Obedience can be a difficult and troubling concept for us as human beings. We see the seeds of disobedience even in the youngest children as they seek to learn and navigate the gift of free will in their lives. Obedience, as a virtue, is the invitation in following the will of God in our lives and grow in the path of holiness. Obedience to both God and worldly authority will often conflict and we must, as Christians, learn to seek to follow the obedience to God’s love and turn away from that which lures us away from God.
St. Joseph, as a model of obedience, as described in “The Month of St. Joseph” by Archbishop M. de Langalerie reminds us of this path to follow both civil and Godly obedience. As he describes it, “Every Christian should render implicit obedience to the commands of God and his Church… Saint Joseph obeyed the mandate of the emperor Augustus in going to Bethlehem; but he had in view an authority far superior to that of a worldly prince, for he recognize the will of God in the command of his earthly ruler.” (P. 91) We are reminded that like St. Joseph we must love God before all else and in doing so will discern his will even in the commands of the world. To follow these commands, as long as they have no conflict with the moral good of God’s will allows us to bring holiness into the life we live.

In the Second Vatican Council document “Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” we are called, as a Church and as individuals to become a mirror of Jesus Christ. This is true for each member, both young and old, “For all their works, prayers and apostolic endeavors, their ordinary married and family life, their daily occupations, their physical and mental relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of life, if patiently borne—all these become “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”. Together with the offering of the Lord’s body, they are most fittingly offered in the celebration of the Eucharist. Thus, as those everywhere who adore in holy activity, the laity consecrate the world itself to God.” (LG #34)
Obedience too God’s will finds itself in the seemingly mundane works of life. And while Joseph was called through the census to make a journey, as difficult and arduous as it may have been with a pregnant wife, as first and foremost an offering of sacrifice to God while obeying the law of the time.
We too are called to make these spiritual, and sometimes physical journeys, as an act of obedience where, with faith and trust, we see the hope of the will of God being accomplished in a myriad of different ways. In this we are drawn and in turn draw others into the blessing of God’s presence in the Eucharist as the source of life and the fulfillment of Gods promise of love.
“Each individual layman must stand before the world as a witness to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a symbol of the living God. All the laity as a community and each one according to his ability must nourish the world with spiritual fruits. They must diffuse in the world that spirit which animates the poor, the meek, the peace makers—whom the Lord in the Gospel proclaimed as blessed. In a word, “Christians must be to the world what the soul is to the body.” (LG #38) Why are the Sacraments so very important? The gift of God’s grace, flowing through the Sacraments, allows us to do the work we must do as followers of Jesus Christ. Our prayer life, which seeks union in the sacramental life of the Church invites us into a more intimate relationship with God.

When I began my first teaching job in New Mexico one of the first things I learned was the need to pray. To pray before, during and after the day. I fell in love with the daily Mass with the missionaries before school began. I loved to take time in prayer before the children came through the door and after they left the door. I was given the example of a prayer life that infused the day with the knowing presence of God and something I hope I passed on to all my students. It wasn’t that prayer made the day less full of the struggles of teaching sixth grade but it did place the power of the Holy Spirit in those moments of struggle, conflict and hurt that pass through the life of both student and teacher.
The obedience to God in prayer and to the curriculum of the school day brought life and purpose to the work . As St. Joseph did in his first act of obedience in taking Mary into his home, “The merit of one act of obedience may be extended to a series of acts and serve to consecrate them all to God; sometimes one act devotes in entire life to God.” (P. 92)
We often miss how hard that first act of loving obedience was in the live of St. Joseph. He was heartbroken at the news of the pregnancy and yet, in trusting the greater plan of God, he was able to act in love towards God and Mary by accepting his new role. Did St. Joseph know the outcome? No, but he chose to trust as we are called to do because in the obedience of love, the trust in our call to mission we find the treasure in the field or the pearl beyond price in the market. (M 13:44-46) And in this discovery are we willing to go and sell all that we have to obtain this treasure of faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
This is who we are called to be, disciples obedient to the will of God in doing our work in the world, caring for the poor, the broken and the undesired in the world, to bring hope and joy in the world through following first and foremost the commandments of God’s invitation to love.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

“The Scripture assures us that he (Saint Joseph) executed the orders of God at the instant that they were made clear to him… What a source of grace is opened for us if we submit properly to the will of those authorized by our heavenly Father to command us! Love was the motive and principle of obedience of Saint Joseph.” (P. 92)

The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God’s gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received…They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history. #40

Society of Sinners

“Oh the glory of the Church, its uniqueness, is that it lives perpetually on the vitality and realism of its own repentance, its contrition, and its plea for God’s help and forgiveness.

