Lay Witness Magazine July/Aug 2011

Leisure, the Basis of CuLtureMike Sullivan • Mike Aquilina • David Mills

spirituaL Formation of the FamiLy

Kevin Bezner • Mary Keleman

New Novels from1-800-651-1531 • www.ignatius.com • p.o. box 1339, ft. collins, co 80522

Toward the Gleam A NovelT. M. Doran

Between the two world wars, on a hike in the English countryside, Professor John Hill takes

refuge from a violent storm in a cave. There he nearly loses his life, but he also makes an astonish-ing discovery—an ancient manuscript housed in a cunningly crafted metal box. Though a philologist by profession, Hill cannot identify the language used in the manuscript and the time period in which it is was made, but he knows enough to make an educated guess—that the book and its case are the fruits of a long-lost, but advanced civilization...

A story that features a giant pirate, a human cha-meleon on a perilous metaphysical journey, a myste-rious hermit, and creatures both deadly and beauti-ful, this is a novel that explores the consequences of the predominant ideas of the 20th Century. t. m. Doran, formerly an adjunct professor at the university of Detroit school of Engineering, has been a contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, New York Times, and the Detroit Free Press.

TOGL-H . . . 467 pp, Sewn Hardcover, $24.95

Read excerpts and see more at

towardthegleam.com

Poor Banished Children A NovelFiorella De Maria

Cast out of her superstitious, Maltese family, Warda turns to begging and stealing until she

is fostered by an understanding Catholic priest who teaches her the art of healing. Her willful nature and hard-earned independence make her unfit for marriage, and so the good priest sends Warda to serve an anchorite, in the hope that his protégé will discern a religious vocation.

Such a calling Warda never has the opportunity to hear. Barbary pirates raid her village, capture her and sell her into slavery in Muslim North Africa. In the merciless land of Warda’s captivity, her wits, nerve, and self-respect are tested daily, as she struggles to survive without submitting to total and permanent enslavement.

This historical novel, set in the 17th century, is the tale of one woman’s relentless search for free-dom and redemption.fiorella De maria was born in italy of maltese par-ents. she won the national book prize of malta (foreign language fiction category) for her novel The Cassandra Curse.

PBC-H . . . 299 pp, Sewn Hardcover, $19.95


poorbanishedchildren.com

praise forToward the Gleam“Ingeniously inventive, it is

startling, moving, horrifying at times, and ultimately consoling.” michael D. o’brien, Author,

Father Elijah: An Apocalypse

“This is a book richlyimaginative, intriguing and

metaphysical, exploring many vexing questions of the modern era and enduring truths to be

discovered in the process.”David J. theroux,

Founder and President, C.S. Lewis Society of California

“The works of Tolkien and Lewis continue to inspire new generations of writers, most of whom are not worthy to bask in the reflected glory of their

mentors. T. M. Doran is a noble and notable exception.”

Joseph pearce,Author, Tolkien: Man and Myth

praise forPoor Banished

Children“A soulful, beautifully written,

and haunting novel.”Ron Hansen,

NY Times Best-selling Author, Mariette in Ecstasy

“An absorbing tale... Catholic writer De Maria deserves a wide audience.”

Publishers Weekly

“A meditation on guilt,innocence, and transcendencethat will haunt the reader long

after the book is done.”mary Eberstadt,

Author, The Loser Letters: A Comic Tale of Life, Death, and Atheism

“This is serious fiction with prose that is clean, strong, and worthy.”

thomas Howard,Author, Narnia and Beyond

CATHOLICDOCUMENTARYFILMS From Ignatius Press

See trailers and clips atwww.ignatius.com8

1-800-651-1531 • www.ignatius.comPo Box 1339, Ft. collins, co 80522

The early ChrisTiansThe Incredible Odyssey of Early Christianity

How did the religion of Love manage to survive against

paganism and barbarianism? How did the first Christians live? Who were their most terrible enemies? How did they defend their faith? How did they propagate it?

The blood of the martyrs was the seed for new Christians. But after the persecutions of the Romans and the barbarian invasions came another grave danger for the new religion: heresies… They would not be lethal. On the contrary, they pro-vided the opportunity to define the essential truths of Christian faith,

consolidating the roots of a millennial Church. This in-depth new film series produced in Europe explores this amazing story of the witness of the early Christians and the spread of Christianity. In English and Spanish languages. nine half-hour programs.

j ECH-M . . . 270 min, 2 Discs, $29.95

no GreaTer loveA Unique Portrait of the Carmelite Nuns

A highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning documentary,

No Greater Love follows in the wake of the great success of a similar film, Into Great Silence, as it gives a unique insight into this closed world of these nuns where the modern world’s materialism is rejected; they have no television, radio or newspapers. The film interweaves a year in the life of the monastery with the daily rhythms of Divine Office and work. Centered on Holy Week, it follows a year in which a novice is professed and one of the older nuns dies. Though mainly a meditational film, there are several interviews with the nuns, which offer insights into their

lives, faith, moments of doubt and their belief in the power of prayer in the heart of the community. A beautifully filmed and deeply inspiring produc-tion by Michael Whyte. In English with English and Spanish subtitles. Includes a 16 page Collector’s Booklet and many special features.

j NOGL-M . . . 100 min, $19.95

The nun The Story of a Carmelite Vocation

This is an award-winning documentary that tells

the beautiful story of Marta, a young Catholic woman in Sweden and her counter-cultural choice to follow a calling to become a clois-tered Carmelite nun, and to live her life for God alone. Documentary filmmaker Maud nycander followed Marta and her family for ten years to tell the story of her vocation, and the Carmelite convent made a unique exception to its strict regu-

lations by allowing the filmmaker to meet with and interview Marta both before and after her five-year postulant period.

j NUN-M . . . Swedish with English subtitles, 60 min., $19.95

The shroud of Turin3 Film Collector’s Edition

This is the definitive collection of three stunning films on the

Shroud of Turin that spans 32 years of award-winning filmmaking on the Shroud by acclaimed British film producer and director david rolfe. These three films use the latest scientific, historical, medi-cal and archaeological research on the Shroud to reveal the amazing evidence for the very strong pos-sibility of the authenticity of it as the burial cloth of Christ. Many of the foremost experts worldwide on the Shroud were involved with the making of these films. films include:

The silent Witness 53 minutes. English. shroud of Turin 59 minutes. English.

shroud 48 minutes. In seven languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portugese and Russian.

Includes a 16 page Collector’s Booklet and many special features. j SHROUD-M . . . 160 min, $29.95

New Novels from1-800-651-1531 • www.ignatius.com • p.o. box 1339, ft. collins, co 80522

Toward the Gleam A NovelT. M. Doran

Between the two world wars, on a hike in the English countryside, Professor John Hill takes

refuge from a violent storm in a cave. There he nearly loses his life, but he also makes an astonish-ing discovery—an ancient manuscript housed in a cunningly crafted metal box. Though a philologist by profession, Hill cannot identify the language used in the manuscript and the time period in which it is was made, but he knows enough to make an educated guess—that the book and its case are the fruits of a long-lost, but advanced civilization...

A story that features a giant pirate, a human cha-meleon on a perilous metaphysical journey, a myste-rious hermit, and creatures both deadly and beauti-ful, this is a novel that explores the consequences of the predominant ideas of the 20th Century. t. m. Doran, formerly an adjunct professor at the university of Detroit school of Engineering, has been a contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, New York Times, and the Detroit Free Press.

TOGL-H . . . 467 pp, Sewn Hardcover, $24.95


towardthegleam.com

Poor Banished Children A NovelFiorella De Maria

Cast out of her superstitious, Maltese family, Warda turns to begging and stealing until she

is fostered by an understanding Catholic priest who teaches her the art of healing. Her willful nature and hard-earned independence make her unfit for marriage, and so the good priest sends Warda to serve an anchorite, in the hope that his protégé will discern a religious vocation.

Such a calling Warda never has the opportunity to hear. Barbary pirates raid her village, capture her and sell her into slavery in Muslim North Africa. In the merciless land of Warda’s captivity, her wits, nerve, and self-respect are tested daily, as she struggles to survive without submitting to total and permanent enslavement.

This historical novel, set in the 17th century, is the tale of one woman’s relentless search for free-dom and redemption.fiorella De maria was born in italy of maltese par-ents. she won the national book prize of malta (foreign language fiction category) for her novel The Cassandra Curse.

PBC-H . . . 299 pp, Sewn Hardcover, $19.95


poorbanishedchildren.com

praise forToward the Gleam“Ingeniously inventive, it is

startling, moving, horrifying at times, and ultimately consoling.” michael D. o’brien, Author,

Father Elijah: An Apocalypse

“This is a book richlyimaginative, intriguing and

metaphysical, exploring many vexing questions of the modern era and enduring truths to be

discovered in the process.”David J. theroux,

Founder and President, C.S. Lewis Society of California

“The works of Tolkien and Lewis continue to inspire new generations of writers, most of whom are not worthy to bask in the reflected glory of their

mentors. T. M. Doran is a noble and notable exception.”

Joseph pearce,Author, Tolkien: Man and Myth

praise forPoor Banished

Children“A soulful, beautifully written,

and haunting novel.”Ron Hansen,

NY Times Best-selling Author, Mariette in Ecstasy

“An absorbing tale... Catholic writer De Maria deserves a wide audience.”

Publishers Weekly

“A meditation on guilt,innocence, and transcendencethat will haunt the reader long

after the book is done.”mary Eberstadt,

Author, The Loser Letters: A Comic Tale of Life, Death, and Atheism

“This is serious fiction with prose that is clean, strong, and worthy.”

thomas Howard,Author, Narnia and Beyond

=+

+The

The Who, WhaT, and hoW

equaTion

evangelizaTion

The Evangelization Equation: The Who, What, and How is a crash course in the “New Evangelization” to which both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI have called all Catholics. Father James A. Wehner, Rector and President of the Pontifical College / Seminary Josephinun, explores the challenges and the opportunities in American culture for spreading the Gospel. While giving a full presentation of the cultural, historical, pastoral, and theological background of his topic, he also communicates the very practical implications of the call.

978-1-931018-69-2, paperback$11.95

827 North Fourth Street • Steubenville, Oh 43952(800) 398-5470 / www.emmausroad.org

July/August 2011 1

Holy Hot Spotsby Mike Sullivan

OPEN MIKE

My wife and I often take the chil-dren on pilgrimages to various shrines, either locally or while we

are traveling in other parts of the country. We’ve found that pilgrimages are an

especially effective way to educate and catechize our children. They’re also a fun way to reinforce our admiration for and devotion to Our Lady and the saints.

Pilgrimages give us an opportunity to take time out of the daily grind and focus on what is really important—our spiritual for-mation. The peaceful setting of shrines and holy places awakens something within us and reminds us that we are made for heaven—that the earth is only a temporary dwelling.

There is a Maronite shrine about an hour from our home. Often, when I return from business travel, or when we just need some family time, we make a pilgrimage to the shrine. We usually aim to arrive in time for Confession and then attend the Maronite Rite Mass, which is absolutely beautiful. We take time after Mass to walk the grounds and pray, looking at the different altars and statues, and talking about the saints represented there.

Such visits ground the children in the deep traditions of the Catholic faith. It is inspiring to hear the words of the consecration—the words of Christ—spoken in Aramaic, His native tongue. Seeing the many statues and learning the stories of Our Lady of Lebanon and different saints shows the children that there is a connection between them and all of the saints in heaven and that someday they might be among the ranks of the holy.

Almost every year, we go to upstate New York to visit relatives and to fish and camp near a small lake. While in the area, we

always make it a point to spend some time at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville or the Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda.

We enjoy walking the grounds and talk-ing about the early American saints and martyrs. The children love to learn about the Jesuit missionaries and hearing the sto-ries about the great sacrifices they made while bringing the Catholic faith to the Native Americans.

The shrine is set on a beautiful hilltop where a tribal village once stood. There are dozens of small altars, many beautiful stat-ues, and an Adoration chapel. The main shrine church is a large round structure, re-sembling the Coliseum in Rome, a reminder of the price paid by the Jesuit missionaries on the top of that hill in the village where they were tortured or killed because of their Catholic faith.

Every couple of years we drive to Denver, Colorado, to visit my family. One of our favorite stops on the way is the “Cathedral of the Plains,” St. Fidelis Catholic Church in Victoria, Kansas. It is a welcoming, quiet place, with beautiful architecture and superb stained glass windows. After a long drive through the wheat fields of Kansas, it is a welcome stop!

Scheduling our driving so we can make it for Mass at a special shrine or church reinforces the fact that our life is ordered around our faith—an important lesson for the little ones. Making stops like this while on a major road trip shows the children that our first priority is our Catholic faith.

Each of the many different shrines and churches has something unique to offer. For us, the Maronite shrine is a place for spiritual renewal and refreshment, while the North American Martyrs shrine is a reminder of the call to evangelize, even though it may cost us our lives. And the Cathedral of the Plains reminds us that our faith is universal and can be found even in what seems to be a very isolated part of the plains.

Taking the time to visit shrines and churches helps us to get out of our rut and delve into the deep history of the Catholic Church. It awakens within us that special connection to the past that is so often lost in the “workaday world.” I would encourage all of our readers to take time out this summer and find a local shrine or cathedral, or, if you are going on vacation, seek out those special historical Catholic holy places near where you are going.

It is good to read about the lives of the saints, but their stories take on new meaning when we walk and pray where they walked and prayed.

Godspeed!

Mike Sullivan

Sullivan is the president of Catholics United for the Faith and publisher of Lay Witness magazine and Emmaus Road Publishing. He resides in Toronto, Ohio, with his wife, Gwen, and their nine children.

“Taking the time to visit shrines and churches helps us to get out of our rut

and delve into the deep history of the Catholic Church. “

lw

2 Lay Witness / www.cuf.org

Maybe it’s the long days of golden sunlight. Maybe it’s the carefree laughter of neighborhood children enjoying a run through the sprinkler. Maybe it’s the extra time spent with family and friends at a cookout. Whatever

the cause, summer seems to be a time of peaceful pleasures that add a distinct richness to our lives.

