Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 89
July 2, 2014
The “Inhumanity” of the Homosexual Lifestyle
The “Inhumanity” of the Homosexual Lifestyle | Fr. Paul Conner, O.P. | HPR
To love as a person is freely to wish goodness for someone … Love always wants to affirm, and to better, one’s friend. Through the power of free choice, true love makes the friend, not the self, the beneficiary.
Can there be a more controversial, hot button issue today than the homosexual lifestyle? It is being debated on all levels of society. In this article my intention is not to enter into the debate, but rather to focus on voicing contradictions that are rarely expressed, yet, are embedded in homosexual activity.
Obviously, “inhuman” is in contradiction to “human.” “Inhumanity” in the title of this article is in no way intended to be judgmental of those who choose the homosexual lifestyle. Nor is “inhumanity” meant to address anyone’s motives because these are free choices known only to each individual. I have used the term “inhumanity” solely to draw attention to several consequential contradictions of the homosexual lifestyle to living sexual life in a fully human way. 1
My purpose is not a mere academic exercise. I want only to offer clarity to those confused by their experience of same sex attraction, or to those who are trying to make sense of this complex issue ethically, socially, or politically.
To perceive a contradiction is a tremendous help to understanding anything objectively. This is because contradictions allow our minds to sort out right from wrong, and good from evil. Contradictions cannot be true simultaneously. So, if we can discover, for example, what is either true or false about anything, we know instantly what its opposite is, no matter how confusing the topic we may have been before.
This “principle of non-contradiction” works at the root of all thinking and choosing; it is innate to all persons, no matter their differences, such as differing sexual orientations. Unless consciously disregarded, the force of contradiction determines ultimately how we think, and how we choose.
Two widespread problems, however, can keep the clarity of contradiction from helping us comprehend objectively. If not understood and counteracted, these problems are powerful enough to lead our minds into concluding that what is false is true, or what is bad is good—or the reverse. These two problems are responsible for most of the confusion about “values” and “free choices” that dominate our culture, the media, and us—even those most educated. We must first face and solve these problems, or the clarity about the homosexual lifestyle we are seeking will escape us.
Cahill's Self-Serving History of Heretics and Heroes
Left: King Henry VIII; right: Pope Adrian VI (Photos: www.wikipedia.org)
Cahill's Self-Serving History of Heretics and Heroes | Dr. Michael B. Kelly | CWR
Outrage-free history has never been easy to write, and Thomas Cahill is not up to the task in his new book on the Renaissance and Reformation
Since publishing the amusing How the Irish Saved Civilization in 1995, best-selling author Thomas Cahill has added five further volumes to his history of the West, the Hinges of History series. The latest volume, Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Changed Our World, contains Cahill’s take on the great European intellectual, cultural, and religious movements of the period now commonly referred to by historians as “early modern”. According to the author, this series aims to “retell the story of the Western world as the story of the great gift-givers, those who entrusted to our keeping one or another of the singular treasures that make up the patrimony of the West.” Such “gift-givers” left behind “a world more varied and complex, more awesome and delightful, more beautiful and strong” than the one they had entered.
“We normally,” Cahill states, “think of history as one catastrophe after another, war followed by war, outrage by outrage—almost as if history were nothing more than all the narratives of human pain, assembled in sequence.” The Hinges series, however, is dedicated to “narratives of grace, the recountings of those blessed and inexplicable moments when someone did something for someone else, saved a life, bestowed a gift, gave something beyond what was required by circumstance.”
It seems we are in for a newer, gentler, kinder history of the West.
Outrage-free history?
And yet Cahill’s approach, as advertised, is not all that novel. Hear how an earlier writer distanced himself from conventional historians with their predilection for bloodshed and brutality: “Other historians record the victories of war and trophies won from enemies, the skill of generals, and the manly bravery of soldiers, defiled with blood and with innumerable slaughters for the sake of [their] children and country and other possessions. But our narrative of the government of God will record . . . the most peaceful wars waged in behalf of the peace of the soul, and will tell of men doing brave deeds for truth rather than country, and for piety rather than dearest friends.” As the Father of Church History, Eusebius of Caesarea, penned those words in the first half of the fourth century it can be seen that Cahill is, at least in aspiration, in good, and rather well-worn, company.
Outrage-free history, however, has never been easy to write.
