A Desert Place

And he said to them: Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little. For there were many coming and going: and they had not so much as time to eat (Mar 6:31 DRB).  Once again, our Lord is sending His people into a desert place, a waste place, a desolate place.  They have not eaten, yet He does not tell them to take food.  The desert place is a place without the frills of the world; hence, there is an absence of distractions.  They have left their cell phones at home; they have left their iPads and iPods at home; they even depart to an area devoid of beauty, of excitement, of pleasure.  This is the place they are to rest—with God, the Son.  It is in a desert place, a desolate place, a waste place, that they are to find rest.

Woe to the shepherds who…scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD…You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.  How do the shepherds scatter the flock of the LORD’s pasture, driving them away?  By misleading them.  How do they mislead them?  By deceiving them.  They tell the flock that the pleasures of the world are from God, that they are His blessings because He is pleased with them, because they belong to Him.  In actuality, God is displeased.  We can see Eve and the Serpent in the Garden.  Satan scattered Adam and Eve, driving them away from God.  It is the same today.  Protestant preachers are crying out, “God wants you to be healthy and wealthy; He wants to prosper you with riches here on Earth!  He wants to make you happy with riches!”  They tell people that the Catholic Church tries to “keep their people under their thumb,” scattering the flock, driving them away.  As with the false prophets, they reach out to “itching ears,” telling people what they desire to hear, not what they need to hear.

The LORD drives us into the desert, where He will be our Shepherd, where the wasteland becomes a verdant pasture because He is the pasture.  He leads us, in this desert, beside restful waters—in which He is the waters.  In this desert place He feeds us His body, giving us His blood to drink. 

Hear our Blessed Mother saying, “Behold the handmaid of the LORD; be it unto me according to thy word.”  Behold the priest when he offers the host, saying, “The Body of Christ.”  Our “amen” essentially means, “Yes, I belong to Christ; be it unto me as You wish, not as I wish.”  We consume Jesus Christ, the Person—body, blood, soul, and divinity—desiring to be as He is.

The Lord, the gracious, the merciful, has made a memorial of His wonders; He gives food to those who fear Him.  Behold, I stand at the door and knock, says the Lord.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door to me, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with Me.

…On every bare height shall their pastures be.  They shall not hunger or thirst, nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them:  For He who pities them leads them and guides them beside springs of water—Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and risen—the Eucharist.

The Potter's Wheel and the Kingdom of Heaven

In the gospel reading for 2 August, “Jesus said to the disciples:  ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.  When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets.  What is bad they throw away’.”  This passage has always caused me great consternation.  The image which is cast into my mind is:  The Kingdom of heaven, the gospel, is a net which gathers good and bad, just as the fishermen cast their nets which traps the fish.  When I look at myself, I do not see “good.”  Even if I did, I am not the judge.  The gospel is “good news,” and I did not see news that I envisioned as “good.”  On the other hand, the first reading from Jeremiah I considered “good news,” for it gave comfort, hope.  God is the Potter; I am the clay; He will mold me into what He desires.  The passage truly does give comfort.  Unfortunately, it also leads to presumptuousness.  Being a Protestant at the time, it made it easy when temptations became great.  My sins became justifiable almost.

These two passages need to be taken together.  God is the Potter; we are the clay.  He does mold us, but He does not do it against our wills, without our efforts.  God determined to save us, but not without creation.  The potter utilized the wheel to mold the clay.  God saves mankind utilizing creation, e.g. Jesus was born of a Virgin, a woman.  God molds us through the Catholic Church, His Word, the Mass, and the Sacraments—by way of the Pope, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, etc.

Now, in the gospel reading, the Kingdom of heaven is the Gospel.  It does not pull itself so as to “trap;” it invites, draws, people.  It does not draw people against their wills. Then, when it is full, “they haul it ashore.”  It is at that time that the “net” is moved.  The gospel attracts those who desire to be saved from their sins, who desire to live holy, righteous lives, desiring to please who loves us so that He gave His only begotten Son.  It also draws those who desire to escape hell yet live life “naturally.”  It also attracts those who desire to utilize the Church for their personal gains.  God has given His Son and has given us the Catholic Church overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.  He has given us His Word, the Pope, the bishops, and priests to give us His Word and administer the Sacraments.  Let us each search ourselves and determine what it is we desire of Jesus Christ and His Church.  Let us ask ourselves what we desire from the Sacraments.  What is it that we seek?

