An Interview with an Author

Because it pertains to my life right now, I found this interview with author Michael O'Brien really profound.  This is what he has to say about his writing process:

"Prayer and self-discipline are the foundation of everything I do. Most often, the origins of a novel or a painting will appear during prayer, sometimes while I’m praying before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. I ponder it in the heart, listening interiorly, thinking about it too. Then if there is a strong peace and an inner sense of “rightness”, I begin giving a form to the essential “word” or logos that came with the light or grace. One can call it inspiration or the muses. But it is, I believe, the phenomenon of co-creation, grace and nature working together to bring into the world something that hasn’t been seen before. God-willing, it will be a work of truth and beauty. Thus the need to be constantly praying and at the same time working hard to develop the skills of writing and painting—all within the understanding that it is a vocation, a gift, not my personal possession."

And this advice, which I think he was giving directly to me.....

"Pray every day to the Holy Spirit, asking for the grace of docility to His inspirations. And continue to pray as you work, pray for the good of the art you are creating and its fruitfulness in the lives of others. Work hard, with self-discipline, to perfect your talent. And avoid any ambition or impulse to manipulate your own “success” in the world—it is absolute poison. Let grace work with your nature, and trust in this. Above all, trust!"

"Go to the very source. Go to Christ and ask for all that you need, ask for growth in skill, for the spirit of perseverance, for faith and courage and love. Ask for a spirit of discernment in order to find your way through the fog of our times. Ask for humility and faithfulness, and for the ability to incarnate Truth in beautiful forms. Be a servant of the One who is the source of all Beauty. Be his beloved. Be very little, and trust in this absolutely."

Quote of the Day

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C. S. Lewis)

Quote Of the Day

"A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

—G.K. Chesterton

That's Not What He Said.....

SOOOOOO..... a little vent here.  The same little rant millions of devout, orthodox people are doing around the world these past several months since the election of Pope Francis to the head of the Roman Catholic Church. NEWS FLASH: THAT'S NOT WHAT HE SAID.  Honestly.  People.  Good Grief.  Do not be spoon fed by a mainstream media headline and swallow it whole.  Get it straight from the horses mouth.  But then, that might not feed into your preconceived notions, or substantiate what you WANT to believe.  So in that case, go ahead and be spoon fed.  But don't think it's reality, because it's NOT.

I'll have to admit.  At first, I was thinking that it was the Pope who was naive.  He's new to the job and all.  Maybe he's not so "media savvy" yet, and he speaks in a way that is easily misconstrued, because he doesn't labor and mull over every tiny little thing he says.  He speaks extemporaneously.  A lot.  He just SAYS THINGS, and I thought... well, with a little seasoning, he will realize the sharks he's talking to and be more careful.  But that's not really fair to Pope Francis.   He's not naïve.  In fact, the man is making everyone on all sides uncomfortable - on PURPOSE.  He's shaking things up all over the place, and it's not by accident, not because he's stumbling along blindly.  He knows exactly what he's doing, he's rattling cages for a reason.  Do we know someone else who did that??  HMMMMM.  Maybe the one being in all of history that Pope Francis is trying most to emulate... Jesus himself.  And I'm thinking that Pope Francis is right where he needs to be, doing the job that he was called by the Holy Spirit to do.  Time to wake up.  EVERYBODY.

So back to the misconstrued thing.  Let's just take some of the headlines, and see what kind of picture emerges of this man:

Pope Francis Is a Flaming Liberal
Pope Francis: Church can't 'interfere' with gays – CNN Belief Blog 
Pope Says Church Is 'Obsessed' With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control
Pope Francis: Gays, Abortion Too Much Of Catholic Church's Focus
Pope francis calls on church to change focus - The Boston Globe
Pope on homosexuals: 'Who am I to judge?'
Why Pope Francis May Be a Catholic Nightmare
Pope Francis: Even Atheists Can Be Redeemed
Pope Francis on Women Priests: Who Am I to Judge?

OK OK OK .  Enough.  Because I can't stand it anymore.  You read the headlines, and you get this picture that the Pope isn't CATHOLIC!!  In fact, he abhors everything the Catholic church has stood for these past 2000 years, is ready to toss it all out the window (because he has the POWER and AUTHORITY to do that, you know - it's how that medieval church works) and he's jumped on the ideological liberal bandwagon, because he's so cool and he's one of US!  He's just like us progressive media types, because he cares for the poor, and wants to live simply, so he must be on OUR side!!  He sees the Church as archaic, stodgy, and evil as we do!  He's all about "acceptance" and "tolerance".  He justifies our every last belief about ourselves, even to the point of saying that it's okay to have no beliefs whatsoever.  He justifies US, this man in charge of the one institution that has told us for 2000 years that only the divine made human can justify us.

Like there are sides in humanity, an "us and them" in terms of the salvation of souls.  Because in a narrow-minded world, anything that sees every person as a sinner in need of redemption, and not an "us and them" - that's too deep to swallow.  I'll say it again.  GOOD GRIEF.

So.... that's when I started going to the horse's mouth, so to speak.  What did the man REALLY SAY??  Is the picture the headlines paint true??  Do I believe that the leader of the church established by Christ himself through the Apostle Peter is led by someone who disdains it?  Has the moral compass of all humanity lost its magnetism?  Has humanity finally lost its anchor, to drift aimlessly on stormy seas, being tossed wherever prevailing winds take it?

ARGH.  Learn how to read.  Stop projecting yourselves onto the man, big media types. 

Here's an actual quote from the interview he gave recently:

"We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible… when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.
“The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently. Proclamation in a missionary style focuses on the essentials, on the necessary things: this is also what fascinates and attracts more, what makes the heart burn, as it did for the disciples at Emmaus. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow."

