St. Maximilian Kolbe - 1941

Since Remembrance Day is coming up, I figured it would be good to relate the story of a Saint who played a large role in World War II.

Raymond Kolbe was born in 1894, in Zdunska Wola, Poland. Throughout his childhood, Raymond was quite a troublemaker. Very mischevious, he was always trying to get away with something, and his parents often considered him to be quite a trial. However, in 1906, around the time of his First Communion, things changed for Raymond. One night, he had a vision, and in that vision, he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he asked her what was to become of his life. In response, she held out two crowns: one white, and the other red. The white one, she said, represented a life of purity, and the red one, a death of martyrdom. She told him he could choose a crown. Raymond decided to choose both.

Raymond chose to enter the priesthood with the Fransiscans, and took the name Maximilian. While in seminary, he and some friends started a club known as The Crusaders of Mary Immaculate, who were dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Jesus, the conversion of sinners, devotion to Mary, and to the Miraculous Medal.

After his ordination, St. Maximilian founded a Fransiscan monastery in Warsaw, Poland, in order to further spread faith in Christ and devotion to the Miraculous Medal, known as "The City of the Immaculate". After a while, though, he became restless, and felt God wanted him to travel as a missionary. So in 1930, Maximilian Kolbe went to Nagasaki, Japan, and there founded another monastery. After that, he continued on to India, doing the same thing, but illness caused him to have to return to Poland in 1936.

(Incidentally, Nagasaki was one of the two cities, with Hiroshima, that the USA dropped nuclear bombs on at the end of World War II, in retaliation for the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbour. The atomic bombs decimated nearly everything in those two cities--but, miraculously, St. Maximilian's monastery, and all those within, survived the bombing. Just one of the miracles attributed to devotion to the Miraculous Medal.)

Back in Poland, Maximilian continued his priestly duties, and overseeing the monastery there. On top of this, he began to publish and write for a newsletter called "The Knight". In it, he would teach about the love of Christ, and also address issues of justice and right living. When Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany in 1939, and began his Holocaust of the Jews and others who weren't of the Aryan race, many refugees began to flee from Germany to escape the oppression and persecution. Many of these refugees came to Poland, and Maximilian was able to put his teachings on love and justice into action, by hiding refugees in his monastery, and caring for them there. At one point, he had about 3000 refugees hidden in the monastery, and at least two-thirds of them were Jewish, because he knew that God loves all people, not just those of a certain ethnicity or religion.

For this act of hiding refugees, and for continuing publication of The Knight, which the Nazi Party considered to be Anti-Nazi, when Germany invaded Poland at the beginning of the War, Maximilian Kolbe was arrested and put into the Polish prison of Pawiak, on February 17, 1941. On May 28th, he was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp, in Germany, and even then was put in the worst sector--with particularly cruel guards--because he was a priest. There he was often beaten and deprived of food. Through it all, though, he continued to tell others about Christ, and to hear Confessions. He even, when he could get his hands on some smuggled in bread and wine, would say Mass and give other inmates the Eucharist!

After about a month and a half, there was an escape from Auschwitz. Protocol dictated that for every escaped prisoner, ten others were to be executed in his place. So the Nazis rounded up several people. One of them was a Jewish man named Franciszek Gajowniczek. He cried out, "Please! I have a wife and four children! Please don't kill me!" The guards were pitiless to his cries, but St. Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and said, "This man has a wife and family. I am a priest. I have no wife, no children. Kill me instead and let this man go free."

In making this sacrifice, Maximilian lived out the two crowns that Our Lady had offered him: the purity of the priesthood, and the martyrdom of charity. He died on August 14th, 1941. Franciszek Gajowniczek did survive Auschwitz, and because of Maximilian's sacrifice, he and his family converted to Catholicism!

No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?

Saint Maximilian Kolbe in the last issue of The Knight

St. Maria Goretti - 1902

St. Maria Goretti is unique among the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church, as the youngest saint ever to be canonised! At the time of her martyrdom, she was only eleven and a half years old.

Maria Goretti was born on October 16, 1890, to a very large, but poor, Italian family. Her family was so poor, in fact, that in order to make ends meet, her father, Luigi Goretti, had to make arrangements with another family, the Serenellis, to come and live on their farm, and do the farmwork with them, in order to make ends meet--to have enough food and a place to live!

As Maria grew up, she made a decision to live as God would want her to--to be good, and humble, and modest. She would take care of her younger siblings, and do thankless chores around the farm, even when no one asked. Around town, she was well-known for her good behaviour and her modesty. When, two years after they'd moved to the Serenelli farm, her father died of Malaria, St. Maria Goretti had to mature even more, and continued to serve her family and take care of her brothers and sisters.

When she was growing up, Catholic children received the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion in a different order than we do today. Maria would have been Confirmed around the age of six or seven, and would not receive the Eucharist until she was eleven. As her opportunity for First Communion approached, Maria took extra care to prepare herself to receive such an awesome gift: Jesus Christ, fully present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharistic bread and wine! She spent much time in prayer and spiritual reading, in order to make sure she was worthy of receiving such a precious gift! When the day came, her family said that it was the greatest moment, and highlight of her life!

But if St. Maria Goretti could be considered a model of saintly virtue, of love, compassion, and modesty, then another person on that farm was the exact opposite. The Serenelli family had a son, Alessandro. And Alessandro was not a good kid. In his teens, he got into the wrong crowd, and going with them to parties and other things, he lived a very wayward life. Alessandro was often violent, and got in trouble with the law on more than one occasion. On top of all this, he would occupy his free time reading and looking at very impure things, like pornography. All of these choices that Alessandro made, caused him to have a very skewed and troubled, and selfish, outlook on life. And when he looked at Maria as she grew up, he felt lust in his heart.

Alessandro would many times try to come on to Maria, trying to seduce her; but Maria, very conscious of God's instructions on the topic of sex, and very protective of her modesty and purity, would tell Alessandro, No, and remind him that God did not permit that kind of behaviour. But Alessandro wasn't interested in what God wanted, but only what he wanted. Over and over, he would try to tempt Maria, and over and over she would turn him down, reminding him of God's Laws. Finally, Alessandro wasn't going to take no for an answer any more, and on July 5th, 1902, he tried to force himself on Maria, in order to rape her. When she again struggled to resist him, telling him again that "This is a sin! God doesn't want this! You can go to hell for this, Alessandro!" he took a knife, and stabbed Maria with it fourteen times. Maria was quickly taken to the hospital, and Alessandro was taken to prison.

As Maria lay in the hospital overnight from July 5th to 6th, 1902, she held a medal of Our Lady, and a Crucifix. Over and over, she prayed for Alessandro, that God would have mercy on him! She kept praying for Alessandro's forgiveness until she died, and, truly, even afterward in Heaven.

Meanwhile, Alessandro, who was a minor when he committed his attack, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. While there, nothing changed, and he continued to be a selfish, violent prisoner. Often he would attack the guards, as well as other inmates. He would even attack the faithful priest who would come to visit him, in order to encourage him to repent and turn to God. This behaviour continued for thirteen years.

But one night, Alessandro had a vision. In that vision, he saw Maria Goretti in a field full of lilies--a flower that has traditionally symbolised purity. Maria was gathering up the lilies into a bouquet, and then walked up to Alessandro. She told him to take the lilies, and when he did, he said they turned into a still white flame that went into his heart. Alessandro awoke from that vision as a changed person.

The next day, when the priest came to see him--probably expecting to be beaten up--he found a calm and quiet Alessandro Serenelli. That day, Alessandro made a good Confession, and turned his life over to Jesus Christ. After he served out the rest of his sentence, Alessandro went to Maria's mother, and asked her forgiveness for his crime. Mrs. Goretti forgave Alessandro, and that year they attended Christmas Eve mass together. Alessandro afterwards became a Capuchin monk, and lived a life of purity, helping others to turn from their sinful lifestyles.

When the cause of Maria's beatification came up, Alessandro Serenelli testified to her life and purity, and told of his crimes against her. When in 1952, Pope Pius XII canonised her as a saint, her mother was there to witness it! On that occasion, the Pope said these words:

With splendid courage she surrendered herself to God and his grace and so gave her life to protect her virginity.

The life of a simple girl - I shall concern myself only with highlights - we can see as worthy of heaven. Even today people can look upon it with admiration and respect. Parents can learn from her story how to raise their God-given children in virtue, courage, and holiness; they can learn to train them in the Catholic faith so that, when put to the test, God's grace will support them and they will come through undefeated, unscathed, and untarnished.

From Maria's story carefree children and young people with their zest for life can learn not to be led astray by attractive pleasures which are not only ephemeral and empty but also sinful. Instead they can fix their sights on achieving Christian moral perfection, however difficult that course may prove. With determination and God's help all of us can attain that goal by persistent effort and prayer.

