Last week, Fr. Bob Weighner wrote about the third leg of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “How We Live.”  In this blog posting, Margie Mandli, parishioner of St. Anne and contributor to this series offers a perspective on “how to live” through the Cardinal Virtues, which are discussed in-depth in the CCC, section 1804. Margie, an independent marketing communications consultant, along with her husband, Mark and their three children, reside in Kenosha. You’re invited to attend the St. Anne Lenten Mission, “How to Live Your Faith in a Challenging World,” on the evenings of Wednesday, March 21 through Friday, March 23.

How am I going to live today?  Do you ever wake up and ask yourself this question?  Honestly, I can’t say that I do. For me, I go from task to task.

5:30 a.m. Get ready…say my morning prayers  (often too quickly)

6:30 a.m. Pick out kids’ clothes (yes, I still take pride in doing this for my kiddos)

6:45 a.m. Make lunches for the family

7:10 a.m. Get on the road – the rush begins

8:00 a.m. Start my  to-do list at work or home

Imagine if I started my day, and I asked God these questions:

• To whom do I need to be merciful?
• How can I be more patient?
• Whom do you want me to comfort?
• Who needs Your light today, and how can I help spread it?

Okay, I’ll try it. Maybe, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Meantime, in the last blog, Fr. Bob introduced the third leg in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “How We Live.”  This part of the CCC addresses how we live
our faith and discusses in depth everything from morality to vocations to a
closer look at the Beatitudes.  Admittedly, I don’t often refer to this book…
in the middle of a disagreement with my child or with my husband or when making
an important life decision. Yet, how often are we faced with critical questions
or decisions in life?

• Is this a good movie for my kid?
• What should be the consequence for this action?
• Should we buy this new “toy” for our family?
• Is that appropriate attire for this occasion?
• For whom should I vote?
• Are we spending too much time [fill in the blank]?
• Is this the right job for me?

In fact, I believe all of these questions are about “how we live” our faith.  I once thought –
perhaps in college – that I could separate my faith (Mass on Sundays) from my life (what I do on the weekends).  The older I’ve become, I realize this notion is simply not possible.  Society, in many ways, would like to separate religion from culture. We see it in the news, in movies and in our culture all the time.  Nowadays, it seems that anything is permissible in the eyes of society.

When faced with questions like the ones above, Mark and I often feel inadequate to answer them. So, sometimes we turn to the Lord for guidance.  According to the CCC,
“Catechesis has to reveal in all clarity the joy and the demands of the way of Christ…for the newness in life in him should be a catechesis of the Holy Spirit, the
interior Master of life according to Christ, a gentle guest and friend who inspires, guides, corrects and strengthens this life.”

Isn’t it true that life can be so demanding and joyful at the same time?  Isn’t it true that often it feels as if we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders with
nowhere to turn?

Recently, I took note of section 1804 of CCC on Virtues.  It stated, “Human
virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and
faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.”

Incidentally, there are four virtues that are deemed pivotal as a way of life, otherwise known as the four Cardinal Virtues:

• Prudence, that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it
• Justice, moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor.
• Fortitude, the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.
• Temperance, is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods

How awesome is it that these virtues have been so well articulated? That they can be our moral compass in the multitude of decisions we are faced with each day?

Perhaps, I have just identified my new prayer:  to ask God for an increase in these virtues.
Maybe then the weight of the world won’t seem so heavy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next in our blog series, Fr. Bob discusses the third leg in  the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC): how we live.  The actual name of the section in the CCC is called “Life in Christ” and covers everything from vocations and morality to social justice and the ten commandments. Up to this point, we’ve heard about what we believe and how we worship. You’ll continue to hear from parishioner contributors on each of these topics.

I remember once hearing the phrase ‘presence is truth’.  I’m not sure who said it, or what the context was, but the words rang true.  They express the simple fact that if I truly care about someone or something, then I will make the effort and take the trouble to be present when they need me.  John Paul II was fond of saying that the modern world does not need more empty words.  Talk is cheap.  What the world truly needs is people who give authentic witness of their faith, people who really LIVE the faith, people who ‘put their money where their mouth is’.

I remember a television commercial from my youth, showing a dad who was mowing the lawn, washing the car, and various household tasks.  He had a 3-year old son who was following him around and imitating his every action.  In the ad, the dad told his son not to smoke, but the ad ended with his boy attentively watching his dad light up a cigarette.  Not hard to figure out how this was going to end.  Actions speak volumes.  Words are cheap.

Our words can paint a pretty picture, but it is our actions which reveal what is in our heart.  If I TRULY believe in God and if I believe the teachings of his Son, who founded our Catholic Church, then my actions will reflect what I believe.  How many times did Jesus answer the question about loving God in this simple way:  “if you love God, you will keep the Commandments…”  So simple and yet so difficult.

Catholic doctrine answers the question: what does a Catholic believe?  Catholic morality answers the question:  how does a believing Catholic behave?  Morality is a demanding yet accurate litmus test of my faith.  If I merely talk a good game, but am lax in understanding and living the richness of Catholic morality, then I have some soul searching to do.  Lent calls us to conversion of heart, and is a most appropriate time for focusing on this aspect of my Catholic faith.

I hope to see you at our upcoming Parish Mission.  Fr. Richard Gill will be here to help us both rejoice in our faith and deepen in our living of the faith in a challenging world.  See you there!