In other words... preach the GOSPEL, and the moral code will flow from that.  Preaching about  issues, without an understanding about the paradigm of the gospel, comes across as arbitrary.  When you understand that God is LOVE, that Jesus is REDEMPTION, and that all life is subsequently PRECIOUS and SACRED... it naturally follows that the wholesale slaughter of innocent children is not a "choice", but an abomination.  When you understand that man is created in the image of the Father, and that marriage is a reflection of Christ's relationship with the Church, when you understand that Eve was created from Adam's side for the purpose of completing and "becoming one" with him.... it naturally follows that unions contrary to that paradigm are "disordered".  Without the knowledge of a savior's love first, the "issue" loses its "moral edifice".  He exhorts us to focus on the rock, not the ripple, first.  Not to diminish the "issue", but to bring it into sharper focus!  To give it a moral heading from a deeper base, and not an argument in and of itself.  He wants us all to understand WHY the Church teaches as it does.  Not that he disagrees with the teaching itself!!

Try making a news headline out of that.

So, to all those  out there that think the Church (that solid, unchanging rock) has finally started to roll instead of stubbornly stay... you're wrong. It's not going anywhere.  It's not teaching anything different than what it was given from Christ Himself, 2000 years ago.  Trappings and emphasis might change, but TRUTH does not change. 

My favorite - GK Chesterton - says this, and I think it describes what Pope Francis is doing perfectly....
"
"All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post. "
The man is repainting a white post white.  Quit expecting red or pink.  He's getting us back to the heart of the Gospel, which is the purest teaching there is.  It is our core, and our "edifice".  It is the Church.

 

Quote Of The Day

G.K. Chesterton, that wise old sage.... truer today than the day he wrote it.

"All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post. "

This "torrent of change" we're seeing in the world today does demand a revolution.

Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus

Heard excerpts of this 2nd Century AD letter today, and was so moved by it. Does the world recognize we Christians now as they were recognized then?



"Since I see thee, most excellent Diognetus, exceedingly desirous to learn the mode of worshipping God prevalent among the Christians, and inquiring very carefully and earnestly concerning them, what God they trust in, and what form of religion they observe, so as all to look down upon the world itself, and despise death, while they neither esteem those to be gods that are reckoned such by the Greeks, nor hold to the superstition of the Jews; and what is the affection which they cherish among themselves; and why, in fine, this new kind or practice [of piety] has only now entered into the world, and not long ago; I cordially welcome this thy desire, and I implore God, who enables us both to speak and to hear, to grant to me so to speak, that, above all, I may hear you have been edified, and to you so to hear, that I who speak may have no cause of regret for having done so....

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.  To sum up all in one word--what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake. "

Quote of the Day

From N.D. Wilson
 

"We are all authors, creators of our own pasts, of the books that will be our lives. We stare at the future or obsess about the present, but only the past has been set in stone, and we are the ones setting it. When we race across the wet concrete of time without purpose, without goals, without laughter and love and sacrifice, then we fail in our mortal moment. We race toward our inevitable ends without artistry and without beauty.

All of us must pause and breathe. See the past, see your life as the fruit of providence and thousands of personal narratives. What led to you? You did not choose where to set your feet in time. You choose where to set them next.

Then, we must see the future, not just to stare into the fog of distant years but to see the crystal choices as they race toward us in this sharp foreground we call the present. We stand in the now. God says create. Live. Choose. Shape the past. Etch your life in stone, and what you make will be forever."

Learning lessons the Hard Way: Humility

"My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.
What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.
The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs,
and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
Water quenches a flaming fire,
and alms atone for sins." Sirach 3:17

 I am a product of my generation.  I was raised in a bubble of constant feedback and praise.  My education was very worried about my self-esteem.  Accolades received in response to academic success in school made me think that I was in some way special, smart, capable of doing something that other people couldn't. That I was destined for some form of greatness or success.  National Merit Scholar!  Full-ride academic scholarship!  Summa Cum Laude!  Think of all that potential!!  All the great things this young graduate is capable of, with only the right opportunities!! You can do and be ANYTHING!! I bought the picture.  I swallowed it whole.  And  I have subsequently had this overwhelming feeling as a middle-aged adult that I never "lived up to my potential".  That's a whole lot of labels, and a whole lot of expectations that I haven't lived up to. And it bothers me.  WHY I am ashamed of my ordinary life? 

Have you ever Googled your own name?  To see what the world would see if they did the same?  Stupid, I know.  No one is really curious enough about me to do something like that besides myself.   But still.  When I Google myself, I discover that my work profile comes up. And it labels me as "Monica Aho, PT".  And it lists my education as a Bachelors degree and a number of years experience.  BLAH BLAH BLAH.  I am embarrassed by that.  A Bachelors?  That's it?  Shouldn't someone with as much "potential" as I was told I had have many more credentials behind their name?  Shouldn't there be more letters there somewhere?  Ph.D. , DPT,  PCS.  Shouldn't I have something that distinguishes me?  Research, a patent?  Community accolades?  Shouldn't I be a big-shot business owner, or lecturer?  Leading the charge, forging the way somewhere?   Shouldn't I have a fancy house, a fancy title, a fancy car, a fancy something by now? 

I have pushed  myself out of my comfort zone on several occasions, trying in vain to live up to some sort of invisible expectation that I thought others had of me.  I designed an indoor park for children (won't the community look up to me!), and then failed at its construction.  I am apparently no architect or engineer.  Others stepped in and finished the job I couldn't.   I have tried to initiate research with the local university (I will seem so smart!),but I lack the funds and credentials to complete it.   I spent years, thousands of dollars, and considerable time/heart investment on trying to obtain a patent.  Yesterday... I found out that I failed at that, too.  And I am devastated.  The patent as I wrote it is indefensible.  It wouldn't be worth the paper I wrote it on, because I am not a lawyer, and did not know how to word things so that it is WORTH something to a manufacturer.    At the same time, my  job is jeopardy, because the hospital I work for is being sold to a for-profit company, and since I work with disabled children (read MEDICAID reimbursement) - the chances of being able to KEEP my job are pretty slim. 

