In Umbris Sancti Petri

I was listening to a great lecture series on the nature of prayer and I thought I’d put a little of what I learned here on the blog. The speaker, Father Herbie Alphonso, was pointing out the absolutely ridiculous ways we look at prayer and expect to get ‘good’ at it. I found this example helpful…

We never question the discipline of a great musician. We would find it absurd to ask them why they have spent so much time practicing scales and positions and not simply devoted their life to ‘jamming.’ Obviously, a musician needs to learn the basic disciplines of an instrument before having the freedom to play whatever they choose, and to add their own flavor to the music. Likewise, we would find it equally bizarre to ask a person with no musical background to provide us with an individual interpretation of Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto in C minor – they simply couldn’t do it.

Why are we the exact opposite when it comes to prayer? Why do we refuse to accept this basic truth where God is concerned? For example, what Christian doesn’t ask, “How am I supposed to learn to pray,” and then immediately allow no time for prayer anywhere in their day? We expect to learn without practice. That’s silly. But, even sillier is the fact that we expect to have the patience to practice without having a deep desire to learn. Even the pianist who drills and drills must have a desire to learn the scales (even if sometimes that isn’t very obvious). The same must be true for prayer: practice and doing cannot be separate from one another; if we want to learn to pray, we must simply pray, and if we pray, we must be willing to practice our prayer in deeper and deeper ways.

So how do we find the time to fit all this prayer into our day? (This wouldn’t be a Catholic answer without a little paradox, eh?) Saint Paul tells us quite plainly how to do it: pray without ceasing. Pray without stopping. Pray constantly. If we do this, we won’t have to worry about finding time, since all of our time will be occupied by the thing that matters most. If we spend our whole day in prayerful communion with God – in that deep friendship with God – we will both learn to pray ‘better,’ and desire to pray more. You can’t have one without the other.

[N.B. I wrote this post while on retreat last week and simply uploaded it once I got back.]

It’s only been two days of silence so far, but I have to say that these two days have been the best I’ve had since coming to Rome. The Lord never fails to amaze me with his overwhelming presence, particularly when we quiet ourselves enough to see the magnanimity of our God. I was exceptionally struck by something our retreat master, Monsignor Bill Lyons, said the other day, and I’ll write a little bit of that here for you to read.

We often get caught up – at least I do – thinking about what heaven is really like; how can such a place exist, and how are we supposed to think about it since we are simply fragile human beings incapable of understanding any great mystery? God dwells in heaven, and we live on earth. How will we ever be able to contemplate the reality heaven? It seems inaccessibly far from us most of the time, and yet we are called to nothing less than pondering heaven in this life and living a holiness that opens us ever more to the grace of God and the Salvation won for us on the Cross.

Perhaps we can think of it this way: heaven is nothing other than the veiling of the invisible God, who is still present in our very midst. In fact, the Kingdom of God is at hand – as Pope Benedict addresses in his reflections on the Our Father – and we must live a life that attests to that truth. In order to see this reality, however, we cannot separate ourselves from our God; instead, we need to learn to see Jesus Christ as both Lord and Friend. The friendship of God is precisely what bridges the gap between the inaccessible heaven and the all-too-real earth. He still remains the Almighty King, but at the same time desires for us to call him our ‘friend.’ The paradox of all paradoxes… But, how beautiful is it the Sovereign Lord of the universe would humble himself to such a degree? It is precisely this beauty – this undeniable beauty – that converts our hearts and eventually brings us to desire God’s friendship more than anything else in the world.

From our end here in Rome, we'll be taking the week off from posting. As part of the 'new men' schedule here at NAC, we will be having a week of silent retreat at the English Villa on Lake Albano (coincidentally the same lake that Pope Benedict XVI has his summer residence at - so, we'll still be "in umbris Sancti Petri"!) Please stay tuned, though, and expect a load of reflection-ridden posts when we return. Also, Andrew Reinhart may be posting in the coming week, and he always has good things to say.

