

Joy
In speaking about the joy experienced at the synod in sharing the word of God, Benedict wants to encourage all the members of the Church to renew our living relationship with Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Sharing in God's life is "complete joy." And it falls to us to communicate that joy and truth with the people of our own time.

The Bible in Catholic life
The Pope then traces some history of how the Church has grown in its appreciation for the Word of God. He points out that the Church has always "found strength in the word of God." And he goes on to speak of some important developments in the last century or so.
First, Pope Leo XIII wrote an important encyclical on Scripture, Providentissimus Deus. Later Benedict will say more about that and speak of other documents as well. For now he points out that this biblical movement culminated in the important document of Vatican II: Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. This document is short yet holds a wealth of important teaching about Scripture in the context of divine revelation. Dei Verbum spurred an important movement in the Church toward a deeper appreciation of Scripture.

The experience of the Synod
In speaking about this, the Pope says,

Together we listened to and celebrated the word of the Lord. We recounted to one another all that the Lord is doing in the midst of the People of God, and we shared our hopes and concerns. All this made us realize that we can deepen our relationship with the word of God only within the “we” of the Church, in mutual listening and acceptance.

He'll develop that theme more later. He also points out that the synod took place during the year of St. Paul, the great Apostle to the nations. More than anyone, Paul's zeal for the spread of God's word is a model for the Church of today and always.

St. John's Prologue
Benedict says that throughout the document he will often refer to the Prologue of St. John's Gospel, "the Word became flesh." He sees in this profound Scripture a synthesis of the entire faith. The Pope also hopes that the synod will have a real effect in the life of the Church, on our personal relationship with the Scriptures, to liturgy, catechesis, and scholarly research.

That brings us to the end of the introduction.

Verbum Domini -- Some themes from theology of the body in Pope Benedict's new document

2010-11-14T15:28:00.002-05:00

In reading the first part of Verbum Domini I couldn't help but notice some themes that relate to TOB. For example:

As his [Jesus'] mission draws to an end, according to the account of Saint John, Jesus himself clearly relates the giving of his life to the sending of the Spirit upon those who belong to him (cf. Jn 16:7). The Risen Jesus, bearing in his flesh the signs of the passion, then pours out the Spirit (cf. Jn 20:22), making his disciples sharers in his own mission (cf. Jn 20:21)....
The word of God is thus expressed in human words thanks to the working of the Holy Spirit. The missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable and constitute a single economy of salvation. The same Spirit who acts in the incarnation of the Word in the womb of the Virgin Mary is the Spirit who guides Jesus throughout his mission and is promised to the disciples. The same Spirit who spoke through the prophets sustains and inspires the Church in her task of proclaiming the word of God and in the preaching of the Apostles; finally, it is this Spirit who inspires the authors of Sacred Scripture.

The first sentence above relating the giving of Jesus' life to the sending of the Spirit reminds me of the themes discussed in the previous post about the Easter candle. There I tried to show that the symbolism of the candle and the baptismal water represents Christ sending the Spirit on the Church. It's interesting that in this document, Pope Benedict draws a parallel between the Spirit overshadowing Mary to bring forth the Incarnate Word, and the Spirit overshadowing the Church in proclaiming the Word.

Pope Benedict goes further with this parallel when he speaks of biblical inspiration:

A key concept for understanding the sacred text as the word of God in human words is certainly that of inspiration. Here too we can suggest an analogy: as the word of God became flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, so Sacred Scripture is born from the womb of the Church by the power of the same Spirit. Sacred Scripture is “the word of God set down in writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” In this way one recognizes the full importance of the human author who wrote the inspired texts and, at the same time, God himself as the true author.

This beautiful comparison also brings out the Marian dimension involved.

The Pope also speaks specifically about the nuptial mystery:

what we call the Old and New Covenant is not a contract between two equal parties, but a pure gift of God. By this gift of his love God bridges every distance and truly makes us his “partners,” in order to bring about the nuptial mystery of the love between Christ and the Church. In this vision every man and woman appears as someone to whom the word speaks, challenges and calls to enter this dialogue of love through a free response.

The theme of "gift" is a major theme of TOB. Pope Benedict is reminding us here that God is the source of all gift; before we can make a gift of self, we receive the gift of our own being from God as our Creator.

There's much more in this document. It's a real goldmine of Catholic teaching about the Sacred Scriptures.

Verbum Domini The Pope's new document on the Word of God

2010-11-12T11:51:00.002-05:00

Pope Benedict has just come out with his Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, on the Word of God.
Pauline Books & Media will be publishing it in a booklet form as with other church documents.

In the meantime it's available at the Vatican website.

It looks like a great read. Pope Benedict is a marvelous teacher.

A pause for thanks

2010-10-30T11:56:00.010-04:00

The themes around the Easter candle are so rich I'd like to look into them a little more. Last night after doing the previous post, I checked what Pope Benedict said in his book Jesus of Nazareth and was pleasantly surprised to see that he mentions Epiphany in connection with Jesus' baptism. I had forgotten that since I read it a while ago. He draws on themes from the Eastern liturgies in that part of the chapter.

But right now, since I've finished my critique of Dawn Eden's thesis, I'd like to thank a few commenters in particular, those who have been most active in commenting here, whom I've got to know at least a little bit through their comments.

Lauretta:

Lauretta brings a wonderful voice of experience to this discussion. She has given her own testimony as to the way learning about TOB has enriched her marriage, for both her and her husband. It is a beautiful testimony, and one that is very powerful because of its lived experience. Lauretta has been married over 40 years, so she certainly has a lot of experience in this area. Thank you, Lauretta, for your calm serenity during the sometimes heated discussions. You have shown such a great balance, learning from everyone and being ready to reconsider ideas in light of new information. And your experience has been a great source of light for others. You remind me of something St. Thomas says concerning the virtue of prudence: "In matters of prudence a person stands in the greatest need of being taught by others, especially by his elders who have acquired fair insight into the outcome of human actions. Accordingly Aristotle observes that the unproved assertions and opinions of experienced, older, and wise people deserve as much attention as those they support by proofs, for experience gives them an eye for principles." (II-II, q. 49, a. 3) Yes, Lauretta, your wisdom has given you great insight!

Wade
Wade has been a wonderful voice of reason in this discussion. From the beginning he has shown balance and fairness in considering the various aspects of this debate. In his own thesis, found on his blog, he has developed ideas regarding TOB that are interesting and useful. Wade has a special fondness for logic and has sometimes caught me in a fallacy or two. I hate committing fallacies, having taught a logic class in the past, so I should know better, but I fall into them just like anyone else. So I do appreciate him pointing them out.
I think Wade especially exemplifies the aspect of prudence that St. Thomas calls reasoned judgment: "According to the Ethics, to furnish good advice is an office of prudence. Now being advised implies a sort of casting about from point to point: this is done by reasoning. Consequently the prudent man should be a good reasoner. And because the qualities necessary for complete prudence are called its integral parts or components, well-reasoned judgment should be placed among them." (II-II, q. 49, a. 5) He could have been describing Wade.

Kevin
Kevin brings a voice of ardent enthusiasm to the debate, the voice of a young man on fire for his faith. He also has his own blog and is a good writer who can develop intelligent arguments. It is great to see people like Kevin in the younger generation of Catholics, who are not only well-informed but love the faith and want to pass it on to others. In debating certain points, I don't want to lose sight of the most important thing we have in common, our Catholic faith. Kevin, I have to apologize for the times I did get a little exasperated and was either a bit curt in my responses to you or deleted your comments (but I only deleted a few)! Yet I have to admire the way you didn't get bothered by that, and instead you came back with another good argument! Thanks for all your contributions here.
You remind me of what St. Thomas says about acumen, or shrewdness in debate: "Acumen is taken for shrewdness, of which it is part. For shrewdness is quickness of wit in any matter, whereas acumen, according to the Posterior Analytics, is a ready and rapid lighting on the middle term. [he's applying it here to formal logic debates] All the same, that philosopher who makes acumen part of prudence takes it generally as equivalent to all shrewdness, and so he says that it is the flair for finding the right course in sudden encounters." (II-II, q. 49, a. 4)

Christina
Christina also has her own blog and is a mother of seven children. So she brings a very unique perspective, that of a young mother with a growing family. For her, TOB is not just an academic theory, but is so woven into her life and family that it forms part of her whole way of thinking. She has been persistent in debating the ideas that are dear to her, yet ready to see how other people think about them even if she may not agree. Thank you too, Christina, for your contributions to this discussion.
St. Thomas speaks of domestic management as a special type of prudence, and that's exactly what you have: "The household comes midway between the individual person and the state or realm, for just as the individual is part of the family, so the family is part of the political community. Accordingly, as ordinary prudence, which rules the life of the individual, is distinct from political prudence, so should domestic prudence be distinguished from others." (II-II, q. 50, a. 3) As a mother of 7 children you certainly know a lot about this kind of prudence!

Thanks also to everyone else who has commented. The debate isn't over, of course, but I hope to blog a little more about the more positive aspects of TOB, less than the polemical ones. I pray for all those who visit this blog, whether they comment or not.

I'm also indebted to the online articles of Dr Janet Smith, both the one on Eden's thesis, and the one in response to Alice von Hildebrand. I've drawn some thoughts from them that were very useful.

It would also be appropriate to thank both Dawn Eden and Christopher West, since this discussion / debate about TOB has helped me and many others to think about things more carefully, go back to the sources and learn more, and thinking about TOB always enriches my life.

The meaning of the Easter Candle

2010-10-29T21:48:00.003-04:00

In his book Greek Myths and Christian Mystery, Fr Hugo Rahner explains the meaning of the Paschal candle in a very beautiful way. (This is the book Dawn Eden cites in her thesis in discussing the paschal candle.) The symbolism has to do with the cross, the baptismal water, and the Church.

Here are some of the quotations he cites.
“What is water without the cross of Christ?” Ambrose asks his newly baptized, and answers, “an ordinary element.”
A post-Augustinian sermon: “Through the sign of the cross you are conceived in the womb of your holy mother, the Church.” Rahner says, “It is only by the procreative power of the cross that the church is fructified.”
He explains that ultimately the symbolism is based on Romans, with its relation of baptism to the cross. “Baptism is “the mystery of the wood in the water.’” (P. Lundberg)

“Jesus Christ was born and was baptized, so that he might sanctify the water by his passion.” (Ignatius of Antioch)

Rahner says:
“This cross symbolizes the fact that the baptismal water has through the death of Christ been made a bestower of life—it is the tree of life." Then he talks about a wooden cross that was put up in the Jordan river—in many Eastern liturgies the baptismal font is actually called “Jordan”, and a wooden cross is dipped in the water at the consecration [of baptism].

Rahner explains that the Paschal candle is a symbol of the cross of Christ.
But a new element is that the wooden cross is now a giver of light.
The same fire bursts forth from it that was associated with Jesus’ baptism.

The lighted candle is a symbol of the cross of Christ, the light of the world.

Rahner continues:

The cross is also a bringer of light, and when men seek to express this mystery in explicit liturgical form, they do so by lowering a burning candle into the baptismal font as a sign that, by the power of the cross, the water is a source of the lux perpetua, the everlasting life of light. In a word the cross is both the tree of life and the light bringer and both symbols represent Christ himself who “by his Passion sanctified the water” by giving to it the doxa, the glory which he had won upon the cross, the power of the Holy Ghost.

In thinking about how the mystery of Jesus' baptism relates to that of the cross, I was reminded of the beautiful antiphon from the feast of Epiphany:

“Three mysteries mark this holy day:
Today, the star leads the magi to the infant Christ;
Today, water is changed into wine for the wedding feast,
Today, Christ wills to be baptized by John in the Jordan River
To bring us salvation.”

And in another form:
“Today, the Bridegroom claims his Bride, the Church, since Christ has washed her sins away in Jordan’s waters, the Magi hasten with their gifts to the royal wedding, and the wedding guests rejoice, for Christ has changed water into wine. Alleluia!”

On Epiphany, the liturgy links the mystery of Christ's baptism with that of the revelation of Christ to the nations (represented by the Magi) and the miracle at Cana. I've been trying to think of how those two mysteries are also related in some way to the cross. I think it could be a fruitful area of reflection. But that will be a post for another day.

Jesus, the Divine Master

2010-10-29T09:09:00.002-04:00

This Sunday is the feast of the Divine Master, a special feast celebrated in the congregations founded by Blessed James Alberione. He said:

Devotion to Jesus Master sums up and completes all devotions.
In fact, it presents:
Jesus Truth, in whom to believe;
Jesus Way, who is to be followed;
Jesus Life, in whom we should participate.
Speaking of Jesus Master, we must keep in mind a much broader sense:
He not only communicates knowledge, but he also transfuses his life into the disciples,
making them similar to himself.
He develops the divine life in them
and guides them to eternal life.

Jesus Master, our Way, our Truth, and our Life, have mercy on us!

One more thing about Dawn Eden's thesis

2010-10-28T21:15:00.004-04:00

In fairness to Dawn Eden, I would like to add that I thought the part of her thesis on the paschal candle was well done. She did some good research there and shows that to attribute any supposed phallic symbolism of the candle is not what the Church intends to do.

I first came across that idea was when I was in high school. I read about it in a column in our diocesan paper. It struck me as a little odd, if not even shocking to my young mind, and so I dismissed it. The problem, though, is that once you hear the idea, it's easy for it to come to mind at the Easter Vigil. Wade mentioned that in his thesis, and it's true. But I think that anyone who's reading this has already heard of the idea, so I hope I'm not ruining their Easter Vigil by this.

Tertullian and marriage

2010-10-28T18:10:00.002-04:00

Tertullian was a Christian writer of the early third century. He wrote two letters to his wife that have come down to us. Below is an excerpt from one of them.
He speaks of a wonderful union of husband and wife.

How beautiful, then, the marriage of two Christians, two who are one in hope, one in desire, one in the way of life they follow, one in the religion they practice.
They are as brother and sister, both servants of the same Master. Nothing divides them, either in flesh or in Spirit. They are in very truth, two in one flesh; and where there is but one flesh there is also but one spirit.
They pray together, they worship together, they fast together; instructing one another, encouraging one another, strengthening one another.
Side by side they face difficulties and persecution, share their consolations. They have no secrets from one another, they never shun each other's company; they never bring sorrow to each other's hearts… Psalms and hymns they sing to one another.
Hearing and seeing this, Christ rejoices. To such as these He gives His peace. Where there are two together, there also He is present, and where He is, there evil is not.

Unfortunately, Tertullian later fell into the heresy of Montanism, and his views became somewhat rigorous. He opposed a second marriage after the death of a spouse, and he even eventually didn't favor marriage at all.

But in his earlier Catholic writing, as seen above, he penned some beautiful words for Christian spouses.

St. Ignatius of Antioch on Marriage

2010-10-27T19:53:00.004-04:00

The discussion that's been going on about marriage and TOB has made me want to learn more about the sacrament of marriage. So I started reading the book What God Has Joined: The Sacramentality of Marriage, by Fr Peter Elliott. At the time it was published (1990, Alba House, NY), he was a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The book focuses specifically on marriage as a sacrament. Fr Elliott received his doctorate in Rome from the John Paul Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

Chapter 3, "The Quest for the Sign," traces the development of Catholic thought about marriage through the centuries. (In a previous chapter he treated St. Paul's thought on marriage in Ephesians.)

He says that the earliest non-Scriptural reference to marriage comes from St. Ignatius of Antioch, in his Letter to Polycarp St Ignatius wrote his famous letters while on his way to martyrdom in Rome, where he looked forward to giving his life for the Lord: "I am God's wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ." (Letter to the Romans)

His letters were short, but here is what he said about marriage:

"But it becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust. Let all things be done to the honor of God."

Before this, he had praised continence and virginity: "If any one can continue in a state of purity, to the honor of Him who is Lord of the flesh, let him so remain without boasting. If he begins to boast, he is undone; and if he reckon himself greater than the bishop, he is ruined." He was writing around 110 A.D., so we can see that esteem for celibacy goes back to the very early church.