As I was lamenting on the phone last night to my mother, crying tears of frustration, my four year old daughter tugged at my leg and begged for dinner.   My 9 year old son plainly said "Mom, you haven't made us a single meal today.  I fed myself breakfast, lunch, AND dinner."  My husband called from work to see if there would be dinner on the table when he arrived - there wouldn't.  It was 8 pm - I had forgotten to feed my family.   I had spent the day madly cleaning the house, barking at the children constantly, and then another 2 hours locked in my bedroom, on the phone with my lawyer, getting the bad news.    Apparently, even "mother" and "wife" are not on the list of things I am good at. 

So, I have discovered that I am not an architect, an engineer, a researcher, a lawyer.  I am not a doctor.  I am not a physical therapist who can get a company rich, like the sports-medicine or geriatric specialists are. I am not Super-wife, or Super-Mom.   In the eyes of this world, I am utterly ordinary and unimpressive. 


So, who am I?  WHAT am I?  Do I need a label?  Do I need accolades, or esteem?  Why?  WHY?  Why can't I be content to be who I am?  Why am I embarrassed about who I am? So I have an old house that is in sorry disrepair.  A dirty car.  Weeds in my flower bed.   A job that will never make me (or anyone I work for) rich.  My children are often messy, and far from well-behaved.  I am overweight, middle-aged.  I have wrinkles and gray hair.  I am not THE BEST at anything.  I struggle with my vocations as wife, mother, health care professional, friend.  I am utterly.... mediocre. 

But there's this, in the midst of my pity party.   I look around me, and I see the blessings God has granted me.  They are abundant.  SO abundant.  I have family.  There was a time I thought I'd never find someone to marry, never be able to have kids.  And look - God blessed me with a husband and a family.    I love the simple, country life I've been given.  I love that I get to work with children and their families.  I am blessed by all these little, inconsequential things that are not impressive by society's standards.   I don't have many friends, but the few I have are long-lasting and REAL. My family has security.  I have a job that I love and that truly makes a difference in the lives of others.  I have LOVE in my life - frazzled around the edges as it may be.  And I realize that the only label that really matters, the only label I should really care about, is "Child of God".  I SHOULD be nothing, because that's what I really am.  Nothing.  But Christ through me... that's something else entirely.  Even the moon - a dead, lifeless rock - can radiate the light of the sun, and offer light to a dark world.  There is my worth.  There is my acceptance.  There is the TRUTH of myself that matters.  I know this in my heart of hearts.  I am LOVED.

Now it's time to just stop it and get over myself already.

ADDENDUM:
OK.  I get it, Lord.  Insignificant is okay.

Today at a soccer game, a woman I only vaguely recognized came up to me and said the following:
"You're Monica Aho, right?  The therapist? I know you don't remember me, but 8 years ago, you worked with my daughter.  She was 2 years old and not walking yet.  You taught her how to walk.  And now look at her - she's playing soccer with all the other kids.  I never forgot what you did for us, and I've often wondered about you over the years.  You were a blessing to our family, and I want you to know that."

That woman probably didn't have the slightest inkling that this was EXACTLY what I needed to hear at this point in my life.  Little things DO matter in people's lives. 

 

The Most Beautiful Dream

 

The Most Wonderful Dream

Reagan woke up today in a half-sleep daze, and curled up in a little tangled bed-headed heap on my lap.  We rocked back and forth for a bit, and then she said the following:

Reagan: "Mom, they dance there.  It's so fun."
Mom: "Where do they dance?"
Reagan: "In Heaven!"
Mom: "They dance in Heaven?"
Reagan: "YES!"
Mom: "That does sound fun."
Reagan: "And he's making me a horsey room."
Mom: "What do you mean, horsey room?"
Reagan: "I love horses!  So he's decorating a room just for me!"
Mom: "Who's decorating a room for you?"
Reagan: "Jesus!  Up in Heaven!"
Mom: "Oh.  OK."
Reagan: "How many days are we here?"
Mom: "Where?  Here at our house?"
Reagan: "Yeah."
Mom: "Well, today we're going to Grandma's house for you to play, in a few hours."
Reagan: "NO!"
Mom: "You don't want to go to Grandma's house?"
Reagan: "Yes!  I mean, how long are we HERE, before we go to Heaven?"
Mom: "OH.  I don't know, Reagan.  Whenever God calls us home."
Reagan: "But will I hear Him?  I can't hear Him!"
Mom: "When it's time, you'll hear Him.  He'll say 'REAGAN!  It's TIME!  Come live with ME now!"
Reagan: "I want to go see my horsey room."
Mom: "When it's time, sweetie."
Reagan: "I miss grandma Fran up in Heaven."  (note: Grandma Fran died when Reagan was a year old.  There's no way she can remember her.)
Mom: "I miss her, too.  Do you remember her?"
Reagan: "Yeah.  We miss everyone up in Heaven.  But some day we'll see them again!"
Mom: "YES."
Reagan: "I dreamed I was dancing and playing with unicorns.  And picking beautiful flowers."
Mom: "That sounds like an amazing dream you had."
Reagan: "Well, one part was scary.  There was a dragon, and he was trying to eat me.  But the other part I liked.  With the unicorns and the flowers and the dancing."

Pondering on a Monday about... Bats

Bats, at least New World, nocturnal bats, do not see in color.  They use echolocation to "see", rather than vision (light bouncing off a retina), and as such do not "see" as we do, and certainly not in color.  In the bat-world, then, color does not exist, because they do not perceive it. Furthermore, a bat lacks the intellect to even imagine color.  That does not mean that color does not exist, but that the organism itself lacks the ability to perceive and understand some truth outside itself. You and I know, however, that when light waves bounce off a physical object and enters into our eyeball, our brain perceives color.  So WE know that color exists, because we are constructed to perceive it and interpret it.  WE are aware of a natural truth, because we have the capacity to do so.