Pray for us, and I will pray for all who have been reading this blog and will do so in the future. Thanks.

Sorry for the delay. Back to Pope Benedict’s look at the Our Father…

“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” – this third petition pretty well sums up the entity of our Christian faith; we ought to do nothing contrary to the Will of God, and do everything to promote its completion to the fullest extent. On this note, the Holy Father writes, “Two things are immediately clear from the words of this petition: God has a will with and for us and it must become the measure of our willing and being; and the essence of ‘heaven’ is that it is where God’s will is unswervingly done.” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 147)

Perhaps this would be an appropriate place for a brief reflection on heaven. Often, we consider heaven as the height of worldly paradise - maybe our version of Sandals resort in the sky - but in reality, it is much more (and much simpler) than that. "The essence of heaven," says the pope, "is oneness with God's will, the oneness of will and truth." (p. 147) In other words, there is nothing in heaven that is not totally in line with the Will of God, and our willingly loving Him back; heaven is perfect communion between God and man, where we will come to "know the fullness of joy" by seeing, unblemished by sin, the face of God. With regard to the Our Father, "Earth becomes 'heaven' when and insofar as God's will is done there; and it is merely 'earth,' the opposite of heaven, when and insofar as it withdraws from the will of God." (pp. 147-8)

So how do we come to know the Will of God? "The Holy Scriptures work on the premise that man has knowledge of God's will in his inmost heart, that anchored deeply within us there is a participation in God's knowing, which we call conscience... But the Scriptures also know that this participation in the Creator's knowledge...became buried in the course of history." (p. 148) This is the reason for Christ's words to his disciples - "thy will be done" - they are a reminder of that innate connection we have with the Father by virtue of our very existence. It is that freedom to choose the Will of God that makes humanity so dignified. In that sense, we were created "little less than gods," with the possibility of one day seeing the True God face to face in paradise.

The Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, speaks of the Church only in relation to the Trinitarian God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. By beginning the document discussing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Second Vatican Council is clearly showing that the sole reason for the Church's existence is to bring all people in union with this same God.

The first point begins by discussing God the Father and Creator of the universe, and His work in Salvation History with the following words: "He planned to assemble in the holy Church all those who would believe in Christ. Already from the beginning of the world the foreshadowing of the world took place, wonderfully prepared in the history of the people of Israel and in the ancient covenant...” (Cyprian Epistle (Letters), 64, 4; Hilary of Poitiers, On Matthew, 23, 6; Augustine, passim.)

Then, the Fathers of the Council began to speak of the role of God the Son: "The Father, sent the Son into the world to inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth and the Church is the kingdom of Christ already present in mystery. The Church has it's origins in the blood and water which flowed from the pierced side of Christ crucified. (Jn 19:34)" “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (Jn 12: 32)

Finally, the Fathers discuss God the Holy Spirit: "The Father sent the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, after Christ His son had completed his earthy mission, to 'sanctify the Church continually and so that believers would have through Christ access to the Father in one Spirit (see Eph 2:18).'"

After the exposition of the Church's origins in the Most High God, the Council discusses the many rich imagines that Sacred Scripture has given us with respect to the Church:
- The sheepfold, whose single necessary door is Christ. (Jn 10: 1-10)
- The flock, “of which God Himself foretold that he would be the shepherd (see Is 40:11; Ez 34: 11 ff.), and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are continuously led and nourished by Christ Himself, the Good Shepard and Prince of Shepherds (see Jn 10:11; 1 Pt 5:4), who laid down his life for the sheep (see Jn 10:11-15).
- And many more images including the field of God, God's Building, God's Household, etc...

Perhaps the most moving image of the Church is that of the moon. The Church was spoken of often by the early Church Fathers as the moon, because all her light is from the Son, the light of the world. How clearly can we see that the Church is and belongs to Jesus?

Next, the structure of the Church is discussed along with it's identity as the Church Jesus founded 2,000 years ago. If the Church is the body of Christ, then there can only possibly be one Church of Christ, as Christ cannot possibly have two bodies. It is important that we remember the Church was founded by Christ and we are not able to change the hierarchical structure which He conferred on her. “The Church, set up and organized in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him.”

