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Yes, the effectiveness of each Mass, which makes the sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally present, depends in part on the holiness of the entire Church offering it with Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit, including the holiness of the individual priest offering and the holiness of his participating congregation.

• Fr. Maurice de la Taille, S.J., formerly professor of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and a universally recognized authority on the Mass, also points out the great importance of personal holiness in the Church relative to the effectiveness of the Eucharistic sacrifice: "It is, then, of the greatest importance that there should be in the Church many holy, many very holy persons. Devout people, men and women, who should be urged by every means to higher sanctity, so that through them the value of our Masses may be increased and the tireless voice of the Blood of Christ, crying from the earth, may ring with greater clearness and insistence in the ears of God. His Blood cries on the altars of the Church, but, since it cries through us, it follows that the warmer the heart, the purer the lips, the more clearly will its cry be heard at the Throne of God. Would you wish to know why for so many years after the first Pentecost the Gospel was so marvelously propagated, why there was so much sanctity amongst the Christian people; why such purity in heart and mind, such charity, the sum of all perfection? You will find the answer when you recall that in those times the Mother of God was still on earth giving her precious aid in all the Masses celebrated by the Church, and you will cease to wonder that never since has there been such expansion of Christianity, and such spiritual progress." ³¹

If all, then, have a responsibility to grow in holiness in order to render the Mass more efficacious, the priest has a special duty to do so. His goal must always be to grow in holiness — to grow in union with Christ the Priest, this Christ Who leads us to the Father in the Holy Spirit with Mary at our side.

end of excerpt

        From Tell My People

                LISTEN TO ME —

                    LISTEN TO HIM
                                     (JESUS)

                THE LORD IS KING,

Excerpt from Light, Happiness and Peace by Fr. John Pasquini pp. 21-26

Freedom, Responsibility, and Personal Becoming

Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.50

    At the core of a person’s nature or essence, intrinsic to him or her, is that person’s freedom. Freedom is the means by which a person primarily becomes something. A person is so free that he or she has within his or her being the capacity to take control of his or her basic nature. A person is able to determine what he or she is and what he or she is to be. Therefore, at the heart of the definition of the person is the reality that the person is one who is open to becoming.51

    Freedom is an openness to that which is beyond — a movement toward fulfillment. Because freedom is open and a movement toward fulfillment it allows for self-causation, that is, the power to become. Freedom entails a possibility for selfachievement, self-becoming. In freedom we can realize our potential. In the words of Karl Rahner,

…[Freedom] is a permanent constituent of man’s nature. The true nature of freedom appears precisely in this, that in the Christian revelation it is the cause of both absolute salvation and absolute rejection by the final judgment of God…. In the Christian view… man is, through his freedom, capable of determining…. Through his free decision he is rather truly good or evil in the very ground of his being, and thus, in the Christian view, his final salvation or loss is already present, even though perhaps still hidden.52

    The person endowed with grace is on a journey—whether he  is aware of it or not—toward the perfection of Christ, the Godman, the fully divine, fully human being. By seeking the God that dwells within, one can find one’s true human potential, and by seeking to find one’s full humanity, one can find the divine within whether in an explicit way or an implicit way.53

    Christians are called into the Mystery of God. By making the choice to enter into this mystery one is making a choice to enter into the spiritual life, the beginning of the mystical life.54

50 St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haeres. 4, 4, 3: PG 7/1, 983.
51 Cf. Karl Rahner, Hearers of the Word, trans. Michael Richards (New York: Herder and Herder, 1969), 3-179.
52 Karl Rahner, Grace in Freedom, trans. Hilda Graef (New York: Herder and Herder, 1969), 210-211.
53 Cf. Rahner, Foundations, 1-459.
54 Cf. Karl Rahner, Theology of Renewal, trans. Cecily Hastings (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1964), 73.

The Limitations of Human Freedom

    Human freedom is not absolute. It is limited and subject to errors. It is limited in that it demands obedience to the natural law that resides at the core of every person, and it is subject to error in that it is subject to the slavery and blindness that is associated with sin. As the Catechism states, “By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth.”55 Human history attests to the sad consequences that result from the sinful abuse of freedom.

    The Christian is called to live a life in imitation of Christ. The Savior who saved us from the slavery of sin is the one that all are called to imitate, for in this imitation is found the ultimate in liberation and freedom (cf. Gal 5:1; Jn 8:32; 2 Cor 17; Rm 8:21). In the grace of Christ one is educated and nourished in the ways of authentic freedom.56

    In the early stages of the spiritual journey, the imitation of Christ is quite difficult, and therefore one’s sense of freedom and liberation is curtailed.

Moral Conscience

Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment…. For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God…. His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.57    Gaudium et Spes

    A person entrusted with this innate moral law, this conscience, is obliged to be faithful to this moral law in choosing what is right and just. In so doing one recognizes the ultimate in truth, truth itself, God himself, Christ himself.

Conscience is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.58     John Henry Newman

    Conscience directs us to conversion and to hope. It enables us to recognize the evil we have done and consequently to ask for God’s forgiveness. Conscience also helps us recognize the good and the power of hope. It directs us away from evil, unhappiness, despair, and moves us toward happiness, peace, and light.

