Author Archives: Father Boniface Hicks, O.S.B.

Emptying Ourselves Day 2 – Original sin poisons our thinking

A Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:1-8)

From Pope Benedict XVI’s homily for the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 2005:

Dear brothers and sisters, if we sincerely reflect about ourselves and our history, we have to say that with this narrative [in Gen 3:1-7] is described not only the history of the beginning but the history of all times, and that we all carry within us a drop of the poison of that way of thinking, illustrated by the images in the Book of Genesis.

We call this drop of poison “original sin”. Precisely on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we have a lurking suspicion that a person who does not sin must really be basically boring and that something is missing from his life:  the dramatic dimension of being autonomous; that the freedom to say no, to descend into the shadows of sin and to want to do things on one’s own is part of being truly human; that only then can we make the most of all the vastness and depth of our being men and women, of being truly ourselves; that we should put this freedom to the test, even in opposition to God, in order to become, in reality, fully ourselves.

In a word, we think that evil is basically good, we think that we need it, at least a little, in order to experience the fullness of being. We think that Mephistopheles – the tempter – is right when he says he is the power “that always wants evil and always does good” (J.W. von Goethe, Faust I, 3). We think that a little bargaining with evil, keeping for oneself a little freedom against God, is basically a good thing, perhaps even necessary.

If we look, however, at the world that surrounds us we can see that this is not so; in other words, that evil is always poisonous, does not uplift human beings but degrades and humiliates them. It does not make them any the greater, purer or wealthier, but harms and belittles them.

Reflection:

Do I ever think that if I am “too good” life will be boring? Do I think that goodness is boring? Do I try to leave a little room for evil in my life, maybe on the weekend or just on Friday night or on vacation or after everyone has gone to bed? Am I only good when my spouse is nearby or an authority figure? Do I gloss over my sinfulness and justify it, even in the Confessional, with a phrase like, “Boys will be boys,” or “You gotta have a little fun!” Can I hear God calling me to a deeper conversion, to shut down these outlets and pursue goodness more whole-heartedly?

No one lived a more exciting life than Jesus and Mary, starting from when Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary at the Annunciation and then she carried Him to her cousin Elizabeth. When we are willing to live in such a constant dependent relationship with Mary by being in her womb, life becomes more exciting, full and rich.

Prayers:

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Ave Maris Stella or Sub Tuum Praesidium

Litany of Penance or Radiating Christ

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Emptying Ourselves Day 1 – Dependence on God

First Part – Emptying ourselves of the spirit of the world

One of the consequences of original sin is that we have been tainted by a spirit of the world. That spirit of independence, self-sufficiency, and grasping at control is very much with us. We need to see it intellectually as far as we are able. For this we seek the wisdom God gave us through one of the greatest teachers of our time, Pope Benedict XVI. This will help to expose the taint of original sin that has invaded our thinking. We also need the grace to turn away from it. For this we must pray earnestly. Some other forms of self-sacrifice will help us well. In this regard we can target those areas that further the spirit of the world. Intellectually we would do well to fast from content on media that propagates the lies—TV, Facebook, Netflix, secular news sources and other forms social media reinforce the thinking that is poisoned by original sin. We can also cut back on those things and activities we turn to as a substitute for prayer. That could include comfort food, alcohol, shopping, romance novels, over-exercising, excessive work, or others. Some self-knowledge is important here and also consultation with a close spiritual friend or spiritual director.

Day 1 – Dependence on God

A Reading from the Book of Genesis:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:1-7)

From Pope Benedict XVI’s homily for the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 2005:

If we set ourselves with the believing and praying Church to listen to this text, then we can begin to understand what original sin, inherited sin, is and also what the protection against this inherited sin is, what redemption is.

What picture does this passage show us? The human being does not trust God. Tempted by the serpent, he harbours the suspicion that in the end, God takes something away from his life, that God is a rival who curtails our freedom and that we will be fully human only when we have cast him aside; in brief, that only in this way can we fully achieve our freedom.

The human being lives in the suspicion that God’s love creates a dependence and that he must rid himself of this dependency if he is to be fully himself. Man does not want to receive his existence and the fullness of his life from God.

He himself wants to obtain from the tree of knowledge the power to shape the world, to make himself a god, raising himself to God’s level, and to overcome death and darkness with his own efforts. He does not want to rely on love that to him seems untrustworthy; he relies solely on his own knowledge since it confers power upon him. Rather than on love, he sets his sights on power, with which he desires to take his own life autonomously in hand. And in doing so, he trusts in deceit rather than in truth and thereby sinks with his life into emptiness, into death.

Love is not dependence but a gift that makes us live. The freedom of a human being is the freedom of a limited being, and therefore is itself limited. We can possess it only as a shared freedom, in the communion of freedom:  only if we live in the right way, with one another and for one another, can freedom develop.

We live in the right way if we live in accordance with the truth of our being, and that is, in accordance with God’s will. For God’s will is not a law for the human being imposed from the outside and that constrains him, but the intrinsic measure of his nature, a measure that is engraved within him and makes him the image of God, hence, a free creature.

