John Janaro's Blog, page 72

“Become Like a Child…”

Today we commemorate Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), the great 20th century philosopher, Jewish Catholic convert, Carmelite nun, and martyr for her faith and her people at Auschwitz on August 9, 1942. Above is some digital artwork based on the well-known black-and-white photograph of her.

I keep this quotation - from a letter she wrote to an intellectual colleague - on the shelf next to my bed, and it remains relevant for me every day: 

“Become like a child and lay your life, with all the searching and ruminating, into the Father’s hand” (Edith Stein).

The Transfiguration Gives Us Hope

Today is the Feast of the TRANSFIGURATION of Jesus. (Here is a reproduction of ancient Armenian icon.)

"From the cloud came a voice that said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him'" (Matthew 17:5).

Jesus transfigured gives us a glimpse of the glory He has from the Father and wills to share with us, and reveals the transforming beauty of His redeeming love. 

Peter, James, and John behold the reality of what (on the threshold of His Passion) Jesus was about to accomplish through His agony and death on the Cross, through the fulfillment of His love for the Father (and for us) and His breathing-forth of the Spirit. 

"All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The “light” that shines on the face of Jesus is the glory of redeeming love, which illuminates all the moments of the journey of our own lives. It is a mysterious light, in which we walk with Jesus in faith, adhere to Him in hope, and grow in love for Him. It is the light of His presence, now, in the midst of our journeying, by which He changes us and draws us in the Spirit through the circumstances of our daily life (even the most desperate, painful, incomprehensible ones). 

The glory of His redeeming love gives meaning to our lives as we are led, amidst many struggles, to our destiny, to the glorious inheritance promised to the children of the God who is Love.

More Summer Fun With Maria

“Go ahead, Maria. Stare at Papa’s big nose!”

Maria says “pa-pa” now, when she sees me (well, at least sometimes). She also says “ma-ma, da-da, na-na” and waves her hand and says “hi”!😁☺️ 

It’s so exciting!🙂

“The Hazy Glow of August” (2022)

“The Hazy Glow of August” (2022)

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

I have so much stuff! Everywhere. Too much stuff!

Maybe my stuff is not what one would call “riches” in the ordinary sense of the term. A lot of it is broken, useless, or outdated junk. Then there are books, in great stacks on shelves, on desks, on tables, on the ground (such as the piles represented in this artistic-ish illustration). And then there are… more books.

Too much stuff. How shall I ever enter the Kingdom of God?

But really, none of these things compares to the riches that hinder me most: the riches I carry about in my mind. Here there are a few real jewels, in addition to much that is of lesser value, and lots of internal clutter. The jewels are entrusted to me for the benefit of others. I don’t know why I’m so slow to share them.

I am anxious and concerned about many things. But only “one thing” is of need to me.

“The Truth” is NOT an Ideology

As Christians, we propose the Gospel in the world. 

We witness to the truth about Jesus Christ, and the truth of the dignity of every human person created in His image, redeemed by His death and resurrection, and called to share His glory. Christian witness to the presence of Jesus as the meaning and fulfillment of our lives, of history, of all creation cannot help manifesting itself as a definitive and all-encompassing proposal, as the truth that shapes all of reality. At the same time, “Christianity” must always respect the full measure of human freedom. It must never be reduced to the coercive imposition of “our” ideology; rather it must always constitute an invitation to a relationship of love with the One to whom our hearts belong.

The truth is not the same thing as ideology. Ideology (in the sense I use it here) refers to a systematic, humanly-conceived “program” to organize the world, or some portion of it. It prioritizes its own successful establishment, to the point of imposing itself on others by human forces and human power. Underlying ideology is a stubborn self-willed adherence to something we make up on our own, a contrived scheme that we think will fix the world if we can sell it to enough people or force them to accept it. 

Ideologies can be very impressive, inspiring, brilliant, seemingly visionary. Yet human experience has shown the perils of the ideological mindset. The "tl;dr" of twentieth century history should at least drive home this point: "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.

Ideology is destructive. It exalts its own success to the detriment of the dignity and freedom of human persons. In sharing this basic characteristic, it makes no difference whether the ideology is fascism or communism, imperialism or socialism, religious fundamentalism or restorationism - including the ideologized myth of a nationalist “spiritual destiny” to establish the “Third Rome” from the Moskva River to the Black Sea and beyond (a delusion that has no small influence on the present war that continues to impose terrible suffering on the people of Ukraine).

We must resist the temptation to forget that we belong to Christ, and reduce our witness to our own ecclesiastical schemes or illusions of our “Christian projects” attaining worldly recognition and success. This “forgetting of Christ” is the radical source of the divisions, the abuses carried out by the Church’s ministers and members, the scandals that have traumatized and alienated people in recent times (and throughout history). We must beg God’s mercy to overcome the “petty ideologies” that we so easily construct or connive in every day.

Let’s remember that 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 give in to pride, which could lead us to turn even our faith in Jesus Christ into an ideology. Certainly Jesus opens up to us an astonishing, beautiful (but also mysterious) perspective on all of reality. Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord 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 have been entrusted—by the grace of faith in its objective fullness—with the knowledge of Him and His presence in the life of His Church, 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. If we walk the roads of the world with hearts burning for God, He will draw the hearts of others to the shape of this flame according to His plan for their lives; His Spirit will awaken, enkindle, and foster the fire of their own desire for the fullness of truth, for the vocation to love that constitutes their freedom. 
In the Father’s plan, the light of this flame is destined to shine, for everyone, on the face of Christ.

“Summer Heat 2022”

JJ Digital Studios presents this original artwork “inspired” by the heat of this season, penetrating even the rich canopy of trees that ordinarily give some shade and protection to large houses in our small towns around here.

It’s called “Summer Heat 2022,” which is not an elegant title, but is simple and direct:

“Bestow in Abundance Your Mercy Upon Us”

We are at the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time on the Roman liturgical calendar. These weeks of Summer and Autumn that follow Pentecost continue to help us to remember the gift of the Holy Spirit that empowers us to live in Christ, already in “newness of life” even as we journey toward the fullness of eternal life.

In this week’s Collect Prayer, we profess once again our total dependence on God our Father - indeed the dependence of all things on His sustenance. We ask Him to “grant that…we may use the good things that pass” according to His wisdom, so that through them we may hold fast “even now” to that which endures, which brings the true fulfillment of every circumstance and aspiration of our hearts.

We ask the Lord to give us the wise use of the things of this world and the holding fast to our destiny, to draw forth, empower, and sustain our adherence to Him in that very freedom which is also His gift. All we are, all we hope for, is founded upon and cries out continually for His presence, His goodness, His love - for the “bestow[al] in abundance” of “[His] mercy upon us.”

Mary Magdalen, “Apostle to the Apostles”

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, called ἰσαπόστολος in the Byzantine tradition ("Equal-to-the-Apostles") and “apostle to the Apostles” in the West (see the text from the Preface below the picture). As John’s Gospel indicates, she was the original witness to Jesus's resurrection, and was “sent” to the others to testify to Him:

Jesus said to her, "go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord'" (John 20:17-18).

Baby At The Pool!☺️

We went with Maria and her mommy to the pool. Obviously we spent most of the time at the kiddie pool. She seems to love the water.

She probably thinks Papa looks silly wearing her hat!😉