John Janaro's Blog, page 170

Music From Our Own Day...and Something More

I have extended my celebration of "Music Day" (the Feast of St Cecilia).

Regarding contemporary music, I cannot forget this amazing young woman who had such a great heart, so full of music and song and love that gave itself away to the end, who died doing what she had done so many times after her concerts: welcoming a stranger with open arms....

She sang, she loved, she didn't hide the reason why she did it all, the One to whom she belonged.

Happy "Music Day" AND "Thanksgiving" in the USA

For my friends in Argentina and other parts of Latin America, as well as in general Catholic tradition that honors Saint Cecilia, this is Día de la Música ("Music Day"). 

Even non-religious people in Latin America honor music and musicians on this day. ¡Feliz Día de la Música!



And, of course, we in the United States of America are grateful for EVERYTHING today (including music, though more attention is given to turkeys on the fourth Thursday of November

An Archbishop Begs Forgiveness From His People

"Authority in the Church is not command, but service...

"To my shame, as a pastor, I beg forgiveness from you, my community, that I have not been able to carry out, as your servant, my role as bishop.

"I am not a master, I am not a boss, I am not an authority that imposes itself. I want to be God’s servant, and yours...

"I am bound, as a pastor, by divine command to give my life for those whom I love, and that is all [of you], even those who are going to kill me."

~Saint Oscar Romero of the Americas (1917-1980),
Archbishop of San Salvador and Martyr.

Feeling Dark Inside? It's Okay to Ask for Help

Yep, it's DARK at 5 PM.

The long and early nights of late Fall and early Winter can trigger other kinds of darkness for some people. They have a really hard time with these seasons.

Sometimes people can feel "dark" inside themselves during any season, even in the noonday sun. The darkness lasts for whole days, weeks, months....

And there's no shame in admitting it, and seeking psychiatric and/or psychological help. Yet people in general, and especially my fellow men, too often fail to get help. They don't even try to get help. Often they don't want to admit that they need help.

Now let me be clear (especially to my digital homeboys): I totally get why you feel this way.

I didn't know that there was "no shame" in acknowledging the debilitating and dangerous reality of mental illness. First my whole life had to crash. and. burn. Then I got help, not because I found the strength to do it, but because I was such a wreck that there was nothing else I could even pretend to be able to do.

I came apart. I'm grateful that there were people in my life who knew what needed to be done to begin putting the pieces back together, so that I could start to move forward with help, on a different kind of path, a difficult path, but one that has opened up beautiful and unexpected possibilities.

In the process, I learned a lot. I learned that there is no shame in getting help. 

We are all broken on so many levels, in so many ways. Sometimes our very strengths, the specific places of our particular talents, are also broken places. The physiological aspect of our humanity is fragile and often besieged by more than we can bear without sustaining damage. Today, we know very little about the sheer neurological stress of being immersed constantly in an artificial environment of immense technologically "extended" powers of perception, engagement, and mobility.

The human organism is resilient but also limited and subjected to affliction. Women sometimes understand this better than men; if nothing else, they live with monthly cycles that can be accompanied by various difficulties but in any case cannot be ignored. Men (especially young men) can more easily fall into the illusion that they are complete masters of their bodily reality, including emotions and psychological processes. They are confident that they can overcome obstacles.

And they are ashamed when they fail to do so.

Certainly women and men both are called to self-care and self-control, to the task of overcoming difficulties and weaknesses in order to live more fully.

Nevertheless there are times when you simply cannot overcome an obstacle. You cannot even deal with it ... at least, not on your own. Whether it be physical or "mental" (neurobiological, trauma-induced, whatever), you are afflicted beyond your control. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Illness, including mental illness, affects the lives of countless people. It's just another way of experiencing the fragility of being human.

But you don't have be alone with the burden of it. It's okay to talk about it with someone you trust. It's okay to ask for help.

Don't do what I did. Don't wait until you crash. 

Don't live in denial or self-medicate or over compensate with a frantic blur of external activity. You may "look great" to other people, but the affliction just gets worse, and does damage not only to yourself but also to those who are closest to you. You can't do it without help. The crash will come sooner or later if you don't try to get help.

Trust me, you don't want to crash.

I survived. Too many people, however, don't make it. It becomes a catastrophe that radiates terrible pain and trauma to everyone who cares about them.

When you are struggling with depression, bi-polar disorder, or some other crippling mental disorder, you must be brave. But the brave thing to do is not to hide it or bury it or try to "tough it out" by yourself. The brave thing is to open up, get help, fight for the help you need to stay alive and to live deeply for your own sake and for those who love you and need you.

You are needed, wanted, and loved.

Faith can play a role here, not as a substitute for necessary treatment and therapy, but as an impetus to face something beyond your control, to persevere in seeking help, and even to begin to "discover the gift" that is being fashioned for you (and for the world) by the Redeemer whose power transforms our fragility from within.

And always remember that the Lord will walk with you and give you the courage to be vulnerable, to find him through the help of others, to take the risk of being human.

He Embraces Every Human Person

Jesus, on the Cross,
you wholly embraced every human person.

You alone have given yourself completely
to each one of us
in a singular and particular fashion.

And you alone understand the special mystery
and unique dignity of the individual human being,
because your emptying of yourself
has made "room" for every human person in your heart.

Guide our steps, Lord.

Draw us to yourself.

Draw us by the inexhaustible beauty and goodness
of that total gift of your love for us.

The Great Gertrude

I'm a day late for the incomparable GERTRUDE THE GREAT (one of my all time favorite medieval women), whom we celebrated yesterday. But ... better late than never!
"O devastating coal, my God, you who contain, radiate, and brand with living heat!...O powerful furnace..by whose operation dross is transformed into refined and choice gold when the soul, wearied by deceit, at long last blazes with an inner and insatiable desire to track down what belongs to it, and which it may receive from you alone: the very Truth" (Saint Gertrude).