Not all of us are expected to die a martyr's death, but we are all called to the pursuit of Christian virtue.

So let us all, with God's grace, strive to reach the goal that the example of the virgin martyr, Saint Maria Goretti, sets before us. Through her prayers to the Redeemer may all of us, each in his own way, joyfully try to follow the inspiring example of Maria Goretti who now enjoys eternal happiness in heaven.

St. Maria Goretti again reminds us that the story of a martyr goes beyond their tragic death--but always impacts the lives around them, even their killers, as we see from the radical change Maria's example of purity, her willingness to die, and her prayers from heaven had on Alessandro Serenelli.

God bless.

St. Peter - c. 64

For this post, we're jumping way back to the beginnings of Christianity again, to discuss the big kahuna himself, St. Peter, the leader of the Church and first Pope.

Now, Peter wasn't born with that name. Instead, his parents named him Simon. And Simon was a fisherman, who made his living catching and selling fish in his hometown of Capernaum. But I suspect he wasn't all that great of a fisherman, since at least twice, the Gospels tell us that he spent the whole night fishing, and didn't catch a thing!

After one of these profitless nights, a tired Simon and his colleagues were sailing to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and on the shore, they see a Man, talking to a crowd of people who are swarming so close to Him that they're almost pushing Him into the water. This Man turns to Simon, and says, "Simon, can I borrow your boat?" Simon lets this Man up so that He can continue to preach and teach about God's love and His Kingdom. Simon listens intently to what this Man has to say, and after He is done His message, Simon makes sure to introduce himself. Jesus says to him, "Hey, let's go fishing!" Simon, tired from the night's work, and knowing that the middle of the day is just a bad fishing time, was probably a little doubtful: "Actually, Jesus, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather go home to bed. I was out all night and didn't catch anything. Do You mind?" To which, Jesus replies, "Come on, it'll be fun!"

So Simon sets out with Jesus for some highly irregular fishing--and it will only become more irregular from this point out! In the middle of the sea, Jesus says to Simon, "Throw out your nets!" Simon again reminds Jesus that fishing is terrible at this time of day, but follows Jesus' instructions anyway. And after catching nothing all night, in peak fishing hours, suddenly now, in the middle of the day, Simon's nets are so full that they're breaking from the catch!

Realising that this just isn't normal, Simon turns to Jesus and says, "Away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" Jesus, instead, lifts Simon up and says, "No longer will you catch fish, but from now on, you will catch men!" And from that point, Simon gave up his fishing business and accompanied Jesus as He taught about the Kingdom of God, and Simon himself preached and did many signs and wonders.

A little while goes by, and Jesus pulls Simon and the other disciples aside for a pop quiz. There had been a lot of questions about who exactly Jesus was, and so He put those questions to His crew: "Who do people say that I am?" Some replied that people thought He was Elijah come back from heaven. Others said He was a great prophet. Some didn't like Him so much, and thought He was a bit of a wing-nut. So Jesus brought it home: "Who do you say that I am?" Simon, who was one of those kids who always answered without sticking up his hand, blurted out, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" And, much to his surprise, Jesus replied by saying, "Hey, you're right!" Jesus continued, saying, "This answer didn't just come from your own mind, either, but God Himself revealed this to you! Because of this, I'm renaming you Peter, the Rock, and on this Rock I will build My Church!" Peter was on top of the world!

But the very next moment, Jesus said, "But first, people are going to begin to hate Me, and they'll take Me away and crucify Me! But I will rise again on the third day." I guess Peter missed the last part, because he immediately interrupted, saying, "What?! There ain't no way, Lord! That ain't gonna happen!" Jesus got right in Peter's face and said, "Get behind Me, satan. You're not focussing on what God wants, but on what you want!" Now, of course, Jesus wasn't calling Peter the devil, but in calling him satan, which means "adversary" or "opponent", Jesus was showing that Peter's mindset was in direct opposition to the will of God. Peter went from a big high, to a very deflated low. And much of the Gospel's record of Peter was a repeated loop of big high, big low as he served God well, and then followed it up with sometimes incredible stupidity.

Perhaps the most famous case of Peter's stupidity was at the Last Supper. Jesus again told them of His impending Crucifixion, so that His disciples would not need to be confused as well as afraid, but know what the plan was. He told them that when it happened, they would all leave Him and scatter. Peter, again speaking out boldly, said, "Never, Lord! Even if all these others leave You, I never will! I'm willing to even die with You!"

I'm grateful that Jesus is so infinitely patient with us. I'm sure He sighed and shook His head, and then told Peter, "I'm telling you, Peter, this very night you will deny that you know Me three times before the rooster crows." And of course, Peter rejected that! "Nuh uh! No way! No!"

Afterward, they went out to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Well, Jesus prayed. Peter, James, and John fell asleep. Three times. Finally, Jesus (again, eternally patient) wakes them to tell them that the mob is here to arrest Him. Peter, again trying to be the heroic Rock, takes out a sword and starts swinging. He chops off one of the guards' ears! Jesus again, shakes His head and says, "Oh Peter, didn't I tell you not to do that? This has to happen!" With that, Jesus heals the ear of the guard! Meanwhile, Peter and the other disciples take off.

But Peter doesn't go too far, but rather, he follows at a safe distance. He hangs around outside of the courtroom, trying to hear the results of Jesus' trial. As he stands there, someone approaches him, and asks whether he was one of Jesus' disciples. "No way! I got no idea what you're talkin' about!"

A little later, someone else asks the same question, noting that Peter's accent was the same as Jesus' and the other disciples. Again, Peter denies knowing Jesus. Finally, a little servant girl sees him and says, "You were with Jesus!" And big, tough, rocky Peter is so intimidated by her that he curses and swears and denies that he knows Jesus! Then the rooster crowed, and Peter remembered Jesus' words, and ran off weeping.

We know the story--how Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day, He rose again, and when, that morning, Mary Magdalene and the other women were going to the tomb to properly embalm Him, an angel was waiting there for them! The angel told them that Jesus had risen, and to go and tell the Disciples--and Peter--that Jesus would meet them in Galilee!

Peter, hearing the news, says to his friends, "Galilee, eh? I'm going fishing!" And the disciples joined him, as he took his boat out of retirement and cast out on the Sea of Galilee that night. They fished all night, and, once again, caught nothing! As they were heading into shore, there was a man walking on the beach. He hollered out to them, "Hey! Catch anything?" Peter probably grumbled a no, and the man yelled again, "Throw out your nets on the other side of the boat!"

Now, I don't know if you know anything about fishing. I've fished a few times, catching nothing, and Jesus' words will come back to me, and I'll try tossing out my line on the other side of the boat. And I still catch nothing! Why? Because fish aren't hiding on the other side of the boat, laughing at you as you cast out on the one side. That's just not how it works. They're not that smart.

So to Peter, this advice had to sound incredibly useless, but he remembered a similar incident of receiving bad fishing advice that paid off big, so he looked at John and said, "Hey, what the heck?" When they did, they caught a huge amount of fish! The Gospel of John numbers them at 153! And this time, the nets didn't break! When John saw the miracle, he says to Peter, "Hey! It's Jesus!" Peter grabs his coat, puts it on, and leaving everyone else to finish hauling in the fish, he jumps out of the boat and swims to shore. Now, I wouldn't be putting more clothes on before I jump in a lake, but hey, it's Peter.

When he gets to shore, Jesus takes him for a walk, and begins talking to him. He asks Peter if he loves Him, to which Peter replies, "Yes, I love you, Lord." Jesus says to him, "Feed My sheep." A little later, Jesus asks again, "Do you love Me?" Peter again answers, "Yes Lord, You know I love You." Jesus says to him, "Feed My lambs." A third time, Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love Me?" Peter's a little upset about being asked a third time, and replies, "Lord, You know everything. You know I love You!" Jesus says, "Tend My sheep."

In doing this, Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to make up for denying Him three times, and each time, Jesus reaffirms His plan for Peter, to lead the Church. Jesus had compared Himself to a Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep. On the Cross, He had done just that. Now, it was Peter's turn to take over caring for those very sheep.

Afterwards, on the Day of Pentecost, the Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter took up that leadership role, preaching Christ to the crowds, and in that first sermon, 3000 people converted to Christianity! And Peter continued to serve and to lead the Church, travelling abroad and beginning churches. Finally, he went to Rome, and began and led the church there. In the 60s, the Emperor Nero came to power, and he hated the Christians. He also seemed to love fire, and parties. And at one such party, he burned down half the city of Rome. When his enemies tried to put the blame on him, though, he said, "Wasn't me! It was, uh, the Christians! Let's kill 'em!" And so a terrible state-sponsored persecution of the Church began, killing many Christians (Nero would often light their bodies on fire as streetlights--big surprise).