Let us not claim moral virtue for church members or for the Church.

Let us rather glory in the fact that the Church is a society of sinners who claim no virtue but humbly rest their broken and burden lives upon the grace which God has eternally revealed in Christ Jesus.”

By Charles Clayton Morrison

Poetry often brings forth beauty in a few brief words as the poet crafts images that are seemingly impossible from the blunt words of normal speech by arranging and forming a beauty and truth beyond the mere words on the paper. The “Society of Sinners” helps us form such an image of the Church, at once beautiful but also full of the reality of who we are as a people, sinners and yet redeemed in Jesus Christ.
This short poem came to mind as I was looking at some of the material for the Universal Synod begun by our Holy Father Pope Francis. He has asked the Church to look outward and inward and seek to discover where the movement of the Holy Spirit is guiding our Church in this age. The temptation I have, as do many, is to see the Church and the holy people of God in one of two ways and in truth both of these are of worldly origin and not the reality of God’s vision and blessing upon his people.
Charles Péguy describes it perfectly when he writes how the world seeks to divide us into the camps of the “perfect” and the “irredeemable” where the people placed in these places are of our choosing and not God’s choice. He writes,

“There are two formations, there are two extractions, there are two families of saints in heaven. God’s Saints come out of two different schools.The school of the righteous and the school of the sinner.
The wavering school of sin.Fortunately in both cases God is the schoolmaster.”

(Charles Péguy, “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope” p. 87)
It is as the prophet Isaiah writes, “and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” (Is 62:5)

The temptation is to fear the warts and wrinkles of the Church will somehow diminish Her mission of the salvation of souls and the call to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. The defensiveness can be to “claim moral virtue” abandoning the self introspection needed to “humbly rest their broken and burdened lives upon” Jesus Christ. Or on the other hand fall into the despair and hopelessness of other side fear where grace is muted and the vision of redemption is seen dripping from the stingy and miserly closed fist rather than the open hand of generosity and blessing. Where sin is the master and God is placed into a corner to be brought out only on rare occasions. When we are able to see, as Péguy notes, the Church as “the wavering school of sin” we understand how God calls us to the humbleness of trust in His will is the sign of faith needed to enter into a fuller conversation needed in the Synod process.
Pope Benedict XVI shared this pearl of wisdom, “The purpose of the Church’s turning toward the world cannot be to dispense with the scandal of the cross, but exclusively to render its nakedness accessible anew.” (Joseph Ratzinger) Many people, I included, have some trepidation about the synod process but I also have great trust in the power of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to lead us closer to the cross of Jesus Christ in proclaiming the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is, as the poem above notes, a time to practice the grace of being “a society of sinners who claim not virtue but humbly rest” in the blessing of God’s grace. If we choose not to be afraid of the warts and failures of call to discipleship and rather on the reality choosing to seek the good and joyful of God’s grace and peace in the midst of the world wishing to divide and destroy the unity our faith calls us to live, then we truly become the Church God creates us to be..
“The Church may be ugly, the singing may be out of tune, the priest corrupt and the faithful inattentive. In a sense that is of no importance. It is as with a geometrician who draws a figure to illustrate a proof if the lines are not straight and the circles are not round it is of no importance. Religious things are pure by right, theoretically, hypothetically, by convention. Therefore their purity is unconditioned. No stain can sully it.” (Simone Weil, “Waiting for God” p 139–140)
God Bless
Fr. Mark

(Sometimes you look at something and find a different idea. I used the quotes in an earlier article but when I came upon them in a saved document…other ideas rolled around in my head. The wonder of God. Thanks for reading)

“Live in such a way that all may know that you bear outwardly as well as inwardly the image of Christ crucified, the model of all gentleness and mercy. For if a man is united inwardly with the Son of the living God, he also bears his likeness outwardly by his continual practice of heroic goodness, and especially through a patience reinforced by courage, which does not complain either secretly or in public. Conceal yourselves in Jesus crucified and hope for nothing except that all men be thoroughly converted to his will.” (St. Paul of the Cross)

