Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Putting a Christ Perspective on the Tradition of the Father Giving Away the Bride

            Many of us have daughters and granddaughters; and in the back of our minds are the thoughts of their falling in love and getting married, when we will “give” our daughters away to another man.  It seems that the tradition of the father giving away the bride began during ancient of arranged marriages.  I like to view things from a Christian perspective. 
            Our Lord teaches us: “From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.  For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’  So, they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”[1]  We know that Christ is the Bridegroom because St. John the Baptist gives reference to that.  St. Paul tells the Corinthians, “…I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ...”[2]  The RSV renders this verse, “I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.”[3]  In the words, “present you as a pure bride to her one husband,” it is possible to see the father giving the bride away. 
            In a wedding, we need to be seeing Christ and His Church.  The bridegroom, therefor, is standing in the place of Christ.  The husband is to be an imitator of God and “live in love, as Christ loved us” and hand himself over to his wife “as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”[4]  “This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality, that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion as do the Gentiles who do not know God.”[5]  A man should choose a wife by virtue of her godliness, her inner beauty, not her outward beauty or because they are “drawn sexually.”  In the same way, a woman should choose a husband. 
            There is no father who desires to hand his beloved daughter over to a devil, someone who will be selfish, cheat on her, and/or abuse her.  He is handing his daughter over to a husband who is going to sacrifice himself for the daughter, provide for her, protect her, teach her—through his actions and words—Christ.  He is “handing” his daughter over to a husband in order that they may become one and “bear fruit” that she would be unable to bear if she remained with him, her father.  “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.  Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. ‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh’.”[6]  It is to “Christ” that a father desires to “hand” his beloved daughter over to.
            Prior to giving his daughter away in marriage, the parents are like the Law, which was annulled because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law brought nothing to perfection.  On the other hand, through giving their beloved daughter to a Christ-like husband, a better hope is introduced, through which they, the bride and bridegroom, will draw near to God.[7]  As a child, the daughter had to endure trials as discipline.  What child is there whom the father does not discipline?   Fathers discipline children for a short time as seem right to them, but they do so for the benefit of the children, in order that they may share in God’s holiness.  At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.[8]  Now, the daughter is ready to be presented to her bridegroom.
            When we think of the type of husband we desire for our daughters, this should also cause us to rear our sons to be the type of husband we desire for our daughters.  We want our sons to be Christ to someone else’s daughter. 
            If we keep marriage as microcosm of the Church, the tradition of the father giving the bride away is beautiful.  Our bishops and priests are doing the same thing to us: They are endeavoring in preparing to present us “as a chaste virgin” to Christ, however it is not them but Christ working in and through them.





[1] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mk 10:6–9.
[2] Ibid., 2 Co 11:2.
[3] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), 2 Co 11:2.
[4] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Eph 5:1–2.
[5] Ibid., 1 Th 4:3–5.
[6] Ibid., Eph 5:21–31.
[7] Ibid., Heb 7:18–19.
[8] Ibid., Heb 12:7–11.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

A "Taste" of Some of the Beauty I Find in the Catholic Church

                Just before being brought into full communion with the Catholic Church, I had to choose a patron saint, and I was to be given his name upon Confirmation.  I chose St. Simon the Apostle.  My patron saint is the “friend” I can go to help, in order that he can intercede on my behalf.  Just as we have friends here on earth and ask them to intercede for us, in order that they can love their neighbor, we also have friends in heaven for the same reason.  After Jesus’ Second Coming, love of God and neighbor will never cease.  I chose St. Simon because, whenever I saw His name mentioned, he was listed just before Judas.  That had to be humbling.  If there is one thing I need, it is more humility.  If I had to choose one of the original Twelve with whom I most identify myself with, it would have to be Judas.  If God were to rank Christians, I would have to be listed at, or near, the bottom.  It seems I’m in an incessant tar pit.  Sometimes, it is as if I have no idea of what I’m supposed to do; whereas, other times, I think I know what I’m supposed to do but can’t get myself to do it.
            I look at things mostly in black-and-white, with no gray areas.  If there are gray areas, then I will submit to self-justification. I see this same view in St. John, from what he states in his first epistle, 1 John: “If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”[1]  I know that, in Baptism, I died with Christ.  In dying with Christ, that means that I have died to sin—for, if sin still reigns in me, then I didn’t die.  In the Resurrection, I also rose with Christ—to a new life, the Life that is God.  Because I’m born of God, there is now a new nature in me, a nature that desires to be an image of Him.  Because Jesus has ascended, I have ascended also, the image of the Son.
           