The Christians in Rome pleaded with Peter to flee for his safety, since, as the leader of the Church, Nero would certainly be coming after him. And, heeding their advice, Peter fled. But as he left Rome, St. Ambrose tells us that he had a vision, and in it he saw Jesus, carrying His cross back toward Rome. Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus replied, "I am going to Rome, to be crucified again." Then the vision ended, and Peter knew that Jesus wasn't really going to be crucified again, but that he, as Jesus' representative, needed to return to Rome and continue to lead the Church until whatever happened, happened. So Peter did just that.

When the Romans caught up with Peter, and arrested him, he was slated to be crucified in the Colosseum. But Peter refused that death, saying that he was unworthy to die in the same way that His Lord had. So they crucified Peter upside down, and by his courageous death, he gave glory to God.

St. Peter's story is encouraging to us today. Through it we know that God is ever-patient with us, and always forgiving. Even when we screw up numerous times, God's plan is still true for us, and if we are willing to return to Him, we will find forgiveness and restoration, just as Peter did; and ultimately, our lives and our deaths will be used to the glory of God!

Amen!

The Two Ways

Matthew 7:13-29

"Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
"Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.
"It is not anyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord," who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of My Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, work many miracles in Your name?' Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; 'away from Me, all evil doers!'
"Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of Mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!"
Jesus had now finished what He wanted to say, and His teaching made a deep impression on the people because He taught them with authority, unlike their own scribes.

Jesus compares the Spiritual Life to a journey, where we come to a fork in the road. To the left is a huge, 4-lane, paved freeway, well maintained and well lit. A very safe road. To the right, on the other hand, is a narrow, pot-hole-ridden, gravelly, bumpy, hard road. And on this journey, Jesus tells us that we must take that hard road. The world tries to tell us that all roads lead to God, but Jesus plainly tells us that these two diverging paths (and, ultimately, there are only two) go in opposite directions. The wide, safe, paved freeway leads to Destruction, while the narrow, difficult road leads to everlasting Life.

Why is it that the hard road is the right road? Why is it that God didn't make it hard to go to Hell, and easy to go to Heaven?

All living creature grow and change. To cease to grow is to die. This is true with our spiritual life as well. The hardships that come in following Christ and being obedient to His commands help us to grow. Without them, we would never be challenged or stretched, but we would become complacent, static, and we would die. Through the harships, the hard choices and hard actions, we rise to the challenge. Our faith, courage and strength are tested, and through God's Grace, we overcome and grow more and more like Christ--and that's what it is all about!

But this attitude is insanity to the world. Our world desires the easy route. It desires to live in peace and luxury, not to struggle. Like electrons, we desire to take the path of least resistance. And the world, therefore, tries to dissuade us from taking the hard road. It beckons us to follow the easy road to hell. It constantly tries to undermine the truth of Christ and His Church. Things like The Gospel of Judas or The Da Vinci Code tell us that the Church has lied to us about the Gospel. People tell us that we don't need to follow God--that it's futile and meaningless. They tell us we are our own gods. But these things are all lies, and dangerous lies, designed to lead us astray. And if we are not careful and discerning, if we are not staying close to the Truth, we can be led astray. The False Prophets, Jesus says, are like wolves dressed up in sheep's clothing. They sound clever, they sound reasonable, many times they even sound Christian. But their lies are exposed in their lives. If their message does not bring us to a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, or to a greater willingness to obey His Will, then it is false. If their message claims to bring us closer to Christ without the necessity of keeping His commands, it is false. If their message appears to lead to righteousness without Christ, it is false.

Jesus said, it is not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord," that comes into His Kingdom. We need also to do what God wants us to do. Note that many of these false prophets will even claim miraculous signs as their proof! We can't be fooled! God's will is not to do miracles (though they may often accompany those who do His will). God's will, rather, is "only this, to do what is right, to love loyalty and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

If we do not do the Will of God, we won't be accepted into His Kingdom. Jesus finishes with the parable of the wise and foolish builders--the wise one who builds upon the solid foundation, and his house stands against all adversity, and the foolish one who builds on sand, and his house crumbles right away. It is not enough to hear the word, Jesus says, but we must act on it.

I'll conclude with a poem that I wrote when I was 16, reflecting on a girl I knew who gave up the Christian life for peer pressure, getting into drugs and other sinful behaviour. She left the narrow road, for the wide freeway. If we walk away, know that God always calls us back, asking us to turn around and regain the Narrow Way.

Holes in His Soles
(C)1996 Gregory Watson

Sweet girl, on a journey,
Growin' up, you're in a hurry.
Seek new things to get you by,
Always new, you want to fly!

Sweet girl, the road you're takin',
It looks all right, but you're mistaken.
Might look brilliant, might look bold,
But "all that glitters isn't gold."

Sweet girl, you missed the exit,
Go back a way, see if you can find it.
Careful though, wolves hide the gate,
They dress like sheep, don't take the bait.

"'Because narrow is the gate...
And there are few who find it.'
Wolves in sheep's clothing
Are trying to hide it."

So girl, take my hand,
I'll lead you back, to find the Man
Who built the gate and now protects it.
He guides us home, and will keep the way lit.

Sweet girl, look at His footprints.
See the holes in the middle of those imprints?
Listen now, I will tell how and why.
You see, He got those marks for you and I.

This Man's Dad so much loved us
He sent His Son to make a way for us.
So He came and worked from early 'til late,
And when He'd finished, there stood a gate.

One post up, one post across
It stands, a landmark to those who are lost.
The wolves, the fearsome stalkers of night,
They hated the Man, and His gate of light.

They killed Him in their hate.
Nailed His hands and feet to the gate.
All night the wolves howled and taunted,
Fear not though, this is what He wanted.

He died, and all was dark.
Those wolves, they ceased to bark.
But the Builder, dead He didn't stay!
He lived again on the third day!

The wolves ran in a defeated state.
With His blood, He christened the gate.
"It is finished!" the Son exclaimed
From Calvary, what the gate is named.

So that, sweet girl, is why
His feet are marked: for you and I.
His footprints guide us over rock and sand,
Down the road to the Promised Land.

So when the wolves come to cajole,
Follow the tracks with the hole in the sole.
This Man will keep the wolves at bay.
Follow Him close; He'll not lead you astray.

And now, sweet girl, I say adieu.
I must go and help others just like you.
They seek new things to get them by,
Always new, wanting to fly!

"'Because narrow is the gate...
And there are few who find it.'
Wolves in sheep's clothing
Are trying to hide it."

Follow close the prints with the hole.
Keep with the Guide; He'll heal your soul.
Follow the tracks over rock and sand,
One day you'll come to the Promised Land.

This concludes our study of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

God bless!

The Message of the Cross

Yesterday was my second anniversary as a Catholic! This is what it's all about!

Holy Week began on Sunday with Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, and the reading of the narrative of Christ's Passion (from Mark's Gospel). And so we enter the greatest week of the year, culminating in the greatest Feast of the Year!

This is what our faith is built around: The Cross of Christ. His death for us shows us His great love for us as it redeems us from our sins and forgives us! Through that wonderful Cross, we have been made sons and daughters of God! The Cross is the source of joy!

Let that sink in. Jesus' suffering and death saves us from our sin. So often, I think, we treat Good Friday as a terrible day as we hasten on to the "happy ending" of Easter Sunday. I was reminded of this fact last Sunday when a small boy asked Fr. Watters, "Why do we call Good Friday 'good' if that's when Jesus died?" Fr. Watters wisely responded, "Because it's the best day of the year!"

Truly, it is! If there were no Good Friday, there could be no Easter Sunday. If there were no Good Friday, we all would still be dead in our sins. If there were no Good Friday, we would not know of God's incredible love for us! And yet, Good Friday honours and remembers the most painful, tragic event that has ever occured--and we indeed call it "Good."

That is why St. Paul wrote, "The message of the cross is folly to those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). A few verses later, he says, "I was resolved that the only knowledge I would have while I was with you was knowledge of Jesus, and of Him as the crucified Christ." Jesus Himself told us that His glory was in the Cross! In fact, it was the Cross that would draw all people to Him. In John's Gospel, Jesus says, "'Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to Myself'" (12:31-32). John comments on this saying, "By these words He indicated the kind of death He would die" (v. 33).

For Jesus, the Cross was His Glory, His Power. When St. John had his vision, in Revelation, he sees Jesus as "a Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed" (Rev. 5:6), and to this Lamb, all the choirs of Heaven bow down and sing

You are worthy...
because You were sacrificed, and with Your blood
You bought people for God
of every race, language, people and nation
and made them a line of kings and priests for God,
to rule the world (Rev. 6:9,10).

In the Crucifixion is joy; in the Crucifixion is victory; in the Crucifixion is redemption. This is why, in every Church, there is a Crucifix--to remind us of the Love and of the Victory in the Cross. "...You have had a clear picture of Jesus Christ crucified, right in front of your eyes..." (Galatians 3:1).

