As we begin this Lenten season, I thought I would share a few thoughts, but before I get too far, I would like to give a hat tip to a few sources that have helped me prepare for this reflection. Earlier this week, my friend Tom Perna wrote a great reflection on Psalm 41. I’m hoping he will give a similar treatment on Psalm 51 for Ash Wednesday. I found it particularly interesting that as we begin Lent, much focus is brought to our sinfulness, our weakness, that we must also find comfort in that if we will give ourselves fully to God, we will find the joy of salvation, through God’s loving mercy.
Second one is not to a friend (yet, but would like to know him!) is Father Dwight Longenecker, Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenville, South Carolina. You may have read his blog, but I have found that I would like to add his book, The Gargoyle Code, to my reading list now. It is based on CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters¸ and focuses on two gargoyles during Lent, beginning on Shrove Tuesday. That post made me realize that the Enemy is always working against us, and never sleeps, constantly plotting our destruction. Fr Longenecker posted this excerpt today, and I pray he will forgive me for not seeking permission in advance, but I hope that you might find it to be efficacious and certainly poignant as we begin to prepare for the Resurrection of the Lord.
Those of you that attend Mass on Ash Wednesday will see the most peculiar phenomenon: In many cases, the church will be packed to the rafters, even though it is not a Holy Day of Obligation! I have often wondered why people that cannot find their way to any mass on any Sunday will search high and low to find a place to receive ashes on their forehead. Sometimes I wonder if we should not be seeking to get ashes every Sunday, if that would draw them in. This makes me ponder the message of today’s Gospel reading (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18), where Jesus warns us about practicing our piety in order that other men may see it. WOW! So why then, are we going to Mass, and then walking about showing them off all day? Doesn’t this seem to contradict precisely what Christ is telling us? So, I dug a bit, and then of course, I should have just turned to New Advent for the answer! On Ash Wednesday ashes are put on us by the priest to remind US that we are mere mortals, not so we can show off!”
Lent is a time for prayer, fasting and alms giving. We must also be mindful of Christ’s warning to be careful in how we approach this. Do not do it simply for the viewing pleasure of others, seek humility, meekness, and discretion in how you proceed on your Lenten journey. This morning we were all mindful to prepare for today in most ways that it were an ordinary day, teeth were brushed (even by the 12 year old!), clean fresh clothes, I took time to shave, while being mindful that today we are entering into the desert, and pray that with the Father’s mercy, and the Son’s saving grace, we will be a better instrument of the Spirit’s work in the world. We will attend mass this evening, and receive our ashes, and then go home together, strengthened by the graces received in attending mass with our community.
We have of course made some choices in things that we would offer up for Lent, most I will not mention, but the one I will is our choice to offer up the viewing of television during Lent. I was on the fence on this one until yesterday. I said to myself, “Self, you are strong; you can control your television viewing. That silly lady you married is being, well, silly.” Then I read the excerpt from The Gargoyle Code for Shrove Tuesday, and knew that I had to enter into this joyfully, and to provide my family the leadership and loving example we need.
Another goal is to refocus my prayer life, to keep it private as we are reminded by the Lord, but to find intentionality in my prayer. As the spiritual head of my household, I know that if I am not praying well, then my family is not praying well. A speaker at a conference once told us, “Prayer is your relationship with God!” So, if I my prayer life is not what it should be, then it stands to reason that my relationship with God is not what it should be. Let us use this time to strengthen our relationship with God that we might hear Him in the whisper in the wind, and find our place with Him in Heaven.
I am not suggesting that if you are not regularly praying that you should leap into a full Rosary every day! If you can do that, then you will be richly rewarded, but many try this and fail. Years ago, I was told to start off with an Ave and a Glory Be. Then up to a decade of the Rosary, and so on.
Alms giving is a subject that frequently causes many to cringe. But why, I wonder? All things come from God, though we may not recognize it as such. Our time, treasure and talents are from God, we are called to share them, not to hoard them. For what comes of that which we stockpile when we go to our eternal reward? You are dust, and to dust you shall return. At a later time, I will talk about how we plan for our alms giving, our charity. For now, I would remind you to set aside a portion of your time, your talent, and of course, your treasure to return back in gratitude for the life we are given.