The quote above reminds us of that what we do is who we are and what we do is a reflection of our inward unity with love. And this is God’s hope, that we may all be what we do and have the inward unity of love…this is what Jesus did and does in our life and the life of every Christian.
This idea is deeply embedded in our Judeo-Christian culture. I remember as a child hearing this expressed in so many areas of life including this wonderful phrase from a cartoon, where Popeye the Sailor Man says, “If I’m not me, who am I. And If I’m somebody else, why do I look like me?” It is the gift of self reflection and more importantly the examination of our soul in contemplation where we begin to recognize the person God has created us to be.
We know, in our modern culture, how we are often encouraged to depict our lives as different then they are or how we put on false fronts in order to impress others or hide realities we would rather not show to the public. It is a lie we are asked to live to find a “life style” and detach who we are and force our lives into a false reality that ultimately is empty of true meaning and only lead us into a darker corner hidden away from truth.
To “conceal yourselves in Jesus crucified” is a reminder to embrace the cross, to take up our cross and follow Jesus to the source of life. It is there in the heroic goodness we find the courage to be patient and take time to discover who we truly were made to be in the image and likeness of God. As the philosopher Simone Weil writes, “We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them. Man cannot discover them by his own powers, and if he sets out to seek for them he will find in their place counterfeits of which he will be unable to discern falsity.“ (p.73 Simone Weil from “Waiting for God”)
We discover our true self, our true mission, our true vocation in the quiet moments of waiting and listening to the whisper calling us to open our hearts to one another in love. It is in the bountiful and abundant love God offers to us we find our true self. This discovery leads to the peace of heart and the contentment of life, not in the material outward sense, but in the life lived with purpose and joy. It is becoming the authentic self…the person God created us to be.
We pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to enflame our hearts as Jesus desired the world to be set on fire (Lk 12:49) with his mercy and in his love we participate with him in the mission on which we are sent. “Don’t forget that Jesus never works alone. He invites you to share in his magnificent labor of love and its rewards. He has a special role for you, a part for you to play in this drama of salvation and all you have to do is say “yes.”” (p 33 Matthew Leonard from “Louder than Words”)
What is our part? It is first sitting and being with God. What is our part? Celebrating the gift of life with joy within a community of love. What is our part? Humbly recognizing our need for God and seeking the face of Jesus Christ in each and every person. It is here we truly discover who we are and what our part is as a member of the Body of Christ.
What is our part? When we know in our hearts the truth of the words St. Paul writes to the Corinthians and where we can say with him, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Cor 15:10) or as Popeye would say, “I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam. Popeye The Sailor Man”
God Bless

As Catholics we believe that Joseph and Mary lived and chaste married life: chaste in purity and celibate in not having sexual relations as husband and wife. This often sounds strange to the modern ear…in truth it has sounded strange to many people, Christians included, throughout the past 2,000 years. Archbishop M. de Langalerie in his book “The Month of St. Joseph” reminds us of a great truth in recognizing “St. Joseph: model of Virginity” as one of the icons of Joseph we can look at in the path for holiness in this unique and gracious way.
To be honest the subject of virginity isn’t always popular. But as we understand and know through the teaching of the Church, the path of holiness is founded in our choosing to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. (Lk 9:23) And as the Second Vatican Council teaches in “The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium” that the primary vocation of each Christian is holiness.

Archbishop Langalerie writes, “And you who live the ordinary lives of Christians, and do not feel yourselves called to practice as couples, be faithful in fulfilling all the commandments required of you; for in this way progress will be gained each day, and at last a relative perfection will be attained. Not to advance is to recede. Place yourselves today under St. Joseph’s protection and his holy prayers will serve as support to you.” (p. 87) Each of us, in the call to holiness, is called to a vocation in life. It is important to remember that marriage is the the default vocation of life, but a calling from God it live chastely in the sexual union of man and woman. It is a reminder, the call to holiness is responding to creative goodness to God. Just as marriage is a choice to enter into a relationship of love, so to in the choice of virginity to enter fully and completely into a relationship of love with God and his beloved, the Church.
We know that when a priest is ordained in the Roman Catholic Rite he takes the Church as his one bride, As St. Paul reminds us in Ephesian Chapter 5, Christ’s love for the Church is a model for the spousal relationship and a priest is called to live this same love towards the Church, the people of God. In a similar manner, consecrated women are often referred to as the bride of Christ. In this way they are promised lot the care of Jesus and live in the model of virginity shared by St. Joseph, as a choice to love ever deeper. “St. Joseph, by a continual self-denial and enter abandonment to the will of God, practiced the three virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience in all that was in them most difficult, pure and elevated.” (p 88) It is in this sacrifice the deeper love is experienced.