Now, that is it in black-and-white.  When I look in the “mirror,” do introspection, I do not see anything that resembles what occurs in Baptism.  If it were not for the knowledge of the Mercy of God, I would fall into despair.  John Cassian tells us that Judas, after the betrayal, hastened to relieve himself by making amends, but drove him to hang himself in despair.[2]  This would be because he could not “see” the Mercy of God.  St. Leo the Great seconds this when he says: “Judas could not obtain forgiveness through Christ … [because] he gave himself up to despair before Christ accomplished the mystery of universal redemption.  For in that the Lord died for sinners, perchance even he might have found salvation if he had not hastened to hang himself.”[3] 
            I recall the first time we visited Pensacola, FL.  At the time, I was not Catholic.  There was an old Catholic Church in downtown Pensacola.  We entered the Church, entering into the narthex, the place where you “get the world out of your system” before you enter into the presence of God.  Most Catholic Churches are built facing east because Jesus’ Coming will be from the east.  Therefore, if you enter the main doors, you are entering from the west (the world) going east to meet Christ.  In the narthex, there were two sets of large doors giving access to the nave (sanctuary, for Protestants).  The doors were inviting, nevertheless intimidating.  In my mind, they were telling me that, if I entered, I would be entering a different world.  Did I belong?
            We entered through the doors, into the nave.  It was a different world.  There was a story behind everything you saw: the stained-glass windows, the statues, the altar—everything.  We sat down, and I was looking at the walls.  At the top of the walls, where they met the ceiling, I saw statues of some saints.  When I saw them, the thought occurred: “They are praying for me.  All the Christians who have gone before me are praying for me.  How can I not make it?”
            I did not have problems with the Saints.  Jesus tells us that God is the God of the living, not the dead.  He also tells us that those who believe in Him shall never die.  The Book of Revelation tells us that the saints are praying?  Who are they praying for?  Themselves?  I don’t think so.  For what purpose would they pray for themselves?  They are praying for you and I, for the Church on earth, the Church Militant.  We are the ones who have not yet “persevered to the end.”  This is “loving your neighbor as yourself” in action in the Church Triumphant, those in heaven.
            When I saw the statues and the thought occurred to me, there was a rush of peace that overcame me.  The next time we came down to Pensacola, several months later, and went back to St. Michael’s, the statues were not there.  Were they there the first time we went?  I don’t know.  I just know what I saw.  This began the beauty I started seeing in the Catholic Church.  I began seeing Christ, not just someone Whom I believed in, but Someone actively working in the physical world for the salvation of mankind. 

           The Church teaches us that Christ presides over every Mass from the Cross.  The priest is in the office of Christ; therefore, it is Christ who is leading us in prayer; it is Christ who is offering Himself up to the Father, along with us offering ourselves up for others.  We are united, one, with Christ.  I love the prayer during the Mass, “Lord, look not upon my sins, but look upon the faith of Your Church.”
            Monsignor James P. Moroney tells us: “We go to church not of our own initiative, but because we have been invited.  Christ Jesus, who gave his life for me, invited me at the Last Supper when he said to his Apostles and to us: ‘Do this in memory of me.’  So, when I go to Mass, it was never my idea in the first place.  My participation in Sunday Mass is nothing more than a response from Jesus to his disciples to gather on ‘The day of the resurrection . . . the day of Christians . . . our day. . .. ‘  The Introductory Rites of the Mass, then, have two purposes: to form us into one people in Christ and to dispose our hearts to receive what God is about to give us in word and sacrament.”[4]  During those times when I overwhelmed with sin and doubts, these words bring me comfort.  It reminds me that I am going to Mass because Jesus is beckoning me—He has not rejected me—and I am being obedient to His call.  He is calling me into His Presence in order that he may heal me, continuing the process of transforming me into His image, especially through the Eucharist, wherein He gives me Himself body, blood, soul, and divinity, so that I may become what I eat: His image.  He fulfills the desire of those who fear him.[5] Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire.[6]  And what can this desire be, but to be made into the image of our Lord?  Desire therefore my words;
long for them and you will be instructed.[7]  [Wisdom] hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.[8]
            Many people—even some Catholics—think that the Church is full of rituals, just for show.  There is a purpose behind every “ritual,” and they are to elevate our minds to God. 
            “After everyone has arrived, the Priest, accompanied by the Deacon and the other ministers, processes through the gathered assembly and goes to the altar.  The procession is not just a way of getting the main players to their places! It is designed to help us to be aware that Christ has formed us into a Holy Priesthood.  This is why the Priest and the ministers pass through the gathered faithful and why we sing with one voice the Entrance Chant or Song.  The Entrance Procession and its Song are both designed to weave us together so that we can recognize ourselves as one people, One Body in Christ.”[9]
            “When they (those in the Procession) arrive in the sanctuary, all greet the altar with a bow, while the clergy kiss the altar.  The altar is a primary sign of the presence of Christ, who is the altar and the sacrifice, the giver and the gift.  Once a lifeless stone, this altar is now the stone of life upon which lifeless bread is placed to become the bread of life.  Thus, we begin by bowing to Christ and kissing him in a sign of affection, veneration, and greeting.  On more solemn occasions, the Priest may incense the altar and the cross…   Incense is made up of a granulated form of aromatic resins and spices. When placed on burning pieces of charcoal in a censer (also known as a thurible) the incense turns into a sweet-smelling white smoke.  Incense was burned morning and night in the Temple in Jerusalem and is frequently mentioned by the prophets. Thus, do we hear that the Jewish Priest Zechariah was burning incense when he received the promise that a son would be born to him (cf. Lk 1:8-11).  So do our prayers rise like incense before God’s heavenly throne (cf. Ps 141:2, Rev 8:3-4).”[10]
            I have given this just to a “taste” of what is going on during a Mass.  I highly recommend Monsignor Moroney’s book to everyone.  It will enlighten Catholics and Protestants alike.  It makes all see some of the beauty that exists in the Catholic Church.  The greatest beauty for me is how Jesus makes Himself visible in the Church, through the priests, deacons, and the laity, because the Church is His Body.  The Catechism teaches us:      

