Tag: fourth sorrowful mystery

Coping with the Church Scandal One Rosary Bead at a Time

Have you read the book or seen the movie, The Martian?  It’s a story that takes place in the future where a man is stranded on Mars after his crew leaves believing he is dead.  In this story, the stranded scientist, Mark Watney, overcomes all sorts of challenges to stay alive.  It’s one of those stories where everything that can go wrong does go wrong  — storms, failed equipment, communication issues, etc.  But he just works each problem as it came along to survive just one more day.

I think the Church is in a similar situation — everything that seems like it can go wrong is going wrong regarding the abuse scandal and accusations of coverups going up to the pope himself.  The Church is in uncharted territory right now.  We have a retired pope who may have known something about the Cardinals’ abuses who is silent on the matter.  We have a sitting pope who is remaining silent.  We have all sorts of insider leaks pointing to spiritual rot at high levels.  It’s enough to make the strongest of us doubt that the Church will come out of this in a better state.

As individuals, we can’t do much regarding the Church scandals inside the Vatican.  But like Mark Watney facing countless setbacks trying to survive on Mars, we will also face setbacks in the coming months as more news comes out.  The key is not to get overwhelmed and abandon those who need our prayers the most.  We can’t make this a “Vatican-only” issue.  It’s a problem that all the faithful need to do our part.  We just need to take each day in turn and live the best Christian example we can.

Charlie Johnston puts it well in his blog, A Sign of Hope, when he talked about the need to deal with reality before us, not how we want or expect it to be:

You are going to fail at some things, you are going to be wrong about some things, some of your cherished certainties are going to fall. Your faith is dependent on none of these things and your duty is not suspended because of your errors. If your faith is dependent on your certainty that you have it all figured out, it is just a subtle form of pride – and you know what pride goeth before. Follow the example of King David who, after he sinned grievously of his own fault, got up again at the behest of the prophet and lived his duty, even so. You will fail, you will err, you will sin of your own fault. God knows all of this. He waits to see whether, after each failure, you will get up and start again, humbly living your duty with steadfast resolve even though your fault is ever before you – thus trusting to Him, and not to your own virtue.

Charlie’s words remind me of the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus Carries His Cross.  Jesus fell multiple times under the cross.  Each time He resolved to get back up again and do God’s Will.  He fell under the weight of sin too, our sins.  But Jesus found the strength to not get discouraged about the seemingly hopeless situation He was in and did not give up.  His will to follow through with God’s plan was greater than the pain He felt.  Jesus got back up and completed God’s work one painful step at a time.

And so we too, are called to keep going and live our Catholic faith.  It will be difficult at times when we hear about what is happening inside the Vatican.  But, like I said in my previous article, our faith isn’t dependent on the virtue of men.  It lies on the power and virtue of God Himself.  Pray the Rosary and imagine each bead being one slow (sometimes painful) step out of the darkness and into God’s grace.

The Archbishop of San Francisco wrote a letter about the Church scandal.  In it, he outlines a 3-step plan to keep us moving forward and repair the damage caused by the Church hierarchy.  He asks for:

  1. Praying the rosary daily – and for families, to pray the rosary as a family at least once a week;
  2. Practicing Friday penance by abstaining from eating meat and one other additional act of fasting (e.g., another form of food or drink, or skipping a meal);
  3. Spending one hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament at least once a week

Priests are People Too — Pope Francis’ July Intention

I don’t know if you’ve ever encountered this uncomfortable situation when you were young — running into your teacher outside of school at a restaurant, bank, or supermarket.  I was often confused on how I should act because there was a person who was an authority figure in one context but a “regular person” in another.  It was hard seeing my teacher as anyone other than my teacher.

As I  got older, I realized how isolating that must have made teachers feel if their encounters outside of school with students were so awkward.  To many of the people in their lives, they would only be that red pen using, sticker distributing, detention giving teacher.