If we live in opposition to love and against the truth – in opposition to God – then we destroy one another and destroy the world. Then we do not find life but act in the interests of death. All this is recounted with immortal images in the history of the original fall of man and the expulsion of man from the earthly Paradise.

Reflection:
Where can you see this thinking in your own life? In what ways are you suspicious of love? Unwilling to ask for help? Rebellious against God’s law? Do you fear that God wants to take something away from you? Are you willing to rely on Him for everything? In what ways do you seek a security in your own control?

A baby in the womb is so radically dependent on the mother, but also so perfectly provided for. God has given us in Mary and in the Church a Mother who wants to provide for everything as she forms us in her womb into another Christ.

Prayers:

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Ave Maris Stella or Sub Tuum Praesidium

Litany of Penance or Radiating Christ

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Prayers – Emptying ourselves of the spirit of the world

Veni Sancte Spiritus
(Roman Missal translation)

Holy Spirit, Lord of light,
from the clear celestial height
thy pure beaming radiance give.

Come, thou Father of the poor,
come with treasures which endure;
come, thou light of all that live!

Thou, of all consolers best, thou,
the soul’s delighted guest,
dost refreshing peace bestow;

Thou in toil art comfort sweet;
pleasant coolness in the heat;
solace in the midst of woe.

Light immortal, light divine,
visit thou these hearts of thine,
and our inmost being fill:

If thou take thy grace away,
nothing pure in man will stay;
all his good is turned to ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
on our dryness pour thy dew;
wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
melt the frozen, warm the chill;
guide the steps that go astray.

Thou, on us who evermore
thee confess and thee adore,
with thy sevenfold gifts descend:

Give us comfort when we die;
give us life with thee on high;
give us joys that never end. Amen.

Ave Maris Stella
Hail, bright star of ocean,
God’s own Mother blest,
Ever sinless Virgin,
Gate of heavenly rest.

Taking that sweet Ave
Which from Gabriel came,
Peace confirm within us,
Changing Eva’s name.

Break the captives’ fetters,
Light on blindness pour,
All our ills expelling,
Every bliss implore.

Show thyself a Mother;
May the Word Divine,
Born for us thy Infant,
Hear our prayers through thine.

Virgin all excelling,
Mildest of the mild,
Freed from guilt, preserve us,
Pure and undefiled.

Keep our life all spotless,
Make our way secure,
Till we find in Jesus,
Joy forevermore.

Through the highest heaven
To the Almighty Three,
Father, Son and Spirit,
One same glory be. Amen.

Sub Tuum Praesidium
We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

Radiating Christ
(By Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman)

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be mine.
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.
Amen.

Litany of Penance
(By Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman)

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Incarnate Lord, have mercy on us.
Lover of souls, have mercy on us.
Saviour of sinners, have mercy on us.
Who didst come to seek those that were lost, have mercy on us.
Who didst fast for them forty days and nights, have mercy on us.
By Thy tenderness towards Adam when he fell, have mercy on us.
By Thy faithfulness to Noe in the ark, have mercy on us.
By Thy remembrance of Lot in the midst of sinners, have mercy on us.
By Thy mercy on the Israelites in the desert, have mercy on us.
By Thy forgiveness of David after his confession, have mercy on us.
By Thy patience with wicked Achab on his humiliation, have mercy on us.
By Thy restoration of the penitent Manasses, have mercy on us.
By Thy long suffering towards the Ninevites, when they went in sackcloth and ashes. Have mercy on us.
By Thy blessing on the Maccabees, who fasted before the battle, have mercy on us.
By Thy choice of John to go before Thee as the preacher of penance, have mercy on us.
By Thy testimony to the Publican, who hung his head and smote his breast, have mercy on us.
By Thy welcome given to the returning Prodigal, have mercy on us.
By Thy gentleness with the woman of Samaria, have mercy on us.
By Thy condescension towards Zacchaeus, persuading him to restitution, have mercy on us.
By Thy pity upon the woman taken in adultery, have mercy on us.
By Thy love of Magdalen, who loved much, have mercy on us.
By Thy converting look, at which Peter wept, have mercy on us.
By Thy gracious words to the thief upon the cross, have mercy on us.
We sinners, Beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may judge ourselves, and so escape Thy judgment, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may bring forth worthy fruits of penance, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That sin may not reign in our mortal bodies, We beseech Thee, hear us.
That we may work out our salvation with fear and trembling, We beseech Thee, hear us.
Son of God, We beseech Thee, hear us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
O Lord, hear our prayer. And let our cry come unto Thee.

Let us pray:

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to Thy faithful, pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their offenses, and also serve Thee with a quiet mind, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary
Almighty God, Heavenly Father,
who have placed me, by Baptism, in the womb of the Virgin Mary
beneath her Immaculate Heart
to be together with your Son
and ever more conformed to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit,
grant that I may whole-heartedly embrace my dependence on you
as I place all my trust in my Mother Mary.
May I never scorn my weakness which your Son chose to share with me,
but may I always be grateful to be little and helpless,
knowing that without you I can do nothing.
Veiled with her beneath the protective care of Saint Joseph her spouse,
may I find in her a refuge against every danger
and in her womb a hiding place invisible to the ancient foe.
May I know that I am loved perfectly like Jesus by Joseph and Mary,
those parents, who, receiving everything from You,
will always provide for all of my needs.
Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Marian Consecration Introduction

Saint Louis de Montfort set forth a revolution of spirituality in teaching us about Marian consecration and giving us a 33-day plan to prepare our souls for that big step.

