Category: Orthodoxy

A commitment to and love for orthodoxy is the root of all that flowers in ASensibleLife.com

  • Reading Pope Francis

    Reading Pope Francis

    Recently a friend of mine sent me a link to an Associated Press article about Pope Francis’ recent message for Lent.  The link is here and the article is on a relative basis not bad for something written about Pope Francis.  However, I then read Pope Francis’ own words and was reminded again of the inadvisability of reading about Pope Francis when it is so easy to read Pope Francis!

    The problem with reading about Pope Francis in the press lies in the reality that everything written there is presented through an ideological political left-right prism. This prism through which we tend to view almost every event and circumstance in America (and the West) can only warp the words of our Holy Father who calls each of us to re-examine the way we live our lives both as individuals and as members of society.

    As an example, the AP article states that “Francis has riled some conservative Americans for his denunciation of capitalism and trickle-down economic theory…”

     

    Before “conservative Americans” allow themselves to get too riled and before everyone else spends too much time basking in the warm fuzziness of the general absolution granted by the Associated Press, let us keep in mind that our Holy Father challenges ALL of us to use whatever economic clout we have to combat poverty and to promote justice.  So let none of us give himself a pass but rather let each of us engage in an economic examination of conscience:

    Do I spend each dollar thoughtfully, with the full realization that one dollar spent well is very possibly more effective than my vote in a national election?

     

    ·         To the greatest extent possible do I spend my dollars at businesses that seek to operate on a human scale with justice and moderation:

     

    o   Businesses run by folks who work hard, expect their employees to work hard and seek to treat all their constituents (managers, owners or shareholders, suppliers, employees, customers) with a balanced fairness.

     

    o   Businesses whose practices demonstrate their recognition of the equal dignity of all participants in the economy (and of those at the margins of or largely excluded from the economy).

     

    o   Businesses whose focus is to serve society by providing quality goods and services.

     

    o   Businesses that avoid the temptation to amass economic power.

     

    o   Business who let their work be their work and do not seek to use their economic power to bring about various social changes, particularly those detrimental to society (i.e. donations and other influence peddling aimed at destruction of life, destruction of marriage, destruction of freedom).

     

    o   Businesses willing to take an economic hit in order to better care for their employees.

     

    o   Businesses willing to take an economic hit in order to employ more employees (perhaps at the cost of “efficiency”).

     

    o   Businesses that seek to understand and minimize any detrimental impact their work may have on the environment.

     

    ·         Do I realize that until I am willing to “vote” with my dollars in support of this kind of business then no political vote will relieve me of this responsibility and no political top-down solution will effect positive change?

     

    o   Do I embrace BOTH this economic freedom and this economic responsibility that God has given me?

     

    o   Do I reject the temptation to embrace my freedom while delegating my responsibility to others or (worse) to some corporate or government authority.

     

    ·         Am I willing when necessary to give my dollars away freely to those whose needs are immediate and real?

     

    o   Do I understand that no government program can free me of my responsibility to love and care for my brother?

     

    ·         Am I willing to consume less because “voting” with my dollars will almost certainly mean that my well-spent dollars will not go as far as my dollars do when I simply seek to maximize my buying power?

     

    ·         Do I seek economic power in order that I might do good with it or, rather, do I seek to do good by not accumulating economic power, by embracing poverty?  The second is the way of Christ who “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

     

    o   Do I express my frustration toward the cult of the big and powerful by seeking to become big and powerful?

     

    ·         Is financial security a driving force in my economic life?

     

    o   Do I seek to save/plan for MY future needs and MY family’s future (illness, job loss, retirement, children’s education) to the exclusion of generously and sacrificially helping the poor with their imminent needs?

     

                   

     

    While I am grateful the press has taken such a fancy to Pope Francis, I regret their continued attempts to relieve the great majority of us of our individual responsibility to embrace the challenges our good Pope continues to provide to us.  The Pope’s words are meaningless if we view them as being directed to some corporate body rather than being directed to us as individuals (and as individual participants in those same corporate bodies).

  • Supernatural Freedom

    First Things MagazineI wrote the following comments in response to a great article by Fr. Anthony Anderson in a recent edition of First Things Magazine.  The Magazine was kind enough to publish my comments in the “Letters” section of its August/September Issue…

    Antonio Anderson’s “Bullets and Beatitudes” published in the May issue of First Things strikes me as essentially a study of freedom. In contrasting the lives and choices of Antonia and Antonio, Fr. Anderson addresses some fundamental questions of freedom that dominate the South-of-the-Border world where he lives and works but north of the border we would do well to understand and address these same questions.