The Formation of Conscience

    We have a moral obligation to form our conscience in accordance to right reason and the will of God. It is a life-long task. In the purgative stage of spirituality, the conscience is often poorly formed, while in the succeeding stages the conscience becomes more enlightened. The following are some general guidelines for the proper formation of our conscience:

.Reflection, self-examination, and introspection make up the ground level of an informed conscience.

.Absorption in the Word of God (Ps 119:105) and Sacred Tradition (the life of the Holy Spirit within the Church) serve as the blood of life for the conscience.

.The authoritative teachings of the Church that flow from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are essential (cf. 2 Th 2:15).

.Reading the spiritual masters and the advice of good spiritual directors are extremely helpful in putting all the above into a concise vision of reality that corresponds to the innate reality at the core of a person’s being.

A well-formed conscience engenders freedom and peace of heart.

Determining a Well-Informed Conscience

    There are essentially two key guides that help us to determine if we have a well-informed conscience:

1) A good end does not justify an evil means.
2) Do unto others as you would like done unto you (cf. Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31; Rm 14:21; 1 Cor 8:12; Tb 4:15).

An Uninformed Conscience59

Like all things human, even [the] conscience can fail to…[perceive] illusions and errors. It is a delicate voice that can be overpowered by a noisy, distracted way of life, or almost suffocated by a long-lasting and serious habit of sin.60 Pope John Paul II

There are two main reasons for an uninformed conscience:

1) The propensity toward laziness is at the heart of those who fail to seek a well-informed conscience.
 2) A sinful life often blinds us to recognize the truth and often deadens our conscience.

The more correct conscience prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by objective standards of moral conduct.61    Gaudium et Spes

 

An Examination of Conscience

    An examination of conscience is a powerful way of keeping our conscience informed and open to the working of grace. The following is a general method of examining our conscience: We must first begin by praying to God for enlightenment. We must then ask ourselves the following key questions: “Who am I as God sees me? What is happening in my life at this moment? How is God working in me? How is evil working in me? What is God asking of me? What would Jesus do in my situation?” From these key questions flows a profound examination of conscience.

55 CCC 1740.
56 CCC 1741-1742.
57 GS 16; Cf. Rm 1:32; 2:14-16. All quotes and references from Scripture are from the RSV.
58 John Henry Newman, “Letter to the Duke of Norfolk,” V, in Certain Difficulties felt by Anglicans in Catholic Teaching II (London: Longmans Green, 1885), 248.
59 GS 16.
60 John Paul II, Celebrate 2000: Reflections on Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father (Ann Arbor: Servant Publications, 1996), 151.
61 GS 16.

Excerpt from Light, Happiness and Peace by Fr. John Pasquini pp. 27-29

Lord Jesus Christ you truly contain within your gentleness, within your humanity, all the unyielding immensity and grandeur of the world.

You are the center at which all things meet and which stretches out over all things so as to draw them back into itself; I love you for the extension of your body and soul to the farthest corners of creation through grace, throughlife, and through matter.

Lord Jesus, you who are as gentle as the human heart, as fiery as the forces of nature, as intimate as life itself, you in whom I can melt away and with whom I must have mastery and freedom; I love you as a world, as this world which has captivated my heart….

Lord Jesus, you are the center towards which all things are moving.63

  . . .

Concupiscence

    Original sin distorted the harmony of creation and damaged the relationship between God and humanity. The second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, came into the world and cleansed it of this damage, this original sin. While the sin is forgiven in Christ, the wound remains.

    Human beings, while in Christ, in God, are capable of an intimate, personal, saving relationship with God, and are capable of experiencing eternal life with God in heaven. Yet despite this, because of the wound of original sin, a human being is still inclined and tempted toward that original rebellion; that is, human beings are inclined toward the temptations of evil. The spiritual journey becomes a battle against concupiscence.

Personal Sin

    Sin is a personal act in which reason, truth, and right conscience are offended. It is a failure to live up to the command of love of God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to that which is not for the honor and glory of God. It is an act of self-infatuation, disobedience (Gn 3:5) and hatred toward God (Ps 51:4).64 It wounds the nature of the human person, the nature of solidarity, and the nature of the eternal law.65

Kinds of Sin66

    Sin comes from the heart, from the core of a person’s very being (cf. Mt 15:19-20). The two main kinds of sins are sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of commission are sins in which a person takes an active part—such as acts of fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, envy, drunkenness, carousing, etc. (cf. Gal 5:19-21; Rm 1:28-32; 1 Cor 9-10; Eph 5:3-5; Col 3:5-8; 1 Tm 9-10; 2 Tm 2-5). Sins of omission are sins that involve actions that are omitted in fostering the glory and honor of God. These are sins committed by people who keep quiet when evil is being done. People who do nothing to put an end to abortion and euthanasia, for example, are the quintessential type of people who commit serious sins of omission. These people can be equated to the people who did nothing to put an end to slavery in the United States’ early history. They did nothing to put an end to evil. Failing to stop gossip, vulgarity, and so forth, are other forms of sins of omission.

_____________________

63 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “Cosmic Life” in Writings in Time of War, 69-70.
64 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14, 28: PL 41, 436.
65 St. Augustine, Contra Faustum 22: PL 42, 418.
66 Cf. CCC 1849-1850.