July 1, 2014
The Giver and the Gift
The Giver and the Gift | Fr. Charles Kestermeier, SJ | HPR
God is himself the first, and absolutely the most important gift that God gives to us, which implies a second gift: God gives us our very selves.
One thing that people seem to do in all cultures is to give gifts, and this is always wrapped in all sorts of traditions and expectations. It seems to be a very human activity, one I have pondered for some time, but I have never quite been able to resolve the difference between the way that we give and receive as humans, and the way God gives (and we give to him) yet, I have at least come to some ideas on the subject. To begin on the most fundamental level, we might consider how people give gifts. There is the gift to mark a relationship that doesn’t really exist: a Christmas card to people we can’t remember very well, the aunt who gives her niece and godchild a gift appropriate to a four-year-old even when the girl is 15, the friend who makes fudge for a diabetic, and so on.
We can give a gift as a means of keeping a person in contact with us, out of guilt or gratitude, even though the other person might wish that we would stop. And, we can give gifts because it is customary in our society, or because we are expected to, such as at a retirement party, a distant cousin’s birthday, or a wedding. These can be extremely impersonal and merely keep us in good standing in the community.
Some people, whether they realize it or not, give to control others: a book that will reveal the truth about something, or will change our lives, or a gift card for some store or service that the donor likes, but which the recipient avoids. Some people might think that your apartment or office is too stark and will give a picture or a pillow to make it more comfortable—to their taste, not to yours. Some gifts are simply to create a feeling of debt on the part of the recipient: “I have done all this for you, so now you owe me.” Perhaps, we can all imagine a time we have given a gift out of guilt, a desire to have the other indebted to us, or out of less than charitably noble intentions.
Too often, we can experience all such gifts as annoyances, attempts to interfere with our lives, or a manipulation of our relationships with others. Gifts like that convey no feeling of true gift, no sign of an authentic personal relationship, and they can actually be oppressive.
And there are other ways to respond to gifts.
Memory: Wired for God in the Eucharist
Memory: Wired for God in the Eucharist | Dr. Joseph R. Hollcraft | Homiletic & Pastoral Review
As we reflect on the principle of memory, we are drawn into what lies at the center of it all, Christ and his words in the institution of the Eucharist: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor.15:25).
No Ordinary Pilgrimage
In the winter of 2007, I got in a car with a close friend of mine, and we made the three-hour drive to the third annual “Walk for Life West Coast” in San Francisco. As I explained to my friend, this trip was not just about going on a “three-hour” pilgrimage to “Assisi by the Bay” (as it was coined by then Archbishop Levada) to witness on behalf of the unborn, but it was also to be a journey into the past. During my adolescence, I lived in the East Bay, and up to that point, I had never gone back to spend any significant time in my old neighborhood. So, it was after the conclusion of walking down Embarcadero Street, and praying on behalf of the unborn—which in itself was a profound experience—that we then set off for my old neighborhood, San Ramon, California.
Initially, my plan was to spend the late afternoon and evening in a few spots where I had a great deal of fond memories growing up. My plans quickly changed. As we drove onto the highway, I was thinking about my childhood, and surprisingly, the first thing that had come to mind were the many days I spent at the local junior college running track. Consequently, we decided to take a pit stop at Chabot Junior College. As we drove up to the college, and I looked over to see the same set of bleachers that were there 25 years ago, something happened to me, quite unexpectedly. I immediately remembered particulars of my time at Chabot that I had not thought of in a very long time—and there was more. As I walked through the entrance into the stadium, and smelled the fresh cut grass, it was almost as if the grass remembered me: calling out to me, as it were, “Do you remember me?” Once again, I remembered details of things that had happened to me long ago at Chabot Junior College. These moments left me overwhelmed, and I dare say, emotional. I could not help but ask myself—what is happening? Why am I being filled with so many memories and emotions, at the sight of a stadium, and the smell of grass? Such an experience was all very new to me. It was then that I started to think about the life of Pope John Paul II, and his reflections on the meaning of a pilgrimage.
John Paul II once spoke of the power of going on a pilgrimage, but not the conventional pilgrimage in which we journey to a holy destination with the hopes of being refreshed and experience renewal.
"The Fault in Our Stars" and the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley star in a scene from the movie "The Fault in Our Stars." (CNS photo/Fox)
"The Fault in Our Stars" and the Sacred Heart of Jesus | Fr. Robert Barron | Catholic World Report blog
The question that haunts the entire movie is how can there be meaning in the universe when two wonderful young kids are dying of cancer?