Snow and Sun in Late Autumn

After a couple of inches of snow fell during the night, the skies cleared for an exceptionally bright sunny crisp cold day. It's a special treat to see the remaining Fall colors jump out against a shining snowy backdrop.
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I got out for a bit today to feel the sun and enjoy the unusual views. And I took a few pictures:
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Then I decided that as long as I was out there, down in the field under the big Sugar Maples (still sporting some green), I might as well upload a video too:
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What Would I Be Without Jesus Christ?

Is it "worth it" to follow Jesus Christ?

The answer would seem obvious for a Christian, and yet we often feel the rub of questions like these. We are always in need of deeper conversion to the Lord, and a richer, more full adherence to Him.

What can I say? Following Christ is worth it to me because He is the One I have been made for. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the fulfillment of all things, and my person exists to be in relationship with Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit: the One God who is Love beyond all imagining, who has created me for a participation in the communion of His trinitarian life. In the deepest sense, this relationship is the meaning of "me"—it's why I exist.

But this is not just theology.

Life is teaching me, slowly, that this is true for everything, even in this world. Sure, He gives meaning to all my aches and pains and neuro-wackiness, my illnesses, my problems, my feeling overwhelmed and exhausted - I say enough about all that in other posts on this blog.

But, really, what would I even be without Christ?

He has given me a beautiful life, and the people I love—my wife, my children, my family, my friends—as well as my desire to go further beyond myself to find the good in others and connect with their humanity because of His love that saves humanity.

All the good belongs to Him: the sky and the air, philosophy, poetry, and music, the stars, peoples, cultures, food, everything that is good is from Him and for Him and redeemed by Him.

Without Him I have nothing. Without Him I don't know the meaning or value of anything; without Him I am lost.

But it's not just "good for me." It matters because it's true. But let's remember that "truth" is not the same thing as ideology. Ideology demands a stubborn self-willed adherence to something we make up on our own, a humanly contrived scheme that we think will fix the world if we can sell it to enough people or force them to accept it. The "tl;dr" of twentieth century history should be: "The imposition of ideology does not work. Even if it begins with noble aspirations, it ends badly: with concentration camps, gulags, killing fields, starvation, war..." If only we could just learn this, even a little bit.

But the real truth is not like ideology. It's not about grasping for power and manipulating or suppressing other human persons. The real truth makes us free.

Ideology only makes us partisans of a program, and we become narrow and contentious and blind to our own flaws. We have to be careful not to turn Jesus Christ into an ideology. Certainly He leads us to see the world in particular ways, but they are His ways. He is the truth. He opens us up to reality, to the adventure of really living and the risk of really loving.

Jesus is the Truth in Person, the Truth who has given Himself for the salvation and transfiguration of the world. And we know that everyone in the world lives by seeking Him (whether they know it or not). We who are Christians, who are blessed—by grace—to know Him, are called to share Him and to continue to seek to know Him more. Because He is Infinite Love, we must never think we have "enough" with Him, or that we have anything more than the beginning, the foretaste, the first fruits that should just deepen our desire to seek more and to love more.

What else is there?

As St Peter says, "Lord, where else could we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God" (see John 6).

November Blues: Dark in the Afternoon

November afternoon. Too dark, too soon! Hey, possible song happening here.

Francesca Cabrini: Saints Show Us the Way

Much has happened since the last time we celebrated Mother Cabrini's feast day. She has special concern, no doubt, for her adopted country of the United States of America. She knows we are a young nation—a nation of immigrants and the descendants of immigrants. She knows our limits and also where we need to be stretched, and the challenges that lie ahead. She knows the troubles in the Church in America and in our society today.

We should invoke her assistance at this time, with confidence.

Saint Francesca Cabrini, missionary and tireless servant of the masses of destitute immigrants in the USA at the beginning of the twentieth century, understood real people. She knew how to deal with everybody. She was able to light a fire inside people's hearts.

What was her secret?

Trust in God. Love for Jesus Christ. Prayer and the sacraments. Perseverance beyond the point of "crazy." Prayer. More prayer. Patience, in spades. Willingness to ask God for everything and to do whatever God put in front of her. More prayer. Loving people, ignoring their pretentiousness and/or their self-doubts, and waking them up to how they could serve the Lord and overcome evil with good. Never giving up on loving God and doing good. Knowing when to be persistent and when to be flexible. Total abandonment to Christ. And...did I say prayer?

We can sum it up in one word: Sanctity.

Holiness. It sounds impossible because it is impossible—it is impossible for human beings to do on their own, or even dream about doing. But God makes it possible; God, who came to be with us in Jesus Christ.

We need saints today.

We need saints like Francesca Cabrini to see the real needs of our own time and let Christ work through them. We are all called to be saints. It starts with prayer and trust; the more we open our own hearts to God, the more He will enable us to recognize what He is doing, by His grace, in the hearts of others.

Also, this generation needs some extraordinary saints, like Mother Cabrini or like Mother Teresa or John Paul II (the saints who were the light of my youth). I think we should pray to God to raise up among us these special kinds of saints, who will be inspirations and examples for our children, and who will help us all to live our faith with hope and joy whatever obstacles we might face.

They are already among us, certainly, but we need more of them. We need saints who we can see and hear, who are alive with love. We need to see what love looks like in this world today, and how love can embrace us with our problems, our wounds, our need for healing and renewal.

I know for sure that I can't figure this out for myself. I need help. Don't you?

Let's ask for help: Lord, grant us saints for our time, and make us saints.