The Big Stores are BIGGER THAN EVER!

I don’t get out and about all that much these days. I walk almost every day along the roads and rolling hills of our neighborhood, on the border between small town and countryside. We’ve lived in this house for 23 years and I’m still surprised by things I can see and hear within a 20 minute walk from my front door.

But with rain about to fall this afternoon, and with me still feeling the need for my walk, I decided to go with Eileen to the local Stuff-Mart. I wasn’t looking to buy anything. I just wanted to get out on a rainy day. So, I went on a “walk” around the store. It was a strange experience.

I used to drive around, shop, and go to all these stores for years, and I didn’t think much about it. But for the past six years, I have basically given up driving—I don’t trust my reflexes, for one thing, especially when I’m not feeling well. Also, ever since kids started getting driver’s licenses around here, there’s rarely been a car available for me to drive. Now they’re all living with spouses and children, or with friends, and they have their own cars. (Jojo is the only “kid” still at home, and she has a very busy social schedule. I still couldn't get a car even if I wanted one. But I don’t mind; I’m happy if I can just get out of the house every day. We live in a beautiful place.)

So, I wasn’t going much to stores. Then came the Great Plague of four years ago. I think many people have forgotten how strange that time was, and have readjusted to their “normal” hypermodern lifestyles again as if nothing ever happened. I expect, however, that more—perhaps worse—crises loom ahead for the coming generations. We simply can’t keep living this way for very long. Things have grown way out of proportion. Everything has become monstrous.

Of course I already know all about this phenomenon. I use the many-headed monster of the internet. But when you shop on the internet, there can be a false sense that shopping is still somehow a quaint matter. In spite of the fact that everything is for sale (including the information you give using websites and making purchases), internet shopping still feels like a “private” and focused exchange you carry out on you tablet or phone. Everything (including the ubiquitous advertising) is limited to a small space that you hold in your hand while surrounded by your own familiar environment.

The Big Box Retail Store, however, is not filtered by any media. It’s a monument to raw consumerism in all its enormity and immediacy. It’s designed to have “all the stuff” you could possibly desire for your material purposes. I suppose if you go in to buy specific things and you know where they are, you can ignore the surrounding mountains of other things.

But I just went in there to get a little walk while Eileen picked up a few particular items she had on her list.

It was GIGANTIC! These places are bigger than ever, with more sections and more shelves packed with more junk than ever.

I feel like it’s too much! We don’t need all these things to live dignified human lives. Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not claiming to be better than anyone else. I am immersed as much as anyone else in this culture-of-too-much-stuff. My house is full of too much stuff. But I’m used to my own junk. That doesn’t make it any healthier for my soul.

I walked through the store and looked at the colossal shelves of junk, and wondered how long we could continue to live this way, how long would it be before everything just blows up…

(Still) Looking Forward to Autumn

We have humid gray clouds and leaves wet and green,

Of cooler, colorful skies and foliage of light, I dream…

Our Earthly Path is Transfigured

Genuine Christian faith entails the conviction that created things are good. As humans, we are meant to be "attracted" by the good in creatures, drawn to desire and love them, and drawn toward God through them, drawn to love God preeminently, who is the source and fulfillment of the being and goodness of created things. The problem is not "attraction" in itself. The problem is the mess that sin has made of our humanity. It is not that things themselves are evil; rather it is our sinful self-obsession, our drive to construct the foundation of our selves through controlling things by our own power, that skews our perception of their essential, gratuitous value given to them by God.

The “world” that Jesus warns His disciples about (see e.g. John 15:18-19) is not the same as “the material world” or the created world as such. It is rather humanity’s sinful “reduction” of the meaning of creation; it is the world distorted and abused by sin (the original sin we inherit from our first parents, and our own personal sins and connivance in the dysfunctional and destructive patterns of sinfulness that weigh upon every period of human history).

We deserve to be called “worldly" (in this negative sense) insofar as we willingly blind ourselves to the whole reality of the created world. This world is meant to be the place where embodied persons are called to give and receive love in a multitude of "incarnate" gestures and expressions, which are made possible by the wisdom and goodness inherent in things created by God that contribute to the meaningful and precious environment He entrusts to us, and the beautiful path of our history - our journey toward Him. By contrast, “worldliness” is the result of the effort to cut off the world from God. Our "worldly desires” perceive only "worldly goods," i.e. things merely insofar as they are subject to our own selfish grasping and manipulation.

Thus we do violence to the world God has created in the gift of His love. We covet, take, steal, hoard, violate, and destroy things because we refuse to receive them and give them. When we forget the gift of God, we cannot engage reality: we don't know how to "possess" things with freedom, to learn from them, deepen them by "collaborating" with their riches and marking them with the seal of our own personal creativity, and thus being able to give of ourselves through them. We are the ones who have brought evil and destruction into the world; we have made the world a deceitful, harmful, dangerous place.

But God loves the world. He loves us. The Father reveals the depths of this love by sending His Son, Jesus, the Word made flesh, who dwells among us, accompanies us, dies for us (and thus stays with us even through death) so He can raise us up, heal us, and transform us by joining us to Himself and drawing our hearts to Him.

In following Him we are led to rediscover all the created things of the world in Him. We begin to see ourselves and all things as having their true meaning in Him and for Him. There is nothing reductive about this, because reality is ultimately personal and interpersonal. The encounter with the Person of Jesus is decisive because He fulfills and transcends (in infinite depth) every person and every thing.