SO.... thinking once again about how the perceptions and capacity of the creature impacts their ability to know what is TRUE about REALITY.  If an atheist purports that God is not real because He cannot be proved by science (what can be proven and perceived by our senses)... that argument is commeasurate to a bat saying that color does not exist because he is incapable of perceiving it.  The limits of the creature have nothing to do with REALITY.  To claim otherwise is extremely limited, biased, and unscientific thinking - the very thing that the atheist purports to abhor.

The really interesting thing about bats?  Their eyes have recently been found to have rods AND cones.    Bats have the capacity  to see color, and have daylight vision, but do not use it.    They rely instead on a sense of "vision" that works very well for them - but only when in the dark.   Evolutionarily, way back when... bats could see in color and they could potentially see in color again.   They have the capacity  to perceive light if it was honed and used.  But they have evolved in the night.

Do I really have to point out the metaphor there???  You "see" it, right?

Quote for TODAY... Because I've never thought about it like this before...

"God is real and he shows himself in the “today”. With regard to the past, his presence is given to us as “memory” of his saving work, both in his people and in each of us as individuals; with regard to the future, he gives himself to us as “promise” and hope. In the past God was present and left his mark: memory helps us to encounter him; in the future is promise alone… he is not in the thousand and one “futuribles”. The “today” is closest to eternity; even more: the “today” is a flash of eternity. In the “today”, eternal life is in play."

Pope Francis - Keystone address to the Bishops of Brazil, July 2013

Quote Of The Day....

“Help is desperately needed exactly now. For exactly at the time when the fatal knowledge of how to destroy the entire human race has fallen forever into our hands, the knowledge of morality has fallen out. Exactly when the vehicle of our history has gotten a souped-up engine, we have lost the road map. Exactly when our toys have grown up with us from bows and arrows to thermonuclear bombs, we have become moral infants.”

 (Dr. Peter Kreeft, Back to Virtue, 1986 Ignatius Press) -

What is Truth?

 

John 18:
³⁷ Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” ³⁸ Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”
--------------------------------
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their creator certain inalienable rights....." Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence
------------------------------------------------------

 -----------------------------------------------------
Today more than ever, we need to be reminded of this bond between faith and truth, given the crisis of truth in our age. In contemporary culture, we often tend to consider the only real truth to be that of technology: truth is what we succeed in building and measuring by our scientific know-how, truth is what works and what makes life easier and more comfortable. Nowadays this appears as the only truth that is certain, the only truth that can be shared, the only truth that can serve as a basis for discussion or for common undertakings. 

Yet at the other end of the scale we are willing to allow for subjective truths of the individual, which consist in fidelity to his or her deepest convictions, yet these are truths valid only for that individual and not capable of being proposed to others in an effort to serve the common good. But Truth itself, the truth which would comprehensively explain our life as individuals and in society, is regarded with suspicion. Surely this kind of truth — we hear it said — is what was claimed by the great totalitarian movements of the last century, a truth that imposed its own world view in order to crush the actual lives of individuals. 

In the end, what we are left with is relativism, in which the question of universal truth — and ultimately this means the question of God — is no longer relevant. It would be logical, from this point of view, to attempt to sever the bond between religion and truth, because it seems to lie at the root of fanaticism, which proves oppressive for anyone who does not share the same beliefs. In this regard, though, we can speak of a massive amnesia in our contemporary world. The question of truth is really a question of memory, deep memory, for it deals with something prior to ourselves and can succeed in uniting us in a way that transcends our petty and limited individual consciousness. It is a question about the origin of all that is, in whose light we can glimpse the goal and thus the meaning of our common path.

(Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei #25)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


So, this is what's got me thinking on this dreary Saturday morning.  How do we, as humans, currently define "TRUTH"?  More and more, it seems that truth is being defined as exactly what Pope Francis says above... "scientific know-how".  What we can prove with our tests, our labs, our peer-reviewed journals...what we can see, and touch, and perceive concretely... which hypothesis we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt....that constitutes objective TRUTH in this day and age.  But isn't what can be PROVEN limited by the capacity of the PROVE-ER?  A child cannot determine the molecular structure of water, but a scientist can.  Is the fact that water is two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen not true for the child as it is for the scientist?   And even our most intelligent, brilliant scientists are limited by the capacity of the human brain, by our limited perspective of the universe while sitting atop this tiny rock, by our paradigms that are shaped indelibly by life inside a concrete world.  So, our ability to prove something cannot be TRUTH, because we are as limited as a child (or even less so!) in the grand scheme of things.  Science cannot be TRUTH, because it's sole goal is to discover truth.   So truth, then, HAS to be outside of science, because science isn't discovering itself. 

I read the first line of the Declaration of Independence, and I wonder what atheists think of this statement.... regardless of the later reference to a "creator". "We hold these TRUTHS to be self-evident, that all men are created equal....".  How does an atheist see that phrase?  Can science prove that "all men are created equal"?  In what way are they equal?  Some are healthy, some are born with disabilities or illnesses.  They are not scientifically equal in that regard.  Some people are born with natural intelligence, others less so - not scientifically equal in that regard.  Some are born with beauty, others with deformity.  Some are born into wealth, others poverty.  By what STANDARD, then, can we PROVE WITH SCIENCE that all men are created equal????  Even on a molecular level, at a chromosomal level, not all men are created equal.  What then, is the atheist to make of our very own Declaration of Independence??

The Founding Fathers, however, knew something that I feel like we moderns are quickly forgetting.  Truth isn't what we can prove scientifically.  TRUTH IS JUST WHAT IS.  Truth is REALITY.  And reality, although perceived subjectively based on the eye of the beholder, doesn't change based on that perception.  Truth just IS.  It cannot be voted on, democratized, change based on individual (or even group) opinion.  It IS.  It's the proverbial elephant, perceived by three blind men at different ends.  We can catch glimpses of the truth, but the whole of REALITY is a bit beyond us, from our limited field of vision.  And that is where faith comes in....