John Green’s novel The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton Books, 2012) has proven to be wildly popular among young adults in the English-speaking world, and the recently released film adaptation of the book has garnered both impressive reviews and a massive audience.
A one-time divinity school student and Christian minister, Green is not reluctant to explore the “big” questions, though he doesn’t claim to provide anything like definitive answers. In this, he both reflects and helps to shape the inchoate, eclectic spirituality that holds sway in the teen and 20-something set today. After watching the film however, I began to wonder whether his Christian sensibility doesn’t assert itself perhaps even more clearly and strongly than he realizes.
The story is narrated by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a teenager suffering from a debilitating and most likely terminal form of cancer. At her mother’s prompting, Hazel attends a support group for young cancer patients that takes place at the local Episcopal Church. The group is presided over by a well-meaning but nerdy youth minister who commences each meeting by rolling out a tapestry of Jesus displaying his Sacred Heart. “We are gathering, literally, in the heart of Jesus,” he eagerly tells the skeptical and desultory gaggle of teens.
At one of these sessions, Hazel rises to share her utterly bleak, even nihilistic philosophy of life:
June 30, 2014
Non-believers Make the Best Saint Movies: "Monsieur Vincent"
Non-believers Make the Best Saint Movies: Monsieur Vincent | Patrick Coffin | CWR
“It is only because of your love that the poor will forgive you the bread that you give them.”
When Christians make movies about saints, they sometimes succeed as hagiography, always make their intended audiences feel good, and almost always fail as art. Christians often can’t resist the temptation to tell the story with a bullhorn and end up, too frequently, with movies that appeal primarily to the choir, the members of which are (understandably) hungry for fare that glorifies the Faith.
When agnostics and atheists make movies about saints or other heroes whose life choices were motivated by the claims of faith, however, things tend to turn out differently. If it’s true that saints irritate us into changing our ways, secular artists often build into their art their own anxious searching, their own “reaching out” to meet the irritating (read fascinating) protagonist, to understand him, and to unveil the mystery of what makes him tick. A few examples would include Therese (1986),the French film about St. Therese of Lisieux written and directed by Alain Cavalier; The Song of Bernadette (1943), written by Franz Werfel; Man For All Seasons (1966) and The Mission (1986), written by Robert Bolt; and The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), written and directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. I argue this would include Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel for Noah (2014).
In this tradition stands Monsieur Vincent (1946), the classic biopic of St. Vincent de Paul. It was directed by Maurice Cloche based on a script adapted by the great French playwright Jean Anouilh, who built a writing career exploring ideas that resonate more with Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre than with Frank Capra and Walt Disney. Interestingly, Anouilh had successfully tackled another saintly subject in his celebrated play Becket, the movie version of which starred Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole.
In Monsieur Vincent, director Cloche and co-writer Anouilh omit the real life backstory of St. Vincent being sold as a slave, and begin the story with the priest’s arrival at the village of Châtillon-les-Dombes (more on this later).
June 28, 2014
Saints Peter and Paul: Key witnesses to the reality and veracity of Jesus Christ
"Saint Peter and Saint Paul" by Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652) [www.wikiart.org/]
A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, June 29, 2014 | Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles | Carl E. Olson
Readings:
• Acts 3:1-10
• Psa 19:2-3, 4-5
• Gal 1:11-20
• Jn 21:15-19
One denied Christ after having been chosen by him. The other was chosen by Christ after he had spent much time and energy persecuting Christians. One was a businessman with a large, impetuous personality. The other was a rabbi whose emotional passion was equaled by his stunning intellect.
Both men were flawed; both were transformed by encountering Christ. Both were martyred for their faith in Christ. Both, according to tradition, died in the city of Rome nearly forty years after the Resurrection of their Lord.
After Jesus, it is Peter and Paul who dominate the New Testament and whose leadership set the course for the early Church. Peter is mentioned well over two hundred times in the New Testament, while close to half of the books in the New Testament are attributed to Paul. The Acts of the Apostles, an account written by Luke of key events in the early Church, is essentially divided between what might be called the “acts of Peter” (chapters 1-12) and the “acts of Paul” (chapters 13-28).