       From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings.  Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him: “Abide in me, and I in you.… I am the vine, you are the branches.”  And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”  When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciples orphans. He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit.  As a result, communion with Jesus has become, in a way, more intense: “By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation.”  The comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and his Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the Body of Christ are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as head of the Body; and the Church as bride of Christ.  Believers who respond to God’s word and become members of Christ’s Body, become intimately united with him: “In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification.”  This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ’s death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which “really sharing in the body of the Lord, … we are taken up into communion with him and with one another.”  The body’s unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: “In the building up of Christ’s Body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions.  There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church.”   The unity of the Mystical Body produces and stimulates charity among the faithful: “From this it follows that if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with him, and if one member is honored, all the members together rejoice.”   Finally, the unity of the Mystical Body triumphs over all human divisions: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Christ “is the head of the body, the Church.”   He is the principle of creation and redemption. Raised to the Father’s glory, “in everything he [is] preeminent,” especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things.  Christ unites us with his Passover: all his members must strive to resemble him, “until Christ be formed” in them.  “For this reason we … are taken up into the mysteries of his life, … associated with his sufferings as the body with its head, suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified.”  Christ provides for our growth: to make us grow toward him, our head, he provides in his Body, the Church, the gifts and assistance by which we help one another along the way of salvation.  Christ and his Church thus together make up the “whole Christ” (Christus totus).  The Church is one with Christ.  The saints are acutely aware of this unity: Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself.  Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God’s grace toward us?  Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ.  For if he is the head, we are the members; he and we together are the whole man.… The fullness of Christ then is the head and the members.  But what does “head and members” mean?  Christ and the Church.  Our redeemer has shown himself to be one person with the holy Church whom he has taken to himself.  Head and members form as it were one and the same mystical person.  A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the holy doctors and the good sense of the believer: “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.”[11]


           Just as the knowledge of God is so sublime, this sublimity also applies to the Church because it is the Body of Christ.  Words cannot accurately depict the beauty of either.  I just desire to “whet the appetite” in order that people might desire to know the Church better.  All the beauty of the Catholic Church is in the Love and Mercy of our majestic God.  He is willing to share as much of that beauty, as much as we can bear, if only we desire it and are willing to pray for it and take steps to unveil it.  I would invite others to share what they find beautiful in the Church.




[1] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), 1 Jn 1:6–7.
[2] John Cassian, Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lérins, John Cassian, 1894, 11, 265.
[3] Leo the Great, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, 1895, 12a, 174.
[4] Moroney, Monsignor James P., The Mass Explained: Revised and Expanded Edition (Kindle Locations 468-474). Catholic Book Publishing. Kindle Edition.
[5] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Ps 145:19.
[6] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Ps 37:4.
[7] Ibid., Wis 6:11.
[8] Ibid., Wis 6:13.
[9] Moroney, Monsignor James P., The Mass Explained: Revised and Expanded Edition (Kindle Locations 480-484). Catholic Book Publishing. Kindle Edition.
[10] Ibid., (Kindle Locations 493-501). Catholic Book Publishing. Kindle Edition.
[11] Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed., (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 208–210, Para 787-795.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

How Can Our Trials Be Thanking God in Confession?


