Great tips for Lent

Check out Fr. Charles' blog for some wonderful tips on designing your Lenten routine: Theses on Choosing Lenten Observances"

Blind

Through crooked eyes you attempt
to read the story of my soul,
knocking me down with insights
as heavy as air, inviting me
to examine myself in your
granite mirror.  If my mirror
is broken, and yours opaque,
who will show me what
I am?

St. Augustine on the Beginning of Lent

From Sermon 210, on fasting, almsgiving, and forgiveness.

Save the Life of a Murderer

Though I don't currently live in Philadelphia/South Jersey, I still keep in touch with the news as often as possible. As is now nationally well known, a Philadelphia abortion doctor is on trial for multiple murders, killing Karnamaya Mongar in a botched abortion and intentionally killing viable, third-trimester babies. From the Grand Jury Report we read this horrifying statement (warning, the following paragraph is rather graphic):

This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors. The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths.

Whether or not one is actively involved in the pro-life movement, this story is heart-breaking and gut-wrenching. This is a man who simply embodies evil, and we know that when judgment comes he will have to answer to the Just Judge, who cares especially for His little ones.

However, a case like this can also be a real test of our convictions as those who believe in the sanctity of life, and as Catholics, for those of us who profess belief in the teachings of the Church. It has recently been announced that the District Attorney in Philadelphia is going to seek the death penalty in Gosnall's case. As Catholics, while we recognize abortion as one of, if not the, most heinous of intrinsic evils in the world, we too recognize that the death penalty is evil, as well, even if not intrinsically so, and we are called to oppose it as a matter of faith and as a matter of justice.

For anyone involved in the pro-life movement in the Philadelphia area, I would strongly urge you please to make your presence felt at Gosnall's trial and especially, assuming he is convicted, at his sentencing, and plea with the District Attorney (a Catholic himself) and especially to the judge to spare Gosnall's life, and instead to sentence him to life in prison. While serving this just sentence, and regardless of what his sentence ultimately may be, in addition to praying for the victims of this murderer, let us remember also, and especially, to pray that he might repent of his crimes and seek the mercy of God. I would also urge any priests and chaplains in the Philadelphia area to seek to meet with this man and encourage him to the sort of repentance that is necessary for the salvation of his soul.

We are pro-life, and these convictions are tested so that they may be strengthened. Let this case be a witness to the whole world of the good God whom we serve, and the mercy that we seek for all humankind.

One can never sufficiently insist that the right to life must be recognized in its full breadth. In fact every person deserves respect and solidarity from the moment of his conception to his natural death. This noble cause, in which many men and women are courageously involved, must also be supported by the civil authorities in the promotion of just laws and effective public policies that take into account the very great value that every human being possesses at every moment of his life. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge joyfully the initiative of Mexico which, in 2005, eliminated capital punishment from its legislation, as well as the recent measures that some of its States have adopted to protect human life from its origins. These measures regarding such a fundamental issue must be an emblem of your country, of which you must feel justifiably proud since upon the recognition of right to life "every human community and the political community itself are founded" (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, n. 2).  --Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the New Ambassador of Mexico to the Holy See, July 10, 2009

The JPII Generation

Recently I was asked to articulate what are some defining characteristics of what is often referred to as the JPII Generation - the generation of Catholics, spanning a wide range of ages and backgrounds, who have in some way had their Catholic faith profoundly impacted by the experience of Pope John Paul II.  The person who asked me this question made a sound observation that in reality we can only speak of our experience as American Catholics (and even that is rather broad), but at the same time I do believe there are several traits that more or less run across the board, and so I thought I would share a few of those thoughts here.

I think the most obvious thing that defines us is the draw to and desire for a strong sense of Catholic identity. We grew up in the extended wake of all of the crazy experimentation that went on after Vatican II, though having nothing to do with Vatican II itself, and the result of all that experimentation has been, among other things, a real instability of identity in a way that makes it difficult for a faith truly to mature.

In addition, we have grown up in a world that is increasingly secularized, where faith is more and more understood to be a private matter (kind of ironic, in the past faith was the public domain and sex was entirely a private matter.  Now it's the opposite), and we see this excessive secularization as actually breeding religious extremism, and a-religious extremism, as well.  This too, then, is an important factor in our draw towards a strong Catholic identity, because we believe that authentic Catholic belief, the teachings of the Church, have something powerful and important to speak to our society at large, and if the Catholic voice is able to meaningfully engage society that it could indeed be a powerful voice for peace and for justice.