As you may have read in the news, the Pope recently traveled to Austria, a country with a long heritage of Catholic culture. One of the highlights of his trip was a Mass in Vienna (the Cathedral of which, St. Stephen’s, is pictured to the right). While not at the center of world events today, this city could be called one of the bastions of modern Western Civilization, the site of battles that rank up there with Thermopolae, Tours and Lepanto as those during which the future of Western civilization hung in the balance. Of the two battles of Vienna, those of 1529 and 1683, here I would like to focus on the latter.

To be clear, this post isn’t going to set out to argue that the West was or is “better” than other cultures; indeed, Christianity itself is an import from the Middle East. Rather, I would like here to call our attention to this event because of the way in which the different nations of Europe came together for a common cause, seeing that on the fate of one of their own rested that of all. Coming after a century in which we saw two world wars in which Europeans fought vicious battles and committed other atrocities against each other, the comparison is noteworthy.

At the Battle of Vienna in 1683, whose anniversary was a few days ago on Sept. 11-12, the Polish king Jan Sobieski, aided by a French duke and commanding a force made up of Poles, Austrians, Ukrainians, as well as large contingents from the various states that now make up Germany (both Catholic and Protestant), relieved Vienna from a Turkish siege that had surrounded the city since mid July and was by early September on the verge of defeat. With the defeat of the Turks, the threat of a major invasion of central Europe from the east, which began with the invasion of the Turkish invasion of the European part of the Byzantine Empire in the mid 1300's, was effectively ended.

To be fair, the history surrounding this battle is far more complicated than is given here; the French king took the opportunity of the Germans being in the East to invade their lands near his borders, for example. However, for all its imperfections, this coalition, formed from a wide cross-section of European nations, stands as a powerful witness of the unifying power of Europe’s Christian heritage. At the same time, though, this unification did not mean the loss of what was unique to each nation, or a reduction to the lowest common denominator between all of them. Though I’m not going to call for a revival of Christendom as the only way for a more united Europe, no good is done by those who are trying to intentionally forget the Christian heritage of this continent, without which it is questionable whether Europe as we know it would still be around today.

I would like to begin a series of brief commentaries on some of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. John Paul II said in Tertio Millennio Adveniente, "The best preparation for the new millennium, therefore, can only be expressed in a renewed commitment to apply, as faithfully as possible, the teachings of Vatican II to the life of every individual and of the whole Church." It is my hope that this series of brief commentaries encourages you to not only live more faithfully the life of grace in the Church, but that it may encourage you to read the actual documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Today I would like to introduce a document entitled "Lumen Gentium", which means, "The Light of the Gentiles". This document is the Second Vatican Councils work on the Church.

"1. Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, (Mk 16: 15) to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. Since the Church... desires now to unfold more fully to the faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal mission. This it intends to do following faithfully the teaching of previous councils."

It is important to see in these opening words that Jesus is the center of the Church's life and foundation. Therefore the Church's very existence is ordered towards bringing us into union with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and consequently giving us union with God the Father. Only in this communion of Divine Love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, do we humans have true union as brothers and sisters. Secondly the Church desires that Catholics proclaim the Good News of Jesus to everyone, without exception, by our actions and words. Finally everything that the Second Vatican Council proclaimed was taught, "... following faithfully the teachings of previous councils." There was no break or rupture in the Church during or after the Second Vatican Council; rather the Church, as she has throughout history, guided by the Holy Spirit, more clearly set forth the mystery of Jesus Christ.

I hope that you enjoy this small series. My next post will deal with the first chapter of "Lumen Gentium," entitled The Mystery of the Church.