 “Faith is not a private matter, a completely individualistic notion or a personal opinion: it comes from hearing, and it is meant to find expression in words and to be proclaimed. For ‘how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?’ (Rom 10:14). Faith becomes operative in the Christian on the basis of the gift received, the love which attracts our hearts to Christ (cf. Gal5:6), and enables us to become part of the Church’s great pilgrimage through history until the end of the world. For those who have been transformed in this way, a new way of seeing opens up, faith becomes light for their eyes.”

 (Pope Francis; Lumen Fidei, #22)

Light, that recurring metaphor from the Bible, illuminates.  It helps us to see reality as it truly is, and not as it is only perceived through limited tunnel vision.  Truth is reality, and bedrock, and it is only through this reality that "all men are created equal".  What was "self-evident" to the Founding Fathers is no longer self-evident to modern-day us, in all our progressive wisdom. 

GOD is reality.  We are the construct.  That's why His name is "I AM".  He is the fiber of reality, and we are the created artwork from His hands. 

Quote of the Day

“Faith is not a private matter, a completely individualistic notion or a personal opinion: it comes from hearing, and it is meant to find expression in words and to be proclaimed. For ‘how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?’ (Rom 10:14). Faith becomes operative in the Christian on the basis of the gift received, the love which attracts our hearts to Christ (cf. Gal5:6), and enables us to become part of the Church’s great pilgrimage through history until the end of the world. For those who have been transformed in this way, a new way of seeing opens up, faith becomes light for their eyes.”

 (Pope Francis; Lumen Fidei, #22)

Replacement Theology or Fufillment Theology?

Say you are a caretaker of a grand old house – a manor owned by a king, who has not visited it in years and years and years.  It’s a beautiful house, you love it just as much as the king who built it all those years ago.  But you get notice that the man himself  is coming to live in this house, and suddenly you realize – wow. This house is not ready to receive such an esteemed guest!  The carpets are shabby, the drapes worn.  There are stains and dirt everywhere.  Cobwebs hang from the ceiling.  There aren’t enough rooms to hold the King and his household.    The manor needs preparation.   Because the King is coming very soon!

So, you, by order of the king, hire contractors.  You hire interior decorators.  You scrub, you clean, you purge and purify.  You paint the walls anew, you pound, you knock down, you build.   And while the house is in the busy “getting ready” phase – you have a way of being which is prepatory.  You get up early and work.  You eat on the go,  you wear gloves to keep your hands clean from the labor.  You cover the furniture to protect it from the dust of the remodel. You coordinate who can be in the house when, to prevent overlap.  There are a million little details to coordinate, as you go through this process. Some things have to go, because they are old and broken.  Some things have to be built, to accommodate His Majesty and his family.

When the King arrives to live in the manor house – it certainly looks different. It is new and beautiful. It is large, with room for everyone! The covers are off the furniture, the walls are repainted, everything is in place, as it should be.  There are no drop cloths.  There are no nails and hammers.  That all has been put away, because the preparations are complete.    You, the servant, are no longer in your grubby work clothes.  You are clean, showered, dressed to the nines.  This is not because the orders to renovate the house weren’t NEEDED.  It’s because the renovations are DONE.  And we now have a new thing, which is actually the OLD thing, but fully prepared to receive it’s owner.  The house is still the house, even if it looks different, because the OWNER of the house never changed.  He did not build a new house somewhere else.  The old house is not REPLACED.    

Do we resent the old ways of doing things?  NO. They were needed to do the work that needed done.  Do we recognize the old for what is has always been, the King’s home?  Absolutely.   This new house is the same house, because it is HIS house.  All those old ways of doing things were necessary, because they were preparation for the KING.  But now the King is here, and he is staying forever in his home. 

Romans j11:17-18
¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root^[f] of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you

Matthew 5:17

The Law and the Prophets

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

  

Quote Of The Day

“The only petition I would have you put forward on my behalf is that I may be given sufficient inward and outward strength to be as resolute in will as in words, and a Christian in reality instead of only in repute.”  - St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyr

The Feast of Corpus Christi: The Real Presence and Transubstantiation

 

I hear claims that Catholics worship Mary, or the saints.  This is wrong, and easily disproven.  It's a simple lack of understanding that PRAYER means "talking to", and not worshipping... that VENERATE means showing respect for, and not worshipping... and that the COMMUNION OF SAINTS tells us that we are one body of Christ, whether alive or dead.   We support one another, we implore our Heavenly Father on behalf of one another... whether alive or dead.  Any time a Christian asks another Christian to pray for them, they are doing no more than Catholics do with the saints or Mary.  We ask others to intercede on our behalf all the time.  Catholics just believe that it doesn't have to be limited to those few people who happen to be currently alive and walking the planet. To say otherwise... a misconception.

 If a person was really to accuse Catholics of something "scandalous" in the eyes of our modern world, they would convict us of something even crazier than "worshipping saints".  They would accuse us of "worshipping bread".   Funny that I've never heard this accusation leveled, amongst the thousands and thousands of anti-Catholic sentiments out there.  If someone DID make such a claim... a true Catholic would have to say "well, uh, YEAH.  I do."  Because the Eucharist is the heart and summit of all that we believe in Catholicism - and it's been that way since the very beginning of Christendom. 

Today is the feast of Corpus Christi, and I've been trying to wrap my head around the concept of transubstantiation - the process by which ordinary bread and wine becomes CHRIST.  This was made a doctrine of the church in the middle ages - but it was the TEACHING of the church from the get go.  In  1 Cor. 10:16–17, Paul states "¹⁶ Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf."

