Today we remember St. Benedict of Nursia

Folks, today's the memorial feast of my father in the faith, St. Benedict of Nursia. As a lay Benedictine, I want to join all my Benedictine brothers and sisters worldwide in this great feast of our Holy Founder. According to American Catholic.Org's Saint of the Day:

It is unfortunate that no contemporary biography was written of a man who has exercised measureless influence on monasticism in the West. Benedict is well recognized in the later Dialogues of St. Gregory, but these are sketches to illustrate miraculous elements of his career.

Benedict was born of a distinguished family in central Italy, studied at Rome and early in life was drawn to the monastic life. At first he became a hermit, leaving a depressing world—pagan armies on the march, the Church torn by schism, people suffering from war, morality at a low ebb.

He soon realized that he could not live a hidden life in a small town any better than in a large city, so he withdrew to a cave high in the mountains for three years. Some monks chose him as their leader for a while, but found his strictness not to their taste. Still, the shift from hermit to community life had begun for him. He had an idea of gathering various families of monks into one “Grand Monastery” to give them the benefit of unity, fraternity, permanent worship in one house. Finally he began to build what was to become one of the most famous monasteries in the world—Monte Cassino, commanding three narrow valleys running toward the mountain.

The Rule that gradually developed prescribed a life of liturgical prayer, study, manual labor and living together in community under a common father (abbot). Benedictine asceticism is known for its moderation, and Benedictine charity has always shown concern for the people in the surrounding countryside. In the course of the Middle Ages, all monasticism in the West was gradually brought under the Rule of St. Benedict.

Today the Benedictine family is represented by two branches: the Benedictine Federation and the Cistercians.

Comment:

The Church has been blessed through Benedictine devotion to the liturgy, not only in its actual celebration with rich and proper ceremony in the great abbeys, but also through the scholarly studies of many of its members. Liturgy is sometimes confused with guitars or choirs, Latin or Bach. We should be grateful to those who both preserve and adapt the genuine tradition of worship in the Church.

Quote:

“Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of man is manifested by signs perceptible to the senses...; in the liturgy full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members.

“From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his Body the Church, is a sacred action, surpassing all others” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 7).

Our Phoenix Project: Long Term Vocational Plans Now in Discernment

A new, eremitical shared vocation slowly grows from the ashes of an old one.

Folks, as many of you probably know – and as a handful of you know in detail – a vocation I once believed I had to serve the Lord as an ordained permanent deacon in His Church collapsed shortly before the start of the Lenten season this year for reasons I will keep to myself. Currently, there is no administrative process underway, not even a desire by competent authorities that I can tell, to readmit me to the diaconal formation program in my diocese, nor am I pursuing any active or passive effort whatsoever aimed at my readmission.

Therefore, I want to state publicly that this matter, as far I am concerned, is closed, and that although I will never say “never,” I hereby state that I have no intention and no burning desire left to pursue ordained diaconal ministry in the near to long-term future (5-10 years) in my diocese. I am also fully aware that the Sovereign Lord may call me home in that interval of time, at which point we will all be able to say then, “never.” With profound sadness, pain, and disappointment, I report that my diaconal vocation is as dead as Jesus’ friend Lazarus once was and only He who raised Lazarus from the dead may call my diaconal vocation from its tomb. Pending that miracle let the stone stand before the tomb.

I can almost hear more doors closing after the above statement, followed by more pain and disenchantment for all concerned. All I can say to that is “Amen,” so be it.

To those of you who defended me during my now stillborn diaconal process, I thank you for your efforts and support; to all those who actively opposed my candidacy for a variety of reasons – some more valid than others – I declare that you have won, and I hereby thank and/or forgive you as the case might be, even those of you whom I never got to meet personally, but felt qualified to judge. I know that all hearts will be laid open in The End, and all works tested for their integrity, yours as well as mine. For my part, I surrender myself to the Lord’s justice and call upon his mercy for my own sins during this now finished process. I ask forgiveness from all I caused pain and gave offense, and forgive everything to everyone in return, unconditionally.

My wife and I are moving on. We are done mourning this loss. We feel we are needed elsewhere in the vineyard and that we are called to do something else for the sake of His Kingdom. We need to prepare for it and we’ll be ready.

The Phoenix Rises

The Lord is calling both my wife and I for a particular service in His Church, we know that in our bones. Only now I can report that I see a faint outline of what the future may hold: The Lord might be calling us both, after we discharge our primary familial responsibilities and after we retire from our secular jobs, to become fulltime consecrated hermits in accordance to Canon 603 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, as follows:

§1 Besides institutes of consecrated life the Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance.

§2 A hermit is recognized in the law as one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels" (i.e. chastity, religious poverty and obedience), "confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction.

This is not an imminent development. I still hold two jobs, I am years away from retiring responsibly from at least one of them, I have one other son to push through college, and we’re, of course, very young grandparents of two handsome boys. Our children still need us near them. Our vocation now is to fulfill our duties to them and to our current employers.

Furthermore, my Personal Rule of Life – which I hope to share with you sometime soon – would need to grow to accommodate the demands of the new vocation, and finding a new residence further away from urban centers where we can practice “a stricter separation from the world” and listen to “the silence of solitude” will be necessary. Our health, particularly my wife’s health, will also be a factor and all throughout we’ll need to be financially responsible for this project and self-sufficient with God’s help and without depending on the diocese.

I also foresee a future trial period of increasing practice of prayer and solitude following our private promises to live as hermits, a period when the different parts of our new program of life will be tested, and our vocation to publicly live this life for the Church under the guidance of the diocesan bishop finally discerned. By then all the logistics will have to be in place.

