Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 280

"Thus Francis calls his disciples to imitate Jesus Christ..."

... and the disciples find in him the example of imitating the Divine Model. This is precisely the theme of the wonderful anonymous work composed by the friars who were closest to Saint Francis, The Mirror of Perfection. One of the chapters candidly declares, "Francis, faithful servant and perfect imitator of Christ, felt that he had been completely transformed into Christ."

And it concludes as follows: "Thus, having spent twenty years in perfect repentance, on October 4 in the year of the Lord 1226, Francis passed on to the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he had loved with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his soul, with all his strength, with the most ardent desire and most lively affection, following him to complete perfection, running eagerly in his footsteps, and arriving at last in his glorious presence."

Francis claims to imitate Jesus Christ more especially in his lowliness and his suffering. This is the subject of one of his admonitions: "Let all the friars consider the Good Shepherd who suffered death on the Cross for the salvation of his flock. The Lord's sheep have followed him in trials, persecution, and humiliation, in hunger and thirst, in weakness, hardships, and all other sorts of misfortunes."

According to The Three Companions, a devotion to the Passion of Christ was engraved on his soul at that moment in the ruined church of San Damiano when the Crucified Lord spoke to him. "From that day on, his heart was so struck and so profoundly wrenched by the memory of the Lord's Passion that, throughout the rest of his life, he harbored in his soul the memory of the wounds of the Lord Jesus."

He had composed an office of the Passion, along with a "prayer for times of sickness", which has come down to us: "I give you thanks. Lord God, for all my pains, and I ask you, my Lord, to send me a hundred times as many, if such is your good pleasure. For I would very willingly accept it if you did not spare me but overwhelmed me with pain, since my submission to your holy will is for me a surpassing consolation."

And so the mystical gift of the stigmata was the answer to this thirst for a practical union with the sufferings of Christ. A few moments before receiving it, he was praying to the Savior in these words: "Lord, I ask you for two graces before I die: to experience in myself. as much as possible, the sufferings of your cruel Passion, and to feel for you the same love that drove you to sacrifice yourself for us."

Celano reckons that the manifest sanctity of Francis was the result of the martyrdom that he received, not at the hands of the Muslims. as he had hoped at first, but through the intervention of God himself "His perfection equaled that of the saints who had gone before him, but his life shone with still greater brilliance. For our glorious father was marked, in five places on his body, with the seal of the Passion and of the Cross, as though he had been crucified with the Son of God."

Read more:

Also see:

• St. Thomas and St. Francis | G.K. Chesterton
• Chesterton and Saint Francis | Joseph Pearce
• Seeking Deep Conversion | Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.
• Catholic Spirituality | Thomas Howard

"Extreme Makeover" is "filled with spiritual direction for women..."

Teresa Tomeo talks with EWTN News about her book, Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture, available from Ignatius Press this Friday, October 7th:

She explained that "Extreme Makeover" is meant to expose the ways in which women are objectified by modern culture.

The book is "filled with spiritual direction for women," as well as practical tips on how "to engage the culture and get involved."

Among the issues dealt with in "Extreme Makeover" are radical feminism, abortion and contraception.

"We're putting it out there that it's the answer to all of our ills, this idea that we can just do what we want sexually without any consequences," Tomeo said.

"Women are more objectified than ever before," she said. "When you take sexuality out of where God meant it to be, all kinds of problems happen."

Tomeo said that she wants to reach out to devout Catholics with her book, "to encourage and affirm them."

"I also want to reach the women in the pews who are going to Mass but are not really connecting with everything the Church is offering."

"And I want to reach fallen-away Catholic women, so they can come back to the Church and fully embrace it," she added.

Tomeo said that her own eyes were first opened to the truths of the Church after she had done everything that the world told her to do in order to be happy.

"And I was miserable," she said.

Tomeo said that she realized she needed God to truly make her happy.

Extreme Makeover has just been reviewed by Cheryl Dickow on CatholicMom.com:

"The Abortion Distortion" is only one of the many wonderfully crafted chapters of Extreme Makeover.  "Mirror, Mirror" reverberates with Tomeo's passion to explore and then conquer the low self-esteem problems faced by so many young girls and women today. (Mirror, Mirror  is also the title of one of Tomeo's best-selling All Things Girl books devoted to tween girls.) "Extreme Media Makeover" examines the media's sloppy coverage of Pope Benedict's words on condom use and HIV; but because Tomeo never leaves the reader without resources, she also examines the ways in which our own excursion into social media can be used to defend and promote the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Tomeo's ability to draw together a myriad of resources—using excerpts from documents as profound as Humane Vitae, quotes from such figures as Bishop Aquila, statistics from the likes of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and references to the works of people such as Janet Smith—is an invaluable gift of edification to the reader; a gift that ignites and inspires the reader to love and share the precious gift of her Catholic faith.