In Him, our lives and everything on our earthly path is transfigured. Even though it doesn't often seem that way, as we trudge through the many difficult and lonely days in this life, we hold onto the truth in love and hope, through faith in Jesus who has gone before us in death to resurrection. Thus we learn to engage life and the reality of the world passionately, attentively, but with peace and joy in our hearts, because we know that Jesus Christ has saved the world, and that He is with us in all our days.

Saint Matthew: The Encounter With Jesus Changed Everything

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him” (Matthew 9:9).

This conversion story from Matthew’s own gospel is presented in similar words in Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 (except they give “Levi” as his name, but clearly it was the same man). Notwithstanding their brevity, these references to Matthew’s vocation are presented in a way that reveals the depths of his conversion.

The first thing that is clear is that Matthew was a public sinner in the judgment of his own people. He was an official within the complicated and corrupt bureaucracy that the Roman Empire had imposed upon Galilee by means of the “client state” of the tetrarch Herod Antipas. He was a representative of Roman imperial power, and he wielded this power in Capernaum on behalf of a puppet king installed by this foreign government. He also used it to his own advantage.

Why would anyone in Israel want to be a tax collector? The compensation for being ritually cut off and generally hated by the people was the accumulation of significant wealth. Matthew was officially responsible for providing the government with a fixed sum of money periodically from his region. In order to acquire this sum, however, he was free to set his own tax fees, collecting as much as he could get from the people. The tax collector’s position was virtually defined as the opportunity to practice unlimited graft and extortion. Above and beyond the required government sum and a fair wage for his own efforts, the tax collector used the force at his disposal to rob the population and enrich himself.

Matthew was, in fact, a thief and a criminal.

Then Jesus saw him. Jesus looked at the Mafia boss of Capernaum, who was in his “business office” (so to speak) doing his sordid work of squeezing people for money and keeping records of these “transactions.” A tax collector in Galilee (unlike the fishermen who followed Jesus) would have been literate in both Aramaic and Greek.

Jesus saw Matthew, the person, and loved that person. No doubt he also perceived that after Matthew ceased keeping records of his own extortion racket, he could begin an altogether different sort of record keeping. He could record the words and deeds of the Teacher in writing, and see that they were passed on.

Jesus saw Matthew and spoke to him: “Follow me.” Matthew had probably heard of Jesus from the people, and may have even watched his ministry. Before this moment, however, he had not conceived any hope that his life could be different.

The encounter with Jesus in this moment changed everything.

Matthew’s response was simple but had rich implications. Our text says he “got up” and followed. The Greek term used here, however, is the same word used to express Jesus’s “rising” from the dead. The power of Jesus’s gaze and his words had a miraculous effect, achieving something even more amazing than when he later “raised” Lazarus from the tomb. Jesus “raised” Matthew from the deeper deadness of sin, and invited him to become his companion. So also Jesus looks upon each one of us, and calls us to do the same.

The Witness of the Korean Martyrs

Here are a few words about the remarkable way the Gospel came to be preached in Korea, and the marvelous impact of Christ and the Church on this ancient East Asian culture beginning a little over two centuries ago. The blood of native Korean witnesses sowed the seeds of a Korean Church that remains vital today in the midst of many dangers in this volatile part of the world. In the words below—from my article in the September 2023 issue of Magnificat—I give a brief overview of the historical circumstances surrounding the birth of the Korean Church by relating the story of one of the converts of that time:

Saint Mareuko Jeong Eui-Bae is one of the 103 Korean martyrs whose feast we celebrate on September 20. He is among some 10,000 Koreans who gave their lives for Christ during multiple fierce persecutions in the mid-19th century. Most were ordinary lay men and women, but some were also from the educated classes and the nobility. We know enough about the high-ranking nobleman/scholar Mareuko Jeong to appreciate the particular drama of his conversion.

Korean cultural life flourished for many centuries, creatively appropriating ancient Chinese literary and religious traditions into its own independent society. But by the end of the 18th century, the 500-year-old Joseon dynasty was in deep decline, and dependent on Qing-dynasty China. Meanwhile, the Joseon Neo-Confucian State had become a religious/political structure of rigid social hierarchy, with the monarch at the center, followed by the noble and scholarly classes, and with many of the common people reduced to a status of virtual slavery.

It was the scholar-officials who began searching for ways to reform this ossified society. In frequent diplomatic trips to Beijing, they met “Westerners” (including Catholic priests) and obtained books on developments in Western science, technology, philosophy, and religion translated into Chinese. Thus arose the “Sohak” movement—groups of scholars who studied “Western learning” and discussed its possible value for reforming Korean society. For most, it was mainly an intellectual examination of various Western ideas, but a few were drawn specifically to the Catholic faith. Yi Sung-hun was baptized in Beijing in 1784, returned to Korea, and baptized a few of his compatriots. By the time the first priest arrived in 1795 there were 4000 baptized lay Catholics waiting for him.

There was also aggressive opposition to the new teaching. The Joseon royal house and their Neo-Confucian supporters viewed Christianity as a threat to the Korean social order. Worship of One God in Jesus Christ undermined the religious/superstitious system of rites offered for the monarch and the hierarchical continuity of clan and family. Christianity preached that God was the Father of all people, who were brothers and sisters with a common destiny in Christ regardless of their origins and social status. Among the scholars who abhorred the new Christian teaching was Jeong Eui-Bae. 

Born in 1794, Jeong was an established professor of Chinese literature and defender of the status quo when persecution broke out in 1839. By that time the French Foreign Mission Society had sent a bishop and two priests to Korea. In 1839, Jeong Eui-Bae witnessed the brutal mutilation and execution of  Bishop Laurentius Imbert, Father Peter Maubant, and Father Jakob Chastan. (They are also among the 103 martyred saints.)

