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Fr. Francis Martin reflects on preaching effectively in our times. This series is offered for all friends of The Word Proclaimed Institute. This series is also offered on YouTube at the Preaching in Adversity playlist.
Dear Friends,
I wrote my previous message just as we were preparing to begin the video presentations commenting on the Sunday readings: we began with the first Sunday of Advent. Now that are putting up on the web site the commentary on the readings for Lent, I thought it would be worthwhile to share with you the most important thing I hear the Lord telling us regarding Lent: it is the call to holiness. Let me share with you the teaching of Vatican II and of the soon to be Blessed John Paul II.
First, here are some lines from the Vatican Council’s document, Lumen Gentium, speaking about the universal call to holiness, one that includes all states and walks of life in the Church.
Lumen Gentium §40: The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and everyone of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consumator of this holiness of life: "Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). Indeed He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength (see Mark 12:30), and that they might love each other as Christ loves them (see John 13:34; 15:12)
In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. 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.
I would like to add here some lines from the Encyclical Novo Millennio Ineunte which Pope John Paul II, with mystical insight, shared with us his understanding of the Lord’s call on the whole Church to enter into a new dimension of holiness. I will cite but a few passages, but I encourage everyone to read, ponder and respond to this invitation which can radically change the direction and history of the world.
The time has come to re-propose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary Christian living: the whole life of the Christian community and of Christian families must lead in this direction. It is also clear however that the paths to holiness are personal and call for a genuine "training in holiness", adapted to people's needs. This training must integrate the resources offered to everyone with both the traditional forms of individual and group assistance, as well as the more recent forms of support offered in associations and movements recognized by the Church (§ 32).
The Pope continues:
It is therefore essential that education in prayer should become in some way a key-point of all pastoral planning….
The great mystical tradition of the Church of both East and West has much to say in this regard. It shows how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved, vibrating at the Spirit's touch, resting filially within the Father's heart. This is the lived experience of Christ's promise: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (Jn 14:21). It is a journey totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications (the "dark night"). But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by the mystics as "nuptial union". How can we forget here, among the many shining examples, the teachings of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila?
Yes, dear brothers and sisters, our Christian communities must become genuine "schools" of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly "falls in love". Intense prayer, yes, but it does not distract us from our commitment to history: by opening our heart to the love of God it also opens it to the love of our brothers and sisters, and makes us capable of shaping history according to God's plan.
The great mystical tradition of the Church of both East and West has much to say in this regard. It shows how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved, vibrating at the Spirit's touch, resting filially within the Father's heart. This is the lived experience of Christ's promise: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (Jn 14:21). It is a journey totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications (the "dark night"). But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by the mystics as "nuptial union". How can we forget here, among the many shining examples, the teachings of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila?
Yes, dear brothers and sisters, our Christian communities must become genuine "schools" of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly "falls in love". Intense prayer, yes, but it does not distract us from our commitment to history: by opening our heart to the love of God it also opens it to the love of our brothers and sisters, and makes us capable of shaping history according to God's plan. (§ 33).
May the Lord lead us all to a deeper holiness in loving Him.
God bless you,
I am writing this in light of the March for Life held here in Washington on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. That decision ratified the erroneous conviction that imposing death on an innocent and helpless human being is a legitimate solution to a problem. The result has been a lack of respect and reverence for human life under every aspect, and has produced a society in which courtesy and common human concern have diminished dramatically.
The late Cardinal Henri de Lubac, S.J., wrote a study that puts this drift into a wider perspective of truth and freedom. Its title is The Drama of Atheist Humanism. A striking chapter in the book is an analysis of a chapter in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. In that novel, Dostoyevsky tells us about Aloyosha, a young monk in a Russian monastery who comes to visit his older brother Ivan who is in jail, accused of the murder of their father. Ivan tells Aloyosha that he has written a poem about the Grand Inquisitor and proceeds to tell him about it.
The setting of the poem is Seville, in the sixteenth century. Jesus comes to visit his people; some recognize him and call out to him for help and healing and he responds. Then, on the steps of the Cathedral, Jesus encounters the bier of a young girl of seven who is being carried out for burial. The crowd begs him to raise her and he does. Watching from the other side of the street is the Cardinal, the Grand Inquisitor, a tall ascetic man of ninety years who finally orders Jesus’ arrest.
That night, the Inquisitor visits Jesus in jail and describes for him Jesus’ error in presuming that human beings want to be free. He illustrates this mistake by pointing to the temptation in the desert when Jesus refuses the devil’s solicitations to multiply bread, hurl himself off the temple parapet, and finally reverence Satan himself. The Inquisitor and those in league with him consider themselves martyrs and heroes for taking upon themselves the “burden” of freedom and relieving human beings of this awful challenge: humans do not want to be free, they want to be safe. Finally, the Inquisitor, having finished his charges against Jesus, opens the cell door. Jesus rises, and still without a word, kisses him and leaves.
The March for Life directly challenges the Grand Inquisitor’s position by appealing to human freedom and compassion in the name, ultimately, of the reality of the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The March embodies truth’s call to freedom that is meant to permeate the market place. It is a witness to the truth that can make human beings free.
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