The same goes for priests.  Growing up, I always viewed priests, not as regular people with hobbies and interests, but as men who spent all their time conducting Mass, teaching, visiting the sick, and praying.  In my mind, they didn’t watch sports, read non-religious books, play musical instruments, or browse the internet.  Nor did they have normal faults that I could relate to like impatience, selfishness, greed, laziness, etc.  Like teachers, my interaction with priests always felt awkward because I couldn’t figure out how I should act around them.  After all, how do you act normally around someone who has heard all your sins in the Sacrament of Confession?

Pope Francis’ July 2018 intention is for priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests.  It’s important to understand that priests lead hard lives.  In many instances, they are away from their friends and families and the area where they grew up.  They are always on call for emergencies like administering the Sacrament of Healing to the sick or need to counsel those who are having difficulties in life.  I’m sure that they would appreciate some normalcy in their lives.  It’s not that they want to get away from their vocation, but instead, not have people act awkwardly around them because of their vocation.

The Rosary Connection

Vocation is a central theme of the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.  In this mystery, God calls Mary to a very specific life.  And that’s what a vocation is — a calling.  Mary responds with a humble yes with an idea that her vocation would be difficult even without full knowledge of what she was accepting.  And so it is for priests who freely enter the priesthood with an understanding that it will be a difficult vocation but probably not fully realizing it until they’ve lived it for years.  The Annunciation should teach us to really discern our vocation and once we say yes to it, to work as hard as we can to make the most of it.  We should be mindful that priests, as learned and experienced as they are, are also discovering new aspects of their vocation and can benefit from the lay faithful’s support.

Moving on to the Fourth Joyful Mystery — the Presentation.  There are many vocations at play in this mystery.  We see Mary and Joseph living their vocation as husband and wife and parents to Jesus.  The presentation shows that they are committed to raising and teaching Jesus their faith.  It’s a model that all parents should imitate — that we are responsible for teaching our children the Catholic Faith.  This means setting a good example and actively practicing our faith.  In keeping with Pope Francis’ July intention, it also means educating our children on religious life and the important role priests play in our spiritual development.  Parents should be open to the idea that their sons may have a calling to the priesthood and help them explore that vocation.

Another important person in the Fourth Joyful Mystery is Saint Simeon.  In the Gospel, all that is really said about him is that he was a righteous man who spent most of his time praying in the temple after the Holy Spirit came to him with a promise.  Doesn’t that sound like the call to the priestly vocation?  Saint Simeon’s life revolved around prayer and he was one of the first to introduce the world to the Chosen One, Jesus Christ.  This parallels the role of priests — introducing the lay faithful to Jesus.  But Saint Simeon’s life must have been difficult; one of solitude and uncertainty.  When you pray this mystery, think of the solitude your parish priest may feel as he works on bringing Jesus to his congregation.

Finally, think of the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery — Jesus carrying His cross.  Jesus was exhausted and close to death as he fell three times and could barely walk.  I think priests must feel the same way at times — exhausted by the years of living their vocation.  We need to be like Veronica; making an effort to comfort and support the priests we know in our lives.  It can be something as simple as inviting a priest you are close to (like the one who married you, baptized your children, etc.) out for coffee or breakfast; something “normal” and relaxing.

What will you do?  Stand on the side like so many people did when Jesus carried His cross?  Or make an effort to let priests in your life know how important they are and that you appreciate their sacrifices?

What the Rosary Tells Us About Judas’ Betrayal

Because we celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension on Sunday, many of us didn’t hear the regular readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles was particularly interesting to me. It highlighted the discussions among the apostles on how to fill the vacancy in the apostleship left behind by Judas.  This reading provides plenty of rosary meditation ideas.

Here’s a clip from the first reading.  You can read it in full here or listen to the audio here.

Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers
—there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons
in the one place —.
He said, “My brothers,
the Scripture had to be fulfilled
which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand
through the mouth of David, concerning Judas,
who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.
He was numbered among us
and was allotted a share in this ministry.

“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
May another take his office.

“Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men
who accompanied us the whole time
the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
beginning from the baptism of John
until the day on which he was taken up from us,
become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

The downfall of Judas is interesting to me for many reasons. Judas was someone who was as close to Jesus as anyone could have been. He was in the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples and had an understanding of Jesus teachings no one else had. Remember, the apostles understood Jesus on a different level than everyone else. In Mark 4:11, Jesus said He talked in parables to people because “the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you [the apostles], but not to them [the people].“ Judas had been given all these graces and yet he threw them away for 30 pieces of silver. Judas exemplifies the inherent weakness of the human spirit; that we willingly give away so much for so little.