The 47-year-old scholar had seen death many times. But in these three men Jeong saw something completely new: an astonishing joy in the face of torture and death. Jeong was growing old in a society where death was covered with shadows. His studies gave no hint as to how to face death, much less to embrace it with the joy he saw on the faces of those missionaries that day. Disregarding his honorable station, Jeong obtained and read forbidden Christian books and met the people who believed in the One written about in those books. Glimpsing there the Source of hitherto unknown joy and hope, the long-cynical old professor was totally converted. He was baptized Mareuko (Mark) and devoted his newfound zeal and intellectual skills to working as a catechist and caring for the sick. The poor humble people whom the former aristocrat had once scorned he now served with love until his own martyrdom in 1866, at age 72.

Happy “Janaro Family Feast Day”

Happy "Janaro Family Feast Day"! Buona Festa di San Gennaro! 

Today is the Feast Day of the Great Ancestor of the Janaro Clan, the original Saint Januarius, fourth century bishop and martyr, and patron saint of Naples. Today the ancient relic of the vial of his “martyr’s blood” was presented for veneration at the cathedral in Naples by the current archbishop. Once again the blood liquified, as—according to a long historical tradition—it does almost every year on September 19. (Some Neapolitans fear that if the event doesn’t take place, the region will face calamities in the coming year... but I don’t know what the “record” is on such a correspondence, and in any case it’s not the point of this devotion.) The blood is ordinarily dry and solid in its container. I’m not one to be overly credulous about these things, but it’s notable that numerous scientific studies have been carried out, and none have been able to account for the phenomenon. For the people of Naples (including many generations of my own ancestors), the celebration of this day has brought joy and encouragement to trust in the love of Jesus for this particular ecclesial communion that dates back to late antiquity, and confidence in the ongoing solicitude of the saint who (1700 years ago) was its singularly outstanding pastor and witness to the Gospel.

This history, and the faith that pervades it, formed the lives of my family in the past, and was brought with my great grandfather and his brothers to the United States of America when they came to this “nation of immigrants” and settled in Boston and New York.

I don’t know if Saint Januarius/“San Gennaro” is actually our ancestor by kinship (like a Great Uncle X100) but distance in time renders it plausible. I’d like to imagine that he must, somehow, be related to us, what with the "Benevento" and "Naples" regional traditions and all... or there must be some connection, because "Janaro" (with the "J") is a variant in old Neapolitan dialect of "Januarius." Both of which are derived from the mythical Roman god "Janus," the "guardian of the gateways" and all places where people come in and go out (note that "January" is the first month, the end of one year and the beginning of another). Thus I hypothesize. In any case, according to Legend (and I should know, because I made up the legend) he is the patron saint of the Janaros. So, let’s celebrate!

SAN GENNARO, PRAY FOR US!!😊🎉 

Rain. And Then More Rain!

Rainy days. How long has it been since we’ve had two rainy days in a row? Or even one rainy day?

Dare I say it?—“Hooray for rain!”

The Holy Cross: “That the World Might Be Saved…”

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:13-17). .

Jesus said to the people, “Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (John 12:31-32). 

The “Measure” of a Forgiving and Merciful Heart

Here is the Gospel passage proclaimed at the Eucharistic Liturgy of September 12. I place it here because it is a word from Jesus that I need to read and ponder again and again, and beg Him for the grace of a heart full of God’s generosity, a forgiving and merciful heart:

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. 

“Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

~Luke 6:27-38

In Timor-Leste, a Nation Goes to Mass

“On This Day,” 2011

Here was a “Facebook Memory” from September 7, 2011. I have posts on this blog that are older than that. I can read about these kinds of memories anytime I want. (You can too—there are lots of articles about “the kids” from… back when they were kids.)

Still, something like this just popping up on social media reminds me that THIRTEEN YEARS AGO was “another world”! We had many hilarious conversations like this in the “old days,” when we all gathered to say the family rosary.

Needless to say, all four “girls” got their ears pierced eventually, grew up in many other ways, and today they are all lovely young women with their own styles. (Jojo still doesn’t like to “get a shot” from the doctor. Frankly, neither do I.😜)

Faith to Move Mountains

"Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all" (Luke 6:19).

The Gospel often challenges our minds and hearts, and we say "Amen" to the words and deeds of Jesus even when we don't understand what they mean for us. Here is something more marvelous than anything "the crowd" hoped to receive from Him: the gift of God's grace, the new life in the Holy Spirit that enables us to say "yes" with faith and love for Jesus, the Son of the Father, the One through whom and for whom we have been created, the One who dwells among us and accompanies us and makes us His brothers and sisters, children of God, sharers of eternal life. 

We want to awaken our faith to a confidence and ardor that can "move mountains" — or, rather, to beg God to move mountains, to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. We long for everyone in our poor world to see and hear the One who created us and gave Himself to us in boundless love. God knows that there are many "mountains" in our world that need "moving." Jesus promises us, "Ask and you shall receive"... but do we really believe this? We must ask with confidence in the Father's love, knowing that mountains can move, evils can be overcome, hearts can change — not according to the measure of our expectations but in God's way and God's time. 

If we persevere in asking we shall receive far greater than we ever imagined. The power and mercy of the Lord will level mountains, fill up valleys, bring healing and reconciliation where there seems to be no hope.

Mother Teresa: "Give Him [Your] Nothingness"

Saint "Mother Teresa."