What is this consecration? He described this consecration as being a form of “slavery” to Mary. Slavery means that we do nothing without her. We choose not to have a will apart from hers. He even invites us to wear a chain to signify that close bond with her. He elaborated the various consequences of that bond, saying that we share everything with her including our prayers, our intentions, our actions, and our merits. Fundamentally he is saying that we choose to become totally dependent on her: we receive everything through her and share everything with her.

At first this sounds radical and may even sound a little scary or seem like a lot of work. As we come to understand the way the spirit of the world has infected our thinking, however, and as we get in touch with our own woundedness, we come to discover that this is a merciful gift from heaven. It is a sweet path of salvation. In fact, it is better than we could have ever hoped for! What it means is that there is a sweet, loving, perfect mother who actually wants to live in this kind of close relationship with us. It is really what we always wanted. If we accept her invitation, we will find all the healing and happiness we always longed for. To understand this, we have to take a step back and reflect on how we got where we are.

The principal consequence of original sin is a fearful grasping after independence and repeatedly seeking a security that is in our own control. In the beginning it was not so. God made us for relationship—first of all with Himself (“then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” —Gen 2:7) and then also with each other (“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” —Gen 2:18). These relationships were deeply ruptured by the fall, when man and woman sought to become gods without God (Gen 3:1-7). All efforts to achieve immortality through medicine, science or magic are a consequence of this. The original sin is behind all our efforts to earn love through our accomplishments or to control our lives through our own power. It is the source of all our unhappiness, emptiness, and fear. It is fundamentally a denial of our being—we did not create ourselves and we do not have sole power over our destiny. We simply cannot exist without God and trying to do so is a contradiction that splits us in two.

The problem is that living in relationship requires trust and our trust has been broken over and over, starting from our first infant cry that went unanswered. Our psyches are blistered with broken trust. To whom can we turn for healing?

Fortunately God does not leave us in the wilderness of isolation nor does He merely ask us to try harder or get over it. Further, He does not expect us to find our way home on our own, which would only exacerbate the problem. Rather He reveals Himself as a Father who is trustworthy and He sends us His Son to adopt us into His family and bring us home. This is the adventure of salvation.

Jesus adopts us into His Divine Family so that, in Him, we have God as our Father. But because it is not good for the man to be alone (i.e. without human relationships), Jesus also adopts us into His human family, which means that we have a human father and mother as well. In fact, we have two sets of human fathers and mothers. Rather, we have at least two sets of parents, because God also entrusts to numerous men and women the gift of reflecting fatherhood and motherhood for us.

In this adventure, we must relearn trust and dependence. It is always a risk—we have the scars to prove it. To help us with this, in addition to the imperfect human mother who gave us birth, God also sends us the Blessed Virgin Mary, a perfect human mother, to fill out any gaps left in us by our birth-mother’s limitations. Mary is the first redeemed—from the moment of her conception. She is without sin. That means that she will never fail us nor forget us nor abandon us nor forsake us. She will never break our trust. In this way, she teaches us to trust again and helps to heal our wounds of broken trust.

We also receive a human father in Saint Joseph, Mary’s most chaste spouse. He is the human father God made for Jesus. He is the human father who perfectly formed the humanity of Jesus, as He matured, i.e. as He “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52) For that reason Saint Joseph is also the best human father for us. He builds on all the good things our dads did and he fills out all the holes they left when their limitations prevented them from being the father we needed them to be.

Now we are in a better position to understand Marian consecration. Most fundamentally it is a choice to be a child like Jesus. In other words we are choosing to be a child of Mary and Joseph. This is not a perfect description yet though, because a child can still be willful and wander away. The dependence that we are invited to is more radical: we are invited to be the infant of Mary and Joseph. We can think of His birth in Bethlehem. Jesus did not provide for Himself, but rather He let them feed Him and hold Him and even change His diapers. We can think of the Flight into Egypt and how helpless Jesus was. He did not protect Himself, but rather let Himself be carried to safety by Mary and Joseph who saved Him from Herod’s wrath.

Saint Louis de Montfort invited us to go even one step further. He wrote, “Mary has received from God a special dominion over souls, in order to nourish them and to make them grow up in God. Saint Augustine even says, that all the predestinate are in the womb of Mary, and that they are not born, until the good Mother brings them forth into life eternal. Consequently, as the child draws all its nourishment from its mother, who gives it to it in proportion to its weakness, so in like manner do the predestinate draw all their spiritual nourishment and all their strength from Mary.” (Secret of Mary #8)

Even more helpless than an infant, we are invited to be held in the most perfect embrace of the most loving mother as a child in the womb. This is the radical quality of our trust, our abandonment to the one who always perfectly lives in accord with the will of God. She is the perfect mother who will only nourish the child in her womb with the best of foods and who turns every squirming movement of that tiny child into a beautiful expression of love for God.