Just the way a good reporter ought to end a story, Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ Not Conformed to the Culture concludes with the compelling testimonies of a handful of women who have experienced their own "extreme makeovers" and generously share their stories of struggle, heartache, hope, and ultimate joy.

Read the entire review. And read more about the book on Ignatius.com.

History-Defying, Bible-Ripping, Catholic-Bashing Pulp Fiction: A Quiz

Take a sacred treasure. Add a secret conspiracy. Attach a name well known to scholars — Dante, Poe, Wordsworth, Archimedes, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, the Romanovs, Vlad the Impaler, "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," whatever — and work it into a story that can accommodate both the Glock and the Holy Grail. If there's any room left for the Knights Templar or DNA samples from Biblical figures, by all means plug them in.

That is how Janet Maslin aptly summed up the formula for creating Dan Brown-inspired pulp fiction that is (usually) equal parts conspiratorial, contrived, crackpot, and Catholic-bashing in nature. Nearly a year ago, while wandering through the local (and now empty) Borders, I had the idea of creating a little quiz that would test the finely tuned, highly literatre Pulp-Dar—that's short for "pulp fiction radar", in case you were wondering—of this blog's readers.

It's quite simple: below are thirty book titles, with short descriptions of each novel. Twenty of them are actual novels, all published within the past few years, many of them bestsellers; the descriptions of each has been taken from amazon.com and other sites, and edited and summarized without compromising accuracy or audacity. (By the way, while most of these novels are Catholic-bashing in some way or another, a few of them aren't. Full and accurate disclosure and such, etc.)

Ten of the following are faux novels that I have concocted through endless hours of arduous labor, deep thought, and continual recourse to my thesaurus.

You pick out and list the ten fake novels, without referring to Google, amazon.com, or your crazy Aunt Julia who reads this type of "literature"—just your brain, your memory, and your Pulp-Dar. I'll post answers when the time is right (that is, when I am fairly certain I won't be attacked by CDF-trained albino monks for doing so).

UPDATE: I've posted the answers on Ignatius Insight.

The Quiz:

•  The Dead Sea Deception : A lesbian police officer from London investigates mysterious deaths related to the Dead Sea Scrolls and a band of sinister assassins who weep tears of blood and believe themselves descended from Judas. 

• The Secret of the Upper Room: A Novel: First-time novelist Abram Calaam has written a tour de force novel about the inner circle of Jesus' disciples (including several women) who, upon realizing their master had died on the cross, set about to build the most elaborate and breath-taking mythology in human history.

• Sanctus: A Novel: A monastery in a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey houses monks inside who guard "the sacrament", which is being sought by the ruthless hero, monks in green habits, and an ancient heretical group.

• The Second Messiah: When archeologist Jack Cane discovers ancient documents pointing to the existence of another messiah, he also finds out that both Israeli and Catholic authorities have reason to possess and suppress those documents, which contain stunning new evidence about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. 

• The Templar Legacy: A thriller about the Knights Templar, pistol-packing monks, and the search for ancient Templar archive that supposedly disproves the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and demolishes traditional Christian dogma.

• The Revelator's Legacy: While working on a dig on the island of Patmos, world-renowned archeologist James "Buck" Deen unearths a 2000-year-old jar containing a scroll that launches him on a breath-taking search for the truth about the Book of Revelation, the roots of early Christianity, and the most sacred beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.

• The Last Templar: After horsemen dressed as knights raid New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, lopping off heads and firing Uzis, clues lead to the medieval crusading order of the Knights Templars and to a priest–hit man sent out by the Vatican.  

• The Vatican Connection: A complex thriller about a powerful secret weapon, a 2,000-year-old document that supposedly contains Saint Peter's denial of Jesus Christ, and a nebulous shadow group made up of church officials who traffic in stolen art.