While it’s easier to slow down and listen to crickets chirp or bullfrogs bellow with the windows open on a breezy summer night, that same stillness has a place in our daily lives, no matter the season. Our family and work obligations may prevent us from allotting extended amounts of time each day for recreation, but time for true rest—rest in the Lord—is non-negotiable.

In this issue of Lay Witness, we’ve focused on presenting the case for leisure. Leisure leads us closer to Jesus the Good Shepherd, who steers His flock to green pastures and quiet waters even amidst the struggles of our lives on earth. In retreating from the mundane we encounter the supernatural. Spiritually speaking, we need restoration through God’s grace if we are to continue with zeal to accomplish the tasks that He has assigned.

Discussing how leisure fits into the Church’s identity, CUF President Mike Sullivan underlines the importance of establishing friendships in order to strengthen Catholic culture. Author Mike Aquilina warns against workaholism and gives biblical proof that God made us for rest. Moving from theory to practice, David Mills provides diverse suggestions for great Catholic summer reading to help you both relax and reflect on the truths of the Faith.

We have also included articles to enrich your family life in this issue. One way for families to grow deeper in their Catholic faith is to make the act of Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mary Keleman provides information on the newly-revised guide for the ceremony (written by Cardinal Raymond Burke) and details the history of this powerful devotion. Lastly, Kevin Bezner shares his personal experience and offers encouragement to parents whose children are outside the Church.

This summer issue may be put to its best advantage if read on a porch swing or under a shady tree, with a glass of lemonade at your side. But regardless of where you read Lay Witness, we hope it takes you to the heart of the Good Shepherd, who leads us to peaceful rest.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

© iS

tock

phot

o.co

m/a

rsen

ik

Melissa KnaggsEditor

web [email protected] Mary Ann Budnik reveals the vital element

that sanctifies families in–”Domestic Church: The Secret of a Happy Family”

H. Lyman Stebbins encourages CUF mem-bers to allow silence to lead them to discover God’s will both for the apostolate and for their personal lives in–”To Live the Faith.”

Features...

Access these and other web exclusives atwww.cuf.org/laywitness.

lw

FROM OUR FOUNDER

“To live without prayer is to live with-out Christ, and without Him we can do nothing.”

H. Lyman Stebbins, 1980

July/August 2011 3

JULY - AUGUST 2011 / VOLUME 32 / NUMBER 4

Publisher Editor Mike Sullivan Melissa Knaggs

Layout&DesignTheresa Westling

How to Reach Us

[email protected] Witness magazine827 North Fourth StreetSteubenville, OH 43952(740) 283-2484(740) 283-4011

How to Get LayWitness

Lay Witness (ISSN 1541-602X) is the bimonthly publication of Catholics United for the Faith (CUF), an international lay apostolate founded in 1968 by H. Lyman Stebbins “to support, defend, and advance the efforts of the teaching Church.” Annual CUF membership is $40 ($60 outside the U.S.), which includes a one-year subscription to Lay Witness magazine. To learn more about CUF membership, visit www.cuf.org/membership or call (740) 283-2484.

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Visit www.cuf.org/laywitness/guidelines.asp for detailed information.

Catholics United for the Faith

Officers: President, Mike Sullivan; Vice President of Operations, Shannon Minch-Hughes

Board of Directors: Chairman, Michael Mohr; Vice Chairman, Thomas Pernice; Spiritual Advisor, Rev. Ray Ryland; Gail Buckley, James Likoudis, Frank Lum, David Rodriguez, John H. Stebbins, Anne M. Wilson.

Episcopal Advisory Council: Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, Most Rev. Fabian W. Bruskewitz, Most Rev. Daniel M. Buechlein, Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson, Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, Most Rev. R. Daniel Conlon, Most Rev. Thomas G. Doran, Most Rev. Robert W. Finn, Most Rev. Roger J. Foys, Most Rev. Peter J. Jugis, Most Rev. James P. Keleher, Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino, Most Rev. John J. Myers, Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann, Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Most Rev. Michael J. Sheridan, Most Rev. Edward Slattery, Most Rev. John W. Yanta.

Advisory Council: Terry Barber, Rev. Robert I. Bradley, S.J., Jeff Cavins, Dr. John F. Crosby, Dr. William Donohue, Marcus Grodi, Dr. Scott Hahn, Sally Havercamp, Daniel K. Hennessy, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, George Sim Johnston, Karl Keating, Dr. Peter Kreeft, Rev. Robert J. Levis, Patrick Madrid, Msgr. Charles M. Mangan, Curtis A. Martin, Dr. William E. May, Rev. Brian T. Mullady, O.P., Rev. James T. O’Connor, Rev. Frank A. Pavone, Steve Ray, Patrick Reilly, Dr. Charles E. Rice, Rev. George W. Rutler, Russell Shaw, E. William Sockey, III, Rev. Peter Stravinskas, Leon J. Suprenant, Jr., Charles M. Wilson, Stephen Wood, Jeff Ziegler.

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On the Cover / The Good Shepherd / Erich Lessing / (15-03-02/56) Mosaic (mid 5th). Location: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Italy / Art Resource, NY

Features 4 Islands, Oases, and Great Stretches of Land Christian Friendship and the Formation of Culture Mike Sullivan

12 Why Leisure Suits You Your Summer Guide to Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Holier Mike Aquilina

19 Catholic Beach Reading Books to Refresh Your Mind and Your Soul David Mills

25 First & Lasting Catechists The Importance of Sharing Your Faith with Your Children Kevin Bezner

28 Be Not Afraid The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart Mary Kelemen

Columns 1 Open Mike Mike Sullivan

10 The Art of Living Edward P. Sri

15 Master Catechist Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., with Michael Mohr

31 Rethinking Joy Emily Stimpson

32 Looking at a Masterpiece Madeleine Stebbins

Departments 2 From the Editor’s Desk 9 The Pope Speaks16 Ask CUF 18 Reviews Mass Misunderstandings The Mixed Legacy of the Vatican II Liturgical Reforms by Kenneth D. Whitehead

A Biblical Walk Through the Mass Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy by Edward Sri

Streetwalking with Jesus Reaching Out in Justice and Mercy by John Green


Islands, Oases, andGreat Stretches of Land

Christian Friendship and the Formation of Cultureby Mike Sullivan


© iStockphoto.com

/phcore

July/August 2011 5

“We must have the courage to create islands, oases, and then great stretches of land of Catholic culture where the Creator’s design is lived out.”

Although the above statement by Pope Benedict XVI from a 2006 address to young people came in the context of the defense of traditional marriage as a covenant of love,

his words were aimed more generally at the need for Catholics everywhere to help bring about a transformation of contemporary culture into a culture that respects and celebrates the fundamental moral and ethical virtues of our faith.

Islands, oases, and eventually large stretches of land. The imagery evoked by Pope Benedict vividly suggests that the establishment of Catholic culture is a process that must take place over an extended period of time rather than a swift coup d’etat, or something to be accomplished in one fell swoop. A victory of faith and moral conscience over an often corrupt and jaded world requires not just one gigantic leap but rather a series of little steps undertaken by countless believers to fulfill a common mission. By starting small, each doing what we can within our own sphere of influence, we can build great things.

Won’t You be My Neighbor?Because the call to holiness requires love and charity toward

our neighbor, and because we are called to witness to our faith and influence others to embrace authentic Catholic culture, it is vital that we form strong personal relationships with our neighbors. This requires that we develop warm and effective Christian friendships through which we can better communicate, through our words and our actions as appropriate, the spiritual and moral dimensions of the culture in which Christ calls each of us to live, the culture that will gradually bring to fulfillment the establishment of the kingdom of God in our midst.

Pope Benedict XVI had this to say in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate:

Today humanity appears much more interactive than in the past. This shared sense of being close to one another must be transformed into true communion. The development of peoples depends, above all, on a recognition that the human race is a single family working together in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side.

July/August 2011 5

“A victory of faith and moral conscience over an often corrupt and jaded world requires not just one gigantic leap but rather a series of little steps undertaken by countless believers to fulfill a common mission.”


As a spiritual being, the human creature is defined through interpersonal relations. The more authentically he or she lives these relations, the more his or her own personal identity matures. It is not by isolation that man establishes his worth, but by placing himself in relation with others and with God (no. 53).

This quote also reflects what Bl. John Paul II taught when describing the “moral person.” He said we do not become actualized as adult moral persons until we learn to give of self. Self-gift is the key to moral maturity.

Note that this call is not just to non-Catholics, non-Christians, or even to those persons of no faith whatsoever. There is already a serious need for our Catholic witness within even the tightest of these concentric circles of relationships—within our families and parishes. Spouses, children, and extended family members all struggle to some degree against the mixed messages and skewed values that emanate from the very pores of our sinful world.

Our fellow parishioners, even those who are faithful in attending Mass and are involved in parish organizations and ministries, sometimes are not as well-formed in the Catholic faith as they ought to be. Confusion abounds in our pews and parochial classrooms. Buffeted as we are by the contradictory mantra of a secular culture that doubts the existence of moral absolutes and instead advances an idea of human freedom that borders on anarchy, we may sometimes find ourselves puzzled as to the proper Catholic perspective and response on such issues. The Second Vatican Council taught that the Church is ecclesia semper reformanda, “a Church always in need of reform,” and this truism is reflected in the dire need of conversion on the part of its membership.

Hospitality Begins at HomeEven as we seek to infuse the Catholic culture in the world at

large and to bring about a conversion of our secular society to the values of the Gospel, we also must recognize our own continuous need for interior renewal. It is largely within this context that the Christian tradition on leisure and hospitality has developed. Through our leisure activities, our Sabbath rest and recreation, we are asked to pause, to reflect on the blessings of divine providence, and to enjoy the fruits of our own labors.

It is through hospitality—those moments of social interactions, whether planned or spontaneous—that we are enabled more explicitly to demonstrate our generosity and our love for our neighbor, that we might plant the seeds of renewal in the hearts and minds of our guests.

Hospitality is a Christian expression of the immense respect we hold for the dignity of every human person among our guests. It has roots, however, even in ancient Jewish culture. From antiquity there has been a “code” of hospitality commonly observed among various nomadic tribes of the Middle East whereby food, drink, lodging, and other necessities were readily offered to desert wanderers because it was essential for survival in such harsh conditions. We see evidence of this in the various stories of the Old Testament in which the hosts, Abram and Sarah for example, almost literally fall over themselves in order to please the strangers who have become their guests.

The classic account of Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus and close friends of Jesus, illustrates for us the true spirit of hospitality. Our modern workaholic culture particularly appreciates Martha, who busies herself breathlessly in the acts of preparing an elaborate meal for her honored guest. Mary, meanwhile, avoids the kitchen and instead plants herself at the feet of Christ, in the style of a disciple learning from her master, hanging on His every word. Martha’s exasperation in attempting to enlist Jesus’ influence in moving Mary back into the kitchen only earns her a gentle rebuke from Jesus as He states that Mary has chosen “the good portion” (Lk. 10:41-42).

Martha’s deluxe meal preparations are commendable, of course, but Christ’s response strongly suggests that being present and attentive to one’s guest is superior to the mere trappings of hospitality. According to Jesus in the real-life parable of Martha and Mary, it is clear that receptivity trumps both activity and passivity. It is good to give of ourselves—our time and our love—but even better to give our rapt attention. This is much more beneficial than spending the bulk of our time away from our guests, preparing food in keeping with some unspoken social expectations.

Christ taught us to be hospitable to others not because they could be angels, but rather because they represent Christ Himself. He said that those who are attentive to the needs of others and thus perform acts of charity will receive eternal life because “as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:36). In hospitality, we recognize Christ in others, and through our love and charity we become the presence of Christ to them as well.

My late mother had a great understanding of this. I grew up with seven siblings, and dinners were always hectic, but we would often have friends, neighbors, or relatives over for meals. I remember one fellow, my brother’s friend, who used to come over very frequently, and always right on time for dinner. He would open the door to the house and yell: “Is there plenty?!” He was


“It is good to give of ourselves—our time and our

love—but even better to give our rapt attention.”

© iStockphoto.com

/RonTech2000

July/August 2011 7

always welcome. It wasn’t the food (or I should say, just the food) that drew him to our house. It was our companionship. He had a broken home and was hungry, most of all, for our friendship.

But there was also a catch to eating dinner with our family. If you stayed for dinner, you had to stay for the Rosary after dinner, so my mother would use these opportunities to share the Faith with others as well.

That is the principle governing the Rule of St. Benedict, the sixth-century founder of the Benedictine order. Each person who sought hospitality at a Benedictine monastery was to be seen as a gift of God—the likeness of that greatest of all gifts, Jesus Him-self—and were to be loved and treated equally well regardless of any distinctions among them such as financial status, creed, ethnicity, or any other worldly factor.

Another Benedict, Pope Benedict XVI, also recognizes that the virtue of hospitality is an extension of the theological virtue of love. Noting the generous hospitality of civil communities, religious houses, parishes, and families in welcoming young people to Cologne, Germany, from around the globe on the occasion of the 2006 World Youth Day, Pope Benedict told the young pilgrims it is “a fine thing that on such occasions the virtue of hospitality, which had almost disappeared and is one of man’s original virtues, should be renewed and enable people of all states of life to meet.”

Christ did much of His teaching while enjoying the hospitality of others at banquets and other gatherings. In His leisure, He never neglected the Jewish religious feasts and worship, which in essence comprises God’s hospitality toward us. Our leisure, then, must include our acceptance of that hospitality.

The importance of leisure in the life of the Christian is under-lined in our observance of the Sabbath rest and its Christian expres-sion in the sacred keeping of the Lord’s Day. The Sabbath derives from the Third Commandment, which is founded upon God’s rest from His labors on the seventh day of creation. Our omnipotent God, of course, creates effortlessly and does not require any kind of “breather” from His labors, and yet He “rested” all the same. His rest is not one borne of fatigue, but of satisfaction and completion: He took time to survey the results of His work and “saw that it was good.” He took pleasure in reflecting on what He had done.

