Luminous Mysteries

One of the ways St. Francis challenges me is the way he literally and passionately followed Christ. Before his conversion, he once had a vision that he was the lord of a court filled with shields and trophies gained through military victories. A few years later, when he heard Jesus' command, "Go, rebuild my church, which you can see has fallen into ruins," Francis literally starting rebuilding the chapel of San Damiano, brick-by-brick. While he eventually learned that God was calling him to win spiritual victories and rebuild the faith of apathetic Christians, there was one calling that St. Francis took literally right from the beginning and from which he never wavered:

"And preach as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of God is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without pay, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the laborer deserves his food."

-Matthew 10:7-10

Hearing Christ's command, Francis shed the last of his few belongings, put on the rough brown tunic that has become the Franciscan habit, and began cleansing lepers and preaching repentance to anyone (or any animal) that would listen. This Gospel formed the simple beginnings of the Franciscan order. Even as they grew in numbers, he demanded that his friars remain faithful to Lady Poverty, committing not even a hint of adultery.

I was reminded of St. Francis' passionate obedience to Jesus' instructions while praying the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary a few days ago because each of the mysteries focuses on words that leave no room for metaphorical interpretation.

First Luminous Mystery - Baptism of Jesus: The Holy Spirit descends upon Christ like a dove while a voice from Heaven says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Second Luminous Mystery - Wedding at Cana: After Jesus tells his mother that his time has not yet come, Mary instructs the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."

Third Luminous Mystery - Proclaiming the Kingdom: Wouldn't you know, this happens to be same passage I already quoted above that inspired St. Francis to cast away all belongings, cleanse lepers, and preach repentance.

Fourth Luminous Mystery - Transfiguration: This one relates to the first two mysteries; once again there is a voice from Heaven announcing, "This is my Son," and we are instructed like Mary told the wedding servants, "Listen to Him!"

Fifth Luminous Mystery - Institution of the Eucharist: "This is My body, which is given for you. ... This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

Most of our Protestant brothers and sisters would dispute the literal interpretation of that last one. Sadly, in our disputing over theology, we probably disregard our duty to proclaim the Kingdom of God. And while it's easy for Christians to cast aside theology as academic stuff that gets in the way of spreading the Gospel, I can't help but think that the gift of Christ's flesh and blood in the Eucharist is what enabled the most radical proclaimers of the Kingdom, like St. Francis and Mother Theresa, to serve the way they did.

St. Francis knew that Christ was present in the Eucharist and it wasn't just academic knowledge; he drew strength and love from the Eucharist. If you read much about Mother Theresa outside of Time magazine, you'll learn very quickly that she considered Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament central to the lives of nuns in her order.

After procrastinating for some time, I am personally excited about finally scheduling an hour every Thursday morning to pray before Christ at a local Adoration chapel on my way into work. I'm sure a lot of people think that praying in the presence of a Communion wafer is clearly a waste of time. I could be out there sharing Christ's love with my friends, serving the needy, and other good works that bear fruit in our lives through faith.

Yet all these good works are nothing without making God our first priority. I'm not going to the Adoration chapel in hopes of becoming a holier person. I already have Christ and the hope of eternal life, so what do I have to gain? Rather, I'm doing it because I know that God will use that one hour a week to sanctify the rest of my week, make me a more faithful servant, and draw the people I know closer to Christ. Whatever good comes from it will not be my own doing, but merely through my submission to God.

Praying to Mary Should be More Than Just a "Hail Mary"

I've been on a blogging hiatus for the last month or two, although apparently my blog is only halfway down the Christian Bloggers blogroll, so there must be a bunch of other folks who are even lazier than I am :) So, us Catholics and the Orthodox and a few other scattered Christian folk have this prayer to Mary thing goin' on, which makes most Baptists almost as uncomfortable as going to a bar and seeing another Baptist there (ha ha... nothing like crackin' on them Baptists).

