tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66685949874367929202024-02-07T02:58:39.287-05:00Getting to the PointA blog by Fr. Denis LemieuxFr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comBlogger1382125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-49038503300233685292021-04-02T09:50:00.003-04:002021-04-02T09:53:22.356-04:00Look Upon The One<span id="docs-internal-guid-7e69c8c7-7fff-598b-e45d-1a4331bdb279"><span id="docs-internal-guid-adcb30ac-7fff-4326-638e-1a25fe63df36"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This Good Friday liturgy has something of a contemplative tone to it. It is subdued, stately, measured in its rubrics and structure. It is as if the Church is simply bidding us to quiet our hearts and look upon the Lord in his Passion and Death. That is what ‘contemplative’ means – to simply gaze on him – ‘they shall look upon the one they have pierced’. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My own contemplation of this liturgy in past years has mostly revolved around either the proclamation of the Passion according to St. John which we just heard, or around the rite of the veneration of the Cross. To hear what Christ has done, and to fall down before him in veneration and humble gratitude – thank you, Jesus, thank you so much. We adore you. Those have always felt like the two tent poles of this liturgy for me, anyhow.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But this year my eyes and my heart have been drawn to the part of the liturgy that falls between these two, namely the lengthy Solemn Intercessions the Church offers to Christ in this liturgy. Perhaps it is because like all of us I am so aware of the deep needs of the world right now and the sufferings of so many people in so many countries for so many different reasons, but this year, at least for me, the heart of the service has shifted to these solemn intercessions.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this week in poustinia as I pondered that aspect of this liturgy, which I have to admit I’ve never given much thought to in the past, a phrase kept going through my mind which seems both oddly appropriate and wildly inappropriate to what we’re doing here. And it is that ‘Well, we’ve got him where we want him – he can’t get away from us now!’ We’ve got him pinned down, so to speak, and so we pour out our hearts before this Lord who is suspended before our eyes, minds, and hearts, and we tell him just about everything we need to tell him – everyone in the Church, everyone in the world who needs his help. He can’t get away from us -we’ve got him where we want him.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so I have been meditating on that all week – the God who is in our clutches, so to speak, and who we can therefore put our whole need and the need of all before Him. But of course that’s not quite right, either. Because the Lord did not fall into our hands – He put himself there. It’s not that we have Jesus where we want Him – Jesus is exactly where He wants to be, on the Cross, on the altar, in this liturgy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so we have this Lord who is like this (cruciform), hands extended, fixed in this posture not only, I would say, for three hours on the cross but always. Because this is not only the position of Christ on the Cross, not only the position of a man extended cruelly on two pieces of wood to the point of death. This is the stance of God the Father towards all His creation, always. Our Father God stands before us, if we had eyes to see, with arms fully extended to welcome, to embrace, to take us into His heart, to receive from us all we are, all we hold, all we carry, all the outpouring of our hearts. The Son can do nothing of His own accord, He can do only what He sees His Father doing – the Father is not crucified for us, but He is laid wide open for the whole human race made in His image to come before and to pour out our hearts to Him.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so… contemplation. We have heard the story of God’s great love for us, demonstrated irrefutably in His Son’s suffering and death for us. We will in a few minutes come before Him to bow down and worship, adore and venerate, and a few minutes after that the Lord Himself will give us his body as our food of immortality. But now we will pour out our own hearts, our needs, the needs of all our troubled world and all its sorrows, knowing that we have him where we want him, and that He has us where He wants us, standing before Him in faith and love to offer Him this act of worship, thanksgiving and supplication, and in that enter deeply, deeply, deeply into the heart of God, the heart of the Father, the life of the Trinity.</span></p><br /><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span>Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-63565609251081209262016-06-08T10:38:00.004-04:002016-06-08T10:39:19.416-04:00Say! I'm Adventure Bound!<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK141"></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">It
was 25 years ago today that I stood up in the St. Mary’s chapel and, along with
my seven classmates, promised to live in ‘poverty, chastity, and obedience,
according to the Madonna House spirit and mandate.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK140"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">While
the MH community will celebrate our jubilee later in the summer (today’s focus
being those making their promises now), this is the actual anniversary of my
commitment to this community and spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">And
it was nearly five years ago that I began this blog, first as a vehicle to
bring the writings of Pope Benedict to a larger audience, later taking other
forms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">Today’s
blog post is my final one, due in an indirect way to the promise of obedience
that I made 25 years ago. I have not been put under obedience to stop blogging,
but I have been given a new assignment in MH that will require me to stop this particular
apostolate for the sake of what I am being asked to do now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">The
day after tomorrow, I will be moving from the priest staff house where I have
lived off and on for the past 15 years, into the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">poustinia</i> of Our Lady of Combermere on Carmel Hill. (For those
reading this who know MH well, this is the poustinia built for and occupied for
many years by Fr. Patrick McNulty.) I am going to be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">poustinik</i>, and this, simply, changes everything.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">What
is a poustinik, some may ask? The Russian word ‘poustinia’ literally means
‘desert’; a poustinik is a ‘desert-dweller’. A Russian style poustinia is a
simple one-room house, sparsely furnished and minimally adorned, where one goes
to pray and be fast and be silent before the Lord. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">Many MH members make a
weekly poustinia; some are called to live in poustinia and dedicate themselves
to this way of prayer and silence more completely.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">Practically,
this means I will be completely in prayer and solitude three days each week.
The remaining four days of the week will begin and end in poustinia (I will be
living there full-time, in other words) but be otherwise spent out in the
community doing my usual priestly ministry—spiritual direction, celebrating
Mass, preparing talks, and the like. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">When
I was given this new assignment, which factually is an entirely new way of life
for me, it was immediately clear that I could not enter into the kind of
silence and prayer I am being asked to do and still be writing and interacting
in the public sphere of social media as I have been. So in addition to my blog
ending, I will also shortly be deactivating Facebook and Twitter and
essentially leaving all of that behind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">As
someone pointed out to me, the author of the book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I-Choice </i>on the perils and challenges of technology is now, well,
choosing! I have come to believe for some time that the real and necessary work
of our times with all their challenges and anguish is to be fundamentally spent
on our knees before the Lord, and not before a computer monitor. Now I am being
asked to act on that conviction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">I
realize that there are many who will miss this blog sorely—I have been told as
much by the few people I have mentioned all of this to. Well, I am sorry about
that, and I am very grateful that my writings have been of some help to some
people. But, ya gotta go where the Lord sends ya, and do whatever He tells ya,
right? And I have absolutely no doubt that this is God’s will for me right now.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">I
am very happy and excited about this move into poustinia—it has been my heart’s
desire for some years, but in all honesty I did not expect it to happen for
many years yet to come. When my director general told me that this was his
assignment for me, it came as an absolute shock… and a great joy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">What
is on my deepest heart about all of this can be best expressed in verses from
the mystical poetry of St. John of the Cross that I have always cherished, that
probably, when I first read them many years ago, planted the seeds of this new
life in my heart. I do not claim the lofty heights of these lines for myself—I
am no John of the Cross. I am a lot closer to being a mistake than a mystic!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">Nor
do these lines entirely apply to me—I will still have flocks and work, for
example, still have priestly ministry and directees and such. But these verses
are nonetheless the deepest aspiration of my heart. They capture for me the
scope, the ambit, the goal of what I am being called to in becoming a poustinik
priest in Madonna House. Here they are:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">Forever at his door<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">I gave my heart and soul. My
fortune too.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">I've no flock any more,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">No other work in view.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">My occupation: love. It's all
I do.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">If I'm not seen again<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">In the old places, on the
village ground,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">Say of me: lost to men.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">Say I'm adventure-bound<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">For love's sake, on purpose,
to be found</span></i></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK140;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK141;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">And so, as I am (please God) found at
last by Love in the silence of God in the poustinia, I pray that I will find
all of you there, too, in the mysterious communion of the Mystical Body of
Christ. Please know that I will be praying for all of you, and for the whole
world, and offering my life daily there for that intention.</span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Goodbye!</span><!--EndFragment-->
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-55223449026705839262016-06-05T08:18:00.003-04:002016-06-05T08:18:52.611-04:00This Week in Madonna House - May 29-June 4<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This week in Madonna House began with the
great feast of Corpus Christi. In MH we do many of the traditional practices
associated with this day. After a festive Mass honoring the gift of the
Eucharistic Lord to the Church, we had exposition and adoration for the whole
day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">At the end of the afternoon we had the
traditional procession with the Blessed Sacrament, beginning at the St. Mary’s
chapel, going to the parish church, the statue of Our Lady of Combermere,
having Benediction in each of those stations, and ending at Our Lady of the
Woods chapel with a final Benediction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Many of our neighbors and friends from
the surrounding parishes join us for that event, including lots of families
with young children. It is a really joyful and beautiful thing, which we all
look forward to (even with the black flies!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I had to leave the procession early
myself, as I had to scoot down to Maynooth for their Corpus Christi event at
which I spoke on ‘The Eucharist and the Year of Mercy’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The other event around which the week
revolved is the annual pre-promise retreat. In Madonna House we have seven
years of making temporary promises before making final promises for life. All
those making their first promises for one year (thus receiving the Pax-Caritas
cross), renewing for two years at a time, or making finals have a three day
retreat beforehand, which we are square in the middle of as I write this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">In fact, I am the retreat master this
year, and am writing this from the building we use for such purposes, Loreto
House. The theme I chose for the retreat is “The Little Mandate: The Treasure
at the Heart of Our Life”. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned on this blog that
2016 is the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Catherine bringing forth the MH
Little Mandate as a public document. She had received it as words in prayer
from God 35 years previously, but had considered them God’s mandate to her
personally. It was in 1966 that she came to realize that these were words for
the whole community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So we have different MH staff coming in
and sharing with the retreatants their own sense of the Mandate and individual
lines of it. I spoke to them myself about the word that has resonated largely
for me lately, which is ‘Arise-go – sell all you possess, give it directly,
personally to the poor.’ Others have spoken or will speak on ‘Go into the
marketplace’, ‘Go with fears into the depths of men’s hearts’, ‘Go to the poor,
being poor’, and ‘Pray always – I will be your rest.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our MH retreats are not all prayer,
silence, and austere living, mind you. It is a celebratory joyful retreat. We
are being feted with delicious meals, beautifully decorated tables, and much
love and care from the community. Pray for the young men and women who are
preparing to either make or renew their commitment to this family by their
promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience. This Wednesday, June 8, will be
our promises day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Beyond that, the big push these days is
planting the vegetable gardens at the farm (this week, carrots, broccoli,
squash, and probably a few more crops I didn’t hear about). Also, the woman in
charge of Cana Colony is very busy indeed getting the camp set up for the