In this way we have reframed Total Consecration to Mary, without losing anything, no longer as a scary slavery, but now as the perfect embrace and safe protection provided by a mother for an infant in her womb.

In the following pages we embark on a 33-day preparation for Marian consecration after the model given to us by Saint Louis de Montfort. We spend the first twelve days emptying ourselves of the spirit of the world. We follow that with a week focused on self-knowledge then a week focused on knowledge of Mary and finally a week focused on knowledge of Jesus. After 33 days of preparation we are ready to make a consecration on the 34th day. We recommend spending at least 10 minutes every day on this preparation for Consecration. That will include time to read the teaching provided and to reflect on it as well as reciting some prayers to ask God’s grace for this process. Whether you are making this journey for the first time or renewing your consecration, it can be a process of profound conversion if you open your heart to that.

We conclude with an encouraging word from Saint Louis de Montfort, reminding us that the paradise of Mary’s womb is a place of wonders and especially fashioned according to each one’s weakness where we are only expected to be a little child. This preparation opens up to us the Secret of Mary, in whom we draw closest to our loving God. There is a place for everyone there in the bosom of our loving mother:

Happy, and a thousand times happy, is the soul here below to which the Holy Ghost reveals, and makes known, the Secret of Mary; to which He opens this «garden enclosed,» by permitting it to enter it; to which He gives access to this «fountain sealed up,» by suffering it to draw from it, and to drink deep draughts of the living waters of grace! Such a soul will find God Alone without any creature, in this most sweet creature; but God at the same time infinitely holy and exalted, infinitely condescending and proportioned to its weakness. Since God is everywhere, He may be found everywhere, even in hell; but there is no place in which the creature can find Him nearer to itself, and more proportioned to its weakness, than in Mary, for it was for this end that He came down into her bosom. Everywhere else He is the Bread of the Strong, the Bread of Angels, but in Mary He is the Bread of children.

Blessed Emperor Karl von Habsburg

October 21 is the memorial of Blessed Karl von Habsburg, the last Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Blessed Karl is not merely an historical figure of minimal importance or a curiosity of a past age. To the contrary, he remains exemplary in his marriage and fatherhood, in his tireless pursuit of peace in the midst of war, and in the socially responsible way that he governed his people. These are three key themes of the magisterium of Pope Francis and so we can look to Blessed Karl for an example of how to live out what the Pope is teaching us today.

I have explored these connections at greater length in the three-part blog post on the Emperor Karl website.

  1. A man of the family
  2. A man of peace
  3. A socially responsible civil leader

One of the keys to Blessed Karl’s holiness was all the prayer and sacrificed he received from those who dedicated themselves in a special way to this purpose through the Emperor Karl League of Prayer. The League of Prayer still exists today, both as an organ for promotion of the Cause of his Canonization of Blessed Karl but also as an organization dedicated to pray and live as he lived. Perhaps our civil authorities today would be more like Blessed Karl if we dedicated more attention to praying and suffering for them.

Blessed Karl von Habsburg, pray for us!

New Book on Spiritual Direction

”The lost (or forgotten) art of spiritual direction goes back to the first centuries of Christianity, to the Fathers of the Desert. We could also say this art goes back to Christ Himself.” (Bishop Gregory Mansour from the Foreword) There are many who are discovering the value of spiritual direction, but there are too few spiritual directors to meet the need. Our hope is that this book can provide foundational guidance and build up in confidence to those who are already sufficiently formed in the spiritual life and could help to serve in some capacity as spiritual directors. It also provides a valuable opportunity for spiritual directors to reflect on their own ministry and grow in the service they are offering.

“The demand for sound spiritual directors far outpaces the supply, leaving so many who could be helped toward sanctity stumbling on the journey…. That’s why Fathers Acklin and Hicks have done the whole Church, present and future directors, and the directees they will guide an enormous service in fusing the Church’s spiritual wisdom and their extensive experience into a superb, systematic primer.” —Fr. Roger J. Landry, National Chaplain, CatholicVoices USA, CatholicPreaching.com

“Together with concrete guidelines and numerous examples from personal experience, this book refers extensively to Sacred Scripture as the foundation for spiritual direction. Furthermore, since the practice of spiritual direction goes back to the first centuries of the Church, the authors turn for guidance to the Doctors of the Church, the writings of the saints, and papal magisterium in developing and supporting their insights.” (From the back cover)

“In Spiritual Direction: A Guide for Sharing the Father’s Love, the authors have written a superb guide to giving spiritual direction, and receiving it as well, worthy of the masters. I highly recommend it.” —Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. Archbishop of Philadelphia

“Fr. Thomas Acklin, OSB And Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB have written a classic. This work will be seen as one of the best references for spiritual direction.” —Bishop Gregory Mansour, Maronite Bishop of the Eparchy of St. Maron (Brooklyn)

For Whom is This Book Intended?