Each of today’s three readings reveals something of how the hearts and lives of these two great Apostles were met, filled, and transformed by Jesus Christ. The reading from the Gospel of Matthew is well known, describing the dramatic conversation that took place in the region of Caesarea Philippi. Standing in front of a massive one-hundred-foot high wall of rock marked with shrines and statues of pagan gods, Jesus asked two questions of his disciples: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and “But who do you say that I am?” Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, did not come from superior intellect or human cleverness, but from faith and the revelation of the Father: “For flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father” (cf., Catechism, par. 552).
Peter, of course, struggled with faith, eventually denying Jesus on the cusp of the Crucifixion. But after being reaffirmed as head apostle by the Risen Lord (cf., Jn 21), Peter emerged as a man both humble and assured, his confidence placed fully in Christ, not himself. Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on this change, said, “From the naïve enthusiasm of acceptance, passing through the sorrowful experience of denial and the weeping of conversion, Peter succeeded in entrusting himself to that Jesus who adapted himself to his poor capacity of love” (General Audience, May 24, 2006). This journey was possible for Peter because “he was constantly open to the action of the Spirit of Jesus.”
That openness is readily evident in the account, found in Acts 12, of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison. Like Jesus, he was arrested and imprisoned during the time of the Passover. And although Peter escaped death on that occasion, the episode described by Luke is evidently meant to “echo” the death and resurrection of Jesus, for Peter is delivered from the darkness of prison and certain death by an angel of Lord.
Prior to his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul was a zealous persecutor of the Church. Blinded and lying on the road, the stunned Paul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” (Act 9:5). Given an answer and directives, he spent the rest of his life preaching the Gospel, competing in “the race,” one of his favorite metaphors for the Christian life. “His existence,” stated Benedict XVI, “would become that of an Apostle who wants to ‘become all things to all men’ (1 Cor 9:22) without reserve” (General Audience, Oct 25, 2006).
Both Peter and Paul are key witnesses to the reality and veracity of Jesus Christ. Their witness was two-fold: through living, first-hand encounters with the Lord and through their acceptance of martyrdom. “By martyrdom,” the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council explained, “a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master…” (Lumen Gentium, 42). May their bold witness encourage us to be likewise transformed by and for the Savior.
(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the June 29, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)
Francis and South Korea
A woman prays during Mass at a church in Seoul, Korea, Feb. 12, 2013. (CNS photo/Kim Hong-Ji, Reuters)
Francis and South Korea | John Paul Shimek | CWR
In his first international visits, the Pope looks to “the ends of the Earth” and to the young.
It’s official. The volo papale, or papal airplane, will take off from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport in mid-August. This time it will be headed for the heart of Asia. Pope Francis will visit Daejeon, South Korea from August 14 to 18. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office, made the announcement in a statement issued March 10. The official comunicato reads:
Welcoming the invitation from the President of the Republic and the Korean bishops, His Holiness Francis will make an Apostolic Trip to the Republic of Korea from 14 to 18 August 2014, on the occasion of the Sixth Asian Youth Day, to be held in the diocese of Daejeon.
The trip will mark the first papal visit to the Korean peninsula in more than two decades. Pope John Paul II visited there on two separate occasions: in the spring of 1984 and again in the autumn of 1989. For his part, Pope Benedict XVI did not elect to visit South Korea during almost a decade as pope.
Both of Pope John Paul II’s visits attracted record numbers of pilgrims. Traveling to Seoul in 1989 for the International Eucharistic Congress, he led one of the largest outdoor gatherings on the Asian continent: some one million Catholics attended the congress’ closing liturgical celebration on October 8, 1989. However, that record was broken in 1995 when he visited Manila, Philippines on the occasion of the Tenth International World Youth Day. More than five million individuals attended that event—the largest outdoor gathering in human history.
A vibrant Church
Like Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis could attract record-setting numbers of pilgrims. After all, the Catholic Church is alive and well in South Korea. In fact, over the last decade, Catholicism has witnessed an incredible growth spurt there. Church enrollment has swelled some 70 percent. Now, more than five million South Koreans—about 11 percent of the population—are members of the Roman Catholic Church. That number continues to increase.