Many years ago in New York, a Gang was passing by St. Patrick's Cathedral. The gang members each dared each other to mock religion and the Church by going into the Cathedral and making a mock confession. One of the guys took the dare, and entered the church. He went into the confessional and began listing off to the priest all the most horrible and shocking sins that he could think of, hoping to embarrass the priest. But behind the screen sat a wise old Cardinal, who prayed to Jesus for wisdom.

When the gang member finished, the Cardinal said to him, "For a confession to be complete and valid, you must do a penance. Here is the penance I am giving you. Over at the back of the Church there is a small chapel, with a life-sized Crucifix inside. I want you to kneel before that Crucifix, look into the face of Jesus, and say to Him ten times, 'Jesus, You died for me, and I don't care.'"

The youth, figuring he'd already gone this far, and might as well go all the way, entered the chapel, knelt before the Crucifix, and began his penance:

"Jesus, You died for me, and I don't care.
Jesus, You died for me, and I don't care.
Jesus, You died for me..."

There, before the Crucifix, as the gang member stared into the face of the One who loved him so much that He suffered and died for him, he could not finish his penance. The grace of Christ came into his life and he had a conversion experience. He got up, went back to the confessional, and made a good confession. Years later, that same man became a priest.

That is the power of the Cross: freedom, peace, and joy. No matter where you've been or what you've done, Christ's hands are stretched out in love for you.

God bless.

A Deeper Law

Back to the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:17-48

'Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. In truth I tell you, not one dot, not one little stroke, is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is achieved. Therefore anyone who infringes even one of hte least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of Heaven.

'For I tell you, if your uprightness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven.

'You have heard how it was said to our ancestors, You shall not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you, anyone who is angry with a brother will answer for it before the court; anyone who calls a brother "Fool" will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and anyone who calls him "Traitor" will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown in prison. In truth I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.

'You have heard how it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say this to you, if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should be your downfall, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of yourself than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should be your downfall, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of yourself than to have your whole body go to hell.

'It has also been said, Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say this to you, everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of an illicit marriage, makes her an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

'Again, you have heard how it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but must fulfil your oaths to the Lord. But I say this to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, since that is God's throne; or by earth, since that is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your own head, either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. All you need to say is "Yes" if you mean yes, "No" if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the Evil One.

'You have heard how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer no resistance to the wicked. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if someone wishes to go to law with you to get your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone requires you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks you, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.

'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for He causes His sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles to as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.'

A long passage. A hard passage. One that many seem to misunderstand, I think. What is Jesus saying here?

Jesus starts off by affirming the Law that God had given to men in the Old Testament. Jesus did not come to get rid of it, but to "complete" it. What's that mean? It means that Jesus lived the Law perfectly, the way God intended. His whole life, and His death and resurrection, fulfilled all that was required! And the best part is, He did it for us!

Now here's where things get a bit tricky. There are people out there who believe that Jesus' fulfilling the Law means that that Law therefore doesn't apply to us, because we are in Christ Jesus. This view historically was known as "antinomianism" which means, basically, literally, "against the law-ism". Reading through what Jesus said above, it should be plain that antinomianism is not true, but in fact, just the opposite. But nonetheless, this viewpoint still exists within Christian circles. Only, they changed the name from the rather negative-sounding "against the law-ism" to the more spiritual sounding "Faith Alone."

But right after Jesus says, "I have not come to abolish the Law, but to complete it" (v. 17), He says two things more: First, "Whoever keeps these commandments and teaches them will be called greatest in the kingdom of Heaven," (v. 19) and second, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven" (v. 20)! Jesus very clearly points out that He expects us to live up to the standard of the Law--in fact, He goes on, and raises the bar! The next section quoted above has Jesus saying, "The Law says this, but I say, that's not good enough!" Don't murder? Darn right! Guess what: Getting angry with your brother--same thing. Don't commit adultery? Absolutely not! Guess what: lusting after someone that you aren't married to, whether they're real, or imaginary, or porn--yeah, that's adultery! On and on Jesus goes, reinterpreting the commandments, and raising the bar! I won't comment on every part, because the wonderful thing about Jesus is, He's incredibly straightforward about this!

After telling us just what is necessary to enter the kingdom of Heaven (v. 20), He concludes with these startling, sobering words: "You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect" (v. 48). This is the point. This is the meaning. This is the requirement.

But can any of us truly be perfect? No, not on our own. That is why Jesus came: not simply to teach us the Law, but to enable us to fulfil it. Through His own life of perfect obedience to the Father, through His sacrificial Death and Resurrection, Jesus completely fulfilled the Law, paid for the sins against the Law that we have committed, and rose again to give us His Spirit. Through the graces given through His Spirit, He makes us able to live a truly upright life. We are not instantly made perfect, but throughout our lives, we are being perfected more and more, through the Spirit within us and the Sacraments whereby we receive ever greater Grace.

Through Jesus living within us, we can do the impossible, and live for Him. On our own, it is impossible, but "there is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me" (Philippians 3:13).

God bless.

The Cycle of Redemption

I got a book for Christmas from one of the kids in the Youth Group, Dez, called Why Do Catholics Do That? by Kevin Orlin Johnson, Ph.D. One of the chapters outlines briefly, but really clearly, the entire Salvation Plan. I thought I would reproduce it here. I hope the Author doesn't mind...

Life is a lot like school. You're put there at a very early age, without being consulted about it. You get a lot of work assigned to you, and it helps you grow, but you're tested every time you turn around. Then there's the big test, and you find out whether you graduate or flunk. You see this pattern of life reflected everywhere you look, not just in your own career but also in literature like the Odyssey, in the Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, in the Koran, and even in our fairy tales and popular literature, like The Wizard of Oz. And you find the same view of the universe reflected in the Bible.
...It's the major theme of the Church's art and ceremonies, too. From the Church's point of view, this journey through life is governed by God's plan of creation, sanctification, and salvation: what you might call the "Cycle of Redemption".
...But although this cycle is mirrored in our secular art and culture, you hear all kinds of inaccurate accounts of it. It's not very well understood by the press or the broadcast media, and of course separated Christians don't see it this way. So we'll just run quickly through some of the basics here, with references to a few of the relevant Bible passages (but remember, the Church doesn't teach these points because they're in the Bible; they're in the Bible because the Church has always taught them). And we'll sample a few of the uncounted millions of words that the Church has written about the cycle during the past nineteen centuries. That should be enough to clarify the Church's art and liturgies a little, and to aim you in the right direction if you want to read more about it. [Remember, too, that this book isn't a catechism--this outline of the cycle is accurate as far as it goes, but there's a whole lot more to it than this. For the rest of the story, check the sources listed at the end of the book.]
...For each of us, the Cycle of Redemption can be summed up as birth, sin, reconciliation, death, judgement, and verdict--and grace, which pervades all of these.

Birth and the Beginning of the Cycle
We're all born into a flesh that's affected by the original sin of Adam and Eve (Gn 3). God created Adam and Eve good, in his own image and likeness (Gn 1:26). And, out of love, he gave them certain gifts that they had no right to expect, being human as they were. They got integrity, which means that their emotions (and even their passions) were controlled by their intellect--they didn't have any psychological problems, no compulsions, no shame, and no guilt. Well, they didn't have any sin yet, so they didn't have anything to be guilty about.
...They also got an intimate union with God, who lived with them visibly and on terms of friendship. And God gave them the promise of immortality, so they could enjoy this way of life forever. But to get this, they had to obey one simple little commandment: don't eat the fruit of that particular tree. God gave them everything else, but not that.
...He also gave them free will. They didn't have to sin (Gn 4:7), but the devil got to them, and they decided to go ahead with it anyway. Since their supernatural gifts were conditional on their obedience, their sin was a rejection of their innocence, wisdom, and bodily immortality. "Man too was created without corruption," as St. Methodius of Philippi wrote in about 300, "but when ... he transgressed the commandment, he suffered a terrible and destructive fall and was reduced to a state of death."