families who will start coming for that experience in less than a month. We will
shortly be having an ‘all hands on deck’ work bee to clean the place up from
top to bottom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The shops are busy with the early summer
tourists, and the men are very busy getting the massive renovations of the women’s
guest dorm, St. Germaine’s, finished before the summer program begins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It has been an extremely dry spring so
far, but as I write this a beautiful rain is pouring down from the heavens – a welcome
gift for the earth and all that grows therein. We also have had quite an influx
of men guests this past week – another welcome gift from the Lord<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So as we move through these busy days
filled with much work and much beauty, be assured of our prayers for you and
for the whole world at this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-13227972231954649842016-06-03T09:39:00.002-04:002016-06-03T09:40:24.766-04:00Freedom, With Consequences<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I want to follow up on yesterday’s post
with the next part of the Mass commentary. There is a unity between what I
wrote about yesterday—the impossibility of receiving the Eucharist in a state
of mortal sin—and what comes next in the Mass.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">After the Lord’s Prayer, the praying of
which signifies the fundamental union with God made possible by Jesus Christ
which will be brought to perfection in the rite of communion, comes the ritual
Sign of Peace in which we express to those immediately around us some gesture
of peace and good will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This has rich scriptural significance. We
can think of the Gospel passage where the Lord tells us to be reconciled with
our neighbor before we can offer our gifts on the altar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Eucharist not only brings to
perfection our union with God, but also brings to perfection our union with one
another in the communion of Christ’s Body, the Church. And as we cannot receive
communion if we are in a state of mortal sin (and hence not in union with God
to start with), so we cannot receive communion if we are not in union with the
Catholic Church, either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This is a painful subject—disunity always
is, isn’t it? But we cannot wish painful subjects away. Now there is a
difference between these two types of union. The question of being in a state
of sin is something only the person can answer—conscience is inviolable, and
only God and the soul can make that discernment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Union with the Church, on the other hand,
is a matter of the outer forum, visible to anyone who knows the facts of a
situation. If a person has made choices in their life that remove them from communion
with the Catholic Church, not only should they themselves not receive the
Eucharist, but the pastors of the Church have a duty to inform them of this
fact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So, someone who is simply not Catholic,
but belongs to some other religion, or who has left the Church for some other
system of belief and way of life. People who have made moral decisions that
publicly declare that they are not bound by or under the authority of the
Catholic Church in any regard. Couples co-habitating without any form of
marriage, or people doing intrinsically evil things in their work lives (the
Mafia, for example, or the owner of a strip club). People who not only struggle
with a homosexual orientation but who are publicly living as gay men or women
in a same-sex relationship. People who have taken a public stand opposing the
Church in its moral or dogmatic teachings—politicians, say, advocating laws
that directly oppose the moral teachings of the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And yes, (since this is the controversy
of the day) people who have not only been divorced but have entered into a
second marriage without having gone through the annulment process for their
original one. Any one of these people in any of these categories may or may not
be in a state of subjective sin—I would never dream of flatly stating that—but
they have indeed objectively removed themselves from the communion the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This is painful, yes. We are all free to
choose what we will believe and what we will do in our lives. But our choices
bear consequences. If I freely choose to, say, write a blog post where I flatly
deny some basic matter of Christian doctrine, I am indeed free to do so. But I
am not free to do so and then continue to exercise my ministry as a Roman
Catholic priest. Freedom yes, but freedom without consequences? No.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So if someone has chosen to reject
Catholicism, they may do so. But they really must not present themselves in the
communion line, then. Reception of the Eucharist is not only about our union
with God; it is also about our union with Christ’s Body on earth, the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is not a question of having to be some
perfect Catholic who gets every answer right on a catechism test and never asks
a question or struggles with a doctrine. Of course not. It is a matter of the
public and manifest stands we have taken in our words and in our actions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For example, you can really struggle with
the Church’s flat statement that sex outside of marriage is wrong. You can not
be at all sure that’s quite correct, and still choose not to move in with your
girlfriend because you nonetheless want to live your life as a Catholic. But if
you and your girlfriend do move in together, you have made a choice to publicly
reject the Catholic faith. See the difference?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And so in the Mass before we go to
receive communion we ritually express all this, first in our praying to God as
our Father and then turning to one another to express our unity as a body of
believers. And only then, in a spirit of deep humility and knowledge of our
unworthiness, do we come forward to receive the Holy Eucharist, the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ, at which point the Mass and all it has signified becomes
our own mystery, our own life, and we are drawn into it in fullness and in
truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Let us pray to receive the Eucharist
knowing what we are doing and being vigilant to receive it worthily and well,
so that it’s fruits may be shown forth in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-37841871540629300532016-06-02T09:18:00.000-04:002016-06-11T19:55:14.112-04:00Don't Get Cocky, Kid<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our Thursday stroll through the Mass has
taken us through the Eucharistic Prayer and into the Communion Rite. This is
the part of the liturgy when those who may do so come forward to receive the
Eucharist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">‘Those who may do so’ – now that is a
phrase redolent with the controversies of our day. What do you mean, ‘may’? Do
you mean to suggest that there are people who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">may not </i>receive the Eucharist? What kind of an outfit are you
running, Lemieux? Who do you think you are, telling anyone what they can and
cannot do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And so on. And so forth. Look, I get it.
The worst thing any North American can imagine is being told that they are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not allowed </i>to do something. We’re North
Americans and we can do anything we want, right? ‘No right, no wrong, no rules
for me, I am free’ – such is the ethos of our culture (thanks, Elsa, for
summing it up for us so tunefully!). Oddly, at the same time as we angrily cast
off anything the Church may have to say to us about what we can and cannot do,
we easily consent to be harried and bullied on all sides by petty bureaucrats
who churn out bushel-loads of regulations covering just about every aspect of
life… but I am getting distracted here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Yes, there are people who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">may</i> not receive the Eucharist (whether
they do so or not is really up to them, as it is not the place of the priest or
other minister in the Communion line to correct people on their decisions). And
the Communion Rite actually gives us a pretty good resume of who may or may not
do so—the rite itself can serve as a good examen for whether or not I should go
up the aisle to receive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The rite begins with the Our Father. In
other words, the reception of Communion brings to perfection something that
already exists, and that is our unity with God. There is so much to say about
the Our Father itself—I have <a href="http://frdenis.blogspot.ca/search/label/Our%20Father">blogged an entire series</a> about it in the past, in
fact. It is crucial to note that we don’t just take our relationship with God
as Father for granted here—it is only ‘at the savior’s command, and formed by
divine teaching’ that we pray this prayer. Our relationship with God is a gift,
not a given.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And so, if we are in a state of serious
sin, if we through a serious free choice to reject the moral law, have broken
our relationship with God, then we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">may
not </i>receive communion. You cannot bring to perfection what does not exist,
and mortal sin has precisely that effect. In a state of mortal sin we may
remember our past relationship with God, we may grieve over having lost it, and
we may truly desire to have it back<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(all
human beings desire God, whether they know it or not) but we do not in that
state of being have it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Now the only person who can discern if
you are in a state of mortal sin is you yourself, and even that, only
imperfectly. Nobody else can examine your conscience for you. But it is a very
good thing not to be presumptuous about these things, not to blithely assume
you’re OK with God. Are you sure about that? Really sure?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This is why frequent confession has
always been recommended by all the spiritually wise, and why a fundamental
attitude of humility of heart and contrition of spirit for one’s sins, mortal
or not, is the true mark of a disciple. ‘Don’t get cocky, kid’, in short
(thanks, Han Solo, for putting it so pithily!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So this is the first principle for
whether one ought or ought not receive communion—are you in a state of sin?
Have you committed adultery, for example (i.e., you are married, and having sex
with someone besides your spouse, and yes that word does indeed apply to people
who have divorced and remarried)? What about theft? Told a lie? Have you been
violent? Abusive, physically or verbally? Fornicated (that is having sex with
someone you’re not married to, for those unclear on that word)? Missed Mass on
Sunday without a good reason (i.e. illness or physical impossibility)?
Blasphemed? You know – basic Ten Commandment stuff. It’s not rocket science.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">If you want to be in Communion with God
and you have fallen into one of these areas of serious sin, the Church does not
leave you without resource. There is available to us the wonderful Sacrament of
Reconciliation—go to Confession, dummy! And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">then
</i>receive the Eucharist!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">If you don’t want to leave off your
serious sin, and you don’t want to go to confession, then you really don’t want
to be in communion with God, at least not as we understand these things in the
Catholic religion. In which case… why do you want to receive the Eucharist in a
Catholic Mass?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">There is whole other aspect that pertains
to whether or not one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">may </i>receive the
Eucharist, but that is for next time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-28259670254358274682016-06-01T07:44:00.003-04:002016-06-01T07:44:37.986-04:00Let's Talk About Chastity<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Last week in this column on ‘gnarly
questions’ I wrote about the basic Catholic theological understanding of the
sexual act and its meaning – an embodied reflection of God’s love for creation
and for humanity, hence an act occurring in a context of irrevocable commitment
(marriage) and ordered towards creativity and life (pro-creative).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I am always amused at the commenters on
such blog posts who feel it is necessary to inform me that Not! Everyone!
Agrees! With! This! Ummm… yes, dear. I am aware that there are actually people
in the world and even in the pews who do not quite agree with what the Catholic
Church teaches about sex and marriage. This is not a well kept secret.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I ended last week’s blog post by asking
‘what about all the people who, under this understanding of sex, cannot morally
engage in sexual intercourse?’ The unmarried, the gay—what about them? Does the
Church then condemn them to a life of misery and loneliness? How can we be so
cruel as to say to people that they must live their lives alone, alone, alone,
forever alone, without love, without companionship, without anyone who cares
for them or for whom they care.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Because of course the only possible way
to have someone in your life who you care for and who cares for you, the only
possible way to have ‘love’ in your life, is to go to bed with someone, right? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Actually, that’s not the Church who says that; that is our world and our
culture that says that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is not the Church who condemns people
to live lonely lives if they cannot find a sexual partner; it is the world that
does that by deciding that the only possible way a person can have a close and
loving relationship in this life is by sexual pairings. There is a problem
here, but the problem is not what the Church teaches—it is that our society has
lost the very concept of friendship and real social networks of care and
concern, treats people as economic cogs in a giant wheel who can only find
respite from the cold isolation of modern urban-industrial life by clutching on
to one another in either long-term (but by no means life-long) sexually
intimate relationships or (more and more frequently) short-term casual hookups.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So let’s talk about chastity. If it just
happens to be true that sexual intercourse bears a divine meaning that can only
be faithfully expressed in marital sex oriented towards life, then what about
the reality that all of us have a sexual drive, have sexual desire, but a
considerable percentage of the population are not able to ethically have sex?