Well it's not been officially announced yet, but I figured this was sure enough to post. Next year, 2008, the United States can expect an east-coast visit from His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. Here's the scoop:

"Currently slated to take place from 15-20 April 2008, the Tuesday-to-Sunday visit's official centerpiece will be a papal speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York - the prime cause for the US tour, which sprung from the pontiff's invitation to the UN headquarters by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Among other events in the Big Apple, the Pope is also slated to celebrate Mass at Central Park alongside, of course, an address and prayers in St Patrick's Cathedral and moment of reflection at Ground Zero.

Alongside the "capital of the world," what could well be Benedict's only on-ground exposure to America and its 70 million Catholics looks set to be concentrated strictly to the East Coast. Though another stop or two remain a distinct possibility - with Baltimore the most likely addition - also already confirmed on the papal itinerary are Washington and Boston. The latter's coveted place on the schedule represents a marked victory for Cardinal Sean O'Malley, whose invitation to the pontiff was said to have been initially declined, then accepted only after a firm push by the Capuchin cardinal, who's believed to enjoy a particularly high standing in B16's eyes.

Touching down in Washington, where the professor-Pope is said to be especially eager to see the campus of the Catholic University of America, Benedict will grant the trip's first hosting honors to another of his highly favored ones -- his most-prominent US appointee yet, Archbishop Donald Wuerl. Beyond the requisite meeting with President Bush at the White House and the other formalities of a head of state paying an official visit to the capital, a Mass on the National Mall is reportedly in the early plans." (Whispers in the Loggia, Sept. 15, 2007)

So there you have it. Be happy - this is a big moment in the life of the Catholic Church in America and throughout the world!

The second petition of the Lord's Prayer - "thy kingdom come" - has an immense depth of meaning. "With this petition," writes Pope Benedict, "we are acknowledging first and foremost the primacy of God. Where God is absent, nothing can be good. Where God is not seen, man and the world fall to ruin... These words establish an order of priorities for human action, for how we approach everyday life." (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 145) In other words, we voice aloud our desire to see the Kingdom of God made present "on earth as it is in heaven," where perfection abounds without limit.

"This [however] is not a promise that we will enter the Land of Plenty," says the Holy Father, "on condition that we are devout or that we are somehow attracted to the Kingdom of God. This is not an automatic formula for a well-functioning world, not a utopian vision of the classless society in which everything works out... Jesus does not give us such simple recipes. What he does do, though...is to establish an absolutely decisive priority." (pp. 145-6) We never merit heaven simply by saying, "Hey, that sounds great, I'd really like that to happen!" Actually, we never merit heaven at all by our own words or even efforts - it is an absolutely voluntary gift of God to those whom he loves and who return that same love to Him.

The real challenge, here, is learning to put into practice these simple yet profound words that we speak each time we recite the Our Father. "With [this] petition," Benedict explains, "the Lord wants to show us how to pray and order our action in just the right way. The first and essential thing is a listening heart, so that God, not we, may reign. The Kingdom of God comes by way of a listening heart. That is its path. And that is what we must pray for again and again... To pray for the Kingdom of God is to say to Jesus: Let us be yours, Lord! Pervade us, live in us; gather scattered humanity in your body, so that in you everything may be subordinated to God and you can then hand over the universe to the Father, in order that 'God may be all in all' (1 Cor 15:28)." (pp. 146-7)

Unlike the other contributers on the blog, I am not at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. I guess that means I am not literally "in the shadow of St. Peter"s in Rome, but I think here in Columbus Ohio at the Pontifical College Josephinum, I am still in St. Peter's shadow. I will explain.

Each man in the seminary is responding from a personal call from Christ. This can be compared to St. Peter being called out of the boat; we are called out of our old jobs and our personal aspirations, just as St. Peter had to renounce his old profession as a fishermen. Then Peter proceeded to follow Christ in His earthly ministry. This was kind of like St. Peter's seminary formation. What makes our lives radically different in appearance is that we no longer experience Christ in a physical human body on earth. Instead of hearing the call through the voice of Christ's physical body, we hear the call in the silent desires of our hearts, in the moments of inspired clarity, and in the wise observations of our priest formators in seminary.