So many focus on the “suffering” part of Lent. We should instead focus on the chance this is for us to grow in relationship with Christ, uniting all that we do, all that we are to Him, and especially, yes, to offer up our sufferings in unity with Him on the Cross at Calvary. He alone has borne our sins; He alone could provide us with justification. Only through Christ, the Son, can we find the Father. Only in these times of challenge can we change our lives and convert our hearts that we can properly receive the love intended for us from all eternity.
During this time of Lent, please do not think of it as an arduous task, something to be painstakingly endured and to suffer through. Empty yourself of worldly wants and open your hearts to be receptive of the gift that God so lovingly wants to bestow on all His children. Pray without ceasing, that your relationship with God will never cease, and you will find your life change in ways you could never imagine. Give until it hurts, and then give a little more. All of this, not so your neighbor can marvel at your piety, but that you might be grow in love with Our Lord.
Showing posts with label Suffering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Suffering. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Suffering in Marriage
There are few that would argue there is a certain amount of suffering attributed to being in a Christian marriage, though it could be argued that in the last half of the twentieth century it has gained a new significance, as society seeks to reduce the role of suffering within marriage. The assault upon marriage from secular society, and attempts to change the original intent of marriage further attack God’s plan for Man, another consequence of The Fall. Suffering takes on a new role when it speaks of original experience and its relationship to original solitude. Suffering aids us in the recovery of our original vocation, and contraception not only impedes that recovery, but actually increases suffering in opposition to God’s salvific plan. Not only does contraception work in opposition to God’s plan, but prevents the sort of suffering intended to allow us to rejoin Him in Heaven.
Father Jose Granados tells us, “Suffering is a language of the body that speaks of original solitude and original unity in one breath.” This language reveals itself most fully in the example set in the life of Christ, who gave fully of Himself in many situations, most vividly in His Passion and Death upon the Cross. Through Christ’s suffering, we are given first an example of how to live, how to approach life, and to ultimately be prepared to give that life up for another, as He gave His life for all. In this example we can then find new meaning for what love truly is, more than just a feeling, a high that cannot hope to be sustained. Love is in fact an act of the will, a total self-sacrifice that holds nothing back. In this total love, this complete sacrifice, we find our place in God’s plan, which is to know, love and serve God in this life. In the Genesis accounts of Creation, God creates Man in one act, “male and female, He created them,” (Gen 1:27). Only in Gen 2 does Scripture speak of Adam first, and then Eve being created from the rib of Adam, lending chronology to the sequence, not stating that woman was afterthought of God, but conceived in the mind of God from the beginning.
But how does this help us recover our original vocation? What then, is our original vocation? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us in paragraph 1699 that Life in the Spirit fulfills the vocation of man. Further, CCC1700 we are again reminded that we are created in the image and likeness of God, and fulfilled in the vocation of divine beatitude. It goes on to assert that this is all left to Man’s own personal decisions, that is, ultimately freewill is given to us that we can choose a life of grace, or a life separated from God. But it is not presupposed that it is our actions alone that determine this, but instead depend upon the grace and mercy of a loving Father in heaven, who wishes nothing more than for His children to return to Him forever.
Simply put then, our original vocation is our call to holiness. In our suffering, in our self-sacrifice, in the giving of all that we have and all that we are, we find the love that Christ has for us, just as He has for His Father in Heaven. In His self-giving love, His total gift of self, we find the one example of the beatific vision that we should all strive for in all that we are. Our suffering, in union with Christ’s suffering on the cross of Calvary, is our path to the recovery of holiness.
If one has an understanding of how suffering relates to original solitude, and how it is fully connected to the recovery of holiness, then certainly there is no question that contraception not only stands in the way of that recovery, but prevents, and seeks to further destroy our call to holiness and unity. If Christ is our example of salvific suffering, then contraception by nature of its existence impedes and nullifies the sacrifice made by Him on the Cross of Calvary.