In his apostolic letter Dies Domini, Bl. John Paul II referred to this first Sabbath as “a gaze full of joyous delight,” a contemplative gaze “which does not look to new accomplishments but enjoys the beauty of what has already been achieved” (no.11). When I was a contractor I used to work very hard doing physical labor, remodeling houses and building things for people. It was always extremely satisfying to stand back after working hard on a project and “gaze with joyous delight.”

Jesus, the God-Man, took frequent and regular opportunities to pull away from His ministry to attend to His personal spiritual needs. He spent forty days in the desert, praying and preparing

Himself for the beginning of His mission of salvation. He often withdrew from the crowds and from His own disciples and went off alone to pray. He both provided and accepted hospitality with grace.

Basilian Father Thomas Rosica describes selfishness and pride as the enemies of hospitality. Whether we refuse to share what we have with others or focus on externals to the point that we do not give of ourselves to others, we act inhospitably. A dinner party would hardly be considered a success if the hosts were to spend all their time preparing the meal and precious little time mingling with their guests.

My wife and I often entertain people at our house, and I assure you, with nine kids who are educated at home, it is very difficult to keep the house tidy. We all work together to prepare the house, while my oldest daughters and my wife prepare the meal. But there is a point where we just have to leave the tattered edges (sometimes the edges are much worse than just tattered!) and focus on fellowship with our guests.

A Culture at RestIt is through leisure and hospitality, then, that we can find

renewal for ourselves and also perhaps help bring about an interior renewal in others. We have seen how such renewal is essential for the building and maintenance of a truly Catholic culture. The Sabbath rest underlines the vital importance of such renewal—a rest so essential that God actually demands it of us in the Third Commandment. Yet far too many of us who are swept away in the rhythm of a work week fail to appreciate leisure or even to recognize what it is meant to be.

What, then, is leisure, this Sabbath rest to which we are called? It may be helpful here to begin by defining what it is not.

Just as peace is not the mere absence of war, rest must not be confused with the mere break from work. Nor is leisure the same as idleness or the aimless “killing of time.” Although unstructured rest may certainly be part of leisure, idleness in the true sense is nearly the very opposite of leisure. Body and soul are united in the human person, and both should participate in our days of rest so as to refresh both our physical strength and our interior disposition. Leisure is a singular gift from God that is meant to allow us to appreciate all the gifts He has bestowed upon us.

July/August 2011 7

“Our omnipotent God, of course, creates effortlessly and

does not require any kind of ‘breather’ from His labors,

and yet He ‘rested’ all the same.”

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Josef Pieper, twentieth century philosopher and author of the classic, Leisure: The Basis of Culture, laments that modern man mistrusts anything which is obtainable without effort, valuing only what can be earned through the sweat of our brow. We’ve expressed this with slogans such as “No pain, no gain,” and “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” If we do not earn it or pay for it in some way, then there must be a catch. That may be true sometimes when it comes to Internet offers or mailbox freebies, but gifts from God never come with strings attached.

Pieper tells us that our culture today suffers not from an excess of leisure, but a lack of it, or at least a lack of leisure accurately defined. The word “leisure” comes from the Greek skole, which is also the Greek word for “school.” The dual meaning is no coincidence, for the Greeks viewed leisure as a time set aside for activity of the spirit and intellect, a time for the contemplation of higher things. Aristotle saw leisure and its contemplation as the “first principle of action,” as a contemplation that rightly precedes thoughtful action. Socrates considered leisure to be the “most valuable of possessions” in that it involves the grooming of the mind for the purpose of fostering and developing human virtues.

Viewed in this light, leisure is not a brief vacation from the more important business of doing one’s work, a sort of time-out for reinforcements so as to empower us to go out and work again. While our leisure time does in part help us feel refreshed and ready to take up our necessary responsibilities once again, it has more than this utilitarian purpose. Leisure is to be used and enjoyed for its own sake.

All work and no play does not just make Johnny a dull boy; it also gives Johnny a dull mind, a dull spirit, a dull conscience, a dull state of being, a dull life void of any real joy or hope. Despair and melancholy set in. When leisure, vacation, or Sunday “rest” are seen as little more than an extended coffee break by the office water cooler, they fail to provide any true refreshment of body or spirit or any real restoration of our relationships with God, family, and friends.

Such dullness of spirit constitutes the sin of sloth or acedia, which is characterized by listlessness, a tiredness of life, an interior malaise that can destroy us from within if it goes unchecked. Pieper describes acedia as a “sadness of the world,” the kind of which St. Paul said “produced death” (2 Cor. 7:10). The desert father St. Evagrius wrote of acedia as a “noonday demon” that disturbs the spirit and makes the boundaries between work and leisure almost indiscernible, siphoning off whatever joy and hope that the worker can possibly derive from his task.

The Lord’s Day, A Family Day How, then, does our practice of leisure, the Sabbath rest, and

hospitality fit into the concept of Christian friendships? How do they relate to our mission to build the islands, oases, and large stretches of land of which Pope Benedict XVI spoke? Recalling how the transformation of our culture involves smaller steps and a ripple effect, we must first begin with the innermost of those concentric circles and address the proper use of leisure and hospitality in the family.

A true spirit of hospitality requires that we perceive ourselves as servants of God within our families. As baptized Christians,

we have the obligation to lead others to Christ. We lead more effectively by example than by word, a truth conveyed in the words of St. Francis of Assisi that we should “preach always, and, if necessary, use words.” Our lives of striving toward holiness should be apparent to the people closest to us: Can they see the face of God in my actions and in my dedication to my family?

We must use our leisure time well—first of all, by making time for leisure. The Lord’s Day observance forces the issue for us and is a good place to begin. Sunday work should be undertaken only for serious reasons and in keeping with the precepts of the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraphs 2184 to 2188, is highly instructive on this matter and makes it clear that the Sabbath observance is not a day set aside for idleness. Instead, the purpose of this day of rest is to allow the faithful “adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives” specifically by way of prayer, worship, and service to others (no. 2184).

Making Sundays a regular “family day” can also be effective in building familial bonds and in expanding the joy associated with the weekly Eucharist. Some families plan not only liturgical worship but also special devotions, such as the Rosary or discussions on the Mass readings; many others set the day aside for family outings, travel, special family meals, or board-game nights. The family circle can also be widened at Sunday dinner by inviting nonresident relatives and friends to share in the day’s activities as well.

Piety should not be left for Sundays, however. Prayer time and spiritual reading are daily essentials. These are habits that we ought to help develop among our own children and family members, and so it goes without saying that we should practice these salutary spiritual habits ourselves.

Love or charity ought to be the “prime mover” that governs us in our daily lives, in our moral choices, and in our God-given mission in the midst of the world. There is a sense in which this lived witness, this Catholic culture, is to be shared within a series of concentric communities, each one reaching out further than the last. The culture within the family is further nurtured in the parish community, and still beyond that to the wider community—our neighborhoods, our schools, our places of employment, in our casual interactions within society—so that our influence on those we meet might produce a ripple effect that brings about an ever-widening circle of conversion and renewal of the world in which we live.

It is through such renewal and conversion, step by small step, that we can form islands of Catholic culture that develop into oases and eventually larger stretches of land. That may sound like quite the ambitious project, and indeed it is—for Christ commands nothing less from His disciples than that we serve as His witnesses throughout the earth.

Mike Sullivan is the president of Catholics United for the Faith and publisher of Lay Witness magazine and Emmaus Road Publishing. He resides in Toronto, Ohio, with his wife, Gwen, and their nine children.

emmausroad.org Check us out on

Facebook for great offers.

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July/August 2011 9

THE POPE SPEAKS

The Holy Father’s Prayer Intentions

Emmaus: The Extraordinary Experienceby Pope Benedict XVI

claim vigorously and joyfully the event of Christ’s death and Resurrection.

Even a traditionally Catholic people can feel negatively or assimilate almost unconsciously the repercussions of a culture that ends by insinuating a mentality in which the Gospel message is openly rejected or subtly hindered. I know that you have made and are making a considerable effort to defend the eternal values of the Christian faith. I encourage you never to give in to the recurring temptations of the hedonistic culture and to the appeal of materialistic consumerism. Accept the invitation of the Apostle Peter . . . to conduct yourselves “with fear throughout the time of your exile” here below (1 Pet. 1:17); an invitation that is put into practice by living intensely on the thoroughfares of our world in the awareness of the destination to be reached: unity with God, in the Crucified and Risen Christ.

This homily was originally delivered on May 8, 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI during his pastoral visit to Aquileia and Venice, Italy.

give them meaning. Then it is necessary to sit at table with the Lord, to share the banquet with Him, so that His humble presence in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood may restore to us the gaze of faith, in order to see everything and everyone with God’s eyes, in the light of His love. Staying with Jesus who has stayed with us, assimilating His lifestyle, choosing with Him the logic of communion with each other, of solidarity and of sharing. The Eucharist is the maximum expression of the gift which Jesus makes of Himself and is a constant invitation to live our lives in the Eucharistic logic, as a gift to God and to others.

The Gospel also mentions that after recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread, the two disciples “rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem” (Lk. 24:33). They felt the need to return to Jerusalem and to tell of their extraordinary experience: the encounter with the Risen Lord. A great effort must be made so that every Christian . . . in every other part of the world, may be transformed into a witness, ready to pro-

The Gospel of the Third Sunday of Easter presents the episode of the disciples of Emmaus, an account

that never ceases to astonish and move us (cf. Lk. 24:13-35). This episode shows the effects that the risen Jesus works in two disciples: conversion from despair to hope; conversion from sorrow to joy; and also conversion to community life. Sometimes, when we speak of conversion we think solely of its demanding aspect of detachment and renunciation. Christian conversion, on the contrary, is also and above all about joy, hope, and love. It is always the work of the Risen Christ, the Lord of Life who has obtained this grace for us through His Passion and communicates it to us by virtue of His Resurrection.

It is thus necessary for each and every one of us to let ourselves be taught by Jesus, as the two disciples of Emmaus were: first of all by listening to and loving the Word of God read in the light of the Paschal Mystery, so that it may warm our hearts and illumine our minds helping us to interpret the events of life and

July 2011

General: That Christians may contribute to alleviat-ing the material and spiritual suffering of AIDS patients, especially in the poorest countries.

Mission: For the religious who work in mission territories, that they may be witnesses of the joy of the Gospel and living signs of the love of Christ.

August 2011

General: That the World Youth Day taking place in Madrid may encourage all the young people of the world to root and found their lives in Christ.

Mission: That Christians of the West, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, may re-encounter the freshness and enthusiasm of their faith.

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“It is thus necessary for each and every one of us to let ourselves be taught by

Jesus, as the two disciples of Emmaus were.”


The Slavery of Freedom and the Freedom to Loveby Edward P. Sri

THE ART OF LIVING

There are two views of freedom compet-ing for our attention. It is important that we have the right perspective on

this because the way we understand freedom has a tremendous impact on our lives. It can make or break a marriage. It can mean the difference between being an excellent par-ent and failing in our roles as mothers and fathers. If properly understood, an authen-tic view of freedom can inspire us to live our relationships well and discover true happi-ness. But if we get the meaning of freedom wrong—as many in the modern world have done—it can lead us to turn in on ourselves and follow the pathway of selfishness and isolation.

Freedom FromThe modern world has a very shallow

notion of freedom. For many, freedom is simply the ability to choose between two options. This kind of liberty can be called “freedom from.” In this view, a man possesses freedom when he is free from any outside law or force restricting him. Webster’s Dictionary, for example, reflects this modern view when it defines freedom merely as “the absence of necessity, coercion or constraint in choice or action.” Modern man thinks he has achieved full freedom when he is free from society, institutions, or other people telling him what to do. Without these outside constraints interfering with our life choices, we are free to do what we want with our own lives.

It is this view of freedom that leads people to look at the moral laws of the Church as something negative, something restrictive—an imposition from the outside, limiting one’s freedom. “Don’t impose your morality

on me! I should be free to do whatever I want with my life.” In this perspective, protecting “free choice” is what is most important. We should not evaluate the goodness or rightness of a choice. Different individuals are free to make different ethical decisions and choose different lifestyles. It does not matter what they choose to do with their lives. All that matters is that they choose for themselves. Freedom of choice is itself the greatest good.

And yet, something more than the Church’s moral teaching is at stake. This limited view of freedom has an underlying individualism at its foundation that hinders our ability to live our relationships well. In a culture where freedom of choice is held up as the highest ideal, we are constantly trained from a very young age to pursue whatever we want in life (“You can do anything you want!” “Do whatever makes you happy!” “Do what makes you feel good!”). But the problem with this emphasis on freedom of choice is that it puts the self at the center. We tend to put our own plans, desires and preferences over the needs of others. We want to be “free,” yet if we are not careful, other people—and our responsibilities toward them—can be viewed as limitations on our freedom.

In the Name of Freedom This is especially true with the people

God has placed closest in our lives, whether

they be our parents, our families, our friends, our parish family or our employer. Instead of viewing them as the communities in which we grow in love and service, these people closest to us might be seen as a burden, as a restraint on our freedom, preventing us from doing what we want.

If my parents in their old age, for example, have greater need for personal attention and assistance in living, all the extra time I might need to spend with them could be perceived primarily as a negative weight, preventing me from using my time and money on other things that I really want to do. I might make occasional sacrifices for Mom and Dad, but I prefer such acts of service to be on my terms—when I want and how I want—so that I can protect my freedom to pursue my own life projects.