• The Templar Throne: John Doc Holliday, an army ranger turned medieval historian, teams up with Sister Meg, a beautiful nun, to find a sacred relic, dodging spies from the Vatican, the U.S. government, and an ancient brotherhood known as Rex Deus.

• The Fourteenth Apostle: What if the Apostle Paul really wasn't an apostle after all? What if he was the creation of a pagan, Roman poet intent on reworking the myth of Christ for his own esoteric ends? Those are the premises of this riveting and intellectual thriller based on years of scrupulous research and a flair for intricate plots involving modern governments, ancient institutions, and secret societies.

• The Templar Salvation: An ancient trove of documents containing dark secrets about the early Church could see the light of day if a rogue Iranian intent on revenge against the CIA has his way. Constant suspense, ever-mounting body count, and interesting historical lore will keep readers turning the pages.

• The Magdalene's Gospel: Bruce Howler, a skeptical Yale philologist and famous gay activist, receives a mysterious package containing an ancient gospel written by "the Magdalene". He is soon embroiled in a dangerous fight to save the document and his life from a group of twelve Latin-speaking assassins who are sworn to protect ancient secrets, no matter the cost. 

• The Templar Tantrum: This deeply researched thriller follows two intertwined stories: the nearly successful destruction of the Knights Templar in the fourteenth century, and the modern-day work of a secret cadre of Vatican cardinals intent on continuing the same destructive work. The second volume of the "Templar Triumvirate" trilogy.

• The Babylonian Codex:  A Iraq War vet and a rogue CIA agent race to unravel the secrets that link a long-lost mosaic to a mysterious Biblical codex, in time to stop a deadly cabal of powerful zealots with a chilling plot to remake the world and bring on the Second Coming. 

• The First Apostle: A British detective faces down the combined forces of the Mafia and the Vatican as he seeks to unravel a plot involving a scroll and diptychs that describe the crucifixion and beheading of two unnamed first-century Jews.

• The Constantine Codex: While touring monasteries in Greece, a Harvard professor and his archaeologist wife uncover an ancient biblical manuscript containing the lost ending of Mark and an additional book of the Bible. If proven authentic, the codex could forever change the way the world views the Christian Scriptures. 

• The Phoenix Apostles: The opening of Montezuma's tomb in Mexico City and a deadly attack puts a journalist on the path to uncovering a shocking truth that involves a deadly 2,000-year-old trail that leads back to the death of Jesus Christ.

• The Messiah Secret:  Assessing the contents of a lavish English estate, museum conservator Angela Lewis discovers a a parchment which describes the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. But can she avoid the nefarious plans of a mad priest, who doesn't want the treasure to be found, and a greedy industrialist, who desires it for economic gain?

• The Emperor's Bible: Former FBI agent Hank Lamb just wanted to relax on his cozy house boat in Miami after retiring from his dangerous work for the government. But an expected visit from a stranger from the Middle East sets off an electric series of events that has Lamb asking questions about the origins of the New Testament, the real history of the papacy, and the shadowy group that is intent on silencing him.

• Elisha's Bones:  Professor of antiquities and skeptic Jack Hawthorne, is hired to find the bones of the prophet Elisha, and soon discovers clues to a shadowy organization and a deadly conspiracy older than the Catholic Church.

• The Marks of Cain: American David Martinez and Englishman Simon Quinn become involved in two strands of a unified conspiracy that  has implications so terrible that the Catholic Church is willing to conspire with a terrorist to conceal them.

• The Curia Code: A young Irish priest, Father Ricky McFarlane, has been assigned to work in the secret Vatican archives. Once there, he falls in love with a beautiful young professor, Joy Chittinger, and discovers a secret document that threatens to shake his faith and the very foundations of the Catholic Church.

• The Breath of God: A religious studies grad student who is interested in the secretive, shocking development of first-century Christianity seeks answers in the Himalayas and the legend of Issa, a boy who made a spiritual journey through India some 2,000 years ago.

• The Cardinal's Mission: When Cardinal Timothy Drakeland of Chicago disappears after leaving a dinner party, his nephew, Eric Carlson, suspects he has been kidnapped by a secret Vatican cabal pretending to be Masons, leading him to London, Scotland, Paris, Rome, and the inner recesses of the Papal residence.

• The Knowledge of Good and Evil: A fast-paced thriller of a former priest and the woman he loves traveling the world to find clues to a monk's lost discovery, chased by agents of an ancient Order sworn to prevent such challenges to the Church, at all costs.