Fr. Bob

In our last blog, Fr. Bob spoke about the second leg of our Catechism of the Catholic Church, “how we celebrate.” He discussed how God continues to give of himself through the Sacred Liturgy. Here, Featured Blogger David Augustine, parishioner of St. Anne who is studying Liturgical Studies at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein discusses the Liturgy from a bibilical perspective — unveiling its mystery and healing power.  During Lent, perhaps consider attending daily Mass:  6 p.m. at St. Catherine’s Chapel on Tuesdays; 6 p.m. at St. Anne’s on Wednesdays and Thursdays; and 8 a.m. at St. Anne on Fridays; and 9 a.m. at St. Anne’s on Saturdays.

The created order is like an iceberg; only 10% of it is above water – in other words, visible. Faith pulls back the veil that shrouds its supernatural inner depths. Through the sacramentality of the Liturgy, we are called to experience a
healing of the eyes, transforming how we look at the world.

2 Kings records an event in the anything-but-mundane life of the prophet Elisha (who lived 9^thcent. B.C.). The man of God was in the Israeli city of Dothan when Syrian chariots
surrounded the city to capture him. On seeing the chariots, Elisha’s servant
panicked, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” Elisha responded with his usual
calm, ““Fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with
them.” Then Elisha prayed, and said, “O Lord, I beg you, open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:15-23 RSV) These are the hidden and spiritual depths that are opened up through prayer by the “man of God”.

Shortly before his Passion, Jesus led his inner band of disciples – Peter, James and John – up on a mountain to pray. Before their eyes and “as he was praying, the appearance
of his countenance was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.” (Lk
9:28-36) After this, his disciples saw him conversing with Moses and the
prophet Elijah as the cloud of God’s glory overshadowed them. While in prayer,
the divine glory veiled by Jesus’ humanity flared up, transfiguring his
countenance with the uncreated light of God’s glory. He is now seen for what he
really is: the archetypal image of the Father, he who “bears the very stamp of
his nature” (Heb 1:3), he who informs both the Law (Moses) and the prophets
(Elijah). The Lord has given his disciples a glimpse of the glory to come, the
glory permanently set forth in his resurrected state. This is the same glory
given to us in the Baptismal Liturgy as an earnest of our own resurrection: “he
has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”
(2 Cor 1:22) so that the “life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.”
(2 Cor 3:10)

On the day of his Resurrection, the Lord joined a pair of his disciples as they walked the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They failed to recognize him. When they arrived at
Emmaus, however, the Lord sat at table with them, and “he took the bread and
blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they
recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight.” Later, they told the other
disciples how “he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.” (Lk
24:13-35) Sound familiar? This passage, like the other post-Resurrection
narratives, is what we call, in church language, “ecclesiological”. This means
that it tells us something about the Church. Which brings us to the Eucharist.
In both the proclamation of the Word of God and in the sacraments of the Church
(above all, the Eucharist), Christ continues to be present to his disciples. It
is there that he is known by people of faith who devote themselves to prayer.

In the “daily bread” of the Eucharist, we are given the ongoing challenge to be a people of
faith, a people who pull back the veil on the heaviness of empirical reality
and see the glory of God manifested in our midst. The Eucharist is an epiphany;
it is a clarion call to see materiality transfigured in the light of his glory,
we ourselves being transformed in the process. Or, in the words of St. Paul,
“Though our outer man is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed every day
… because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are
unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are
unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:16-18)

Through Liturgy, we are called to a transfiguration of the eyes. In John 9, Jesus healed a man blind from birth. Jesus “spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and
anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of
Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.” (John 9:1-12) Without this prerequisite healing, all is darkness. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound,
your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness,
how great is the darkness!” (Matt 6:22-23) A creation rendered opaque to God’s
glory is darkness. Faith transforms it into light.

 

 

This is our third in our blog series, which focuses on the second leg of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “how we celebrate.”

A few weeks ago in a homily I used the image of a 4-legged table to describe a holistic approach to our Catholic faith.  If you remove one leg from a table, you can make it work depending on where you place objects on the surface.  If you break off a second leg, you don’t have a very useful table.  You might get inventive and prop the table in a corner, and get by, but you’d have to admit the limitations of the situation.  Our faith stands on four legs, or pillars.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church is structured to reflect these four pillars, and gives us a quick way of checking on the health of our spiritual table, on how authentically we are living our Catholic faith.

To sum up:  The first leg is the doctrine of the Church, or what we believe as Catholics.  The second leg is how we celebrate our faith and make God present, through liturgy and sacrament.  The third leg is how we live as moral persons in line with the teachings of Christ.  The final leg is how we pray.  Our Catholic faith must stand on all four of these legs.

The ‘second leg’ is an answer to the question:  How does God continue to effectively give us
the gift of Himself?  Catholics have a sacramental understanding of God’s gift of life to us.  Through the sacraments, which are expressed in our liturgy, visible signs make effective an invisible reality: the grace of God, the very gift of God’s life in our soul.
The word liturgein means ‘to make present or to re-present,’ a saving reality of God.  The Eucharist, for example, makes use of the visible signs of bread and wine and of the words of Christ in order to fulfill his commandment to ‘take and eat’, so that we might
have divine life within us.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.  The Jews
quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (Jn. 6:51-56)

It is clear, from these words of Jesus, that he intends to give himself to us sacramentally.  This gift is not ‘just symbolic’, but is a true gift of God himself.  The life contained in the sacraments is made effective through the saving sacrifice which Christ endured in his Passion.  His life’s blood, poured out sacrificially on the cross, is the life of the Church.  There is a wonderful depth, vividness and ‘down to earth’ quality to the sacramental and liturgical realties.  For this reason Jesus clothed himself in our flesh, so that he could give himself to us through our senses, through our humanity.  The liturgy celebrates this wonderful way of God’s relating to us, through which we are drawn into his life.