Fr Elliott says that though the text is brief, we can see in it some of the seeds of the differences in how marriage was celebrated in the East and the West. In the East, Christians developed marriage rites and rituals, and the blessing of the bishop or priest was seen as essential to it. In the West, instead, people were following the Roman practices of marriage, which saw civil consent as the essential part of the ritual.

This difference is found even today, as the Catholic Catechism notes in no. 1623. In the Latin church, the spouses themselves minister the sacrament to each other (though this should be done in the presence of a priest as witness); while in the Eastern church, the priest or bishop is the minister of the sacrament.

Marcel LeJeune's new book on TOB

2010-10-25T18:24:00.003-04:00

I just got a copy of Marcel LeJeune's new book on TOB:Set Free to Love: Lives Changed by the Theology of the Body. It's a great collection of stories of real people whose lives have been changed for the better by TOB. The stories come from people in all walks of life. The book shows in the concrete what TOB can actually do for people.

Part 2 of my critique of Dawn Eden's thesis

2010-10-24T20:33:00.001-04:00

This is a revision of the second part of my critique of Dawn Eden's thesis.
I have now added the analysis of her argument about continence.

Continue reading...

Janet Smith responds to Alice von Hildebrand

2010-10-18T17:38:00.005-04:00

Dr Smith's essay is here. It is an excellent response to von Hildebrand. The tone is wonderfully respectful, and Smith offers much good explanation and background concerning the various issues in von Hildebrand's essay on Christopher West. Don't miss it!

Continence and Temperance

2010-10-13T20:32:00.005-04:00

St. Thomas on Continence and Temperance

The previous post below on continence noted the two different ways that St. Thomas uses the term. As he explains, the continent person still experiences unruly passions, “the crooked lusts that shake us.”
Thomas then goes on to consider the difference between the virtue of continence and the virtue of temperance. He asks whether continence is better than temperance. His answer is clear: No. It’s just the opposite. Temperance is better. (II-II, q. 155, a. 4).

As noted in my previous post, Thomas distinguishes two meanings of continence. Here he is speaking of its second meaning as “the resistance to strongly running wrongful lusts.” He says “…temperance is much fuller than continence, for the value of a virtue is admirable because it is charged with intelligence. Now intelligence burgeons more in the temperate than in the continent, because by temperance the sensory appetite itself is subordinated and as it were wholly possessed by mind, whereas with continence its low desires remain rebellious. To sum up, continence is to temperance as the unripe to the fully mature.” (emphasis added)

This point is very crucial in any discussion of mature purity. Thomas is explaining that the person who is continent is virtuous, but not in the fullest sense. That’s because the unruly passions still rise up in an uncontrolled way. The continent person does not yet have well-ordered passions. The person has a good will and wants to avoid sin, but has to face a fierce struggle.

The virtue of temperance is better than continence because it controls the unruly passions. It orders them according to reason (“wholly possessed by mind”). It might be compared to taming a wild animal.

Thomas is saying that the virtue of temperance enables us to reach the point of having well-regulated passions. That doesn’t mean we’ll be free of concupiscence, because we will always have concupiscence throughout our whole life on earth. But it does mean that it is possible to overcome the dominance of the sensory appetite even in this life. In other words, we can reach the point where we can control it, and it doesn’t control us. We can’t do this on our own; it requires grace. But God is always ready to give that grace to those who pray for it and strive to control their appetites.

To apply this to chastity, those continent persons who struggle through with “white-knuckle chastity” (ie., the “unripe”) are acting virtuously, but those who have grown beyond that to ease and joy in chastity are at a higher stage of virtue in practicing temperance (ie., the “fully mature.”).

Another critique of Eden's thesis

2010-10-13T20:02:00.002-04:00

This critique is very good; it appears here. It's by Sean Murphy, a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He brings a unique perspective to it!

Wade St. Onge responds to Dr Janet Smith

2010-10-06T21:30:00.000-04:00

The blogger Wade St. Onge has just posted his response to Janet Smith's essay on the Eden thesis.
As always, it's refreshing to read Wade's essay because he brings a very fair-minded approach to this matter. We have had some disagreements on various points, even as he notes in his essay, but he is a great example of someone thinking through the issues in a balanced way.

St. Thomas Aquinas on Continence

2010-10-06T21:16:00.003-04:00

What is continence according to St. Thomas Aquinas?

It would be very helpful in this discussion about continence to clarify what St. Thomas Aquinas teaches about it. Some of the differences of opinion might stem from a bit of confusion around the meaning of the term.
Aquinas distinguishes two meanings of continence. He mentions this in a few different places. One is the part that Eden refers to in her thesis based on a reference from West in TOB Explained, where Thomas explains that a continent person still has unruly passions. Since the passions are not well-ordered by reason, continence is something less than a full virtue. (I-II-, q. 58, a. 3, ad 2).

But Thomas explains it more in the part of the Summa where he treats the virtues, and he asks the question, “Is continence a virtue?” (II-II, q. 155, a. 1).

First meaning of continence
He explains it has two meanings. The first meaning is that of “abstinence from all sex pleasures,” and in this sense it is a virtue. He says “virginity is the principal, and chaste widowhood the secondary form of perfect continence. Accordingly the same reasoning holds for continence as for virginity, which we have already shown to be a virtue.” When John Paul speaks of continence in marriage in discussing Humanae Vitae, he speaks of continence in the sense of a temporary abstention from sexual relations and this is also a form of the virtue of continence.

Second meaning of continence
Continence is also “resistance to the crooked lusts that shake us” (this is the Blackfriars translation; I really like it here). Thomas refers to Aristotle’s Ethics and then says, “In this sense continence has some of the quality of virtue, in that the reason remains steadfast against the passions which would lead us astray. Nevertheless it does not achieve the full stature of a moral virtue, which so composes even the sensory appetite according to reason that powerful rebellious passions do not rear up. Thus Aristotle speaks of continence as being, not unalloyed virtue, but a sort of mixture which has some of the ingredients of virtue while yet in part falling short of virtue.”

So in this second sense, continence is not a virtue but something less than a virtue. These two meanings account for some of the possible confusion in discussing continence. To potentially confuse us even more, Thomas adds at the end of the article, “Nevertheless, broadly speaking and taking virtue to mean any ability to perform commendable deeds, we can allow that continence is a virtue.”

The background of the distinction

Thomas distinguishes the two senses based on what Aristotle wrote in the Ethics. He wrote about the progression from vice to incontinence, then to continence, and then to virtue. Continence and incontinence are intermediate states between vice and virtue. The continent person is still shaken by “crooked lusts,” as Thomas puts it. But in the full state of virtue, temperance in this context, the sense appetite itself is well-ordered through the virtue. (All of this is very important to the discussion about mature purity, when that topic will come up.)

So in the discussion of TOB, it will be important to take care to determine in what sense John Paul uses the word “continence.”

Part 2 of my critique of Dawn Eden's thesis

2010-10-04T20:18:00.018-04:00

The first part of my critique of Eden’s thesis went only as far as the ten themes. While I don’t have time to go through the whole thing point by point, I would still like to look at a major point of Eden’s criticism of West, which concerns the virtue of continence in relation to marriage.

Part One: Eden’s Argument

Her purpose

Eden’s purpose is to present a correct understanding of the virtue of chastity and the possibility to grow in the virtue of continence as a result of the grace of the sacrament of marriage.

The conclusion she presents, which she wants her readers to accept, is that West gives a false account of continence, because
1. he thinks that engaged couples should not marry until they attain a complete victory over lust, saying that perfect marital chastity is a prerequisite for marriage;
2. he forgets that only the sacrament of matrimony can enable a couple to move from the imperfect virtue of continence into the perfect virtue of marital chastity’ and
3. as a result, he unwittingly promotes “a semi-Pelagian ideal of human-powered self-control.” Eden believes West is saying that engaged couples have to progress from unvirtuous continence to virtue before marriage.

That’s my brief summary of her argument. I believe this summary is accurate based on Eden’s speech at the defense of her thesis:

“What is wrong with this picture? As I explain in my thesis, what is wrong is, (A) the implication that continence is an insufficient preparation for marriage, and (B) the claim that the sacrament of marriage in no way affects the development of virtue. In fact, the Church does not expect perfect chastity of couples before marriage, precisely because she recognizes that the grace of marriage is what enables couples to transform their imperfect virtue of continence to the perfect virtue of chastity. All that is required of an engaged couple is that they control themselves "in holiness and honor," as St. Paul writes in First Thessalonians.

By raising the bar so high, to the point where any feeling of lust is proof that one is not ready for marriage, West is effectively promoting the very angelism that he decries.”

More evidence that this is a central argument of Eden’s thesis

Two of the CNA articles about Eden’s thesis also presented this as a major point. While these are not Eden’s own words, Eden seems to accept the CNA summary of her work as accurate; at least she has never objected to it as far as I know:

From the article of August 10:
“Eden’s thesis also noted that West, in telling engaged couples that they should not marry until they attain a complete victory over lust, forgets that only the sacrament of matrimony can enable a couple to move from the imperfect virtue of continence into the perfect virtue of marital chastity. As a result, Eden claimed, he unwittingly promotes ‘a semi-Pelagian ideal of human-powered self-control’.”

From the article of Sept. 8:
“Eden said in a September 8 e-mail to CNA that one of her main criticisms is West's account of the development of the virtue of chastity. The danger of West's approach, she explained, is that it denies the power of the Sacrament of Marriage to turn the imperfect virtue of continence into the perfect virtue of marital chastity. Instead, West claims that perfect marital chastity is a prerequisite for marriage, which, says Eden, is not what the Church believes.”

Part Two: Analysis of Her Argument

In a previous post I reviewed what St. Thomas teaches about continence and temperance. Now we can now proceed to examine Eden’s argument. She claims that West gives a false account of continence, because she thinks he is saying 1) it is moral to seek out occasions of sin 2] that engaged couples should not marry until they attain a complete victory over lust, and 3) that perfect marital chastity is a prerequisite for marriage.

The example of the engaged couple

Eden focuses on this passage where West states:

Since the freedom to which Christ calls us is so rarely proclaimed, we may think it impossible. Take a sincere engaged couple who honestly wants to save sexual intimacy for marriage. They will often think that in order to stay “chaste,” they should never spend any extended time alone together. They fear, of course, that if they were alone, they could not refrain from sex. This may be the case, but this is not a mature experience of the freedom for which Christ has set us free. Attaining Christian freedom is obviously a process. A couple who choose not to be alone together in order to avoid sexual temptation should be commended. They should also be aware that they are called by Christ to a much deeper freedom.
Think about it: if the only thing that kept a couple from having sex before marriage was the lack of opportunity, what does that say about the desire of their hearts? [a footnote here refers to CCC 1768, 1770, 1968, 1972] Are they free to choose the good? Are they free to love? To use an image, if a man and woman need to chain themselves to two different trees in order to avoid sin, they are not free; they are in chains. As stated previously, if we chain our freedom to sin, with the same stroke we chain the freedom necessary to love. All the more dangerous in such an approach is the implicit attitude that marriage will somehow “justify” the couple’s lack of freedom. The wedding night then becomes the moment when the couple are supposedly “allowed” to cut the chains loose, disregarding their previous need for constraints. Yet if this couple were not free to choose the good the day before they got married, standing at the altar will not suddenly make them free.
As John Paul has already made abundantly clear, marriage does not justify lust, and we lust precisely in the measure that we lack the freedom of the gift. (pg. 274-275)

Eden says: “The logic behind West’s insistence that such a couple is chaining its freedom to love is difficult to comprehend. After all, the restriction he describes was not imposed from outside; the hypothetical pair freely chose to avoid what they believed might be occasions of sin. Moreover, if freedom to love is dependent upon one’s refusing to chain one’s freedom to sin, what then of religious who choose the cloister, practicing the evangelical counsels behind monastery walls? Is their practice of charity impeded by such self-imposed ‘chains’? Last, what of the saints in heaven, who, by their free choice, no longer are capable of sin? Are they not free to love?”

Analysis:
West speaks of a engaged couple who find that the only thing that can keep them from having sex before marriage is to chain themselves to separate trees. He claims that this couple is not free to love because they are too much enslaved to their passions and need a set of chains to prevent them from giving in to their passions. West’s point is that the chains not only prevent them from sinning; they prevent them from loving. What does that mean? He is counseling them to realize that chaining themselves to trees to avoid sin is ultimately not the best solution to avoiding sin; they have a great disorder in their heart that prevents them from having the self-mastery needed for love. They need to educate themselves about the spousal meaning of the body and learn to treat each other as gifts rather than objects--and also to seek the graces that would enable them to do so. If they feel such lust for each other that they need to chain themselves to trees they are surely treating each other as objects. By depending upon chains to prevent them from sinning, they are not learning to love. If they cannot avoid serious sin by being together they are in deep trouble. Marriage in itself will not give them self control. In fact, they would have some reason to fear whether they are capable of fidelity within marriage since they have not learned to control their desires when in the presence of powerful sexual attraction – and there is no guarantee that they will not feel equally powerful attractions for others..

Eden reads West’s story to mean that couples should “[embrace] potential occasions of sin as opportunities to grow in grace.” (ET, 41) Those words cannot be found in the text of West. Rather he regularly states that occasions of sin should be avoided, but that avoiding the occasions of sin is not sufficient to acquiring virtue. Moreover, there are different kinds of occasions of sin; for the unmarried to sleep in the same bed is a powerful and foolish occasion of sin – that is an occasion of sin for even the most virtuous. For the unmarried to be alone together should not be such a powerful occasion for those who have respect for each other. They should not need to resort to chaining themselves to trees. Nowhere does he say that only those who have achieved virtue can marry. He is saying that they cannot count on marriage to automatically bestow virtue upon them and that not having achieved virtue, either outside of marriage or inside of marriage, limits their ability to love.

West is certainly not saying that once the engaged couple free themselves from the chains that they are safe in being alone together. What he is saying is that they need to grow in virtue so that they can be alone together without fear of committing serious sin. It is not enough just to avoid sin; they must grow in virtue. A few pages before this discussion, he speaks about having personally undergone a “purgation” of five years before he was able to experience freedom from lust (and even then it was a not a permanent fix).

West is speaking not only to those who are sexually out of control but also to those who are afraid of their own sexual responses. Later, following the above passage, he speaks about the need to “step out of the boat” and trust Christ in order to be in relationship. Consider the example of someone who refuses to date because he or she is afraid of succumbing to sexual temptation. This person is avoiding the occasion of sin but also the occasion of building a loving relationship. This person needs to receive the sacraments, pray, form his or her conscience about the true meaning of sexuality and have confidence that God will protect him or her from serious sin.

Now I would like to look at the wider context in which West presents this argument.

Purity and freedom

The story of the couple in chains appears in a section on purity of heart, which is presented in relation to freedom, especially the freedom of the gift. Beginning on pg. 261 of TOB Exp., West discusses “The freedom for which Christ has set us free.” His key point concerns the relation between freedom and purity. Quoting Gal 5:13 where Paul says we are called to freedom but must not use it as an excuse to indulge the flesh, West says “we often seek to eradicate sin by eradicating our freedom to commit it. We must not remove the freedom we have to sin. For in the same stroke we eradicate the freedom necessary to love. To squelch freedom in order to avoid sin is not living the Gospel ethos of freedom at all. This approach knows not the freedom for which Christ has set us free. If we must chain ourselves in order not to commit sin, then we are just that—in chains. A person in this state remains bound in some way to his desire to sin and has yet to tap into the mature ethos of redemption. He has yet to experience in a sustained way life according to the Holy Spirit. For ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Cor 3:17).”

This is the first point that West is trying to make with the example of the engaged couple. He’s presenting an ideal, knowing full well that many couples are not living up to that ideal. But he wants to encourage them to do so. If they are so bound by their desire to sin that the only way they could avoid it is by some sort of physical separation or obstacle (like chains), then they’re not truly free.