            Whenever I face obstacles, trials and temptations, I have a knee-jerk reaction, and I focus my attention on getting over or around the obstacle instead of stepping back, realizing that God has allowed the difficulties for a purpose, pray regarding them, and then approach them in the example of Christ.  It is easy to say, but difficult to do.  In order to make progress, whenever I do react in a knee-jerk fashion, afterwards I need to be confessing to God regarding the reaction, and pray that He brings the proper reaction into remembrance the next time.  It will take lots of prayers and lots of work.  May this psalm be an aid in my victory.
            When I read the psalms, I try to look at them from three perspectives: One, from Christ’s perspective; two, from the Church’s, since it is the Body of Christ; and, three, from an individual’s perspective.  Because this is a psalm of David—and David is a type of Christ—I see Jesus praying this psalm during the time of His Passion and crucifixion.  From the Church’s perspective, I see the Church as the visible Christ; and, what Christ went through, the Church must also go through.  Therefore, this psalm applies to the Church when she is being attacked, either from the outside or the inside.  Once we ponder upon how it applies to Christ and to the Church, then I can arrive at an appropriate conclusion as to how I should face obstacles.  I must prepare myself before trials and temptations come in order for me to derive any benefit.  Therefore, I’m going to begin with a perspective of Christ.
            The version of Scripture which St. Augustine is utilizing is probably the Vulgate.  I like the way he says it reads: “I will confess to You” or “we will confess to You,” whereas the version I’m going by says, “I give You thanks.”  It is the word “confess” that makes me pause and think.  When I read the words “I give You thanks,” in my mind I am just saying, “Thank you, Lord.”  Augustine correctly explains that this is a confession of praise, not of sin.[1]  But how do we “confess” praise to God?  Through obedience.  Realizing this, I can conclude that, whenever Scripture speaks of thanking God, the most real way of thanking God is through obedience.  After, first, walking in obedience, then I can appropriately thank Him, for I could not have been obedient without His grace.  My obedience says, “You are God, worthy of obedience.  Thank you for giving me the wisdom and strength to do what is right.”
            Now, Jesus, preparing to face His Passion and Death, has absolutely walked in obedience, loving the will of the Father, constantly in praise of Him.  But how is it possible to confess with the heart?  “From the fullness (abundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.”[2]  Because Jesus loved the Father with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength and His neighbor as Himself, He praised the Father with His obedience; and, out of the fullness of His heart, His mouth spoke.  Augustine gives us greater insight into the “mouth speaks” when he explains: “What mouth, save my heart?  For there (the heart) have we the voice which God hears, which ear man knows not at all.  We have then a mouth within.  There do we ask … and, if we have prepared a lodging or a house for God, there do we speak; there are we heard.  ‘For He is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being.’  Nothing makes you far off from God, save sin only.  Cast down the middle wall of sin, and you are with Him whom you ask.”[3]
            In the presence of the angels to you I sing.  The question arises: Why would Jesus, who is God, the Son, sing in the presence of the angels?  This “singing” is not necessarily singing as we perceive it, but it is the joy of revealing God’s love, grace, and mercy to the angels and to those baptized in Him.  St. Augustine explains: “Not before men will I sing, but before the Angels.  My song is my joy; but my joy in things below is before men, my joy in things above before the Angels.  For the wicked knows not the joy of the just: ‘There is no joy, says my God, to the wicked’.”[4]
            What about I bow low toward your holy temple?  We know of three temples: Jesus’ body, the Church—it is the Body of Christ—and our bodies, which are temples of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus says that He and the Father are One; therefor He is the Temple of God.  Augustine further explains: “What holy Temple?  That where we shall dwell, where we shall worship.  For we hasten that we may adore.  Our heart is pregnant and comes to the birth and seeks where it may bring forth.  What is the place where God is to be worshipped? … ‘The Temple of God is holy,’ says the Apostle, ‘which Temple you are.’  But assuredly, as is manifest, God dwells in the Angels.  Therefore, when our joy--being in spiritual things, not in earthly--takes up a song to God, to sing before the Angels, that very assembly of Angels is the Temple of God; we worship toward God’s Temple.  There is a Church below; there is a Church above also: the Church below, in all the faithful; the Church above, in all the Angels.  But the God of Angels came down to the Church below, and Angels ministered to Him on earth while He ministered to us, for, ‘I came not,’ says He, ‘to be ministered unto, but to minister. … The Lord of Angels died for man. Therefore, ‘I will worship toward Thy holy Temple’--I mean, not the temple made with hands, but that which You have made for Yourself.”[5]
            I praise your name for your mercy and faithfulness.  Because Jesus was the Son of God and was without sin, the question might arise: For what purpose did Jesus need mercy?  Jesus, the Son of God, condescended to become wholly man.  In His humanity, Jesus relied upon the mercy of the Father.  Because we rely upon the mercy of God, it was necessary that Jesus had to rely upon the Father also.  “Therefore, He had to become like His brothers in every way, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people.  Because He himself was tested through what He suffered, He is able to help those who are being tested.”[6]
            On this, St. Augustine expounds: “These also which You hast given to me, do I according to my power give to You in return: mercy, in siding [with] others; truth, in judging.  By these God aids us; by these, we win God’s favor.  Rightly, therefore, ‘All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.’  No other ways are there whereby He can come to us, no other [way] whereby we can come to Him. ‘For You have magnified Your holy Name over everything’.”[7]
            On the day I cried out, you answered; you strengthened my spirit.   Though I walk in the midst of dangers, you guard my life when my enemies rage.  You stretch out your hand; your right hand saves me.  From the perspective of sinful man, they would envision that the Father did not answer Jesus’ prayer or that, if He did, He answered, no.  When Jesus cried out in the Garden and when He was on the Cross, the Father answered His prayers by strengthening Him.  During His Passion, our Lord walked in the midst of dangers; and, while on the Cross, He “walked” in the midst of dangers.  During these dangers, the Father guarded His life by guarding His soul when His enemies raged.  Although Jesus was God, Divine, nevertheless He had to become weak and depend upon the Father because He was also wholly man.  This is why Jesus could exclaim, “You stretch out your hand; your right hand saves me.”  Although Jesus was dying on the Cross, the Father still saved Him because of His Resurrection, albeit Jesus also rose of His own power because He and the Father are One and He had the authority to do it.  Nonetheless, the Father still stretched out His hand.  His right hand (the power of God) saved Him.
            The Lord is with me to the end. Lord, your mercy endures forever.  Never forsake the work of your hands!  Here, our Lord, who is also man, human, is interceding for mankind.  We are the work of God’s hands.  It is mankind who should have been forsaken, but the Son of God became man so that we would not be forsaken.
            Because this applies to Jesus, this also applies to the Church.  The Church suffers persecution just as Jesus, its Head, was persecuted.  “Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’”[8]  And, just as Jesus is always interceding for us, the Church—because Jesus is its Head—is always interceding for us.
            Understanding this, we realize that all the obstacles we face have a purpose.  They are set before us for our salvation, for our sanctification, and for the salvation and sanctification of others—because we are not the Body but a part of the Body.  Everything regarding us is not only for our personal benefit but for the benefit of the entire Church.  In essence, Jesus is giving thanks to the Father for His trials, for they were for the glory of God and for our sake.  He is praising God through His obedience and trust.  “For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”[9]  The Church does likewise because its Head is Christ.  It is for this reason that we need to face everything in obedience to God, for we are born of Him.  In this way, we thank God by praising Him in confession.