    I find it useful to draw a distinction between two orders of freedom: supernatural freedom and temporal freedom. The first sort allows us to make choices directed toward the good the true and the beautiful even though the other sort of freedom may be partially or completely lacking. Clearly, many conditions relating to economics and justice (temporal affairs) place significant limitations on the freedom of the inhabitants of the Fr. Anderson’s world. Notwithstanding severe restrictions to this temporal freedom, however, individuals still retain their supernatural (moral) freedom. This sort of freedom can never be taken away by men or by economic or political structures. It is our Creator’s free gift and is not withdrawn or removed while we yet live. This freedom allows us, when faced with restrictions to our temporal freedom to live heroically as Antonia did; living joy in the face of poverty and suffering. This freedom acts upon hope; that certain capacity (based on trust in our Creator’s good designs for us) that brings divine perspective to every event, act, word, thought of our lives.

    Of course, another reaction when faced with limitations to temporal freedom is that chosen by Antonio. Antonio chooses to respond to a very real attack on his temporal freedom by embracing and perpetuating the abuse of freedom. He reacts to the limitations placed on his economic freedom by abusing the freedom of others; in the process also abusing his own moral freedom. Ultimately, his lack of hope leads him to this action. He fails to value the enduring good promised by the Creator, choosing rather to seek that good that abides only in this temporal reality. He fails to hope and, ironically, his very temporal response carries with it the very really possibility that he will cut short his time. Hence, Fr. Anderson’s conclusion is perfect. The only solution for the problem of the mafia in his world is the conversion of the mafia; the gift of Hope, the canvas for supernatural freedom.

    We should employ this same framework in our efforts to address the erosion of freedom in our own world. I suggest a third way to address attacks upon the freedom of the individual; fight back in a selfless manly way, employing all the reason and courage at our disposal – keeping in mind that this fight for temporal freedom must be accompanied by conversion and growth in Hope so that we not give undo importance to our own will and that we not grow desperate (and selfish) when our Creator permits successful attacks on our temporal freedoms.

  • Manly Fasting and Feasting for Lent

    Manly Fasting and Feasting for Lent

    There is nothing wrong with the traditional Lenten list of things to “give up”. It is better, though, to add to this list also some positive actions directed toward our prayer life and solidarity with the poor. Further still, understanding that our living of Lent should be directed toward our conversion and preparation for the redemption we celebrate at the end of this season, we should consider taking Lent into every moment of our day – with fasting AND feasting:

    Fast from self-indulgence, Feast on self-gift.

    Fast from desire, Feast on contentment.

    Fast from sadness, Feast on trust.

    Fast from criticism, Feast on praise.

    Fast from media, Feast on time with God, wife, children.

    Fast from seeking recognition, Feast on recognizing others.

    Fast from comfort, Feast on the Cross.

    Fast from my “needs”, Feast on addressing real needs of others.

    Fast from noise, Feast on stillness.

    Fast from talking, Feast on listening.

    Fast from consuming, Feast on thrift.

    Fast from righteous indignation, Feast on mercy.

    Fast from judgments, Feast on compassion.

    Fast from annoyance, Feast on humor.

    Fast from the senses, Feast on sensibility.

    The idea for this litany, as well as at least one of the points, comes from the writings of Pseudo-Macarius, a 4th Century Egyptian Monk. More information about this early Christian holy man is readily available here.

  • “Social Justice” Ideology Opposed to Moral Living

    “Social Justice” Ideology Opposed to Moral Living

    Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote, “What our Lord says to Judas, he says to the world today: You seemingly are very interested in social justice. Why are you not concerned about individual justice? You love your neighbor, why do you not love God? This is the attitude of the world today. We have swung away from a period in which we were concerned with individual sanctification to the neglect of the social order. Now we have gone to the extreme of being immersed with social justice, civil rights, and so forth, and we are not the least bit concerned about individual justice and the duty of paying honor and glory to God. If you march with a banner, if you protest, then your individual life may be impure, alcoholic, anything you please. That does not matter. Judas is the patron saint of those who divide that universal law of God: Love God and love neighbor.”

    “Social justice” has taken on the status of an ideology in our culture. Adherence to this ideology allows us to commit (or participate in) any number of attrocities while remaining untroubled by our consciences. We participate in sin through: counsel, consent, provocation, praise or flattery, concealment, partaking, silence and the defense of the ill done. We can stand by and witness the taking of innocent life on a massive scale, turn a blind eye to the degredation of morality in our culture, watch the destruction of marriage, see our religious (and many other) freedoms restricted day by day but these things do not trouble some of us so long as we continue to support the ideology of social justice.

    Of course, the greatest manifestation of this phenomenon can be seen in the participation of many in the public square. These well-meaning but ill-formed voters think they are doing good by supporting political candidates who conform to the social justice ideology while actively seeking the destruction of marriage, the destruction of innocent human life and the limitation of human freedom (including religious freedom).

    Here at A Sensible Life, we work to explore authentic justice. Authentic justice, the distributive justice contained within the Catholic Church’s social teaching, grows from a root of gratuitousness, that is a free giving. This justice then is characterized by freedom and is opposed to the idea of imposing “social justice” by taxing some in order to aid others.