He’s making a point about freedom, not trying to determine criteria for admitting couples to the sacrament of marriage. West has a good bit of experience in preparing couples for marriage. He surely knows that many couples who ask for the sacrament of marriage are living together already, and so are not living a mature purity. He would undoubtedly be very happy if those couples made a commitment to stop living together before marriage, even if they’re not fully free in so doing. Eden suggests that with this example West is saying that engaged couples should not marry until they attain a complete victory over lust. In her speech at the defense of her thesis, she criticized what she said is West’s “implication that continence is an insufficient preparation for marriage.” Or as it was put in the CNA article of Sept. 8: “West claims that perfect marital chastity is a prerequisite for marriage, which, says Eden, is not what the Church believes.” But that is to misread his point. He’s presenting the ideal. He’s not saying that these couples should be barred from the sacrament until they reach a perfect level of chastity. He lives in the real world and knows that would be unrealistic. Eden is not distinguishing between the ideal of holiness the Church presents, and the actual requirements for marriage according to canon law. They’re two very different things.

As to the point about chains and freedom, it is true as Eden notes that in the example, the couple are chaining themselves by their own decision, so they have some good will and a certain amount of freedom. But the fact that they have to chain themselves at all shows they have not reached a mature level of freedom. Eden’s comparison to religious in a cloister might seem to have some surface similarity to West’s engaged couple, but it’s really quite different. Being in religious life myself and having heard many sisters tell their vocation stories, I have yet to hear someone say she chose religious life because she thought it was the only way she could avoid sin. The motives given are usually a desire to love and serve God more deeply, and to work more fully in the Church’s mission. Religious consecration is a consecration precisely for mission, whether in the contemplative or active form. It’s true in years past there was sometimes the thought of “flight from the world,” but at its core, religious life is choosing something positive. That’s actually brought out in the quote Eden uses from Aquinas in a footnote: “Even as one’s liberty is not lessened by being unable to sin, so, too, the necessity resulting from a will firmly fixed to good does not lessen the liberty, as instanced in God and the blessed” (II-II, 88.4., ad 1). In religious life, the will is (or should be) firmly fixed to good. In the story of the engaged couple, instead, their will was bound to the desire to sin, and they were seeking an external means to prevent them from doing so. And of course, the blessed in heaven are in a completely different situation than the engaged couple. The blessed have already firmly chosen the good and are confirmed in it.

Marriage does not justify lust
The other point West intends to make with the example of the engaged couple is that “marriage does not justify lust.” That is exactly the point that Pope John Paul had made in saying that “A man can commit such adultery ‘in the heart’ even with his own wife, if he treats her only as an object for the satisfaction of instinct.” (TOB 43:3)
West treats this point in more detail on pg. 225 of TOB Exp., concerning marriage as a “remedy for concupiscence.” He points out this does not mean that marriage is a legitimate outlet for indulging concupiscent desire. He says the term “remedy” is to be preferred to “relief” in translating the Latin term remedium concupiscentiae, because “‘remedy’ implies that the grace of marriage offers a healing of concupiscent desire.” This healing of concupiscent desire means growth in virtue, a growth that West obviously understands is taking place in marriage His discussion here shows that West does not hold the position Eden attributes to him, namely, “that the sacrament of marriage in no way affects the development of virtue.”

The key point about continence

This comment of West particularly troubles Eden:

At the 2009 lecture, continuing his example of the hypothetical engaged couple, West went on to explain that the continent pair could not be called virtuous because “[t]here is no magic trick on the wedding day that suddenly makes what you do that night an act of love. If you could not be alone together the day before you got married and not sin, there is no magic trick, there is no waving at the wand at the altar, that suddenly makes your sexual behavior beautiful, true, good, lovely, and pure.

Eden comments on this paragraph and his story of the two bishops to claim that West “takes a grain of truth and places it within a line of thinking that leads to the very opposite of John Paul II’s teachings.” But West actually means exactly what John Paul II means about marriage in itself not transforming lust into legitimate desire.

Eden continues:
“But can it be true that nothing happens at the altar to transform sexual behavior? Is it impossible for an engaged couple’s mere continence—self-control that has not reached the level of perfect chastity—to become graced through the sacrament of matrimony, so that it might henceforth be turned towards the couple’s mutual perfection? West writes elsewhere about the graces of the sacrament of marriage. On this issue, however, in his haste to counter the kind of puritanism under which he suffered in the Mother of God Community, he seems to forget it entirely, taking up—unwittingly, perhaps—a semi-Pelagian ideal of human-powered self-control.”

Again, Eden’s conclusion doesn’t follow because she is taking West out of context. While the quote she used is no longer available online, it is similar to what West says in TOB Exp. about the engaged couple.

His point is not to deny the grace of marriage, which he writes about in other places as Eden notes. His point is that marriage doesn’t justify lust. That’s quite a different point, and one that Eden fails to consider. So she is setting up another straw man.

The point that West makes is a basic one that concerns not just marriage but all the sacraments. The sacraments have their own power and are efficacious due to the grace of Christ. But their effect also depends on our dispositions. As the Catechism puts it: “…the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: by the very fact of the action’s being performed”), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all….. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.” (no. 1128).

Certainly if people receive the sacrament of marriage with good dispositions, its grace does heal and strengthen them. West knows that and does not deny it. But if someone receives the sacrament without the proper interior dispositions, it doesn’t act as if by magic to change them against their will. That’s really all that West is saying, a point that St. Paul noted in regard to the Eucharist: “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor 11:29).

Further discussion of continence
Then Eden proceeds to discuss continence more. I find her treatment of this matter a bit convoluted, but will do my best to unravel what kind of charge she is making against West and to compare that against what both he and John Paul II really say.

Thomistic sense of continence
Eden refers to West’s understanding of the Thomistic sense of continence—that it is not a virtue in the full sense—and references the Summa (I-II, q. 58, a. 3, ad 2, where Thomas says it falls short of virtue). (ET, 43) Eden adds that West says the engaged couple who are continent out of fear of temptation lack the right desire.(Prof. Janet Smith has shown here how West uses the term in many different ways.

More analysis of continence and virtue

Eden says West begins accurately (ET 44), since St. Thomas does say that continence is an incomplete virtue. John Paul also notes that continence always acts in connection with other virtues. She quotes from the Pope, using a quotation that West also uses on p. 565 of TOB Exp. Eden continues with her key point: “There, however, the accord ends--while West emphasizes that a couple must advance beyond mere continence prior to marriage, John Paul’s language makes it clear that such advancement naturally takes place within marriage.” This is a very important point for Eden. She believes that West proposes a different view of continence than John Paul does.

The problem with Eden’s view here is that West does believe what John Paul says that such advancement in virtues takes place within marriage, as the rest of this evaluation of her argument will show. As noted above, West’s recommendation to engaged couples to seek mature purity doesn’t mean he’s denying they can grow in such purity within marriage. He is simply saying it would be good if they advanced more in purity prior to marriage.

An excursus on continence
In an excursus Eden deals with an objection West might raise to her interpretation of John Paul on continence: West could counter that when John Paul describes continence as a virtue, he is defining it as something other than Thomas’ definition, who said it is “something less than a virtue.” (ET, 58) (This refers to West’s argument in TOB Explained, p. 564f.)

On page 58 Eden says West “‘chastitizes’ [a word Eden coins but doesn't define, so I can't explain what she means by it.] John Paul’s instruction on growth in continence. The Pope, by this account, is no longer speaking to beginners in virtue; rather, he is addressing those who are already pure, advising them to become more pure. Since John Paul’s instruction in this area is addressed to married couples, such an interpretation enables West to claim that engaged couples must progress through ‘unvirtuous’ continence to ‘virtue’—that is, chastity—before marriage.”

I fing this to be a rather strange argument. I think she means that according to West, the Pope’s talks to married people presuppose they are already pure (because they are married) and he is only telling them how to be more pure. This allows West to maintain that since the married are expected to be already pure, the engaged couple should reach this before marriage. (That is, according to Eden’s interpretation. I don’t believe West is really saying that.)

To defend her interpretation Eden refers to West’s argument on pp. 564-565 of TOB Exp. That section of the book deals with continence in relation to the teaching of Humanae Vitae. He’s talking about married couples, since that’s whom the pope is addressing in regard to Humanae Vitae. On pp. 566-567 West begins a section where he talks about how married couples can advance in virtue through self-mastery. West does not say anywhere here that it’s a question of simply telling those who are already pure how to become more pure. West talks about how married couples can grow in self-mastery, and even compares it to strength training. He quotes John Paul: “conjugal chastity (and chastity in general) manifests itself at first as the ability to resist the concupiscence of the flesh.” That’s continence. That entire section shows that West does indeed understand and maintain the very point that Eden says he denies: that continence can develop into a virtue – and not only for those who already are pure -- within a sacramental marriage.

Later Eden says: “There is, then, no ground for claiming John Paul is departing from continuity and inventing a vocabulary on this topic, nor is there ground for West’s inference that the pope expects couples to possess habitual temperance prior to receiving the graces of the sacrament of matrimony.”
But who is claiming that John Paul is inventing a vocabulary? Not West, as Eden is saying he does. Her assertion doesn’t follow at all. It’s a complete non sequitur. Yet Eden uses this assertion as one of the reasons for making her further claim that West is breaking the hermeneutic of continuity.

At this point, my own suggestion would be this: To bring greater clarity to this discussion, I think it would be better for West to contrast the virtue of continence with the virtue of temperance, instead of contrasting continence with virtue. His point would still be made, since Thomas shows that continence is inferior to temperance. West would just have to explain the difference between the two virtues. Hopefully, it would satisfy his critics who see in his language grounds for criticism, unfounded as that may be.

Gradualness of virtue

Eden then presents some quotations from John Paul where he stresses the gradualness of the development of virtue and a progressive growth in self-control, and that this takes place within marriage. West would completely agree with that point. In a previous post I have already dealt with this concern.

Another excursus

Eden says West “fails to acknowledge the extent to which John Paul II follows the theological categories and terminology of the Paul VI encyclical. As a result, the true depth of John Paul’s catechesis becomes obscured; he becomes a ‘revolutionary’ who thinks as the Church, but not with the Church. This lacuna in West’s presentation is clear, as we have seen, in his assumption that John Paul is using a different definition of continence than that of St. Thomas. We see it also in his failure to recognize that John Paul’s catechesis on continence are meant to add depth and context specifically to Humanae Vitae’s description of ‘self-mastery.’”

Her claim about West misunderstanding Humanae Vitae’s categories and terminology is an odd one. She offers no evidence to support it at all. It’s countered by the in-depth explanation of the encyclical that West offers in TOB Exp.

That claim in turn is the basis for her next one, that West is turning John Paul into a revolutionary. Again, this claim has no support and just doesn’t follow from anything that Eden has said. I’ve already noted how her claim that this follows from the discussion on continence is a non sequitur.

The point of Eden’s excursus, however, seems to be to reinforce that “Humanae Vitae stresses that the virtuous fruits of self-mastery—that is, the virtue that results from habitual temperance—are acquired within marriage.”

Again, as the quotations from West above indicate, he agrees with this assessment, despite Eden’s unfounded claim that this is “the point he seems to miss.” I’ll just add one more quote from West: “John Paul says that if the key element of the spirituality of spouses is love, this love is by its nature linked with the chastity that is manifested as self-mastery. Such self-mastery is also known as continence.” (TOB Exp. p. 564). West continues to deepen this subject in the section entitled “Continence Purifies and Deepens Marital Union “ (pp. 569-571).

Eden then returns to the story of the engaged couple, but I have dealt with that above. She concludes this section with a final quote from John Paul:

By contrast, John Paul—following Humanae Vitae and, through that encyclical, the historical teachings of the Church—affirms that it is precisely the graces received at the altar that render the couple capable of the "spiritual blessings" of marriage (Humanae Vitae 21), through which is "gradually [revealed in them] the singular capacity to perceive, love and practice those meanings of the language of the body which remain altogether unknown to concupiscence itself."

West also uses this quote on page 567 of TOB Exp. (Did Eden perhaps not notice that?) After quoting John Paul, West goes on to unpack that quote and bring out its implications.

Conclusion

It’s taken me almost 10 pages to present and evaluate Eden’s central argument—also presented in about 10 pages-- that West misunderstands the virtue of continence and presents a false understanding of the requirements of marriage. This again underlines how unsustainable is Eden’s claim to have done a “comprehensive overview” of West’s work. To do justice to his work would require a much more intensive analysis than the superficial one that she presents.

I have no doubt that Eden is convinced she is doing some service to the Church in trying to point out and correct what she considers to be West’s errors. But after examining and evaluating the central claim of her thesis that West misunderstands continence, I have to conclude as follows:

1. Eden’s analysis is uninformed because she fails to consider significant parts of West’s work that would affect her claim, as I have shown above (for example, in ignoring his many statements where he affirms the grace of marriage to help people grow in virtue, and ignoring the extended treatment of continence as a virtue found in TOB Explained).

2. Eden’s analysis is misinformed because she asserts what is not the case, basing her claims on a faulty analysis of his writings, as I have also shown above (for example, her claim that West is inventing a vocabulary for John Paul and this means West is breaking the hermeneutic of continuity).

Eden’s analysis is also unfair in that she regularly interprets West’s words in an implausible fashion and she attributes to him positions that are clearly not his.

3. Eden’s analysis is illogical at least in certain points, as I have shown above in her arguments that are actually non sequiturs. At least twice, Eden even uses quotations from Pope John Paul to prove her point, apparently not realizing that West also uses those same quotations in his discussion of the subject, showing he understands exactly what John Paul means. This is certainly not a very convincing way to support her ideas, and suggests that she didn’t read the sources very carefully. Her argument about West’s understanding of continence is essentially a straw man. As Eden has said, this point is one of her main arguments and concerns about West that she considers in her thesis. Yet it doesn’t stand up to examination. As a result, her thesis collapses. At this point I am not going to critique any more of her thesis, for the problems already noted with it show that her conclusions cannot be sustained.

I wish Dawn Eden well as she continues her further studies. As her work on chastity has shown along with her book The Thrill of the Chaste, she has a lot of talent and can be an incredible asset to the Church’s evangelizing mission.

Putting Christopher West in Context: A Critique of Dawn Eden's Thesis

2010-09-30T11:13:00.000-04:00

This rather long post is also available in a PDF file here or here on Google docs if anyone wants to share it or here on docstoc)

In today’s media culture, people often find themselves afloat on a sea of information, carried here and there by currents they can’t control. All this makes it difficult to find the time and resources to investigate things they hear. For some time now criticisms of Christopher West and his presentation of Pope John Paul’s theology of the body (TOB) have been swirling among Catholic blogs, websites, and news outlets.

The latest waves started rolling in this last summer, when Dawn Eden released her master’s thesis critiquing West’s work: Towards a “Climate of Chastity:” Bringing Catechesis on the Theology of the Body into the Hermeneutic of Continuity. Believing that West’s presentation is skewed, Eden attempts to point out what she considers his errors, and to offer positive suggestions to catechists so that they may give a fuller and more accurate account of the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage and sex.

Christopher West has been a pioneer in presenting TOB to audiences of ordinary, average Catholics, most of whom have never heard of John Paul II’s talks on the subject. The Pope spoke on the topic for about five years, using language that even theologians found difficult to understand. He brought to this work his long years of study in philosophy. John Paul drew on modern philosophical categories and used concepts drawn from personalistic ways of thinking. He wanted to use these ideas in support of Catholic teaching, to find a new language to talk to people of today. To take those ideas and present them to average Catholics, who often have no formal training in philosophy or theology, is quite a task. West deserves tremendous credit for being a pioneer in this field. Any pioneer will blaze some trails that may veer off course a bit. As his associates will testify, West has always been willing to consider a course correction or new route when this was indicated.

But not all advice is sound advice. It has to be weighed, considered, and sometimes even rejected. Sound advice comes from a solid knowledge of the territory, one that knows the obstacles as well as the opportunities the explorer faces. West has been forging ahead in this territory for over fifteen years. His work has comprised several books, many recorded presentations, and countless lectures, classes, courses, columns, and talks. In her thesis, Dawn Eden took on a large project in giving what she calls “a comprehensive overview of West’s presentation of TOB.” To fairly evaluate it would require her to follow the development of all his teaching as it has unfolded over the past decade. That’s quite a project. Does any fair-minded observer really think it’s possible to accomplish this project in a master's thesis of under 100 pages? Actually, she even says she carries out the comprehensive overview of his work in chapter one, a mere fifteen pages. To be fair to West, she would need to also contextualize his teachings so as to present them objectively without any distortion. Moreover, she cites his major work, Theology of the Body Explained rarely; surely that text should have been the primary text of her assessment.