Sin, Original and Inventive
So now we're all born in original sin: not that we're punished for what Adam and Eve did, because God is not cruel, but just that we're born without those supernatural gifts that we'd otherwise have had. And this original sin also opened the gates for all subsequent sins, all of the times when people choose their own wills as opposed to God's (Romans 5:12-14). These are called actual sins, and they cut a person off from God (Is 59:1-2, for instance). And you can't save yourself on your own, so, as you remove yourself from God step by step, sin by sin, things get worse and worse for you.
...But that's not all; when you bring sin into being, you distort the whole world that much more. The story of Noah, for instance, says that "the Earth was corrupt; for all men lived corruptly on Earth," and God himself put the blame where it lies: "the Earth is full of violence because of them" (Gn 6:11-13). So, when one person sins, everybody else has to put up with the consequences, too--sin is sort of like air pollution: you can't hide it, and it ruins the quality of life everywhere, even far from its source (as in Is 24:5). We're all tied together in the great scheme of things, which explains why bad things happen to good people. If we were all the way Adam and Eve were before the Fall, there wouldn't be any death or taxes or crime or traffic jams or anything. God made the world, but we spoiled it.
...But note that original sin only changed man's state; it didn't change human nature. People were made in the image of God (Gn 1:26), and created good; people can act badly, but people are by nature good.
...You have to be perfectly clear about this one point, because a lot of Christians separated from the Church teach that humans are by nature depraved, sinful, and wicked--this is the point that all those fire-and-brimestone preachers have tried to make for the past three hundred years. But it isn't so; that's not part of Christian teaching, and you won't find anything in the Bible to back it up. It doesn't make sense, really. And it's interesting to hear what the notable anthropologist Ashley Montagu figured out on this point:
..."Perhaps the idea before all others I would like the reader to reconsider is the notion ... of innate depravity," he wrote in his book The Humanization of Man. This notion, he says,

seems to me to have been fiendishly damaging to man's growth in self-understanding...it is hardly likely to occur to anyone that the age-old doctrine of innate depravity is not only open to question but is demonstrably unsound....The need that is satisfied by the myth of innate depravity is the need for absolution from sin, for if sin is innately determined, then one can shift the burden of responsibility for it from oneself to one's innate heritage. Evil in this world is thus explained, and becomes easier to bear--and with a good conscience, much easier to do nothing about. My own interpretation of the evidence, strictly within the domain of science, leads me to the conclusion that man is born good, and is organized in such a manner from birth as to need to continue to grow and develop in his potentialities for goodness.

...It's interesting to see a man of science coming around to the Church's teaching on the matter despite what he calls "centuries of secular, religious, and 'scientific' authority" in Protestant England teaching the contrary. But no matter how you figure it, the innate goodness of human beings is a pivotal point in the cycle, because it means that people can attain Heaven, where nothing bad is allowed (Mt 5:8, Rv 21:27). So how are you supposed to overcome all of the sin in this world and end up with God, where you belong?

Grace and the Re-Sanctification of Humans
Well, have another look at Genesis. The same book that records the original sin tells that God promised a savior (Gn 3:14-16). It doesn't go into a lot of detail, but the rest of the plan is revealed little by little through the prophets of the Old Testament, like Abraham and Moses (Gn 17, Ex). Just as he'd offered a contract--a covenant--to Adam and Eve, God offered a covenant to people after the Fall, a covenant tied directly to the way the world works, to the whole pattern of health and happiness, disease and death, and so on. You obey those Commandments, God said, and I will be your God and take care of you, and I'll receive you after you die; if you deliberately reject this offer, you're on your own, and you've got to take the consequences, here and hereafter. Finally, after people had been waiting for centuries, God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, was born (Lk 2). He brought the Old Covenant to its fulfillment and instituted the New Covenant, which is Christianity (Mt 5:17-19).
...In only a few years of public ministry, Christ got a tremendous amount of work done. He gave us the rest of the Faith that had only been partially revealed during a thousand years of Hebrew prophecy. He established his Church to preserve his teachings intact until the end of Time and to offer them to everybody on Earth (Mt 28:18-20), he ensured that he would be sacramentally present in the Eucharist (Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:14-20; Jn 6; etc., etc.), and he empowered the Church to offer that means--and the other sacraments--to keep us close to him, to give us the grace that we need to avoid sin, and to offer forgiveness, reconciliation, and a chance for atonement when we slip up (Mt 18:15-18; Jn 20:21-23).
...The point of all this is grace--getting back the closeness to God that Adam and Eve rejected. And you get it back on exactly the same condition that God laid down for the first people he offered it to: obedience. You manage the necessary reconciliation primarily through the sacrament of the same name, which is the channel for the grace that comes when you resolve to repent and you stick to your resolution, and when you ask for the help that you need to do that. (You're never tempted beyond your ability to resist, either; see 1 Cor 10:13; 2 Pt 2:9.) [To get God's forgiveness through the sacrament of Reconciliation you have to meet the same conditions as for getting forgiveness from a person. You have to acknowledge that what you did was wrong, you have to say that you're sorry, you have to resolve never to do it again, and you have to make up for it somehow. And, of course, you have to ask for forgiveness; presuming on his mercy won't cut it. So, in the Church's view, you can't figure, "Well, I'll go to confession on Saturday," and do the thing anyway. The Church also makes the important distinction--again, parallel to earthly human relations--between imperfect contrition (born of the fear of punishment and loss of reward) and perfect contrition (being sorry simply because you've offended God and not thinking of yourself). The first kind is a start, anyway. It's seen as a "beneficial sorrow", as Trent said, that prepares you for the other kind. Note, too, how important this perception of how forgiveness works is to the ideals of civilized life here and now.]
...Christ made this reconciliation possible by coming, teaching, and establishing his Church. Then he suffered and died, not for his own sins--he didn't have any--but to take our punishment on himself (Rom 5:15-21) and undo what Adam did (1 Cor 15:21-22). This symmetry between Christ and Adam is why you sometimes see a skull at the base of the cross in Crucifixion scenes; the legend arose that the hill called Golgotha, "place of the skull", marks the grave of Adam and, in a way, it does.
...But, unlike Adam, Christ rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, to show us what we could look forward to if we kept his commandments. In other words, Christ redeemed mankind from sin. But salvation is another matter altogether, and it's a two-way street. You see, Christ's sacrifice laid the foundation of redemption, but each of us has to build on it, working out our own salvation in fear and trembling. (Check 1 Cor 3:11-15, 10:12, Phil 2:12, Mt 24:42-51--and notice, incidentally, that nobody has any assurance of salvation, any more than you know when you're going to die; see Sir 5:5-9, 1 Cor 10:1-12, etc.)
...For the Church, all of this means that this earthly life is consequential; what you do here and now influences what happens to you in the hereafter. Of course, you have to have faith--you have to believe, to know and understand, that God is God, that Jesus is Christ, and you have to hold the rest of the teachings of Christianity close to your heart. But faith alone isn't going to get you home safely after the journey of this life.
...Adam and Eve, to start with, had perfect faith. They knew God personally and talked with him, face to face, and it certainly never occurred to them to question his existence or nature. You can't get faith like that, nowadays. But their deliberate act got them (and us) thrown out of Paradise. The Jews always knew the importance of acts, too, way past Genesis. "Give alms out of your substance," the elder Tobias told his son, "for alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not allow a soul to go into darkness" (Tb 4:7-12). Psalms echo that same refrain, not to mention passages like Dt 30:10-14 and Lv 6:17-19. Even the stories about Satan tell how he stood next to God--again, perfect belief--but you know what happened when he willfully rebelled.
...Of course, the pattern holds true in Christ's own words. There's the Sermon on the Mount, for example (Mt 7:24-27; Lk 6:46-49), and his account of the process of judgement shows that everybody facing judgement has plenty of faith (they all say, "Lord, Lord"), but the sheep who did the right things are saved while the goats who didn't aren't (Mt 25:31-46). And in the account of the Apocalypse, the returning Christ says, "Behold, I come quickly! And my reward is with me, to render unto each one according to his works" (Rv 22:12). That's why Christianity teaches that "faith without works is dead," as St. James put it (Jas 2:17,26).

Death
Really, you could say that the major theme of the New Testament is the need to serve God faithfully, to keep up your end of the Covenant, in this life, because after you die it's too late--"after we have departed this world," explained St. Ignatius of Antioch more than eighteen hundred years ago, "it will no longer be possible to confess, nor will there be any opportunity to repent."
...Now, repentance has two parts to it: forgiveness and atonement. Again, this is reflected in common sense and in daily life. When you're hauled into civil or criminal court, the people whom you've injured can forgive you, but you still have to pay the penalty of the law--restitution and punishment are both perfectly just and reasonable. In the same way, the Church teaches that you have to be forgiven for sin and, even then, you still merit punishment for your sin, and you still have to make up for it. So "repentance...is not conducted before the conscience alone, but is to be carried out by some external act," as Tertullian phrased it, back in 203.
...You can make up for your sins, and take your licks for them, either in this life or in the next. In this life, there are sacramental penances, nowadays just token acts like the familiar "five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys" that may be prescribed after Reconciliation for remission from punishment. (In the old days, the really grave sins--the ones that get you on talk shows nowadays--used to get public penance involving things like sackcloth and ashes and standing there in front of the church for a few weeks with a sign around your neck detailing your sin, or walking to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and back.)
...Even today, the Church offers guidelines for optional sacrifices and penances, too. Almsgiving is as important now as it ever was, and so is fasting (which has the added advantage of keeping the devil at bay; see Mk 9:27-28). You can turn your need for penance into good account with things like giving up a meal during Lent and sending the money that you save to foreign missions that use it to feed the truly hungry. In fact, seasons like Lent and Advent were set up to remind us of the need for acts of penance to serve as punishment for sins and acts of charity to make up for them. Basically, the idea is to do good things to balance out all of the bad, as well as avoiding more bad things.