We may not be one of the twelve apostles, but we know Jesus through the lens of history and Church teachings. We know the tremendous gifts God offers us and yet we so readily throw them away like Judas did. How?  Maybe we skip going to Sunday Mass because we would rather watch a football game or sleep in. We break fasts because that Snickers bar looks way too tempting. We skip prayers because there is something good on TV. We engage in sinful activities substituting happiness through God’s grace with empty pleasures. Whenever we sin, we are like Judas giving away so much in return for so little.

“At least at Mass I could have coffee and donuts afterwards.”

Judas’ story also shows us just how much freedom God gives us. Even as one of the twelve apostles, Judas freely left and betrayed Jesus.  We know from the Agony in the Garden how scared Jesus was of his crucifixion.  He had all the power to stop Judas if He wanted to.  But it was so important to Jesus to let people freely chose to follow or reject Him that He accepted Judas’ choice to betray Him. We never fault Jesus for Judas’ betrayal. And hence, we shouldn’t feel like we have failed when those closest to us turn away from their faith or fall into a life of sin. If Jesus could be betrayed, any one of us can also be.

The Rosary Connection

Think of the Fifth Joyful Mystery and how Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple after they had lost him. We lose Jesus whenever we sin but we return to His grace when we look for and find Him in the Sacrament of Confession. Jesus is always willing to welcome us back. Even Judas could have received forgiveness if he had only looked for it. After all, Peter denied knowing Jesus but returned and was strengthened because he understood Jesus’ ability to forgive him. The Fifth Joyful Mystery should remind us that the choice is always ours on how we want to deal with our sin. Do we want to wallow in it and have it ultimately consume us like it did Judas? Or do we choose to seek God’s forgiveness and return to His grace?

Finding Jesus in “His Father’s House”

We should also think about those who have their own Judas in their lives — those who have loved ones who chose a life of sin. Think about them when you pray the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery. They have heavy crosses to bear that may not be entirely of their own doing. But it weighs them down all the same. We pray that those who are rejected in favor of sin have the strength to carry on whether that means continuing to reach out and help those who have turned away from God’s path or accepting that sometimes we can’t bring people back from their sinful ways through physical actions. And when I say accept, I don’t mean give up. We should always continue to pray for lost souls because while we may not be able to change their hearts, the Holy Spirit can.

We Pray…

Lord, please forgive us for the times we’ve acted like Judas. Provide strength to those who feel betrayed by those closest to them. Help those who wallow in sin and let them know that they can always choose to return to you through your sacraments.  Amen.

Learning the Power of Charity from the Early Christian Church

In this article, I’m going to focus on last Sunday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  It’s a short passage describing early Christian life.

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.

This is the type of passage from the Bible people love to use when claiming the Catholic Church endorses socialism.  After all, it talks about everyone selling their personal property and putting the proceeds into the hands of a select few to be distributed to those with the most need.  Were Jesus and His apostles promoting socialism thousands of years before Karl Marx?  And are those of us who own property living in sin because we aren’t selling it all and giving it to charity?

English: Statue of Marx and Engels. A part of ...
English: Statue of Marx and Engels. Did they plagiarize their ideas from the Acts of the Apostles?

I think the main difference between what the early Christians did and socialism is that there aren’t signs that the apostles were forcing anyone to sell their property and give it to them.  The early Church leaders weren’t trying to set up a new economic or political model.  They were simply facilitating a process where those with more could help those with less.  The passage provides no sense of coercion but instead says that early Christians were of one heart and mind by wanting to help each other any way they could.