The thesis gives little sense of how West’s work has developed. For example, as Michael Waldstein has attested, West changed some aspects of his presentation in view of the new translation of the Pope’s talks. Waldstein’s translation involved certain changes in structure and vocabulary that had an impact on the correct presentation of TOB. West spent much time communicating with Waldstein and tailored his presentation to reflect new insights gained. Yet Eden mentions nothing of this major development. A casual reader, not knowing this background, could easily come away with the impression that West has been doing the same thing for fifteen years. Instead, the constant feedback he gets, especially from his live audiences, has helped him tailor his presentation to better meet their needs.

Eden’s Overview of West’s Work

But on to Eden’s overview. First, she gives some background data and biographical info about West. Eden thinks that West excessively emphasizes that a certain repressive approach to sexual issues has troubled the Catholic Church for a long time, and still does. She says, “Because he uses his own experiences to support this point, it is relevant here to explore those aspects of his upbringing that informed his understanding of the attitudes he believes are ingrained in ‘most Christians.’” So Eden discusses the time that West’s family spent in the Mother of God community. Evidently this community was very strict, especially about sexual matters. In her thesis, Eden speculates about how this experience has affected West’s presentation of TOB. Essentially, she thinks that it gave him the idea that too many Catholics are affected by sexual repression and prudishness.

Even though West himself may have mentioned details of his experiences in that community, she doesn’t quote any statement where he himself states what impact these experiences had on him and how that may have affected his presentation of TOB. By venturing into this area, Eden goes outside the academic arena and tries to psychoanalyze West. This is shaky ground indeed. And by using this argument, Eden can’t object if attentive readers start to wonder if her critique of West has been shaped by her own life experiences. As she herself narrates in her book The Thrill of the Chaste, Eden was raised in a Jewish family, in an atmosphere free of any supposed Catholic prudishness. She fell into the unchaste lifestyle so common today, although she later embraced chastity when she converted to Christianity (and to Catholicism in 2006). Could it be that these experiences, so vastly different from West’s, have prevented her from realizing the extent to which Catholics have indeed been affected by a certain type of Jansenistic spirit and repressiveness? Even if this is not a universal problem, it does exist, and West speaks to it. Nonetheless, to spend so much time on West’s personal history and so little time on his major work is a strange focus for an academic work.

The Ten Major Themes

In her thesis, Eden lists ten themes that she says are the major themes in Christopher West's work. She also listed them in the talk she gave at her defense.

Her listing of these themes raises the question: how did she determine that these themes are in fact the major ones of West's work? She doesn't explain her criteria for selecting them. Do these ten themes actually represent the distillation of West's work? If West himself were to summarize his work in ten themes, would he choose these or something else? Do these themes really capture the essence of his work? Are there others that could have been included? West is basing his themes on John Paul, and several other important themes could be noted, such as the communion of persons, spousal meaning of the body, shame, receptivity, celibacy for the sake of the kingdom, the new evangelization and the culture of death, and most importantly, the theme of self-gift. It is also quite surprising that the subject of contraception is not included, since John Paul himself said one of his main purposes in presenting his TOB was to give a better support and defense of the teaching of Humanae Vitae. West has been a notable defender of this Church teaching.

If Eden wants to critique all of West's work, she needs to be absolutely sure that she is presenting his work accurately. Her synthesis is certainly open to debate. She seems to have selected themes that better suit her criticisms of West, while omitting others that are more fundamental but not so open to criticism. This leaves Eden's thesis vulnerable, since her critique assumes her reading of West corresponds to what he is actually saying, but it may not. Again, this relates to the difficulty already mentioned, that Eden has taken on such a broad project that she can't do it justice.

Eden treats each theme quite briefly. Just to reiterate, this is surprising in light of her claim that she is presenting a comprehensive overview. She simply states the themes without saying much else about them. Rather, she presents the themes in such a way that the reader tends to get a negative impression of West’s work. This is partly due to the use of selective quotes, many of which seem to have been picked for sounding somewhat provocative. This impression is reinforced by the use of quotes around many short words and phrases, and sometimes even just one word. This method of quoting raises some red flags that West is being taken out of context. In many cases, closer examination of these quotes shows that indeed he is.
Nor does Eden compare West’s treatment of these themes to what John Paul says in TOB, in order to assess if West’s presentation accords with John Paul’s.

The First Theme

Eden’s first theme is: “The TOB is an all-encompassing theology that requires theologians and religious educators to recontextualize ‘everything’ about Christian faith and life.” She adds: “It ‘isn’t just about sex and marriage”; it is a ‘revolution’ that ‘will lead to a dramatic development of thinking about the Creed.’”

First let me note that as Eden says in a footnote, “recontextualize” is her term, not West’s. She should have also noted that he never implied or said that theologians and religious educators should do anything concerning “everything about Christian faith and life.” At least Eden cites no passages to indicate that West thought that. She tells us we can find the “everything” quote in an essay by West entitled, “What is the Theology of the Body and Why is it Changing So Many Lives?” But the word “everything” does not appear in that column.

Here in fact is what he does say (which seems to be the source of her claim):

In short, through an in-depth reflection on the Scriptures, John Paul seeks to answer two of the most important, universal questions: (1) “What does it mean to be human?” and (2) “How do I live my life in a way that brings true happiness and fulfillment?” The Pope’s teaching, therefore, isn’t just about sex and marriage. Since our creation as male and female is the “fundamental fact of human existence” (Feb 13, 1980), the theology of the body affords “the rediscovery of the meaning of the whole of existence, the meaning of life” (Oct 29, 80).

The last part of that sentence is from Pope John Paul. The Pope does indeed indicate that TOB affects our whole existence-- but neither he nor West say that theologians and educators need to “recontextualize” (or do anything in regard to) “everything” about “faith and life.” What John Paul says and West follows is that TOB allows us to “rediscover” truths we have lost sight of. This view is truly in the context of a hermeneutic of continuity. There is no break. The very passage that Eden says shows that West wants to change “everything,” in fact says the opposite. Our understanding of TOB will change how we view reality, but there is no suggestion of a change in Church teaching. This mistake seriously vitiates her claim that West’s views violate a hermeneutic of continuity. The two questions that West raises in relation to this show that the “everything” TOB affects should be understood to primarily concern the way we live our own lives.

We’re barely into the first sentence of Eden’s first major theme, and already the way she quotes West takes him out of context and gives the reader a false impression of what he is really saying.

The point about TOB affecting the Creed is from a passage by George Weigel in Witness to Hope, discussing how TOB will shape theology in many areas. Surely it will. Does Eden doubt that? Neither Weigel nor West suggest there will be any changes in the Creed; rather it is clear they are referring to a deepening of our understanding of the Creed. Again, Eden just cites the claim almost as if it were ridiculous on the face of it; she does not tell us what Weigel means by this or how West uses Weigel’s statement or why it is objectionable.

Imago Dei

Eden then brings up the idea of locating the imago Dei not only in the individual person, but as John Paul said, “through the communion … which man and woman form right from the beginning” as a dramatic development. This important idea– and top scholars such as Cardinal Angelo Scola believe it is a new idea (“The Nuptial Mystery: A Perspective for Systematic Theology” Communio 30 (Spring 2003). -- says that we image God not just because we are rational, but through the communion of persons.

Eden says that “In West’s view, this [the imago Dei as communion] means that the male human body and the female human body, understood within the call to marital union, contain within themselves the entire content of the mysteries of the Christian faith.” That’s her interpretation of West. Notice she says that West places this content in the body itself. To illustrate this she quotes from West:

“This is to say that everything God wants to tell us on earth about who he is, the meaning of life, the reason he created us, how we are to live, as well as our ultimate destiny, is contained somehow in the meaning of the human body and the call of male and female to become ‘one body’ in marriage.”

Two points here. First, West says all this is contained in the meaning of the human body, not simply the body. This is an important distinction, but Eden is simply equating the two things.

Second, what West is actually referring to in this paragraph (“this is to say”) is not the imago Dei. Instead, he is referring to the call to nuptial love inscribed in our bodies. Eden doesn’t quote what he says immediately before the above paragraph, which places this quote in its proper context. Here it is:

“As John Paul shows us, the question of sexuality and marriage is not a peripheral issue. In fact, he says the call to "nuptial love" inscribed in our bodies is "the fundamental element of human existence in the world" (General Audience 1/16/80). In light of Ephesians 5, he even says that the ultimate truth about the "great mystery" of marriage "is in a certain sense the central theme of the whole of revelation, its central reality" (General Audience 9/8/82).”
"This is to say...." (as above).

So this is another example of how Eden does not always accurately represent West’s thought. By quoting him out of context, she’s suggesting that his ideas about the nuptial mystery actually refers to the imago Dei. And in an academic thesis, that's sloppy.
But there’s one more thing. What does Pope John Paul say about this issue? Referring to the spousal analogy in Ephesians 5, he says: “Given its importance, this mystery is great indeed: as God’s salvific plan for humanity, that mystery is in some sense the central theme of the whole of revelation, its central reality. It is what God as Creator and Father wishes above all to transmit to mankind in his Word” (TOB 93:2)

The claim to the centrality of this mystery (the spousal analogy) is actually coming from John Paul.

The Second Theme

Eden states the second theme as: “The ‘sexual revolution’ was a ‘happy fault.’”

Eden doesn’t explain why she considers this a major theme, although West does mention it at times. The index to Theology of the Body Explained has six entries for the sexual revolution, although not all of them speak of it as a happy fault (an obvious reference to the Easter liturgy speaking of original sin as a happy fault). It seems odd to consider this a major theme when other much more important ones are omitted. The index entry under contraception, for example, has 14 subheads, many with several references.

But the revolution theme does fit Eden’s critique of West in reference to the hermeneutic of discontinuity. In this is she carefully reading an author to determine what that author actually means, or is she reading him in order to find support for her own pre-determined view of his work? Is it possible that contraception is omitted from the ten major themes because West clearly supports Church teaching and tradition on this subject, thus countering Eden’s idea that West is so revolutionary that he is actually rupturing Catholic tradition?

The Third Theme

The third theme is “‘Dumpster’ vs. ‘banquet’—two contrasting means of satisfying ‘hunger.’”

West does refer to this theme often; whether often enough for it to constitute one of his ten major themes isn’t clear. But surely West’s critics will agree that he is right in consigning pornography to the dumpster—exactly where it belongs.

The Fourth Theme

The fourth theme is: “The nuptial analogy is the primary means by which the faithful should understand their relationship to God—and ‘nuptial’ is to be envisioned in sexual terms.”

She continues, quoting West, “With this image in mind, God’s action upon the human person should be understood as ‘impregnation,’ with the Virgin Mary as model: “[T]he spousal imagery throughout all of Scripture [teaches us] that God wants to ‘marry’ us. Furthermore, through this mystical marriage, the divine Bridegroom wants to fill us, ‘impregnate’ us with divine life. In the Virgin Mary, this becomes a living reality.’ This is true for men and women. ‘The key to authentic masculinity’ is seeing oneself as a bride of Christ. ‘Don’t worry, guys—it doesn’t mean we have to wear a wedding dress or anything. It means, essentially, that we, as creatures, have to learn how to open and ‘receive’ the love of the Creator.”

(I will use the word "spousal" instead of "nuptial," since Dr. Michael Waldstein indicates this is the better translation of the term John Paul uses.) Is West really saying that “‘spousal’ is to be envisioned in sexual terms”? On the basis of these brief quotes, it might seem so. But what happens when you look at the fuller context of the quotes from West?
He says: “The Song of Songs teaches us – as does the spousal imagery throughout all of Scripture – that God wants to "marry" us. Furthermore, through this mystical marriage, the divine Bridegroom wants to fill us, "impregnate" us with divine life. In the Virgin Mary, this becomes a living reality. And this, as the Catechism says, is why "Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church’s mystery as ‘the bride without spot or wrinkle’" (CCC 773).”
Right before this paragraph he indicates he’s taking his basic idea from a passage in True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. The word “impregnate” might seem to give it a more sexual nuance. But if you look up that word on dictionary.com, you’ll find five meanings, only the first of which is directly related to procreation. The meaning West intends is from the third definition, “to cause to be infused or permeated throughout, as with a substance; saturate: to impregnate a handkerchief with cheap perfume.” West is stressing that God fills us with divine life. He uses the example of Mary in this particular article (with its relation to pregnancy) because he’s writing at Christmastime about the Incarnation. Context is important.

Men and receptivity

What about the second quote concerning men and receptivity? It might seem provocative because of the wedding dress. But here’s the whole passage:

“‘Spousal prayer’ means, very simply, to open oneself wholly and completely to Christ, surrendering to him in a union of love like a bride surrenders to the loving embrace of her bridegroom. And, yes, as uncomfortable as this might seem for men at first, this includes us too. As John Paul II wrote in Mulieris Dignitatem, "According to [the spousal analogy], all human beings - both women and men - are called through the Church, to be the 'Bride' of Christ, the Redeemer of the world. In this way 'being the bride,' and thus the 'feminine' element, becomes a symbol of all that is 'human" (MD 25). (Don't worry, guys - it doesn't mean we have to wear a wedding dress or anything. It means, essentially, that we, as creatures, have to learn how to open and "receive" the love of the Creator. This is not a threat to our masculinity, but the key to authentic masculinity.)”

Why did Eden leave out the quote West uses from John Paul, who is the real source of the idea? Omitting it gives the impression West is a bit more provocative than he really is. In fact, in that same paragraph of MD, the Pope adds: “In the Church every human being—male and female—is the ‘Bride,’ in that he or she accepts the gift of the love of Christ the Redeemer, and seeks to respond to it with the gift of his or her own person.”

In all of this, West's basic point is actually drawn from John Paul--something that Eden doesn't make clear. West is presenting John Paul's thought in a popular way. It may not appeal to everyone, and that’s fine. But many people have found it useful in better understanding what TOB is all about.

Further, in his Theology of the Body Explained, West carefully considers the proper understanding of the spousal analogy (pp. 28-30). He quotes Cardinal Angelo Scola, writing in The Nuptial Mystery:
[An excessive or ‘maximalist’ interpretation] “ultimately tends toward an anthropomorphic deformation of our understanding of God, and even into introducing sexuality into God himself… Its underlying logic, whether its proponents intend it to or not, ultimately makes the claim that spousal categories are…the only categories fit to illuminate Christian dogma. To move in this direction is to engage in bad theology.” West continues, “For all the value of the spousal analogy, it is critical (lest we end in heresy!) to recognize its limits.” He continues for another two pages to consider both excessive and minimalistic interpretations of this analogy.

Since Eden’s criticism of West centers on this very idea, it is hard to understand why she omits citing this important discussion. Even if she thinks West has tended toward the maximalist side, in fairness to him she needs to alert readers to this passage in order to indicate his true thinking on the matter.

The Fifth Theme

The fifth theme is: “ ‘[T]he whole reality of the Church’s prayer and sacramental-liturgical life is modeled on the union of spouses.’”

This theme gets into the question of how we are to understand certain liturgical symbols and gestures in light of the spousal mystery. Eden thinks West goes too far in this direction, especially in citing his reference to the Easter candle as a phallic symbol. Later in the thesis, Eden offers some useful information on this topic and makes a good case that it should not be understood in this manner. Liturgists may disagree on this question, yet the liturgy certainly has spousal references in speaking of the baptismal font as the womb of the Church bringing forth new children. Again, it is hard to understand why Eden thinks this is a “theme” in West; he rarely speaks of the Easter Candle and speaks of liturgy in proportion to the way that John Paul II speaks of it.

The Sixth Theme

The sixth theme is: “‘The joy of sex—in all its orgasmic grandeur—is meant to be a foretaste in some way of the joys of heaven.’”

West does make some comparisons in this area, but it doesn’t qualify as a major theme of his work. Perhaps Eden chose it since it fits into her later criticism that West oversexualizes Church teaching.