Contraception interferes with the Trinitarian concept of living giving and sustenance and attempts to take God out of the equation. We learn in catechism classes that the loving act of God the Father loving God the Son, and the Son receiving that love and then fully loving the Father is so fruitful that it generates God the Spirit, who flows fully from both. In this way, the marriage act mirrors the Trinity. That is, the man and the woman fully love each other, giving and receiving, and the product of the love often is a child, or many children. When Man takes matters into his own hands, he takes God out of the equation, and The Fall is recreated. When that cycle is broken, the consequences are frequently detrimental to all involved.
Contraception reduces the dignity of the man and the woman by reducing each other to objects to be used and discarded when they are no longer suitable for the purpose desired. When a person no longer views the other as anything other than a disposable object, the result is what Pope Paul VI spoke of after the introduction of Humanae Vitae in 1968, that is, an increase in abortion, which to date has taken in excess of 50 million lives in the United States alone. This is in addition to the assault on marriage, the huge numbers of children born out of wedlock, and the exponential increase in marriage. In fact, one need not look far to find one or several families that have children born out of wedlock, or suffer the effects of civil divorce.
In the introduction of contraception, the freedoms promised by it are only thinly veiled illusions of slavery. One would do well to recall that freedom is the not the right to make whatever choices one desires, but rather is the decision to do what is right. If a woman can never say no, but feels compelled to always say yes, then is she truly free? If a man feels like he must always be “on”, then how can he achieve self-mastery?
It could be argued that contraception gives persons the freedom to what they will with their bodies, to control, regulate, or even prevent the production of children. We have seen that this can certainly occurs, but at the consequence of divorce, abuse, abortion, and the unwarranted suffering of children in irregular family situations. God intended for children to be raised by their fathers and their mothers, and when we diminish one’s personhood, we deviate from God’s plan. This results in a loss of heaven, which we know to be Hell.
Contraception also prevents appropriate suffering, the act of loving self-sacrifice exemplified by Our Lord in His Life, Death, and Resurrection. If we removed the term contraception, which means against life, and replaced it with conception, which means for life, we would see a dramatic increase of self-sacrifice, total gift of self that is faithful, fruitful and total. If each spouse would live a life of self-gift to one another and their children, contraception would be eliminated because of disuse.
The role of suffering within marriage can best be realized by looking to the example of the Life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ Jesus. In exploring the mysteries of Christ, we learn more of ourselves as we learn more about God, who shows Himself to love us as completely as He loves His Son. When we seek to fully reflect the Trinity, we find our original vocation, through life in the Spirit. In this life, through the grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father, we find our paths to holiness. We know contraception to be inherently evil, and causes suffering contrary to God’s salvific plan. The freedoms it promises are smokescreen which impedes the suffering that we are intended to endure to join God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in Heaven at the end of our days.
Father Jose Granados tells us, “Suffering is a language of the body that speaks of original solitude and original unity in one breath.” This language reveals itself most fully in the example set in the life of Christ, who gave fully of Himself in many situations, most vividly in His Passion and Death upon the Cross. Through Christ’s suffering, we are given first an example of how to live, how to approach life, and to ultimately be prepared to give that life up for another, as He gave His life for all. In this example we can then find new meaning for what love truly is, more than just a feeling, a high that cannot hope to be sustained. Love is in fact an act of the will, a total self-sacrifice that holds nothing back. In this total love, this complete sacrifice, we find our place in God’s plan, which is to know, love and serve God in this life. In the Genesis accounts of Creation, God creates Man in one act, “male and female, He created them,” (Gen 1:27). Only in Gen 2 does Scripture speak of Adam first, and then Eve being created from the rib of Adam, lending chronology to the sequence, not stating that woman was afterthought of God, but conceived in the mind of God from the beginning.