Other examples: A newly expecting mother could view the child within her primarily as more work, more pain, more expense, more sleepless nights and some-thing that will prevent her from doing other things. Instead of seeing the child as a bless-ing and an opportunity to grow in gener-osity, she deep down resents how this child will limit her freedom to pursue other life goals. A man may view his wife and children as too great a responsibility to bear—one that hinders his career, hobbies or other life dreams. He may even choose to leave them for a freer life with fewer commitments and less restrictions on his autonomy.

“We want to be ‘free,’ yet if we are not careful, other people—and our

responsibilities toward them—can be viewed as limitations on our freedom.”

July/August 2011 11

Edward Sri is provost and a professor of theology and Scripture at the Augustine Institute in Denver, Colorado (www.augustineinstitute.org). He is the author of or contributor to several Emmaus Road books, including Queen Mother, which is based on his doctoral dissertation.

He resides with his wife, Elizabeth, and their six children in Littleton, Colorado.

Sri’s books may be ordered at www.emmausroad.org or by calling (800) 398-5470.

Edward P. Sri

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Bl. John Paul II described this modern understanding of liberty as “a self-centered concept of freedom” which “exalts the isolated individual” (Evangelium Vitae, 13, 19). And this focus on the self separates us from our most fundamental life relationships. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger put it this way:

If the autonomous subject has the last word, then its desires are simply unlimited. It then wants to snatch as much from life as it can get out of it. This, I think [is] really a very major problem of life today. People say: Life is basically complicated and short; I want to get as much out of it as possible, and no one has the right to stand in my way. Before all else I have to be able to seize my piece of it, to fulfill myself, and no one has the right to interfere with me. Anyone who would stand in my way is an enemy of my very self.1

Freedom for ExcellenceThe Catholic understanding of freedom

is so much bigger. And it does not view our relationships as an obstacle to freedom, but the very arena in which we discover true freedom. First, in the traditional understanding, freedom entails not just the ability to make choices. It is the ability to perform actions with excellence. And this requires certain skills.

Take, for example, the art of playing piano. Not everyone has the freedom to play the piano. A child who has taken piano lessons for several years and has acquired the skill of playing beautiful pieces by Bach and Mozart possesses the freedom to play the piano well. But would my toddler, who has not acquired this skill, be free to play the piano? He might be able to bang on the keys and do so with great vigor, but he does not have the ability to play this instrument with excellence. He is, therefore, not free to play the piano well no matter how much he may want to do so.

Similarly, is every person in the USA free to speak German? In the fuller sense of free-dom, no. Those who have acquired the ability to converse in this language are free to speak it. But the person who does not have this skill is not free to speak German, no matter how hard he tries and no matter how much he

may desire to do so. True freedom requires a certain skill that gives the person the ability to perform actions with excellence.

And the same is true with life as a whole. Not everyone is free to be a good son, a good husband, a good mother, a good friend. To live these relationships with excellence requires certain skills such as generosity, humility, perseverance and patience—skills known as the virtues. As we’ve seen in previous reflections, the man who possesses virtue is free to be a good husband, a good father, a good friend. He can perform generous, humble, patient, self-sacrificial acts to serve the people in his life. He is free to love them because he is not enslaved to his selfish desires. True freedom, therefore, is found in dying to one’s self—in giving up one’s freedom to do whatever he wants—in order to serve the good of another person. As Bl. John Paul II once explained:

Love consists of a commitment which limits one’s freedom—it is a giving of the self, and to give oneself means just that: to limit one’s free-dom on behalf of another. Limitation of one’s freedom might seem to be

something negative and unpleasant, but love makes it a positive, joyful and creative thing. Freedom exists for the sake of love.2

Although many in our modern world would view such limitations on their freedom as something negative and restrictive, the Christian views it as liberating. I want to be free to love my parents, my wife, my children, my friends and most of all, my God. But if I lack virtue and constantly pursue whatever I feel like doing, I am not free to love in these relationships, for I am a slave to my selfish desires. To the extent that I lack virtue, it will not be easy for me to be generous with my wife, to be patient with my children and to make sacrifices for my family. Only when I die to myself and grow in virtue will I be able to love the people God has placed in my life. In giving up my freedom to do whatever I feel like doing, I can discover a greater freedom: the freedom to love.

1 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997), p. 167.

2 Karol Wotyla, Love and Responsibility (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1981), p. 135.

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I have no business writing this article.I am a fairly typical American male, a provider for a family,

and I experience the ordinary run of anxieties about my ability to pay the bills in the short and long term. People deal with such worries in different ways. Me? I’m always looking for opportunities to increase my productivity and gain ever-greater efficiency.

I am the child of hard-working parents, my father a welder, my mother a garment worker. My grandmother’s last words to my mother were “Work hard, Mary.” So my workaholic tendencies arise from nature and nurture, genes and culture.

As I said, I have no business writing an article about leisure. But business isn’t everything, and so I need to write it.

About a quarter-century ago, when I was in my twenties, I was working for a fast-growing corporation in a field of what was then an emerging technology. I found the work interesting and rewarding. I got regular promotions and raises. I was also a serious

Catholic, though, and it kind of bothered me that I wasn’t finding time for regular prayer.

So I went looking for a spiritual director, and I found my way to a priest of Opus Dei. The name Opus Dei attracted me because I knew from high-school Latin that opus meant “work,” and I was all about my work.

So I geared up to talk with him about office politics, the perils of ambition, workplace temptations, and so on. But he had other plans.

He looked at me with the most genial smile and asked: “What kind of vacation are you planning for your family this summer?”

I figured this was small talk to ease us into the really important stuff. So I spoke vaguely about our vague intention to hit a state park for a long weekend.

He kept smiling that big, genial smile as he responded: “A stone gives more.”

Why Leisure Suits YouYour Summer Guide to Becoming

Happier, Healthier, and Holierby Mike Aquilina

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July/August 2011 13

The conversation, and my spiritual direction, had taken an unexpected turn. Before a half-hour was up, I’d begun to see that leisure was not the same as laziness. It could be something holy and something integrally human.

Business Before Leisure: God and the GardenersGod made us for work. When He created the first man and

woman, He commanded them to “fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over . . . every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).

We were “put” on earth to work the earth. We’re hard-wired for labor, and we won’t be satisfied unless we fulfill God’s command.

Yet that’s not the end of the story. For work itself is ordered to something greater. God’s six days of “labor,” His six days of creation, are ordered to a Sabbath of rest. “And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done” (Gen. 2:2).

Historical critics arch an eyebrow at the line and dismiss it as anthropomorphism—the tendency of primitive peoples to project human qualities onto God. But I think the Church Fathers and early rabbis had a clearer sense of the sacred text and its sacred meaning.

Our work is service due to God. He commanded it, and it’s necessary (by His design) for the continuing creation and sanctification of the world. But work is merely preliminary, and it’s secondary in importance. Our more important service is worship, and the mark of worship is leisure: the seventh day. As one of the an-cient rabbis put it, the Sabbath is “last in creation, first in intention.”

The critical scholars are right about one thing at least. If God is who we say He is—almighty and unchanging—He doesn’t grow tired, and He never needs to rest. If He did “take a rest” in the Genesis narrative, He did so, like a good father, in order to show His children how to do it. He was modeling the leisure He wanted us to keep, and He institutionalized it in the Sabbath.

It’s almost as if God is daring us to trust Him—to let go of the plow (or the computer keyboard, or the tool chest) and rest in confidence that the Creator who started the job can finish it just fine, with or without our eight- or ten-hour days. When we rest on Sunday, when we schedule our vacation, when we make ample time to look away from the computer screen and look into the eyes

of our children, we are showing God that we trust Him. It’s an outward sign of our innermost faith. Vacation is a sort of sacrament.

Give it a Rest, AlreadyThere are, of course, benefits to vacation in the natural order.

Our bodies need rest. Our minds need rest. Aristotle was a practical man, and he saw the benefits of leisure. He says, in the Nicomachean Ethics, “Since we cannot work forever, we need relaxation.” Rest, he said, is “a means to activity.” Modern research has confirmed that employees who rest are indeed more productive

than employees who work with-out ceasing.

As believers, we don’t deny such benefits in the natural order; but, again, we recognize that there’s something more to the story.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his profound little book on The Sabbath, observed that Aristotle got things exactly backward:

To the biblical mind . . . labor is the means toward an end, and the Sabbath as a day of rest, as a day of abstaining from toil, is not for the purpose of recovering one’s lost strength and becoming fit for the forthcoming labor. The Sabbath is a day for the sake of life. . . . The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude but the climax of living.1

We anxious providers can toil away endlessly and forget

why we’re toiling. “I’m doing it for my children,” we protest. “My work is an expression of my love.” Again, there’s much truth to that, and I don’t want to dampen the ardor of anyone’s love. Yet we should also keep in mind the effects of original sin on all human expressions of love. To borrow a phrase from the self-help books, love can go “toxic” on us, if we let it. We can turn beautiful, God-given expressions of love, like sex and work, into self-serving addictions. We work more and more and more, not just because we want to feed the family and do God’s will, but because we like the adrenaline high, the prestige, the feeling of superiority over our co-workers, or the brute pride in productivity.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m all for healthy competitiveness. I think the world would be a much better place if we all approached our workdays with holy ambition in overdrive. But the adjectives “healthy” and “holy” are important qualifiers.

“When we rest on Sunday, when we schedule our vacation, when we make ample time to look away from the computer screen and look into the eyes of our children, we are showing God that we trust Him. It’s an outward sign of our innermost faith.”

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My long-ago spiritual director was right. Our vacations are an important test of the condition of our souls.

Don’t Forget to Pack your Faith! There are some, of course, who err in the opposite direction.

My mind replays the band Loverboy’s hit single from 1981: “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.” Some people do pass their weeks for the sake of the freedom to party all weekend. Some people work overtime for months just to afford a freewheeling week aboard a cruise ship. Such party animals are really as far as the workaholic from the true experience of Sabbath rest.

In leisure we take delight in creation, not just because it makes us feel good, but because it gives glory to God. On Sunday, for example, we enjoy the company of spouse and children, not simply because that’s what’s on the schedule for Sunday, but because we have freed our minds to see these people as they are, and see them for what they are.

As Christians we have the obligation to worship on Sunday, and our great and obligatory act of worship is called the Eucharist. The name comes from the Greek eucharistia, which means“thanksgiving.”

When we attend a Sunday Mass with our families, we have a God-given chance to see a spouse, a child, a parent, a grandchild as a gift from God, and we have a chance to thank God for the gift.

God doesn’t need our thanks, and He doesn’t need our worship. If He has commanded these actions, it is because He knows we need them. He knows they’re good for us.

Worship should be, for our families, a sine qua non of every Sunday. It should also be an important component in our vacations. I’m not saying you should vacation like nuns. (Unless you’re a nun, in which case you really should.) Vacation needn’t feel like a novena to our kids. But we should take pains to avoid excursions to places where it will be impossible or extremely arduous to get to Mass on Sundays or holy days. We should also make sure not to schedule activities that will crowd out our Mass attendance. Today we have access to great databases like MassTimes.org, which will direct us to the nearest churches and chapels. Still, it’s best to call ahead, as sometimes parishes lag a little in updating their online schedules.

We should also do the research and find vacation spots that will not compromise our morals. Some beaches have a better moral atmosphere than others. Same goes for amusement parks. It helps to ask more experienced Christian parents and grandparents. They’re usually happy to answer when you ask them about their happiest vacations.

And if you have the discipline to live it in a leisurely way, consider a “staycation”—an extended time when you and the family can take day trips to local attractions.

The Last Word on LeisureLeisure requires work on our part, a little planning, a little

expense. But this, too, is labor for the sake of a Sabbath. We toil now so that we can relax for a while and let God work in our leisure.

To leave work on time—to forego the optional Sunday shift—to use vacation time rather than piling it up—these are acts of trust. And they are tithes paid to God, simple and small tokens acknowledging that He is really the owner of all our hours of all our days.

Please understand: I have not come here to induce a guilt trip on hard-working parents. For the sake of our families, we need to work hard.

But we also need to know when to give it a rest.The Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper wrote the book on Leisure,

as Rabbi Heschel wrote the book on The Sabbath. Pieper noted that the biblical phrase usually translated as “Be still, and know that I am God” can also be translated “Have leisure, and know that I am God” (see Ps. 46:10).

Leisure is an opportunity to draw close to God, in Himself and in others, in relaxed study and in prayer, in delight in His creation and in the delightful contingency of a shared ride on the roller coaster.

Leisure is a notoriously unproductive thing, when judged by industrial standards, but it does produce such moments, and such moments are holy.

1 Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1990), p. 14.

Mile Aquilina is husband to Terri and father to six children. He is executive vice president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He has written more than a dozen books, including Angels of God, Love in the Little Things, and The Fathers of the Church. He blogs at www.fathersofthechurch.com.

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July/August 2011 15

MASTER CATECHIST

Priestly Worship of Godby Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., with Michael Mohr

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., (1914–2000) was a dis-tinguished theologian and a prolific writer, speaker, and catechist. He founded a number of Catholic or-ganizations, including the Marian Catechists, and he was a good friend of the

CUF apostolate. Learn about the cause of Fr. Hardon’s beatification at www.mariancatechist.com

Michael Mohr is chairman of CUF’s board of directors and a consecrated Marian Catechist. He and his family live in Tucson, Arizona.

Fr. John Hardon, S.J.

In this reflection Fr. Hardon reminds us of our baptismal duty to be priestly in offering to Him one’s dedicated heart. He reminds us to be open to the will of God, no matter what He asks and to develop a certain structured prayer life which will enable us to discern what He wants of us in the living out of this covenant with Him and in whatever activities He calls us to in this world. Fr. Hardon often stated that “there is not a single believing Catholic who does not have wide-open apostolic potential . . . (but) only those who are holy and heroic Catholics will even survive, not to say thrive, in today’s society.” This puts the priesthood of the laity in thunderous perspective. Thank you, Fr. Hardon!—Mike Mohr

Our focus of reflection on the Divine Office as Divine Liturgy is on the priestly quality of the Liturgy. We

have the Church’s word for the fact, based on faith, that when we say the Liturgy of the Hours we are engaging in a priestly function, in union with Christ the first High Priest.