Later in the same book (11:23–29) we read
²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
²⁷ So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.;

But is Jesus speaking metaphorically?  Symbolically?  Is He just giving one more parable, like the mustard seed?   John 6:53–68 tells us definitively NO. 
⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵ for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵ And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. "

Jesus, when the crowds turned away because what He said was INCREDIBLE, did not rush after them and say "NO NO NO!  I was just telling a parable!  It was just a metaphor!".  No.  He let them go, and then turned to the twelve, and invited THEM to leave Him too.  "Does this offend you?"  He asks.  Why would a metaphor offend them?  Why would a parable, or a symbol offend them?  The truly OFFENSIVE thing was that He was NOT speaking metaphorically.  He was asking them to EAT HIS FLESH AND DRINK HIS BLOOD.  How do we wrap our minds around THAT? And yet we today, like the Apostles, can only answer "Lord, to whom can we go?  You have the words of eternal life." 

The Early Christians were not put to death because they were accused of worshipping Mary .  They were put to death on charges of CANNIBALISM.  Honestly.  Because it was so widely known that they believed in the True Presence in the Eucharist.  And yet - consumption of the Eucharist is not in any remote way cannibalism.  Here are what some of the Early Church Father's say about the Real Presence....

"I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible" (St. Ignatius of Antioch Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]).

"Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" (St. Ignatius of Antioch Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1 [A.D. 110]).

 

"We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus" (Justin Martyr First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).

There is much, much more in the literature of the early Church, but for brevity's sake, I won't go into it here.  Suffice it to say that there can be NO DOUBT that what the Christian Church taught from the MOMENT OF THE LAST SUPPER, when Christ instituted the Eucharist... is that Christ was truly present - body, blood, soul and divinity - in these unimpressive earthly elements of consecrated bread and wine.  Today, those who would claim it is a "symbol" only - they are those who, like the crowd at the synagogue in Capernum, find the truth too hard a concept to accept.  

So... HOW does it happen?   How does bread and wine become Christ's flesh and blood?  THAT is what transubstantiation is.  It is different than annihilism, and consubstantiation - two other dogmas that still teach the True Presence in the Eucharist, but differ in the "how".    Annihilism teaches that once the bread and wine become Christ, the bread and wine no longer exist - they are annihilated.  Consubstantiation teaches that Christ comes to be in the bread and wine, but the bread and wine don't go away - they reside side by side with Christ - a dual nature.

I have never had to defend my Catholic faith against annihilism - and I honestly don't know if any Christian sect adheres to this concept as did heretics in early times (it smacks of Gnosticism, really).  But consubstantiation is alive and well, and, being married to a Lutheran - it's a topic of discussion that has come up in my very home.  Historically, I've always taken a somewhat "agnostic" approach to the "HOW", saying "I don't know HOW Christ comes to be in to the Eucharist, but He DOES.  I was commanded by Christ to 'take and eat', not 'take and understand'."  I can rely on faith that God works through the words of consecration and performs a miracle each and every Sunday, without having to understand how that whole process works. 

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that my understanding of "HOW" does matter - not on a microscopic, molecular level; but rather in how I treat the Eucharist, how I orient myself to it in my day to day life.

SO, what of consubstantiation versus transubstantiation?  I look at the bread and wine, and I SEE the bread and wine.  It certainly doesn't look like a man from 1st century Palestine standing there. Consubstantiation, then, would be - at least to me - a very "easy" pill to swallow.  Bread's still there, because that's what I perceive - it's just that Christ spiritually becomes present next to it.  I can wrap my dull little brain around that - it seems more "logical" to me.  Put the bread under a microscope, run some tests, and conclude definitively - YUP.  Still bread.  I can then treat the Eucharist as bread, because that's what it is.  It's SPECIAL bread.  But it's still BREAD.  It doesn't need pomp and circumstance.  I treat it with respect, but what's important is that spiritual side... and that only has an effect once it's inside a person, once it's consumed.   Logical - not too weird.  I can wrap my head around that. I'm not offended by that in any way.

Contrast that to how the Eucharist is treated from the stand point of transubstantiation.   Case in point: today, on the feast of Corpus Christi, I will take my children to mass, where we will kneel in front of the Eucharist, which is housed in a tabernacle of gold.  We will go to adoration, where we will kneel and pray in front of the species, as it is displayed in a golden monstrance, and then we will process - hundreds of us, singing and praying - led by the Eucharist, from one church to the next, to celebrate that JESUS IS HERE, with us HERE in this bread... .PHYSICALLY.  That's a whole lotta pomp and circumstance for a piece of bread.  But it demonstrates the ultimate truth of Christendom.  IT'S NOT JUST BREAD.  We're acknowledging that CHRIST IS PRESENT - truly present - and celebrating as such.

So, what are we to believe?  How are we to treat the Eucharist?  Like JESUS HIMSELF is physically visiting us?  Or like a very special piece of bread that has a spiritual effect once it's consumed?  The Church, from it's inception, has taught one thing, and one thing only in that regard, but  I am a stubborn human being, and I've got to be able to understand for myself  (although I think I'd be a much stronger Christian if I could just believe what I'm taught without having to question everything).  So I've been pondering this, and God has been presenting me with these little "awakenings" at just the right times, as He always seems to do.  And, just as always seems to happen - what He teaches me and presents to me, when I go back and look what the Church teaches - is already there.  Has been there for 2,000 years.  I am not discovering one iota of anything new or novel.   What He presents  to me as this enlightenment, this satori "AHA!" moment, upon further investigation is just what has always been taught in orthodox Christendom.  Which is as it should be.  Because He already fully revealed Himself in Christ, and established His Church. 

So, what I've been slowly realizing, in my overly-wordy way, is how Christ's grace works in US.  Through baptism, through sanctification.  We are told in the Bible that through baptism, we are "reborn" - our old natures are thrown off, and we become a new creature in Christ.  We don't "coincide" with Christ.  He TRANSFORMS us, to something wholly new.  Of course, anyone on the outside can see that we're still here - knocking around inside our same ol' bodies.  We don't look any different on the outside.  Our physical nature remains unchanged.  But our substance has FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED.  We have taken on a divine nature - CHRIST'S nature, through baptism.  God has taken the physical, and changed the spiritual.   We've shed our old self, even though on the outside - nothing looks even remotely different, beside that we're now a little wet.   And it occurs to me that this is what Christ does through the Eucharist as well.  The FORM of the bread and wine does not change -  our senses still perceive bread and wine.  But the SUBSTANCE - that which is essential - has changed dramatically.  It's no longer bread and wine.  It has taken on the nature of Christ - His body.  His blood.  So that we might be just as "transubstantiated" as a piece of bread and a cup of wine was.  So that WE might take on His nature, so that WE might have His life in us. So that He may "abide in us".    To prepare our very beings for the sight of God one day. 