West does discuss at greater length, however, the way that marriage and conjugal union foreshadows heavenly union. “Earthly marriage serves as the indispensable precursor to heavenly marriage. Of course, in order for marriage to prepare people for heaven, the earthly model must accurately image the divine prototype. John Paul describes marriage as ‘a sacrament of the human “beginning.”’ As man’s origin, marital intercourse enables man to have a future not merely in the historical dimensions but also in the eschatological. Thus John Paul observes that every man brings into the world his vocation to share in the future resurrection because his origin lies in the marriage (more specifically, the marital embrace) of his parents. In this way marriage fulfills an ‘irreplaceable service’ with regard to man’s ultimate destiny.” (TOB Explained, p. 448.)

The Seventh Theme

The seventh theme is: “‘God created sexual desire as the power to love as he loves.’”

Eden uses only a few quotations here. They could have been supplemented by an explanation of what West actually means by sexual desire: “…sexual desire as God intended it to be [is] the desire to make a free and sincere gift of self according to the true meaning of love and the spousal meaning of the body.” (TOB Explained, p. 566). It’s important to note that West does not see authentic sexual desire as selfish or oriented to lust in any way, but toward true love and self-sacrifice. Nor does West mean that “sexual desire” itself leads us to love as God loves – it is the understanding of “sexual love as it was meant to be” (my emphasis) that leads to God’s love. West says precisely this not only in the passage from TOB just cited but in a passage from Heaven’s Song that Eden cites later in her thesis (33). She routinely fails to acknowledge the precise meaning of West’s claims.

The Eighth Theme

The eighth theme is: “‘Mature purity’ enables ‘liberation from concupiscence.’”

This is indeed a major theme of West’s work, and probably the flashpoint that draws the most criticism—and the most misunderstanding. A thorough discussion would require a book-length thesis. Let me just say here that West is basing himself on John Paul’s explanation of Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount as the new ethos of the Gospel. This new ethos calls us to overcome lust in our hearts at a very deep level.
While we can never completely overcome concupiscence in this life, through grace we can achieve a significant victory over it. It doesn’t come easy; we have to struggle. Yet this very struggle is a way of holiness.

Aquinas and the virtues

A good explanation of this point comes from St. Thomas Aquinas, in an article where he explains why the virtue of temperance (a cardinal virtue) is superior to that of continence: In article 4 of question 155 of the Summa Theologiae (II-II), Thomas very clearly says that temperance is higher than continence (he states two meanings of continence and is speaking of its second meaning as “the resistance to strongly running wrongful lusts.” He says “…temperance is much fuller than continence, for the value of a virtue is admirable because it is charged with intelligence. Now intelligence burgeons more in the temperate than in the continent, because by temperance the sensory appetite itself is subordinated and as it were wholly possessed by mind, whereas with continence its low desires remain rebellious. To sum up, continence is to temperance as the unripe to the fully mature.” (emphasis added; Blackfriars edition)

That’s exactly what West intends to convey. Virtue reaches even to the well-ordering of our passions. St. Thomas did hold that it is possible to overcome the dominance of the sensory appetite even in this life—we call that ability the virtue of temperance. That doesn’t mean that we’re totally free of concupiscence, because that’s not possible this side of heaven. But with the help of grace we can certainly achieve a significant victory.

Also relevant to this question is the way Thomas views the relation of virtues to the passions (I-II, q. 59). He says, “the more perfect a virtue is, the more it causes passion” (a. 5). He means passions that are under the control of reason. One passion is joy, and the more perfect the virtue, the more it causes joy. A person who acts virtuously with joy is at a higher level than one who is still struggling in the purgative stage, finding it hard to give up sin. Those who struggle through with “white-knuckle chastity” (ie. The “unripe”) are acting virtuously (although they do not yet possess the fullness of virtue), but those who have grown beyond that to ease and joy in chastity truly possess virtue (ie, the “fully mature.”). It seems that St. Thomas was speaking of “mature purity” long before West ever did.

The Ninth Theme

The ninth theme is: “‘The Song of Songs is of great importance to a proper understanding of Christianity.’”

John Paul certainly devoted a great deal of attention to this book in his audiences, and West is following him in that. Many mystics and saints found this book to perfectly express their longing for deep union with God.

The great Scripture exegete Origen said in his commentary on this book:
“The Scripture before us, therefore, speaks of this love with which the blessed soul is kindled and inflamed toward the Word of God; it sings by the Spirit the song of the marriage whereby the Church is joined and allied to Christ the heavenly Bridegroom, desiring to be united to him through the Word, so that she may conceive by him and be saved through this chaste begetting of children, when they—conceived as they are indeed of the seed of the Word of God, and born and brought forth by the spotless Church, or by the soul that seeks nothing bodily, nothing material, but is aflame with the single love of the Word of God—shall have persevered in faith and holiness with sobriety. These are the considerations that have occurred to us thus far regarding the love or charity that is set forth in this marriage-hymn that is the Song of Songs.” (Song of Songs: Commentary, Prologue, 3).

The Tenth Theme

Finally, the last theme is: “The meaning of marriage is encapsulated in ‘intercourse.’”

Eden disposes of this important subject in three sentences.

I think it would be more accurate to say that West maintains that the sign of marriage is encapsulated in intercourse. He has an extended discussion of this topic on pages 463-467 of TOB Explained. He treats of the importance of conjugal union as the sacramental sign of marriage, but goes to great lengths to explain it is not limited to that:
“So, does the liturgical exchange of vows make up the sign? Do the man and woman themselves make up the sign? Does conjugal intercourse make up the sign? Does the whole of married life make up the sign? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. The entire reality of the gift of man and woman to each other ‘until death’ is the unrepeatable sign of marriage. And, as John Paul says, this is a “sign with …manifold contents” (TOB 105:6).

Just another example of how Eden’s incomplete treatment of West’s thought serves to distort it and to leave the wrong impression in the mind of the reader. A thorough treatment of just a few of these topics would have required lengthy discussions. As it is, we do not learn much about West; we learn more about how West can be misunderstood when he is not read carefully.

This brings us to the end of the ten themes, and I am going to stop here. In the final analysis, Eden fails to make a convincing case against West because she often takes him out of context, fails to thoroughly consider his complete position on various issues, and does not fully take into account his major work. The debate about TOB will surely continue. As it unfolds, may it do so in a spirit of charity and truth, for in the end “faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). And ultimately, isn’t that what TOB is all about?

Angels: Help from on High

2010-09-29T11:07:00.004-04:00

Today, the feast of the angels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, is the perfect day to announce the new book I have written: Angels: Help from on High

It will be available in a few weeks; right now it's still at the printer. The book is a great overview of Catholic teaching on the angels. It covers both doctrine and devotion. The doctrinal part draws from St. Thomas, who wrote a great deal about the angels. Besides general teaching on the angels, it has chapters on the three archangels, guardian angels, Mary and the angels, and a section of prayers and devotions to the angels. It also contains true stories from various persons who believe they were helped by their angels, sometimes in extraordinary ways.

The Human Person

2010-09-28T11:01:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Sarah Reinhard for a great review of our book The Human Person by Fr Brian Bransfield. I edited this book and it was great working with Fr. Brian. It's also very satisfying to know that the book is meeting a need and that people find it very helpful.

In this book, Fr Brian takes a unique approach to TOB. He puts it in the context of what was happening in the wider world that made the need for TOB so acute. He shows how John Paul wanted to respond to the changes in the world that had come about through the industrial revolution, the sexual revolution, and all the developments in the mass media of communications.

Women, Sex, and the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching

2010-09-24T20:01:00.004-04:00

Last evening we had a book launch at Boston College for Women, Sex, and the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching.

This project brought together a group of talented women who are experts in their field. Most of them have written books on the subject matter of their respective chapters. They know what they’re talking about.

They cover the material in a unique way, from a pro-woman perspective rooted in Catholic teaching. They show that these teachings of the Church, which are so controversial today, are in fact pro-woman. To this end they not only discuss doctrine and moral teachings, but do so in a way that takes into account solid data from sociology and other fields. The book, then, is not just theoretical, but it shows what happens in a society when sexual morality breaks down on a massive scale. The end result hurts people.

This book complements other titles that Pauline Books & Media has published in this area, especially those concerning the theology of the body. Pope John Paul often spoke of the spousal meaning of the body, a meaning which he defined as “the power to express love: precisely that love in which the human person becomes a gift and—through this gift—fulfills the very meaning of his or her being and existence.” And quoting the text from Gaudium et Spes that he used so often, human persons cannot fully find themselves except through a sincere gift of self.” (TOB 15:1; p. 185).

The book also includes a chapter explaining Catholic doctrine concerning the ordination of only men to the priesthood. That chapter is written by Sr Sara Butler, one of the foremost experts in the field who explains this teaching lucidly and succinctly.

Concupiscence and the two bishops

2010-09-21T19:54:00.006-04:00

The story of the two bishops is the famous story that Christopher West often uses in talking about concupiscence. When he talks about it in Theology of the Body Explained, it is part of his commentary on John Paul's talks 38 and 39 (as numbered in the Waldstein translation.)

Before talking about the two bishops, it's important to understand what the Pope is saying in those talks (which appear in the section in TOB entitled “Whoever Looks to Desire…’). This section is part of chapter 2: "Christ Appeals to the Human Heart."

In this chapter, the pope speaks about Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount concerning adultery committed in the heart. Talks 38 and 39 are in a sub-section "Commandment and Ethos." There, John Paul compares and contrasts the Old Testament Wisdom tradition on purity of heart with the new ethos of the Gospel. John Paul makes the following important points:

1. Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount are “a direct transition to the new ethos” p. 278 (TOB 38:1)

2. John Paul says that Jesus shifts the meaning of adultery from the body to the heart: “It [this shift] consists of words about desire.”

3. The man who “looks to desire” is the man of concupiscence p. 279 (TOB 38:2) “…because he shares in the concupiscence of the body, he ‘desires’ and ‘looks to desire.’”

4. John Paul says that in the Wisdom tradition, woman “appears more often as an occasion of sin” ie., the woman herself is seen as the occasion of sin. This is important as it will shape societal norms about modesty. (The ultimate expression of seeing woman herself as an occasion of sin is the burqua--not a Catholic concept.)

5. On the text, “Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman” (Sirach 9:8), John Paul comments: “We might say they [the Wisdom texts] develop a specific moral psychology, though without falling into psychologism” (TOB 38:5) This is interesting because on the previous page he had said that in regard to concupiscence, “we are concerned here not only with a psychological interpretation, but at the same time with a theological interpretation” (TOB 38:2); he seems to be saying that the Wisdom texts are concerned with the moral psychology, but we need to go deeper and that is what Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount.

6. John Paul says that “They [the Wisdom texts] are in some way close to Christ’s appeal to the ‘heart’ reported by Matthew (see 5:27-28) though one cannot say that they show any tendency to transform ethos in a fundamental way. The authors of these books use their knowledge of human interiority to teach morals within the limits of the ethos that prevailed in their historical period and that was substantially confirmed by them” (TOB 38:5).

7. “Such a transformation of ethos had to await the Sermon on the Mount” TOB 38:6

8. In TOB 39 John Paul moves on to examine this more closely. He speaks of "looking with desire"; the desire is still an interior act of the heart expressed in the way of looking at the woman “The look expresses what is in the heart. The look, I would say, expresses man as a whole. If one assumes in general that man ‘acts in conformity with what he is,’ (operari sequitur esse [operation follows being]), in the present case Christ wants to show that man ‘looks’ in conformity with what he is: intueri sequitur esse [looking follows being.] Through the look, man shows himself on the outside and to others; above all he shows what he perceives in his ‘interior.” (TOB 39:4)

9. John Paul says: “Already in the look, ‘in the way one looks,’ it is possible to grasp fully what concupiscence is. Let us try to explain it. [Lustful] ‘desiring,’ ‘looking to desire,’ indicates an experience of the value of the body in which its spousal meaning ceases to be spousal precisely because of concupiscence.” (TOB 39:4)

10. When “Christ says, ‘Whoever looks at a woman to desire her,’ that is, whoever looks with concupiscence, ‘has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’… Does he not mean to say thereby that precisely concupiscence—like adultery—is an inner detachment from the spousal meaning of the body?” (TOB 39:5)

John Paul's thought here could be summed up as: Who we are is how we look.

Looking follows being.

This is the crucial point, that the look, and the way one looks, with concupiscent desire or not, comes from the heart.

The other crucial point is that John Paul is very clear that Jesus is speaking of a new ethos. This new ethos fundamentally transforms the way we need to understand the Wisdom texts of the Old Testament. The new ethos is only made possible through the grace of Christ.

Concupiscent desire violates the spousal meaning of the body.

All of this is important to keep in mind in thinking about and evaluating the story of the two bishops and concupiscence.

But more on that later.

The two meanings of concupiscence

2010-09-13T10:08:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend I re-read some of John Paul's talks relating to the current TOB debate. In talk 43 (pg 299) he makes a very helpful distinction between two meanings of concupiscence.
The first is concupiscence as an act.
The second is concupiscence of the flesh, a permanent disposition in human nature.

That gave me a lot of food for thought. It seems that sometimes in the debate the two meanings are used interchangeably, leading to confusion. At least that's my take after reading some of the blog posts and comments at various sites. Does it seem that way to you? How do you think this distinction might help us to move forward in the debate?

John Paul said:

"It is not possible to reach this second reading of the words of Mt 5:27-28 [about adultery committed in the heart] without taking into account what constitutes its specific theological character, namely, the organic relationship between concupiscence (as an act) and the concupiscence of the flesh as, so to speak, a permanent disposition that derives from human sinfulness."

Christopher West and the grace of marriage

2010-09-10T21:42:00.003-04:00

In the article on CNA about Christopher West ending his sabbatical, the following item appears in relation to the controversy around him:

“Eden said in a September 8 e-mail to CNA that one of her main criticisms is West's account of the development of the virtue of chastity. The danger of West's approach, she explained, is that it denies the power of the Sacrament of Marriage to turn the imperfect virtue of continence into the perfect virtue of marital chastity. Instead, West claims that perfect marital chastity is a prerequisite for marriage, which, says Eden, is not what the Church believes.”

Does West really claim that perfect marital chastity is required before marriage, and does he really deny the power of the sacrament of marriage to help a couple grow in virtue?

Here are some things he has said about it; you decide. (All quotes are taken from TOB Explained unless otherwise noted; emphasis added except in quotes from John Paul).

Here is what West says about the grace of marriage in the context of spousal and redemptive love according to Ephesians:

“They [spouses] must be aware of the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out in Christ’s death and resurrection. They must allow the life and love of Christ to vivify their entire body-soul personalities. To the extent that men and women are not vivified in this way, the distortions of concupiscence will continue to obscure the ‘great mystery’ inscribed in their bodies. But to the degree that spouses allow their lusts to be ‘crucified with Christ’ (see Gal 5:24), the grace poured out in and through the sacraments (including, if not especially, the sacrament of Marriage) can free spouses (and men and women in general) from the blinding effects of concupiscence. The more we cooperate with this grace, the more the scales fall off our eyes.” (pg. 449)

In a discussion on the best translation of the term remedium concupiscentiae, West says he prefers “remedy for concupiscence” rather than “relief”: “While ‘relief’ implies mere indulgence of concupiscent desire, ‘remedy’ implies that the grace of marriage offers a healing of concupiscent desire.” (pg 225). And healing of concupiscent desire means growth in virtue, a growth that West obviously understands is taking place in marriage.

In the discussion of continence in the context of Humanae Vitae, West says: “John Paul observes that ‘conjugal chastity (and chastity in general) manifests itself at first as the ability to resist the concupiscence of the flesh.’ Then, the more such mastery is acquired, the more chastity ‘gradually reveals itself as a singular ability to perceive, love, and realize those meanings of the ‘language of the body’ that remain completely unknown to concupiscence itself’ (TOB 128:2).” West then continues, quoting the Catholic Catechism “’Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life.’ (no. 2342). If men and women are to acquire self-mastery, they must commit themselves to a progressive education in self-control of their will, their sentiments, and their emotions. And this must develop, according to John Paul, by beginning with the simplest gestures in which it is relatively easy to put the inner decision into practice.” (pg 567). Remember that in the context here he is speaking about Humanae Vitae, which obviously means he is speaking about married couples.