[1] Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin: Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 633.
[2] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 12:34.
[3] Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin: Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 633.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Heb 2:17–18.
[7] Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin: Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 633.
[8] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Ac 9:1–4.
[9] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Heb 12:2–3.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

May the Ascension of Christ Increase Our Faith

            In the early 1970’s, a movie was released called “The Poseidon Adventure.”  A cruise had capsized, and Gene Hackman’s character is attempting to take approximately eight or so people to the stern of the ship because he ascertained that that would be the best place for rescue.  Although I did not care for his character that much—I felt his character was arrogant and obnoxious at times—he did portray, in a sense, a type of Christ.  The stern of the ship was the only part of the ship out of the water; therefore, they were ascending to where the propellers were, although they did not know with certainty that they would be rescued.  Ascension Sunday is the day the Church celebrates Jesus’ Ascension to the Father.  In the past, I never understood how important Christ’s Ascension is.  I knew it was important, but it never had an impact upon me.  In the back of my mind, I felt that it would have been better if He remained on earth.  Of course, God knows better, knows what is best for us.  Therefore, I want to touch upon some of the importance of the Ascension.
            Unlike the movie, Christ’s Ascension is a guarantee that humanity is in the presence of God; and, because Jesus is the Head of the Church, we know that those who the Church is comprised of will also be in His presence.  Although due to the presence of sin in us it causes many to fear dying, we have the Hope—because of our desire to be in the image of Christ and our working towards that endeavor—and faith that we are promised that destination. 
            Paragraph 661 of the Catechism states: “This final stage (the Ascension) stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation.  Only the one who ‘came from the Father’ can return to the Father: Christ Jesus (cf. Jn 16:28).  ‘No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man” (cf. Eph 4:8-10).  Left to its own natural powers, humanity does not have access to the ‘Father’s house,’ to God’s life and happiness (Jn 14:2).  Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.” 