Let us meditate on the Act of Faith.  My LORD and God! I most firmly believe “all” (emphasis added) that Thou hast revealed “and all that Thy holy Church believes and teaches, because Thou, who art infallible Truth, has so revealed and commanded (emphasis added).  Do we believe this?

Now, think on the Act of Hope.  My Lord and God!  Because Thou art almighty, infinitely good and merciful, I hope that by the merits of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, Thou wilt grant me eternal life, which Thou hast promised “to all who shall do the works of a good Christian, as I purpose to do by Thy help” (emphasis added).

Finally, the Act of Charity:  My Lord and God!  Because Thou art the highest and most perfect good, I love Thee with my whole heart, and above all things; and “rather than offend Thee, I am ready to lose all things else; and for Thy love, I love and desire to love my neighbor as myself” (emphasis added).

Is my life for me and all I can achieve, or is it for God?

Act of Faith

The Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity have long been beautiful Catholic Prayers.  Some are longer, some shorter.  I do not know how many Catholics still pray them, but they should be prayed daily. They are beautiful prayers, meaningful way to begin a day.They are succinct, and keep us focused upon what we do believe as Catholics. 

If we do read/recite them, there is the possibility that we are in a hurry and rush through them without meditating upon them.  For this reason, it is my desire to treat upon them, beginning with the Act of Faith.

What is “faith”?  Paragraph 166 of the Catechism says:  “Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.”

The Act of Faith I am utilizing is from General Catholic Devotions, by Bonaventure Hammer.

My Lord and God!  I most firmly believe all that Thou hast revealed and all that Thy holy Church believes and teaches, because Thou, who art infallible Truth, hast so revealed and commanded.

“My Lord and my God!”  Why “Lord” and “God”?  Why not one or the other?  This brings into remembrance St. Thomas, the apostle--sometimes referred to as “Doubting Thomas”—when Jesus told him to thrust his finger into His wounds to verify that He indeed had risen.  “My Lord and God” is also what we say silent when the priest elevates the host during the Eucharist.  “Lord and God” is not saying the same thing twice.  “Lord” is someone or something having power, authority, or influence.  Sarah called her husband, Abraham, “lord” (Ge 18:3).  St. Peter tells us, “…Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord”… (1 Pe 4:6).  “God” is defined “(in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.”  [Martin Luther erred in many things, but I think his definition of “God” is good:  “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge in all distress. So, to have a God is nothing other than trusting and believing Him with the heart.”]  Hence, when we pray “my Lord and God,” we are essentially saying:  “You, Lord, have power over me, authority over me; You influence me.  You are the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, the Source of all moral authority.  You are all that is good.  You are Supreme; You are God.”

“I most firmly believe”…  “Firm” is an unyieldingly, in a determined and unshakable way, steadiness.  When it comes to the word “believe,” we are using it in the same sense as we do in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed.  Paragraph 185 of the Catechism, treating on the Creeds, states:  “Whoever says ‘I believe’ says ‘I pledge myself to what we believe.’ Communion in faith needs a common language of faith, normative for all and uniting all in the same confession of faith.”

“…all that Thou hast revealed and all that Thy holy Church believes and teaches, because Thou, who art infallible Truth, has so revealed and commanded.”  Here, we are confessing that all the Catholic Church believes and teaches has been revealed God and is absolute truth because Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body, the Head of the Church, and He will not deceive His Body, the Church.  If we do not believe this, then we must believe that truth is relative, that whatever we sincerely believe is truth, although we know that that is false because we have all sincerely believed something which later proved to be false.  The Catholic Church has to be right; otherwise, we perish for we will not know Truth or where truth lies.  This is why there must be One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church. 

Act of Hope

From faith flows hope.  Faith is the conduit through which all graces flow.  Without faith, it is impossible to please God.  Unbelief clogs up the conduit of faith.  The more we become enhanced with the world, its treasures, its pleasures, the more the conduit of faith becomes clogged, the more we lose hope, the more we drift away from Christ.  The more we disagree with the Church, the more we fall into unbelief.