There is such a beautiful UNIVERSALITY in the Church, the depths of which are so deep - after 40 years I have only begun to scratch the surface.  The more I study, the more I pray, the more I UNDERSTAND - the more I see how God works. I see the gifts He has given us, I see His mercy, and His love.  His plan.  Begun, actuated, and completed by Christ.

Viva La Christos!

A Thought On This Trinity Sunday Morning

Sacrament:

Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification.  They use earthly things to signify and impart spiritual changes.  

God created us - body and soul.  We are not just a soul carried around in a body, and we certainly are not just a body without a soul.    Our body is just as much US as our soul is.   To deny this duality of our nature in either direction would put us at the risk of thinking our body doesn't MATTER, when it completely does.  The physical world MATTERS.  That may seem a paradox... we're not to become  too attached to the things of this world, as we are citizens of the next.... and yet we Christians are profoundly aware of how sacred the physical world is -  far more than those who are actually attached to it.  It's why marriage matters.  Why sex matters, having children matters.  Why taking care of our bodies matters.  The world is sacred.  WE are temples of the Holy Spirit.  We are sacred.

We are physical beings, and God uses the physical world as means of His grace.  That water becomes not JUST water when it is used in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  It becomes the means of grace by which we become the sons and daughters of God.   That bread is not just bread - that wine is not just wine - once consecrated, it becomes the real, actual presence of our Savior, to dwell within us, bestowing His grace, transforming us. 

Earthly things.  Oil and the touch of others, heals (James 5:14-15).  Tangible things that we can perceive with our senses conveys a deeper spiritual reality that we cannot perceive.  God works THROUGH those earthly things.  They are inert of themselves, until He animates them. 

We were talking today at church about the Trinity.  I imagine the Trinity like this....

God is the author of all, He is the living Reality.  He has created, out of love, a story.  We are the story.  Humanity, all of creation, we are His book.  As the story goes along (He is writing it, and He knows it's outcome before it is written, although He allows His characters to grow and develop as they will), His narration is the Holy Spirit - the omniscient hand that drives the story, steers it where the author intends.  But there comes a time when God the Author decides to insert HIMSELF into His own book.  He becomes a character in His own story.  This is Jesus.  God the Author becomes Jesus the human character, but is no less God the Author, and no less God the Narrating Holy Spirit.  All are one and the same, but distinct from each other. 

Jesus, then is the ultimate SACRAMENT - grace personified in an earthly thing, a man.  God that we can perceive with our senses - that we can listen to, touch, speak to, see.  And those things that Jesus instituted as means of His grace are no less physical, although in and of themselves they are nothing.  Bread. Wine. Water. Oil.  They MEAN something.  They IMPART something far deeper than we can perceive.

The Angel of Portugal

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You. (First apparition of the Angel of Portugal)

Father Emil Kapaun

It's not often that I quote President Obama (here, or anywhere else).  But I watched him present the Medal of Honor posthumously to Father Emil Kapaun, and I was moved to tears.  This morning, I re-read the transcript of his speech, and was again moved to tears.  I had to share:

This year, we mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War -- a time when thousands of our prisoners of war finally came home after years of starvation and hardship and, in some cases, torture. And among the homecomings, one stood out.

A group of our POWs emerged carrying a large wooden crucifix, nearly four feet tall. They had spent months on it, secretly collecting firewood, carving it -- the cross and the body -- using radio wire for a crown of thorns. It was a tribute to their friend, their chaplain, their fellow prisoner who had touched their souls and saved their lives -- Father Emil Kapaun.

This is an amazing story. Father Kapaun has been called a shepherd in combat boots. His fellow soldiers who felt his grace and his mercy called him a saint, a blessing from God. Today, we bestow another title on him -- recipient of our nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. After more than six decades of working to make this Medal a reality, I know one of Father Kapaun’s comrades spoke for a lot of folks here when he said, “it’s about time.”

Father, as they called him, was just 35 years old when he died in that hellish prison camp. His parents and his only sibling, his brother, are no longer with us. But we are extremely proud to welcome members of the Kapaun family -- his nephews, his niece, their children -- two of whom currently serve in this country's National Guard. And we are very proud of them.

We're also joined by members of the Kansas congressional delegation, leaders from across our armed forces, and representatives from the Catholic Church, which recognizes Father Kapaun as a “Servant of God.” And we are truly humbled to be joined by men who served alongside him -- veterans and former POWs from the Korean War.

Now, I obviously never met Father Kapaun. But I have a sense of the man he was, because in his story I see reflections of my own grandparents and their values, the people who helped to raise me. Emil and my grandfather were both born in Kansas about the same time, both were raised in small towns outside of Wichita. They were part of that Greatest Generation -- surviving the Depression, joining the Army, serving in World War II. And they embodied those heartland values of honesty and hard work, decency and humility -- quiet heroes determined to do their part.

For Father Kapaun, this meant becoming an Army chaplain -- serving God and country. After the Communist invasion of South Korea, he was among the first American troops that hit the beaches and pushed their way north through hard mountains and bitter cold. In his understated Midwestern way, he wrote home, saying, “this outdoor life is quite the thing” and “I prefer to live in a house once in a while.” But he had hope, saying, “It looks like the war will end soon.”

That’s when Chinese forces entered the war with a massive surprise attack -- perhaps 20,000 soldiers pouring down on a few thousand Americans. In the chaos, dodging bullets and explosions, Father Kapaun raced between foxholes, out past the front lines and into no-man’s land -- dragging the wounded to safety.