June 27, 2014
Defending Devotion to the Sacred Heart
Defending Devotion to the Sacred Heart | Timothy T. O'Donnell, S.T.D. | Introduction to Heart of the Redeemer
I have attempted not so much to speak with authority of things that I know, as to seek to know them by speaking about them with reverence. -- St. Augustine, De Trinitate, I v. 8
In our inquiry into the devotion to the Sacred Heart and its perennial value, it is best to begin with a proper understanding of what is meant by devotion. St. Thomas Aquinas defines devotion as a willingness "to give oneself readily to what concerns the service of God" (Summa, II-II, q. 82 a. 1). Accordingly, the devotion to 
the Sacred Heart of Jesus appears essentially as a worship of and a response to the Person of Christ as viewed from the perspective of His divine and human love which is manifested through His sacred humanity and is symbolized by His wounded physical Heart. In his masterful encyclical, Haurietis Aquas, Pope Pius XII gives the following definition of this devotion:
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by its very nature is a worship of the love with which God, through Jesus, loved us, and at the same time, an exercise of our love by which we are related to God and to other men.
From this definition it can be seen that authentic devotion to the Sacred Heart is not merely an optional set of pious practices (which may be very helpful) but an essential element of the Christian way of life. All Christians are called to the comprehension of certain truths concerning God and to a response in love to them. In living a life in imitation of Christ, as found in the Gospels and taught by the Church, the Christian should use all the spiritual aids offered to him by God. He should fill his life with an ever growing and deepening love for God and his fellow man. Every Christian will build his own unique spirituality upon this common foundation, which should include a response to the Heart of Christ that gives honor to the divine love and is offered for the sake of that love.
It would be accurate to say that by the middle of the twentieth century the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus had universally triumphed throughout the Church. Everywhere in the world, churches, monasteries and congregations were to be found dedicated to the Sacred Heart. In virtually every Catholic church one would find a statue of our Lord revealing his Heart. Large numbers of the faithful gathered on every continent for First Friday devotions, the Holy Hour and other pious practices associated with the devotion. This triumphal procession, however, was not welcomed in all quarters and the devotion began to draw criticism from some Catholic theologians who began to question certain aspects of these devotional exercises. Some outside, and even within, the Church questioned the theological foundation of the devotion.
Pope Pius XII was well aware of the objections which some were making to the devotion. It is because of these objections that the Holy Father wrote his encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in it he exhorted the faithful to "a more earnest consideration of those principles which take their origin from Scripture and the teaching of the Fathers and theologians," which form the solid foundation for the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Pope went on to call for and stress the importance of "a profound study of the primary and loftier nature of the devotion with the aid of the light of the divinely revealed truth" so that we may "rightly and fully appreciate its incomparable excellence and the inexhaustible abundance of its heavenly favors." The Holy Father ended his appeal by requesting a "devout medita- tion and contemplation" upon the benefits of the devotion.
After the publication of Haurietis Aquas, many books were written on the devotion. These works varied tremendously in size and quality. They included pious or devotional works, popular pamphlets, and mystical writings which described extraordinary supernatural experiences.
There is still a need for a systematic theological exposition and defense of the devotion which will lead to a deeper penetration and understanding of it, as was requested by Pius XII and subsequent pontiffs. It is my most earnest hope and prayer that this book will help in some way to answer the call of the Holy Father and will contribute to a greater understanding of our Lord's Heart, which is "so full of infinite majesty and compassion."
The encyclical and devotion both, unfortunately, seem to have been down-played or overshadowed, if you will, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Many today object to the devotion for a variety of reasons, some manifestly superficial and others quite serious. Despite the objections, there are presently strong signs of a widespread reawakening of interest in the devotion and the contributions which it can make toward the renewal of the Church.
Some have criticized the devotion for the language used in many of the prayers addressed to the Sacred Heart. Phrases such as "prostrate before thy altar" seem to many a bit archaic and not in keeping with our modern idiom. Often times prayers and the lyrics of hymns to the Sacred Heart are considered excessively sweet and sentimental. Artistic representations of the devotion are criticized for being too saccharine and effeminate.
None of these criticisms touch what is essential to the devotion as it has been taught by the Church. They deal with external aspects; and yet we must remember that man derives his knowledge through the senses, and therefore poor art and unsuitable language may form obstacles to a deeper understanding and love of the devotion. We shall discuss some of these problems in the final section of this study, where we deal with questions of renewal and adaptation.