Also very important, the new life should not close us off from the necessary contacts that God mandates between us and our children, albeit in a new situation still to be weighed and defined. The canonical intricacies of allowing a married couple to live the eremitical life as husband and wife, and not merely as “brother and sister” will also have to be explored, resolved, and stated. In the meantime, I’m thinking about resuming my graduate theological studies to better ready us for this new life as well as to prepare myself to make a sound proposal to the Church if and when the time comes.

Again I repeat this will be a long, exacting, and arduous process of spiritual growth and maturity in the Lord’s grace, of intensified love between my wife and me, and between us and our children. The seed has been planted and the rudimentary outlines of a future edifice even now roughly visible. This is just a beginning and if it’s not to be, I pray that the Lord also let me know as fast as He did when He stopped me from becoming a deacon.

We are both excited by what the Lord may bring about in our lives and we’ve begun praying more about it and also praying that if this is the Lord’s will, that He brings to us the people, means, and circumstances that will make it all happen. In Jesus’ Name we go forth, Amen.

Neda Soltani was a Christian - Apparently

Folks, this from the blog of JihadWatch.Org:

This is the poor young woman who was shot dead by Iranian security forces, and whose bleeding face became an image of the brutality and humanity of the mullahs. Now it turns out the Neda Soltani was a Christian -- a telling indication that the analysts who dismissed the protesters as simply wanting more Sharia, or better Sharia, or Sharia with a different face, were wrong: it just wasn't that simple.

It is also telling that the cross around her neck was cropped out when this photo circulated around the world.

Jihad Watch reader Andrea informs me that while "many had mourned her thinking she was a Muslim. According to some German press reports, it turns out she instead was a Christian:"

http://www.pi-news.net/2009/06/neda-symbolfigur-der-revolution-war-christin/

Commentary. This changes the equation drastically. Her killing might have been not only an act of repression and intimidation, but also a hate crime. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Even with this photographic evidence, I will await for independent verification of Neda's religious affiliation to confirm my judgment.

Regardless of her religious affiliation, let's pray for Neda, her family, and the people of Iran. That may know peace, security, and freedom under a legitimate, plural government, free from hate, paranoia, and bigotry.

Additional notes:

A Twitterer with apparent in-country knowledge disputes Neda's Christian affiliation but I also must question the Twitterer's own identity and motives, as much as I question the picture.

Contrary to what the article states, the pictures posted at the BBC and NYT were not cropped.

Charity in Truth

Folks, the latest encyclical letter from the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, has been published and may be accessed here. This is how it starts:

1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

Please, continue reading here.

Good Bye, Best Friend

Folks, this post is about one of my dogs, the one closest to me. Today, a few days after being diagnosed with lymphoma, we had to put her to sleep. She was under extreme duress and has taken a turn for the worst. She also suffered from congestive heart failure.

We rescued Katie Bug three years ago. She was seven and her then owner was unable to take care of her any longer. She came to us “fully formed” and she was perfect. We can’t recall any time in which we had to discipline her for any thing.

Katie Bug knew a few tricks: she would “talk” in a low growling “aroo” when you asked her to. She would “give you five” when you asked her to and would throw a bone or a ball just to entertain herself. She liked to cuddle and had a special corner in the backyard which she claimed as her own.

Her only enemy was the mailman. She sounded pretty menacing in her barks but was really a scaredy-cat, particularly toward men she didn't know, scurrying toward those corners of the living and dining rooms where she felt safe.

She also loved car rides and upon the sound of the keys she would line up before the door, the first one out. She did this on what was to be her last ride, resolutely, albeit painfully, walking toward her favorite human machine. She has been unable to jump into the car for a while now and we'd acquired a ramp for her that she climbed without hesitation again and again to fulfill her thrills.

Upon arrival to the animal hospital, she still had a little bit of her old curiosity. She moved breathlessly throughout the parking lot, looking and studying her surroundings and smelling the new things around her. The vet examined her right while in the lobby. His face shaded as he touched all the swollen limph nodes through her frame. We all knew what had to be done. I signed my consent, noticing that I distorted my last name as I handwrote it.

Her passing was peaceful. It was very much like a falling asleep. Her countenance was as relaxed as we remembered it when she napped before, when she was healthy. The belabored breathing stopped. Her head rested on her front paws, straight. Hers was an eerie beauty as she was released from her suffering and pain.

And we cried, and cried, and we haven't stopped yet. I am sure she would've comforted us as she had always done when we were depressed or upset, but this time she couldn't as the imperative of her rest asserted itself over that of our comfort.

Our Catholic faith speaks negatively about the survival after death of animals who, although they reflect God’s perfections and reflect His likeness, do not carry His image. Animals lack “spiritual souls,” and therefore, do not “go to heaven” or to any eternal reward. To put it bluntly and somewhat humorously, there’s no “doggie heaven,” unless it is also cat’s hell.

Nevertheless, if it is essential to our eternal felicity in God’s Presence that we see our faithful companion, I think we have plenty of theologumena to argue for it. In the New Heavens and the New Earth, happiness will be perfect, lacking nothing. Without our friends, heaven would have a defect. So, I am somewhat confident that as God makes all things anew, that I will see again Katie, my Katie, at a time and a place where there will be no more bitter tears, no more separations, and everything bent will be made aright. Until that glorious morn comes, I will miss my Katie endlessly.

Don’t be surprised if I don’t say much for the next couple of days.

Katie Bug, Beloved Pet: August 1 1999 – July 5, 2009. Missed by Theo, Mercie Therese, and Lily, her basset hound sister.

Happy Fourth Everyone!

Folks, I am taking a break today for the holiday. Let’s all be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy and be ever more resolute to extend them to the poorest and most defenseless from among us. Let’s give a voice to those who have no voice, let freedom ring.