The Moral Virtues

To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul and with all one’s efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only [God] (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence).30   St. Augustine

e) Relationship with Members of the Church

There is but one true Church of Christ. Yet this one Church has three different states of existence. There is the pilgrim Church, the Church of this world, composed of members who have received the grace of Christ and strive for its development. They have not yet obtained the goal of their efforts, as have the members of the heavenly Church, who enjoy God in eternal happiness. The Church suffering is an intermediate state of existence necessary for those who had not achieved the required purification as members of the pilgrim Church. Although there are these three phases of the Church’s existence, there is a profound union existing between all the members. All these members possess the same basic life of grace in Christ, and this common life establishes the most intimate bonds of love. In our preceding chapter, we discussed the pilgrim Church. Let us now consider the Church suffering and the heavenly Church.

The members of the Church suffering are those who have departed from this life in an incomplete state of Christian development. Their development is incomplete in the sense that grace has not fully taken possession of them, and, as a result, they are yet closed in upon themselves to a greater or lesser degree. They as yet cannot open themselves out in complete love to the Triune God in the beatific vision. They must undergo a further purification, a purification which could have been achieved upon earth with merit. Now the purification must be achieved with no merit attached. The pain of this purification is mixed with the certain expectation of achieving the vision of God. We can hasten the advent of this vision for this people by the offering of prayers and other good works. Scripture itself refers to our action on behalf of those in purgatory in Chapter 12 of the Second Book of Maccabees beginning with verse 38.

The members of the heavenly Church are those in whom the life of grace has taken full possession and has reached its completion in the life of glory. Faith now is unnecessary, as the light of glory gives the human intellect a new strength and capacity for seeing God face-to-face. While the Christian was a wayfarer, he received the imprint of the indwelling Trinity as he shared in God’s own life. Now in heaven that grace-life and possession of God reaches its completion—the absolute completion is not achieved, however, until the resurrection of the body. The divine persons give Themselves to the beatified in a profound union far surpassing that of the indwelling of the Trinity experienced here below.

This life of heaven is still the Christ-life, for just as we possess a share in Trinitarian life here below as mediated by Christ, and exercise this grace-life as structured by Him, so also in heaven is the mediation of Christ present. In the words of Rahner, "One always sees the Father through Jesus. Just as immediately as this, for the directness of the vision of God is not a denial of the mediatorship of Christ as man."¹⁴ And not only does the humanity of Christ unite the blessed to God, but also, in some way, to the whole of creation. This is merely a completion of what is begun here below, namely, the union with Christ in His humanity establishing the Christian in a special relationship with God, with other men, and with the whole of creation. We have a glimpse, therefore, of the fullness of life which members of the heavenly Church possess.

The heavenly Church, as St. Thomas says, is the true Church.¹⁵ The Church of this earth and the Church of purgatory are, each in its own way, reaching out in loving hope for the heavenly Jerusalem. Vatican II puts it very simply: "The Church, to which we are called in Christ Jesus, and in which we acquire sanctity through the grace of God, will attain her full perfection only in the glory of heaven."¹⁶

The members of the heavenly Church can help us in living our life of grace until we too share its fullness with them. Their power of intercession on our behalf is but another ramification of the communal aspect of Christianity. We are meant to help others grow in Christ. We, in turn, are intended by God to receive aid from others—yes, from members of the heavenly Church, as well as from those with whom we dwell here below.

Not only can we be aided by the saints’ intercession, but the example of the canonized saints can also be of great value to us. They have concretely proved that full holiness is possible. Such an inspiration is of real worth when we are tempted to think that Christian sanctity in its higher degrees is impossible of attainment. Moreover, the canonized saints, in their diversity, teach us that there are many authentic versions of Christian holiness. They can be innovators in showing us that there are numerous possibilities in assimilating the mystery of Christ, although the basic assimilation remains the same for all Christians of all times. In the opinion of Rahner this is one of the chief roles the canonized saints exert in the life of the Church.¹⁷

 

---

NOTES:

 ¹⁴Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. III (Baltimore: Helicon, 1967), p. 44.
 ¹⁵ Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, In Ad Ephes., c. 3, Lect. 3.
 ¹⁶Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Church, No. 48.
 ¹⁷Cf. Karl Rahner, Op. cit., pp. 100-101.

 

 

Joyful Mysteries

Christ is the head of all creation

He is the image of the unseen God,
the first–born of all creation,
for in him were created all things
in heaven and on earth:
everything visible
    and everything invisible,
thrones, ruling forces,
    sovereignties, powers—
all things were created through him
    and for him.
He exists before all things
and in him all things hold together,

and he is the Head of the Body,
that is, the Church.

He is the Beginning,
the first–born from the dead,
so that he should be supreme in every way;
because God wanted all fullness
    to be found in him
and through him
    to reconcile all things to him,
everything in heaven
    and everything on earth,
by making peace through his death
    on the cross.

First condition: to break with sin

If we say, ‘We have no sin,’
we are deceiving ourselves,
and truth has no place in us;
if we acknowledge our sins,
he is trustworthy and upright,
so that he will forgive our sins
and will cleanse us from all evil.
If we say, ‘We have never sinned,’
we make him a liar,
and his word has no place in us.

 

                  end of rosary

... In reference to Christianity, God himself is the ultimate mystery. Radically, God is completely other and transcendent, hidden from man in his inner life, unless he chooses to reveal himself. Let us briefly look at this inner life of God.