Even if this number is currently inflated beyond what is normal for humanity,
due to economic and sociological pressures that make it difficult for people to
get married (again, a situation that is not the Church’s fault, but society’s),
nonetheless it is a simple fact that even in a healthy functioning society
there will always be a large number of people who should not be sexually
active, according to Catholic moral teaching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This is not a situation of misery and
endless desolation! Our sexuality, our capacity for generativity in love, that
aspect of our humanity that is both a matter of intense pleasure and desire,
but which far transcends the merely physical to reach the level of spirit and
life, identity and personhood—there is much more to it, actually, than its
seeming completion in the act of sexual intercourse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The simple fact is, our existence as
sexual beings means that our whole personhood is in its raw physicality ordered
towards the ‘other’. We are not sufficient unto ourselves. As our bodies
require food for life, so our bodies require another person for love. But as
our bodies’ physical hunger for food points to that deeper hunger, that deeper
life that comes to us from the life of The Other, so our bodies’ hunger for
love and union points us to a deeper Love and a Communion that is far beyond
what sexual union can bring us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Both these basic physical drives—food and
sex—essentially serve in their well-ordered expression to pull the person out
of the fortress of the autonomous independent self into a position of
inter-subjectivity, relationship, need. But as food in the vice of gluttony
becomes food at the service of the ego, at the service of the untethered will,
so sex in the vice of lust becomes mere use of the other to satisfy the
appetite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Chastity—well-ordered sexuality either in
its lawful use in marriage or in celibate continence outside of marriage—is the
virtue whereby our sexuality is held in this deeper context and meaning, and
prevented from its terrible tragic degradation into lust and use. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And the answer to this terrible fear that
sexual continence will deliver us to loneliness and misery lies, not in
abandoning God’s moral order about sex and marriage, but in a spiritual
revolution whereby all of us—married or single—come <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to know and believe that we are made
ultimately not for the other, but for The Other, for God, and that the answer
to loneliness, isolation, and the sadness of our human condition lies not in
flesh and blood but in our entry into the Communion of the Holy Trinity, our
divine destiny in which all the desires of our souls and bodies will be at last
satisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I do realize that there is so much more
to be said on all of this—a blog post can only be so long, and say so much. But
that is what I have to say on the matter, at least in this context.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-71555239259833466642016-05-29T07:12:00.004-04:002016-05-29T07:12:29.590-04:00These Weeks in Madonna House - May 15-29<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">These weeks in Madonna House have been
all about the new life bursting forth all about us. It is the big push for
planting on the farm—in recent weeks we have had work bees after supper to
plant first onions, then potatoes, then cabbage. Broccoli awaits us this week.
For some years now the community has committed itself to a weekly farm garden
bee, and it has proven to be an efficient way for us all to work together to
plant, thin, weed, or harvest, depending on the season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Meanwhile it is apple blossom season, and
what a year for apple blossoms it is. The central feature in the MH main house
grounds is a small apple orchard next to our parking lot and the path to our
chapel. The trees have been thick with blossoms this year, their delicate sweet
scent perfuming the air, the buzzing of many bees letting us know that the
pollinators are doing their job, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Best yet, the apple blossoms coincided
with the first really warm days of the year. In past years we have had late
frosts that have damaged (or in the case of last year, completely wiped out)
the apple harvest. This year, no such misfortune has occurred, and whatever
else we end up eating from our land, it would appear that we will be hip-deep
in apples at this rate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our guest population has had a small bump,
courtesy mostly of the men’s side of things. Several seminarians from
Philadelphia are spending a few weeks with us after their academic year; others
have come to join us as well. Now it is the women’s turn to scratch their heads
as the number of women guests has dwindled to a handful. Any young ladies out
there want to come for a spiritual adventure at Madonna House? The door is
open!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The priests have been busy guys, running
around here and there giving retreats and days of recollection. Two of them gave
or helped to give retreats to seminarians; I gave a day of recollection on the
Year of Mercy near Ottawa; we have had numerous requests lately to cover Sunday
Masses in parishes in the surrounding towns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">A big push right now is Cana Colony, our
MH family camp. For those new to the blog and unfamiliar with it, this is a six
week program we run where as many as nine families can come each week for a
vacation-retreat experience, with daily Mass and a conference and lots of time
together as families. The season starts more or less a month from now, so there
is a great deal of work to get the camp cleaned up and set up to receive the
families. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This is the one apostolic work we do that
actually has a papal mandate, having been the one specific thing Pope Pius XII
personally asked Catherine Doherty to do when she had<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a private audience with him in 1951. It has
always been a very fruitful apostolate, and I personally believe it is the
grace of that papal mandate at work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our gift shops had their big opening last
weekend, which was a holiday long weekend in Canada. This is where we sell all
the ‘nice’ things that come in donation here—collectibles, jewelry, objets
d’art and so on—as well as our MH books and handicrafts. There is also our used
book store. All the proceeds from the shops do not remain in Combermere, but go
directly to missionaries across the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">In Canada the May long weekend is the
typical time people open up their cottage for the year, and this is very much
cottage country, so the shops were busy as can be last weekend. It is a
herculean effort to keep these shops running, but the results are beyond
value—schools, orphanages, hospitals, dispensaries, seminaries, and so much
more receive funding from these little shops tucked away in an obscure corner
of the Ottawa Valley.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Finally, the men are hard at work on the
women’s guest dorm, the upper level of which is well along with being
renovated. Dry walling and painting is occurring at this point, which is always
a good sign that the project is approaching completion. We have been grateful
for the influx of men guests, who have thrown themselves in to that project
with enthusiasm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">That’s about it for now—MH is a busy,
busy place between the farm and the rest of the summer season. In the midst and
through it all, be assured of our prayers for you all and for our troubled
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-59470508103849489702016-05-27T09:05:00.001-04:002016-05-27T09:05:03.795-04:00Living Peacefully in a Kakocracy<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are
pure in heart.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps
had nearly slipped.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">For I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the
prosperity of the wicked.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and
sleek.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">They are not in trouble as others are; they are not
plagued like other people.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers
them like a garment.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Their eyes swell out with fatness; their hearts
overflow with follies…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in
riches.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my
hands in innocence.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">For all day long I have been plagued, and am punished
every morning.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I would have been untrue to the circle of your
children.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed
to me a wearisome task,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I
perceived their end.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them
fall to ruin.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly
by terrors!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">They are like a dream when one awakes; on awaking you
despise their phantoms.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in
heart,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I was stupid and ignorant; I was like a brute beast
toward you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my
right hand.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will
receive me with honor.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Whom have I in heaven but you?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than
you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">My flesh and my heart may fail,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">you put an end to those who are false to you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the
Lord God my refuge,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">to tell of all your works.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Psalm 73<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Reflection
– </span></i><span lang="EN-US">We have a great love for this psalm in Madonna
House. The latter verses of it were set to music by one of our talented
members, and we customarily use that piece on June 8, our Promises Day, the
sentiments therein being so fitting for that occasion: ‘What else have I in
heaven but you – apart from you I want nothing on earth, my body and my heart
faint, but God is my possession forever…’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is significant, though, that all of
this rapturous acclamation of faith comes after a fairly grim depiction of life
in this world. This is a psalm about things being as they should not be, a
world that is unjust. The wicked prosper and grow fat; the righteous languish
and die. Innocents suffer (although unlike the psalmist we may hesitate to glibly
count ourselves among those innocent), while the arrogant and proud, the
evildoers go their seemingly merry way unpunished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And the psalmist is utterly perplexed at
this. As are we, aren’t we? The world has not changed all that much in the past
2500 years or so since this psalm got written. Surveying the landscape of
political and economic life in the year 2016, it is hard to avoid the
impression that we are living more and more in a kakocracy (that’s fancy Greek
talk for ‘rule by the worst’).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Psalm 73 calls us to make a deep act of
faith in the face of such realities. When the world goes awry, as it is wont to
do, when all the tings that should not happen, happen, and what really should
happen never does, it is meant to be a powerful reminder to us, a goad to our
hearts and minds, that in fact we are not meant for this world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">We are made for God, and the happiness of
the human person does not lie in riches and power, in pleasures and vanities,
but rather, ‘for me it is good to be near God.’ We leave the rich and the
powerful, those who do evil in high places, to the judgment of God. I for one
hope that He judges them with mercy, and that all of us can find our true home
in the kingdom of heaven together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">For us who have faith now, though, we
have to be utterly clear about it—happiness is found not in the goods of the
world, but in the goodness of God and our intimacy with Him. That is the final
answer to injustice and, shall we say, ‘income disparity’ in this world. Yes,
we should work for a socially just order if and as we can, but let’s not get
confused about this. We’re not trying to build the kingdom of heaven on earth.
We’re trying to make a world, as Dorothy Day put it, in which it is easier for
people to be good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But this goodness, this beatitude that is
our true goal, is not found in any economic calculus—everyone getting exactly
the piece of the pie they deserve. It is found in the embrace of God and the
intimate communion we have with Him, which far exceeds anything the psalmist
could have imagined. It is our sharing in the very life of the Trinity, made
possible for us in Jesus Christ, that is the portion and inheritance of all who
believe in Him and who seek refuge in Him. And that must always be our
perspective and our purpose as we move through this unjust and at time crazily
confused world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-20550817997753875812016-05-26T09:20:00.001-04:002016-05-26T09:20:27.868-04:00Everything<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our weekly journey through the Mass has
taken us at long last to the end of the Eucharistic Prayer and its concluding
Doxology. This prayer reads:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Through whom you continue to make
all these good things, O Lord; you sanctify them, fill them with life, bless
them, and bestow them upon us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Through him, and with him, and in
him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and
honor is yours, for ever and ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">People:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This final movement in the Eucharistic
Prayer recalls us to a very simple reality that is for all its simplicity very
hard for us to really hold on to, really remember and apply to our lives. It is
this: Christ is everything (Col 3:11).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">That is, He is the absolute center, the
source, the goal of our lives. He is our food and drink, our life and our joy,
our peace and our sure help in every circumstance. To Him all creation is
yearning, from Him all creation derives both its existence and its meaning. He
is the One, the only One, who gives us access to the Father and the life of the
Triune God in which is all the delight and rapture of the human person found,
and He is the One, the only One, through whom all of the blessings of God come
down upon the human race.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Jesus is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it, </i>simply. And this end of the Eucharistic prayer simply expresses
all of this in words of faith, and then does what is appropriate and right—we
give all glory and honor to God the Father through, with, and in Jesus Christ,
united by the Holy Spirit as one body to do so with one another and with Him,
here and now in this liturgy, in anticipation of doing this forever in heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And the people say: Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So living this out seems fairly obvious
to me. It’s not complicated, truly. How is my personal relationship with Jesus
Christ going? How is yours? Are the words of the Gospel ever on our lips and
hearts? Is the name of Jesus readily at the surface of our thoughts and on our
tongues, not (as is so often tragically the case in our fallen world) as a
curse word in anger, but as a prayer of grateful praise and constant
intercession?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Do we turn to Him immediately for help
and guidance in times of perplexity and trouble? Do we turn to Him just as
immediately in times of joy and delight, with thanksgiving? Above all, do we
come to the liturgy knowing that, however else we have done in our daily lives
making Jesus what He truly is—the very center and source, the true King of our
hearts and homes—at the very least we come before Him there to offer the
worship He has commanded us to do (cf. Lk 22:19, 1 Cor 11: 24)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">To live this part of the Mass simply
means to live our lives with Jesus as our constant companion, not our equal for
sure, but our Lord who happens to live with us in close proximity every day. It
means to live our lives in Jesus, to know that He is in fact one with us and
that our lives and His life are one life and that the life we live is in fact
His life in the world as His Body. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And it means to live our lives through Jesus,
always patterning ourselves on Him and on His Word, always going to Him to do,
well, everything we do. When we love, we love through Jesus. When we pray, we
pray through Jesus. When we work, we work through Jesus. When we play and
rejoice and delight, it is through Him. When we suffer and mourn and die, it is
through Him. Nothing is apart from Him, nothing is done without His mediation
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<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I don’t have much more to say about this—it
is so simple, and we either believe it and try to live it, or we don’t. And of
course the Lord does not leave us on our own to flounder about with all this
stuff, but comes to us in a direct and concrete physical way to help us in all
this. And that is where the liturgy takes us next, and where we will go next in
this series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-42574826559284326072016-05-25T09:05:00.002-04:002016-05-25T09:05:35.170-04:00Let's Talk About Sex<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So why does the Church hate gay people?