Seminary formation is a process of purification, keeping and developing what is authentic and Christlike in a person, while discarding what dims Christ's presence in a man. It is also, like the life of any Christian, a journey of following Christ in daily life. Every journey has its highs and lows. Like St. Peter stepping out of the boat in faith, then proceeding to be distracted by the noise of the storm and sinking. The seminarian steps forward in faith time and time again, but then sinks as his personal selfishness drags down almost to the point of drowning, only to be saved by Christ's loving and merciful hand. It is in this process that a man becomes what God has intended him to be from the moment of his conception, a priest.

Although I do not literally live in the shadow St. Peter's, I am following in the footsteps of St. Peter. In following the Lord I daily step out in faith, I sink in sin, but above all I experience God's love, mercy, and grace as God makes me his own. Please pray for me and my brother seminarians. In my next posts I will continue to explore how we as seminarians follow our Lord in the shadow of St. Peter (and write more about books).

Picking up from last week's thread, we were looking at Pope Benedict XVI's catechesis on the Lord's Prayer in his book, Jesus of Nazareth. The topic for today is the second major section of the prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..."

Jesus' instruction to pray in this way "reminds us of the second commandment of the Decalogue [Ten Commandments]," writes Benedict: "Thou shalt not speak the name of the Lord thy God in vain." (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 142) But what does the "name of God" mean? In other words, why should we hold it with such respect - even enough that we ask him each time we pray the Our Father that His name might be kept holy? The answer is a little philosophical, perhaps, but a great thing to think about when praying the prayer day in and day out.

Our desire to see God's name made holy is rooted in the nature of what a 'name' really is. Naming something is more than just calling it a series of syllables; it is describing its very core in one word, an action that is quite mysterious, if you think about it. A name holds the dignity of its owner within itself; when we use a name, we immediately get an overwhelmingly realistic impression of what something or someone means and represents to us. The same, then, is true with God's name. When we use it to bring glory to Him, He blesses us, but when we infect people's idea of God by misusing and abusing His Holy Name, we do greater damage to ourselves and our culture than we could ever imagine. Essentially, we curse the God who created us and show openly that we do not intend to live by His statutes and love Him as He loves us.

With all that in mind, the final thing to say is that a name "establishes relationship...God establishes relationship between himself and us. He puts himself within reach of our invocation. He enters into relationship with us and enables us to be in relationship with him...He assumes the risk of relationship, of communion, with us." (Jesus of Nazareth, pp. 143-4) How amazing! In fact, God gives us the power (and it really is power!) to either tarnish His name or use it well. In the end, it is the power to convert hearts or the power to turn them into stone. What a heavy responsibility! But that is how much God loves us - enough to include us in His plan of salvation, making us integral in the salvation of others through Jesus Christ. Perhaps if we thought of this every time we said the Our Father, our experience of this basic prayer would become much deeper and more meaningful.

Today I am going to review a new spiritual book, "Prayer for Beginners" by Peter Kreeft (pictured to the left). This is a great little book on prayer published by Ignatius Press. I must admit that the first time I encountered this book at a bookstore, I passed by it without a second thought. What I did think was "this book will be way too simple for me..." The next time I was in the store something grabbed me though. I realized that I really don't know how to pray that well, and I decided to give this book a chance. I just needed to get over myself :).

After reading it, I was not disappointed. This book is clear and engaging, much like all of Kreeft's books. Kreeft states in the book that he is going to make no assumptions on the reader. He starts from step one and does not skip a step in his basic exposition on prayer. This book will clear up all of those really simple questions that I think many of us have but are too embarrassed to ask, and it can also clear up lots of common misconceptions about prayer. I recommend this book to anyone, and the nice part is that anyone with a high school reading level will have an easy time with this book. My next few posts will be my personal reflections on the basic themes in this book.