To me, the take away from this passage from the Acts of the Apostles is that if we truly want to follow Jesus then we should use our resources and talents to help the needy.  Jesus calls us to perform acts of charity, not greed.  He wants us to put a high importance on others’ needs instead of our personal desires.  The Church asks us to make this act of faith; that when we choose to help those in need we will be aided in our needs in return.  That is a scary idea and many of us come up short (I know I do).  Like other aspects of our faith, it’s a process that we continually refine throughout our lives.  Maybe it starts with donating more to charity or spending more time doing charitable acts.  It may mean looking beyond your concerns and thinking about the needs of those around you.  It’s even just helping someone who needs it rather than ignoring them and going about your business.

Your Rosary Meds

When you pray the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, think about Saint Veronica who wiped Jesus’ face as He carried His cross.  It was a simple act that in the events of that day didn’t change anything.  Jesus still suffered and died on the cross.  But the Church recognized Saint Veronica’s small act of kindness by beatifying her.  She saw Christ suffering and she did whatever she could to ease that suffering.  She could have stood still out of a sense of fear or hopelessness.  But she didn’t.  She showed that even small acts of kindness are saintly actions.

Like Saint Veronica, we too should recognize those who are in need and help them however we can.  That’s what the early Christian Church did.  That’s what Saint Veronica did.  That’s the model we must follow.  The Church entrusts each of us to do our small part in helping those in need.  When we all do our part, each small act adds up to huge changes.  When you pray ask yourself, are you doing your part?

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What the Rosary Teaches Us About Spiritual Persistence

As a father of two boys, I can sympathize with those who face the never ending battle of trying to keep a clean house.  No sooner have I vacuumed the floor that one of my boys starts jumping on the sofa and knocks down a leftover bowl of cereal.  Or I just finish cleaning a room and they dump a bin of legos on the floor and start building.  On Catholic Exchange, Sam Guzman relates the experience of keeping a clean house to keeping a clean soul in his article:

At any rate, I’ve noticed that, just as a clean house quickly descends into disorder and must be constantly cleaned, so also our souls need constant care and upkeep. We must always be beginning to put them in order again.

There are days when our children have made such a mess of things that cleaning up seems a hopeless task. My wife and I look at each other and don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Yet, we begin again.

In this life, holiness is found in beginning again and again. It is constant examination and conversion and regeneration of heart. Holiness if found in repentance. And repentance is not merely feeling sorry that you sinned. It is rather a re-turning to God—a thousand times a day if necessary.

My kids’ room 5 minutes after cleaning it

I call this never ending practice of conversion spiritual persistence.  Spiritual persistence is continuing to pray and have faith in God’s plan even when it seems fruitless.  When I pray the rosary and ask God for help building my spiritual persistence I meditate on Jesus carrying the cross in The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery.  Jesus was literally beaten down carrying the cross with no hope for relief.  Each time he fell down and got back up, he only had more cruelty and torture to look forward to.  And yet, Jesus got back up and began walking again towards his crucifixion.

I think we all have moments when we ask ourselves, “what’s the point?”  Why should I suffer for doing the right thing instead of taking ethical or moral shortcuts?  Why should I fast?  Why should I go to Sunday Mass?  Why should I go to Confession?  What good will these do since I’ll just go about sinning again in the future anyway?

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( ) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes we can see our faith more as a cross than a blessing.  We too often focus on what we give up or the effort required and not the benefits.  Part of the challenge is that the sacrifice we feel immediately while the joy and grace are often delayed or is so subtle we don’t feel it.  As an analogy to keeping a clean house, we so often tend to dread the steps needed to make a house clean that it often overshadows the joy of having a clean house.

This is where meditating on the fourth sorrowful mystery of the rosary becomes important.  It puts all these perceived inconveniences into perspective.  Jesus endured far worse doing his father’s will.  If Jesus saw the importance of his Passion, we should ask God to help us see the importance of trying to live a spiritually healthy lifestyle.  We may not always like housework, but we understand the importance of maintaining a clean house.  And we may not always enjoy the obligations our faith puts on us, but we pray the rosary to understand why it is so important that we follow God’s plan.

As we near the end of Lent, many of us probably feel beaten down and tired.  We may be tired of fasting, abstaining from meat, the increased prayer, etc.  But instead of focusing on pain, let’s ask God to help us see the joy that comes from these Lenten practices.  The joy that comes from letting go of some of our worldly pleasures and replacing them with God’s grace.  The joy in understanding that we will one day find true happiness in Heaven due to our spiritual persistence in this lifetime.