    The Father, in a perfect act of self-expression, in a perfect act of knowing, generates his son. The Son, the Word, is, then, the immanent expression of God's fullness, the reflection of the Father. Likewise, from all eternity, the Father and the Son bring forth the Holy Spirit in a perfect act of loving.

    At the destined moment in human history, God's self-expression, the Word, immersed himself into man's world. God's inner self-expression now had also become God's outer self-expression. Consequently, the mystery of God becomes the mystery of Christ. In Christ, God tells us about himself, about his inner life, about his plan of creation and redemption. He tells us how Father, Son, and Holy Spirit desire to dwell within us in the most intimate fashion, how they wish to share with us their own life through grace. All this he has accomplished and does accomplish through Christ.

end of excerpt

From Fr. Carter's Priestly Newsletter - Issue 3 - 2000

Christ has structured the Christian life by the way He lived, died, and rose from the dead. It is obvious, then, as Paul tells us above, that the pattern of death-resurrection must be at the heart of the Church’s life. Individually and collectively, we continually die with Christ so that we may continually rise with Him. Thus we pass over in a process of ongoing religious transition to a greater participation in Christ’s resurrection. It is true that our participation in Christ’s resurrection will reach its completion only in eternity. Nevertheless, we begin the life of resurrection here upon the earth, in the here and now of human life, in the midst of joy and pain; in the experience of success and failure, in the sweat of our brow, in the enjoyment of God’s gifts. As Christians, we should have a sense of dynamic growth concerning our here and now life of resurrection.

We cannot maintain the life of resurrection or grow in it without a willingness to suffer. This does not mean that we need to feel overwhelmed and heavily burdened in our lives. The greater portion of suffering for most Christians seems to be an accumulation of ordinary hardships, difficulties, and pains. At times, however, deep suffering, even suffering of agonizing proportions, can enter into one’s life. Whether the sufferings one encounters are of either the more ordinary variety or the more rare and extreme type, Christians must convince themselves that to relate properly to the cross is to grow in resurrection, and growth in resurrection means we will also have an increased capacity to help give resurrection to others.

• The Church invites us to share deeply in the passion of Christ, in the cross of Christ. She does so that we might share deeply in His life of resurrection—here and hereafter. The more we die with Christ, the more we share in His life of resurrection—here and hereafter. Our ultimate goal here below is not the cross, but resurrection—the newness of life the cross leads to - here below as well as in eternity.

We are meant to share in all of the mysteries of Christ here below—we are meant to relive them in our own lives. And all of these mysteries are directed to the crowning mystery of Jesus, His resurrection: "As the Church is ever re-enacting, during all the ages, the life story of her Divine Spouse—undergoing in the Mystical Body what He suffered in His Natural Body, so it must be too, in some measure, for every individual Christian that lives in real unity with Christ. It was thus that the saints understood the life of the Divine Master. They not merely contemplated it, they lived it. This was the source of the immense sympathy they were capable of experiencing for Him in His different states. They felt in a certain measure what He felt, and what is true of Our Lord’s life considered as a whole must be true in no imperfect or limited manner of that which was the supreme and crowning mystery in that life—namely, the Resurrection. This must be, not merely a fact in Christian history, but a phase of Christian experience …We do not readily perceive that, in God’s plan, not only the Cross, but the Risen Life that followed it, is meant to be part of our terrestrial existence. Christ did not pass from the Cross straight to heaven. The Christian is not meant to do so either. In the case of Jesus the Cross preceded, prepared and prefaced a risen life on earth. In the case of the Christian the Cross is meant to play a somewhat similar role—that is, to be the prelude to a risen life, even here below.

• The following words of St. John Eudes remind us of the glorious goal the Christian is called to: the most intimate union with Jesus.

"I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head and that you are a member of his body. He belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is his is yours: breath, heart, body, soul and all his faculties. All of these you must use as if they belonged to you, so that in serving him you may give him praise, love and glory. You belong to him as a member belongs to the head. This is why he earnestly desires you to serve and glorify the Father by using all your faculties as if they were his.

"He belongs to you, but more than that, he longs to be in you, living and ruling in you, as the head lives and rules in the body. He desires that whatever is in him may live and rule in you: his breath in your breath, his heart in your heart, all the faculties of his soul in the faculties of your soul...

"You belong to the Son of God, but more than that, you ought to be in him as the members are in the head. All that is in you must be incorporated into him. You must receive life from him and be ruled by him. There will be no true life for you except in him, for he is the one source of true life. Apart from him you will find only death and destruction. Let him be the only source of your movements, of the actions and the strength of your life.

"Finally, you are one with Jesus as the body is one with the head. You must, then, have one breath with him, one soul, one life, one will, one mind, one heart. And he must be your breath, heart, love, life, your all. These great gifts in the follower of Christ originate from baptism. They are increased and strengthened through confirmation and by making good use of other graces that are given by God. Through the holy eucharist they are brought to perfection." ^{8 . . .}

• Cardinal Newman tells us: "Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not born at random... God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in a body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us."¹⁰

Because of the uniqueness of each Christian's existence, he or she presents Christ with a unique opportunity. Each Christian has the vocation to offer Christ his or her humanity so that Jesus can live in that individual in a special way. This Jesus is Priest, Prophet and King. To the extent that an individual Christian offers his or her humanity to Jesus, that person has an unique opportunity to help to continue the work of the redemption--an opportunity that no one else can fulfill. Likewise, to the extent that an individual fails to offer his or her humanity to Christ, Jesus loses the opportunity to continue His redemptive work according to that person's uniqueness.