In a section entitled “Continence Purified and Deepens Spousal Union,” West speaks about how the virtue of continence matures in a married couple. In this entire section he is speaking of spouses; again the wider context is the discussion of Humanae Vitae. To the objection that it is too hard to practice periodic continence and this can lead to tension and conflict in a marriage, West says, “If self-control leads to the latter [tension and conflict], the solution is not to abandon self-control. This would only justify the unrestrained indulgence of concupiscence, leading to far worse conflict. The solution is to open to the conversion of heart that leads to authentic virtue.” In the next paragraph he says, “As the virtue matures…” It’s obvious that he believes that imperfect virtue can mature in a marriage with the help of grace. (pg 569-570).

The following is from an article on his website:
"Since it was man and woman’s turning away from God that distorted their relationship in the first place, it makes sense that restoring marriage requires a radical return to God. Thus, an authentic theology of marriage is not only informational but, above all, transformational. It calls couples to a life of ongoing personal conversion. Only as spouses renounce themselves and take up their crosses to follow Christ can they experience the true joys of marriage that God ardently wishes to shower upon them." "Ongoing personal conversion" doesn't sound to me as if he thinks couples have to be perfect in virtue before their marriage.

A

Another contribution to the TOB debate

2010-09-09T19:52:00.004-04:00

A blogger named Wade St. Onge has offered a very thoughtful contribution to the current debate on TOB. He is trying to offer a way of looking at it that takes the good things from both sides. While I would have some differences with his positions on various points, it is a very thoughtful critique and one that is remarkable for being free of polemics and bias.

Christopher West ends sabbatical

2010-09-09T17:39:00.003-04:00

Christopher West issued a statement about his sabbatical, which has just ended. He says he will address criticisms of his work in a series of forthcoming articles.
I think it's good that he's going to address the issues around the TOB debate, and I'll be looking forward to see what he has to say about it.

Mary's birthday

2010-09-08T19:53:00.003-04:00

Today, September 8, the Church celebrates the liturgical feast of the birth of Mary.
There are only two other birthdays celebrated in the liturgy: Jesus, of course, and John the Baptist.
Today's Marian feast occurs exactly 9 months after the celebration of her Immaculate Conception on December 8. Naturally, the date was picked to coordinate the two feasts, because we don't know the actual date Mary was born.

The Immaculate Conception highlights her privilege of being conceived without original sin. But her birth can make us feel a little closer to her as a human being. Even though Mary was completely free of all sin, she was born into a sinful world and suffered from the sins of others. Perhaps having no sin herself, she was acutely aware of the evil face of sin in all its forms. It must have been a great suffering for her to see its evidence in the world around her.

But as a loving mother she is always close to us. I recall a homily preached for this feast, in which the priest talked about a difficult and problematic situation he had to deal with. He didn't know what to do to resolve the problem. It happened that while he was praying about it one year on this date, he decided he would just give the whole situation to Mary as a sort of "birthday present." Well, nothing happened for a little while. But then, a few months later on the priest's own birthday, there was a breakthrough and the problem got resolved. It was Mary's birthday present to him.

Advice from St. Thomas: If you're down, have a good cry

2010-09-01T09:28:00.003-04:00

St. Thomas' reputation as a formidable philosopher and theologian can sometimes make us forget he was also completely down to earth. For example, he says that if you're feeling blue, have a good cry. It's a great way to deal with the pain.

First, he quotes an authority, in this case St. Augustine:

Augustine says (Confess. iv, 7) that when he mourned the death of his friend, "in groans and in tears alone did he find some little refreshment."

Then Thomas explains why crying is good:

"Tears and groans naturally assuage sorrow: and this for two reasons. First, because a hurtful thing hurts yet more if we keep it shut up, because the soul is more intent on it: whereas if it be allowed to escape, the soul's intention is dispersed as it were on outward things, so that the inward sorrow is lessened. This is why people, burdened with sorrow, make outward show of their sorrow, by tears or groans or even by words, their sorrow is assuaged.

"Secondly, because an action that befits a person according to his actual disposition is always pleasant to him. Now tears and groans are actions befitting a person who is in sorrow or pain; and consequently they become pleasant to him. Since then, as stated above (Article 1), every pleasure assuages sorrow or pain somewhat, it follows that sorrow is assuaged by weeping and groans."
(Summa Theologiae, I-II, question 38, article 2.)

So the next time you feel those tears coming on, feel free to indulge with the blessing of Aquinas!

In Spiritu et Veritate: Thomas Aquinas and the Summa Theologiae: Week Two

2010-08-31T19:23:00.001-04:00

In Spiritu et Veritate: Thomas Aquinas and the Summa Theologiae: Week Two

Fr Gerald Mendoza, OP, is just beginning a "tour of the Summa" that will examine the more significant parts of St. Thomas' great work.

The surfing nun

2010-08-30T11:25:00.005-04:00

The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will be hosting a surfing competition to raise funds needed for maintenance and repair of their buildings.

You go girl!

Janet Smith on conscience

2010-08-29T21:36:00.002-04:00

A recent guest editorial in the National Catholic Register by Dr Janet Smith is worth reading. She addresses the problem posed by Catholics who are confused about conscience and Church teaching.

The spousal analogy and the cross

2010-08-29T11:58:00.004-04:00

The first time I ever heard about the spousal analogy was in a talk by Bishop Sheen. I was only a teenager at the time, and Bishop Sheen was speaking about Christ's union with the Church. He said that it was on the marriage bed of the cross that Christ consummated his union with the Church. I specifically remember he used the words "marriage bed" and "consummated" because it shocked my pious young ears. Yet as Bishop Sheen went on to explain his point, it became clear to me what he was talking about. He was basing himself on Ephesians 5, where St Paul speaks about Christ giving himself up for the Church. And he did this on the cross--giving up his life for the sake of his bride, the Church.

The connection between the spousal analogy and the cross is an important point. Christopher West brings this out in his Theology of the Body Explained, page 390: "The cross of Christ is planted in the ground under the feet of this spousal analogy. Here we witness the totality of Christ's spousal love for the Church." Then he quotes John Paul, "That gift of self to the Father through obedience to the point of death (see Phil 2:8) is at the same time, according to Ephesians, an act of 'giving himself for the Church."

West also brings this out in an article on the basic theology of marriage:

"If men and women are to experience marriage as God intended it “in the beginning,” they must consciously renounce all that is contrary to God’s plan and continually surrender themselves to the grace of redemption. The cross of Christ, therefore, lies at the center of the Church’s theology of marriage.
Since it was man and woman’s turning away from God that distorted their relationship in the first place, it makes sense that restoring marriage requires a radical return to God. Thus, an authentic theology of marriage is not only informational but, above all, transformational. It calls couples to a life of ongoing personal conversion. Only as spouses renounce themselves and take up their crosses to follow Christ can they experience the true joys of marriage that God ardently wishes to shower upon them."

I would like to draw attention to the words, "The cross of Christ, therefore, lies at the center of the Church’s theology of marriage." That's an important statement. I am bringing it out here because in the current controversy over West's presentation of TOB, I believe some of his critics are overlooking statements such as this in order to accuse him of a pan-sexualism.

TOB and the spousal analogy

2010-08-27T17:03:00.012-04:00

The spousal analogy is a key point in TOB, and in her thesis on Christopher West’s work, Dawn Eden includes it as one of the ten major points. She summarizes West’s understanding of it as follows:
“The nuptial analogy is the primary means by which the faithful should understand their relationship to God—and ‘nuptial’ is to be envisioned in sexual terms.”
She continues, quoting West, “With this image in mind, God’s action upon the human person should be understood as ‘impregnation,’ with the Virgin Mary as model: “[T]he spousal imagery throughout all of Scripture [teaches us] that God wants to ‘marry’ us. Furthermore, through this mystical marriage, the divine Bridegroom wants to fill us, ‘impregnate’ us with divine life. In the Virgin Mary, this becomes a living reality.’ This is true for men and women. ‘The key to authentic masculinity’ is seeing oneself as a bride of Christ. ‘Don’t worry, guys—it doesn’t mean we have to wear a wedding dress or anything. It means, essentially, that we, as creatures, have to learn how to open and ‘receive’ the love of the Creator.”

[note: I will use the word "spousal" instead of "nuptial," since Dr. Michael Waldstein indicates this is the better translation of the term John Paul uses.] Is West really saying that “‘spousal’ is to be envisioned in sexual terms”? On the basis of these brief quotes, it might seem so. But what happens when you look at the fuller context of the quotes from West?
He says: “The Song of Songs teaches us – as does the spousal imagery throughout all of Scripture – that God wants to "marry" us. Furthermore, through this mystical marriage, the divine Bridegroom wants to fill us, "impregnate" us with divine life. In the Virgin Mary, this becomes a living reality. And this, as the Catechism says, is why "Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church’s mystery as ‘the bride without spot or wrinkle’" (CCC 773).”
Right before this paragraph he indicates he’s taking his basic idea from a passage in True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. The word “impregnate” might seem to give it a more sexual nuance. But if you look up that word on dictionary.com, you’ll find five meanings, only the first of which is directly related to procreation. The meaning West intends is from the third definition, “to cause to be infused or permeated throughout, as with a substance; saturate: to impregnate a handkerchief with cheap perfume.” West is stressing that God fills us with divine life. He uses the example of Mary in this particular article (with its relation to pregnancy) because he’s writing at Christmastime about the Incarnation. Context is important.

What about the second quote concerning men and receptivity? It might seem provocative because of the wedding dress. But here’s the whole passage:

“ ‘Spousal prayer’ means, very simply, to open oneself wholly and completely to Christ, surrendering to him in a union of love like a bride surrenders to the loving embrace of her bridegroom. And, yes, as uncomfortable as this might seem for men at first, this includes us too. As John Paul II wrote in Mulieris Dignitatem, "According to [the spousal analogy], all human beings - both women and men - are called through the Church, to be the 'Bride' of Christ, the Redeemer of the world. In this way 'being the bride,' and thus the 'feminine' element, becomes a symbol of all that is 'human" (MD 25). (Don't worry, guys - it doesn't mean we have to wear a wedding dress or anything. It means, essentially, that we, as creatures, have to learn how to open and "receive" the love of the Creator. This is not a threat to our masculinity, but the key to authentic masculinity.)”

I wonder why Dawn left out the quote West uses from John Paul, who is the real source of the idea. Omitting it gives the impression West is a bit more provocative than he really is. In fact, in that same paragraph of MD, the Pope adds: “In the Church every human being—male and female—is the ‘Bride,’ in that he or she accepts the gift of the love of Christ the Redeemer, and seeks to respond to it with the gift of his or her own person.”

In all of this, West's basic point is actually drawn from John Paul--something that Dawn doesn't make clear. West is presenting John Paul's thought in a popular way. If West's approach doesn't appeal to you, that's fine. Don’t read him. Use whatever other way you prefer. As I saw firsthand at the TOB Congress, more and more people are developing a wide variety of approaches to breaking open John Paul's thought, and that's all to the good.

TOB Congress

2010-08-06T11:29:00.002-04:00

Last week I attended the TOB Congress near Philadelphia, and it was wonderful.
The most powerful thing for me was to meet people coming from the grassroots whose lives have been affected by TOB in a very positive way. For example, I met one woman (from a diocese known to be quite liberal ever since Vatican II) who spoke about how she found out about TOB on her own. It revitalized her marriage and family life, and in her enthusiasm she went to her parish priest and got other people involved, and they held a TOB event at the diocesan level with the bishop's approval. It's a movement that's growing from the grassroots up. It's not a top-down movement. People were asking how they could get their priests interested and involved. It's quite a phenomenon.

Anyway, I'm going to be on vacation starting this afternoon. I'm bringing with me Waldstein's translation to go over some of the talks again. They're like a rich mine that never stops producing gold.

Teaching TOB with delicacy

2010-08-05T15:41:00.002-04:00

People have left some great comments, and I'd like to highlight one left by Barbara, who can always be counted on to add some very insightful points to a conversation:

"Success has encouraged Chris to push more and more into developing an always more populist approach to the Theology of the Body. I find the results of the straining after populism in some TOB speakers to be lacking in reverence, and even crass. As St. Paul said, 'Some things should never be mentioned among you.' I also like Emily Dickinson here: 'They speak of hallowed things aloud, and embarrass my dog.'"

Sr Helena also said something about this too:

"Christopher used to be explicit/graphic when he spoke in the beginning, but he has since retired this style (as have other TOB speakers). I am adamant about that. That's the beauty of TOB, we talk about sex/the body in a theological context that respects modesty, a mixed group, various ages, etc. If a man is talking about TOB in a men's prison or something, it might be fitting to be more explicit/graphic. But TOB is not sex education, biology, anatomy, etc. It's theology. I also agree that we have to be careful about sexualizing everything."

I was speaking about this point to another person, who observed that it seems to be male TOB speakers who tend to push the envelope on this point. She said that this could relate to the TOB idea that the male "initiates the gift," but if it's a situation where it's not appropriate, it comes across almost as a violation.
Your thoughts on that?

TOB Award

2010-08-05T11:39:00.003-04:00

During the first National Theology of the Body Congress, the Theology
of the Body Institute honored Pauline Books & Media with an inaugural award for their work on John Paul II’s groundbreaking catechesis on the human person. The award was inscribed with the following: “In recognition for your pioneering work and outstanding achievements in educating others about and promoting Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body Daughters of St. Paul.”

Pauline Books & Media (PBM) has a long and distinguished history with John Paul II’s work, beginning in 1981 when the publishing house compiled JPII’s general audiences on his perspective of the human person into the book Original Unity of Man & Woman. PBM followed up that bestselling title with another volume of the Pope’s talks in 1983 titled Blessed Are the Pure of Heart: Sermon on the Mount, leading to Reflections on Humanae Vitae: Conjugal Morality & Spirituality (1984) and Theology of Marriage & Celibacy (1986). Most recently Pauline Books has published Michael Waldstein's outstanding translation of the Pope's Catecheses, delivered in Italian during his general audiences.

Eden and West, an example

2010-08-04T21:35:00.007-04:00

One commenter said: “You insinuate that there is reason to believe that Dawn's assessment of West is inaccurate and yet you don't even begin to suggest why that might be the case.”

He evidently didn't read what I already wrote. But I will give more examples, taking one point at a time for discussion.

Under theme 1, which is that TOB is an all-encompassing theology, Dawn brings up the idea of locating the imago Dei not only in the individual person, but as John Paul said, “through the communion … which man and woman form right from the beginning.” This important idea says that we image God not just because we are rational, but through the communion of persons.

Dawn says that “In West’s view, this [the imago Dei as communion] means that the male human body and the female human body, understood within the call to marital union, contain within themselves the entire content of the mysteries of the Christian faith.” That’s her interpretation of West. Notice she says that West places this content in the body itself. To illustrate this she quotes from West:

“This is to say that everything God wants to tell us on earth about who he is, the meaning of life, the reason he created us, how we are to live, as well as our ultimate destiny, is contained somehow in the meaning of the human body and the call of male and female to become "one body" in marriage.”

Two points here. First, West says all this is contained in the meaning of the human body, not simply the body. This is an important distinction, but Dawn is simply equating the two things.

Second, what West is actually referring to in this paragraph (“this is to say”) is not the imago Dei. Instead, he is referring to the call to nuptial love inscribed in our bodies. Dawn doesn’t quote what he says immediately before the above paragraph, which places this quote in its proper context. Here it is:

“As John Paul shows us, the question of sexuality and marriage is not a peripheral issue. In fact, he says the call to "nuptial love" inscribed in our bodies is "the fundamental element of human existence in the world" (General Audience 1/16/80). In light of Ephesians 5, he even says that the ultimate truth about the "great mystery" of marriage "is in a certain sense the central theme of the whole of revelation, its central reality" (General Audience 9/8/82).”
"This is to say...." (as above).

So this is an example of what I mean by saying that Dawn does not always accurately represent West’s thought. By quoting him out of context, she’s suggesting that his thought about the nuptial mystery actually refers to the imago Dei. And in an academic thesis, that's sloppy.
But there’s one more thing. What does Pope John Paul say about this issue? Referring to the spousal analogy in Ephesians 5, he says: “Given its importance, this mystery is great indeed: as God’s salvific plan for humanity, that mystery is in some sense the central theme of the whole of revelation, its central reality. It is what God as Creator and Father wishes above all to transmit to mankind in his Word” (TOB 93:2)

The claim to the centrality of this mystery (the spousal analogy) is actually coming from John Paul.
The West article can be found here.