Why does the Church hate sex, generally? Women? The human body? Pleasure? Why
is the Church so darned hateful, hateful, hateful? Why can’t it just get with
the program like everyone else has?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Ah, gnarly questions, my new blog series!
It had to come around to sex eventually, didn’t it? I want to talk in the blog
post about the basic teaching of the Church regarding human sexuality—not this
issue or that, but the fundamental teaching without which all the ‘rules and regs’
just seem arbitrary, bizarre, and frankly just plain mean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Now I realize full well that at least
some people read the blog who just ain’t buying what the Church is selling on
this matter. I ask those people to at the very least try to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">understand </i>what the Church is saying and
why. At least know what it is you’re rejecting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And of course most people reading this
blog are Catholic and do accept what the Church teaches, maybe with struggles
at times, but nonetheless. For all of you folks, I suggest that the basic
teaching is simple enough, but there are heights and depths in it that need to
be explored and that have implications far beyond the ‘rules and regs’ of what
we can and cannot do in our sexual behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So what is the fundamental thing at stake
here, in this whole messy business of sex? The essential positive teaching, the
teaching about what sex <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>that
determines all of the negative teachings about what sex <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is not </i>(and therefore what we should not do, sexually), is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sexual intercourse has an inherent meaning.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Furthermore, the meaning of sexual
intercourse, the sexual act, is not something human beings have devised, which
can thus be changed at will. It is not something private or individualistic—you
decide what having sex means for you, and I will decide what it has for me. No,
the sexual act has a meaning, and that meaning is created by God. And our whole
sexuality is important—it is not some trivial afterthought of our humanity, but
is a central and vital part of what it means to be human (finally, something on
which the Catholic Church and the most dedicated progressive libertine can
agree!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And the meaning of the act of sexual
intercourse is fundamentally a simple one. It is meant to be a physical, bodily
expression of the love of God for his creation, the love of God for the human
person, you and me, and specifically the love of Christ for redeemed humanity,
the Church. Sex has a sacramental essence—it is meant to be a visible sign of
the invisible reality of God and His passionate love for all He has made. It
points beyond itself to something else<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">To be a faithful representation of God’s
love made flesh in Jesus Christ, reflected and imaged in the actions of the
body in our sexual being, means that we cannot just engage in sexual acts any
old way. The way human beings have sex has to correspond to the way God loves
the world, or it falsifies the reality it signifies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And so God’s love is covenantal,
faithful. God does not love us one day and turn away from us the next. God is
not on again, off again. God does not use us. He is not a ‘friend with
benefits’. God commits himself to loving his creation so much that when it is
broken and wounded He becomes a man so as to be broken and wounded with it, and
when it dies, He becomes a man so as to die with it. ‘For better or for worse,
in sickness and in health…’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So sex must occur within a committed
relationship, and commitment does not just mean ‘until either one of us decides
we’re not happy.’ That is… not what the word commitment means, right? Commitment
means for life. Commitment means marriage. Sex outside of marriage is wrong
because there is no commitment of the one to the other, and so it in no way,
shape, or form corresponds to how God loves us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And God’s love for us gives life, brings
life. God is the creator. His love is fruitful. This time of year the whole of
creation here in the Northern Hemisphere is exploding with new life. God’s
fecundity, expressed through the natural cycles of the earth, is obvious. But
His love in the human person is equally fruitful. Where God is present in a
person’s life, that person’s life increases, there is growth, there is newness,
there is fruit. Always and at all times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So sex that is either inherently sterile
(i.e. sex between two people of the same gender) or sex that has been
deliberately made sterile (by an act of contraception) simply does not
communicate the nature of God’s love. The two people involved may genuinely
care for one another, but nothing can come from this love—no life, no newness,
no fruitfulness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">People counter that the Church has no
problem with an older married couple engaging in sexual intercourse, nor with
couples having sex during the times of the month when the woman is not fertile.
This is because they have done nothing themselves to sterilize themselves, and
the act itself is still ordered towards generativity even though the natural
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<!--StartFragment-->
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
bottom line is that God’s love is faithful and committed, an unbreakable bond,
and God’s love is creative and fruitful, life-giving. Sex, to be a faithful
sacramental sign of God’s love, must be within marriage and open to the
generation of life. And I will say more next Wednesday about all the people
who, therefore, cannot have sex (at least not in their current situation) and
why the Church does not actually hate these people and is not condemning them
to a horrible empty life. Next week!</span><!--EndFragment-->
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-74997121571155041982016-05-20T14:27:00.004-04:002016-05-20T14:27:57.691-04:00From Sea to Shining Sea<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Give the king your justice, O God,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and your righteousness to a king’s son.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">May he judge your people with righteousness,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and your poor with justice.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and the hills, in righteousness.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">give deliverance to the needy,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and crush the oppressor.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">May he live while the sun endures,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">like showers that water the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">In his days may righteousness flourish<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and peace abound, until the moon is no more.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">May he have dominion from sea to sea,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and from the River to the ends of the earth…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">For he delivers the needy when they call,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">the poor and those who have no helper.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">He has pity on the weak and the needy,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and saves the lives of the needy.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">From oppression and violence he redeems their life;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and precious is their blood in his sight…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">who alone does wondrous things.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Blessed be his glorious name forever;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">may his glory fill the whole earth.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Amen and Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Psalm 72<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Reflection
– </span></i><span lang="EN-US">Well, this is not going to be an easy blog post
to write. This psalm has a profound significance, both in its own right—it is
one of the great messianic psalms heralding the king who will establish
righteousness on the earth—and for me as a Canadian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The official motto of Canada is ‘from sea
to sea’, and Canada is formally known as the ‘Dominion’ of Canada, precisely
quoting from this very psalm: ‘May he have dominion from sea to sea.’ Canada,
my beloved home country, is in its historical formation a Christian nation—this
is not a matter of opinion, nor is it a political statement about any issue
before us today. It is a matter of plain fact. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And Psalm 72 is right at the
heart of this Christian historical sensibility of Canada—pity on the weak and
the needy, redemption from oppression and violence, care for the poor and those
who have no helper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I am ashamed of my country this week. The
government of Canada, admittedly pressed to do so by the Supreme Court of
Canada, is forcing through an aggressive law not simply allowing physician
assisted death (assisted suicide, truly, or euthanasia), but forcing health
care providers to provide it, even if in conscience they cannot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The poor and the needy, the vulnerable,
the suffering—all of these will be given not compassion and care and
protection, but death. We can dress it all up in fine words about mercy and
relief of suffering, but it is all a load of nonsense in the end—we are going
to be killing people when they are at their most needy and vulnerable. As we
have done to the unwanted unborn for decades now, so we will do to the unwanted
elderly and disabled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Oh, Canada, my home and native land… may
God have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The process by which the bill was passed
was ugly in itself. Our Prime Minister actually became physically violent at
one point on the floor of the House of Commons and assaulted an opposition
member. I wish I was exaggerating about that, but that is what happened, by any
normal legal or moral standard or meaning of words. And… there was nothing, in
terms of consequences or even widespread concern. Apparently, that is what
democracy looks like, in Canada, in 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I fear we are devolving into a
thugocracy, led by the man with the great hair, the one-armed pushups, and the
winning smile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So my heart is a bit sore as I write this
blog post about Psalm 72, our ‘national psalm’, if you will. The one thing I do
know is that, in this year 2016 when so many nations are faced with leaders or
prospective leaders (hello, my American readers and friends!) who appall us or
frighten us, we are called to know that there is one Messiah alone who delivers
justice and mercy to the poor and the weak, who establishes the world in right
judgment and good order. And we know His Name, the name above all other names.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As
all the other kings of the earth fail us, as they are failing us, pretty much
without exception across the face of the globe, let’s put all our faith and
hope in He who endures like the sun, falls from heaven like the rain. May His
name be blessed forever and ever. Amen. Amen.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-46518875236151403972016-05-19T07:32:00.002-04:002016-05-19T07:32:51.766-04:00Nothing Else Matters In the End<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This weekly commentary on the Mass is
winding down to the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, and so we now come to the
following prayer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">To us, also, your servants, who,
though sinners, hope in your abundant mercies, graciously grant some share and
fellowship with your holy Apostles and Martyrs: with John the Baptist, Stephen,
Matthias, Barnabas, (Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity,
Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia) and all your Saints: admit
us, we beseech you, into their company, not weighing our merits, but granting
us your pardon, through Christ our Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Last week I wrote about the previous part
of the Eucharistic Prayer, where we pray for all the faithful departed, and I
wrote about the reality of Purgatory and the duty of love to pray for the dead
who languish there. This week I want to write about the reality of heaven, and
the importance of heaven in our daily life here on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This is something we never talk about
these days, and that is a big problem. For the last 50 years, motivated by a
certain sense of prioritizing of social justice and mission in the world, the
Church at large has chosen to neglect to the point of vanishing the theme of
eternal life and heaven, to the point where (I know this to be the case) more
than a few good church-going Catholics no longer believe in it or consider it a
necessary part of the faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This is absurd, of course. Our life on
this earth is a hundred years, maximum, and for most people considerably less.
The fact is, there is a life after death, and it is eternal. We are creatures
made to survive death; the human soul is immaterial by nature, and hence
immortal. These are facts, not nice if rather odd ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">We can spend the endless duration of life
that follows our mortal death in the presence of God, and hence in a state of
light, joy, peace, and beauty. Or we can spend the endless duration of life after
death in the absence of God, and hence devoid of light, joy, peace, and beauty.
The one state we call heaven, the other hell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Once we accept the above paragraph as
true, one conclusion inescapably emerges: the only thing that really matters in
this life is to live our life in such a way that we go to heaven when we die.