A quick note: all of the NAC contributers to this blog will be out of town for 3 days while we make a short (but nevertheless needed) pilgrimage to Assisi. Thus, we won't be able to post anything over the coming weekend. Sorry to inconvenience you with this unexpected upheaval - although I know some of you may hardly be able to get along without us here (ha... riiiiight), please take the time to pray for the seminarians here and throughout the world, that they might find the humble strength in God to persevere and "run the good race."

I know - I said that my next few posts would be on the Holy Father's book (insert personal sentiment here), but this little tidbit was too good to pass up. So, allow me to forgo Benedict XVI in lieu of those who protect him each day: the Swiss Guard.

It's not every day that someone has a chance to visit the barracks of the Swiss Guard, which is composed of soldiers from the Swiss Army on special duty in the Vatican. That's right - every now and then, some young Swiss men have the chance to get away from making those handy little pocket knives and step into a role with a little more world-wide notability. (In fairness to the Swiss Army, I am not sure whether they do or do not produce the knives bearing their name. I am inclined to think not. I'm sure that they keep busy doing things of much greater value than that. But, I digress...)

OK, so here's the long overdue reality: the Swiss Guard are the pope's personal military force. They were founded in 1506 when Pope Julius II felt the need for a little higher level of security at the Vatican. The "Helvetians" (or Swiss, for the non-Latin speaking reader) were renowned throughout history for their ferocity in battle and their loyalty in service. The rest of the history is here, if you care to read it; I think it's well worth checking out. Anyways, the tradition of the Swiss Guard being the papal military force has endured over 500 years until today, and they continue to remain just as loyal and vigilant as always.

So why did I suddenly come up with all this, you ask? Well, today, as part of our orientation here at NAC, we were offered a special, "behind-the-scenes" look at the interior of the Guard complex in Vatican City. Once we showed up, we were assigned an English-speaking guardsman to provide us a tour. I have to say that being so close to that great of a tradition was a little overwhelming. During the tour, we were allowed to see the inside of the armory (where all the cool weapons and uniforms are stored), the inside of the chapel (which is located literally just next to the papal apartment) and the courtyard, where the guards practice their drills each day. The guard who was leading us was a 19-year-old young man from Switzerland (naturally?), who was only in his third month of service with the corp. He was quite knowledgeable about the history and discipline of the Guard, but it was also pretty obvious that he was new, too.

The thing that struck me the most has to do with just this. By talking to him, it was very obvious that, despite our radically different lifestyles, there was a great similarity between him and the seminarians he was escorting: both of us were beginning a life of dedication to the Church and to the Holy Father; he in a manner of giving his life for a few years in the service of the pope (and perhaps his life itself, if need be), and we in the beginnings of our time as seminarians studying to be priests of Jesus Christ. I must say, it was really inspiring to see such dedication in a man so young, but so truly intent on serving with dignity and honor. The same call is true for all of us. In whatever vocation we are called to serve the Lord, it must always be with dignity and honor, never holding back even our very lives for what - or should I say Who - in the end is truly most important.

“If you have understanding, answer your neighbor; but if not, put your hand on your mouth” (Sirach 5:12)

Today, I was reading some of the book of Sirach and I came across this passage from Sirach 5:12 and was reminded of Revelation 10:9, "So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, "Take it and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth."

I don't know about you, but often when reading the Sacred Scriptures or the Sacred Tradition in the Father's of the Church and magesterium, I feel as if God is filling me with wonderful grace and insight (The sweetness of honey in my mouth). Then, after I exam my own life and weakness, I realize that I fall short and stumble and am so very slow to convert (the bitterness to the stomach). I am sure this isn't a grand insight theologically but I wanted to write about it, because I believe it is a common experience for most of us who are striving to live the life of grace in the Holy Spirit.

How often do we not sufficiently understand a matter and then proceed to speak on it anyway. I know this is an area of my life where I have need of growth and humility. "Whoever exults himself, will be humbled and whoever humbles himself, will be exulted." (Lk 14:11)

This reflection is giving me a chance to pause and reflect upon where I need to grow in humility, and I hope it helps you to do the same.