September 5th is her feast day, although it isn't (yet) on the universal Roman calendar. She was only canonized eight years ago. She died on September 5, 1997 - I remember going to my "Yahoo home page" on the old dial-up internet and there was a "headline" right there and it said "Mother Teresa Dies." It was the first time I remember seeing "breaking news" right on my computer screen, and I looked at the headline (I don't recall any link to an article) and thought, "What? This just happened? Today?" 

Wow, getting news on the internet... 

We already knew she was a saint. But we only learned later about her profound interior sufferings. Her life was a witness to the transcendence and the depths of Divine Love. It gives words like these (quoted in the picture above) so much credibility. 

Whatever we're going through, however awful, whatever confusion, discouragement, perplexity, pain, incoherence, powerlessness we find in ourselves - Jesus understands us and loves us infinitely. We can always "begin" to pray.

The Latest Travels of Pope Francis

When I was a kid, we had a "short-wave radio" (ask your parents, or grandparents, what a short-wave radio is), and one of the exciting things to do was to find the English language radio station from “Papua New Guinea.” A broadcast from "the other side of the world"! Cool!

Now, fifty years later, Pope Francis is there. 

Nearly 88 years old and usually requiring the assistance of a wheel chair, Francis is undaunted by his limitations and continues to make these arduous pastoral visits to the “peripheries” — to small countries seldom in the global spotlight, poor countries, or countries with very small Catholic populations. This current trip, however, has unique features. In twelve days, the Pope is visiting four Asian and Pacific countries: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. In many ways, this trip only appears “peripheral” in the eyes of the West. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world (87% of 280 million people), but it upholds religious freedom and its minority populations spanning its vast multiethnic archipelago include Christian population of 10% (with 8.4 million Catholics). Papua New Guinea is apparently more remote, but it stands at the crossroads (for better and/or for worse) of East Asia, Oceania, and Australia. Timor-Leste is an independent nation at the eastern tip of the Indonesian archipelago, comprising half the island of Timor. It is home to more than a million people who speak Portuguese and are nearly all Catholic (I have seen headlines claiming it’s “the most Catholic nation in the world” except for the Vatican City State). Finally, the Pope will visit Singapore, the famous modern City-State on the tip of the Malay peninsula with a large majority of ethic Chinese.

This trip is first and above all intended to be a series of encounters between Francis and the peoples of these nations. At the same time, the Pope is once again highlighting the Church’s solicitude for all her members throughout the world, her commitment to mutual respect and dialogue with peoples of other religions, and her universal (“Catholic”) commitment to the dignity and destiny of every human person on earth, in service to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that God has offered as the definitive outpouring of His love for the healing and fulfillment of every person.

This witness is a blessing to all of us.

It is a particular blessing for this region. Francis has made numerous visits to other parts of East Asia in recent years, including Thailand and Japan, Mongolia, the current nations, and the promise of the next World Youth Day in South Korea in 2027. On all these trips, the presence of the Pope and universal attentiveness of the Catholic Church also falls like a luminous shadow on China. Consider this map of the current journey:

Francis loves the Chinese people, and it is notable that he has given so much attention to the “peripheries” of classical Chinese civilization (places which also matter to the current leadership of China). How does the CCP view all these trips? The Party’s own “logic” probably doesn’t know what to make of it all. It’s possible that they might view all these papal “flyovers” as strategic maneuvers in the long drawn-out Vatican-CCP chess game for “control” over the Catholic Church in China. Catholics, however, might best consider this latest foray into proximity with China to be to be the extension of a prayer from the heart of the Church. For God loves the Chinese people, and China today needs a miracle.

I think this is a time in history when we need to pray for miracles. And we should pray with faith and confidence to Jesus who is the Lord of history.

Many of the events of Pope Francis’s ongoing journey this week are being live-streamed by Vatican Media (on YouTube, if you're awake in those hours - I think it's GMT +11). There are also summary videos and articles too. 

Try this link and see if it works: Here is Pope Francis speaking ENGLISH!🙂 https://fb.watch/uv8mXbYzJN/?

Welcome to September!

“Welcome to September 2024.” 

Digital art personally crafted by JJ. #JJStudios

Ouch 2024!

It's been a rough month. The problems of growing old are compounding the problems of chronic illness. The heat and humidity have been horrible. I have pain and exhaustion and occasional times of depression (the depression, remarkably, hasn’t been too bad). But writing continues to be more difficult. I don’t know why. Often I feel like I don’t know how to articulate the things that I am perceiving and learning as I grow older. My mind struggles more to engage in writing. It used to be a lot easier. Are my intellectual faculties beginning to slip? Or perhaps I am becoming more serious about writing for real communication rather than rhetorical display. I am no longer trying to cover up for the smallness of my understanding. Since writing requires energy, I want to write things that are real and worthwhile. I never realized how hard this is.

So in these days and weeks I have had some worries, some uncertainties, and plenty of ouches too, all of which entail suffering on different levels.

I know my suffering has meaning through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As I continue to learn about being human, and about the current and recent history of my fellow humans in this world, I discover more and more how much suffering (terrible suffering) pervades human life. There are no lack of opportunities to "co-suffer" with my brothers and sisters, to grow in empathy and compassion toward them, and to try to give the little that I have to help instruct, console, and encourage people—to try to be an instrument of Christ's healing and merciful love to those around me.