    We must seek truth in all our public and private activities. And, of course, in order to seek truth in sincerity we must be prepared to love and live the fruits of our seeking. This preparedness we call FREEDOM. The pursuit of freedom itself entails some effort on our part. We must actively seek to free ourselves from attachments that restrict our ability to embrace truth – attachments to sin, to certain ways of life, to certain ways of thinking, to ourselves and our own thoughts and, particularly in this current culture, to ideologies. On December 19, Pope Benedict XVI wrote an op-ed for the Financial Times entitled “A time for Christians to engage with the world.” In it, he spoke of this importance of remaining authentically free: “Let Christians render to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar, not what belongs to God. Christians have at times throughout history been unable to comply with demands made by Caesar. From the emperor cult of ancient Rome to the totalitarian regimes of the past century, Caesar has tried to take the place of God. When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today, it is not because of an antiquated worldview. Rather, it is because they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it.”

  • Hope

    Hope

    I have been reflecting upon the Christian theological virtue of Hope in the last couple of weeks. This reflection has led me to a greater level of peace than I have been experiencing for the last months – perhaps the last few years…

    Christmas time is a great time to focus on the virtue of hope but the fact that I began reflecting on this virtue came more by chance than from a deliberate or thoughtful act of my will during this time (though it is likely, however, that God’s will had something to do with it). Flying back from a business trip in New York, I decided to pick up where I had left off several months ago in a little book by Father Jacques Philippe entitled Interior Freedom. By way of a side note, I highly recommend this and several other short treatises by the good Father Philippe, readily available at “fine booksellers everywhere” (not necessarily the mass retailers…). I picked up where I had left off the last time I read the book – in the middle of a chapter on the interplay between the theological virtues. Upon reading and reflection, I found I had been neglecting the virtue of hope!

    After quoting St. John (1 John 3: 1-3), Father Philippe writes, “This astonishing statement is perfectly in line with the great prophetic vision of the Old Testament, where pure-hearted people are not so much those free of all faults and all wounds, as those who put all their hope in God and are certain his promises will be fulfilled.” So we can live an intense purity, a joyful lightness; even when we may feel burdened by our own shortcomings and, quite frankly, by some of the ugliness and sorrow we see in the world around us. We can still be light, you see, because God’s promise transcends this world. In fact, hope provides our sole means of maintaining joy (and we are called always to maintain our joy) in the face of the tragic acts of violence that result in the suffering most recently experienced in Newtown Connecticut but also on September 11, 2001, in the Oklahoma City bombing, in Columbine, in the too frequent acts of mass violence we have experienced in this country and around the world but also in those individual violences executed against the most innocent among us, the unborn.

    As I said earlier, Christmas time is a great time to focus on Hope but in reality every feast of the Church, every celebration of the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection of Our Lord has at its core a message of hope. Every Christian celebration (of Our Lord or of his mother or of the saints whose lives reflected his goodness) serves to increase in us this divine hope, this unwavering trust in the goodness of God and in the goodness of his will, the goodness of what he wishes for each one of us, the goodness of what he desires for those who have died in the violence of human anger or in the violence of natural disaster, the goodness he can and does bring even out of evil (whether or not we can see or comprehend it), the goodness of our ultimate end with Him…

    Hope brings divine perspective to every event, act, word, thought of our lives. Hope purifies our every act, word, thought. Hope turns our focus from a preoccupation with self to a preoccupation with all that which is other than self, principally to the good envisioned by God for all souls (including our own).

    As with any virtue an excellent way to increase hope, to strengthen it, is to practice it. However, hope being a theological virtue, we must count on God’s gratuitous goodness to plant this gift in us. Let us pray for this gift for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters and let us practice it without ceasing! May this virtue burn brilliantly in us, may it increase our lightness to the point that we might fly with the angels, for G. K. Chesterton once wrote that “angels fly because they take themselves lightly.”

    I will work on taking myself lightly and I will work on taking world affairs lightly. That is not to say I will ignore the affairs of the world or the affairs of the public square. In my reflections on Hope, I found myself faced with the temptation to chuck the public square the direction of whose affairs I had found so disturbing in recent months. If Hope directs us to ultimate ends, I argued, why focus on the bothersome affairs of this world at all? The answer to that question, of course, is charity. Though we trust in the ultimate goodness God, we must not leave the working of good to God alone. Charity calls us to action. Lest hope lead us to rely solely on the efforts of God, charity leads us to active participation in God’s works, both temporal and supernatural. The Second Vatican Council reminds us of our role in participating with God in the perfection of that which he has placed in our care, according to the gifts He has given each of us; the Holy Spirit makes of us “free men , who are ready to put aside love of self and integrate earthly resources into human life, in order to reach out to that future day when mankind itself will become an offering accepted by God” (Gaudium et Spes, Chapter III).

    So, in addition to those efforts directed toward my family, friends and work, I will continue my efforts to bring goodness and truth into the public square and my efforts to live justice and to form others in authentic Catholic social teaching. A Sensible Life will rally on, stronger than before in the sure hope of God’s goodness.