The chastity of both married life and the consecrated virginity are equal in the image of God as the path to holiness and the discovery of the deeper and fuller participation in the Body of Christ. This is an idea we need to live and rejoice in because we are all called to seek the will of God in our lives. This is why we need to continue encourage our young people (and old) to listen to the voice of God in following him in the sacrificial gift of life. Because virginity is not simply the absence of a sexual relationship but in the offering of our complete self to the Other in God, whether it is the spouse in a marital relationship or the Church in the vowed consecration to God and also in ordination.
St. Joseph living fully and completely the call of God becomes a model for all women and men living in this vowed virginity. As Archbishop Langalerie writes, St. Jospeh in “The joy of a good conscience, the satisfaction of having fulfilled his duty, and the lot of God were sufficient for him. In this he is a model for religious and all persons engaged by vow to the service of God.” (p 88)

We are all called to a deep unity with God and as “Lumen Gentium” proclaims loudly, to continue to conform our lives to the image of Jesus Christ. St.Joseph chose this path in the unity with his beloved spouse, Mary the mother of the Church and Jesus Christ as the head. I

“To see why virginity promotes genuine human love we need only recall that a profound contemplative communion is the primary reason for consecration. In the very nature of things, one who has achieved this purpose has necessarily achieved also a warm love of neighbor.” (p 84, “And you are Christ’s” by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.)

Pray for vocations.

God bless
Fr. Mark.

When we start out on our religious quest, it is usually because we believe that God will solve our problems and satisfy our needs. He keeps us safe and healthy, helps us over hurdles, and allows us to live our lives with the minimum of pain and inconvenience. In return we obey his rules, but live our own lives and fulfill our own ambitions. We live within the parameters he has set except when it is too inconvenient. We follow our own ambitions and are only motivated to pray when these ambitions are threatened or when we are stimulated by some outside factor like a sermon, a pilgrimage, or a religious film. Our hunger and thirst for God in himself and for what he wants to do in the world is merely theoretical without substance in reality.” (p 47, “The Road to Royal Joy: The Beatitudes and the Eucharist”)

The reflection above is often a hard reality we all must face in our “religious quest.” It is overcoming our egos and base desires and moving beyond into the selfless desire of unitive love with the Most Holy Trinity, the Sacred Heart in the middle. The Father has placed a passion in us to hunger and thirst for justice, peace: for a life within community. When Jesus invites us into His Body, The Body of Christ, this is the moment of choosing which road we will follow in the moment. The righteousness of life is the coming together in choosing to look into the gift of the other and open our eyes to see the face of Jesus looking back at us.

Two of the greatest moments, in my prayer, where this hunger is manifested is Joseph at the manger and Mary at the cross. In each of these two moments, the “religious quest” comes in contact with the movement of the Holy Spirit in touching both the Father and the Son. The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us this example, “The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the “inner man,” justification entails the sanctification of his whole being: ‘Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.’” (#1995 Rom 6:19, 22)

At the stable in Bethlehem, Saint Joseph, kneeling at the manger, chooses to yield to the greater gift. From the moment he knew of the Incarnation, to his explicit yes to accept the role of husband and foster-father, to his care and journey with our Blessed Mother, his life lived and ultimately his happy death with the Son of God and Mary praying with him at his bedside, Joseph was asked to act in justice, choosing to be with and being sanctified by the presence of God in his proper vocation. He lived the words of St. John the Baptist before they were spoken , “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn 3:30) Am I willing to decrease…let go and forgive…choose to serve…to sacrifice…to show mercy…to love the other?

At the cross we hear Jesus speak these words to His Mother. “Woman, behold, your son!” (Jn 19:26) In a few moments she will take the body of her son into her arms as he is taken from the cross but in this she takes us into her arms not in death but in the life that is promised in and through Jesus her son. This exchange of love opens the world to the greater gift of life, going beyond the momentary and entering into an eternity where we become true daughters and sons of the living God. Jesus invites Mary, as he invites each of us, to behold the other in seeing our Lord alive and present in each of us. Mary with love takes the Beloved Disciple, and in turn takes each of us into her embrace, just as she held her son in both life and death, knowing there was more. Am I, like Mary, willing to see Jesus in the other…to take the hurt and sorrowing into my arms…to embrace the difficult with trust…to share life with an open heart…to hear and follow the voice of Jesus no matter where it leads?

Our hunger and thirst for God begins with and invitation to love…to become small and to open our hearts to the greater…this is our true quest.

God bless
Fr. Mark