It is a matter, if you will, of sheer economics—one hundred years maximum of
this mode of living vs. an eternity of utter bliss or utter misery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The idea that this focus on heaven and living
life in such a way as to get to heaven when we die would make us indifferent to
the things of earth and to pursuing justice and charity on earth is such a
stupid idea that it could only possibly have arisen in the 1960s, the decade
when so many stupid ideas were conceived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">At any rate, it’s dumb and so let’s be
done with it. Life is hard, but it’s harder when you’re stupid. The simple fact
is, we live our life in such a way as to be suited for heaven if and only if we
live our lives poured out in love of God and love of neighbor. The God we
believe in is a God who passionately loves every human being He created. Our
loving Him back necessarily means loving everyone and working for the good of
all according to the wisdom and strength we are given by God. It is ludicrous—patently,
obviously ludicrous—to say that a concern for heaven makes us indifferent to
the sufferings and injustice of life on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is not the remembrance of God and what
He desires of us that makes us selfish and malicious and unjust; it is
forgetting Him that does that. And this is more and more the case these days;
either we forget God in despair that there is such a person, and so the only
good in life is to grab as much of this world as we can, or we forget God in
presumption, blithely assuming that we all just automatically go to heaven when
we die, so it doesn’t much matter what we do to each other on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Mass here really does establish us on
the right path. ‘We your servants, though sinners, hope in your abundant
mercies’ – this is truth. And we ask Him for a share and a fellowship with the
saints in heaven, for it is ultimately His gift to us that we can even hope to
get there at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">But let’s be clear about it—nothing else
matters in the end. There is no earthly good, no earthly pleasure, no other
happiness we can attain in this life that can outweigh the question of where we
are going to spend eternity. And every decision we make this day and every day
should ultimately be decided on the basis of one thing and one thing alone: is
this going to move me closer to God and to the heaven where He dwells, or is it
going to move me further from Him? In other words, am I choosing love and
goodness here, or something else? Because in the end, that is what it is all
about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-6291193703436114802016-05-18T07:44:00.001-04:002016-05-18T07:44:15.581-04:00Let's Talk About Judgment<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, I’m not following any particular
plan with this Wednesday series on the ‘Gnarly Questions’, the genuinely
difficult matters of Catholic theology or faith practice that puzzle or
confound many. Like so much else of this blog, it’s mainly a matter of what I’m
thinking about when I wake up in the morning, or something I read this week or
whatever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">That being said, let’s talk this time
about a word that is one of the most red flag words around, a word guaranteed
to get people’s hackles up and knives out, one way or the other. Let’s talk
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">judgment.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">‘Do not judge, so that you may not be
judged.’ (Matt 7: 1, Lk 6:37). These are the Lord’s own words, and we ignore
them at our peril. To be a Christian is to be non-judgmental—let’s get that
straight. ‘For with the judgment you make, you will be judged’ (Matt 7:2) – the
consequences are grave if we do not come to grips with this call and live it
out faithfully.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">What does it mean, anyhow? The
problem is that many people today abuse that one saying of the Lord by taking
it out of its proper context, which is the whole of Scripture. And from that,
they interpret ‘do not judge’ as meaning that we cannot advance any sort of
moral norm, make any kind of claim as to the good and evil of specific human
acts. The whole thing collapses into a sort of fuzzy relativism in which nobody
can ever say to anyone else ‘You ought not do that.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, that is silly. The moral law has
been given to us as a gift to make our lives beautiful, not as a curse to
burden and afflict us. Certain actions are morally wrong simply because, and
only because, they harm us, harm particularly the one who does them. A specific
action is morally good because it helps the one doing it become more the person
he or she is created to become.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It
is incoherent to say that, say, ‘murdering another human being is wrong’, and
then, beholding Stanley bathed in the blood of Jim, not be able to say ‘Stanley
has done a wrong thing.’ That is not being non-judgmental; that is being an
idiot. Nor is it being non-judgmental to refuse on principle to go to Stanley
and say ‘Yo, Stan, you have done a wrong thing there, killing Jim!’ That is not
being non-judgmental; that is being a coward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So what is non-judgment? It is the blank
refusal to say that another person is in a state of sin. People do wrong things
all the time, objectively manifestly wrong things. But whether they have
actually sinned or not depends on a host of factors that are utterly unknown to
us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">For an action to be a mortal sin, it has
to be grave matter (something serious, Ten Commandment stuff). The person also
has to have full knowledge that what they are doing is wrong. They have to be
doing it freely and without compulsion, with deliberate intent (cf Catechism
1857). These latter two conditions are known only to God, since they pertain to
the interiority of the person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is not a judgmental thing to say to a
person, “You know, I really don’t think you should be doing that. Did you know
that was against the moral law? It is, you know!” That is a work of mercy,
actually, provided it is done with prudence and charity. It is a judgmental
thing to say to someone, “You are a sinner – you’re going to go to Hell if you
don’t cut that out right now.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Mind you, most of us, in our
judgmentalism, don’t actually say those things out loud. The late Fred Phelps
and his so-called ‘church’ (of ‘God Hates Fags’ notoriety) really are extreme
outliers. But for many Christians it is more a matter of the up-turned nose, the
pursed lips, the raised eyebrow, the dirty look, the cold demeanour, the sneer.
And these things, because they cannot be directly countered or corrected,
because they are matters of non-verbal and unspoken judgments, can be much more
damaging in the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">We have to pray for, and choose, really
choose, to have a compassionate heart and a friendly disposition towards all
men and women—the ones who always get it right and do everything they’re
supposed to do (whoever those happy few may be), and the ones who struggle and
fall down and are lost in any number of immoral paths and bad choices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">We don’t know how God sees them, although
we do know He loves them enough to die for them. Perhaps we could love them
enough to stifle our criticisms and carping and unkindness? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">There is much more to say about this—so often
we jump to conclusions about situations, make assumptions about what a person
is doing and what is in their hearts, and our assumptions are quite often not charitable
and are astonishingly often wildly inaccurate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Judgment belongs to God. We are indeed to
know what is right and what is wrong—why on earth would God want us to be
ignorant of such vital matters? But to assess whether another person is in the
grace of God or is cut off from Him—this is simply not our business and we
indulge in such matters to our own immortal peril, as the Lord Himself took
pains to tell us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Do not judge, lest you be judged.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-10314696758492304792016-05-16T06:59:00.003-04:002016-05-16T06:59:58.231-04:00This Week in Madonna House - May 8-15<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This week in Madonna House was made up of
a backdrop of ordinary life with some un-ordinary events looming in the
foreground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The directors’ meetings are ongoing (they
wrap up later this week), and so we all continue to enjoy having the directors
of our various mission houses around. While this is not a format in which I can
discuss the meetings themselves (I am an attendee at them), they are proving to
be a rich time of sharing our life and the work of the Holy Spirit among us in
the year 2016. God is good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Last Thursday quite a few of us (I didn’t
get a count, but it must have been over twenty) went to the March for Life in
Ottawa to bear witness to the evil of abortion. As those who have been on this
March, or the much larger one in the States, know very well, it was a long and
very full day, but very blessed. Several of us went to the Rose Dinner in the
evening where we had the opportunity to listen to <a href="http://catholicregister.org/home/international/item/22300-mps-urged-to-resist-imposing-abortion-on-africa">Obianuju
Ekeocha</a>, about whom you can read at the link. She was fantastic, and gave a
strong encouragement to Canada to reclaim its moral voice in the world by
defending the human rights of its weakest and most vulnerable members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Besides that, the other outstanding event
was the feast of Pentecost, which we celebrated with the Divine Liturgy of the
Christian East, followed by a festive brunch. We received our ‘Pentecost gifts’
at that meal—this is a very old custom at MH where each person receives a gift
and a fruit of the Holy Spirit on a nicely decorated piece of paper. I received
wisdom and peace this year, for example. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In the afternoon we had a picnic which we
try to do each year when the directors are all here, usually around our May 17
foundation day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It was a bit amusing this year—several
people had prayed for a day without black flies, the early spring scourge of
all outdoor activities. Well, their prayers were answered all right—we had snow
instead! But if you think that prevented us from having a great picnic, then I
guess you just don’t know MH that well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Sports were played. People sat around the
camp fire. For the less hardy, there were card games and other recreational
activities in the house. Some MH people looooooove to dance (I, uh…, am not
among them) and so there was a bit of dancing going on somewhere or other
(yeah, I am definitely not a dancer).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The picnic (which included a hamburger and
hot dog supper, and home made ice cream for dessert) went on well into the
evening with music and fun—it was basically just a great day to be together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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of this went on against a backdrop of ordinary life—the gardens are busy, snow
or no snow. The men are hard at work on the various building projects that
dominate their lives right now. The women keep everyone fed and watered and
clean and tidy. And we all lift up our hearts in prayer and intercession for
all of you and for our troubled world in all the works of our hands.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-73599989291500134142016-05-14T06:50:00.002-04:002016-05-14T06:50:45.310-04:00A Psalm Against Euthanasia<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to
shame.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Incline your ear to me and save me…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from
my youth.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Upon you I have leaned from my birth;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">It was you who took me from my mother’s womb.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">My praise is continually of you…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not
forsake me,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">until I proclaim your might to all the generations to
come.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Your power and your righteousness, O God, reach the
high heavens.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">You who have done great things, O God, who is like
you?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">You who have made me see many troubles and calamities<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you
will bring me up again.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">You will increase my honor, and comfort me once again.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I will also praise you with the harp for your
faithfulness, O my God;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One
of Israel…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Psalm 71<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Reflection
– </span></i><span lang="EN-US">This is really less than half of Psalm 71, as you
can see from all the ellipses (…). The parts I omitted are beautiful, actually,
but are typical psalm sentiments that we have covered in this series many
times—cries for help in distress and acclamations of praise and trust in God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">What is unique in this psalm is the
reference to old age and gray hairs, and it is this I would like to reflect on.