 “My Lord and God! Because Thou art almighty, infinitely good and merciful, I hope that by the merits of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, Thou wilt grant me eternal life, which Thou hast promised to all who shall do the works of a good Christian, as I purpose to do by Thy help” (General Catholic Devotions, Bonaventure Hammer).

“Because Thou are almighty…”  “God is the Father Almighty, whose fatherhood and power shed light on one another: God reveals his fatherly omnipotence by the way he takes care of our needs; by the filial adoption that he gives us (‘I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty’): finally by his infinite mercy, for he displays his power at its height by freely forgiving sins” (Par 270, CCC).  “God shows forth his almighty power by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. ‘God, you show your almighty power above all in your mercy and forgiveness…’ (Roman Missal, 26th Sunday, Opening Prayer)” (Par 277, CCC).

“…infinitely good…”  Holy Writ tells us that God is love.  “Infinitely good” tells us that God is love without bounds, overflowing love.  There are many who believe that, because of Jesus’ passion and death, He will save us regardless.  This cannot be.  Love knows no evil.  If sin is to be “winked” at, there can be no love, there can be no justice, no good.  Because God is “infinitely good,” He desired that His creation be redeemed.  Because He is “infinitely good,” He condescended to mankind, to allow His only begotten Son to be born of woman, to become Man, to bear the sins of His creation, to die, in order to reconcile us to Himself.  “‘We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him.’ The constant witness of the saints confirms this truth:  St. Catherine of Siena said to ‘those who are scandalized and rebel against what happens to them:’ ‘Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind.’  St. Thomas More, shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter: ‘Nothing can come but that that God wills. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best.’  Dame Julian of Norwich: ‘Here I was taught by the grace of God that I should steadfastly keep me in the faith... and that at the same time I should take my stand on and earnestly believe in what our Lord shewed in this time - that 'all manner [of] thing shall be well'" (Par 313, CCC).  "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him… For those whom he fore knew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Par 2012, CCC).

“…and merciful…”  All of Scripture and Tradition attests to this.  To doubt this is to deny this, to deny Scripture, deny Christ, to deny God.

“…I hope…” Hope is not wishful thinking.  Hope is something solid, concrete, although it has not yet arrived.  Loss of hope and loss of faith run together.  If you lose one, you lose the other.  “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. ‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.’ ‘The Holy Spirit…he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.’  The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity” (Par 1817-1818, CCC).  “Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the ‘hope that does not disappoint.’ Hope is the ‘sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…that enters… where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.’ Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: ‘Let us…put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.’ It affords us joy even under trial: ‘Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation.’ Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire” (Par 1820, CCC).

“…that by the merits of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, Thou wilt grant me eternal life, which Thou hast promised to all who shall do the works of a good Christian, as I purpose to do by Thy help.”  This can only be done by God’s grace.  He knows my fragility.  St. Peter denied Christ, but Christ had prayed from him, and St. Peter repented.  Jesus also prayed for me.  Our Blessed Mother intercedes for me; all the saints intercede for me.  Christ instituted the Mass not because we are strong but because we are weak.  Because of our weakness, He gave us the Sacraments.  They are not given that I might continue in that same weakness, but to strengthen me.  I think of the Eucharist, the very body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus.  Can I continue to eat the body of Christ and not be strengthened, not grow?  Although I will not attain perfection in this lifetime, I must continue in steady growth.  I must now allow myself to  think, “I do not have to try to do anything; He will make me grow.”  This would be presumptuousness, causing death, causing me to perish.  We are told to take up our crosses, that we would face persecution.  The desert is full of perils, but I am protected—as long as I do not lose hope.  I must retain in my mind that whatever occurs to me is by the providence of God.  It is not for my evil, but for my good.  It is either to bring me to repentance or to increase my faith—or both.

Just as in the Lord's Prayer there are seven petitions that we need to think of as we pray the prayer, we need to think about what we are praying as we pray the Act of Hope.  These are just guidelines to give us pause while we are praying.