“This book is primarily intended to support individuals who are being drawn into the ministry of spiritual direction. …

“This book can also serve those who are not yet being sought out by would-be directees but could be in the future. For example, various people in the helping professions (nurses, hospital chaplains, hospice volunteers, teachers, coaches, etc.) are in a position to listen to and support individuals whom they are serving and with whom they develop one-on-one relationships. For a spiritually-minded person, this listening and support can start to take on the shape of spiritual direction.

“This book can also be helpful for individuals who are striving to grow in their own spiritual lives. In it we consider how various aspects of the spiritual life emerge from and are fostered by a one-on-one relationship with a spiritual director. By reading about and reflecting on these aspects of the spiritual life, we believe it will help the recipients of spiritual direction and anyone who is seeking to grow closer to the Lord to better understand spiritual development and growth in the Holy Spirit.” (pp. xxvi-xxvii)

Overview: Chapter Headings

Part I – Foundations of Spiritual Direction

Chapter 1 – One on one

Chapter 2 – Interiority

Chapter 3 – Vulnerability

Chapter 4 – Listening

Chapter 5 – Communicating

Part II – Particular Aspects of Spiritual Direction

Chapter 6 – Guidance for Prayer

Chapter 7 – Passages in Prayer and the Spiritual Life

Chapter 8 – Psychological Models and Healing

Chapter 9 – The Spiritual Director

Appendix – Saints for Spiritual Directors

Order online

The text can be ordered directly from Emmaus Road Publishing: Purchase Book Online

New Evangelization: new in its “ardor, methods and expression”

When Pope St John Paul II asked for a New Evangelization, he did not ask to change the content of evangelization, which is always Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today and for ever. Rather he asked for an evangelization that is new in its ardor, methods and expression. One reason for this newness is because the field of the New Evangelization is primarily those who have already heard the Gospel…sort of. Those who grew up Catholic and received a version of the Gospel watered down with secular culture, rejected what they thought was Christianity without really knowing the content of the faith. The full content of the faith must be presented in a new expression to avoid the defense, “I've already heard that.” It must also be presented with new methods, because those who need evangelization are not showing up for the old methods of CCD and parish missions and Sunday homilies. It must be presented with new ardor because the fervent authenticity of the messenger is critical for communicating the Good News in a compelling way.

Joseph Rockey is a Pittsburgh native with a typical story for those in need of a New Evangelization. Raised Catholic, he learned the faith at a young age, but his faith did not grow as his intellect and human maturity grew and compared to the glamor of society, it quickly appeared outdated and his practice of the faith became lukewarm, perfunctory at best. Through a study abroad in Rome and some positive influences in his life, including his fiancée Teresa, Joe began to develop a positive appreciation for the Catholic Church and came back to a fuller practice of the faith. He also began to discover that there were many things taught by the Church that he did not understand. He discovered a deeper understanding and appreciation of the faith through We Are One Body® radio and he developed a new ardor for helping others to make the journey that he was making. He began to conceive of sharing the faith through a new method: podcasting. Then he reached out to me, in hopes that I could provide a new expression.

My initial thought was that I need another thing to do like I need a hole in the head. At the same time, I recognized the true ardor in Joe and his sincere desire to reach out to others his age and offer something that might help them to reconsider Catholicism. God forbid that I should be an obstacle to that! So we discussed what might be possible and what might be helpful for potential listeners. He was willing to work out the technical details and the “marketing” needed to help people discover our podcast and I am always willing to talk about the Lord. In discussing how we might proceed, we decided that Joe's personal interests and questions are likely the same interests and questions of many people his age. With that in mind, Joe simply brings up questions and we talk in a way that becomes a kind of spiritual direction for him and, we hope, for many others as well.

We are well aware that our effort is imperfect and leaves much to be desired, but I am convinced that it is a meaningful contribution to the New Evangelization. It is a new expression and a new method with a new ardor and we pray it brings at least a few people closer to Jesus. Please pray for us and spread the Good News and share our podcast as well, if you think it would be helpful for someone you know.

Click here to subscribe to our podcast “Father and Joe”.

 

Introduction to Lectio Divina

Contemplating the Word

Contemplating the Word

Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading)

“…I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of Lectio divina: the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart (cf. Dei Verbum, n. 25). If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church – I am convinced of it – a new spiritual springtime. As a strong point of biblical ministry, Lectio divina should therefore be increasingly encouraged…” (Pope Benedict XVI, Address on the 40th Anniversary of Dei Verbum)

Lectio divina is an ancient practice of praying with Sacred Scripture. It has been especially preserved and practiced by monks throughout the ages, but in recent decades has been promoted for the whole Church by Pope St John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. It is not difficult to practice, it does not require large amounts of time nor special knowledge or education. It is simply a way of allowing God to speak to us personally through His Holy Word, as written in the Bible.

That brings us to the first important point: God really wants to speak to us, each one of us, and no one is excluded. It does not matter what we have done. Furthermore, God wants to reveal His love for us, each one of us, and no one is excluded. It does not matter what we have done. Before we even existed, God loved us. He created us out of love, He redeemed us out of love and by His love, He continues to call us back to Himself. Like the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), no matter how far we have wandered, there is a celebration and warm welcome awaiting us in the Father’s house, our true home. That is the “tone of voice” we can expect from God when we pray with Sacred Scripture through lectio divina. We can always ask the question, “How is God revealing His love to me through this passage of Scripture?”