What are we saying? We are affirming two things:

First, that Christ is exercising His sacerdotal office through us, the members of the Mystical Body. This takes place because God has so willed it, and we are happy to be thus privileged to belong to the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Second, assuming that Christ has incor-porated us in His priestly office, He never-theless expects us to do our sacerdotal part.

In virtue of our Baptism, we are enabled to share in this priestly service in a way that approximates what the ordained human priest does at the altar when he offers Mass.

We are to be priestly, after the pattern of Christ the Priest, by offering with Him, to the heavenly Father, what revelation calls the clean oblation of a dedicated heart.

After all, what is priestliness if it is not self-surrender to the will of God?

Accordingly, our saying of the Divine Office will also be the offering of the Divine Office—provided we yield our wills to the loving but ever-so-demanding will of God.

Faith exhausts the vocabulary of belief in describing what this priestliness means:

• It means resignation to the will of God. What He asks of us, we resign ourselves to fulfill, no matter what the cost;

• It means abandonment to the provi-dence of God. Trusting blindly in His care for us, we do not ask why; we let ourselves be led by the sure hand of God;

• It means conforming to the mind of God. Often we do not understand the reasons that God has. No wonder; His thoughts are not our thoughts. No matter. I do not see, but I believe, and I yield my judgment to the wis-dom of God.

To some, perhaps, it may seem rhetorical to be talking this way. But it is not rhetoric or poetry. It is the truth.

All the theological learning in the world will not make our participation in the Liturgy—whether of the Eucharist or of the Hours—more effective unless we come to the Liturgy with priestly hearts, that is, with hearts that are humbly submissive to the heart of Jesus, which is the heart of God.

But given this humble subordination to the will of God, we shall do more good for souls and be more effective in winning grace for those in need—with special emphasis on priests in need—than we could ever dream was possible.

Then our liturgical prayer of the Hours will be what its name signifies: a sacrifice of praise from the farthest east to the farthest west, where the name of the Lord is honored by us, who have consecrated ourselves to belong exclusively to Him.

God is ready, I might almost say eager, to meet the desperate needs of mankind. But He wants us, His chosen souls, to live as we pray, to be what the words we sing or recite proclaim: persons totally given to God, through whom He can then work the wonders of grace He intends, if only we let Him, through our unworthy selves. Among the deepest thoughts ever conceived by the mind of man, born of experience among the saints, is that we are channels of grace to our fellowmen. But we are effective in this providential role only to the extent that we place no selfish obstacle in the way. lw

“We are to be priestly, after the pattern of Christ the Priest, by offering with

Him, to the heavenly Father, what revelation calls the clean oblation of a

dedicated heart.”


who visit him for the Angelus. At one such address, given at Castel Gondolfo, the papal summer home, Benedict uses the account of Jesus’ visit to Mary and Martha of Bethany to illustrate the point that vacations are not only for getting away. Martha is responsible for hospitality and bustles about. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to the Master. Bene-dict likens the worthy toils of life to the part taken by Martha, and Christian vacation to the part taken by Mary:

This Gospel passage is more than ever in tune with the vacation period, be-cause it recalls the fact that the hu-man person must indeed work and be involved in domestic and professional occupations, but first and foremost needs God, who is the inner light of Love and Truth. Without love, even the most important activities lose their value and give no joy. Without a profound meaning, all our activities are reduced to sterile and unorganized activism. And who, if not Jesus Christ, gives us Love and Truth? Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us learn to help each other, to collaborate, but first of all to choose together the

“Seek closeness with God also in the vacation period!”—John Paul II Angelus, Castel Gandolfo, Sunday, 3 August 2003

Can a parish priest give a Catholic a dispensation from going to Sunday Mass if the Catholic chooses to go on an ocean cruise that does not of-fer a Sunday Mass on the ship, or if he visits a country that does not of-fer a Sunday Mass? Regarding holy days of obligation, is an American obligated to celebrate the holy days of America or the holy days of the country he’s visiting?

If at all possible, Catholics should strive to arrange their vacations where they would not have to miss a Sunday Mass or another Holy Day of Obligation, which can also be fulfilled by participating in a Vigil Mass. However, it’s possible that a parish priest can give such a dispensation, provided that it is in accord with the laws of his diocesan bishop.

What is a Vacation?A vacation is a time away from the grind.

It’s a respite from the day-to-day obligations of work and home. A vacation is a time to

AskCwith Eric Stoutz

UF

recharge the batteries. A vacation might in-clude a stay at a resort or a voyage on a cruise ship, with very good food.

A vacation can be more than rest and re-laxation; the time might be an opportunity for activity. There are seasonal sports: water and snow skiing, backpacking, whitewater rafting, canoeing, and sailing. There is tour-ism: travel to national parks, baseball parks, and amusement parks, or even overseas.

This is largely a secular view. For the Christian, a vacation is even more. In ad-dition to a “getting away,” there’s a “moving toward,” toward Christ and others. Chris-tians are spiritual, always with God, seeking closeness with Jesus Christ. Fulfilling daily tasks, as an offering to God, can be redemp-tive, but also wearying and even distracting. Christians have the long-standing practice of making retreats: withdrawal for a time from the daily situation to a place conducive to meditation and prayer. The retreat takes the Christian away from the world, and allows him to spend an extended and exclusive time with Christ, grow closer to Him, and spiritu-ally recharge. A vacation should have some of this as well.

Pope Benedict XVI has taken the oppor-tunity in the summer to address vacationers

July/August 2011 17

better part which is and always will be our greatest good.

This illustration provides a helpful backdrop to his message given on another occasion, which provides more particulars and is worth quoting in full:

Rest serves to strengthen their mind and body, which, given the hectic course of modern existence, daily undergoes a continuous fatigue and strain.

The holidays also afford a precious opportunity to spend more time with relatives, to visit family and friends, in a word, to give more space to those human contacts whose desired culti-vation is impeded by the rhythm of daily duties.

For many, vacation time becomes a profitable occasion for cultural contacts, for prolonged moments of prayer and of contemplation in con-tact with nature or in monasteries and religious structures. Having more free time, one can dedicate oneself more easily to conversation with God, meditation on Sacred Scripture and reading some useful, formative book.

Those who experience this spiri-tual repose know how useful it is not to reduce vacations to mere relaxation and amusement.

Faithful participation in the Sun-day Eucharistic celebration helps one to feel a living part of the Ecclesial Community even when one is outside his or her own parish. Wherever we find ourselves, we always need to be nourished by the Eucharist.1

Pope Benedict here characterizes vaca-tion as a time for rest and contact with God, people, nature, and culture. A vacation is not a time away from Christ, especially the Eucharist, but a time of the highest quality.

When There is no MassHowever, a Christian might find himself

in circumstances (family obligations, for ex-ample) in which he has little say as to wheth-er his vacation will include Mass. For such cases, canon law provides a pastoral solution:

Without prejudice to the right of dio-cesan Bishops . . . , a parish priest, in individual cases, for a just reason

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QuickQuiz

Perhaps the “ultimate”Catholic vacation

destination, Vatican City hosts approximately

how many visitors daily?

a) 7,000

b) 10,000

c) 17,000

d) 107,000

Visit www.cuf.org/laywitness to answer!

Last issue’s results: 71% of respondents correctly answered that the future Pope John Paul II, then Karol Wojtyla, did not pursue a medical profession prior to his ordination.

CUF members may submit questions to Ask CUF by emailing [email protected] and including “Ask CUF” in the subject heading.

Please note that Catholic Responses’ policy is to answer questions from members only. Visit www.cuf.org for more information about how to become a CUF member.

AskUFC

and in accordance with the prescrip-tions of the diocesan bishop, can give a dispensation from the obligation of observing a Holy Day or day of pen-ance, or commute the obligation into some other pious works . . . (canon no. 1245).

When visiting another country, a Cath-olic is bound by the liturgical laws of that country, not his own. If a particular feast is a holy day of obligation in the United States, but not in the country he is visiting, a Cath-olic would not be obligated to participate in Mass that day, although it certainly would be good to do so. On the other hand, a Catholic visiting Mexico on December 12 would be obligated to participate in Mass, assuming that he knew about the country’s holy day. With the Internet, days of obligation for each country are easy enough to ascertain.

The Church also Provides That . . . If it is impossible to assist at a Eucharistic

celebration, either because no sacred minister is available or for some other grave reason, the faithful are strongly recommended to take part in a Liturgy of the Word, if there be such in a parish church or some other sa-cred place, which is celebrated in accordance with the provisions laid down by the dioc-esan Bishop; or to spend an appropriate time in prayer, whether personally or as a family or, as occasion presents, in a group of families (canon no. 1248 §2).

Finally, if traveling in a country where it is “physically” or “morally” impossible to par-ticipate in a Catholic Mass, a Catholic “may lawfully receive the sacraments of Penance, the Eucharist and Anointing of the Sick from non-Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid” (canon no. 844 §2). The Church further stipulates that such participation in the sacraments may be done “whenever necessity requires or a genuine spiritual advantage commends it, and pro-vided the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided . . .” (Ibid.). Of course, as a visitor, a Catholic should respect the norms of that particular church and determine whether he is welcome to participate in their liturgy.

1 Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus address, Castel Gandolfo, Sunday, 13 August 2006.

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(St. Augustine’s, 2009) Kenneth D. White-head, in Mass Misunderstandings: The Mixed Legacy of the Vatican II Liturgical Reforms, continues his study of Vatican II’s liturgi-cal reforms with special emphasis on Pope Benedict’s surprising action to allow priests to freely celebrate the Tridentine Mass as an extraordinary form of the Western Church’s worship. He explains in great detail why this was done with particular emphasis on the pontiff’s own voluminous writings on the nature of Catholic liturgy.

The author discusses the reasons for the liturgical turmoil in the post-conciliar period and the sorry rejection of the Second Vati-can Council and its teachings by so-called traditionalists who, following Archbishop Lefebvre, viewed the Council as a doctrinal rupture.

Important chapters deal with the many Vatican documents directed at eliminating liturgical abuses and maintaining the Church’s tradition regarding a sacred, reverential, and majestic liturgical celebration. The conflicts engendered by bishops allied with liturgical extremists pressing for radical innovations (displacement of tabernacles, inclusive language, liturgical translations, etc.) are treated with great objectivity. Two chapters on altar girls are also of note.

This work is highly recommended not only for its staunch defense of Church au-thority and Vatican II teachings but also for what has been too often ignored or over-looked: namely, the positive aspects of the liturgical reform desired and set into motion by an ecumenical council of the Church.

—James Likoudis, CUF president emeritus

(Ascension, 2010) For many Catholics, the Mass is somewhat of a mystery. We hear the prayers and say the responses week after week, but we do not always know what they mean. We perform liturgical gestures like the sign of the cross, but we often run the risk of turning them into routine, almost mechanical actions. Thankfully, Edward Sri has provided a remedy for this. In his latest book, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy, he explains what those prayers and gestures mean and where they come from.

He goes through the liturgy from beginning to end, covering every prayer and gesture that we normally see at Mass. He explains the profound meanings behind apparently simple things like the sign of the cross and the prayer “Peace be with you,” enabling us to participate in the Mass more fully. He also shows how the prayers we pray every Sunday have deep roots stretching back to the early Church and to ancient Israel, placing us in an unbroken stream of tradition that reaches back thousands of years.

Sri’s book is based on the new translation of the Roman Missal that will be promulgated this Advent, and it also includes a short guide to the changes it will bring, which explains the benefits of the new translation.

All in all, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass is a must-read for every Catholic who wishes to pray the Mass as it was meant to be prayed.

—J.P. Nunez

(Our Sunday Visitor, 2011) The provo-catively titled Streetwalking with Jesus: Reaching Out in Justice and Mercy by John Green is a heartrending and hopeful account of the author’s calling to serve the men of inner-city Chicago.

Green, a Catholic deacon, began Emmaus Ministry in 1990 after years of volunteering with various Christian organizations dedicat-ed to serving the poor. He recognized a dire need for ministry to one specific marginalized group: male prostitutes.

Through Emmaus Ministry, Green and his team reach out to men who have turned to prostitution, oftentimes as a means to support themselves and their addictions. Along with co-author Dawn Herzog Jewell, Green explores the complexity of this tragic lifestyle and the many forces—abuse, poverty, lack of family stability, drug use—which drive individuals to such personal degradation. The outreach involves active evangelization, including family-style dinners for men invited from off the street. They may come to clean up, eat dinner and help with the preparations, and most importantly to pray and attend Bible studies.

Although Streetwalking with Jesus entails the sad reality of many real-life stories of male prostitution, Green never glorifies sin and his narrative is devoid of explicit content. Instead, he focuses on the faces of hope he has encountered, especially those of the men whom Emmaus Ministry has helped seek God’s forgiveness and healing. This book is a worthwhile and instructive read, especially given its call for compassion towards those who so desperately need God’s love.

—Melissa M. Knaggs

REVIEWS

July/August 2011 19

Catholic Beach Reading

Books to Refresh Your Mind and Your Soul

by David Mills

July/August 2011 19

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Some people like reading books with words like “deontological,” “kerygmatic,” and “synecdoche” in them the same way other people like watching baseball. That’s their summer reading.

You can see them sitting in their beach chair oblivious to the waves lapping at their feet, their white legs covered with sunscreen, a thick hardback book sitting in their laps, an old hat covering their heads (because baldspots sunburn easily).

For the rest of us, beach reading means something a little easier, usually something with a plot. Here are some suggestions for Catholic beach reading. To qualify, books have to be spiritually or theologically enriching and easily readable—not as easily as the average fat bestseller you see in the supermarket checkout line, with the disheveled woman on the cover, but easily enough that you could read it while the waves lap at your feet. You will not need dictionaries or over-liners, and you will not have to read sentences twice, unless you do it to enjoy the writing.