Judgement, Personal and General
But it's a good idea to keep repenting every day, because after you die you're subject to a personal judgement (Sir 11:26-30). Then you have to face the consequences of what you've said during your life (Mt 12:36-37, Lk 12:8-10), what you've done (Eccl 12:13-14; Mt 10:42, 13:41-43; 16:27; Mk 4:24; Jn 5:29; Rom 2:6; 2 Cor 5:10; to name a few), and what you've failed to do, like the unprofitable servant (Mt 25:24-30).
...Now this judgement takes place right after you die, but then, at the end of Time, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, the dead are to be raised--souls rejoining bodies now "glorified", which is why images of Christ and the saints are so beautiful. He will come again, at that point, and then everybody has to face a general judgement (1 Cor 15:12-55, 1 Thes 4:16-18, etc.). But think about this: as soon as you die, your soul is released from your body, and it's in the dimension of the angels, outside of Time. From your point of view, then, there's no "before" and no "after", no "at the same time as", because there's no Time, period.
...So, even though your friends and relatives may go on for a while putting flowers on your grave, from your point of view outside of Time, your body has already risen and there you are. You probably won't even notice any delay. Your body can be risen in Heaven while your friends are seeing it dead on Earth, but that's not being in two places at one time, because you're outside of Time. See? (Well, it's tough. Even St. Augustine, in his Confessions, threw up his hands on this one--"Who can comprehend this even in a thought, so as to express it in a word?" he asked. "Who can explain this?" But then he did a fair job of explaining it himself. It's a minor point, anyway. You can figure it out when you get there.)
...Well then: general judgement. Christ described it (Mt 25), and it's logically necessary because our actions affect humanity as a whole; you have to wait until everything's over to see how it all comes out. This Last Judgement stands at the end of Time, and nobody can know when that's going to hit (Mt 25:13, Mk 13:32-37, Lk 12:35-48), but that doesn't seem to stop people from guessing. In fact, whenever times get rough, a lot of people figure, well, that's it, then. Which is why, in any war or economic depression, or in years like 1000, 1666, or 2000, you see so many street-corner preachers and manuscript illuminators and televangelists who come up with very creative opinions about every scary detail of the Apocalypse. That's when you get lots of people outside the Church trying desperately to figure out what's meant by The Tribulation and The Rapture and things like that.

The Verdict
So if you die with your sins forgiven and your atonement made, for instance in full sacramental communion with the Church, then, it is hoped, you go straight to Heaven, to enjoy forever the presence of God. If you died unrepentant, with unforgiven sins so serious that they imperil your soul, there's Hell, and some separated Christians try to deny its existence, but Christ himself kept describing Hell in glowing detail (Mt 8:12, 13:41-50; 25:41-46; Mk 9:43; Lk 16:19-26, etc.), so there it is.
...The Fathers of the Church have also described Hell eloquently, but one of the most moving impressions of what goes on there comes from a little girl, Lucía dos Santos, who told what the Lady of Fátima showed her:

Our kind heavenly Mother...had already prepared us by promising...to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror...Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire that seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to unknown animals, all black and transparent.

...It makes you think. But we should note at this point that the Church has never condemned anybody, never said solemnly that so-and-so is in Hell. She can't, because that would be contrary to her mission. No Christian can, in fact, because we're supposed to judge as we would be judged. The Church can excommunicate somebody, and always has (1 Cor 5:9-12, for instance), but that's different. It means announcing publically that this person has acted so scandalously that he cannot receive the sacraments; this allows--even calls for--reconciliation. And even if the person dies excommunicated, the Church prays God to forgive him.
...Anyway, Hell is for mortal sin. But there are degrees of offense. Check out Dt 25:2, for instance, or 1 Jn 5:16-17, but St. Jerome summed it up: "There are venial sins," he explained, "and there are mortal sins. It is one thing to own ten thousand talents, another to owe but a farthing. We shall have to give an accounting for an idle word no less than for adultery. But to be made to blush and to be tortured are not the same thing....If we entreat for lesser sins we are granted pardon; but if for greater sins, it is difficult to obtain our request. There is a great difference between one sin and another." [To clarify the distinction, some catechisms point out certain criteria that a word, action, omission, thought, or desire has to meet to be a mortal sin: it has to be seriously wrong, you have to know that it is, and you have to fully consent to it. And, of course, you have to actually do it (but entertaining improper thoughts counts, too; they flash in your mind all the time, involuntarily, but you can reject them immediately). A venial sin is understood as one in which the evil wasn't seriously wrong or, even if it was, you understood it to be only slightly wrong or you didn't fully consent to it. Both kinds are willful acts that show you don't want God in your life, and the line blurs in cases like repetitive venial sins. In either case, you can't sin without knowing it or accidentally, but, here as in civil life, ignorance of the law isn't much of an excuse.] If you die with some of these minor sins on your soul, or with your sins forgiven but unatoned, there's Purgatory. Purgatory is an essential part of the Cycle of Redemption, and you can't really follow the major themes of the Bible or of Christian art if you leave it out.
...At judgement, St. Paul wrote, "the fire shall try every man's work....If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire" (1 Cor 3:13-15). Obviously, the fire isn't in Hell, because you can't be saved through hellfire, and there's no fire in Heaven. To clarify matters further, Christ himself promised that there was a punishment that exacted what was due but wasn't endless: "Amen, I say to you, you shall not go out of there until you repay the last farthing" (Mt 5:26; see also Mt 18:23-35). He also pointed out that there's some place for forgiveness after death, not just acceptance into Heaven or condemnation (Mt 12:32). So Purgatory is for sins that don't deserve absolute punishment--little venial sins, done by people whose hearts are in the right places.
...The souls in Purgaroty suffer, all right, but they've got an advantage over us because they know that they're saved. And they're still united with us and perfectly well able to pray for us and benefit from our prayers--check 2 Mc 12:39-46, and any of the Fathers of the Church, all of whom commend the practice of praying for the repose of the dead. Those in Heaven are aware of us and of those in Purgatory, or even Hell, also (Lk 16:19-31). You can, therefore, ask your departed friends to pray for you, on the charitable assumption that they're not in Hell, just as you can ask your bodily friends to pray for you. And if you know of people from the past (and you have reasonable assurance that they died in friendship with the Church), you can ask them to pray for you, too. After all, if bodily death separates us, then Christianity as a whole doesn't make any sense.
...So there you have it, in outline, at least. It's a view of things that doesn't let you out of any responsibility, and it doesn't cut any corners about the punishment part. But even in that, it recognises your inherent dignity and insists upon your ability to fulfill the promise of that dignity. And it stresses--uniquely--the importance of the individual person, the innate goodness of the human being, the unity of all people with each other and with God, the need to draw nearer to our Creator, and the crucial importance of active good.

__________
Johnson, Kevin Orlin, Ph.D. Why Do Catholics Do That? A Guide to the Teachings and Practices of the Catholic Church. (Ballantine Books: New York, 1994). Chapter 6, The Cycle of Redemption: Purgatory, etc. pp 43-54.

Stand up and Testify!

Sunday, April 10, we had our first, official, open to everyone, Youth Group Meeting! So, okay, I'm still learning, and it wasn't necessarily firing on all cylinders. It'll get better! It's a growth thing! Sunday, April 10 was also my first anniversary as a Roman Catholic! Last year, Saturday April 10 was the date of the Easter Vigil, at which celebration I was received into full unity with the Catholic Faith! Good times! I didn't realise the connection when I decided to start the Youth Ministry regular meetings on the 10th. I didn't even realise it when I decided to give my testimony at the first meeting. It wasnt' until I sat down and thought about it that I realised that God has a wonderful sense of timing and humour! He is so good!

In case you're not down with the lingo, a "testimony" is the story of how a person came to faith in God, and recounts God's grace in his or her life. Often the most dramatic testimonies, the ones that get the most recognition or applause, are the ones that start off something like, "I used to be a long-haired, tattooed, guitar-playing druggy in a satanist rock band until Jesus came and turned my life around!" or some variation on a theme! And (despite my humourous exaggeration) it is amazing to witness the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit in someone--especially when it bears such obvious effects and results! For example, the Youth Pastor at the Pentecostal church I grew up in used to be a heavy drug dealer by the time he was 18, and God really did miraculously turn his life around!