           In a Christmas sermon, St. Leo says: “Although every individual that is called has his own order, and all the sons of the Church are separated from one another by intervals of time, yet as the entire body of the faithful being born in the font of baptism is crucified with Christ in His passion, raised again in His resurrection, and placed at the Father’s right hand in His ascension, so with Him are they born in this nativity.  For any believer, in whatever part of the world, that is re-born in Christ quits the old paths of his original nature and passes into a new man by being re-born; and no longer is he reckoned of his earthly father’s stock but among the seed of the Saviour, who became the Son of man in order that we might have the power to be the sons of God.  For unless He came down to us in this humiliation, no one would reach His presence by any merits of his own.  Let not earthly wisdom shroud in darkness the hearts of the called on this point, and let not the frailty of earthly thoughts raise itself against the loftiness of God’s grace, for it will soon return to the lowest dust.”[1]  It goes without saying, if we share in Christ’s nativity, we have also died with Him, and is ascending with Him.  I say “ascending” and not “will ascend” because we are presently “ascending” into His likeness by virtue that we are growing everyday more and more like Him.
            The Incarnation means so much.  To think that the Son of God—God—would condescend to become man in order that He could bare His back to His creatures so that they could scourge Him, mock Him, spit upon Him, and crucify Him astounds me.  What love God must have for us that He would humble Himself to that extend.  How many times have I gotten irate just because I felt someone was disrespectful of me?  Since God loves all of humanity that much, who am I to hate what He loves?  Lord, have mercy; help me. Left to its own natural powers humanity cannot love that much; therefore, it “does not have access to the ‘Father’s house,’ to God’s life and happiness.”  Getting back on topic…
            Paragraph 662 of the Catechism tells us that “the lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it.  Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, ‘entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands … but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf’ (He 9:24).   There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he ‘always lives to make intercession’ for ‘those who draw near to God through him’ (He 7:25).   As ‘high priest of the good things to come’ he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven” (He 9:11; cf. Rev 4:6-11).
            St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us: “Although Christ’s bodily presence was withdrawn from the faithful by the Ascension, still the presence of His Godhead is ever with the faithful, as He Himself says (Mt. 28:20): Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.  For, by ascending into heaven He did not desert those whom He adopted, as Pope Leo says (De Resurrec., Serm., ii.).  But Christ’s Ascension into heaven, whereby He withdrew His bodily presence from us, was more profitable for us than His bodily presence would have been.
First of all, in order to increase our faith, which is of things unseen. Hence our Lord said (Jn 16) that the Holy Ghost shall come and convince the world … of justice (through the Church), that is, of the justice of those that believe, as Augustine says (Tract. xcv. super Joan.): For even to put the faithful beside the unbeliever is to put the unbeliever to shame; wherefore He goes on to say (10): ‘Because I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no longer’:For ‘blessed are they that see not, yet believe.’ Hence it is of our justice that the world is reproved: because ‘you will believe in Me Whom you shall not see.’  Secondly, to uplift our hope: hence He says (Jn 14:3): If I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you also may be.  For by placing in heaven the human nature which He assumed, Christ gave us the hope of going there; since wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together, as is written in Mt. 24:28.  Hence it is written likewise (Mic. 2:13): He shall go up that shall open the way before them.  Thirdly, in order to direct the fervor of our charity to heavenly things. Hence the Apostle says (Col. 3:1-2): Seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.  Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth: for as is said (Mt. 6:21): Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.  And since the Holy Ghost is love-drawing us up to heavenly things, therefore our Lord said to His disciples (Jn 16:7): It is expedient to you that I go for, if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but, if I go, I will send Him to you.  On which words Augustine says (Tract. xciv. super Joan.): You cannot receive the Spirit so long as you persist in knowing Christ according to the flesh.  But when Christ withdrew in body, not only the Holy Ghost but both Father and Son were present with them spiritually.[2]
            This Son of God—God—the One who came to bare His back to His creatures, ascends to the Father in order to intercede for the same.  What a God we serve!
            From Paragraphs 665-667, we learn: “Christ’s ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus’ humanity into God’s heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11); this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3).  Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever.  Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”[3]