• Concerning the prophetic or teaching office of Christ, each of us has the ever-present opportunity of witnessing to the truth of Christ by the way we live. Mother Teresa gives a striking example of this. She says: "I received a letter from a wealthy Brazilian man. He assured me that he had lost his faith -- not just his faith in God but his faith in humanity as well. He was fed up with his situation and everything around him. He only thought about suicide.

"One day, walking on a busy street downtown, he saw a television set in a store window. The program was about our Home for the Dying in Calcutta, and it showed our Sisters taking care of the sick and the dying.

"The man confessed that when he saw that, he felt the urge to kneel and pray, after many years of not ever kneeling or praying.

"From that day on, he recovered his faith in God and in humanity, and he was convinced that God still loves him."¹¹

• St. Paul, one who loved Jesus so deeply, has left us these words: "But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh." (2 Cor 4:7-11).

• Here are words from St. Claude La Columbière, one of the great apostles of devotion to the Heart of Christ. Speaking to Jesus, Claude says:

You share my burdens,
You take them upon yourself.
You listen to me fondly when I tell you my troubles.
You never fail to lighten them.
I find You at all times and in all places.
You never leave me.
I will always find You wherever I go.

Old age or misfortune will not cause You to abandon me.
You will never be closer to me than
When all seems to go against me.
No matter how miserable I may be,
You will never cease to be my friend.

You tolerate my faults with admirable patience.
You are always ready to come to me, if I so desire it.

Jesus, may I die praising you!
May I die loving you!
May I die for the love of you.¹²

• Pope John Paul II instructs us: "The Church, as a reconciled and reconciling community, cannot forget that at the source of her gift and mission of reconciliation is the initiative, full of compassionate love and mercy, of that God who is love (see 1 John 4:8) and who out of love created human beings (see Wisdom 11:23-26; Genesis 1:27: Psalms 8:4-8)…He created them so that they might live in friendship with Him and in communion with one another.

"God is faithful to His eternal plan even when man, under the impulse of the evil one (see Wisdom 2:24) and carried away by his own pride, abuses the freedom given to him in order to love and generously seek what is good, and (instead) refuses to obey his Lord and Father. God is faithful even when man, instead of responding with love to God’s love, opposes Him and treats Him like a rival, deluding himself and relying on his own power, with the resulting break of relationship with the One who created him. In spite of this transgression on man’s part, God remains faithful in love.

"It is certainly true that the story of the Garden of Eden makes us think about the tragic consequences of rejecting the Father, which becomes evident in man’s inner disorder and in the breakdown of harmony between man and woman, brother and brother (see Genesis 3:12 ff; 4:1-16). Also significant is the Gospel parable of the two brothers (the parable of the ‘prodigal son’; see Luke 15:11-32) who, in different ways, distance themselves from their father and cause a rift between them. Refusal of God’s fatherly love and of His loving gifts is always at the root of humanity’s divisions.

"But we know that God…like the father in the parable (of the prodigal son), does not close His heart to any of His children. He waits for them, looks for them, goes to meet them at the place where the refusal of communion imprisons them in isolation and division. He calls them to gather about His table in the joy of the feast of forgiveness and reconciliation.

"This initiative on God’s part is made concrete and manifest in the redemptive act of Christ, which radiates through the world by means of the ministry of the Church." ¹³

The late Archbishop Luis M. Martinez of Mexico strikingly speaks of the ongoing cooperation of Mary with the Holy Spirit regarding the reproduction of Jesus within us: "Christian life is the reproduction of Jesus in souls…

"Now, how will this mystical reproduction be brought about in souls? In the same way in which Jesus was brought into the world, for God gives a wonderful mark of unity to all His works. Divine acts have a wealth of variety because they are the work of omnipotence; nevertheless, a most perfect unity always shines forth from them because they are the fruit of wisdom; and this divine contrast of unity and variety stamps the works of God with sublime and unutterable beauty.

"In His miraculous birth, Jesus was the fruit of heaven and earth…The Holy Spirit conveyed the divine fruitfulness of the Father to Mary, and the virginal soil brought forth in an ineffable manner our most loving Savior, the divine Seed, as the prophets called Him…

"That is the way He is reproduced in souls. He is always the fruit of heaven and earth.

"Two artisans must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product: the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary. Two sanctifiers are necessary to souls, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ.

"Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary sanctify us in different ways. The first is the Sanctifier by essence; because He is God, who is infinite sanctity; because He is the personal Love that completes, so to speak, the sanctity of God, consummating His life and His unity, and it belongs to Him to communicate to souls the mystery of that sanctity. The Virgin Mary, for her part, is the co-operator, the indispensable instrument in and by God’s design. From Mary’s maternal relation to the human body of Christ is derived her relation to His Mystical Body which is being formed through all the centuries until the end of time, when it will be lifted up to the heavens, beautiful, splendid, complete, and glorious.