The more serious objections which have been raised against the devotion cannot be brushed aside but must be dealt with clearly and honestly. Critical questioning is a good thing, since it may open both the mind and heart to a deeper reflection and understanding of this "priceless gift which our Savior has given to his Church." I have formulated here what I believe to be the four major objections which have been raised to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
1) The devotion to the Sacred Heart rests upon a weak doctrinal base and threatens to overemphasize the humanity of Christ. This position is espoused by theologians such as Karl Barth, who places the devotion on the same level as modern Protestant biographies of the historical Jesus that have abandoned belief in the reality of the Incarnation of the Word. In his book, Church Dogmatics, he characterizes both forms as attempts to "find an approach to Jesus Christ which circumvents his divinity," offering an "approach to a revelation which is generally understandable and possible in the form of human judgments and human experiences. In the Heart of Jesus cult... it is blatantly a matter of finding a generally illuminating access to Jesus Christ which evades the divinity of the Word. Therefore both Neo-Protestant faith in the religious hero Jesus and the Catholic devotion to the Heart of Jesus, are to be rejected as the deification of a creature." [1]
2) There is no scriptural reference to the devotion. This criticism is frequently heard from our separated brethren and even some Catholics, who demand proof of scriptural authenticity. This is especially important since the Second Vatican Council emphasized Sacred Scripture as the foundation of theology and spirituality.
3) The devotion sprang from a mere private revelation given to a cloistered nun in 17th century France. It is therefore a new devotion and is not sanctioned by Christian tradition.
4) The devotion may have been beneficial for a particular age and cultural outlook but it is no longer suited to modern times and has become obsolete.
Although some objections are of greater importance than others, all must be answered. If any of these objections should prove true, the validity and perennial value of the devotion would be seriously shaken, if not shattered. This work shall be divided into four sections in which we hope to achieve four goals.
First, we shall examine the dogmatic foundations for the devotion as found in Sacred Scripture and the Church's teachings concerning Christ as it took shape in the great Christological controversies in the 4th and 5th centuries. This is absolutely essential to demonstrating the perennial validity and value of the devotion.
Second, we shall then proceed to trace the historical development of the devotion which culminated in the great revelation given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Here we shall glimpse the Holy Spirit at work in the dynamic living tradition of the Church. It will be a thought-provoking study which will reveal the theological richness of the devotion, its evolution and the multiple forms which it has taken throughout two Christian millennia. This investigation will probe into the patristic roots of the devotion, its flowering in the era of medieval mysticism, and developments up to the present day.
Third, we shall then examine the contemporary importance of the devotion in the life of the Church in the light of magisterial teaching. In the 19th and 20th century there is a large amount of papal teaching on the devotion. The See of Peter has given the devotion a unique position in the Church. This wealth of papal magisterial teaching will have much to say regarding the timeliness and timeless value of the devotion.
Last, we shall discuss questions of renewal and adaptation of the devotion according to the guidelines of Vatican II.
It was only after a great deal of serious reflection that I decided to write this book which is an outgrowth of studies begun at the Angelicum in Rome in 1978.1 chose to write on the loving Heart of our Lord because I believe the devotion to be of vital importance today. I offer here to the reader, for his prayerful reflection, three quotations from three popes of the 20th century concerning the importance of devotion to the Sacred Heart in our age:
[Devotion to the Heart of Jesus] is the extraordinary remedy for the extraordinary needs of our times. (Pius XI, Caritate Christi Compulsi, May 3, 1932)
Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is so important that it may be considered, so far as practice is concerned, the perfect profession of the Christian religion .... It is no ordinary form of piety which anyone at his own whim may treat as of little consequence or set aside as inferior to others. (Pius XII, Haurietis Aquas, May 15, 1956)
The cult rendered to the Sacred Heart is the most efficacious means to contribute to that spiritual and moral renewal of the world called for by the Second Vatican Council. (Paul VI, Address to the Thirty-First General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, Nov. 17, 1966)
These three statements are well worth pondering for all those who would sentire cum Ecclesia.