The scandal of the body

2010-08-04T17:01:00.004-04:00

I'm continuing to reflect on some issues raised by Dawn Eden's thesis about C. West.
Let me stress again that I have the utmost respect for both Dawn and Christopher. They're both evangelizing the world in their own way and that's a great thing. This is strictly about ideas, not persons. Some commenters asked for more specifics, so here is one point.

Dawn raises the point that in her view, C. West's approach fosters a lack of respect for the past:
"Christopher West asserts that the theology of the body is "revolutionary" because "previous generations of Christians" grew up under the burden of a "repressive approach" to sexual issues. His intention is to counter a popular myth—the idea that the Church is, as he puts it, "down on sex." However, in countering the one myth, he inadvertently fuels another—the idea that, in the wake of Vatican II, we are "building a new Church," a Church that is fundamentally different from that which preceded it. His praise on Pope John Paul II is predicated on the repeated assumption, sometimes explicit, that the preconciliar Church was stodgy and prudish. While he no doubt intends to promote charity and unity, his approach effectively encourages division and disdain for our past."

Is it really true that West fosters disdain for our Catholic past? I went back to see what he says about it in Theology of the Body Explained where he treats this issue [of disdain for the body] in the prologue. On page 12, he quotes John Paul in the Letter to Families as tracing this problem to Cartesian dualism: "Unfortunately, Western thought, with the development of modern rationalism, has been gradually moving away from [the teaching about God and man which was brought to fulfillment by Christ.] The philosopher who formulated the principle... 'I think,therefore I am' [Descartes], also gave the modern concept of man its distinctive dualistic character. It is typical of rationalism to make a radical contrast in man between spirit and body, between body and spirit. But man is a person in the unity of his body and his spirit..." (n. 19, John Paul).

West then goes back even further to the ancient heresy of Manichaeism. That's where the problem of disdain for the body is also rooted. And that heresy has been around a long time in the Church. We can't deny that; it's a fact. It has affected Christians and Catholics through the ages. Paradoxically, Manichaeism leads to both prudishness on the one hand and libertinism on the other. By noting these things, West is not making a radical division between the Church today and in the past. That's where I think Dawn's claim is not accurate.

In his book, while noting the problem, West says, "Through the centuries the Church has defended the goodness of the physical world and the sacredness of the human body against many heresies..... Suspicion toward the body, sexuality, and the material world is not only alien to authentic Christian belief, but is its very antithesis. (pg. 22, 23).

I think that Dawn's claim of discontinuity doesn't hold up when you examine what West has really said. That's really the point that I wish to make here.

We can't pretend that heresies have never affected the Church for the worse. To note those things is just honest. It doesn't mean that we look at the past with disdain.

Dawn Eden vs. Christopher West Part 2

2010-08-04T11:17:00.003-04:00

In her thesis, Dawn lists ten themes that she says are the major themes in Christopher West's work. She also listed them in the talk she gave at her defense (near the bottom of that page).

Her listing of these themes raises the question: how did she determine that these themes are in fact the major ones of West's work? She doesn't explain her criteria for selecting them.
This leads to the further question: do these ten themes in fact represent the distillation of West's work? If West himself were to summarize his work in ten themes, would he choose these or something else? Do these themes really capture the essence of his work? Are there others that could have been included? West is basing his themes on John Paul, and several other important themes could be noted, such as the communion of persons, spousal meaning of the body, shame, receptivity, celibacy for the sake of the kingdom, the new evangelization and the culture of death, and most importantly, the theme of self-gift.

If Dawn wants to critique all of West's work, she needs to be absolutely sure that she is presenting his work accurately. Her synthesis is certainly open to debate. My personal opinion is that she's selecting themes that better suit her criticisms of West, and omitting others that are more fundamental but not so open to criticism. This leaves Dawn's thesis vulnerable, since her critique assumes her reading of West corresponds to what he is actually saying, but it may not. Again, this relates to the difficulty I mentioned in my first post, that Dawn has taken on a project that's so broad she can't do it justice.

Dawn Eden vs. Christopher West

2010-08-03T21:33:00.005-04:00

Dawn Eden has written her master's thesis critiquing the work of Christopher West. She was kind enough to send me a free copy and I read through it carefully. I admire Dawn and thank God for the grace of her conversion to the Catholic faith and the wonderful work she has been doing to promote chastity. She is the author of The Thrill of the Chaste and has had the courage to speak out for chastity even in a debate at a bar in NY.

I sent her some lengthy feedback that was more critical than favorable. Since discussion of this is going on in the Catholic blogosphere, I'd like to say something about it without revealing details of her thesis. (It can be obtained from her as she indicates: "In response to requests, I am making a revised edition of my master's thesis available as an eBook, as a gift to those who donate to support my doctoral studies. At the same time, it is available for free to priests, deacons, seminarians, and lay catechists who work in an official capacity for the Church (e.g. for a parish, diocese, or religious order)." Here's some intro:

My background in this area is as follows: For the past 16 years, I've been working in our apostolate as a developmental editor. I edited Christopher West's book Theology of the Body Explained (Pauline Books & Media). I also collaborated with Dr Michael Waldstein when we published his translation of the Pope's TOB talks. It was a privilege for me to have carried out this work. Both West and Waldstein are outstanding, dedicated Catholics who are working tirelessly to promote Catholic teaching.

My general impression of Dawn's thesis is that she took on a large project in giving “a comprehensive overview of West’s presentation of TOB.” Since much of West’s work has been in his speaking presentations, to fairly evaluate it would require her to follow the development of his teaching as it has unfolded over the past decade. That’s quite a project. It's so broad that I don't think it's even possible to do it in a master's thesis. To be fair to West, she would need to also contextualize his teachings so as to present them objectively without any distortion. In my opinion, the thesis does not accomplish this objective.

Since West is actively engaged in developing his work continually, her thesis may become dated quite quickly. This point also touches on the question of how West has responded to criticisms. I believe that he has made changes to his presentations in response to various types of feedback. In my personal work with him on his book, he was very open to constructive suggestions and willing to make edits when needed. I mention this because Dawn does not document how West has in fact made changes to his presentations after getting constructive criticism. If her goal is to give a comprehensive overview of West's presentations of TOB, that's a necessary part of the picture.

More to follow

What is your principal virtue?

2010-08-02T16:34:00.002-04:00

When I was in the novitiate, we were told about trying to find out what our "principal defect" was, that particular sin that caused us the most difficulty. The idea was to then work out ways to combat that defect and grow in virtue. It's certainly a valid approach especially for those just beginning in the spiritual life.

I recently read something from St Catherine of Siena where she talks about finding our "principal virtue." It's part of her Dialogue, where God is speaking to her. I like this idea of the principal virtue, because it's a good corrective to a perhaps overly negative approach of only looking at defects. One's principal virtue is the main one that God gives to the soul, and in practicing it, the other virtues grow too. It would be worthwhile to reflect on your special virtue and how you practice it.
Here's St Catherine:

"But among the many [virtues], there will be one that is like the head of the others. In other words, to one person I will give principally charity, and to another justice, and to another humility, to another lively faith, to others prudence, temperance, or patience, and to others fortitude. These virtues, and many others, I have put in my creature in different degrees. And so, that particular virtue which is placed in a soul can be identified as its principal virtue, and the soul makes it the center of everything, through it all other virtues are attained."

St Catherine of Siena on perseverance

2010-08-02T14:30:00.000-04:00

"I desire to see you constant and persevering in virtue,; for it is not the one who begins who is crowned, but only the one who perseveres."

Marie Van Wagner, RIP

2010-07-17T17:50:00.002-04:00

Left to right: Jean and Marie Van Wagner, me and my mother, Lorraine Trouve
July, 1994

Recently a dear friend of my mother passed away, Marie Van Wagner. She and my mother had been friends almost their whole lives. They first got to know each other while working at a company in NY City. After each of them got married, they both moved out to Long Island and lived within a few miles of each other. So I remember Marie from my earliest years. She was one of the few people outside my family whom I knew for my entire life until now.

Marie had four children (pictured above with her daughter Jean). She was a wonderful person, a woman of deep faith and convictions, a devout Catholic. In the photo above, we are pictured around the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which Marie happened to be hosting just then when I was home on vacation.

Marie also loved cats, and I remember how she always had a few around whom she would feed and take care of. If any strays showed up, she didn't have the heart to turn them away. Her kindness was proverbial in the neighborhood. She always treated all the children so well. In fact, one mother's day, a kid from the neighborhood was at home with his own family and his father asked, "Who's the best mother of them all?" He immediately said, "Mrs Van Wagner" -- much to the chagrin of his own mother who was sitting right there!

Marie had many sufferings in her life, and she always knew how to deal with them in a spirit of great faith. In these last years her health declined, and she died on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The reading that day from St. Paul's Second Letter to Timothy sums up her beautiful life:

"I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance."

I'm sure that when she passed into eternal life, Jesus and the Blessed Mother were there to welcome her: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord!"

Thank you, Marie, for the gift you have been in my life!

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

2010-07-16T11:21:00.001-04:00

Today’s feast, commonly associated with the scapular, can help us reflect on the Biblical theme concerning garments of salvation. The German word for scapular, “Gnadenkleid,” literally means “grace-garment.” Many references to garments and clothes are scattered throughout the Bible, beginning in Genesis: “And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them” (Gen 3:21). In their original state of innocence, they had no need for clothes. They were naked but not ashamed—this is what Pope John Paul called “original nakedness.”
But after their sin, our first parents lost their innocence and needed to be clothed. God’s tender action of making clothes for them can perhaps be seen as symbolizing the garments of grace that God would bestow through Jesus Christ.

Pure and clean garments came to symbolize grace and salvation, as the prophet Isaiah sang:
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

This imagery blends the spousal theme with that of garments of salvation. This text is used in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Garments signify the gifts of grace that God adorns us with inwardly.

The last book of the Bible, Revelation, picks up the theme of white garments to express the holiness of the saints, of those who have been through great trials and held fast to their faith: “Yet you still have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels” (Rev 3:4–5).
Among the several “blessings” in the book of Revelation, we find this one: “Blessed are those who wash their robes [in the blood of the Lamb] so that they will have the right to the tree of life” (22:14).

Perhaps today the scapular devotion is not as popular as it once was. But Catholicism, as a sacramental religion, uses such material symbols as signs of the deeper underlying inner reality of grace. The scapular is not meant to be something superstitious, like a talisman or a good luck charm. Wearing it expresses in a silent yet eloquent way our love for Mary and our confidence in her intercession and help.

Prayer

The following prayer, called Flower of Carmel, is attributed to St. Simon Stock:

O Beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a pure virgin, assist us in our necessity! O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother! Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us!

St Therese The way God led her

2010-07-15T18:01:00.002-04:00

Besides her autobiography, St Therese wrote quite a few letters. One that she wrote shortly before she made her first vows is so interesting. She is speaking of how she wants to go to the "mountain of love" -- the heights of love of God, the ascent of Mt Carmel that John of the Cross wrote about.

She told Jesus that she didn't care by what route he would bring her there, as long as she got to the top. Then she speaks of something so amazing. She says that Jesus made her understand that he would bring her there by a subterranean route--a way under the earth, to sort of mine the earth and then go up by a straight route.

But--it was a dark route. And that was exactly how Jesus led her, by the way of spiritual darkness in the night of faith. For more than a year before her death, Therese was plunged into absolute spiritual darkness--not only did she have no consolations, she experienced what can only be called a crucifixion of faith. She was tempted to the darkest places of atheism. She said that during that time, she made more acts of faith than in her whole previous life.

And she endured it all for unbelievers. She willingly suffered this trial of darkness so that those who were in spiritual darkness could find the light.

St. Therese Patroness of Dysfunctional Families?

2010-07-14T11:47:00.002-04:00

Recently I've been working on a project centering on St. Therese of Lisieux. Although I read her autobiography a long time ago, and prayed to her about my vocation before I entered the convent, I never really had a special devotion to her.

Something in the project made me realize, however, that she is very relevant to those who suffer from a major problem today: dysfunctional families. In particular, many people suffer from the lack of real love from their mother and/or father. Many children have been abandoned emotionally, as well as physically by absent parents, especially fathers.

Therese might seem like an odd patroness for these folks, because she came from an extremely loving and affectionate family. The tenderness and love she experienced in her happy home were exceptional. Both of her parents have been beatified. Yet Therese in her own way also suffered the pain of abandonment.

The first way was through the early death of her mother (from breast cancer) when Therese was only 4 years old. That kind of loss is a real trauma, especially for such a little child. To make up for it in some way, Therese chose her older sister Pauline as her "new Mama." Yet not so long after, Therese suffered another loss when Pauline entered Carmel. Therese later wrote: "I had suffered martyrdom getting accustomed to living without her, to seeing between me and her impassable walls. But finally I ended up by recognizing the sad reality: Pauline is lost to me, almost in the same manner as if she were dead."

Therese still had her father, Louis, whom she adored. Yet a painful trial awaited her in his later years. He suffered from some sort of mental ailment, possibly Alzheimer's or another type of dementia, and was no longer himself. He had to spend the last three years of his life in a mental hospital. In this way, Therese lost her much loved father while he was still alive. She suffered deeply from this. Perhaps God allowed her to experience this trial so that she could understand more deeply the pain of those who lack a father's love.

She promised she would send a shower of roses (graces) from heaven. One of those graces is the love destined to heal the hearts of those who suffer painful separations in their families.
St Therese, pray for us!

The Precious Blood of Jesus

2010-07-01T11:52:00.002-04:00

Today is the feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus, although in the USA it's not officially celebrated yet (because the new translation of the sacramentary is not yet ready.)

Here is a wonderful thought from St Clement, Bishop of Rome near the end of the first century, from his letter to the Corinthians:

"Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to the whole world."

And from the first letter of John: "The blood of his son Jesus cleanses us from all sin."

Fabulous discovery of Sts Peter & Paul icons

2010-06-23T11:24:00.003-04:00

This link is to a news story about the latest discoveries of icons in Rome. Using a special laser technique, researchers uncovered the oldest known devotional depictions of Saints Peter and Paul. Just in time for their feast on the 29th!

A day in the life....

2010-06-11T11:53:00.003-04:00

Sometimes people ask me what I do all day. Well, besides editing books, which is my main assignment right now, I do anything that comes along.
This morning, for example, I took a call from an elderly gentleman who had a question about our Weekday Missal. He thought at first that the missal was mistaken because it didn't match what was in the missalette at his parish.
But today is the feast of the Sacred Heart, so the text for that feast is on a different page in the missal. I walked him through it and explained more about the layout of the missal and where to find things.

But I found myself being edified by this man. He said he's recently started to go to daily Mass and said he wants to "turn my life around." God bless him! He told me he feels he should have been doing this years ago. But what matters now is today. And he's going to Mass and praying each day, now, today. I'm sure the Lord is very pleased with him. Jesus surely holds this man, and others like him, in the burning furnace of love that is his Sacred Heart.

Salt of the earth, light of the world

2010-06-08T10:41:00.002-04:00

Today's Gospel is the one where Jesus tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
Once I went to a talk by a Biblical scholar who specialized in studying the cultural life of the ancient world. He explained this parable in a way I had never heard of, but made so much sense.
In Jesus' day, he said, people did not use salt primarily in food. It was a hot climate with difficult access to water. Instead, they used it as part of their fuel for cooking. In what way?
This is the interesting part. They used "cakes" made out of animal dung for fires and cooking. And they put salt into these dung cakes to act as a catalyst. The salt made them catch fire easily.

So Jesus is really telling us that to be like salt, we need to be like the spark that sets the world on fire, on fire with love of God and neighbor.
In this context, the next image makes more sense: "You are the light of the world." We are the light because first, we are the salt that makes the fire burn.

New apps!

2010-06-02T09:32:00.001-04:00

Check out a new Catholic App in iTunes: Rosary Miracle Prayer. 100 images, audio of the Daughters of St. Paul praying the rosary, music from their internationally acclaimed choir, scripture readings and contemplative reflections…. The most comprehensive app for praying the rosary available. (Android available soon.) www.downloadsforcatholics.com.