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Learning Perseverance Through Rosary Prayer

Perseverance is not a word exactly tied to pleasant thoughts.  The definition is “steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or despair.”  One does not persevere unless there is an element of unpleasantness.  Take physical exercise for example.  You gain strength only by working through pain and fatigue.  Or think about a healthy diet.  You have to deny yourself the temporary pleasures of cookies, cakes, and other sweets to achieve the more long term goal of staying fit and avoiding diseases.  What about our spirituality?  Does perseverance play a role in praying the rosary?

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Feel the burn!

I’m not going to get all kumbaya on you.  Yes, I know that the rosary is a great prayer and I’ve spoken about its benefits for the last six years.  But that doesn’t mean the rosary is an easy prayer or very relaxing for that matter.  It is a prayer where we must demonstrate perseverance.  And as time goes on, it seems like persevering through rosary prayer becomes an even larger challenge than in past generations.  We live in an age where attention spans are narrowing.  If a three minute YouTube video is considered long, then 20 minutes of rosary prayer is an eternity.  The rosary can become repetitive and boring when compared to the instant gratification most of us have at our fingertips via our smartphones, computers, and televisions.

Now before you start saying that I’m a rosary hater, keep in mind that I’m echoing the same sentiment as St. Louis de Montfort in The Secret of the Rosary.  He writes in his 43rd rose about how we have to fight distractions and persevere through the rosary to strengthen our faith:

Even if you have to fight distractions all through your whole Rosary be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is hard to say and you have absolutely no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle, I know, but one that is profitable to the faithful soul. If you put down your arms, that is, if you give up the Rosary, you will be admitting defeat and then, having won, the devil will leave you alone. But at the Day of Judgment he will taunt you because of your faithlessness and lack of courage. “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater.” He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully when he says even the very smallest prayer he will also be faithful in great things. We can be absolutely certain of this because the Holy Spirit has told us so.

I’ve said it before, rosary prayer is a spiritual exercise.  Much like running that extra mile even when you’re tired, praying the rosary devoutly in the face of the seemingly boring repetition will strengthen you spiritually.  Perseverance isn’t the act of enduring one large hardship.  Many of us can muster the strength to face one large challenge.  It’s the act of overcoming a series of hardships, both large and small, over a long period of time.  But if you can persevere in praying the rosary devoutly day in and day out, then you’ve proved to yourself that you have the ability to persevere in resisting sin and temptation as well.  Like exercise,  rosary prayer’s little gains start to show incremental, if not exponential, returns in the long run.

Not only is praying the rosary itself an exercise in perseverance, the mysteries also teach us that perseverance brings us closer to God’s grace.  The most obvious one is the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery — Jesus taking up his cross.  Three of the stations of the cross explicitly call out Jesus falling and getting back up.  Jesus endured the pain and hardship because he understood the importance of doing God’s Will.  Similarly, we are called to live God’s Will even when it proves difficult or the rationale is incomprehensible.  When life gets difficult, many of us give up and become angry with God because the suffering makes no sense to us.  But the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery teaches us to instead put our trust in God’s plan even when we cannot understand it.

Perseverance, whether it’s praying the rosary routinely or continuing to love God in times of great hardship is the ultimate form of faith.  You tell God, “I may not understand why you asking me to endure these hardships, but I will because I love you and I know they will ultimately bring me closer to you and your kingdom of Heaven.”  That is the essential nature of faith — loving God even when he asks you to persevere through hardship.

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Get Up and Make the Most of Lent

My wife turned to me the other day and said, “I really don’t feel like it’s Lent right now.” I replied that I felt the same way. As parents, every day of our lives feels a bit “Lentish.” We continuously sacrifice our time, money, sleep, and freedom to raise our boys the best we can. For 365 days a year parents have to sacrifice those little luxuries that others just put off for 40 days.