Step 1: Reading

When practicing lectio divina, we start by opening our Bible to a page of Scripture and reading (the first step of lectio divina). There are many ways to choose what Scripture we begin with. I generally recommend the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, because it is easiest to encounter God through the Gospels. For those who are aware of the daily cycle of Gospel readings selected for Mass, I find that to be an easy starting place. We do not need to read a large amount of Scripture. The purpose of lectio is different than a bible study. With lectio, we are not trying to become Scripture scholars, we are simply trying to draw close to God and hear His voice speaking to us personally. So, a paragraph of Scripture from the Gospels is more than enough to start with.

After we have selected a passage of Scripture, we begin to read slowly. Let me emphasize: slowly. For prayer, it is very important to slow ourselves down, to quiet our minds and hearts, and to become more gentle in our approach to God. We know that God is almighty, but when He speaks, He does not try to dominate us or overwhelm us. This is because He really respects and reverences our freedom. He wants to be sure that we really really want to hear what He has to say. By becoming very quiet and very gentle inside ourselves, we show Him that we are really interested in listening to Him. It is as if He were a shy child and He clams up if we are loud and rough. One of the ways we can transition from the noisy harshness of the world to the gentle quiet needed for listening to God is by taking a phrase of Scripture and gently repeating it. As we read through the passage, we look for a phrase of Scripture that seems to stand out to us, that catches our attention. It is not magical and really any phrase will do, but if there is one that seems particularly attractive, we should take that one and begin to repeat it gently inside ourselves.

Step 2: Meditation

As we begin to repeat the phrase of Scripture, we have begun our meditation (the second step of lectio divina). At first it is just a gentle repetition. This repetition helps to slow down our interior and to make us more sensitive to God’s Presence. It is like a pebble that has been tossed into a rapidly moving river–the pebble heads down towards the riverbed, but then it gets tossed up by a current, moved about by the flow, but each time the phrase is repeated, it is like applying gravity to the pebble and it takes it closer and closer to the bottom where it can rest. That is how our interior becomes more settled and calm and open to the Presence of God. Though we might get distracted and have various unrelated thoughts, by just returning to the phrase we can refocus ourselves and become more settled and calm and open up again to the Lord’s Presence.

At the same time, as we are gently repeating the phrase, we are reflecting on its meaning. To take an example, perhaps as we read the Parable of the Prodigal Son, we are struck by the phrase in Luke 15:20, “So he got up and went back to his father.” As we reflect on the meaning of this phrase, we might notice the courage of the son to get up and go back. We might feel his fear of rejection. We might begin to think about our own sins and remember an experience of being rejected by our own father. We might feel despair and wonder what the point of returning is. But we repeat, “So he got up and went back to his father.” We know that the son was not rejected, that he was received with love and rejoicing. We might ask ourselves, “What is keeping me from getting up and returning to God, my Father? Am I afraid? Am I despairing?” We can reflect on the loving way that our Father receives us, on the open arms He extends to us. And again we repeat the phrase, “So he got back up and went back to his father.”

Step 3: Prayer

At this point, we enter into the third movement of lectio divina which is prayer. In our meditation we asked ourselves, “What is God saying to me in this passage?” In prayer, we respond to God. We might begin to pray with something such as, “Thank you Father for always receiving me when I get up and return to you. Please forgive me for wandering away from you. Please help me never to wander from you again. Why do I continually fall back into sin? Please help me to be faithful. Please help me always to get up and return to you when I fall. Please help all those who fall into sin to get up and return to you.”  The important thing in prayer is that we speak from our hearts.  God loves to listen to us and He wants to hear what is in our hearts–our feelings, our fears, our hopes, all the people we love and care for, whatever is in our hearts.

Step 4: Contemplation

Through our meditation and prayer, our hearts are slowed down, quieted and gradually separated from the world. As we become aware of the loving Presence of God we can let go and rest in the fourth movement of lectio, which is contemplation. Contemplation is a loving awareness of God’s Presence. When we feel that God is close to us, words become pointless and we do better just to rest and enjoy His Presence, speaking and listening to Him in a simple, silent way, beyond words. This may last for a few moments or for a few minutes. Gradually, we move back to the Scripture and take up our phrase again, or perhaps we move on to another phrase.