This draw to a strong sense of Catholic identity helps to explain, for example, why JPII Generationers who enter religious life are so strongly drawn to wearing the habit, because the habit for us represents powerfully, among other things, this tangible Catholic identity. Especially in a world where there are still so many places where Christians are persecuted and martyred for their faith, and are not able to visibly demonstrate their faith in the ways that we are, we often feel that to hide our faith by dismissing one of our most powerful visible signs is, in some way, a betrayal of solidarity towards those who do not enjoy our freedom. We also see, as a result of this increasing secularization, that we too are slowly beginning to be persecuted for our faith, being told that our faith must only remain a private affair, and so something like the habit is a protest against that infringement upon our basic freedom.<

More than that, we have grown up in a time when, and this is true especially with regards to liturgy, that everything has been either minimized and/or banalized (to make up a word), so that there is little sense in Catholic praxis and doxa of the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. In the past, Catholic faith has been a great contributor to culture at large, and previous generations have gotten the likes of beautiful Gregorian chant, magnificent artwork, and stunning classical requiems.  My generation gets On Eagles' Wings and Blessed Be the Lord.

We don't see this as insignificant, either, because we have grown up in a society where the loss of a cultural appreciation of beauty has led to a world de-beautified, and thus trivialized. My generation, the JPII generation, actually sees beauty and art as being one important piece to recovering and remedying this ill of society's soul. I think your generation sees that, too, but perhaps doesn't see how the loss of a strong Catholic identity and how the excessive de-beautifying of Catholic liturgy has minimized the Church's ability to have a serious impact on this ill which afflicts modern society.

Because of the great instability in which my generation has grown up, the instability that is rooted in the notion that anything can be true, that nothing can be True, that all opinions are equally valid and that Truth itself is not knowable and not perceivable, and therefore not worthy of pursuit, the JPII generation is also characterized by a great longing for orthodoxy.  We believe in the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, and we believe that the Church is, in fact, the prophetic voice of God.  This isn't to say that we blindly accept everything the Church says as true, and there are certainly those who gravely mischaracterize us in this way.  But nonetheless, we believe in the need to accept the teachings of the Church and understand them as best we can.

This comes into play especially with regards to one of the most controversial issues of our time, the ordination of women.  Our opposition to the ordination of women is often wrongly mischaracterized as being a lack of respect for the dignity of woman.  We see this characterization as rooted in the false belief that equality means sameness.  But as the JPII generation, we believe not only that the Church teaches that the ministerial priesthood is something that Christ designed to be a male office, but, rooted in the definition of infallibility given by Lumen Gentium, we believe that this teaching is infallible, and thus it is our responsibility to understand its inner wisdom and logic as best we can.

We understand that there can certainly be ways of understanding this teaching in a way that does, in fact, oppress women, but we also understand that it is not intrinsically oppressive, any more than the Levitical priesthood was intrinsically oppressive against the other eleven tribes.  It is interesting to note, in the United States, at least, that among the JPII generation, the women of this generation are overwhelmingly opposed to the admission of women into the priesthood (at least that has been my experience, but this statement is purely anecdotal), precisely for the reason that I stated, because they believe it would oppose the truth revealed by the Church.  So we believe our job is not to change the Church's teaching on male-only priesthood, but rather to ensure that this teaching is carried out in such a way that respects the equal and complementary dignity of both women and men.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I believe the John Paul II generation is characterized by an ardent desire to live our lives in deep friendship with Christ.  We hear constantly echoed in our hearts those prophetic words from this great saint, "Do not be afraid!"  This is true especially of this friendship:  "Do not be afraid" to turn our hearts over to Jesus Christ, for in Christ we discover the friend who will never let us down.

Pope Benedict XVI On Promoting Truth About Abortion

Following is Zenit's translation of the Holy Father's address to the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the need for the truth about abortion to be exposed to a world that continues to hide from its reality:




Esteemed Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I receive you with joy on the occasion of the annual assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life. I greet, in particular, the president, Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, and I thank him for his courteous words. I address my cordial welcome to each one of you! 

In the activities of these days you addressed topics of current importance, which question contemporary society profoundly and challenge it to find answers that are appropriate for the good of the human person. Post-abortion syndrome -- the serious psychological difficulties often felt by women who have taken recourse to voluntary abortion -- reveals the irrepressible voice of the moral conscience, and the grave wound it suffers each time that human action betrays the person’s innate vocation to good, and of which he gives witness. 