But the books ought to stretch you a little and be good for you to boot. (It wouldn’t hurt to have a dictionary within reach.) When you finish this kind of book, you should feel not only entertained but edified and encouraged. You should feel you’ve learned something, maybe history, maybe theology, maybe a new way of thinking about things, but maybe also how the world has looked to someone else and how they’ve lived their lives in the light of God and His grace. These are books for refreshment, not killing time.

Most of the books are classics of some sort. The classics are the books to start with, because they got to be classics for a reason. They’ve been elected by generations of people you can trust. The rest are newer books I or friends I trust would recommend as Catholic

beach reading, including some almost no one knows about any more. And—let me stress this—it’s only a selection and leaves out lots of very good beach reading.

Sun-Soaked in DramaSpeaking of those books with disheveled

women on the covers, you will notice that they are usually very thick. Apparently thicker books sell better, because they give readers a lot of the details they want—especially details about how the main characters live and what they buy and consume. The books spend pages and pages talking about this watch and those shoes and this car and that expensive vacation spot.

People want to learn about worlds they don’t live in. So here are two really, really thick books that not only tell great stories but reveal in fascinating details whole new worlds. Only these books spend pages talking about this prayer and those temptations and this priest and that monastery. They tell you about worlds that are actually worth knowing about. The hottest shoe designer may not last the year, but the Faith is forever.

First, Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter. Set in medieval Norway, this is the story of a young woman who, as we say nowadays, makes bad choices and spends her life dealing with the results, not always well. It is also the story of how God works on souls in the circumstances of their lives and despite their resistance. The novel also shows what life was like in such a thoroughly Catholic culture, with details like the saintly monk who goes barefoot all the time (in Norway, in the winter).

Raised by atheist parents and a popular secular novelist before she started writing Kristin Lavransdatter, Undset became a

Catholic in 1924, when such a thing was essentially unknown in heavily secular and Lutheran Norway. She was given the Nobel Prize in 1928, for this book and for another

long and just as Catholic novel called The Master of Helviken.

“When you finish this kind of book, you should feel not only entertained

but edified and encouraged. “20 Lay Witness / www.cuf.org

© iStockphoto.com

/Kerrick©

iStockphoto.com/AnvilArtw

orks

July/August 2011 21

insight, and many of them include striking lessons, usually in the explanations Father Brown gives at the end. The stories appeared in five books, and you should read them in order, partly because the earlier stories are by and large better than the later ones. Interestingly, Chesterton began writing the series about fifteen years before he finally entered the Catholic Church.

Several of his lesser known books are also great fun and have deep insights to offer. In The Flying Inn, England becomes dominated by a mixture of “progressive” morals and eastern religion, which to the reader now looks more familiar than you’d think. The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond begin with Mr. Pond saying something that makes no sense whatsoever, after which he tells the story that proves him right. In Manalive, the main character does all sorts of bizarre things, like shooting at a professor, and is chased all around the world by the police, only to come home and . . . no, I wont’ give away the ending.

Not particularly Catholic but good classic mysteries fun for the Chesterton fan are John Dickson Carr’s Gideon Fell stories, because he modeled Fell on Chesterton. Some of Chesterton’s understanding of the world comes through, as does his personality and way of speaking. The earlier stories (you can find the list on Wikipedia) are much better than the later ones.

A little different from these books is Laurence Cossé’s A Corner of the Veil. A mixture of thriller and comedy, and a bestseller in France, it tells the story of the discovery of an irrefutable proof for the existence of God which, as it turns out, a lot of people inside the Church as well as outside it don’t want.

The English Catholic novelist Piers Paul Read (son of a famous anarchist writer and art critic Herbert Read) offers a similar sort of story in On the Third Day. An archaeological discovery in Jerusalem threatens to disprove the Resurrection. It is a theological thriller (though you know how it’s going to turn out) reflecting on the nature of faith and doubt. His newer Death of a Pope is even more a thriller, though not quite so good a reflection.

Also to be commended as Catholic beach reading mysteries are the late Ralph McInerney’s Father Dowling mysteries (don’t be put off by the television series, which neutered the Catholicism). Well-plotted mysteries, these feature a shrewd priest and McInerney’s amused view of the world and of the Church. As is usual with long series, the early books tend to be fresher and more engaging than the later ones.

Finally, here is one author I haven’t read but a priest I trust recommends: Edward R. F. Sheehan, a major journalist who wrote

One warning: you may not want to read this on the beach. I think of one scene when Kristin sees her father—a good man who loves her deeply though she has broken his heart—

for what they think will be the last time. This and other scenes may leave you with

tears soaking your t-shirt and people looking at you funny.

The second thick book is Henryk Sienkiewicz’s trilogy With Fire and Sword

(the title of the first book, used as a title for the whole series in the paperback edition I have). Dealing with Polish

history, the three books offer epic stories, memorable characters (on both sides of every conflict), brilliant battles scenes,

and a complete devotion to the virtues of loyalty and courage. The last book describes Poland’s defense of

Europe against the invading Turks in the late seventeenth century. They’re great boys stories, but everyone else should like them as well. Like Kristin Lavransdatter, the stories show you what unconscious faith looks like.

A noted Polish journalist of his time, Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize in 1905. He also wrote Quo Vadis, more familiar to most of us from the movies. In that book, set in Nero’s Rome, a Christian woman and pagan Roman fall in love, with the inevitable complications. St. Peter and St. Paul appear. It’s a good story, though not as exciting as the three he tells in With Fire and Sword.

Speaking of historical novels, Robert Hugh Benson’s Come Rack, Come Rope! is a much shorter book but also one that draws us into a new world, this one the world of the English Catholics after the Reformation. Catholics were imprisoned for being Catholics and priests had to go around the country in disguise, and were executed when they were caught. It’s a great, though harrowing, historical tale of people who loved the Church despite great persecution.

There’s one other very long and very Catholic book that reveals a whole new world to the reader. I bring it up because I have found, to my astonishment, that some Catholics who read books like a teenager devours hamburgers have never read it. A profoundly Catholic book, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings offers, among other things, a profound study of Providence, in the way that doing the right thing even when doing so seems foolish works out to the good.

It also says a lot about friendship, heroism, vocation, the nature of good and evil, and all sorts of other things that express Tolkien’s deeply Catholic vision of the world and the moral order. (Tolkien’s mother became a Catholic when he was young, and though a widow with two small children was pretty much disowned by her family for it.)

Mysteries, Thrillers, and MoreMysteries and thrillers, of course, are the classic beach reading

books. Good ones entertain you while keeping your brain working at the speed you want.

The gold standard for Catholic mystery stories are, of course, G. K. Chesterton’s 52 Father Brown stories. The English priest solves the crimes partly through his spiritual discernment and theological

“Mysteries and thrillers, of course, are

the classic beach reading books. Good

ones entertain you while keeping your

brain working at the speed you want.”


for most of the country’s major newspapers and magazines—think Andrew Greeley without the dissent and the sex scenes. His novels include Innocent Darkness, the story of a rich American who helps Latin American immigrants, and Cardinal Galsworthy, the story of an ambitious man who rises to the top the Church.

Tanning and Scanning HistoryNow kind of famous for writing the book (On Stranger Tides)

on which the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie was supposedly based, American Catholic novelist Tim Powers writes books blending fantasy, science fiction, and religious reflection in a way pretty much unique. He describes himself as “a conservative Catholic who’s also fascinated with stuff that’s grotesque and weird and funny and dramatic.” He is, I will warn you, one of those writers people either love or hate.

In his twelve novels, most of them bestsellers, he mixes real history with a supposedly secret and often supernatural history behind the history, with main characters who are often pursuing redemption or forgiveness. In Declare, for example, he tells the story of the Soviet spy Kim Philby and the supernatural history of the West’s battle with the Soviet Union. The time-travel story Three Days to Never deals with a powerful secret weapon invented by Albert Einstein, and argues (as did Einstein) that God does not play dice with the universe.

Like Powers, Dean Koontz is a Catholic writer whose books become bestsellers, and might even be found with the disheveled– women books in the checkout line. He became a Catholic in college and says that “As a Catholic, I saw the world as being more mysterious, more organic and less mechanical than it had seemed to me previously, and I had a more direct connection with God.”

The faith in the books is implicit, as it is in Powers’ books (and in Tolkien’s) but his books have gotten more Catholic in recent years, for those who have eyes to see. One Doorway from Heaven addresses the kind of bioethics in which the ends justifies the means, for example, and the recent Odd Thomas series reflects on the effects of humility in peoples’ lives.

Writing in the same history-bending way as Powers and Koontz is Michael D. O’Brien, who in his Children of the Last Days series writes about the end of the world, or rather the beginning of the end of the world. In his first and most famous novel, Father Elijah, a young priest is given the task of confronting the Antichrist and bringing him to repentance.

Another writer of this sort was Robert Hugh Benson. His Lord of the World offers another look at the Antichrist and the way

the world might welcome him as a savior. It is a theological thriller and a political commentary—the world he helps creates begins offering euthanasia to the old and sick as a “humane” action once the repressive Christianity is suppressed, a modern development he spotted way back in 1908. In some ways it is a more prophetic book than Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. Though not a Catholic, the Anglican C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength gives a satirical and frightening look into the way certain popular ideas about man and society can develop.

Faith ExposureAnd then there are the more directly religious

books that are still such good stories you can zip through them with your feet dangling in the water. Of these there are, blessedly, many, but here I want to flag just one, partly because over the last several years literally more than a dozen friends have said either “You’ve got to read this” or “What? You haven’t read it?”

Rumer Godden’s In This House of Brede is a story about cloistered nuns that even secular readers have praised, not only for the quality of the writing but for the writer’s insight into human life—nuns are people too, and redemption and sinfulness may mix and battle even more starkly in a convent than in the wider world. It is also at times very funny. The book was made into a movie starring Diana Rigg, of all people.

Godden, another convert, also wrote books on India, where she had lived, two moving authobiographies, and a lot of children’s stories. Her Five for Sorry, Ten for Joy is also set in a convent, and is almost as good though not nearly as widely read.

Other books of this sort might be too intense to qualify as beach reading, but I want to mention two anyway, because they give us some insight into our priest’s lives, and how difficult is their calling. The first is George Bernanos’ Diary of a Country Priest, the fictional journal of a new, idealistic, and faithful young priest in France in the 1930s. The people of his village try him in all sorts of ways, and he feels himself a failure, but we come to see that he is really a saint.

Edwin O’Connor’s The Edge of Sadness, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, tells the story of an alcoholic priest starting again in a new parish and rediscovering his love for God and the priesthood, while dealing with the usual array of fallen humanity, some good, some bad, most middling.

Ron Hansen, a permanent deacon, became famous for his The Assassination of Jesse James, made into a movie starring Brad Pitt. That’s also a good book, but not exactly beach reading, and nor is Mariette in Ecstasy, the story of a cloistered nun who seems to have received the stigmata, and Atticus, the story of the love of a father and son. For a lighter book, he offers a satire of American life in Isn’t It Romantic?, the story of, among other things, Parisians dropped into a small Midwestern town.

Beaches and BiographiesFor the same reason people like long stories about worlds they

don’t know, many of us like fictionalized biographies. It’s a tricky form to get right, because the writer has to tell the subject’s story

“And then there are the more directly

religious books that are still such good

stories you can zip through them with

your feet dangling in the water. Of these

there are, blessedly, many . . . ”

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/AnvilArtworks

July/August 2011 23

and get the subject right while filling in the details and dialogue enough to make a story people will read as a story, and to avoid writing propaganda.Most readers want sensation and scandal,

because we’re drawn to read about sin, but in fact the struggle for sanctity is really a lot more interesting. The

stakes are higher so the drama is more intense, and even the thinking alone is

more interesting because it’s complex and insightful. An entertaining book about St. Catherine of Siena, say, is

not something you’ll find a major publisher today putting out, but she led a truly fascinating life.

Louis de Wohl did this, in sixteen stories on saints from the early centuries of the Church to Pope Pius

XII. Wohl’s books include The Living Wood about Constantine, St. Helena, and the true Cross; The Last Crusader, the story of Don Juan of Austria and the Battle of Lepanto, where the Christian fleets defeated invading Muslims; Citadel of God, St. Benedict’s story; and Lay Siege to Heaven about St. Catherine of Siena.

Wohl, who before he started writing seriously as a Catholic was, of all things, an astrologer—he worked for British intelligence during World War II because they thought he might predict the dates Hitler would think lucky. He had made his name before the war writing novels, but as he became serious about his faith, a cardinal told him when he began writing more Catholic works, “Let your writings be good. For your writings you will one day be judged.” It is a lesson every writer should remember.

Set at the same time as Benson’s Come Rack, Come Rope!, Evelyn Waugh’s Edmund Campion tells the moving story of a vastly talented young man who could have risen to the very top of his society, but chose to become a Catholic and a priest, and was eventually tortured to death for it. (Waugh was yet another convert.)

You may also enjoy another of Waugh’s biographies, this one of Constantine’s mother St. Helena. Helena tells the story of a woman who pursued her calling in the midst of court intrigues, eventually found Christ and the Church, and then went off to look for the true Cross. Waugh writes amusingly about the people she deals with and movingly about Helena.

Before the Summer Sun SetsSome non-Catholic

writers have also written books of spiritual or theological insight Catholic readers will enjoy.

The Anglican C. S. Lewis, obviously, but there are others. Lewis’s friend Charles Williams, another Anglican, wrote supernatural thrillers like Descent into Hell and All Hallows Eve that some people love. The Anglican Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter mysteries The Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night offer complex mysteries along with shrewd insight into

human behavior, as well as entertaining views of an English country town and an Oxford college, respectively.

The Presbyterian Marilynne Robinson is another. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gilead, an elderly minister writes a long letter to his very young son, reflecting on his life and life in general. I must admit I avoided reading it because the description did not sound inviting, but it is a moving and wise book. Her companion novel Home reveals the life of a dying man, his dutiful daughter, and his scoundrel son, and is also moving.