But before I give myself a Purple Heart for the sacrifices I’ve made in the parenting line of duty, I have to recall the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the rosary — Jesus Carrying the Cross. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Jesus endured and sacrificed a lot during His ministry and particularly during His Passion. No one would have been too critical of Jesus if He never got up from one of His falls under the weight of the cross. After all, He was in a human body that could only take so much punishment. And yet, He dug down deep, got up, and kept moving knowing that His earthly life was only going to get worse.  Why?  Because His love of God and doing His Father’s will outweighed all the pain and suffering.

Icon of Jesus being led to Golgotha, 16th cent...
Icon of Jesus being led to Golgotha, 16th century, Theophanes the Cretan (Stavronikita Monastery, Mount Athos). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We should follow Jesus’ example in His Passion and dig down deep and find that extra spiritual energy during Lent. It’s not like we have a sacrificial quota and those who make sacrifices all year are exempt or can take it easy during Lent. It’s actually just the opposite. God calls the spiritually fit and conditioned to push themselves even further.  Jesus was the most spiritually fit person to walk the earth and He pushed Himself through the Passion and ultimately Crucifixion.  God asked that of His son so surely we can do whatever small things God asks of us this Lent.

Even if you pray, fast, and live a Catholic life all year around, Lent is the time to go that extra mile.  Like Jesus getting up after a fall and carrying His cross, we can all do a little more to better connect with a God who loves us and we should love in return. It doesn’t matter whether practicing your faith begins and ends one hour every Sunday or if you are Pope Francis, there is always a little something more you can do during Lent that you don’t do other times of the year.

To help, I found this article on Catholic Exchange about making the most of Lent. It’s still early in the Lenten season so if you’re off to a slow start (I’ve accidentally forgot that I gave up snacking twice already), give this a read and hopefully it will jumpstart your Lent.

For the impatient, here’s the article’s outline:

  1. Prayer
  2. Reconciliation and Peace
  3. Penance
  4. The Bible,The Word of God
  5. Almsgiving
  6. The Three T’s
  7. Joy
  8. Daily Mass and Communion
  9. Conquer Your Own Devil
  10. Mary and Lent
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Heaven is Other People

Want to know the secret to a long and healthy life?  I’ll give you a clue, it doesn’t come from some pill derived from a Far Eastern plant root.  It doesn’t come from a self-help book containing “ancient” wisdom kept secret by the Masons.  It doesn’t come from going to the gym five days a week or sticking to a paleo diet.  It comes from… people!  And no, I’m not talking about Soylent Green.  I’m talking about marriage, family, community, and prayer.  The Catholic San Francisco ran this interesting little piece last week where they talk about how marriage and religiosity are important factors in living a long life.

“The health benefits of marriage are so strong that a married man with heart disease can be expected to live, on average, 1,400 days (nearly four years) longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart,” said Dr. Scott Haltzman, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

“This longer life expectancy is even longer for a married man who has cancer or is 20 pounds overweight compared to his healthy but unmarried counterpart,” Haltzman added. “The advantages for women are similar.”

Couples with higher levels of religiosity “tend to enjoy greater marital satisfaction, fidelity and stability, with less likelihood of domestic violence,” according to a compilation of studies by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank.

Right now I’m taking this research on faith since I’m a father of two boys that are sending me on the express lane to gray hair.  I’m not quite sure how being a human jungle gym and getting no sleep will exactly extend my life expectancy.  Then again, maybe chasing after my toddler and rocking my infant to sleep does have a healthy workout aspect to it so maybe there is a grain of truth to the health benefits of married and family life.

These studies showing the countless benefits of marriage, family, and prayer make intuitive sense to me.  When you feel like you are part of a community, whether it be the small family circle or a large parish, you belong to a group of people who mutually reinforce and support each other.  In other words, you don’t face life’s struggles alone and you don’t don’t live solely for yourself and your desires.  We need that occasional second opinion that pushes us to try harder or put the brakes on our impulses.  Personally, I know that I act differently now that I’m a husband and a father then when I was single because I know there is a lot more depending on me to be my very best.