Meanwhile, I'm still irascible, judgmental, petty, and distracted. Growing older seems for me to entail more irascibility, less patience, more pettiness than ever, especially toward the people I love the most. It's humbling. For all the "physicality" of grouchiness that is rooted in the dragging tiredness of illness and old age, I am still "responsible" when I give in to it and make a "snappy" remark at my wife (note for future Church: you must CANONIZE Eileen Janaro!) or at JoJo—the "last of the kids" who still lives at home and therefore must deal with me every day. I'm still responsible for the love I failed to recognize calling out to me in those moments, and also for my pride—which is mostly hidden to me (though less hidden from my family and friends, thank God)—the mountain of pride that must be broken down and finally "cast into the sea" if I am ever to arrive at my destiny of eternal communion with the God who is Infinite Love.

Jesus, Mary, take over this whole mess. Save me, Jesus! Mary, untie the knots…

Come Holy Spirit, especially through the healing and nourishing sacraments of the Church. The sacraments are foundational: they are "events" that "happen" in your own personal history when you receive them—visible and tangible events through which Jesus gives you supernatural grace. Through this objective sacramental gift, our faith is also deepened. Our experience has "reference points" in incarnate, grace-giving encounters with Christ, and we learn to recognize and remember more and more that He is with us always, sustaining and shaping our ordinary lives according to the infinite measure of the Father's love.

Jesus wants to draw close to us especially in our sufferings—which He took upon Himself, endured, and transformed in the glory of His resurrection. If we suffer, it is ultimately because we are called to share in His redeeming love and be transformed into the eternal glory which is life forever in God's Infinite Love.

Without faith, it would be impossible to hope in the face of suffering. With faith, it is still often difficult.

Let us pray for one another, my friends, especially in times of great difficulty.

More Difficult Days for Ukraine

When we hear about ongoing violence in the world that doesn't immediately threaten us, we usually move beyond our initial reactions and "get used to it" as just another part of the daily news. The ubiquitous media of the global village don't increase our concern or empathy in the long run; if anything, they contribute to the numbness that takes hold when "someone else's war" becomes protracted, when "someone else's country" continues to be attacked, when war crimes and atrocities continue to be perpetrated against "someone else's" children, homes, schools, hospitals, and civil infrastructure.

Perhaps we remember to pray for a just and lasting peace. I hope we remember to pray for peace. Indeed, we need to pray for miracles to resolve some of these conflicts.

Russian troops are "advancing" in Eastern Ukraine, and massive drone strikes are still launched daily against Ukrainian cities, aiming primarily at damaging as much as possible electrical infrastructure. We have heard about the exhaustion of the Ukrainian people from this two-and-a-half years of aggression by Putinist Russia's unapologetically imperialist full-scale invasion. And yet, they continue to find the strength to defend themselves. Teams of specialists continue to find ways to restore power and essential services in the wake of the continual Russian barrage. But the extent of the damage is increasing. Will there be enough power to meet people's needs as winter approaches?

We have also heard recently that Ukrainian drones are bombing targets inside of Russia. But this is fundamentally different: Ukraine is aiming at military targets. Ukraine's bombs are trying to destroy the weapons that are being used to attack Ukrainian defense forces and civilian population. By contrast, Russian bombs are aimed to dismantle Ukrainian cities and wear down the Ukrainian people by afflicting them as much as possible. The goal is to chastise and debilitate Ukraine until it is willing to surrender its national identity (or at least some portion of it) to the Putinist Empire.

A similar point needs to be made about military movements. Russia invaded Ukraine with its military forces, first by annexing Crimea in 2014 and "helping" puppet "rebellions" in the Eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine has been fighting this partial invasion for nine years. The "full-scale invasion" of all of Ukraine began on February 24, 2024. Russian forces were and remain invaders, attackers. They are nothing less than a huge band of robbers! On the other hand, when Ukrainian forces "invaded" Russian territory on August 6 by advancing into the Kursk region, their intention was not to take over Russian land as such, but only to gain access to places where the invaders are coming from, as part of the overall aim of stopping the invasion. The challenge for Ukrainians is to stay focused on ending the invasion of their country, and not give in to the temptation to take revenge on the Russians.

The longer this war lasts, the greater this temptation becomes. And revenge only creates pretexts for further violence from the other side. Historically, ongoing cycles of violence generate entrenched hatred between neighboring peoples.

It is hard to resist the temptation to hate one's enemies. It is hard to continue to recognize in one's enemies their inviolable dignity as human persons even as one continues to fight in defense against their attacks. This doesn't mean that one has to "like" one's enemies or "feel good" about them. It also corresponds to the demand that the leading perpetrators of violence be brought to justice and make amends.

But the trauma and horror of war can quickly cause human reason and love to be drowned by the clamor of human passions. Ruthlessness presents itself under the disguise of being more efficient... and more selfishly satisfying. The power of these illusions in human history underscore the urgent aspiration for peace in the world today. War solves nothing. It is a tragedy. As Pope Francis continually reminds us, “war is a defeat for humanity.”

The Ukrainian people continue to have war thrust upon them, and they must defend themselves in view of attaining a just and lasting peace. As the war continues, they must face greater spiritual and material dangers. We have seen their ingenuity, bravery, and toughness. We must pray that they continue to be strong, and to grow also in a heroic love of God and their neighbors, their fellow Ukrainians and the Russians too. Many terrible wounds need to be healed. Many violations of human dignity need to be acknowledged with sorrow and repaired (insofar as this is possible); and ultimately there needs to be forgiveness.

All of this would seem to require a miracle. (For the expanding war in the Middle East - which I'll address at another time - many miracles are needed. As the map above shows, these two conflicts are geographically closer to each other than we might think.) We need to pray for miracles, for hearts to be converted to Christ the Prince of Peace, for nations of the world to have not only the resources but also the wisdom and courage to help the Ukrainian people disingenuously - not seeking their own advantage but what really serves the good and helps open the roads to authentic peace.