The veneration of our Lord's Heart, insofar as it honors Christ as the source and substance of our redemption, is no ordinary devotion. It is truly latreutical--a devotion which is rendered to God alone. For the Heart of Christ occupies a central position, as the focal point through which everything passes to the ultimate center in the Father--per Christum ad Patrem. It is a devotion of tremendous theological richness, containing a complete synthesis of faith, or, as Pius XI put it "summa totius religionis." The devotion is at once theocentric and anthropocentric, Trinitarian and Christocentric; it emphasizes love of God and calls eloquently to the fraternal apostolate. It may also lead to that sound eucharistic piety so greatly desired by the Second Vatican Council. This is especially true since the Eucharist, as Pope Paul VI observed, is the "outstanding gift" of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I firmly believe that the spirituality fostered by this devotion can best meet the spiritual needs of our age. It is a practical form of spirituality which emphasizes famlliaritas cum Christo and therefore is marvelously suited to aid priest, religious and laity alike in their journey of growth in holiness. If practiced in the family, devotion to the Heart of Jesus may greatly help to counter those pagan elements of culture which all too often work their way into the sanctuary of the home.
The devotion should be made available to all. Unfortunately, the widespread ignorance throughout the Church of the devotion's rich theological foundations has greatly hindered its full appreciation and practice. It is only by returning to these sources as found in Sacred Scripture, tradition and the teaching of the Church's magisterium that we can hope to renew the devotion and thereby allow it to play a central role in the larger effort to renew the Church.
Our Lord, in his apparition to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, communicated to her that the revelation of his Heart was "a final effort" to enkindle the fire of love in a world in which "charity had grown cold." Such is the age in which we live. William Butler Yeats foresaw the crisis of our era in a prophetic poem written at the turn of the century:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Coldness and hatred can be melted and overcome only by the fire of love. Certainly, in an age which is characterized by an increasingly hostile secularization, a spirituality which centers on love and aims at setting the world on fire is precisely what is needed to instaurare omnia in Christo.
I have come to cast fire upon the earth,
and what will I but that it be kindled?
-- Luke 13:49
Timothy T O'Donnell, S.T.D.
October 16, 1989
Feast of St. Margaret Mary
ENDNOTES:
[1] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics Vol. Ip.2 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1970) pp. 137.138.
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• The Religion of Jesus | Blessed Columba Marmion | From Christ, The Ideal of the Priest
• The Conquest of the Bride | Hans Urs von Balthasar
• Catholic Spirituality | Thomas Howard
Timothy T. O'Donnell received his doctorate at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He is Chairman of the Department of Theology at Christendom College.
June 26, 2014
Politicians and Bishops in an Age of Absurdity and Bumper Stickers
Left: Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in September 2013 (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters). Right: Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, gives an address at the second annual March for Marriage on the West Lawn of the Capitol in Washington June 19. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)
Politicians and Bishops in an Age of Absurdity and Bumper Stickers | Carl E. Olson | CWR
Nancy Pelosi's attempt to stop Archbishop Cordileone from being Catholic and a bishop indicates we are living in a confused, insane time
"Politicians have to be progressive; that is, they have to live in the future, because they know they have done nothing but evil in the past." — G. K. Chesterton, Avowals and Denials, 1935.
"The last citadel in the Western world of God-given moral prescriptions concerning man's use of his sexual faculties is the Catholic Church." — Monsignor George A. Kelly, The Battle for the American Church, 1979.
"Question authority." This well-known slogan, which has a Socratic heritage (more on that later), also has roots in Benjamin Franklin's statement, "It is the first right of every citizen to question authority."
My guess, having lived in Eugene, Oregon, for almost twenty years, is that most people in these progressive part of the woods understand "Question authority" as a call to reject authority, and I suspect that holds true for most Americans. I've joked on occasion of how fun it could be to track down a car with the "Question authority" bumper sticker and ask the owner, "By what authority do you advocate that others question authority?" The inherent humor of such subversive inversion is appealing—"See, I'm questioning your authority to tell others to question authority..."—but I doubt the conversation that would likely follow would live up to the irony of it all. Besides, and let me be perfectly clear, most progressives aren't openminded enough to tolerate the question of their authority.
In fact, most people who communicate by bumper stickers aren't usually given to thinking through the logic of those mostly trite, if occasionally funny, statements. But in an age of soundbites, slogans, and snarky one-liners, they can pass for cleverness, even wisdom. They also, in many situations, are meant to stop any and all real thought, a sort of "Oh, yeah!? Take this!" type of remark.
Which brings me to the Most Famous Papal Statement of the Past Three Thousand Years: "Who Am I To Judge?" Of course, as countless folks have noted, Pope Francis originally said something a bit more qualified and specific than that. Even taken out of the larger context, which is quite essential to the sentence in question (made at the end of his July 28, 2013, interview while returning from World Youth Day), the difference should be obvious:
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