Finally, friends suggested a lot of good stories that are Catholic but aren’t exactly beach reading, or not what many readers will think of as beach reading. It was a long list, but among them are Flannery O’Connor’s Complete Stories and her novel Wise Blood; the novels from Graham Greene’s Catholic period, especially The Power and the Glory and The End of the Affair; Francois Mauriac’s novels Woman of the Pharisees, The Desert of Love, and especially Viper’s Tangle (these, I’ll warn you, can be harrowing, but then he was French); Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour trilogy; and Gene Wolfe’s science fiction series The Book of the New Sun and Latro in the Mist.

Even in the restrictive category of “Catholic beach reading,” we are blessed to have many, many more good books than those I’ve listed here. If you want to sit at the beach, or at a cabin, or in your yard, and know that you’re not only being entertained and refreshed but instructed and formed, these are the books for you.

David Mills is executive editor of First Things.

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July/August 2011 23

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Call (800) MY-FAITH or email [email protected]

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First & Lasting Catechists

The Importance of Sharing Your Faith with Your Childrenby Kevin Bezner

My son was in the eighth grade at a Catholic school, and I was a fallen away Catholic.

Actually, I was more than a fallen away Catholic. At that point in my life, I considered myself a Catholic, atheist, Buddhist. I had grown up Catholic. I had turned to atheism. I dabbled in Zen Buddhism and read Zen poets and sat in meditation as a way of living in the moment and calming my ever-active mind.

Even so, I believed my son should be exposed to what I considered my German-Polish-Irish Catholic cultural heritage. So to at least cover the Catholic part of that heritage, I had sent my son to a Catholic school.

We were in the car one day on the way home from his school when my son asked me a very simple question: “Is Jesus God?”

I didn’t know what to say. Of course, because I thought of myself as an atheist, I didn’t believe in God. I couldn’t tell him, then, “Yes—Jesus is God.”

I also wasn’t ready to tell him that I didn’t believe in God. My arrogant view was that I didn’t need to. I believed that as a thinking person he would eventually discover this truth for himself. Besides, I didn’t want to indoctrinate my son the way I had been indoctrinated as a child. I was better, I thought, than those on any side of any argument who believed they had to raise their children to believe exactly what they did. At the same time, I wanted to be fair to what I saw as historical truth.

So I answered, “He is, and He isn’t.”My son wasn’t exactly satisfied with my clever, vague answer

and he asked me to explain what I meant, which I was happy to

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do because I considered this a very good sign of his inquisitiveness and intelligence.

“Catholics believe that Jesus is God and that He became man,” I said.

“Why did He become man?” my son asked.I then told him about Adam and Eve and the Fall, as best as I

could remember from my days in a Catholic grade school. I told him about the Holy Trinity and even pulled out the old image of the three leaf clover and St. Patrick, which my teachers at St. Mary’s in Alexandria, Virginia, had used so many years ago to teach me.

He had no trouble understanding this and seemed to find it interesting. Then he asked me what I saw as the toughest question of all. “Do you believe that Jesus is God?”

This was a moment of crisis for me. It was also a moment of embarrassment and fear. Deep down, I was embarrassed, I think, that I did not have faith. I was also afraid. I was afraid that my views would cause him difficulty at school. What if his teachers and the priests found out that I was an athe-ist? What if he went to school and said, “My dad doesn’t believe Jesus is God, and neither do I! He’s a Zen Buddhist and I see him sitting in meditation almost every night! We shaved our heads together once and everyone thought we were Buddhist monks!”

In that brief moment I saw two paths before me. Should I tell him the truth and say that I didn’t believe, or should I equivocate somehow? I chose to equivocate.

“It doesn’t matter what I think about this,” I said. “What matters is what you think. You’ll have to answer the question of whether Jesus is God for yourself.”

That quieted him. He slipped into what appeared to be deep thought. He had no further questions for me that day, and I don’t recall his ever talking about God with me until many years later when he had left adolescence and had become an adult who had experienced much difficulty in his young life.

My son eventually did answer that question for himself. Although he didn’t become an atheist as I had, he also didn’t become a Christian. Today, almost 30 years of age, he is an agnostic. I am happy to say that he believes in God, seems open to learning more about Christianity and Catholicism, and seems to enjoy it when I share my faith with him.

I look back on that moment and see myself as a failed parent. At the precise moment when I could have taught my son the true mean-ing of our life on this earth, I was wandering in the desert. At the moment my son may have come to grasp and embrace Christianity and the Catholic faith, I was lost, confused, and disordered in my thinking.

The Family FoundationThe Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the family

home is the “first school of Christian life” and the domestic church where “children receive the first proclamation of the faith.” It is also “a school for human enrichment.” It is in this home that “one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous—even repeated—forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life” (nos. 1655-1658).

I am a witness to this wisdom of the Church. Although my home did not fit precisely the definition of a good Catholic home, my

struggling parents ensured that I learned the Faith. They took me to Mass on Sundays and saw to it

that I attended Catholic schools. While un-educated fully in the Faith, they under-stood it well enough to instill Church

teachings in me. Unfortunately, I left the Church in the early 1970s as a college student over-whelmed by a secular culture intent on rebelling against and denouncing the Church.

Yet, I had a foundation of faith. As the Church became

more effective in speaking out against the disorder of the

secular world and the efforts to silence its voice of wisdom, I was

able to hear its teachings above the noise. I was able to see the example of those

who truly lived the Faith, especially that of Bl. Pope John Paul II. He was steadfast and calm in the storm of relativism, and he provided us with the

Catechism so that we could know better, live, and defend our faith. I am certain that one reason I am a catechist today is because of his example and wisdom in making certain that Catholics have an authentic source of Church teaching ready at hand to help them dismiss false teaching. Now that I have come back to the Church, I am also particularly grateful for the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, who has carried on the work of Bl. John Paul and those before him whose thoughtful catechesis has helped me grow in my faith.

My son did not receive a similar foundation, and it was my responsibility to help him build it. My home, the home he grew up in, was not Christian until he was 21 years of age. At the very least, he witnessed the conversion of his wayward father.

As parents, we are called not only to follow Christ, but also to lead our children to Him. Only by knowing and living Church teachings can we provide our children with the cloak of faith that will enable them to endure the terrible storm that rages outside the Catholic home.

One of our greatest resources for understanding and handing on our faith is the Catechism. It can help us meet our responsibility as parents to serve as first and lasting catechists for our children, even as they become adults and begin to raise families of their own.

Without our living example and our willingness to talk with them about our religious beliefs, our children and their children may become agnostics or perhaps even atheists. They may even lose


July/August 2011 27

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their souls. Even with strong examples of Christian discipleship, our children may still end up wandering outside the Church for a time, just as I did. If they have a foundation of faith, however, they may one day through the grace of God wake up and come back to the truth they abandoned.

One of my priorities in life now is to make up for my failure to teach my son the Faith when he was a child. Now, I take every opportunity I get to build the foundation I did not give him when he was younger. These moments are not as common as I would like them to be, but with the help of Our Lord, the Catechism, and other resources I am always ready to offer my thoughts on doctrinal or spiritual matters and to answer him truthfully and clearly whenever he has questions. I may have abandoned my job of catechizing my son when he was younger, but I take my responsibility as an evangelist to him very seriously now.

Recently, my son called because he wanted to know whether the angels in a television show he watches had any relation to the Bible. I took out my copies of my study Bible, the Catechism and Scott Hahn’s Catholic Bible Dictionary and I spent 40 minutes or so going over angels and demons and reading selected Bible passages to him. We’ve had similar discussions over the Book of Revelation and Milton’s Paradise Lost. To encourage his exploration of matters related to Christianity, I’ve given or referred him to a wide variety of books and commentaries that I know are faithful to Church teachings. While I’ve been tempted to give him a library of books, as well as subscriptions to every Catholic magazine I read, I’ve learned that he is most receptive to my gifts when they are in response to a conversation he has initiated. The best thing I can do in such situations, I believe, is to feed his interest.

Preach by What You PracticeChildren learn through observation and imitation. They observe

how adults behave and then imitate that behavior. As a child, my son observed that religion was not important to his parents. He then absorbed and imitated our behavior. As a young man, however, he has witnessed my change of heart. He is a witness to how much my love of Christ and His Bride means to me and my ongoing conversion. In fact, he has told me that he can see that faith has made a difference in my life because of how I treat others. He also has noted small things like my saying prayer before meals, and the pictures of Jesus and Mary, and the crucifix, in my office.

My son, like many in his generation, is willing to let me be myself. This means I do not have to hide my faith from him. It also means I have to let him be himself, which can be very difficult for a parent to do. I have to be content with his interest in my faith. I cannot push it on him. Until he is ready to talk with me directly about the Catholic faith, I will need to focus on showing him how I live and practice my faith instead of teaching its tenets. This is not a bad place to be.

If you are a parent of young children just learning the Faith, you can especially practice what Fr. Robert Spitzer calls “doing” in his book, Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life. You can talk with your children about the Sunday Gospel after Mass, or directly ask them what they are learning in their catechism classes. You can also take the time to study Scripture or some catechetical resource with them.

But those of us with children who have never grasped the Faith, or who have drifted away, must especially practice what Fr. Spitzer calls “being with.” Fr. Spitzer tells the story of how when he was in seminary he spotted his 90-year-old Latin instructor watching a football game alone in the television room. So he sat with the man and watched the closing minutes of the game. They didn’t speak, but when the game was over the instructor expressed his gratitude to Fr. Spitzer for simply spending some time with him. Spend time like this with your children and they too will express their gratitude. Besides, it is in moments like this when we can truly preach the Gospel without words.

Persevere in PrayerEven though my son is agnostic, I am not worried. I always keep

in mind St. Monica, who prayed for years that her son Augustine would be converted. Through prayer and her living example, she eventually helped win her son’s soul for Christ—as well as the souls of his student Alypius (who would one day become a bishop) and his illegitimate son Adeodatus. She also won the soul of her once brutal husband, Patricius. St. Monica persevered in prayer, and God answered her prayers. Her son, St. Augustine, became one of the Church’s greatest thinkers and theologians. Since God was so patient with me, I feel that in praying for my son’s conversion I can at least be as patient as St. Monica. May we always pray as fervently as St. Monica.

Of course, our greatest model of patience and perseverance is the Lord. Turn to the Gospels and meditate on how He won the heart of the Samaritan woman. Think of Him with the woman taken in adultery, Mary Magdalene, St. Peter, or the Apostle Paul. Or, as I have done many times, meditate on the icon of Our Lord holding the legs of a sheep that is draped across His shoulders.

Take comfort. Our Lord, the Good Shepherd, is always with you. And with you, He seeks to bring your lost children home.

Kevin Bezner is a poet, teacher, and catechist who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. He teaches English at Belmont Abbey College.

“Take comfort. Our Lord, the Good Shepherd, is always with

you. And with you, He seeks to bring your lost children home. “

emmausroad.org

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July/August 2011 27


Be Not AfraidThe Enthronement of the Sacred Heart

by Mary Kelemen

July/August 2011 29

We’re in troubled times. Unless you’re a cave dweller, you can’t deny the global atmosphere of

fear and apprehension that seems to be in-tensifying. It’s not just the economy, rising gas and food prices, unemployment, politics, and wars that worry us. Natural disasters—earthquakes, volcanoes, severe storms, floods and fires—seem to be multiplying, making us ask, “What is going on?” Modern com-munication allows us to watch everything happen in real time, from the comfort of our own homes, or even in the palm of our hand! We can “network” with anyone we choose, divulging what we’re doing or thinking at any given moment. Secularism, religious skepti-cism, and indifference seem to be winning the battle for our time and attention. Many of us have no time for a relationship with God, no time for prayer, no quiet. We talk, talk, talk to each other—oftentimes gossip-ing or complaining, but never really getting any satisfaction or resolving any problems.

What are we doing wrong? Why aren’t we happy? Why are we afraid? Do the “signs of the times” frighten or confuse you? Does your spirit grieve over the atrocities—abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia—committed all over the planet? Do you have children who have left the Church? Do you find yourself giving in to apathy and despair, or are you just numb to the godlessness which pervades our culture? How can our nation and our world return to God for the comfort, the peace, and the strength we so desperately need?

There is an answer. Time and again, Jesus reassures us with the words, “Be not afraid!” (cf. Mt. 17:7, 28:10; Lk. 12:4-7, 21:9; Mk. 5:36). The newly beatified and beloved Bl. John Paul II used these same words to greet the faithful for the first time from the Vatican balcony on the day he was elected pontiff. On that historic day, our new Polish Pope boldly reassured us, “Be not afraid!”

Yet, how can we not be afraid when the problems we face seem insurmountably in-grained into the very fabric of society? How can we not give in to apathy and despair when the whole world seems to be drowning in sin and strife? Where is our hope? The answer is simple: our hope is in the Lord. The Sacred Heart of Jesus beckons us to draw near to Him, to lean on His most merciful heart so that, by entrusting our hearts and homes to Him, we might find the comfort,

peace, and strength for which we long. In the words of Bl. John Paul II, “Be bold! Be brave! Be not afraid and mighty forces will come to your aid!”

Devotion for Our TimeThe Church of our day is blessed to have

a prelate who loves the Sacred Heart of Jesus, knows personally the powerful blessings that come with devotion to the Sacred Heart, and is doing all he can to help us learn about it so that the Sacred Heart can be enthroned in every home as Jesus Himself requested. His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke is an American Cardinal who has been appointed to head the Church’s highest court of appeals as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. He is a humble, kind and approachable shepherd—a fine example of grace in action.