• The Deadly Scrolls: A beautiful young doctor, Megan Handow, is entrusted with the final, shocking request of a dying man who claims to be a descendant of Jesus and an Egyptian princess. A fast-paced, globe-trotting thriller that combines conspiracy, Church history, and complex characters in what has been described as "a Dan Brown novel for real historians and theologians".

• Labyrinth: A volunteer on an archaeological dig stumbles onto a cave with two skeletons, strange carvings, and a stone ring. Aided by dreams, she discovers the shocking story of the Crusades, the Cathars, and the quest for the Holy Grail.

• The Secret Supper: Set in fifteenth-century Italy, this thriller tells how Inquisitor Agostino Leyre was sent to investigate rumors that Leonardo da Vinci was concealing heretical messages in "The Last Supper".

• The Didache Deception: Jesuit priest Father Nolan Fray has been abruptly suspended from his research into early Church texts in Paris without warning or explanation. And when he is nearly killed near the Eiffel Tower by a dark-robed assassin, he realizes how close he was to uncovering ancient secrets that threaten the most powerful men and Christian doctrines in the world.

• The Unholy Grail: A Jesuit priest and a female religious professor who is having a crisis of faith, are thrown into a conspiracy that challenges accepted Church doctrine as they research a secret gospel written by Jesus' brother, James, and are caught up in the dangerous conspiracy surrounding it.

Answers can be accessed on Ignatius Insight.

Defiance | George Neumayr on Gov. Martin O'Malley's support of "gay marriage"

Defiance | George Neumayr | Editorial | October 2011 | Catholic World Report

The Catholic governor of Maryland joins the gay-marriage juggernaut.

Illustrating the Latin proverb that the corruption of the best is the worst, many Catholic politicians continue to lead the charge against the natural moral law. Having already defined themselves as champions of "abortion rights," they now turn aggressively to the culmination of gay ones.

The Catholic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has been enjoying a victory lap after pushing gay marriage through his state's legislature. Political pundits, citing Cuomo's success on this issue, now frequently talk about him as a future presidential candidate. Envious of his glory, other Catholic politicians seek to follow in his footsteps. The Catholic governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley, wants to be "the next Andrew Cuomo," says the press. O'Malley has announced that passage of gay marriage will henceforth be one of his chief legislative priorities.

"There are times in Annapolis when a governor's support can move an issue over the goal line," he has said. "I think we can learn from what they did [in New York]."

Far from afraid of the Church's reaction to his enthusiasm for gay marriage, O'Malley has publicized it. In August, he released to the press letters that he had exchanged with Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O'Brien about gay marriage.

"Maryland is not New York," Archbishop O'Brien wrote to him. "We urge you not to allow your role as the leader of our state to be used in allowing the debate surrounding the definition of marriage to be determined by mere political expediency. The people of Maryland deserve no less."

"I do not presume, nor would I ever presume as governor, to question or infringe upon your freedom to define, to preach about, and to administer the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church," O'Malley replied. "But on the public issue of granting equal civil marital rights to same-sex couples, you and I disagree…. I look forward to working with you on other issues of mutual agreement. And I respect your freedom to disagree with me as a citizen and as a religious leader without questioning your motives."

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com...

Parables and Vineyards

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, October 2, 2011 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Isa 5:1-7
• Ps 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
• Phil 4:6-9
• Mt 21:33-43

What do parables and vineyards have in common? When attended to with care and attention, they both yield fruit and nourishment. Today's readings contain two of the best-known parables about vineyards in the Bible.

The first, from Isaiah 5, is often called simply "the parable of the vineyard." The prophet uses the vibrant imagery of the vineyard to describe Israel and her relationship with God. The Lord, Isaiah explains, had demonstrated His love for Israel through His patient work in establishing, caring for, and protecting the vineyard. Today's responsorial Psalm (80) uses very similar language.

But when God went to see what fruit had been produced by Israel, He found that it had yielded wild grapes, unsuitable for the winepress. The work and God had been ruined by the unfruitful actions of the people.

Although vineyards and wine are common in our modern day culture, we tend to view them as luxuries. We might enjoy drinking wine on occasion, but it is not a necessity. But in the ancient Near East wine often was a necessity, especially when good drinking water was not easily available, as was often the case. Vineyards and wine were therefore obvious images of sustenance and life. This can be seen, for example, in the covenantal curses found in Deuteronomy, which describes what will happen to those who forsake the Law: "You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them" (Deut 28:39).