Anyway, this friend of mine was talking about how she talks to her mom about whatever's going on with her life (one of those girl things, I'm sure :) and to draw an analogy she remarked that "you guys pray to Mary" (I guess "you guys" must be referring to the Catholics, huh?). Well, I realized that pretty much the only prayer I say to Mary is a Hail Mary or the Rosary, which is fine except that it's like only praying the Our Father to God. Why not break out of the mold a little bit and just be honest with our spiritual mother? After all, she surely experienced all the emotions we have... uncertainty, fear, heartache, the loss of her son's death, anger, and of course the joy and happiness of raising Jesus and the witnessing his resurrection. I've always wondered what was on her mind when Amos prophesied that "a sword shall pierce your heart." We hardly pause while reading those words today, but to Mary it must've been disconcerting at the least. I imagine she wasn't even sure if the words were literal or metaphorical, not mention what exactly would happen to her? And she waited 33 years before Amos' prophesy was fulfilled.

Anyway, I guess the point I'm making is that Jesus along with Mary and all the saints are real people alive in Heaven who take joy in hearing our prayers and praying to God for us in return. We don't always have to use the standard prayers because we can talk to them like anyone else. In all likelihood, you won't get the verbal response that you get from a face-to-face conversation. Still, I think our prayers are often answered through those conversations with friends or relatives... and the more people you got prayin' for ya, the more likely the Cubs are to finally break that curse -- I mean, um, you get the idea.

Our Father

The other day I got to thinking, and since that doesn't happen too often, I knew something of true genius was afoot. No, seriously, I noticed that that at least two of the sacraments are clearly represented in the words of the Our Father. "Give us this day our daily bread" is commonly interpreted as a reference to the Eucharist and "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" is clearly about Reconciliation. So last night I happened to be at Sojourn, but my mind just can't focus on a 40-minute sermon (especially when, seriously, not much more is really being said than what you'd hear in a 10-minute homily... humility is not hard to understand; it's just damn near impossible to do. That would be my sermon :) . Anyway, moving on... during the sermon I figured if I'm going to be distracted, at least try to think about something related to Jesus, so I tried to see if all seven sacraments are somehow represented in the Our Father. Here's what I came up with... at first I thought some of them would be a difficult stretch, but after writing this out I think it makes sense, but I suppose you can be the judge of that :)

Our Father, who art in heaven... -- Baptism, because through the waters of Baptism and the power of faith we are cleansed of all sin and become adopted children of God. We rightfully refer to our Creator and Redeemer as "Father."

...hallowed by thy name... -- Confirmation, when we choose to publicly profess the Catholic faith, declaring that God and His Church are holy and true.

...thy kingdom come, thy will be done... -- Ordination, when God invests in regular, sinful men the power to celebrate the sacraments, pastor the Church, and see God's kingdom grow in our world.

...on earth as it is in heaven... -- Marriage, because in marriage man and woman "on earth" are joined sacramentally with God "in heaven" in a beautiful symbol of the marriage supper of the Lamb and the relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church.

...give us this day our daily bread... -- Holy Communion, which Catholics and Orthodox can truly receive on a daily basis, if we desire (and why wouldn't you? :).

...and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us... -- Reconciliation, in which we are forced to sacrifice our pride, confessing our sins to God and praying for His mercy. When we come face-to-face with our own sin in our stark contrast to Christ's perfection, we know that nobody (even Hitler) is capable of sinning against us as terribly as we have already sinned against God.

...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. -- Anointing of the Sick, when we receive tangible reassurance that no evil, temptation, illness, or even death can conquer those whose faith is in Christ.

I look at the sacraments not as a mechanical approach to Christianity that manipulates God's grace and assuring salvation to the recipient regardless of their relationship with God. Rather, I thank God for these gifts because having been human in Christ and walking among us, He knows how desperately we need something tangible to help us grow and remain strong in our faith. That's exactly what the sacraments are: tangible signs of God's free grace.

So is God not capable of forgiving the sins of a repentant sinner, regardless of whether they were physically baptized? Of course! The criminal on the cross offers biblical proof, straight from Jesus. Clearly, the sacrament of Baptism is not for God's benefit because he is not tied to these sacraments. Rather, Baptism is for our benefit because we need to know that, "Yes, I have been washed clean," not because my parents had me dunked as an infant or I chose to be baptized as an adult, but simply because God gives us the gift of faith to believe like a child. The best thing my parents ever did for me was have me baptized when I was too young to make the choice for myself. The temptation of pride doesn't even exist because I can truly say I did nothing to earn this gift. Likewise, through the other sacraments we are reminded that nobody is worthy and just how feeble-minded we are that we need the sacraments at all, and in response all we can do is praise God and open ourselves to being a sacramental instrument for God to reach unbelievers.