Want a Catholic App for your iPhone? Try the just released Rosary Miracle Prayer available in the iTunes store. www.downloadsforcatholics.com.

Tired of praying the rosary alone? Try Rosary Miracle Prayer just released for iPhones and iPod Touch in the iTunes store. Pray the rosary with the Daughters of St. Paul and enjoy a choice of 100 images for contemplation and fantasic music. www.downloadsforcatholics.com. (Android available soon.)

Pauline Books and Media just released Rosary Miracle Prayer: a Catholic app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Check it out at: www.downloadsforcatholics.com.

Pope John Paul II encouraged us to deepen our praying of the rosary. Finally, an App that leads us in doing just that! Rosary Miracle Prayer at www.downloadsforcatholics.com. Available in iTunes. (Android version within a month.)

The Ascension

2010-05-13T17:37:00.001-04:00

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them.”
Boston’s Storrow Drive has a sign that reads “Reverse Curve” to alert drivers to an unexpected twist in the road. At some point in 2004 an ardent fan changed it to “reverse the curse,” referring to the superstition that Babe Ruth had cursed the Red Sox when they sold him to the Yankees. But when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 after a drought of 86 years, jubilant fans cheered that the “curse” had been broken.

We can laugh at such superstitious curses. The Bible, however, speaks of a more sinister curse, the curse of sin. That curse fell on the world when our first parents turned away from God and ushered in the long reign of sin and death. But today’s feast of the Ascension gives us cause to celebrate, for Jesus has fully conquered sin. He has truly “reversed the curse” that fell on the world as a result of Adam’s sin. The Ascension is the last stage of the work that Jesus came on earth to do. Through his passion and death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus conquered sin and redeemed the world. He returned to the Father, mission accomplished. The Gospel emphasizes this by noting how Jesus raised his hands in blessing: “As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.”

The blessing of Jesus, his final gift to us, touches us whenever we need it. He pours into us the grace we need to live as his disciples. We have not yet reached the finish line, so we still struggle with sin and face all kinds of difficulties. But Jesus stays with us through it all. We are not cursed, we are blessed, and for that we rejoice. Our rejoicing today is not that of jubilant sports fans savoring a fleeting moment of victory, but the rejoicing of those who know that in Jesus we have won the only victory that really matters.

Study links autism and vaccines from aborted babies

2010-04-23T20:44:00.001-04:00

A new study was released from the EPA that shows a link between vaccines using cells from aborted babies, and increased rates of autism. The study says 1988 was a turning point because that was when these cells were put into greater use.

Jesus, the Bread of Life

2010-04-23T11:40:00.003-04:00

All week long we have been reading from John's chapter 6, the discourse on the Bread of Life, the Eucharist.

“I am the bread of life.”
Do you want to live forever? How much would you pay for eternal life? I did an Internet search for the words “how to live forever” and got almost 52 million hits! Some people are going to great lengths to try and live forever, from having their dead bodies frozen in liquid nitrogen in hopes of future revival, to developing gene therapy that short-circuits the aging process. Perhaps a better question is: where do you want to live forever? Do you want to live forever on an earth filled with suffering and sadness, or do you want eternal life with God in the perfect happiness of heaven?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die…. whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus is telling us the secret of eternal life, the secret that so many desperate people are paying huge amounts of money to discover. It’s ironic and a little sad to see them go to such extraordinary lengths to get something that Jesus offers us freely. It’s like excavating a field to dig up a treasure that was sitting in plain sight. As Jesus tells us in this Gospel, faith is the key that unlocks the door to this treasure: “. . .whoever believes has eternal life.”

It takes faith to believe that the bread Jesus gives us is actually his Body and Blood, his “Flesh for the life of the world.” But when we receive the Eucharist with faith, Jesus gives us a pledge of eternal life. If we want to live forever, we don’t need to have our body frozen after death, or to undergo gene therapy. We only need to turn to Jesus with faith, eat his Body and drink his Blood, and after death he will meet us with open arms.

Religious freedom

2010-04-21T20:16:00.003-04:00

I just came across a great talk on religious freedom by Bishop Peter Ingham of the Australian Diocese of Wollongong (don't you love those Australian names!) He discusses the trend in some Western societies to tolerate everything except religion.

Easter egg hunt

2010-04-06T18:06:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

I would like to let you know about a personal decision that I have come to, after a process of much discernment and prayer.
This may come as a shock. I haven’t even informed my superiors about it.
As you know, this year I came in third in the Easter egg hunt. For the past two years I claimed the silver medal, and for years before that, too many for me to count, I was the undisputed champion of the Easter egg hunt. I really brought home the gold.

But the time has come, as it must for all athletes, to recognize that I have lost my golden touch. A gradual decline has set in.
Last year, I considered this option when I suffered the humiliation of having lost the contest to a little girl. I considered retiring from the Easter egg hunt. But no, I had to do it one more time.
So I did, and I came in third. At least it was a bronze. Some sisters gently suggested that it might be best to retire while I was still in the medals. What if next year I came in last? How could I ever endure that humiliation? It might be better to go out, if not in a blaze of glory, at least without egg on my face.
So, with a heavy heart, I am announcing my retirement from the Easter egg hunt.

It’s been a great run, and I’d like to thank everyone involved. As hard as this is for me to say this, it's over. There's only one way for me to play the game, and that's 100 percent. I have no regrets as I look back on my career. Sure, I would have liked to earn one more gold medal. But I look forward next year to hiding the eggs—I know all the best places!

Fairness for the Pope

2010-04-03T17:11:00.002-04:00

The New York Times has been leading the charge in accusing the pope of wrongdoing.
This editorial from the New York Post explains why the charges are false. It centers on the Wisconsin case that the pope is being blamed for, when in fact he was not to blame for anything. See link for details.

A thought for Good Friday

2010-04-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

From St Clement of Rome, an early pope:

"Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world."

St Gabriel and the Annunciation

2010-03-25T11:16:00.001-04:00

In a very real way, the angel Gabriel was the first evangelizer. How is that so? An evangelizer is someone who brings the Good News about Jesus Christ to others. After Gabriel greeted Mary, Luke tells us that Mary “was much perplexed by his [Gabriel’s] words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be” (Lk 1:29). Mary was deeply troubled so she asked a question: “How can this be, since I know not man?” Then Gabriel explained: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God” (Lk 1:35).

These words that Gabriel used about Jesus are the words that the early Church used to proclaim the Gospel in light of its Easter faith, that is, what the Church came to believe about Jesus because of his resurrection. Gabriel’s words actually reflect a standard formula that was used in early Christian preaching about Jesus. Scripture scholars have shown this by comparing this text to others. For example, a similar text is found in Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans, where he speaks of “the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power” (Rom 1:3–4). The scholars tell us that by using this formula, Luke’s text shows that Gabriel was actually proclaiming the Gospel to Mary. So we can truly say that Gabriel was an evangelizer. And Mary was the first person to hear the Gospel.

The annunciation

2010-03-25T11:14:00.001-04:00

Today is the feast of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel came to ask Mary to become the Mother of God. And how did Mary respond? Once she clearly understood what God was asking of her, Mary responded with faith. She immediately offered herself to the Lord. She wanted to cooperate with her whole being, her entire self. Mary’s reply, “Let it be done unto me,” expresses not just a half-hearted “all right,” but a wholehearted, “Yes, Lord! I want to do this. Send me!” Luke’s text itself indicates this, for he uses here a verb form that expresses an enthusiastic willingness, a readiness for action. Mary’s acceptance shows us the joy of giving ourselves wholeheartedly to God.

Mary’s “yes” at the Annunciation was a different kind of yes than the one Jesus said to his Father during the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. That was a yes said amid great suffering. Days of suffering come into all of our lives. And Mary too said another yes, a painful yes, as she stood at the foot of the cross on Calvary. But throughout our whole Christian life, joys and sorrows mingle. The angel’s words and Mary’s example at the Annunciation remind us that at the very deepest level, we can find happiness by accepting and acting on God’s word. Mother Thecla Merlo, the co-foundress of the Daughters of Saint Paul, put it well when she said, “Even if you cannot always be joyful, you can always be at peace.”

Health care hangover

2010-03-23T16:30:00.003-04:00

I've felt dispirited these past two days after the passage of the health care bill. This post is not to argue the merits of it. I'm just going to say that for many reasons I think it is a bad bill and will not accomplish what it sets out to do. In fact, just the opposite.

The worst part of it is that it now opens the way for federal funding of abortions. (See post below on why the executive order is a farce.) The Stupak collapse was sad to see. The icing on the cake was at this morning's signing, when Obama gave one of the pens he used to Sr Carol Keehan, CEO of the Catholic Healthcare Association. Sr Carol was a strong supporter of the bill and lobbied supposedly pro-life Congressmen to vote for it.

The Catholic moral principle is that we can never do evil so that good may result. To approve of a bill that would greatly expand abortion funding, and thus the number of abortions, is a serious sin. A mortal sin, the kind that kills the life of grace in the soul and separates us from Christ. It seems that few people talk about mortal sin anymore. But it's no less a reality for all that.
If the issue were slavery, we would see it more clearly. Who would ever approve of a health bill that would bring health care to many people, if it meant that other people would be enslaved? But for some reason, when it comes to abortion our moral compass often goes haywire. It points south instead of north. People say it's a necessary evil that we have to tolerate in order to bring about some other good.

With this I'm not judging Sr Carol's conscience, for only God can do that. I am saying that her actions gave grave scandal. I felt sick at heart over this, that a Catholic nun would stand by the side of the most pro-abortion president and cheer him on as with the stroke of a pen he snuffs out even more lives.

More and more, I have the sense that the time has come to take a stand. Enough with all the papering-over of dissent in the church. Enough with pretending that we can be Catholic and support legislation that will promote abortion, on the plea that it will do some other good. Enough with compromise.

The executive order is a smokescreen

2010-03-22T14:05:00.002-04:00

Some news reports are making it sound like the executive order Bart Stupak got will prevent federal funds from being used for abortions in the new health care regime. It won't; don't be deceived.

This is from Richard Doerflinger, of the USCCB pro-life office, explaining why the EO is meaningless:

“One proposal to address the serious problem in the Senate health care bill on abortion funding, specifically the direct appropriating of new funds that bypass the Hyde amendment, is to have the President issue an executive order against using these funds for abortion. Unfortunately, this proposal does not begin to address the problem, which arises from decades of federal appellate rulings that apply the principles of Roe v. Wade to federal health legislation. According to these rulings, such health legislation creates a statutory requirement for abortion funding, unless Congress clearly forbids such funding. That is why the Hyde amendment was needed in 1976, to stop Medicaid from funding 300,000 abortions a year. The statutory mandate construed by the courts would override any executive order or regulation. This is the unamimous view of our legal advisors and of the experts we have consulted on abortion jurisprudence. Only a change in the law enacted by Congress, not an executive order, can begin to address this very serious problem in the legislation.”

More on the nuns

2010-03-18T16:16:00.003-04:00

The USCCB's office for media relations has just released a statement about the nuns' statement. The office points out that the signers of the letter don't even come close to representing American sisters:

Washington—A recent letter from Network, a social justice lobby of sisters, grossly overstated whom they represent in a letter to Congress that was also released to media.

Network’s letter, about health care reform, was signed by a few dozen people, and despite what Network said, they do not come anywhere near representing 59,000 American sisters.

The letter had 55 signatories, some individuals, some groups of three to five persons. One endorser signed twice.

There are 793 religious communities in the United States.

The math is clear. Network is far off the mark.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh
Director of Media Relations
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Misguided nuns

2010-03-18T11:44:00.003-04:00

A group of nuns just released a letter urging Congress to support Obamacare. A story in the Boston Globe this morning said they represent 59,000 American nuns.

Wrong. They don't represent me.

Obamacare would be a universal nightmare.

1) It would greatly expand abortion funding. That means more abortions. Whatever you subsidize, you get more of. For unborn babies, Obamacare is DEAD WRONG.

2) It would be as efficient as other government entities. Think the post office. Think about your local DMV. (No offense to the people who work there; I just mean the whole system is inefficient.) Remember the story that came out a few months ago about NASA? That it lost pictures of the moon landing, one of the most historic events of our age? If they can't even keep track of that, what do you think would happen to your medical records?

3) It would drive doctors out of the profession and reduce access to care.

4) Rationing, rationing, rationing. People in the UK with cancer have lower survival rates because they don't have access to up to date treatments.

5) The bill does nothing for real medical reform, like tort reform. Lawsuits would continue to drive up costs for everyone.

6) Who pays? The US government is broke. It only survives by borrowing money from China. How much longer can that go on? The baby boomers are starting to retire and Social Security will be maxed out soon. A 2006 report in the journal of the St Louis Federal Reserve admitted that at the time, the US government had over 65 trillion in unfunded liabilities. And it's about to add a huge new entitlement program? At some point, if fiscal sanity is not restored, the whole thing will burst and no one will have anything. The check is NOT in the mail. This whole thing is a fraud because ultimately Uncle Sam can't afford to pay for everything for everybody. No one seems willing to admit that.

Real reform is needed, not this mess of a 2000+ page bill. No one even knows exactly what's in it. As Nancy Pelosi famously said recently, "We have to pass the bill so that you can know what's in it." Right, Nancy. Well said. We know exactly what you're up to. Not to mention the trick of "deeming" it passed without actually voting on it.

St Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T16:47:00.002-04:00

St Patrick's Day has been a bittersweet feast day for me ever since 1996. That year, my younger brother Louie died on March 17, from leukemia. He was only 33 years old.

I find myself thinking about him today. Gone too soon.

May he rest in peace.

Health bill

2010-03-17T10:50:00.003-04:00

Nancy Pelosi is planning to "deem" the health care bill passed instead of having the House actually vote on it.

If they go through with it, it will the day democracy dies in America.
Goodbye Constitution.

The health care bill will expand abortions

2010-03-16T20:04:00.002-04:00

From Jimmy Bell, a blogger at American Principles Project:

The Senate Health Care Reform Bill
• spends taxpayer dollars on health care plans that fund abortions,
• spends $12 billion on Community Health Centers that Planned Parenthood will be eligible for,
• gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius the right to declare abortion as a pre-existing condition to be covered under every health care plan in the federal exchange under the Mikulski Amendment,
• eliminates conscience protections for insurance providers,
• trip-wires the direct funding of abortions to potential expiration,
• and forces everyone, including men and old women, to pay at least $1 (to be raised under jurisdiction of Congress) to a fund for “reproductive rights” that will cover 100% of the cost for anyone who gets elective abortions.
To say that the Senate Health Care Reform Bill is the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade is an understatement.

Monday of Lent Week Three

2010-03-09T15:34:00.001-05:00

“There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

In today’s Gospel we see Jesus rejected by the people of Nazareth, his hometown. Jesus comments, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” In the section of the Gospel preceding this passage, Luke tells us that Jesus had begun his ministry in Galilee, and word about him spread rapidly. He returned to Nazareth and spoke in the synagogue, and Jesus’ neighbors were amazed at his words. They found him too much for them, and sarcastically said, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” They could have added, “We saw him grow up. We know his family and where he comes from. Where does he come off preaching to us?” They expected that if God were to speak to them, it would be in some extraordinary way. Jesus was just too ordinary.

Jesus reminded them about the story of Naaman the Syrian, who was cured of leprosy by the prophet Elisha. Naaman at first got angry at the prophet, who told him to wash in the Jordan. There was nothing special about that. Couldn’t he have just done that at home? But his servant reasoned with him, telling him that if the prophet had asked him to do something special, he would have done it. So why not do what he was asked, even if it seems too ordinary? Naaman let go of his preconceived idea, went down to the river to wash, and was cured.

Sometimes God shatters our expectations by working in ordinary ways, through ordinary people. But we can miss what God is doing if we always look for something extraordinary or expect him to act in spectacular ways. The sacraments use ordinary things: water, bread, wine, oil, words. They’re so ordinary that we might take them for granted and receive them routinely. Lent is a good time to pause and meditate on what we are doing when we participate in the Eucharist, and to receive it with fresh eyes and new love.