When his commanders ordered an evacuation, he chose to stay -- gathering the injured, tending to their wounds. When the enemy broke through and the combat was hand-to-hand, he carried on -- comforting the injured and the dying, offering some measure of peace as they left this Earth.

When enemy forces bore down, it seemed like the end -- that these wounded Americans, more than a dozen of them, would be gunned down. But Father Kapaun spotted a wounded Chinese officer. He pleaded with this Chinese officer and convinced him to call out to his fellow Chinese. The shooting stopped and they negotiated a safe surrender, saving those American lives.

Then, as Father Kapaun was being led away, he saw another American -- wounded, unable to walk, laying in a ditch, defenseless. An enemy soldier was standing over him, rifle aimed at his head, ready to shoot. And Father Kapaun marched over and pushed the enemy soldier aside. And then as the soldier watched, stunned, Father Kapaun carried that wounded American away.

This is the valor we honor today -- an American soldier who didn’t fire a gun, but who wielded the mightiest weapon of all, a love for his brothers so pure that he was willing to die so that they might live. And yet, the incredible story of Father Kapaun does not end there.

He carried that injured American, for miles, as their captors forced them on a death march. When Father Kapaun grew tired, he’d help the wounded soldier hop on one leg. When other prisoners stumbled, he picked them up. When they wanted to quit -- knowing that stragglers would be shot -- he begged them to keep walking.

In the camps that winter, deep in a valley, men could freeze to death in their sleep. Father Kapaun offered them his own clothes. They starved on tiny rations of millet and corn and birdseed. He somehow snuck past the guards, foraged in nearby fields, and returned with rice and potatoes. In desperation, some men hoarded food. He convinced them to share. Their bodies were ravaged by dysentery. He grabbed some rocks, pounded metal into pots and boiled clean water. They lived in filth. He washed their clothes and he cleansed their wounds.

The guards ridiculed his devotion to his Savior and the Almighty. They took his clothes and made him stand in the freezing cold for hours. Yet, he never lost his faith. If anything, it only grew stronger. At night, he slipped into huts to lead prisoners in prayer, saying the Rosary, administering the sacraments, offering three simple words: “God bless you.” One of them later said that with his very presence he could just for a moment turn a mud hut into a cathedral.

That spring, he went further -- he held an Easter service. I just met with the Kapaun family. They showed me something extraordinary -- the actual stole, the purple vestment that Father Kapaun wore when he celebrated Mass inside that prison camp.

As the sun rose that Easter Sunday, he put on that purple stole and led dozens of prisoners to the ruins of an old church in the camp. And he read from a prayer missal that they had kept hidden. He held up a small crucifix that he had made from sticks. And as the guards watched, Father Kapaun and all those prisoners -- men of different faith, perhaps some men of no faith -- sang the Lord’s Prayer and “America the Beautiful.” They sang so loud that other prisoners across the camp not only heard them, they joined in, too -- filling that valley with song and with prayer.

That faith -- that they might be delivered from evil, that they could make it home -- was perhaps the greatest gift to those men; that even amidst such hardship and despair, there could be hope; amid their misery in the temporal they could see those truths that are eternal; that even in such hell, there could be a touch of the divine. Looking back, one of them said that that is what “kept a lot of us alive.”

Yet, for Father Kapaun, the horrific conditions took their toll. Thin, frail, he began to limp, with a blood clot in his leg. And then came dysentery, then pneumonia. That’s when the guards saw their chance to finally rid themselves of this priest and the hope he inspired. They came for him. And over the protests and tears of the men who loved him, the guards sent him to a death house -- a hellhole with no food or water -- to be left to die.

And yet, even then, his faith held firm. “I’m going to where I’ve always wanted to go,” he told his brothers. “And when I get up there, I’ll say a prayer for all of you.” And then, as was taken away, he did something remarkable -- he blessed the guards. “Forgive them,” he said, “for they know not what they do.” Two days later, in that house of death, Father Kapaun breathed his last breath. His body was taken away, his grave unmarked, his remains unrecovered to this day.

The war and the awful captivity would drag on for another two years, but these men held on -- steeled by the memory and moral example of the man they called Father. And on their first day of freedom, in his honor, they carried that beautiful wooden crucifix with them.

Some of these men are here today -- including Herb Miller, the soldier that Father Kapaun saved in that ditch and then carried all those miles. Many are now in their 80s, but make no mistake, they are among the strongest men that America has ever produced. And I would ask all of our courageous POWs from the Korean War to stand if they're able and accept the gratitude of a grateful nation. (Applause.)

I’m told that in their darkest hours in the camp in that valley, these men turned to a Psalm. As we prepare for the presentation of the Medal of Honor to Father Kapaun’s nephew, Ray, I want to leave you with the words of that Psalm, which sustained these men all those years ago.

Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely, your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

Freedom

Where there is faith, there is freedom.

 

Guardian Angel

Oh, how little girl makes me smile.  She has mentioned several times lately how upset she is that she doesn't even know her guardian angel's name.  It truly bothers her.  If that angel is going to watch over her and protect her, then they really SHOULD be formally introduced.  I agree wholeheartedly, and told her I didn't know MY guardian angel's name either.  It really is an issue.


And somehow, I don't think making up a name is wholly appropriate either.   They'll just have to remain our anonymous benefactors for now.

Quote Of The Day... because I like this.

By the inimitable Peter Kreeft:

"Man is the only being that is both angel and animal, both spirit and body. He is the lowest spirit and the highest body, the stupidest angel and the smartest animal, the low point of the hierarchy of minds and the high point of the hierarchy of bodies.

More accurately stated, man is not both angel and animal because he is neither angel nor animal; he is between angels and animals, a unique rung on the cosmic ladder.

But whichever way you say it, man must know angels to know himself, just as he must know animals to know himself, for he must know what he is, and he must know what he is not."