Saint Augustine Found the Truth in Jesus Christ and His Church

Happy Feast of Saint Augustine!

The story of Augustine’s conversion is famous. Here is the text from an article I wrote n Magnificat long ago. I have been “recycling” older writings a bit more frequently lately, because I have been ill. These are stories and themes that never go “out of date.”

I have a further study of Augustine’s basic theological significance that is part of a chapter in my 2003 book, The Created Person and the Mystery of God. If I can find a digital copy of that book, I’ll share this section with you in the days to come. (Overall, the book is okay—some parts are better than others, and I would write a very different kind of book today, if I had the energy to do it. Perhaps I will in the future, but that’s in God’s hands.)

This article from 2014 is a brief appreciation of the monumental story of Saint Augustine’s conversion:

The story of St. Augustine’s conversion is one of the most famous in the history of Christianity, and indeed in the history of Western humanities and literature, thanks to the penetrating account of it that he gives in his epoch marking autobiographical work, the Confessions.

Augustine was born in Roman North Africa in 354, during a period of transition and religious instability that saw the rise of the recently legalized Christianity even as it struggled with the great heresy of the Arians, various gnostic groups and oriental mystery religions, and the prevailing decadence of the pagan social milieu.

As a young man, Augustine went to study at the cultural center of Carthage, where he was introduced to pagan morals. He took a concubine and embraced the Manichean sect, while also sharpening his mental and rhetorical skills. Eventually he traveled to Rome and Milan, abandoned the intellectually weak Manichean system, and dedicated himself to a genuine pursuit of truth through philosophy. Soon he found himself grappling with the claims of Christianity as his aesthetic and intellectual objections to it were overcome. What remained was the need for a conversion of heart, which came finally in the famous reading of Romans 13 in the garden in Milan (Confessions VIII.12).

The story of Augustine could be understood as an intellectual and moral journey, and these are certainly crucial elements. But its important, also, to emphasize the personal communication that pervades his whole experience of conversion. The Confessions make this clear by their genre; they are written as a prayer to God, and this is clearly more than a literary device. Augustine makes it clear that God’s grace and mercy, given through the Church, is the profound source and focus of his conversion. He learns that philosophy is not enough; that truth and salvation are constituted by a personal relationship with Christ, the Truth in person.

We see this too in the crucial role that the companionship of particular Christians plays in Augustine’s life. They bring the Church close to him in a way that opens him up and enables him to overcome his objections of mind and heart. The key person, of course, is his mother St. Monica. Her maternal love and her constant, ardent prayers for his conversion were a continual witness to him through all his wanderings. And she joyfully received the news moments after grace finally won over her son’s heart.

Also of great importance is St. Ambrose, who received him with fatherly kindness when he first came to Milan, and by cultivating his friendship and trust, drew him to attend his sermons. Augustine’s admiration for the beauty of their style soon grew into an attraction to the radiance of the truth they imparted. He would eventually be baptized by St. Ambrose on Easter 387. “To him was I unknowingly led by You, that by him I might knowingly be led to You“ (Confessions V.13).

The world honors St. Augustine as a founder of Christian philosophy and the great prose writer of late antiquity. But Christians know that he was above all a Christian person, transformed by the love of God that reached him through human instruments: the prayers of St. Monica, the friendship of St. Ambrose. They helped him to discover that Truth has a human face.

"Freedom" is Fulfilled in Self-Giving Love

We are often tempted to think that becoming a mature human person means achieving independence, autonomy, and self-sufficiency. We view relationships as merely useful interactions with other autonomous persons that help us or please us or are otherwise subordinated to our ultimate purpose of self-gratification and self-affirmation.

When we have this attitude, nothing seems more alienating than sacrifice. Indeed, the claim of Jesus that our vocation consists in the sacrifice of self-giving love for God and our neighbor appears incomprehensible, if not insulting or threatening to our human dignity. The idea of losing-myself-in-order-to-find-myself appears to be a self-negating paradox.

And yet this "losing of myself" in self-abandonment to God is not something that demeans my freedom or results in the loss of my dignity as a person. On the contrary, it is the realization of freedom and of the person. For God Himself is Infinite Self-Giving Love. The Trinity reveals that total-self-giving is at the very root of what it means to be a person.

Jesus says, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (John 14:11). And we will fulfill the true meaning of ourselves as persons, we will achieve the destiny and fulfillment for which we have been created, by abandoning ourselves to Him and trusting in Him: "Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). We don't "lose ourselves" into nothingness. We lose ourselves by belonging to God and to other persons in Him.

We have been created to become gifts, to realize our freedom as love, to live in relationship as persons, and to "find ourselves" forever in relationship to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

"August Art" By JJ

Here are some of JJ's latest "experiments" in digital art, born of the August heat, photographs, the ongoing revolution in digital media techniques, and JJ's own peculiar imagination, the demands of which no amount of filters or AI adjustments or direct manual alterations on screen are able to satisfy.

But at a certain point, one knows that "it's finished," though one is seldom entirely satisfied with the results.

Here are three "reflections" of my local environment that I see all the time and frequently photograph: Virginia Meadows, Blue Ridge mountains ("Signal Knob" is constantly in view), and creeks and rivers—including the fabled Shenandoah River—that have been low on water this Summer of 2024...

Saint Bernard: “Love Beyond Measure”

Today (August 20) is the Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the greatest of the medieval Cistercian monastic reformers, a contemplative who in his enormous caritas guided monks, ecclesiastics, popes, and the crowned heads of Europe during the often-troubled mid-12th century.