The problem can sometimes be when we admire those testimonies so much that those of us who were brought up in the church and never really got in trouble start thinking, well, I really don't have a testimony! I've always been a Christian. Sometimes we think, I wish I had lived this crazy sin-life so I'd have something to talk about! But think about that. Imagine if the Virgin Mary thought she didn't have a testimony, because instead of being some drunken prostitute whose life was transformed by God, instead He saved her at the moment of conception so that she could be kept unstained from sin! We don't look down on her because her testimony isn't "dynamic" enough. Instead we venerate her as the epitome of what it means to be a pure, chaste, and obedient Christian!

So just because you weren't some murderous gangster before you met Jesus, don't think that your relationship with Him is somehow less important! Stand up and testify!

For myself, looking back I can clearly see God's hand in my life, even before I was born. 16 years before I was born, my parents got married, and wanted kids. They prayed about having kids. They even felt that God gave them the name of a son, Gregory. But for 15 years they had no children. I don't know why they couldn't. I never asked. They tried to adopt, but the line-ups are very long! Finally, after waiting 15 years to adopt, I came along, and I was given to them!

I was the child of an affair, a married man and an unmarried girl. By most standards today, I'd be considered an "unwanted child", and in 1980, abortion had been decriminalised for 11 years! Thank God my biological mother didn't choose the "easy" way out! Instead of aborting me, she gave me up for adoption, and I was named Gregory by my parents, Betty and Wayne Watson. Their example, waiting a decade and a half for a child, the length of the lineups at adoption agencies, tells me, and should tell everyone, that contrary to popular propaganda, there is no such thing as an "unwanted baby"!!!

My parents were very devout Pentecostal Christians, and they taught me about God from as far back as I can remember. I've always believed in Jesus. When I was five, there was this preacher guy who preached at my church one Sunday night about the need of inviting Jesus into your heart for salvation, that He died on the cross to forgive our sins, and that we need to accept Him. At the end, he did the "Pentecostal thing" and had an "altar call" which is where the preacher asks the congregation to respond to the sermon by either raising your hand, standing, or coming up to the front. Pastor Rhude had everyone bow their heads and close their eyes, and said that if anyone wanted him to pray for them to be saved, to raise their hands. As a 5-year-old kid, I completely disregarded "every head bowed and every eye closed" and was looking around as Pastor Rhude kept saying "Yes, I see that hand," and people put their hands down. But I had listened to the sermon, and wanted to be saved, so I put my hand up, and he said, "Little boy, I see that hand!" Well, didn't that just thrill me, so I turned to my mom (who was very devoutly following "every head bowed and every eye closed") and started tapping her and saying "Mommy, mommy! 'Little boy', that was me, Mommy!"

From then on I was a perfect little angel, and never caused anyone any trouble. The end. NOT! I did go to Kindergarten the next day and tell everyone! And I tried to live different. I think. It was a long time ago. I was always a pretty good kid, though. I never beat people up (though I got beat up a lot). I never rebelled or anything like that.

Then I got to high school, and like Aladdin said, "It's a whole new world!"--but not so much in a good way! There were new and crazy challenges in high school! People actually opposed and mocked Christianity there! They told me we came from monkeys! I knew that my Kindergarten faith had a lot of growing up to do! I joined the youth group at my church (which had the coolest kids anywhere!) and got involved in the drama team. Great times. I learned about the Holy Spirit, and how in the Book of Acts, He came and poured Himself out on the Apostles, and they got these miraculous powers like healing people and prophesying and speaking in tongues (for those who don't know, this stuff is pretty much what Pentecostalism bases itself on).

I wanted that kind of presence of God in my life. So at a retreat in '94 or '95 I went up for the altar call to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I got it! Speaking in tongues and the whole bit! Crazy! Most important, though, the Holy Spirit gave me a new power to stand up for my faith! I went back to high school and told people about Jesus! I still do--just not at my high school. Now I get to go to other ones! I love my job!

When I was 15, I went to a Christian camp and the preacher talked about Jacob in the book of Genesis. One of the stories is about how Jacob (whose name means deceiver) wrestles with The Angel of God, who blesses him by renaming him Israel (which means contends with God or Prince of God, depending on who you ask. Either way, better than "deceiver"!). The preacher said that God has a new name for all of us. A change in who we are, to make us more like Him. And we should all ask Him to change our name. He was being somewhat figurative, but I hated the name "Gregory" so I literally wanted God to change my name.

So the following week, I was reading the Bible during my daily time of devotions, or time to meet with God. At this time in my life, I was working my way through the Bible cover-to-cover. I was in Ezekiel (so more than halfway through) and that particular day I was reading Chapter 3. In verse 17, God says to Ezekiel, "Son of Man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel..." When I read this, God stopped me, and said, "That's you." I was like, "Huh?" (This is how we talk). He said, "I want you to be a watchman for Me." I'm like, "You're kidding, right?" (I wanted to be a cartoonist for Disney or something, not a missionary or pastor or whathaveyou!) God's like, "Nope. You know how you keep asking Me to change your name? Well, I already did. Your birth mother named you Michael, but I named you Gregory when you were adopted." Of course, I was using this bookmark I'd had since I was a wee lad to keep my place while I read through the Bible. It had my name on it, so I looked at it. It said my name, and then the meaning of my name: Watchman.

I wasn't sure what all that meant at the time, but I knew that God would tell me what I needed to know when I needed to know. But knowing my identity really formed who I was. I had a purpose. There's a line from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" where Giles, Buffy's watcher, asks her, "How many 16 year olds out there know what their purpose is?" Buffy starts to be sarcastic, but finally admits, "Ok, how about none." Well, I knew! And we all can know. God says that He has an awesome plan for each and every one of us! I'm extremely glad He told me early on, so I didn't have to waste time floundering without Him. Seek Him, and He'll guide you, too!

When I was 18, I dated a girl who wasn't Pentecostal, and she helped me see some things in their doctrine that I didn't believe were taught in Scripture. Pentecostals are great people and true Christians, don't get me wrong. But as a finer point of their doctrine they teach that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit must be evidenced by speaking in tongues. I didn't agree with that. Which is fine, not everyone agrees 100% with it. But I was supposed to be going into the ministry. That was what that whole "watchman" thing was all about! How could I be ordained a Pentecostal if I disagreed with a fundamental point of their doctrine?

So I went to an interdenominational Bible College to explore the alternatives. While I was there I learned a little bit at a time about Catholicism. Some of what I learned was favourable. Some was not. Some was outright biased against. But it whet my appetite! Around the same time, I met a Catholic girl and we started dating. We made a trade-off, that I would go to Mass in the morning and she would go to my Pentecostal church for the night service. This went on for about 3 years, while I, through Bible College and beyond, learned all I could about the Roman Catholic Church.

Finally, I reached the inescapable conclusion that they had the fullness of Christian truth! (So that's what 1 Timothy's talking about when St. Paul says, "The church of the living God [is] the pillar and foundation of the truth"!) But I was still a little disturbed by the Mary emphasis. I couldn't quite figure it all out. And even though they seemed to be right about everything else, so did the Pentecostals when I was there. If I left them even though I disagreed with only one doctrine (at the time. Now it's several), how could I embrace the Catholic faith while disagreeing still with one whole body of doctrine?

So I kept stalling, until I read the book that I talk about two posts previous, Hail Holy Queen by Dr. Scott Hahn. That book opened up Scripture to me in a new way, and opened up my eyes to really understand my Spiritual Mother, and her role in the faith! So it was that on April 10, 2004, I was received into full communion with the faith of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, exactly 1 year later, I've started a youth ministry in a Catholic Church! It's amazing to see God's plan and timing!

There are many things that attracted my to the Catholic Church. The fact that it stretches back to the time of the apostles themselves, in an unbroken succession (you can literally trace doctrines and beliefs back to the earliest Christians and show where they came from and how they developed!). The fact that the Catholic Church embraces art and pictures as aids to worship. As an artist, that was really cool, since many Protestants can tend to look down on pictures and statues as a form of idolatry. The unity of the Church was also a big draw, especially when I contrasted that to the 1000's of different Protestant denominations, constantly splitting from each other. The Catholic Church's unity (and Protestant disunity) springs from the authoritative teaching body under the Pope (or the rejection of the same). Without that infallible teaching body, protected and prevented from teaching error in issues of faith and morals by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul could never have called the Church the pillar and foundation of the Truth (1 Tim 3:15 again)!

But the main thing that attracted me and keeps me in the Catholic Church is the worship of the Mass, where, in the Eucharist, we receive Jesus Himself! As Scott Hahn teaches in another book, The Lamb's Supper, in the Mass we actually participate in the worship of Heaven! It is Heaven on Earth because Jesus is truly Present in the Eucharist! Now it is my life's joy and purpose to show others the beauty of the Catholic Church (whether they're Catholic or not themselves) and especially the joy of meeting Jesus as He comes to hang out with us every Sunday (and indeed, every day if you can go) in the Mass!