"These two, then, the Holy Spirit and Mary, are the indispensable artificers of Jesus, the indispensable sanctifiers of souls. Any saint in heaven can co-operate in the sanctification of a soul, but his co-operation is not necessary, not profound, not constant: while the co-operation of these two artisans of Jesus of whom we have just been speaking is so necessary that without it souls are not sanctified (and this by the actual design of Providence), and so intimate that it reaches to the very depths of our soul. For the Holy Spirit pours charity into our heart, makes a habitation of our soul, and directs our spiritual life by means of His gifts. The Virgin Mary has the efficacious influence of Mediatrix in the most profound and delicate operations of grace in our souls. And, finally, the action of the Holy Spirit and the co-operation of the most holy Virgin Mary are constant; without them, not one single character of Jesus would be traced on our souls, no virtue grow, no gift be developed, no grace increased, no bond of union with God be strengthened in the rich flowering of the spiritual life.

"Such is the place that the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary have in the order of sanctification. Therefore, Christian piety should put these two artisans of Christ in their true place, making devotion to them something necessary, profound, and constant." ¹⁸

We live out our spiritual lives within the Church. The Church is a multi-splendored reality. Let us reflect upon some of the key ideas connected with the Church.

• Henri de Lubac states: "The Church is a mysterious extension in time of the Trinity, not only preparing us for the life of unity but bringing about even now our participation in it. She comes from and is full of the Trinity. She is for us -- in a favourite phrase of Bossuet -- ‘Jesus Christ … communicated’. She is ‘the Incarnation continued.’ She is, as Dietrick Bonhoeffer used to say, ‘the presence of Christ on earth’ --- she speaks with ‘the authority of Christ living and present in her.’… St. Paul applies to her this same word ‘mystery’ which he had first used of Christ. She is after all, the spouse of Christ and his body." ¹⁹

• Fr. Bruno Forte tells us: "The Church comes from the Trinity, reflects in itself the Trinitarian communion—oneness in diversity—and journeys toward the Trinity, to the final handing over of all things to Christ, so that he might hand them over to the Father and God might be all in all. As ‘a people gathered in the unity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’ the Church is the Church of the Father. In his universal salvific plan, God has willed it to be a sign and instrument of the unity of people among themselves and with him. It is the Church of the Son, who through his incarnation and the paschal mystery has placed it in history as His Body. It is the Church of the Spirit, who makes the Risen Christ present in human history and enriching the people of God with charisms and ministries, leads it toward the promised future goal." ²⁰

• The fact that the Church is here on earth a reflection of the Trinitarian Community easily leads us to reflect upon the Church as the Body of Christ, since this name given to the Church also emphasizes the communal aspect of the Church. St. Paul tells us: For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts -- all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body -- so it is with Christ. We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink. And indeed the body consists not of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body’, it does not belong to the body any the less for that. Or if the ear were to say, ‘I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body’, that would not stop its belonging to the body. If the whole body were just an eye, how would there be any hearing? If the whole body were hearing, how would there be any smelling?

Now Christ’s body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole. And those whom God has appointed in the Church are, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; after them, miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, helpful acts, guidance, various kinds of tongues. Are all of them apostles? Or all prophets? Or all teachers? Or all miracle-workers? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all of them speak in tongues and all interpret them? (1 Cor 12:12-17; 27-30)

• Some two thousand years ago Christ walked the earth teaching, healing the sick, forgiving sins, extending His mercy and kindness. By such a life which culminated in death and resurrection, Christ redeemed the world. This objective redemption was accomplished by Christ alone. Through it, He won for people of all time the necessary graces for their salvation and sanctification.

However, it is necessary that such graces be distributed to each individual as one plays out his or her part in the drama of human existence. Such a distribution of grace is the work of subjective redemption.

Jesus still walks the earth as the work of redemption continues. However, He now walks the earth according to a different type of existence. He does not walk the earth in His physical body, but rather in His Mystical Body, the Church, the People of God. Through the members of His Church, Christ continues to be present as He teaches, administers the sacraments, extends His mercy -- all done through the members of His Body, the Church. This mystical Christ, in turn, derives all supernatural power from Christ, the Head, who reigns gloriously with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Church, therefore, is the earthly continuation of Christ’s redemptive Incarnation. This mission which the Church has, although a great responsibility, is also a great privilege. In proportion as each Christian offers and commits himself or herself to Christ, the Church in her entirety more and more mirrors forth Christ to the world. This Christ, whom the Church portrays to the world, is the Christ who is Prophet, King and Priest.

• We now reflect upon the Church as Spouse of Christ. Fr. Joseph Murphy, S.J., tells us: "John Paul II always quotes the rich doctrinal and patristic traditions of the Church which refer to Christ as the Spouse of the Church and the Spouse of souls, given to both in the Eucharistic mystery. For him the key to understanding the sacramentality of marriage, not to mention the nature of humanity, is the spousal love of Christ for the Church demonstrated in Ephesians 5. Christ is the Head of the Church as Savior of His Body. The Church is exactly that Body which receives from Him all that through which it becomes and is His Body. As Head and Savior of the Church He is also Bridegroom of His Bride…" ²¹

• The Church is a mother to us. Henri de Lubac speaks concerning this beautiful truth:

"The Church is my mother because she brought me forth to a new life. She is my mother because her concern for me never slackens, any more than do her efforts to deepen that life in me, however unenthusiastic my cooperation. And though in me this life may be a fragile and timid growth, I have seen its full flowering in others...