He left many writings, which are honored by his being one of the “Doctors of the Church.” In my social media posts today I cited merely two sentences, which in a way summarize everything. (See text below this detail of Bernard from a medieval illuminated manuscript)

Ukraine Invades Russia... Wait, What?

This is old news, in one sense. After months and months of bloody and mostly deadlocked defensive action holding back Russia's attempts to move forward on the frontline in Eastern Ukraine, something totally unexpected began on August 6. Units of the Ukrainian armed forces turned north and crossed the Russian border into Kursk oblast.

But this remains current news, because Ukrainian troops continue to advance successfully into Kursk. Their stated objective remains defensive: many of the drones that continue to bomb Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure have their point of departure in this region. The goal is to take out the most proximate launching pads of Russian bombs and secure a "buffer zone" against aerial aggression while holding whatever territory is taken under a temporary (Ukrainian) military administration. Civilians are not targeted. There appears to be no indication of any intent to carry out "reprisals," although there may be other strategic motives at play.

The strange feature of this manoeuver has been its ongoing success. The Russian border has proven to be poorly guarded, and the troops in the region have been surrendering to the Ukrainians in large numbers.

For a long time, NATO and the West have been limiting Ukraine from using the weapons provided in their assistance packages against targets inside Russian territory, fearing that such use might result in further escalation with perhaps Russia retaliating directly against NATO states, or even using "tactical nuclear weapons" - a threat frequently rattled by Putin's regime over the past two and a half years.

Perhaps there has a loosening of these proscriptions, although Ukraine executed this move on their own, preserving operational security so tightly that they evaded all advance intelligence. They surprised everyone with a brilliant small-scale but (in a certain respect) "full-on" military incursion into Russian territory, with boots on the "Mother Russia's" own ground.

A red line has been crossed.

It's too soon to say what the long-term effects of this shift may be. War is awful and wildly unpredictable, and future scenarios could evolve in many directions.

For the moment, nevertheless, certain indicators are striking. Once again it appears that Emperor Putin has no clothes. Nothing like a coherent response has been forthcoming. The Russian armed forces are not well placed, not well-trained, and not prepared to bounce back from any surprise deviations from a script dictated from the top down. They have lots and lots of human cannon fodder to throw at enemy positions, lots of cheap drones, and weapons supplied by their North Korean and Iranian allies. The whole enterprise remains a disgrace for Russia in every respect. We don't know the extent of Western "disgrace" at present or in the future in terms of drawing out this conflict for their own benefit, abandoning Ukraine at some crucial moment yet to come, or playing the game of "intervening" by using money as a substitute for a real solidarity that is willing to share the risks and responsibilities that the Ukrainian people are bearing in their efforts to defend themselves as a free nation.

What about the nuclear "threat"? While no one wants to underestimate what might be brought on by an act of suicidal fury, there has been very little nuclear rhetoric coming from the Putinistas since August 6. There are factors that make nuclear escalation (and perhaps even conventional escalation) more remote the longer this war goes on. In February 2022, Putin's regime embarked upon the "project" of their "Special Military Operation" not only with their own expectations, but also with what were no doubt the assurances they provided to their relatively new "silent partner" in their investment in Eastern hegemony.

One can only speculate on the details, but appearances indicate that the "silent partner" [not so silent, really] finds itself increasingly burdened by the consequences of Putin's mess, and finds itself more and more bearing the cost (not without some benefits to itself) of Russia's long war and Russia's isolated economy. We are talking, of course, about that Special Unlimited Friendship that was proclaimed just prior to the full scale invasion of Ukraine, that visionary gleam that illuminated the eyes of Emperor Vladimir of All-The-Russias and his "friend," Emperor Xi of the Middle Kingdom and All-Under-Heaven. The latter Empire has the larger claim, but—as has been the practice since antiqutiy—it exercises its claims primarily through "soft power" and its confidence in the superior wisdom of its own system.

I have begun to think that Xi Jinping and his 90 million bureaucrats (a.k.a. the Chinese "Communist" Party) really believe in their own system of maximum political and social control combined with widespread material prosperity. They see it as a viable option for the governments of emerging nations that China wants (and perhaps needs) to do business with. Russia was supposed to be an asset but has turned out to be liability. I think Xi Jinping would strongly object to Putin crossing the nuclear threshold and throwing the world into a panic. Now more than ever, Xi needs “win-win” international projects, lots of trade, and a secure environment that facilitates investment. China is trying to build a global business, and has its own economic problems in its vast homeland. I’m inclined to believe that China would exercise its “soft veto” (which can be hard too, if necessary) against any nuclear adventures Putin might be dreaming up.

Is Russia falling apart? I hope not. I don't want to see Russia become a junior partner in "the Chinese Dream," even though right now things seem to be moving in that direction. Rather, I want Russia to repent of its own 20th century atrocities in the Bolshevik era and disown the leaders who perpetrated them. Then Russia can begin to build anew. 

They also must give up nationalistic political control of the Russian Orthodox Church and allow that great spiritual tradition complete freedom to embark on a path of reunion with its sister churches, especially the too-often-persecuted Ukrainian Greek (Byzantine) Catholic Church and a re-emerged Russian Greek (Byzantine) Catholic Church (which shined briefly for a few months in 1917).

Peace and community in Europe require the healing of the profound underlying wound that has afflicted Europe for nearly a thousand years. We need nothing less than full communion between Eastern and Western Churches. This will be the fruit of a grace for which we must pray ardently.

Meanwhile, the Chinese need a bigger dream—something greater than controlling people's minds while filling their stomachs. This too is worth praying for.