Pope Francis on Lectio Divina

Let us conclude by reflecting on Pope Francis’s teaching on this form of prayer:

“There is one particular way of listening to what the Lord wishes to tell us in his word and of letting ourselves be transformed by the Spirit. It is what we call lectio divina. It consists of reading God’s word in a moment of prayer and allowing it to enlighten and renew us. …

“In the presence of God, during a recollected reading of the text, it is good to ask, for example: ‘Lord, what does this text say to me? What is it about my life that you want to change by this text? What troubles me about this text? Why am I not interested in this? Or perhaps: What do I find pleasant in this text? What is it about this word that moves me? What attracts me? Why does it attract me?’ When we make an effort to listen to the Lord, temptations usually arise. One of them is simply to feel troubled or burdened, and to turn away. Another common temptation is to think about what the text means for other people, and so avoid applying it to our own life. It can also happen that we look for excuses to water down the clear meaning of the text. Or we can wonder if God is demanding too much of us, asking for a decision which we are not yet prepared to make. This leads many people to stop taking pleasure in the encounter with God’s word; but this would mean forgetting that no one is more patient than God our Father, that no one is more understanding and willing to wait. He always invites us to take a step forward, but does not demand a full response if we are not yet ready. He simply asks that we sincerely look at our life and present ourselves honestly before him, and that we be willing to continue to grow, asking from him what we ourselves cannot as yet achieve.” (Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel #153-154)

The Resurrection of the Body – more than the raising of Lazarus

[Jesus] cried out in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out… (John 11:43b-44a)

What was Lazarus's experience? Why do we not hear a report about it? We are fascinated with “near-death” experiences (e.g. the recent book “Heaven is for Real” remained on the best seller list for over three years) and we have this feeling that if someone could scout ahead beyond the veil of death and come back to tell us about it, we would more easily believe (and more readily behave!). It is reminiscent of Israel's explorations of the land beyond the Jordan river, the Promised Land–we would like to send a Caleb or Joshua ahead of us to reconnoiter the land and come back to tell us what it is like. But Jesus assures us, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:31b)

Perhaps this is why Scripture tells us practically nothing about Lazarus's experience of rising from the dead. It leaves us wondering, “What was it like?” It would be so interesting to know what his experience was…or would it? Perhaps we do not get more about Lazarus's experience of waking up and emerging from the tomb because it is simply a distraction. As Jesus reported in the parable of Lazarus (a different Lazarus) and the rich man, “They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.” (Luke 16:29) Indeed, the law and the prophets, the Gospels and the epistles bring us closer to understanding the meaning of life (and eternal life) than someone who comes back from the dead (like Lazarus). How can this be?

Resurrection is more than a resuscitated corpse

Pope John Paul II explained this in the following way, “Eternal life should be understood in an eschatalogical sense, that is, as the full and perfect experience of the grace (charis) of God…” (TOB 67:5). Pope John Paul II clarified (in the same audience) that we already get a taste of this through faith, that this is an experience, “in which man can share through faith during his earthly life…” At the same time, we do not experience it fully, it will “only be revealed to those who will participate in the 'other world' in all its penetrating depth, [and] will also be experienced in its beatifying reality.” (TOB 67:5)

In order to participate “in all its penetrating depth” and experience this grace “in its beatifying reality,” we must be transformed in a way that is not only “by degree” but in a way that is “essential.” At the same time, we must be quick to clarify that this transformation does not involve any “disincarnation” or “dehumanization.” (TOB 67:2) Rather, there is a certain continuum between the human experience of this life, particularly the way that we are permeated by truth and love, and the divinized experience of the “other world.” (TOB 67:4) At the same time, our divinization in the “other world” is “incomparably superior to what can be reached in earthly life” (TOB 67:3).

The greatest mutation

Pope Benedict XVI tied all this together in an Easter Vigil homily when he called the resurrection “the greatest mutation”:

But somehow the Resurrection is situated so far beyond our horizon, so far outside all our experience that, returning to ourselves, we find ourselves continuing the argument of the disciples: Of what exactly does this 'rising' consist? What does it mean for us, for the whole world and the whole of history? A German theologian once said ironically that the miracle of a corpse returning to life – if it really happened, which he did not actually believe – would be ultimately irrelevant precisely because it would not concern us. In fact, if it were simply that somebody was once brought back to life, and no more than that, in what way should this concern us? But the point is that Christ’s Resurrection is something more, something different. If we may borrow the language of the theory of evolution, it is the greatest 'mutation', absolutely the most crucial leap into a totally new dimension that there has ever been in the long history of life and its development: a leap into a completely new order which does concern us, and concerns the whole of history. (April 15, 2006)

A glorified body

Pope John Paul II gave a thorough treatment of the resurrection of the body in his Theology of the Body discourses (TOB 64-72), but we will just give a hint of what he says about this experience. I will leave it to the reader to contrast this description of resurrection as a radically new step in life with Lazarus's experience of merely resuming this earthly life still headed towards his second death. Pope John Paul II described our resurrected life as being perfectly integrated, and “the powers of the spirit will permeate the energies of the body” (TOB 67:2). The “powers of the spirit” refer to things like the intellect and the will and the memory. That these powers will permeate the body means that we will have absolute control over our bodies to the most refined degree–having intelligent fingers, for example or eyes that can make their own choices. Furthermore, because our whole person will be taken up in receiving “God's most personal self-communication” (TOB 67:5) all of these powers will be oriented towards love. Our bodies will be a perfectly harmonized integration totally open and oriented to receiving God's love and through Him open to everyone else.