This is also why the rosary is such a powerful prayer for both your physical and spiritual health.  When you pray the rosary and meditate on its mysteries, you hopefully arrive at an understanding that you are also part of a larger community — the community of Christ.  You are connected to our Mother Mary, the saints, angels, and the departed in Heaven.  You are also connected to all the other people united in prayer.  I truly believe that the rosary helps you realize that there is so much more to your life than just your immediate needs and desires.  You not only understand that there are others looking out for you, but you also realize that there are opportunities for you to help someone else.

For example, when I pray the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery, Jesus taking his cross, my initial intentions revolve around asking the Lord for strength to do his will even when my crosses weigh me down.  But then I remember that I have the ability to help others carry their crosses and lighten their burden.  I ask God to give me an awareness of how I can help others in my life.  My rosary prayer may start with asking God to help me but they often end with me thinking how I can help others.  To put it another way, my rosary prayers usually start with an inward focus but end with me thinking outwardly about my role in the greater community of humanity.  And when millions of people do the same in their prayers, we become a huge community of individuals helping each other and bringing out the very best in each other.

For those of you who visit RosaryMeds regularly, there is a link on the left-hand side you may have overlooked.  The site is called “Come, Pray the Rosary” and is a 24/7 rosary prayer that you can join in at any time and also post intentions.  When I first came across it, the site maybe had a dozen people praying together at any given time but now it always well over 100 (140 at the time of this writing).  It really drives home that the rosary is a community prayer.  Plus I love the almost hypnotic quality of the website’s intro music.

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Is Morality an “All or Nothing” Proposition?

I read many articles dissecting Paul Ryan‘s answer on the abortion issue in the vice presidential debate last week. Ryan’s response disappointed many people when he said he would support laws that outlaw abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. Because he added that exception, many people dismissed his entire stance as not being genuinely pro-life. You can read more about it on the political blog or news site of your choice. But to me this appears to be one of many case where people dismiss someone’s intentions or efforts to do good (or reduce the amount of bad) because it doesn’t instantly bring about the fullness of Jesus‘ teachings. It seems like every election season there isn’t just a battle between two candidates, but also between the “all or nothing” and “incremental improvement” camps as well.

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We have to be careful when evaluating people’s intentions to bring about an eventual good end. For example, someone’s moral position cannot introduce an evil as a way of bringing about good (“the ends don’t justify the means” argument). But often, like Paul Ryan’s approach, no new evil is introduced by reducing the number of abortions in the general case and making exceptions in the edge cases for now (with the possibility of tackling them later). It’s accepting a political reality that the greatest good comes about one step at a time and rarely happens all at once. Nearly everything in life comes about in steps whether it be education, physical skills, spirituality, laws, and culture.

In my opinion, the “all or nothing” approach comes from people who are trying to justify their support of a position the Church opposes by making some sort of shaky moral equivalence  It’s a convenient way of convincing yourself that all politicians are really just the same so it doesn’t matter in the moral sense who you support. For some people, since Romney and Ryan would not outlaw 100% of abortions right away, they are just as pro-choice as Obama and Biden so the is no moral difference between the two on the abortion issue. I feel silly just writing that and hopefully you feel silly reading it. But if you’ve been on the Catholic Answers forums long enough, that is exactly the type of false logic many people hold.

Taking the logic of the “all or nothing” crowd, why should we help the poor since we cannot eliminate poverty entirely? Why should we treat the sick if we can’t end all illness instantly? Why fight for reforms in the justice system since our legal system will never be perfect? Why fight for freedom and liberty for some people if we cannot free all people around the globe? We fight these battles because we know that while we cannot help everyone, we do help many. After all, what is charity but trying to make small differences in some people’s’ lives? While I would love to wake up tomorrow to a world where there are no abortions, I’ll take a world where there are fewer abortions tomorrow than there are today. And if we all have that mindset where we fight to reduce the number of abortions tomorrow (even if just by one) then one day we might wake up to a world where there are no abortions at all. And those we save along the way will turn out to be our neighbours, our friends, our co-workers, our brothers or sisters, maybe our spouse, our parents, and so many other people who touch our lives who otherwise would not exist if we rejected every measure to do good because it wasn’t the ideal solution.

What Does the Rosary Teach Us?