In psalters and breviaries this psalm is often giving the title ‘a psalm for
old age’, and so it is. It is a grand teaching on how to grow old and what
spiritual attitudes to bring into the latter years of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The key attitude here is, simply, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">steadfastness. </i>The psalmist has known
and served the Lord since his youth; he intends to continue to serve the Lord
until his death. God has been his sure help since birth; he trusts that this
will be the case until the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And even beyond death. This reference to
the depths of the earth and being brought up again is quite telling. It could
be a metaphorical reference to being raised up from the lowest position
possible—when we say we are down in the dumps we do not literally mean that we
are hanging out at a landfill site, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">But this ‘depths of the earth’ is,
literally, a reference to Sheol, to the place of the dead. And this psalm could
reflect an early dawning awareness in Judaism that even death is not the end of
YHWH’s fidelity to them, nor to the power of his steadfast love, his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hesed </i>for his people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">At any rate, whether in its original
Jewish context it was metaphorical or literal, Jesus Christ has taught us to
pray this psalm literally, for He Himself came back from the depths of the
earth and in Him we all have the hope of being raised up even from death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And this is the core attitude that we are
meant to carry into old age and the decline of the body, the gradual
diminishing and ending of all our earthly hopes and dreams. As the curtain
slowly comes down on all these things—hopes of health, well being, the vigor
and energy of youth that at least seems to make all things possible—we are
meant to have a flourishing of theological hope, hope in God, hope that even as
our humanity is exhausted the divine is anything but.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In our current Canadian climate of
euthanasia, where the best thing we can seemingly think to offer an elderly and
sick person is a lethal injection, this psalm and the spiritual attitudes
within it take on deeper importance yet. It is so crucial for the elderly that
as they experience the breakdown of their bodies and all that goes with that—chronic
pain, weakness, and the emotional distress that naturally accompanies all of
this—that they do not allow our increasingly cold, utilitarian, heartless
society to rob them of the faith, hope, and love that will carry them over the
threshold of death into the arms of God where all are made new.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:Subject>Madonna House Apostolate (SL 151-233)</o:Subject>
<o:Author>Catherine Doherty</o:Author>
<o:Keywords>Staff Letters, Catherine Doherty, Madonna House</o:Keywords>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So let us pray this psalm, too, we who
are not old yet, in solidarity with our elder brothers and sisters, and let us
be vigilant that we do not let society’s ethos and norms poison our minds in
this matter. God is faithful, and He desires us to walk faithfully with Him until
the very end of our life, so that His steadfast love may raise us up in the next
one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-74509795180054357102016-05-11T21:16:00.004-04:002016-05-11T21:16:57.590-04:00Refreshment, Light, Peace<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I am writing and posting my Thursday blog
post the evening before, as I will be en route early tomorrow morning to the
annual March for Life in Ottawa. I hope I see some of you there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In our journey through the Mass we are
coming to the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, and have reached the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Remember also, Lord, your servants
N. and N., who have gone before us with the sign of faith and rest in the sleep
of peace. Grant them, O Lord, we pray, and all who sleep in Christ, a place of
refreshment, light, and peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We pray for the dead in every Mass. Every
time we come before the throne of God to lift up our hearts in worship,
adoration, and intercession, we mention those who have died, that God may show
them mercy. What is that about?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, we pray for the dead because they
need our prayers. Not the deceased who have entered the realm of heaven—we need
their prayers. Not the deceased (please God, in Your Mercy, be they few in
number) who are in eternal damnation of Hell—our prayers are futile for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But for the dead who are undergoing their
final purification, the last cleansing of God’s merciful love for them
necessary before they can enter the kingdom of light and love. Anything in us—no
matter how small and trivial—that partakes of darkness and selfishness must be
purged from our souls. And so, Purgatory, the great gift of God’s mercy to humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It is a work of mercy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">par excellence </i>to pray for the souls of
the faithful departed. And at every Mass we remember them in particular. In
part this is because the Mass is the greatest offering of prayer there is,
where the Church unites itself to Christ’s own intercession for humanity before
the Father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It is also because the Mass is,
essentially, the worship of Heaven come down to earth. The saints in heaven—the
Church Triumphant—are gathered around the Lamb as He offers to His Father the
sacrifice He made (cf. Rev 5). We on earth—the Church Militant—are gathered
around the altar of God as Christ in the person of the priest makes this same
offering to God and extends to us its fruits in the gift of Holy Communion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But there is a part of the Church who
cannot participate in this Mass, this offering, this worship—the Church
Suffering, the souls in Purgatory. Perhaps that alone is the great suffering of
Purgatory—who knows? So we remember them in our prayers and ask God to quickly
restore them to the fullness of communion that we enjoy at the liturgy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">At any rate, the simple fact that
virtually every Mass includes prayers for these people should signal to us that
the Church considers praying for them among the most important duties of love a
person can do. And so let’s be careful not to forget this, not to fall into the
easy attitude of assuming that everyone who dies slides right into Heaven with
no problem—an odd idea that has no basis whatsoever in Catholic theology or
doctrine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">No, the dead need our prayers. We will
soon enough be among them ourselves and so we better promote praying for the
dead for reasons of naked self-interest if no other. And above all, let us pray
that every human being comes to death in a state of grace, with final
perseverance and final repentance, so that all of us can happily gather around
the banquet of the Lamb at last in a joyful feast that has no end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-75741649691371007432016-05-11T07:45:00.004-04:002016-05-11T07:47:42.126-04:00Let's Talk About EuthanasiaWell, judging from the 'Most Popular Posts' thingy on the right margin of the blog, my new series on 'Gnarly Questions' has immediately proven to be a hit, at least by the standards of this small blog. So let's carry on with it, and talk about one of the gnarliest of the gnarly questions of our day, <i>euthanasia.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
So what I have to say today builds on <a href="http://frdenis.blogspot.ca/2016/05/lets-talk-about-suicide.html">last week's blog post</a> on the morality of suicide. If suicide itself is not understood to be a grave moral wrong, of course none of the Church's specific teaching on euthanasia makes any sense. If it is morally right to kill ourselves in other circumstances, there is no possible reason why it would be morally wrong to ask a doctor to give us a lethal injection.<br />
<br />
I cannot possibly give the full and very nuanced Church teaching on this matter in one blog post. The Church's <a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19800505_euthanasia_en.html">Declaration on Euthanasia</a> from 1980 is still the authoritative teaching on the matter.<br />
<br />
Essentially, we must take no direct action to end a person's life due to their being in a condition of terminal illness or chronic suffering. If the person asks us to do so and we comply, we are formally cooperating in the sin of suicide; if they have not asked us to do it and we do it nonetheless, we have committed the sin of murder.<br />
<br />
There are nuances in this teaching that are important and have direct application to the real on-the-ground situations any one of us can come across in our lives. The Church does not hold to the ethic of <i>vitalism, </i>that is, the idea that life is to be preserved and prolonged for as long as possible, no matter what the cost to the person.<br />
<br />
This makes no sense in the context of our larger vision of human life, in which this world and state of being is not our final goal. We must not take any step that would directly kill ourselves or another, but we are under no obligation to fight death to the last possible moment.<br />
<br />
And so it is not euthanasia, not remotely, to decide to suspend medical treatments in certain circumstances. The Church currently uses the language of benefit vs. burden as a useful metric in making these decisions. If a treatment being proposed will yield little benefit for a person but is highly burdensome, then it is a perfectly moral decision for the person, or whoever they have delegated to make such decisions for them if they are incapacitated, to refuse that treatment. I am loathe to start going into specific examples, as this is an area where each situation has to be evaluated on its own merits and there are very few blanket statements that can be made.<br />
<br />
It is also not euthanasia in any way, shape, or form, to give a person adequate pain medication to reduce their suffering. This is the case even when the dose of pain medication being given will indeed shorten the person's life by, say, compromising their respiratory system. The intent is what counts in these things--what is intended is to manage the person's pain, not to end their life. The proof of that intent would be that if there was some other way to manage the pain without the life-shortening effect, that method would be taken.<br />
<br />
It is not euthanasia to remove artificial respiration when it has become clear that the person is not going to recover from, say, a massive aneurysm or other catastrophic event that has prevented them from even breathing on their own. That is allowing someone to die when that is what in fact they are doing; it is not deliberately causing their death by a positive action.<br />
<br />
It is not euthanasia, even, in certain and very specific terminal conditions, to cease giving a person food and water. There is a point in the dying process when the body itself becomes unable to metabolize food and even, at the very end, hydration. At that point to force nutrition into a person is not actually 'feeding' them (since their body cannot absorb the nutrients), and in fact increases their suffering. On the other hand, to withdraw food and water in other circumstances is most definitely euthanasia, since the person has not yet entered that terminal phase of their illness, and their body does indeed want and can absorb food and water.<br />
<br />
I go into all these things because it is confusing, otherwise. And in that confusion, the actual euthanasia--actually giving the person a lethal injection intended to kill them--can look like some of these other things. But it is radically different, and we must keep it clear. Choosing to let death happen when a person is actually dying is an entirely different thing than killing the person directly. One is a moral and humane thing to do; the other is a grave evil to be rejected.<br />
<br />
Any questions? Fire away in the comments or on my Facebook page, and I will do my best to answer them.Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-52543466795188847982016-05-08T10:30:00.000-04:002016-05-08T10:30:14.152-04:00This Week in Madonna House - May 1-7<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, I hardly know what to say about
this week. On the one hand, it was as about an ordinary and unremarkable week
in Madonna House as we ever get. The gardeners gardened. The cooks cooked. The
maintenance men maintained. The carpenters carped. Farmers farmed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">We all gathered to plant onions one
evening this week, the first of many such weekly garden bees we have over the
summer months. Our guest numbers remain low, so we simply cannot get some of
the intensive work done any other way. Another morning there was a mini-bee to
clean the pioneer museum that is part of our outreach to the tourists in the
summer. Besides that, though, it was as regular a life as life gets here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">On the other hand, the directors meetings
got going this week. As I have mentioned previously, all the directors of all
the Madonna Houses around the world, from Combermere and Ottawa to Krasnoyarsk,
Russia and Resteigne, Belgium and all points in between, come for three weeks
each May to gather together with the directors and others here at the main
headquarters to discuss the apostolate and its direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I am attending the meetings this year, and
obviously cannot say much about them. We did begin our meetings as we usually
do—with opening remarks from the three directors general followed by reports
from the director of each of the mission houses, the local directors here in
Combermere and the directors of training. This gives a broad birds’ eye view of
the apostolate and helps to point the way forward in our ongoing discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">One thing I can mention is that our
post-lunch spiritual reading at the house is given over to the various local
directors who take turns speaking of the life and mission of their house in
that venue. This is always an enjoyable thing for our guests and applicants in
particular who get to see aspects of the apostolate they ordinarily wouldn’t
see in Combermere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Beyond that, I hardly know what to say
about life here. It is spring with all its beauty, and we had a magnificent
week of sun and warmth, with the added benefit that the black flies haven’t
quite started their bloody reign of terror just yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So… sorry for this most minimal blog
post! Of course like everyone else in Canada we are transfixed by the news
reports from Fort MacMurray in Alberta and are united in praying for all the
people affected by the horrible fire there. The relative lack of human casualties
is a great blessing, even as the destruction of so much of that town is
terrible to behold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And
we pray for the whole world as we go about the routine everyday tasks that take
up this time of year, which includes praying for all of you and your
intentions. God bless you, and have a blessed week.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-17148758525616390932016-05-06T07:34:00.003-04:002016-05-06T07:34:56.057-04:00Waiting For Daddy to Come Home<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">O Lord, make haste to help me!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let those be put to shame and confusion<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">who seek my life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">who desire to hurt me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">turn back because of their shame.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let all who seek you<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">rejoice and be glad in you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let those who love your salvation<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">say evermore, “God is great!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">But I am poor and needy;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">hasten to me, O God!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">You are my help and my deliverer;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">O Lord, do not delay!<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Psalm 70<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Reflection
– </span></i><span lang="EN-US">Well, we have a nice short little psalm this
week, with a nice simple message. Vindication, baby—that’s what Psalm 70 is all
about!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">There are people being mean to me—make
them sorry, Lord. As for me and the people who are like me—deliver us, and now!
That is pretty much the bare bones content of this psalm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">As such, this psalm may or may not be
everyone’s cup of tea. I have to be honest that this is not a psalm I
particularly gravitate towards or have spontaneously committed to memory.
Partly this is because while I suppose there are those who wish me ill strictly
on account of my religion or my priestly ordination, I can’t honestly think of
too many personal enemies. Nobody is all up in my face going ‘Aha, Aha!’ And if
they did I would probably burst out laughing more than anything else (‘what are
you aha-ing about, fool?’)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">That being said, what is going on here?
And what can we derive from this psalm (and indeed from all of these psalms
that may or may not coincide particularly well with our own personal
existential situation)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is the Lord who is our vindication,
that is one main idea this psalm delivers us. We can get so caught up in the
endless cycle of wrangling, contention, debate which in our awful current
cultural state generally descends from a vigorous exchange of ideas to mere
slinging of abuse and name-calling. Social media is terrible for this, of
course, but it’s not just on-line that this happens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Behind all that is some terrible idea
that we have to win. We have to win the argument, we have to win the day, we
have to come out on top of every exchange, every encounter, every relationship.
It’s all just one big ugly power struggle, and whoever has either the biggest
fists or the biggest mouth, the vilest talent at personal invective or simply
the staying power to outlast everyone else on the debate stage will be the one
left standing at the end of the day. Why yes, I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">am </i>thinking of Donald Trump right now!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, phooey on all that. Psalm 70
reminds us that all of that ego posturing, all that strutting and preening, all
of the politics of personal destruction, whether it plays out on the
presidential debate stage or the com-box of a blog, is a load of pernicious
nonsense, ultimately without any significance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is the Lord and the Lord alone who in
the end assigns the value of each person’s life. It is the Lord and the Lord
alone who delivers us from death and evil, who brings us to joy and beauty. It
is the Lord and the Lord alone who ‘wins’ the argument, so to speak. We’re all
in this matter like a bunch of silly bickering children, waiting for our Daddy
to come home and knock some sense into us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, He is coming. And if any of my
readers are feeling a bit depressed right now at the state of the world and the
nation, feeling like the ‘aha-aha-ers’ are pretty much owning the day right
now, do remember that. In the end, they don’t matter, and none of it matters,
except to seek the Lord and rejoice in his presence, and trust in his power to
save us and set the world in justice and in peace. He is coming, and He in the
end is our only hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-56139012221370764262016-05-05T09:25:00.002-04:002016-05-05T09:25:48.565-04:00The Great Prison Break<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">For the first few days of our annual
directors’ meetings here in Combermere the local directors of our various
mission houses give their reports about the life and work of their houses. We
get something of a birds’ eye view of the apostolate from these reports, which
aids our subsequent meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Yesterday one of the directors,
describing the very secular milieu in which they are operating and the people
they minister to, used a telling phrase. She said “It is as if we are all
prisoners of the horizontal.” Even in the local church scene, so often the sole
focus would be on social justice or building community or things of that
nature; outside of the church milieu the exclusive ‘spiritual’ concern was with
nature and the environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">‘Prisoners of the horizontal’ – that is a
nifty turn of phrase. There is nothing wrong the horizontal. God made nature!