Whatever Lazarus's experience of life after death was, we can be sure it was not like that. From the experience of the resurrection of the body, there will be no turning back. In the Resurrection of Christ, we have a future that is unimaginably beautiful and therefore a hope that helps us to say with St Paul, “For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…to know him and the power of his resurrection and [the] sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:8,10-11) And “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” (Romans 8:18)

 

Good Friday – A story of weakness

The story of mankind is a story about weakness. In the beginning man was weak. Satan tried to help man hide his weakness. First he convinced man he didn't have to be weak, “You can fix your weakness–just eat the fruit.” That didn't work! Now man was twice as weak, also feeling ashamed. “That's alright,” Satan continues to tempt, “just hide yourself. If no one sees your weakness there's nothing to be ashamed of and the shame will go away.” That still didn't work as God kept calling out, “Adam, where are you?” Soon after, man tried a third tactic–destroy the weakness. Cain killed Abel. That seemed more effective, except that feeling wouldn't go away and that voice kept following us saying, “Where is your brother?”

Satan wants us to hide our weakness–by fixing it, running away, or destroying it.

Ever since then we have been trying to hide our weakness. The Passion narrative we just heard repeats the old story about the many ways that we hide our weakness.

What are some of the ways?
Peter used boasting, “I will never leave you !”
And pride, “you won't wash my feet.”
Peter used a sword but everyone knows a bully is really just insecure, weak.
Then Peter resorted to lies, “I do not know the man.”

What do you use to cover up your weakness?

Some of them ran away. Some slept. We can become perfectionists and control freaks about things that don't matter–just to stay away from our weakness in things that do matter. Do you point out other people's weaknesses to take the attention off your own (like I'm doing right now!)? Do you create a big hysteria about nothing so people won't see what you feel is really wrong–that you are weak? Judas tried to make more money–you can cover up everything if you have enough money. Sometimes we are willing to admit we are weak…just as long as we have a chance to earn forgiveness first and distract people with our strength (so that we don't appear to be so we weak).

What's wrong with covering up my weakness? What else would I do with my weakness? Trust? But then that serpentine voice returns, saying “Be careful! You can't trust people too much. They let you down. You can't trust in obedience–you have to be realistic you know?? You can't trust your parents or your superiors or your brothers or sisters. They've already proven they will let you down. If you trust you just get hurt. Take the offensive instead. The best defense is a good offense. And you certainly can't trust God–He is Almighty. He doesn't understand weakness. He will reject your weakness.”

God responds to weakness with love

But Jesus pleads “I thirst!” He is so weak.

The Passion of Christ is God's response to our weakness. He embraces it by loving it, sharing it, supporting it–all the way to the end.

Weakness is not the ugly, horrible thing that needs to be hidden. Rather, the ugly horrible thing is the lack of trust that prevents our weakness from being loved. That's the ugly thing. Judas was not ugly so much for his betrayal but for his suicide. He chose to destroy his weakness rather than to let Jesus love it.

Trust means “to let Jesus love our weakness.”
Faith means “we believe He always will.”

Sometimes we think that everything depends on how well we love Him. But we fail to love Him so often. We fail to carry out our duty, we fail to love our neighbor. And when we try to love Him and we fail we just want it to go away. Sometimes we even just want God to go away so that we don't have to face our failure, our weakness.

Maybe there is a little feeling of relief after the Passion. We think, “Finally He's dead! That voice will finally stop calling out, “Where are you? Where is your brother?” Now I can just forget it. I can just cover up my shame with the latest trendiest animal skins and walk out of Paradise and forget the whole thing. I'll just make my way on my own. It was all a bit too idealistic anyway.”

And Jesus lets us walk away.

But as long as we eventually stop running, He will come to find us, showing up behind our locked doors and showing us He doesn't hate our weakness. He never did. “Peace be with you!” And He shows His wounds. He knows what it's like to be weak. He loves our weakness. He just wanted us to trust Him. To say to Him, “I'm sorry. I'm weak. I need your help.”

The path of Peter can become our path as well. Peter covered his weakness with lies when he was next to a charcoal fire. That charcoal fire appears again on the shore of Tiberius and Peter again has the opportunity to cover his weakness. But instead he chooses to be honest–not boasting, not proud, not lying. When Jesus asks, “Do you love me with a divine love (agape), Peter?” Peter responds humbly, “Lord you know everything. You know I love you with only a human (weak, imperfect) love.” Jesus accepts this and tells Peter, “'Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.' He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, 'Follow me.'” In other words, “You will become weaker and weaker, but you will let me be your strength. That will glorify me and it will perfect your love.”

God doesn't despise our weakness. He loves us and He loves our weakness. We don't need to cover it up. We just need to trust. To take the hand He reaches out to us and let Him pick us up again. He won't let us down. We can trust Him.
There is no weakness that He will not share.
There is no weakness that His strength will not support.
There is no weakness that He will not mercifully embrace.

Will we take the risk of trusting Him again? With all our hearts? Trusting Him enough
to expose our weakness, not hide it,
to give it to Him, not destroy it,
to let Him heal us, not just try to fix ourselves?

Jesus held on to our weakness all the way to the end. “It is finished.” He shows us that He identifies with our ultimate weakness, death, and He breathes His last. But it's not the end. If we choose to trust Him and let Him hold us, our weaknesses will be shining with glory.

Homily given at St Emma Benedictine monastery Good Friday 2014