Pray for the courageous Ukrainian people--a people of great hearts and immense suffering. Pray for Russia and China and all the nations of the world.

Saint Stephen of Hungary

The feast of Saint Stephen of Hungary is August 16. The Hungarian people have a strong Catholic faith, which is expressed in many ways as they continue to affirm their historic identity, dignity, and stature in Europe. Saint Stephen obviously plays a crucial role in bringing together the Hungarian people even today. The text that follows is the “conversion story” of Saint Stephen, which I wrote for the April 2019 edition of Magnificat magazine. I thought it might be helpful to re-present the text now. Here it is:

The story of the conversion of Saint Stephen is inseparable from the story of the thousand year old Hungarian nation. Stephen was the protagonist who forged a warlike and unstable ethnic group into a Christian Kingdom in central Europe. Several new nations emerged during the tenth and eleventh centuries in Europe. At the beginning of this  period, a variety of tribes and migrants dwelt at the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire and the remnants of Charlemagne’s realms (that were undergoing a process of Germanic revitalization).

Among these were the Magyars (called “Hungarians” by the Byzantines), a nomadic confederation originating around the Ural mountains. In the ninth century they crossed over the Carpathians, and conquered and settled the plains around the Eastern portion of the Danube river. From there they began to raid and pillage the Western and Byzantine Empires. At the same time, as they adopted a more settled lifestyle, they were influenced by the older European societies and gradually welcomed Christian missionaries and converts among themselves.

Missionaries approached primitive, dangerous, violent new peoples by seeking to gain converts among the leading families and, if possible, the chieftans. Both Latin and Byzantine missionaries began to have success among the Hungarians by the middle of the tenth century. But it was the intrepid Saint Adalbert of Prague who finally baptized Geza, the Grand Prince of the confederacy in the year 985. Baptism was mostly a political arrangement for Geza, but it was clearly something more for his adolescent son who was also baptized on that day.

Young Prince Vajk took the name “Stephen” at his baptism. He also found a mentor in the learned, wise, and energetic Adalbert. Illuminated by faith in Christ and the guidance of this great missionary bishop,  Stephen sought to become more than just another Magyar warrior chieftan. He aimed for something  that, in retrospect, we might call an achievement of Christian humanism: to transform the barbarous, theiving, raping, murdering pagan Hungarians into a civilized nation at the crossroads of Europe, a nation whose people were suffused with the hope of salvation in eternal life, and who lived in peace and freedom in the present world.

We often forget that the ideal of the Roman Empire was very much alive in the Middle Ages. It was an ideal that developed not only in the direction of a universal earthly Emperor, but also in the direction of identity and freedom for a wide variety of peoples under their own local rulers. The ideal aimed at both solidarity and subsidiarity, although these two aspects nearly always conflicted in practical life.

The Hungarians, moreover, were positioned between two Empires, the Byzantine and the newly invigorated Holy Roman Empire. When Stephen became Hungary’s first king, however, he received the crown directly from Pope Sylvester II, insuring both the political independence and Catholic identity of his people.

Uniting and Christianizing these people, unfortunately, was not accomplished without the use of force and even brutal tactics. However we must understand the many actions and flaws of King Saint Stephen in the context of their time and place, where “imposing Christianity” was often inseparable from establishing the rule of law and basic human civility on a collection of warlords and bandits. The Hungarian people to this day remember his legacy with gratitude and devotion.

Mary Goes Before Us on the Journey to the Fullness of God

Some words from Pope Francis from the Angelus for today’s Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. (Courtesy of CL Instagram)

Mary’s “Dormition”/Assumption, Anonymous carved ivory, 13th century.

Love Stretches Out a Hand to All

Saint Maximilian Kolbe offered to take the place of another prisoner designated for reprisal-execution in Auschwitz. 

He gave his life on August 14, 1941 as a witness to the Love that is greater than the most hideous violence, the Love that redeems and saves the world.

Saint Jane de Chantal: “Hold Your Gaze Upon God”

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) was a noblewoman, a baroness, a wife and mother, and then a troubled young widow who encountered Saint Francis de Sales and—under his direction—found a deeper vocation to serve God wholly: first through raising her children and caring for her estate, and then as the foundress of a women’s religious congregation, the Visitation Order. 

In a life of diverse experiences and responsibilities, trials and sufferings, she became a woman full of great Christian wisdom. Her counsels on trusting God in every circumstance and in the whole of life continue to encourage us today:

“Do not trouble yourself anymore because you have no feeling... It is not a feeling of faith or of hope that will save us, but rather what we do, supported by the mercy of God.... Hold your gaze upon God in patience and let him do what he wills... Stand firm and endure, without reflecting on all that is going on within you. Leave all that to God without giving it a thought... 

“All you have to do is, from time to time, to utter a few words, above all the following, which may be your only prayer: 'My God, into your hands I commend my spirit," or perhaps: 'My God, my soul is in your holy grasp…. To you I leave all care of it and wish nothing further than to take heed of your will alone…. My joy will be found in heaven and none other holds my heart….' ”

Edith Stein: Sharing the Sufferings of Christ

"Human action cannot help us, but only the sufferings of Christ. My aspiration is to share them" (Edith Stein, Cologne, Germany, 1938). 

#SaintTeresaBenedictaOfTheCross #August9

The Day The Summer Green Vanished

August 9, 1945.

The mountain, “which had been covered with a luxuriant carpet of green, was now changed into a mountain of bare, red rock. And all that summer green—the green leaves on the trees and the green grass—had vanished, so that not one leaf, not one blade of grass remained. The universe had become naked!” (Takashi Nagai, from The Bells of Nagasaki).