But how does this help us recover our original vocation? What then, is our original vocation? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us in paragraph 1699 that Life in the Spirit fulfills the vocation of man. Further, CCC1700 we are again reminded that we are created in the image and likeness of God, and fulfilled in the vocation of divine beatitude. It goes on to assert that this is all left to Man’s own personal decisions, that is, ultimately freewill is given to us that we can choose a life of grace, or a life separated from God. But it is not presupposed that it is our actions alone that determine this, but instead depend upon the grace and mercy of a loving Father in heaven, who wishes nothing more than for His children to return to Him forever.
Simply put then, our original vocation is our call to holiness. In our suffering, in our self-sacrifice, in the giving of all that we have and all that we are, we find the love that Christ has for us, just as He has for His Father in Heaven. In His self-giving love, His total gift of self, we find the one example of the beatific vision that we should all strive for in all that we are. Our suffering, in union with Christ’s suffering on the cross of Calvary, is our path to the recovery of holiness.
If one has an understanding of how suffering relates to original solitude, and how it is fully connected to the recovery of holiness, then certainly there is no question that contraception not only stands in the way of that recovery, but prevents, and seeks to further destroy our call to holiness and unity. If Christ is our example of salvific suffering, then contraception by nature of its existence impedes and nullifies the sacrifice made by Him on the Cross of Calvary.
Contraception interferes with the Trinitarian concept of living giving and sustenance and attempts to take God out of the equation. We learn in catechism classes that the loving act of God the Father loving God the Son, and the Son receiving that love and then fully loving the Father is so fruitful that it generates God the Spirit, who flows fully from both. In this way, the marriage act mirrors the Trinity. That is, the man and the woman fully love each other, giving and receiving, and the product of the love often is a child, or many children. When Man takes matters into his own hands, he takes God out of the equation, and The Fall is recreated. When that cycle is broken, the consequences are frequently detrimental to all involved.
Contraception reduces the dignity of the man and the woman by reducing each other to objects to be used and discarded when they are no longer suitable for the purpose desired. When a person no longer views the other as anything other than a disposable object, the result is what Pope Paul VI spoke of after the introduction of Humanae Vitae in 1968, that is, an increase in abortion, which to date has taken in excess of 50 million lives in the United States alone. This is in addition to the assault on marriage, the huge numbers of children born out of wedlock, and the exponential increase in marriage. In fact, one need not look far to find one or several families that have children born out of wedlock, or suffer the effects of civil divorce.
In the introduction of contraception, the freedoms promised by it are only thinly veiled illusions of slavery. One would do well to recall that freedom is the not the right to make whatever choices one desires, but rather is the decision to do what is right. If a woman can never say no, but feels compelled to always say yes, then is she truly free? If a man feels like he must always be “on”, then how can he achieve self-mastery?
It could be argued that contraception gives persons the freedom to what they will with their bodies, to control, regulate, or even prevent the production of children. We have seen that this can certainly occurs, but at the consequence of divorce, abuse, abortion, and the unwarranted suffering of children in irregular family situations. God intended for children to be raised by their fathers and their mothers, and when we diminish one’s personhood, we deviate from God’s plan. This results in a loss of heaven, which we know to be Hell.
Contraception also prevents appropriate suffering, the act of loving self-sacrifice exemplified by Our Lord in His Life, Death, and Resurrection. If we removed the term contraception, which means against life, and replaced it with conception, which means for life, we would see a dramatic increase of self-sacrifice, total gift of self that is faithful, fruitful and total. If each spouse would live a life of self-gift to one another and their children, contraception would be eliminated because of disuse.
The role of suffering within marriage can best be realized by looking to the example of the Life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ Jesus. In exploring the mysteries of Christ, we learn more of ourselves as we learn more about God, who shows Himself to love us as completely as He loves His Son. When we seek to fully reflect the Trinity, we find our original vocation, through life in the Spirit. In this life, through the grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father, we find our paths to holiness. We know contraception to be inherently evil, and causes suffering contrary to God’s salvific plan. The freedoms it promises are smokescreen which impedes the suffering that we are intended to endure to join God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in Heaven at the end of our days.
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