"Happy those who from childhood have learnt to look on the Church as a mother! Happier still those whose experience, in whatever walk of life, has confirmed its truth! Happy those who one day were gripped by (and whose appreciation of it ever grew) the astonishing newness, richness and depth of the life communicated to them by this mother!" ²²

• Avery Dulles, S.J., the well-known theologian who has written much about the Church, observes: "The Church, as I have already contended, is essentially a mystery of grace, a wonderful encounter between the divine and the human. Even in its visible structures, the Church is not a mere organization to be judged on grounds of efficiency, but a sacrament of God’s saving deed in Jesus Christ. From this it follows, in my judgment, that the Church’s forms of speech and life, and indeed its entire corporate existence, must be such as to mediate a vital communion with Christ the Lord. The Church must be a place of prayer and worship, praise and witness. Any institutional change in the Church must be carefully assessed for its effect on the spiritual life of the members. Does it intensify their faith, their hope, their charity? Does it help them to center their lives on Christ and to ground their existence in the God who raised him from the dead?"²³

• Fr. Gerald Vann, O.P., speaks movingly about our life in the Church:

"If you live in the Church and try to use the power of the Church to increase the life of the Church, then the power of the Church will make you yourself whole; and in your wholeness you will help to make your family and make your world. But you will be building for a more than earthly beatitude because you will be building the city which is eternal. Here you build in shadow, you build for a future which is invisible, and so you can only build in hope. And often your plans will be wrecked and your dreams come crashing about your ears, and you will need the strength of the Rock which is Christ to give you patience and fortitude...

"And when death has come to you...the Church will bless you for the life you have added to it, and there will be men to heed you better than they did when you were here...

"But you, for your part, will be no longer in the shadow but in the glory of the Light inaccessible; you will be in the City that is yours because you helped to build it; you will see Him at last as He is, and be wholly with Him; and you will have no more any mourning or weeping or any other sorrow, for all these former things will have been transmuted into happiness and peace, and you will walk with Him--together with all those you have helped to bring to Him, even until the end of the world--you will walk with Him in happiness for ever, in the cool of the eternal evening." ²⁴

The Church’s existence centers in her liturgy. Vatican II says: "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows." ²⁵ The Church’s liturgical life is centered in the sacraments and, most especially, in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. We will briefly consider the sacraments in general, and then more extensively develop ideas about the Mass.

The sacraments are special encounters with Christ. Jesus unites Himself with the sacramental sign as He offers His grace to the recipient. In this sense, Christ and His sacraments become one; the sacrament and its minister are merely instruments that Christ employs to give Himself anew. The primary sacramental encounter is between Jesus and the recipient.

Christ offers Himself through the Church and her sacraments so that we might become ever more united to Him. This incorporation into Christ begins at baptism, through which the Christian becomes a member of both Christ and the Church. What is more, this incorporation into the life of Christ means being incorporated into his paschal mystery. Death-resurrection was the summary mystery of Christ’s redemptive existence. Death-resurrection was the central mystery whereby Christ gave us life, and it is the central mystery that the Christian must relive in Christ.

Each one of the sacraments deepens our incorporation into Jesus’ death-resurrection; each one achieves this in a somewhat different manner according to its primary purpose; finally, and very importantly, each of the sacraments deepens this incorporation within an ecclesial framework. The sacraments, because they are realities of both Christ and his Church, intensify the Christian’s relationship not only with Jesus, but also with the members of the Church and, ultimately, with all others.

The Eucharist

Priesthood

Relationship with Others

• Growth in the Christ-life gives us an increased awareness of our relationships with others. That is to say, the true Christian is keenly aware that, to a great degree, God intends each of us to press on toward maturity in the spiritual life through proper relationships with our fellow human beings. Indeed, the Christian imperative reminds us that we are to walk life’s path, not in isolation, but hand in hand with our brothers and sisters of the human family.

To authentically relate to others, we must be aware of who they really are. We must be able to penetrate beyond surface appearances, which may or may not be appealing to us, and contact others in their core existence. When we are truly in touch with others at the core of their beings, we are aware of their awesome dignity. We are conscious that these persons are created and redeemed by God in His overwhelming love for them. Fortified with this proper awareness, we are then in a position to relate to others as we should.

In order to be in touch with the inner self of others, we must be aware of or in touch with our own inner or true self. This awareness, in turn, is also an awareness that our self is in the image of God, that we have been divinized in Christ, that we are oriented toward love of God and neighbor. Here, then, we see the profound interaction between the three awarenesses and loves: awareness and love of God, self and neighbor.

As Christians, consequently, we should have a maturing sense of how our existence is, in varied ways, profoundly interlinked with the existence of others. This reality of union with others is not limited to those we directly meet but includes all members of the human family.

Purification

Growth in the spiritual life entails an ongoing and progressive purification. This purification enables us to grow in union with God as it allows God to increasingly possess us through the Christ-life of grace.

The process of purification takes many forms. It comprises everything which cleanses us more and more of the false self -- the self which operates outside of God’s will -- and which allows the true self, the Christ-like self, to increasingly emerge.

One of the forms of purification is what has traditionally been called asceticism. Asceticism is that active self-purification aimed at helping the divine image in us to be more manifest and operative. Asceticism helps us to become more like the persons God wants us to be.

The Christian must experience an ongoing conversion away from the non-authentic self to a greater Christ-likeness, to greater development of the authentic self. Asceticism is the graced control, the active self-purification, of one’s total being.