God desires community! God most certainly wants us to act justly and create a
just world. But all of this without God is shallow, drained of the depth,
richness, fullness of life and meaning it truly bears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And that brings us to the next part of the
Eucharistic Prayer in our running Thursday commentary on the Mass, in which we
pray:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">In humble prayer we ask you,
almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel
to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us
who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and
Blood of your Son may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The horizontal is always meant to burst
forth from its bonds, its flat experience of reality as it is, here and now, to
reality as it really is, imbued with the light and love of the eternal and the
divine. At the Eucharist we are indeed in the community of believers,
celebrating in unity and being strengthened (please God, if we are doing it right)
in the bond of charity, empowered for the work of building the kingdom of God
on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Yes, indeed, all of that is so, or it
should be. But this is only so, can only be so, if we are borne up from the
horizontal in a wholly vertical direction, carried up to heaven mystically, in
the Holy Spirit, and enfolded in our horizontal and earthly worship into the
worship being done at the ‘altar on high’, from which all these graces and
heavenly blessings flow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The Mass is the great prison break of
humanity. We’re going over the wall, folks, and woe be to the guard who gets in
our way! ‘You’ll never take me alive, coppers!’ We are not created to be
prisoners of the horizontal; the horizontal itself – the world and all that
fills it – is not meant to be a prison for humanity. The horizontal in truth lives
in a perpetual embrace of love with the vertical, earth with heaven, God with
man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And in that, the horizontal, life as it
is, the world as it is, receives it true meaning, its deeper beauty. And in
that reception of meaning and beauty, it receives a greater gift yet, and that
is the gift of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hope</i>. Because the
horizontal—nature, or good human relationships, or a just society—well, all of
that stuff eventually wears out. The flowers die. The relationships fail us one
way or another. The United States elects Trump or Clinton to the presidency.
Everything fails, in other words. The horizontal needs the vertical
particularly to embrace it at the moment of failure and to redeem it from that failure.
‘Creation is subject to futility’, but God is not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And the really beautiful thing is that we
truly do not have to rack our poor little brains to figure out how to break out
from the horizontal prison to the vertical transcendence. God has come to us,
and the way out and through, up and over, inward and deep, is as near as the
nearest altar where bread and wine—the fruit of the earth and the work of human
hands—are taken up into the very heights of heaven so that heaven can enter the
very depths of the human heart and penetrate the created order with the light
of eternity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-65690370410965008532016-05-03T07:40:00.004-04:002016-05-03T07:40:55.462-04:00Let's Talk About Suicide<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Ooh, boy. Well, when I began this new
column ‘Gnarly Questions’ last week, I wasn’t quite sure what I would be
writing about this week. So why am I writing about suicide this week?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, on a small personal note, we
received word this week that an old friend of MH for many years took her own
life this week. So the subject is much on all of our minds here, obviously with
a terrible sorrow for all who loved this person, myself included. So I
apologize in advance if I bring a level of emotion to this blog post that I
normally try to keep in check.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Actually, no, I don’t apologize for that.
Too often we handle the topic of suicide with kid gloves and in consequence are
not able to say hard things that need to be said about it, out of a misguided
sense of compassion for its victims and its survivors. And I for one am sick of
having to tip-toe around the subject in that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">All the more so because suicide is one of
the big topics of our day as well, in Canada at least, and I certainly would
have gotten around to it as part of this series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So let us begin by saying what so often
is left unsaid in our discussion of the subject. Namely, suicide is a gravely
evil act. It is one of the most evil things a person can do, not only because
it involves the taking of a life, but because by the very act of committing
suicide a person leaves themselves no chance to repent; it is literally the
last choice the person makes, and it is a gravely evil one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This does not mean that all people who
commit suicide go to hell. Of course not, and anyone who thinks the Church says
that is wildly deficient in their catechesis. The objective grave evil of the
act does not necessarily translate into subjective guilt borne by the person,
which depends on their freedom and knowledge. With suicide in particular,
people more often than not kill themselves when the balance of their mind is
disturbed and they are simply not thinking clearly. We draw a curtain over the
whole question of subjective guilt and the state of the person’s soul, leaving
that to God who alone can judge the living and the dead, and we pray for His
mercy upon all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">But we need to do that, because (let me
repeat myself) suicide is a horribly evil thing to do. Our lives are not our
own—this is the key thing. Our lives belong to God, and it is for God and God
alone to determine the manner and time of our deaths. I realize that for
non-believers that is meaningless tripe; I am addressing this blog post to
believers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">We have no right to commit suicide. We
have no right to dispose of our lives when we see fit. It is an act of
arrogating to ourselves the most sacred thing that belongs to God alone, and it
is a wicked, wicked thing to do, even if psychic pain and a host of
psychological factors mitigate or wholly remove the guilt of the one who does
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I say this with some force for two
reasons. First, it is not said often enough, generally because we are all aware
of the terrible suffering and grief those left behind suffer from and do not
wish to make it any worse. But by never coming out and saying flatly that
suicide is a terribly wrong choice, we run the risk of implying that it is
really not so wrong, really quite an understandable decision in this or that
circumstance. And in that, we risk being complicit in the deaths of the suicidal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">But most importantly, physician-assisted
suicide is coming to Canada whether we like it or not, and it is time for
Catholics and all people to form their consciences properly. Suicide is
evil—get it straight. It is an evil thing to do, so don’t do it. Do not end
your life by committing one of the most evil actions a person can perform.
Don’t go to God like that, please.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And the Canadian government, the Prime
Minister and his cabinet members, in proposing and enacting this legislation
(and let’s be realistic, they are going to push it through no matter what
anyone says about it), are doing a wicked, wicked thing. May God have mercy on
their souls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Suicide will become the order of the day
in Canadian hospitals. For people who are vulnerable—who are in some physical
pain, who are afraid, who are worried about burdening their families, who are
depressed in the face of a terminal prognosis—a kindly doctor will show up at
their bedside and offer to end it all right now with one injection. It will all
be couched in the language of comfort and mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It will be a preying on the weakest and
the most vulnerable members of the human community, at their hour of greatest
desolation, to tempt them to do something that is monstrously evil that they
will have no opportunity to repent of. Rather than accompanying a dying person
through the dying process, surrounding them with the love and care of the
community, doing everything possible to alleviate their pain, communicating to
them with every small act of kindness and service we give them that their life
is precious, that they are the most important person in the world right now,
that we love them and will not abandon them no matter how hard it gets at the
end… instead, we will just show up at their bedside, essentially tell them that
the parts of their lives that were worth living are over now, and wouldn’t they
rather just kill themselves. This is a moral evil that rises to the level of
the demonic, to be perfectly frank, and I will not back down from that strong
language.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Look, I know and you know it’s going to
be legal in Canada. It’s going to happen and we can’t stop it, seemingly. But
we can at least fight it, when it arrives at our own bedsides and the bedsides
of the ones we love. We can tell the merchants of death to get the hell away
from us and let us die like children of God, uniting our sufferings with Christ
and bearing the gift and burden of life until its natural God-given end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I am writing this blog post with one
purpose and one purpose only: to dissuade even one person from choosing suicide
in the face of illness, pain, and terminal illness. If I have succeeded in
doing that, not only this blog post but my entire five years of blogging will
have been worthwhile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I will write more next week about
specific issues around euthanasia proper—for now let us establish that suicide
itself is a grave evil and must be resisted at all times. Our lives belong to
God; we must not kill ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-11957466242138306652016-05-01T10:28:00.003-04:002016-05-01T10:28:52.515-04:00This Week in Madonna House - April 25-May 1<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">This week in Madonna House was marked by
one signal event, and that was the arrival from all points of the compass of
the local directors of our various MH mission houses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Every year in May the LDs gather here in
Combermere for three weeks of meetings to discuss the present reality of the
apostolate with a view to discerning the way forward in the Holy Spirit for our
community. And so they came, from as far away as Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, Russia
to as close as St. Joseph’s house which serves the local community in
Combermere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And they came from a wide variety of
houses and apostolates, from the very active soup kitchen apostolates of
Edmonton and Regina to the prayer houses of Washington and Raleigh. And they
come with a wide variety of backgrounds and apostolic experience—our oldest LD
is 90 years old, a pioneer in the community; our youngest made her final
promises just a few years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So here we all are, and we began the
meeting process with two days of retreat, given by myself and another of the
priests. The meetings proper will begin Monday afternoon and continue each
afternoon for the next weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our theme for the retreat days was the
Little Mandate, the core words of our MH vocation and spirit that Catherine
Doherty our foundress had received in prayer in the 1930s. It is a significant
anniversary regarding that Mandate this year. While Catherine received the
words in the 1930s, she had always considered them to be God’s own personal
words to her, out of which she developed the life and spirit of the community.
But in May 1966, at the prompting of some of the MH priests, she brought the
words forth to the entire MH family, where they were promptly received as
being, indeed, the heart of our way of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And so it is the 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of that landmark event in our community’s development, and so we
returned to those crucial words, never far from any of our thoughts and hearts,
please God, to reflect on them together so as to attune ourselves to God’s
voice and action at this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">What else is going on here? The first
year applicants returned from their annual vacation, and it was nice to see all
their fresh young faces all rested up and ready to go for year two of
applicancy. We have a small upsurge in our guest numbers, the men in
particular, although (ahem…) there’s always room for more! Lots more! Any young
guys out there looking for a bit of apostolic and spiritual renewal and growth?
Come on over!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The renovations of our women’s guest dorm
continues, which of course means limited bed space for them (there’s still room
for a few more, though…), and the renovations of the priest house where I live
are almost finished, with the last finish carpentry being done, and the finish
electrical and plumbing work the next and final job involved in that large project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It is spring, and anyone who knows about
farming knows that spring is the time for much work on many fronts. The
gardeners are busy with greenhouse work, starting many of the plants in that
protected environment (it is still freezing at night, of course—this is
Canada). Field work preparing the gardens for the major planting is beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, the
small Catholic liberal arts college in nearby Barry’s Bay, had its graduation
yesterday. One of our priests is the chaplain there and was in attendance along
with two of our directors’ general. Several members went on the same day to
Toronto to the priestly ordination of a former member of Madonna House who was
being ordained for the Toronto archdiocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Otherwise, I’m not sure what else to say.