What does the rosary teach us about how to face these social, political, and moral issues? Does it teach us that we should keep fighting for what is right and make small gains where we can or should we accept nothing less than the ideal solution? Jesus taking up His cross in the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery represents how the greatest good comes about one step at a time. Imagine how painful it must have been for Jesus, tired and beaten, to carry His cross to His crucifixion. Every second must have seemed like an eternity of anguish and despair. But Jesus showed resolve and determination knowing that His suffering was to bring about the salvation of all humanity.  Jesus’ Passion was a slow process that had its literal ups and downs but was always moving in the direction of redeeming all of humanity. And so we should remember this mystery when the things that we want and fight for don’t seem to come fast enough. We must remember that God‘s time is not our time. His plan may not necessarily be our plan. But we should all strive to live like Jesus in His Passion where we must endure the challenges and hardship understanding that living our faith is a process, not something that can happen instantly.

Icon of the Pentecost

Another rosary mystery that comes to mind when I think about how we must show patience for God’s plan is the Pentecost in the Third Glorious Mystery. When God sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the world did not instantly change that day. In fact, the outside world remained the same. And the Holy Spirit did not fill the apostles with the power to instantly convert all people to the fullness and truth of Jesus’ teachings. The apostles still had a long journey in front of them that would take them to the ends of the earth preaching the Gospel. The Church continues that mission thousands of years later of converting one soul at a time. Jesus’ message of love exists today because the early Church showed patience and endurance in spreading the Good News and didn’t quit because they couldn’t instantly convert the hearts and minds of all humanity.

What are your thoughts? Should we accept small and sometimes imperfect solutions to problems or do we wait and accept nothing less than the ideal solution?

 

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Gospel for February 13, 2011 — Raising the Bar

Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments...
Image via Wikipedia

The Gospel for Sunday, February 13, 2011 is from Matthew 5:17-37.  In this reading Jesus extends the Mosaic law on topics such as murder, adultery, divorce, and swearing oaths.  He challenges people to work even harder to have a loving relationship with God.  For example, while the Mosaic law said “thou shalt not kill,” Jesus “raises the bar” saying that you should not even have grudges and be hateful towards others.  Jesus desires that we build up a strong faith that can endure through any of life’s challenges.  He encapsulates this attitude in the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the rosary, The Carrying of the Cross, as He kept moving towards His crucifixion and eventual resurrection despite the pain and suffering.

Jesus extends the Mosaic law partly because the Jews had grown too complacent following the rules.  They were following each law just for the sake of following them and not so much out of a love of God or to improve themselves.  Like someone who had grown too accustomed to a particular exercise routine, the old laws no longer sufficed for building a strong relationship with God.  As Jesus said later in Matthew 19:8, the laws that Moses gave to the Israelites were necessary because they were not ready to accept the full law as God intended.  In technical terms, the original Mosaic law can be thought of as the “beta” version of the law.  It contained many of the essential features but was not completely finished.  And so Jesus’ extensions completed the law as God always intended.

Whenever we feel like God has put a huge burden on our shoulders, let us remember the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery where Jesus took up His cross.  He suffered greatly and fell repeatedly under the crushing weight of the cross.  And yet, God gave Him the strength to get up and keep moving forward.  And although Jesus prayed that God would spare Him such an ordeal, God did not remove that challenge but instead gave Jesus the strength to endure it.  This rosary mystery should show us that we too can endure and ultimately triumph even when it seems like the challenge is too much.  Moses and Jesus did not give us these moral laws with the intent that we will ultimately fail to follow them.  Quite the opposite.  God gave us these laws because He knew we could handle them and that they would ultimately make us stronger in our faith.

Is living according to God’s laws challenging at times?  You bet!  But progress is never made when the road is easy.  Our relationship with God and each other are strengthened when we take up the challenge to live according to His laws.  Only when we take up our crosses and really make the conscious decision to live for Jesus can we truly say that we have a strong relationship with Him.  This idea of challenging ourselves reminds me of JFK’s famous speech about going to the moon.  We didn’t do it because it was easy, but because it was hard.  The same can be said about forging a relationship with Jesus Christ.  View this short video and replace “go to the moon” with “build a relationship with God” to see what I mean

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