Loss of the vineyard, put simply, was analogous to loss of life, or at the very least the loss of joy and happiness. Abundance of wine, on the other hand, signified the fullness of life. Prophets such as Isaiah, Joel, Amos, Jeremiah, and others used vineyards and wine when speaking about both the curses of God and the future blessings He would eventually impart to His people, when "the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it" (Amos 9:13).

Isaiah 5 is a lament for the vineyard of Israel, which had become overgrown by sin and ruined by injustice. The parable of the wicked tenants, today's second parable, is similar; it seems evident that Jesus was pointedly drawing upon Isaiah 5 when He spoke to the chief priests and the elders.

This parable is rather unique among Jesus' many parables, for it is the most overtly allegorical of any of them—that is, the landowner, tenants, servants, and son all represent specific people. The landowner is God, the tenants are the chief priests and other religious leaders, the servants are the prophets, and the son is Jesus himself.

St. John Chrysostom, in his homily about this parable, reflected on God's providence, love, and patience. God had done most of the work in establishing the people of Israel. The leaders of Israel had little to do; they were asked to be holy and uphold the Law. But they "made little effort to be productive, even after they had enjoyed such great blessings from him."

God sent the servants, His prophets, as further evidence of His love and patience. Having been given the covenants and the commandments, the leaders violated both, murdering the Son of God. "While they had time to ask for pardon for their offenses and whereas they ought to have run to him to do so, they persist even more strongly in their former sins."

The vineyard, Jesus said, would be leased to other tenants. They make up the New Israel, formed by the Son, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, and bound together by communion in the Holy Spirit. "The Church," states Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "is a piece of land to be cultivated, the tillage of God. …. That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly Husbandman."

Nourished by the True Vine (cf. Jn 15), we should produce good fruit, mindful of the gifts of love and life given to us by the landowner and his son.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in a slightly different form in the October 5, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

AP reporter: Most important "day-to-day" aspect of covering religion "is social media and blogs"

From a very interesting GetReligion.org interview, conducted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey, with Associated Press reporter Tom Breen:

In your role at the AP, how do you boil down everything into a brief story and still maintain nuance, balance, complexities, etc.?

The AP's very talented religion editor once described the faith beat as "intimidating," and I think that's absolutely right, for precisely this reason. There is no government, economic philosophy or baseball team on the planet with a back story as rich, detailed and complex as, say, Judaism. Or Christianity. Or Islam. Or Hinduism. You get the idea. What we strive to do is work in our "pre-reporting" to identify the telling details, wise sources and most salient facts to make sure that even an 800-word story has enough nuance and balance to meet our standards. When writing about Rob Bell's book Love Wins and the wide-ranging debate it prompted, for example, I knew in the earliest stage of the story that I wanted to talk about the Christian theologian Origen in the context of universalism. I hit the books, talked to some sources, and spent maybe half an hour boiling down what I learned into two paragraphs that I could then bounce off editors who are religion pros (to make sure it was accurate) and editors who don't know Methodism from method acting (to make sure it was right for a general audience). Knowing what's going to be important in terms of background and detail to augment the main news in the story is a huge help when it comes to "front-loading" our reporting.

Where do you get your news about religion? Have blogs, social media, etc. changed how you read and then cover religion news?

My news about religion comes from a lot of sources: newspapers and broadcasters, the denominational press, tips from sources, friends and acquaintances, press releases, etc. But the most important day-to-day aspect of covering the beat is social media and blogs, something that's a huge change from when I started in daily journalism 10 years ago. Twitter in particular is a chance to monitor international conversations about faith as they happen, with everyone from Rick Warren to the person in the next pew pitching in. And for reporters looking to go beyond the usual pundits, officials, experts, talking heads, etc. and get deeper on a story, there's nothing like social networking. On a story about American Catholics' reaction to the beatification of John Paul II this year, I was able to write a story out of Raleigh with voices from all over the country thanks to finding folks on Facebook and Twitter and contacting them for interviews. Blogs have also changed the way the beat works, moving from commenting on stories or developments to breaking news; the questions about Ergun Caner's resume being a good example of a story that was broken first by bloggers. I honestly don't think it's possible to do a good job covering religion today without daily use of those resources.