Life continues along all its normal lines, in blessed ordinariness. The days
have been sunny and warm, Combermere at its most beautiful truly (and no bugs
yet!). And in the midst of it all, we hold all of you in our prayers and
hearts, and lift up the entire world and all its troubles in prayer to God our
loving Father through all we do and are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-6172424524465734532016-04-29T09:02:00.006-04:002016-04-29T09:02:38.126-04:00The God We Have Been Given, Not The One We Would Make<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my
neck.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps
over me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">At an acceptable time, O God,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">With your faithful help rescue me from sinking in the
mire;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep
waters.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep
swallow me up,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">or the Pit close its mouth over me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Do not hide your face from your servant,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">for I am in distress—make haste to answer me…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I looked for pity, but there was none; and for
comforters, but I found none.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave
me vinegar to drink.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let their table be a trap for them, a snare for their
allies…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I will praise the name of God with a song;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">I will magnify him with thanksgiving.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">This will please the Lord more than an ox<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">or a bull with horns and hoofs.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let the oppressed see it and be glad;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">you who seek God, let your hearts revive.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his
own that are in bonds.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and
everything that moves in them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of
Judah;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and his servants shall live there and possess it;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">the children of his servants shall inherit it,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">and those who love his name shall live in it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Psalm 69<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Reflection</span></i><span lang="EN-US"> – Well, the psalms are back at it today with lamentation and cries
of distress! This is actually only about half of Psalm 69; I have edited it for
brevity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This psalm is distinguished, though, for
being one of the psalms applied to Christ in His passion. First there is the
‘zeal for you house has consumed me’, which is quoted in connection with his
cleansing of the Temple (John 2: 17), and then the ‘for their thirst they gave
me vinegar to drink’ of course recalls his sufferings on the Cross.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It is significant that we see in these
very human, very plaintive and poignant cries of human suffering and distress,
something of the anguish of God expressed in Jesus Christ. It is always the
tragic tendency of human beings, in the face of this or that calamity or
affliction, of this death or that illness, this impoverishment or that terrible
injustice, to conclude that ‘God doesn’t care.’ It is, in its own way, a
logical conclusion—if God cares so much about humanity, and about me, then why
did He allow this to happen?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This psalm—but more importantly, the real
historical event to which it points of the suffering and death of God in Jesus
Christ—is the answer of God to the question of ‘do you care?’ It is not the
answer we were looking for. We wanted God to say, “Well, of course I care, and
so now I am going to instantly take all your sufferings away.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">He will in the end (such is our Christian
faith) do just that (cf Rev 22), but for reasons of his own inscrutable Divine
Wisdom, here and now He chooses to show His caring not by removing our
sufferings but by entering into them Himself in the only way He could—by
becoming a human being with a human body and a human soul—and transforming
suffering from within.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Why He went this route, He has not really
chosen to explain to us Himself. Philosophers and theologians have done
yeoman’s service on His behalf, but I’m not sure He ever asked them to do it,
to be honest. In my own personal spiritual life, whenever I have asked God
plainly why this or that suffering has come to me or to those who I love, the
only real answer I get from Him is ‘Trust me’, and I think that is the best one
of all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">At any rate, and I say this with all
reverence and faith, this is the God we have been given, not the God we would
make up for ourselves. A God who does indeed fully intend to end human
suffering, to wipe every tear away in the final state of things, but who here
and now does not do that, but rather enters into it to share it and shape it
and make it the royal road to the kingdom. Psalm 69 and the other psalms that
are taken up into the Passion narratives bear witness to this, and this is
their abiding value in our Christian tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-60659506328799922672016-04-28T08:14:00.003-04:002016-04-28T08:14:34.066-04:00Abel, Abraham, and Melchizedek<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our Thursday journey through the Mass has
now taken us deep into the Eucharistic Prayer, on the far side of the
Consecration. And so we come to this little gem of a prayer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Be pleased to look upon these
offerings with a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as you were
pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of
Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek,
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">What’s this about, and what has it to do
with us and how we are to live our lives? I will leave aside the repeated
prayer that God look with kindness open our offering and accept it—this aspect
of things has been well covered in this commentary already. And last week I
covered the whole reality of Jesus Christ the holy sacrifice, the spotless
victim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">So why do Abel, Abraham, and Melchizedek
barge in here? What have they to do with what we are doing on this altar? And
why these particular three, when the Old Testament is filled with examples of
men offering various sacrifices to God? Why not Noah or Jacob or Elijah or
David or Solomon?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">To get that question out of the way, Abel
was the first one recorded to make a acceptable sacrifice to God (Gen 4:4),
Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac (which God did not ultimately ask him to
make) shows that God desires not merely this or that offering from us but faith
and trust (Gen 22: 1-19), and the offering of Melchizedek, the mystery man, of
bread and wine (Gen 14:18) has always been seen (and indeed is developed at
length in the letter to the Hebrews) as an type of Christ and his priestly
offering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The three together root the sacrifice of
the Mass, what we are doing here and now <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i>
day on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i> altar in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i> church, with this whole unbroken
line of humanity, all flesh coming before God to seek communion with Him. We
are so often such petty little creatures, wrapped up in our own problems and
concerns, living like ants who cannot see anything beyond the immediate near
horizon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">At this moment of the Mass we are called
to know ourselves as part of the vast body of humanity, extended through time
and space, a single entity made by God and for God, seeking God, at times
rebelling and running away from God, yet perpetually returning to the source
who made us, who loves us, and who desires us to enter this offering of love
and communion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">By calling us out of the here and now and
reminding us of our spiritual ancestors the Church calls us to solidarity with
all humanity. I would suggest that this especially means being mindful of our
solidarity with those members of humanity who may be outside the immediate body
of believers, the Catholic Church, or even of the whole Body of Christ that are
the Christians spread throughout the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">All people, whether they know it or not,
are called into this communion. Furthermore, all people of good will are
striving one way or another for this communion, although they may call it by
very different words and understand it quite differently. But anyone who is
sincerely striving for the good, the true, and the beautiful is essentially
bringing their goods to the altar of God hoping that He will find it
acceptable, whether they would put it that way themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">We know that it is only in the offering
of Christ that this hunger and thirst for the good, the true, the beautiful,
for communion in love and the final transcendence of our humanity into divinity
is realized. But we also know that our God is a merciful God and that He looks
with great pity and tender concern on every human being He has made, and that
the whole action of His grace in every human heart is ordered towards making
that person’s life-offering one with the Life-Offering of the Son. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And so this little moment of the
Eucharistic Prayer which we may wonder at, not think too deeply about, and then
move on from, in fact calls us to a profound solidarity with every human being
on the face of the earth, a deep prayer that the Lord will find us all
acceptable in his sight, and that all flesh will at last come into the Temple
of God and make to Him the sacrifice pleasing to Him, which is our faith and
union with Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-87356863602883923132016-04-27T07:04:00.003-04:002016-04-27T07:05:11.524-04:00Let's Talk About Conscience<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">I would like to spend Wednesdays on the
blog looking at some of the gnarlier questions of Catholic teaching and
theology. I realize from both my priestly ministry of spiritual direction and
my presence on Catholic social media that there is quite a bit of misunderstanding
of Catholicism, even among Catholics. And of course some of the issues I hope
to treat are hotly contested, widely rejected, and bitterly opposed. As those
who know me and have read me for years know, that sort of thing only encourages
me to keep writing about it. I don’t mind being disagreed with, but fiercely
resist efforts to silence me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Let’s start with something a bit less
juicy, but fairly central in many of the hard questions of our day. Let’s talk
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">conscience. </i>Now, in a single blog
post I cannot do justice to the whole theology and philosophy of this matter,
but let’s talk about why the Church insists on the primacy of conscience (cf
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1782) and what that really means.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Conscience is the practical intellect,
that part of our reasoning faculty by which, examining a decision that is to be
made, we determine what is the good course of action, also known as the moral
good. We determine the right thing to do, and we determine this right thing to
do by the exercise of our conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">This
is not</span></i><span lang="EN-US"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">moral
relativism. </i>Those Catholics and others who bridle at the mention of the
word conscience are hearing it in a morally relativistic way, but that is
simply not what the Church means by it. Using one’s intellect to determine what
is the right and moral course of action is no different in essence from using
one’s intellect to solve a math problem. You indeed have to do the solving (or,
if you are using a calculator, you can have someone else do the solving for you),
but nobody claims you can decide that 2 and 2 are five or that you can divide
by zero and come up with a rational number.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">And if you are doing math in the service
of some practical project—building a house or paying your taxes—making mistakes
in the numbers will have practical effects in the world. The house will fall
down and kill you and your family; the taxes won’t get paid properly and there
are legal consequences to that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Conscience is much like that; we use our
intellects to determine the right course of action. If we determine wrongly,
and do something that is in fact morally wrong, we may be innocent in intent,
but the wrong is still done. And actions are morally wrong, not by some
arbitrary law given by a heedless Lawgiver, but because they are harmful to us.
Some harms are immediate and obvious (reckless driving causes a crash) and some
are long-term and gradual (smoking causes lung cancer), but the harm is done
nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is absolutely vital that people
exercise their consciences freely. Sometimes it comes up in pastoral ministry
that a person wishes they didn’t have free will, that God would just tell them
directly moment by moment what to do and even completely take over their
volition. This is not the deal God has with us, though. The reason we must
exercise our conscience is rooted in the very purpose and goal of God’s
creative and salvific will for us. He made human beings so that there would be
creatures of flesh, material creatures, who could freely choose to know Him and
love Him, who could make a free choice to enter communion with Him and so give
glory to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">There is much more that can be said on
that front (I hope to write a book about it some day). But that is the
fundamental reason why conscience is primary and free will absolutely
necessary. God does not violate us, does not force Himself on us, does not make
us know Him and love Him (this is also why He hides Himself from us, painful as
we find that hiding).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Conscience being free and primary does
not do away with the moral law and with moral doctrine or teaching. That is
really quite silly if you think of it. If I have a really hard math problem to
solve, I am actually grateful to have a calculator, both to save time and to
protect me from costly errors. And I trust the makers of the calculator to have
created an instrument that provides reliable calculation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, it is no different with conscience
and morality. The ‘Maker’ of the moral law has provided us with a sure and
trustworthy instrument to provide us with helpful guidance and answers, to save
us from needlessly laborious moral reasoning and preserve us from deadly
errors. And that instrument is the Catholic Church in its teaching office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">People often bridle at this. “So it comes
down to just do whatever the Church tells you, then? Phooey!” Well, calm down
there. For one thing, the Church is not telling me right now to write this blog
post, nor is it telling you to read it. There are vast swaths of life we all
live each day where we are making free choices that the Church offers us at
best general principles to decide with (e.g., I should use my writing and
intellectual gifts to help people, you should read helpful things). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US">The Church simply tells us that 2 + 2 = 4
and not 5. Sex is for marriage. Don’t steal - other people’s property is to be
respected. Don’t tell lies. Don’t kill people. That kind of thing. Most of us
can find quite a bit of freedom in our lives within the walls of the moral law;
those walls enclose quite a vast estate of human action and choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span lang="EN-US">Well, there is much more to be said about
conscience – I wrote a whole series about it a while ago that you can access by
clicking on the ‘talking about conscience’ label at the bottom of this post.
But that’s more than enough for one day. My conscience is telling me to post
this up and move on with the next duties of my state of life, and I guess I’d
better obey it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.com4