Christian asceticism is at the service of freedom, of life. In aiding us to be more Christ-like, it helps us be more alive. Far from confining our capacity to live and to enjoy life, asceticism contributes to the ongoing process of our being persons capable of deeper love, and, therefore, capable of greater life. One who practices a reasonable asceticism is not one who is less interested in love and life. Such a person is rather one who is willing to bear with the hardships involved in a reasonable, graced control of one’s being with all its various dimensions -- intellect, will, memory, emotions, and so forth -- so that one may be more alive, more capable of authentic love.

The Vision of Faith

• As the virtue of infused love assimilates us to God’s loving activity, and this gives us a special, God-like capacity for the exercise of love, so the infused virtue of faith, as St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, assimilates us to the divine knowing (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, In Boeth de Trinitate, q. 3, a.1)

Through faith we share in God’s knowing activity in a special way, and we are able to know God and creation in relationship to God in a supernatural, God-like fashion.

If we are to properly progress in the spiritual life, we must allow this vision of faith to more and more penetrate our activities. Increasingly, we should become contemplatives in action: we should view reality in a way that is similar to God’s view of reality. Increasingly, everything we see should remind us of God because everything that is really good and true and beautiful does reflect God. The beauties of nature, for example, manifest this beauty; the raging storm at sea reflects his power; and the goodness, the kindness, and the love that we observe in others around us tell us that God is infinitely good and kind and loving.

The vision of faith allows us to see the human family and the world in a manner that differs from the nonbeliever’s view. As contemplatives in action, we should act upon this vision. Every man, woman, and child is marked with the blood of Christ. If Jesus loved them so much--indeed, if he now loves them so much--can we be indifferent to their needs, both spiritual and material? Can we be indifferent to all the problems that burden modern men and women? If we are Christians of living faith, we know that we cannot be indifferent. This vision of faith should inspire us to action according to our vocation, talents, opportunity, time, and energy. We should be laboring to make the human family and the world more reflective of Christ’s image.

Humility

. . .If humility is based on truth and, consequently, allows us to properly recognize our gifts, it also necessitates that we admit to the evil within us, which is also part of the truth and must be acted upon. Humility not only bids us to admit that there is evil in us, but also tells us that, as creatures of God, we should conform to His will and work against this evil side of our persons. In summary, humility allows us to properly evaluate both the good and evil within ourselves.

Here is a quotation from St. Paul which helps us to preserve, and grow in, humility: Who made you so important? What have you got that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, why are you boasting as though it were your own? (1 Cor 4:7).

Living in the Present Moment

I suggest that one of the most difficult acts of self-discipline in the spiritual journey is to concentrate on the present moment. We have a very strong tendency to often disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on the past or in a wrong way on the future. When we give in to this tendency we suffer a significant spiritual loss. There are proper occasions for thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be upon the present. There is a Latin axiom which says, age quod agis, which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the present. And, of course, we are familiar with the term in the history of spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. Growth in self-discipline should include a greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment. People with a terminal illness have an opportunity, as they prepare for death, for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. For those who have this opportunity of knowing with some certainty the time of their death, I’m sure as they look back on their lives, they are saddened by the times they did not use time and opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly. A great means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much about the future or the past? Yes, a great help in living in the present and deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever greater focus on Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present moment. And so let us resolve to grow in that self-discipline which is required to really live in the present with the fullness of our being as much as is possible, with the help of God’s grace. To do so is extremely important for proper growth in the spiritual life.

Now is the time. Now is the time to live and to love. Now is the time to become more united to Christ, to be more one with Him. Now is not yesterday; now is not tomorrow; now is today, and today is a gift from the Lord.

  

Surrender to God

God gives ultimate meaning to our lives. God reveals to us how the laughter and the tears, the work and the play, the pain and the joy, all fit together. As we live in God, God gathers up what would otherwise be the fragmented pieces of our lives, and arranges them into harmonious unity. This unity emanates from our living according to God’s plan, a plan embodying a way of existence that leads to an ever greater experience of the true, the good, and the beautiful.

We can put obstacles in the way of God’s transforming designs, of God’s plan for us. We can at times say "no" to God’s initiative. We can refuse to be open to God’s tender, loving touch. We can engage in a process of self-enclosure. We can determine to map out our own path to supposed happiness, forgetting that plans for happiness which exclude God are ultimately plans for experiencing frustration and emptiness. Briefly, we can act in an obstinate fashion regarding God’s offer of Self-communication.

At other times, it is not so much stubbornness which leads us to say "no" to God; it is fear. We realize that the closer we come to God, the more God will ask of us, gently but firmly. We fear the white heat of God’s love. Such episodes along the spiritual journey are crucial. If we keep pulling back from the intensity of God’s love, if we keep refusing what this love wants to accomplish in us and through us, then we will live on a rather superficial level.

We must strive to overcome whatever attitude prevents us from increasingly giving ourselves over to God. We must realize that progress in the spiritual life is measured by the degree to which we abandon ourselves to God. We must realize that, if we hope to grow spiritually, we must increasingly allow God to direct our lives.

Let us pray, then, for an increase in the spirit of abandonment to God. As we live more according to this attitude, we will experience in greater measure the warmth and security of God’s love, this God Who is the ground of our being, the goal of our existence, the source of our happiness.

The mystical process is one in which God more and more takes possession of the soul. The person becomes increasingly docile to the workings of the Holy Spirit.