Most interesting, however, is that Breen returned to the Catholic Church "after educating himself on the Catholic abuse scandals for his journalism job." Asked by another writer about that decision, Breen states:

"The coverage of the scandal was the motivation to learn more about Catholicism, and I really can't overstate the extent of my ignorance at the time; I mean, I couldn't even name all the sacraments, let alone explain them. So my desire to get up to speed wasn't just a desire to learn about the context of the scandals, it was an effort to learn, basically, everything I could, from church history to theology to the formal name for that hat bishops wear. It was through that effort – which lasted for years, and took in everything from lots of reading to hanging around pilgrimage sites and talking to people – that I eventually decided Catholicism was for me."

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: Mystic, Comic, Everything

Mystic, Comic, Everything | Fr. Bernard Bro | Chapter One of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: Her Family, Her God, Her Message | Ignatius Insight

Tall and strong, with the appearance of a child, a tone of voice, an expression, hiding within her a wisdom, a perfection, a perspicacity of a fifty-year-old. . . . Little innocent thing, to whom one would give God without confession, but whose head is full of mischief to play on anyone she pleases. Mystic, comic, everything ... she can make you weep with devotion and just as easily split your sides with laughter during our recreations. (GC 2:778)

This is the most vivid portrait that has been preserved of her: it was that of her subprioress, when Thérèse was twenty years old. Is that enough to make her "the greatest saint of modern times"?

We have the opportunity to avail ourselves of much testimony about her. In addition to the account of her life that she herself wrote, at twenty-two years of age and completed three months before her death, her sisters, her companions, left a series of interviews, sometimes noted day by day, that retain the sense of immediacy of television news. Through the (apparent) banality of these cartoon strips of piety, we always find the same reality: with Thérèse of Lisieux, we are with someone who, in the face of the two abysses that every man encounters, himself and God, has gone the limit, but while remaining our companion. Thérèse is indeed the human being faced with the abyss of freedom and the possibilities of choice-and faced with another abyss: that of an interlocutor called God (cf. pp. 30-31).

We are still at the dawn of the third great crisis of our civilization: it is no longer merely man confronted with his weakness (with the Greeks); no longer merely man confronted with his guilt (with Luther, at that tragic time for Europe, after the black plagues at the end of the Middle Ages); man today finds himself confronted with his solitude and with the desperate quest for a meaning to his life, confronted with the need to search for what would be an "authentic existence", "true life", which he fears never being able to enjoy. Among the innumerable witnesses that could be called to the stand in this interrogation, such as Rimbaud, Van Gogh, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, or Kundera, I have intentionally kept two cries, because they seem to express the question that was Thérèse's own: "Here is my oId anguish, right there in the hollow of my body, like a bad wound that every movement irritates; I know its name, it is the fear of eternal solitude. And I have the fear that there may not be any answer" (Camus).

I implored, I begged for a sign, I sent messages to the heavens: no response. The heavens do not even know my name. I wondered at every moment what I might be in the eyes of God. Now I knew the answer: Nothing. God does not see me, God does not know me, God does not hear me. You see this void over our heads? That is God. You see this hole in the earth? That is God. You see this opening in the door? That is God again. The silence is God. Absence is God. God is the solitude of men. [1]

Thérèse was familiar with this anguish:

When I want to rest my heart fatigued by the darkness which surrounds it by the memory of the luminous country after which I aspire, my torment redoubles; it seems to me that the darkness, borrowing the voice of sinners, says mockingly to me: "You are dreaming about the light, about a fatherland embalmed in the sweetest perfumes; you are dreaming about the eternal possession of the Creator of all these marvels; you believe that one day you will walk out of this fog which surrounds you! Advance, advance; rejoice in death which will give you not what you hope for but a night still more profound, the night of nothingness." (SS 213)

For years, Thérèse sought her place in society. She had, of course, entered Carmel, but she sought to explain to herself what the essence of it was for her. And one day, completely radiant, she wrote:

Continue reading on Ignatius Insight...

The 19th International Week of Prayer & Fasting and Family Rosary Crusade 2011

The month of October is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Rosary. Here are two significant events taking place this October that are focused on prayer, fasting, the Rosary, and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

• The 19th International Week of Prayer and Fasting is "a grassroots movement of Catholics and other Christians from around the world participating in a global network of prayer and fasting for the goals of the week:

1. Bring a Conversion of Nations
2. Build a 'Culture of Life'
3. Create Peace throughout the World"

It will be taking place from October 1-9, 2011. At the beginning of the nine days on Saturday, October 1st, there will be an all-day Eucharistic Rosary Prayer Vigil with national speakers at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. This is a free event but people are encouraged to sign-up online at www.iwopf.org . There will be four Global mysteries of the rosary prayed throughout the day by the African community, the Asian community, the Latin American community and the European Community.