First and foremost, Cardinal Burke loves being a priest and serving God’s people in that capacity. He understands the challenge we all face to be faithful to our baptismal promises, especially during this time of

history when secularism and materialism are so prevalent. He knows that we have come through a difficult period in the Church during which the faith was watered down and people were poorly catechized. He remembers well the positive impact that Catholic devotions and traditions had on him before entering the seminary in 1962. But after his ordination in 1975, he was struck by the loss of devotional life and the absence of objects of devotion such as pictures of the Sacred Heart in the homes he visited. It saddened him to discover that devotions like the Rosary and Morning Offering were no longer recited by families. He understood that those devotions connect heaven and earth from Sunday to Sunday, contributing to our Catholic identity. Even then, newly-ordained Fr. Burke understood the need for the Enthronement and Consecration of individuals and families to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

As the new Bishop of La Crosse in 1995, and then as Archbishop of St. Louis in 2004, Cardinal Burke consecrated his dioceses to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and enthroned an image of the Sacred Heart in the Cath-edral of each diocese. He catechized the faithful about the Sacred Heart Devotion, encouraging the Enthronement in homes, parishes, schools, and other institutions. He has come to appreciate the true and lasting value of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, not only through personal experience, but by witnessing the spiritual benefits and abiding peace that come to families who welcome Jesus into their hearts and homes and enthrone Him as King and Friend of their family. It was for this reason that, as Archbishop of St. Louis, he originally published a step-by-step guide for the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart.

Cardinal Burke has recently announced the revision of The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Everything needed for the Enthronement is included in this book. The last few pages contain beautiful certificates for recording Enthronements, thus making the book itself a family heirloom to pass from generation to generation, and helping to ensure continued devotion to the Sacred Heart well into the future. This beautiful book, along with several other resources designed to deepen devotion to the Sacred Heart, is now available for purchase through the Marian Catechist Apostolate.

“The Sacred Heart of Jesus beck-

ons us to draw near to Him, to

lean on His most merciful Heart

so that, by entrusting our hearts

and homes to Him, we might find

the comfort, peace and strength

for which we long.”


Cardinal Burke hopes that this all-inclu-sive book will assist an ever-greater number of individuals, families, parishes, and other groups in receiving the wealth of graces which flow from enthroning the Sacred Heart and making the Act of Consecration. According to Cardinal Burke, “Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a most effective means of living always in the company of our Lord Jesus whom we receive in Holy Communion . . . Our devotion to the Sa-cred Heart of Jesus is an extended act of love for Him Who shows us the greatest possible love by offering His Body and Blood for us in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.”

The Story of the Sacred Heart The Sacred Heart devotion was

formulated by Jesus Himself and offered to mankind through His apparitions to a humble Visitation nun and mystic by the name of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. In a convent in Paray-le-Monial, France in the seventeenth century Jesus relayed to this special apostle of His Sacred Heart at least twelve remarkable promises to those who practice this devotion. The promises pertain to special graces that Jesus will dispense during their lifetime and at the time of death. He promised to personally bless the homes where an image of His Heart is exposed and honored.

The mystery of God’s infinite, merciful and unfathomable love has always been a teaching of our faith, but it was crystallized, so to speak, in Our Lord’s revelations to St. Margaret Mary. Why did the Son of God seek to reveal Himself as the Sacred Heart? In His fourth apparition to St. Margaret Mary in 1674, Our Lord revealed His Sacred Heart, declaring:

Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it spared nothing, even go-ing so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacri-leges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love [Holy Communion].

The reason for Christ’s revelation of His Sacred Heart can be found in these words from St. Margaret Mary:

This devotion is as a last effort of His love which wishes to favor men in these last centuries with this loving redemption, in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan, which He intends to destroy, and in order to put us under the sweet empire of His love and thus bring many souls by His saving grace to the way of eternal salvation.

These assurances, repeated many times and in many different ways to St. Marga-ret Mary, are backed up by Christ’s solemn promise, “I will reign through My Heart, despite Satan and his agents . . . in spite of all those who oppose this devotion.”1

In 1690, St. Margaret Mary died at Paray-le-Monial at the age of 43 while

“The mystery of God’s infinite,

merciful and unfathomable love

has always been a teaching of

our faith, but it was crystallized,

so to speak, in Our Lord’s revela-

tions to St. Margaret Mary.”

pronouncing the holy name of Jesus. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was officially recognized and approved by Pope Clement XIII in 1765, 75 years after her death. In 1830, 140 years after her death, her tomb was opened and her body was found to be incorrupt. Two instantaneous cures took place. Pope Pius IX declared St. Margaret Mary Blessed on September 18, 1864, and she was canonized by Pope Bene-dict XV in 1920.

After the death of St. Margaret Mary, devotion to the Sacred Heart spread rap-idly. In 1856, Pope Pius IX established the Feast of the Sacred Heart, which is to be celebrated on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, just as Jesus requested. Encyclicals were written; confraternities were formed; prayers and litanies were for-mulated; contemporaries of St. Margaret Mary wrote books and preached about the devotion. There can be no doubt that she was the seventeenth century Apostle of the Sacred Heart.

In the twentieth century Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC. (1875–1960), a Peruvian priest, founded the modern-day version of the devotion, whereby the Sacred Heart of Jesus is enthroned in homes. He became known as “The Apostle of the En-thronement.” Pope Pius X directed Father Mateo to make this his life’s work—to bring the entire world, home by home, family by family, to the Sacred Heart. His writings and homilies are contained in his book, Jesus King of Love.

Cardinal Burke may well be called the twenty-first century Apostle of the Sacred Heart because of his tireless efforts to promote this devotion, and now, with the publication of The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Cardinal has made it more accessible than ever before.

1 Fr. Francis Larkin, SS.CC., Enthronement of the Sacred

Heart, (Cleveland, OH: Archangel Crusade of Love,

1997), p. 14.

Mary Kelemen is a friend of Cardinal Burke and former National Coordinator of the Marian Catechist Apostolate. For more information, or to purchase The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, contact the Marian Catechist Apostolate at 608-782-0011, www.MarianCatechist.com or [email protected].

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Painting of St Margaret M

ary Alacoque Contemplating the Sacred H

eart of Jesus by Giaquito Corrado / W

ikimedia Com

mons

July/August 2011 31

RETHINKING JOY

Emily Stimpson

Emily Stimpson is an award-winning Catholic writer based in Steuben-ville, OH. A contributing editor to Our Sunday Visitor newspaper, her work has also appeared in Franciscan Way, First Things, Touchstone, Faith

and Family, Loyola’s Best Catholic Writing series, and elsewhere. She is also the co-author with Stacy Mitch of a forthcoming series of Bible studies for teenage girls from Emmaus Road Publishing.

The Sacred and the Profaneby Emily Stimpson

I’ve been thinking a lot about liturgy as of late. Mostly, I blame the Church for that. As of this Advent, she’s giving us a deli-

cious, delightful, de-lovely new translation of the Roman Missal. Accordingly, every Catholic news outlet and its brother is keep-ing writers busy penning stories about why such a translation is needed and how we can prepare for its arrival.

The answer to “Why?” is simple. In short, the current translation isn’t much good. It’s pedantic, prosaic, and often just plain wrong. Which is a problem.

It’s a problem because the words we pray during the liturgy shouldn’t be prosaic. They should be poetic, beautiful, glorious, and enchanting, lifting the heart and mind to marvel at the Mystery.

The words should also be accurate. Specific words are in specific places for a reason. They have weight and meaning which, when understood, orders our worship to the proper end. In effect, they prevent us from falling into the habit of heresy on a sunny Sunday morning.

Liturgy, however, doesn’t just order our worship. It orders our lives.

The words we pray in the Mass—the ex-pressions of contrition, petitions of forgive-ness, and songs of praise—form the way we see ourselves and others. They help us think rightly about what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God and do what is required of those for whom Love died.

That’s why it matters so very much that we get the words right. It’s not simply about being faithful to what the Church has given us. It’s about being faithful to who we are and how God asks us to live and love.

But what about the “how”? How can we prepare for the forthcoming changes?

There’s reading and study, of course. But I think there’s more. It seems that part of the preparation lies in recognizing that it’s not just the liturgy of the Church that God asks us to get right. He also wants us to get the liturgy of everyday life right.

This is the flipside of the liturgical coin. It doesn’t get nearly so much press as new translations, but, in some ways, it matters even more . . . at least to those of us not tasked with translating Latin phrases. And it goes hand in hand with the prayers uttered before the altar. A rightly ordered Sacred Liturgy is the font from which a rightly ordered daily liturgy springs. But conversely, it’s a rightly ordered daily liturgy that disposes us to enter more fully into the Sacred Liturgy.

So, what does this properly ordered daily liturgy look like?

It begins with morning prayer, a day welcomed with words of thanks, praise, and hope. Then there’s hot coffee, tea, or choco-late, bread broken thrice between sunrise and sunset, and a table shared with family and friends. There’s work, earnestly undertaken, and deadlines met. There are trials born with laughter, errands run with diligence, and bills paid with promptitude. There are beds made, floors swept, and clothes folded. There are insults endured and mistakes ad-mitted. There are evening rosaries, bedtime stories, and glasses of wine, nursed reverently by the fireside. There are acts of contrition, perpetual novenas, and final words of love. Lastly there is rest, sleep, and the willingness to do it all again the next day.

In essence, the liturgy of everyday life is simply a life well lived, a life governed by right habits and spirits.

There is, of course, no Missal to direct these rites. And there is, perhaps, less grandeur in their exercise. But there is instruction in Scripture, the writings of the saints, and the witness of wise souls. There is also poetry, albeit of a more subtle sort, in beds well made and stories well told.

Above all, there is the end result. There is liturgy doing what liturgy does, ordering our lives and hearts, wearing grooves in

our characters into which virtue can settle, teaching us responsibility in the little things so that we can honor responsibilities in the great things, and countering the heretic within, the heretic who wants us to believe that sacrifice, selflessness, chastity, fortitude, patience, temperance, mercy, and justice aren’t essentials in the good life.

Which brings us back to the Sacred Liturgy.

The more joyfully and faithfully we enact our daily liturgy, the more we master our wayward hearts. And the more we master those, the freer we are to enter into the mystery of the Sacred Liturgy, to see it for the gift it is and marvel at the holy wonders unfolding before our eyes.

That’s why, although it’s good to read and study about the forthcoming new translation of the Sacred Liturgy, perhaps the best way we can prepare ourselves for what the Church has for us is simply to focus on the liturgy over which we preside, to enact it’s rituals well and say its words with reverence and love.

Joy in one can’t help but prepare the ground for joy in the other. lw

“A rightly ordered Sacred Liturgy is the font from which a rightly ordered

daily liturgy springs.”


LOOKING AT A MASTERPIECE

Madeleine Stebbins is the wife of CUF founder H. Lyman Stebbins. She served as CUF president from 1981–84.

St. Francis in the Desertby Madeleine Stebbins

messengers of His glory. It is the opposite of a secular view in which nature is a dead-end, not intimating anything beyond itself:

“In every saint there is repeated in some way the wonder of Mt. Tabor, when God for a brief moment, lifts the veil that conceals His kingdom of supernatural mysterious glory and holiness from fallen men, when He allows one of the true followers of Christ to blossom among us. Perhaps in no other . . . is this more strikingly borne out than in St. Francis.” 2

We see St. Francis here in a gesture of love and rapture, of opening his whole being to his God in trust and in total donation. It is also a gesture of thanksgiving and praise, of wonder and profound awe. An inner flame is in him, a deep joy, exultation, and ecstasy.

St. Francis freed himself of all superfluity, chose radical poverty, lived the Gospel in a literal way, and thus was able to experience a most intimate union with Jesus, so much so that like St. Paul he received the sacred stigmata, “the marks of the Lord Jesus” in his body (Gal. 6:17).

This masterpiece is mysterious and rich in meaning. It shows St. Francis on Mt. Alverna where in 1224 he actually received the five wounds of Jesus’ crucifixion, slightly visible here in his hands. He is looking, it seems, toward a divine fire. It is a great theophany, like the burning bush for Moses. He is barefoot: “Put off the shoes from thy

This masterpiece by the Venetian Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), painted in 1480, hangs in the Frick Museum in

New York. Philippe de Montebello, director of the New York Metropolitan Museum, recently said he was drawn to the Frick every other week simply to look again at this magical Bellini.

One cannot imagine contemplating it and remaining an atheist. The whole has a mystical aura that speaks of a sublime and transcendent realm. It just has to be true that God exists. Great beauty has that power to be a medium to the supernatural, like an ap-parition immediately influencing our souls.

In Haydn’s oratorio The Creation, the charm of every creature is sung. Each one glorifies the Creator, but then it is said that God’s work was not complete until the creation “of that wondrous being who could thank God for His great work and praise Him for His goodness.” St. Francis (1182- 1226), in his love for and solidarity with all creatures, animals, birds, and fish, becomes their spokesman, inviting them all to praise God with him. Since they all came from our loving Father, he called them his brothers and sisters: “Praised be Thou my Lord for Brother Sun . . . he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor . . . for Sister Moon and the stars, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire, Sister Mother Earth, sweet smelling flowers.” He invites them to: “Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.” 1

Not making an idol of nature, St. Francis sees in it both God’s footprints and

Madeleine Stebbins

feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5).

This painting has something deeply visionary about it. It is the luminous vision of St. Francis. The world is radiant with traces of God. Each tree, leaf, twig, and plant is painted with delicacy, appreciated in its preciousness. The donkey expresses humble meekness; to its left an exquisite heron. The simple desk, the Bible, the skull, allude to meditation on God’s eternity and our mortality. The rocks reflect a mysterious light. The man-made city is wonderfully in harmony with nature as if its architect was one in heart with the Creator. It is a holy city, symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem.

The hills are the “everlasting mountains” (Ps. 76:4) bathed in a mystical beauty. The sky and the clouds are radiant and lead us to eternal beauty. The whole painting fills us with a longing for holiness.

1 Johannes Jorgensen, St. Francis of Assisi (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1942), p. 315.

2 Dietrich von Hildebrand, Not as the World Gives (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1963), p. 27.

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Lay Witness Magazine July/Aug 2011

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Transcript of Lay Witness Magazine July/Aug 2011