It would be useful also in this reflection to focus attention on the conscience, at times blurred, of the fathers of the children, who often abandon pregnant women. The moral conscience -- teaches the Catechism of the Catholic Church -- "is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right" (No. 1778).

It is, in fact, the duty of the moral conscience to discern good from evil in the different situations of existence, in order that, on the basis of this judgment, the human being can orient himself towards the good. Many would like to deny the existence of the moral conscience in man, reducing its voice to the result of external conditioning or to a purely emotive phenomenon, and it is important to affirm that the moral quality of human action is not an extrinsic value or even optional and it is not even a prerogative of Christians or believers, but common to every human being. In the moral conscience, God speaks to each one and invites him to defend human life at all times. In this personal bond with the Creator lies the profound dignity of the moral conscience and the reason for its inviolability.

Fulfilled in the conscience of every man -- intelligence, emotive nature, will -- is his vocation to the good, so that the choice of good or evil in the concrete situations of existence ends by marking the human person profoundly in each expression of his being. The whole man, in fact, is wounded when his behavior is contrary to the dictate of his own conscience.

However, even when man rejects the true and the good that the Creator proposes to him, God does not abandon him, but through the voice of conscience, continues to seek and speak to him, so that he will acknowledge his error and open himself to Divine Mercy capable of healing any wound.

Doctors, in particular, cannot fail to consider important the grave duty to defend against the deception of the conscience of many women who think they will find in abortion the solution to family, economic, social difficulties or to the problems of health of their children. Especially in this last situation, the woman is convinced, often by the doctors themselves, that abortion represents not only a licit moral choice, but that in addition it is a necessary "therapeutic" act to avoid the suffering of the child and of its family and an "unjust" burden to society.

In a cultural background characterized by the eclipse of the meaning of life, in which the common perception of the moral gravity of abortion and of other forms of attempts against human life has been attenuated, exacted from doctors is a special fortitude to continue affirming that abortion does not resolve anything, but that it kills the child, destroys the woman and blinds the conscience of the child's father, often ruining family life.

This duty, however, does not only affect the medical profession or health professionals. It is necessary that the whole of society defend the right to life of the conceived and the true good of the woman, who never, under any circumstance, will be fulfilled in the choice of abortion. In the same way it is necessary -- as has been indicated in your works -- to provide the necessary help to women who sadly have already taken recourse to abortion, and who now experience all its moral and existential tragedy. There are many initiatives, at the diocesan level or through individual volunteer entities, which offer psychological and spiritual support for a complete human recovery. The solidarity of the Christian community cannot give up this type of co-responsibility.

I would like to recall, in this connection, the invitation addressed by the Venerable John Paul II to women who have taken recourse to abortion. "The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To the same Father and his mercy you can with sure hope entrust your child. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life" ("Evangelium Vitae," No. 99).

The moral conscience of researchers and of the whole of society is profoundly involved also in the second topic of your works: the use of umbilical cord banks for clinical and research purposes. Medical-scientific research is a value and, hence, a commitment, not only for researchers but for the whole civil community. The result is the duty to promote ethically valid research on the part of institutions, and the value of the solidarity of individuals in the participation of research directed to promote the common good.

This value, and the necessity of this solidarity, are very well evidenced in the case of the use of stem cells from the umbilical cord. They are important clinical applications and promising research at the scientific level, but for their realization many depend on the generosity, on the donation of blood of the cord at the moment of birth, on the part of the women who have just given birth. Hence, I invite all of you to be promoters of a true and conscious human and Christian solidarity. In this connection, many medical researchers rightly regard with perplexity the growing number of private storage banks of the blood of the cord for exclusive autologous use. Such an option -- as the works of your Assembly demonstrate -- in addition to lacking a real scientific superiority in relation to the donation of the cord, weakens the genuine spirit of solidarity which must constantly animate the search of that common good to which, in the last analysis, science and medical research tend.

Dear brothers and sisters, once again I express my gratitude to the president and to all the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life for the scientific and ethical courage with which you carry out your commitment to the service of the good of the human person. My hope is that you will maintain always alive the spirit of authentic service which makes hearts and minds sensitive to recognize the needs of the men who are our contemporaries. To each one of you and to your loved ones, I impart my heartfelt apostolic blessing.

[Translation by ZENIT]