When passing over the cobbles of Rome it is easy to imagine oneself as literally walking in the footsteps of the saints, since ever since the days of Peter and Paul these shining lights of faith in God have spent some part of their earthly journey in this place. However, over these same streets passed those whose lives would turn out far differently, such as a German Augustinian who arrived at this city in 1510, staying in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, the interior of which is shown to the left. Inside this same church almost 500 years ago prayed this man, who came to Rome full of excitement for the spiritual riches to be found there but would leave scandalized by the worldly excesses he found instead. Six years after leaving this city that friar, Martin Luther, would begin the Reformation, an action the consequences of which reverberate to our own day.

To be honest, I’ve long found Luther an interesting character, in a large part because of the drama of his own life. After all, he did not start the Reformation because of hatred for the Church but rather because of love for it and his wish to see it rid of corruption. However, at some point a shift occurred, and he went from being a well-intentioned reformer to an attacker of some of the foundational beliefs of the Church.

To be perfectly clear, there were many abuses in the Church at that place and time- history would prove Luther right, insofar as the Catholic Church, which had had a reform movement for some time before Luther, would ultimately call the Council of Trent to reform the abuses at the roots of Luther’s complaints shortly before his death. It is the manner in which Luther carried out his attempt at reform that was wrong. He thought that the Church could be reformed by his own actions and those of his followers, when in reality the Church is not under the control of anyone save God, and our part to strengthen it is to follow Him faithfully even when we are almost alone in doing so, all the while witnessing to others our faith in Christ.

When we see problems in the Church, we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water- we must not sacrifice the whole Church, or our membership in her, because of the actions of some of her members. St. Thomas More, a contemporary of Luther, also saw the problems with the way in which many churchmen, including the pope, we conducting themselves in his day. However, that did not stop him from going to his death for his faith in the spiritual office of the papacy. He recognized, in a manner which Luther seems to have forgotten, that the Church is both a human and a spiritual reality.

While the human elements of the Church can and do fall, her spiritual reality is that she is pure and sinless, the immaculate bride of Christ, her head. One modern theologian has said that the Church is sinless in herself, but ever in need of purification because of the sinners- us- whom she holds in her bosom. It is with this attitude that we must approach the Church: while we may recognize weaknesses and failings in her members, even those who hold positions of high authority such as pastors, bishops, and even the pope, we can never think that the Church in her essence is corrupt. Rather, we must recognize that all members of the Church on earth are disciples seeking to follow Christ. Just like that early band, some will betray Christ and His Church, as did Judas, and others will lose courage when it is most needed, as did the other disciples on Holy Thursday night. Yet we may only hope that all may, like Peter before the Sea of Galilee, ultimately say to our Lord, “You know that I love You.” (Jn. 21:15)


So, to sum up the point of all this: pray for the well-being of the Church on Earth, pray for those called to positions of authority in her, and pray for all her members who are (or at least should be) striving towards holiness. Learn about her, but above all love her, for it is through her that we learn about Christ, and in her that we are carried to Him and the Church Triumphant in Heaven.

Postscript: If you’re interested in learning more, I would recommend The Splendor of the Church, by Henri de Lubac, a book that helped me grow in my knowledge of and affection for the Church.

As a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger was already one of the most prolific theologians the Church had ever known. Now, as Pope Benedict XVI, he is even more recognized – and more influential – than ever before. Most of you have probably heard of the new book authored by the Holy Father, entitled Jesus of Nazareth; it is a unique look at Jesus from the “historical perspective,” taking into account all the cultural and human influences that shaped the earthly ministry of the Son of God. My next few posts will be aimed at discussing the main thrust of this book, which seems to be an analysis of Christ’s instruction to His disciples on how to pray: the Our Father.

Pope Benedict divides the Lord’s Prayer into seven sections, or petitions, each of which is given its own discussion in Jesus of Nazareth. The first petition – and the topic of this post – is the most fundamental portion of the prayer: “Our Father, who art in heaven.”