• Family Rosary Crusade 2011 will be held in San Francisco on Saturday, October 15th:

The San Francisco Legion of Mary and Immaculate Heart Radio invites all Catholics from the Archdiocese of San Francisco and beyond to join us for the San Francisco Family Rosary Crusade 2011. The Family Rosary Crusade will be held on October 15, 2011, at 12 noon, in San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza. Join us as we pray the Rosary, listen to inspirational speakers, and ask the blessings of God for ourselves and our community.

The Family Rosary Crusade commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Fr. Patrick Peyton's October, 1961 Rosary Rally, which drew more than 550,000 people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, to Golden Gate Park.

More details on the Crusade's website. The event website has some amazing footage of the 1961 event, as well as this video invitation from Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., author of Fatima For Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope and What to Do When Jesus Is Hungry: A Practical Guide to the Works of Mercy, who will give the keynote address at the event:

Today is the feast day of Saint Jerome and the one year anniversary...

... of Pope Benedict XVI's post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Verbum Domini (also available in PDF format from the Vatican site), on the "Word of God in the life and mission of the Church". If you've not read it, consider putting it on your list of "Papal Documents I Need to Read ASAP".

And if you are looking for an introduction and guide to the admittedly lengthy document, see my essay, "A Symphony of the Word".

"I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find. Christ will not say to me what he said to the Jews: You erred, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." — St. Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah (see longer quote as well as reference in Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 133)

Hans Urs von Balthasar and the drama of salvation

Marcelo P. Souza, over on the Luminous Darkness blog, provides a good introduction to von Balthasar's Theo-Drama (Theodramatik):

Balthasar's theology is presented in his Theodramatik as the interplay of God's infinite freedom and man's created, finite freedom in a drama that takes place in God's created stage of the Heavens and the Earth.

Within this structure, Balthasar has brilliantly presented the drama of salvation, using the concept of the play as that which is most faithful to revelation while it manages to best approximate the needed balance between a Platonic-influenced, static theology that does not do justice to man's freedom and redemptive history, and a theology of change that does not do justice to God's sovereign orchestration of all creation.

According to Balthasar, finite freedom can only fulfill itself within infinite freedom and in no other way. This is an idea that shines with the colors of Augustine's understanding of freedom and love. The more freedom and cupidity are wrongly exercised towards self, exercised in autonomy, and exercised towards things other than God (things which are thus used for selfish purposes), the more man becomes incurved in himself. His freedom becomes a prison, and his passions rule over him and draw him away from the ability to love God.

On the other hand, the grace of God liberates man's freedom to love Him and to love what is good for his sake, thereby fulfilling man's freedom as it then embodies both the capacity and the desire to love God and to love the true, the good and the beautiful. Thus, Balthasar argues that finite freedom "can neither go back and take possession of its origins not can it attain its absolute goal by its own power,"[i] i.e., it exists encompassed by infinite freedom. It can only be exercised there, and it can only be fulfilled there.

It is the Son himself who is the ground and the goal of human finite freedom, because he is the "perfect coincidence of freedom and obedience," and thus determines the entire course of "the drama to be played and a stage on which to play it."[ii] In a brilliant analogy, Balthasar uses the parable of the talents as one illustration of this relationship between finite freedom given and directed by God: God gives the servants "an acting area in which they can creatively exercise their freedom and imagination: but what he gives them is his wealth, which they can use wisely or fritter away."[iii]

According to Balthasar, then – and this is a central concept to his whole theology – "the creation of the finite freedom by infinite freedom is the starting point of all theo-drama."[iv] Balthasar's emphasis on the freedom of man as an intrinsic element of the drama, among other things, manages to provide meaning to all decisions of life in a truly existential way.

Read the entire post. Here are links to the respective volumes in Theo-Drama:

• Volume I: Prolegomena
• Volume II: Dramatis Personae
• Volume III: Dramatis Personae
• Volume IV: The Action
• Volume V: The Last Act

And here is a biography of von Balthasar and a full listing of his books published by Ignatius Press.