God bless!
(And if you want to know more details, remember, that's what the comments are for!)

Getting Our Feet Wet

At yesterday's meeting, I washed the feet of the kids who were present, after watching the flashback scene where Jesus washes His disciples' feet. In the movie, Mel Gibson has Jesus tell His disciples that if the world hates and persecutes them, they must remember that it hated and persecuted Him first. But He also gives the promise of His Holy Spirit to strengthen them and lead them into the Truth. We then looked at the scenes of certain characters who had a life-changing encounter with Jesus on His way to the Cross...

Malchus--[0:11:50-0:14:05]
In the Garden of Gethsemane, when the mob comes to arrest Jesus, Peter, being the hot-tempered, quick thinking guy that he is, attacks one of the guards, and chops off his ear. When things are about to get really ugly, Jesus bends down, picks up the ear, and heals the guard in an amazing act of love. This love amazes the guard, who remains speechless, with a look of awe and wonder at the love and mercy of Jesus, who he has come to arrest.

Peter--[0:29:05-0:31:35]
At Jesus' trial, Peter is accused of being one of the disciples. Afraid for his life, he denies the accusations 3 times--and then remembers Jesus' prophecy that he would do just that. As Jesus looks right at him, Peter is filled with grief and shame, and runs away. He is stopped by Mary, Jesus' mother, who is with John and Mary Magdalene. Peter drops to his knees before Mary and tells her of his shameful crime, and then runs off to, as the Bible says, "weep bitterly" (Luke 22:62). Later in Scripture, we find that the Resurrected Jesus pays a special visit to Peter, to let him know that he is forgiven, and that Jesus has a special role for him (John 21:15-19). Even when we fail to stand up for Christ at a crucial moment, He doesn't just discard us, but we can find forgiveness and a second chance to live boldly for Him, as is evidenced by Peter's conversion--for it was he who stood up in front of the multitude on Pentecost, and preached so that 3000 people were saved on that day! (Acts 2:14-41)

Herod's slave--[0:44:15-0:45:05]
In this brief scene, we see Jesus, beaten and mocked, look over toward a slave, the only one not mocking Jesus. This beautiful scene shows the extent to which Jesus identifies with us in our humanity, as St. Paul wrote, "though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave…He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus' true majesty doesn't lie in His great power, but in His great humility, and in lowering Himself to our level, even to the level of a slave, He exalts all of us, even a slave, to His level as Sons and Daughters of God!

Barabbas (not quite)--[0:49:10-0:51:10]
In this interesting scene, even Barabbas' jubilation over being chosen over Jesus is calmed when Jesus' penetrating gaze meets his own. However, he shakes off Jesus' gaze and marches through the crowd. Whether Barabbas himself ever placed his faith in Christ, we won't know until we're in heaven, but in an allegorical sense, Barabbas stands for each of us, because, as we mentioned last week, our sins by rights get us the divine death penalty, but, like Barabbas, whose name means "The Son of the Father," we are redeemed by the true Son of the Father, and are made ourselves into true Sons and Daughters of the Father! (1 John 3:1)

Claudia--[0:46:20-0:47:10 / 0:59:45-1:00:30]
In these interesting scenes, Claudia, Pilate's wife, is depicted as being very concerned about Jesus' fate. The Bible describes her as having been troubled in a dream about Him (Matthew 27:19), and urges she Pilate not to condemn Him. There is serious speculation among scholars as to whether Claudia had become a secret disciple of Jesus, like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea. She discusses with Pilate the concept of Truth, as he is haunted by Jesus' response to his questioning. Claudia's response to Pilate, that if a person will not hear the truth, then no one can tell them, highlights the fact that our salvation is only a result of the Grace of God, but that we have to be open to receive that grace. Claudia's own openness to God's grace is displayed in her compassion to the Virgin Mary as she gives her an armful of cloths to wipe up the Precious Blood of Jesus.

Mary Magdalene--[1:05:55-1:07:50]
Mel Gibson depicts Mary Magdalene flashing back to when she first encoun- tered the impossible love of Jesus, while she helps Mary, Jesus' Mother, clean up His blood. The scene that she flashes back to is that of the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8--and while Mary Magdalene, biblically speaking, probably isn't the woman the story is about, Gibson decided to compact these stories for dramatic punch (He took his cue from Pope St. Gregory 1). However, the point remains profound, and that is the truth that, "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little" (Luke 7:47). Because of the forgiveness and love of Jesus, Mary Magdalene became a loving and devoted follower, and stayed with His Mother and St. John as they followed Jesus all the way to the cross--even when all others deserted Jesus.

The guard on the road--[1:18:28-1:19:17]
When the guard sees the interaction between the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ on the road, their dynamic love for each other, and the courage she displays in following Christ to the Cross affects him. It is Mary's courage and faith that attract the guard to Christ, and seemingly to a faith in Him. This is Mary's role, as we'll discuss more next week--to present Jesus to people, and to bring people to Jesus.

Veronica--[1:23:35-1:24:40 / 1:27:00-1:27:15]
Tradition places Veronica on the Way of the Cross (station 6), as a woman who has compassion on Jesus' sufferings, and tries in her own small way to minister to Him. As a reward for her kindness, Jesus blesses her by leaving the image of His Face on the cloth with which she wiped His face. Veronica, whose name means "True Image", received the gift of Jesus' true image, and it is said that the veil is kept within a statue of Veronica in St. Peter's Basilica, in Rome--though there is some question as to whether the veil has survived...
Blessed Mother Teresa once talked about how she saw Jesus in every sick and poor person to whom she ministered in Calcutta. In this, she alluded to Jesus' parable in Matthew 25, where He judged people by how they loved "the least of [His] brethren" by saying that whatever we did to any of them, we were really doing to Him. Whenever we reach out to help the poor, the sick, or the lonely, Jesus says we are really reaching out to Him, and just as He rewarded Veronica with His Image, He rewards us with the Grace of knowing Him more as we compassionately love others.

Simon of Cyrene--[1:21:00-1:23:05]

When we first see Simon, he's disgusted by what's going on, and very opposed to taking up the cross and helping Christ. When he realises that he has no choice, he makes it very explicit that he has nothing to do with Christ--that he is innocent. [1:25:00-1:26:50] But in helping Jesus accomplish His work of salvation in helping to carry the cross, Simon begins to identify himself with Jesus, and by the end of the journey, the man who formerly wanted nothing to do with Jesus has to be forcibly driven away from Jesus [1:31:45-1:32:10].
At first we reject the cross of Christ, but persecution is an opportunity for us to become united with Jesus in a most personal and special kind of way, to share in the cross of our Lord. When we take on suffering that is given to us, especially when it's a result of our faith, we participate, like Simon, with Jesus' redemption of the world!

Dismas the Good Thief--[1:45:00-1:45:50]
The "Good Thief," Dismas, realises the truth, and even though he was a terrible criminal, his heart is still soft towards the things of God, and that is all God needs to bestow His love and forgiveness. Jesus' love and forgiveness of His torturers and murderers touches the thief's heart, and he humbly asks Christ to forgive him. The forgiveness of Dismas by Jesus gives all Christians hope in the saving power of faith.

Cassius the guard--[1:53:55-1:55:25]
Cassius is depicted as sympathetic to the plight of Mary, Jesus' mother. He is almost apologetic when he goes to pierce Jesus' side to verify His death. The key to Cassius' conversion is when he pierces Christ's side, and the blood and water pour out. While being a literal historical fact, Gibson dramatises the event by making it an outpouring like from a fountain. The Blood and Water from Christ's side have since earliest times taken on spiritual significance as representing both Baptism and the Eucharist (It is this notion that is the basis for the painting of the Divine Mercy). In this scene, then, Cassius is baptised quite literally and drops to his knees in awe and worship of Christ. The blood and water continue to flow like a fountain from Christ's side as a symbol that His Grace is available to all, a never-ending fountain, like one of my favourite hymns talks about, "There is a fountain filled with blood / drawn from Emmanuel's veins / and sinners plunged beneath the flood / lose all their guilty stains."

Each of these persons in Mel Gibson's movie teach us something about our own lives of continuous conversion and growth toward becoming more like Jesus. In the sacrament of Confirmation, Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit that He gave at the last supper as He washed His disciples' feet, is fulfilled in each of us, as the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us in a new and powerful way, giving us the graces of strength and courage to live for Christ on a daily basis. It is the Holy Spirit in us that gives us the ability to take up our crosses daily, to die to ourselves and be united to Christ in His suffering. The Sacrament of Confirmation isn't just a one-time thing, but, like Baptism, opens the door to a greater experience of God as we live it out in our day-to-day lives. Always be open to His presence in your life.
God bless
Gregory