            Because we are speaking of Jesus ascending into heaven, this begs another question: Where is heaven?  God is spirit, so where is “heaven”?  Paragraph 2794-2796 explains: “This biblical expression does not mean a place (‘space’), but a way of being; it does not mean that God is distant, but majestic.  Our Father is not ‘elsewhere:” he transcends everything we can conceive of his holiness.  It is precisely because he is thrice-holy that he is so close to the humble and contrite heart.  ‘Our Father who art in heaven’ is rightly understood to mean that God is in the hearts of the just, as in his holy temple.  At the same time, it means that those who pray should desire the one they invoke to dwell in them (St. Augustine, De serm. Dom. in monte 2, 5, 18: PL 34, 1277).  ‘Heaven’ could also be those who bear the image of the heavenly world, and in whom God dwells and tarries (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5:11: PG 33, 1117).  The symbol of the heavens refers us back to the mystery of the covenant we are living when we pray to our Father. He is in heaven, his dwelling place; the Father’s house is our homeland.  Sin has exiled us from the land of the covenant (cf. Ge 3), but conversion of heart enables us to return to the Father, to heaven (Jer 3:19–4:1a; Lk 15:18, 21).  In Christ, then, heaven and earth are reconciled (Cf. Isa 45:8; Ps 85:12), for the Son alone ‘descended from heaven’ and causes us to ascend there with him, by his Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension (Jn 3:13; 12:32; 14:2–3; 16:28; 20:17; Eph 4:9–10; Heb 1:3; 2:13).  When the Church prays ‘our Father who art in heaven,’ she is professing that we are the People of God, already seated ‘with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ and ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Eph 2:6; Col 3:3); yet at the same time, ‘here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling’ (2 Cor 5:2; cf. Phil 3:20; Heb 13:14).  [Christians] are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their lives on earth, but are citizens of heaven.”  This is because of Baptism, where we are baptized into Christ and He in us.  If we are in Him, we are sharing His nature.  If we are sharing His nature, then we desire that God’s will be our will and that we live a life that coincides with Christ, in Whom we dwell.  Because the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, our souls groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.
            In Paragraph 1067, the Church teaches us: “…It was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth ‘the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.’ (cf. St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 138, 2: PL 37, 1784–1785).  For this reason, the Church celebrates in the liturgy above all the Paschal mystery by which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.)
            There is much more that the Church teaches us regarding this, but it would be too extensive to put it here.  To put it simply, Jesus is Man, and He is with the Father.  He is also Head of the Church; and, where the Head goes, the Body must follow.  An important thing to keep in mind: Because the Head is holy, the Body must also be holy.  If the Head lived a holy life, the Body must live a holy life.  It is not just about getting to heaven; it is about becoming the image of the Head.  It is then that we are in heaven. 
            In one of his sermons on the Ascension, St. Leo the Great tells us that Christ’s Ascension has given us greater privileges and joys than the devil had taken from us: “…Truly great and unspeakable was their (the Apostles and the other disciples present at the Ascension) cause for joy when, in the sight of the holy multitude, above the dignity of all heavenly creatures, the Nature of mankind went up, to pass above the angels’ ranks and to rise beyond the archangels’ heights, and to have Its uplifting limited by no elevation until, received to sit with the Eternal Father, It should be associated on the throne with His glory, to Whose Nature It was united in the Son.  Since then, Christ’s Ascension is our uplifting, and the hope of the Body is raised.  Where the glory of the Head has gone before, let us exult, dearly-beloved, with worthy joy and delight in the loyal paying of thanks.  For, today, not only are we confirmed as possessors of paradise, but have also in Christ penetrated the heights of heaven, and have gained still greater things through Christ’s unspeakable grace than we had lost through the devil’s malice.  For us, whom our virulent enemy had driven out from the bliss of our first abode, the Son of God has made members of Himself and placed at the right hand of the Father, with Whom He lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.”[4]
            From St. Augustine, we learn: “All the events, then--of Christ’s crucifixion, of His burial, of His resurrection the third day, of His ascension into heaven, of His sitting down at the right hand of the Father--were so ordered that the life which the Christian leads here might be modeled upon them, not merely in a mystical sense, but in reality.  For, in reference to His crucifixion it is said: ‘They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts’ (Gal 5:24).  And in reference to His burial: ‘We are buried with Him by baptism into death’ (Ro 6:4).  In reference to His resurrection: ‘That, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life’ (Ro 6:5).  And, in reference to His ascension into heaven and sitting down at the right hand of the Father: ‘If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Col 3:1-3).”[5]