The most striking fact of this entire prayer comes right here at the beginning: we are permitted to call God our “Father”; God, who is all powerful desires to be addressed as Father, and nothing less. The name ‘Father,’ though, is only meaningful if we understand what it means to be a child – sons and daughters of God. Who better to teach us this than the Son of God, Jesus Christ. “The love that endures ‘to the end’ (Jn 13:1), which the Lord fulfilled on the Cross in praying for his enemies, shows us the essence of the Father. He is this love. Because Jesus brings it to completion, he is entirely ‘Son,’ and he invites us to become ‘sons’ according to this criterion.” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 136) In other words, only by following the example of Jesus’ Sonship, which is laid out in the Gospels, can we truly be prepared to say “Our Father” with the deep love that we ought to have.

The two-fold dimension of God’s fatherhood is another focus of the Holy Father’s work. “First of all, God is our Father in the sense that he is our Creator. We belong to him because he has created us.” The second sense of God’s fatherhood is that there “is a unique sense in which Christ is the ‘image of God’ (2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). The Fathers of the Church therefore say that when God created man ‘in his image,’ he looked toward the Christ who was to come, and created man according to the image of the ‘new Adam,’ the man who is the criterion of the human. Above all, though, Jesus is ‘the Son’ in the strict sense – he is of one substance with the Father. He wants to draw all of us into his humanity and so into his Sonship, into his total belonging to God.” (Jesus of Nazareth, pp. 137-8)

All of this might be a little much for some, especially if they haven’t had much exposure to theological/philosophical language. But, the real core of Benedict’s discussion can be summed up pretty concisely in a few words: God is our Father because Jesus is our brother, and by looking to Christ as a model for our lives we can come to live as the true sons and daughters of God that we were created to be.

We often hear about "fellowship" today in our parishes. Does fellowship exist by the mere fact that we have gathered together... or is their something more that we long for? The Church has always offered us a much greater reality and that reality is communion. Communion comes from the Latin words cum (with) unione (union). Union with another is not merely an external proximity, rather communion is the fundamental reality that goes to the very core of those engaged in communion by uniting them so intimately that they become one with each other while at the same time not being mixed or confused. Marriage is certainly the highest natural expression of this communion of persons.

In Pope Benedict's recent Book Jesus of Nazareth, he says the following, "But what has Jesus really brought, then, if he has not brought world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God!" (Jesus of Nazareth - Pope Benedict XVI) Precisely by giving us God, does Jesus give us the true possibility of communion. When we are in union with Jesus, we are in union with God the Father Who pours out His Holy Spirit abundantly on all of us. Therefore, the more someone is in communion with God, the closer is their union with their neighbor. This resembles the two greatest commandments discussion (Mt 22:35-40) because the mystery of communion permeates the whole of reality which was created and is sustained in being by the Creator Who is a perfect communion of Persons.

This brings us to our second and last point. When one is a faithful Catholic and living the life of grace he has a deep and abiding union with all men. "And this communion, which we call "Church", does not only extend to all believers in a specific historical period, but also embraces all the epochs and all the generations. Thus, we have a twofold universality: a synchronic universality - we are united with believers in every part of the world - and also a so-called diachronic universality, that is: all the epochs belong to us, and all the believers of the past and of the future form with us a single great communion." (Wednesday Audience April 26, 2006 - Benedict XVI)

I can't finish this post without saying where to go to experience this communion most richly. Go to Jesus in the Eucharist, the Sacrament appropriately named "Holy Communion". He waits patiently for us in the tabernacle as a "prisoner of love" (The Priest is Not His Own - Archbishop Fulton Sheen). There you can be with all the Saints, known and even the great "anonymous saints" (Benedict XVI, Homily with the Youth at Loreto - September 2, 2007); past, present and future.

May this short post help you to appreciate the wonderful gift of communion.

Please see the following paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for outstanding reading on the gift and mystery of communion:
1476, 787-796, 953, 951, 958, 954-957, 2790, 959, 1119, 949, 1108, 946-948