            Lactanius, a fourth century Christian apologist, in his The Epitome of the Divine Institutes, connecting the Ascension with a prophecy of Daniel, writes: “…at length, on the fortieth day, He returned to His Father, being carried up into a cloud. The prophet Daniel had long before shown this, saying, ‘I saw in the night vision, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days; and they who stood beside Him brought Him near before Him.  And there was given Him a kingdom, and glory, and dominion, and all people, tribes, and languages shall serve Him; and His power is an everlasting one, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.’  Also David in the [110th] Psalm: ‘The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make   your enemies your footstool’.”  Although it may often appear that Christ is not reigning, this reassures us that He is.
            St. Leo tells us that the Ascension renders our faith more excellent and stronger: “As therefore, at the Easter commemoration, the Lord’s Resurrection was the cause of our rejoicing, so the subject of our present gladness is His Ascension, as we commemorate and duly venerate that day on which the Nature of our humility in Christ was raised above all the host of heaven, over all the ranks of angels, beyond the height of all powers, to sit with God the Father. On which Providential order of events we are founded and built up, that God’s Grace might become more wondrous, when, notwithstanding the removal from men’s sight of what was rightly felt to command their awe, faith did not fail, hope did not waver, love did not grow cold.  For it is the strength of great minds and the light of firmly-faithful souls unhesitatingly to believe what is not seen with the bodily sight, and there to fix one’s affections where you cannot direct your gaze. And from what source should this godliness spring up in our hearts or how should a man be justified by faith if our salvation rested on those things only which lie beneath our eyes?  Hence, our Lord said to him who seemed to doubt of Christ’s Resurrection, until he had tested by sight and touch the traces of His Passion in His very flesh, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.’  In order, therefore … that we may be capable of this blessedness, when all things were fulfilled which concerned the Gospel preaching and the mysteries of the New Testament, our Lord Jesus Christ, on the fortieth day after the Resurrection in the presence of the disciples, was raised into heaven, and terminated His presence with us in the body, to abide on the Father’s right hand until the times divinely fore-ordained for multiplying the sons of the Church are accomplished, and He comes to judge the living and the dead in the same flesh in which He ascended.  And so that which till then was visible of our Redeemer was changed into a sacramental presence (the Eucharist) that faith might be more excellent and stronger, sight gave way to doctrine, the authority of which was to be accepted by believing hearts enlightened with rays from above.”[6]
            There is so much more to the Ascension, that this doesn’t even wipe the dust off.  I just hope that it helps a little.  I want to conclude with an excerpt from a daily motivation reading:
            “The Ascension of Christ speaks to us of greatness. It immunizes us against the false moralism that regards mankind as beneath contempt. It teaches us reverence and restores to us the joy of being human. When we reflect on all this, the thought automatically presents itself that the Ascension of Christ is the canonization of a world view that has become unpopular. It is concerned with the quality of being human, not with the strata of the universe. It is concerned with God and the human race, with the essential worth of the human being, not with the stars in their place. This insight should not tempt us, however, to consider Christianity as being entirely dissociated from the world or to turn faith into a simple matter of sentiment. Beyond a doubt there exists a proper and meaningful relationship between faith and the whole created world, to which, incidentally, the discarded view of the world can be a guide. It is not easy to explain this because our power of imagination has been altered by our technological use of the world. It will help us perhaps if we recall the classic depiction of Christ’s Ascension as it is represented in Byzantine icons. A row of olive trees silhouetted along the horizon that separates heaven from earth makes it quite clear that the Ascension took place from the Mount of Olives. They are thus a direct reminder of the night of Gethsemane: the place that witnessed Christ’s anguish becomes the place that gives birth to our confidence. The reinstatement of mankind is accomplished precisely in that place where the drama and humiliation of death were overcome by Christ’s interior agony. It is there that the true ascent of the human race begins.”[7]
            May Ascension Sunday strengthen our faith and encourage us on our journey to the Fatherland.




[1] Leo the Great, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, 1895, 12a, 137.
[2] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne).
[3] Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed., (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 173–174.
[4] Leo the Great, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, 1895, 12a, 187.
[5] Augustine of Hippo, St. Augustin: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises, 1887, 3, 254–255.
[6] Leo the Great, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, 1895, 12a, 188.
[7] Joseph Ratzinger, Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year, ed. Irene Grassl, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), 151.