Opening a Path in the Abyss

"'Christ, my hope, is risen!

"This is no magic formula that makes problems vanish. No, the resurrection of Christ is not that. Instead, it is the victory of love over the root of evil, a victory that does not 'by-pass' suffering and death, but passes through them, opening a path in the abyss, transforming evil into good: this is the unique hallmark of the power of God.

"The Risen Lord is also the Crucified One, not someone else. In his glorious body he bears indelible wounds: wounds that have become windows of hope. Let us turn our gaze to him that he may heal the wounds of an afflicted humanity."

~Pope Francis, Easter Message, April 12, 2020

Happy Easter 2020

Happy Easter! Jesus has won the victory over death. 

In His risen body, He is the beginning of the New Creation, the "first-born of the dead," the Lord of history and the initiator of its transforming fulfillment in God's Kingdom of grace, justice, and goodness, of love, mercy and peace. 

In all things, He is our hope! May He bring you joy this day.

Jesus Offers Himself To Us This Easter

The Easter Vigil is happening NOW at St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Pope Francis, a few priests, some members of his staff, an organist and a few singers, and the Vatican Media workers - alone in the vast, cavernous church, under the immense dome.

It seems odd, this tiny gathering for an ancient ritual in an ancient building. They carefully observe the various liturgical forms as they pray in their apparent solitude.

But it is only "apparent," for in reality millions of people are praying with them and joining the celebration all over the world, using the tool of livestreaming audiovisual media. But this media connection is only a tool, that can help those who use it to remember the fundamental reality that the faithful are joined together though the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, who dwells in God's People and unites them in Christ's Risen Body in a bond that no force in this world can break.

This is the unity that overcomes death, that draws all of history to itself, the unity of God's children in His Son Jesus, to which every human person is called, and for which their hearts long.

There is much suffering in the world this Easter, and we continue to give particular attention to the kind of suffering brought about by COVID-19 and its many associated burdens. Our concerns and prayer go out especially to the suffering and dying, to those who care for them, to everyone afflicted by the disease, to those enduring economic hardship and/or job loss, to public officials who must make difficult decisions in the face of many unknown factors, to researchers seeking effective treatments, and to everyone who struggles with additional anxiety about these many problems.

Without minimizing in any way these trials or any sufferings, we have come to the day that celebrates the victory of Jesus over death and sin, in His resurrection which is the beginning of the New Creation, the fulfillment, the inexhaustible source of meaning for all sufferings which He Himself has borne and overcome. In all our efforts and all that we endure, He is our hope.

However we join in the Easter liturgy this year, let us remember this. Even if the circumstances of this pandemic and the (social and ecclesiastical) material restrictions entailed by it prevent us from being physically present and sacramentally receiving Christ in the Eucharist, let us remember that He is Risen for us and that in the Easter liturgy He re-presents His saving offering of Himself for us. He is present and given in the Eucharist for us. Our "spiritual communion" does not require a livestream or an Internet connection or anything other that a heart that desires to receive Him in this sacrament - His gift of Himself living in the heart of our Catholic Church as she journeys through space and time and history.

"Spiritual communion" is not just a pious exercise, much less an act of pretending or imagining something that is not real. Christ Himself as really present in the Eucharist nourishes us when we turn to Him with this desire and love. Thus we eat and drink "spiritually" of this sacrament and receive its effects, the deepening of union with Jesus and one another in faith and charity (see St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III, q 80, a 1).

It occurs to me that the distinctive basis of all Eucharistic piety and devotions involves not only the Lord's substantial presence under the appearances of the accidents of bread and wine, but also that sacramental purpose of His presence which is to give Himself to us and nourish us with the entirety of Himself - body, blood, soul, and Divinity. The Eucharist is always our source of strength, where Jesus gives Himself to sustain us.

Let us remember these things on this unique Easter Sunday. Though indeed something is missing for us as embodied human beings in this world when we cannot worship together physically and receive communion sacramentally, we can still receive the graces of the Easter sacrament through our "spiritual communion." We are not willfully avoiding Mass and communion out of disobedience or laziness. We want to celebrate this holy day in union with the Church in these unprecedented and unusual circumstances. Thus, anything that helps us to open our hearts and deepen our longing for the Risen Lord has value. Even the very real sorrow we feel for "what is lacking" for us this Easter because of the phenomenon of the global pandemic can be "offered" to God to enrich the ardor of our "spiritual communion."

The experience of "what is lacking" may also serve to prompt us to share the fullness of Christ's love with those who do not know Him. As St John Paul II always said (here I paraphrase): "every human person has the right to know the fullness of the riches of Christ, because Christ has come in love for each person specifically." Those who encounter the Risen Lord are called (and empowered) to share Him with others. We are called by Easter joy to witness the truth, to share this new life, to carry out works of mercy where we will find His love ever more fully as we give ourselves away in love.

We can be certain that Jesus will not fail us.

He is Risen, Alleluia!

"My Eyes Are Darkened By My Tears..."

Instead of just words for Good Friday, I want to share some music. There is a traditional practice in these days of meditating on texts from the Lamentations of Jeremiah (and here too Job), in which the suffering of Jesus is foretold and/or typified.

This particular Latin text, Caligaverunt Oculi Mei ("My Eyes Are Darkened By My Tears..." cf. Job 16:16 and Lam 1:12), is enriched by layers of repetition in the beautiful, mournful polyphonic chant of Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).

Here is the English translation:

"My eyes are darkened by my tears
For he is far from me that comforted me.
See, all you people,
if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
All you who pass by, behold and see
if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow."

Finding Memories of My Father (Video Included!)

A year ago today we had the Mass of Christian Burial for Dad at our parish church, which has a pink cherry blossom tree near its entrance, just like the tree above that is blooming today down the road from my house. The beautiful color on these trees only lasts a few days, so last year it felt like nature was providing flowers for Dad's funeral.

This year, another of the same trees brought bouquets of reminders within reach of my "quarantine" environment.

As we prayed with the livestream of the Holy Thursday Mass from St Thomas More Cathedral earlier this evening, I remembered so many prior Sundays and Holy days in that church with my parents (then, eventually, they were the kids' grandparents too).

Then this video appeared in my Facebook memories section from 2012. Eight years ago on this day, we celebrated Dad's (Papa's) 77th birthday at our house (his actual birthday is April 6), and I posted this video restricted to just family members. Teresa — a nine year old running around with a camera — took the original. I don't know where that file is, but I copied this one and edited out the mess-ups and blurriest moments. The quality is poor, but... it's still a video!

It reminded me of a happy time in his life. I am so grateful to God for him, and I pray for him as we celebrate also this year these sacred days of the Pascal Mystery that is the hope of us all, the "passage" of Jesus from death to resurrection.

Also, look how young Josefina is!!!😉

“Spy Wednesday”: Judas and Us

Judas.

Are we really so much different from him?

Who hasn’t betrayed the Lord in some way or other, to some extent?

We betray Him too. Even if just by some lukewarm, half-baked schemes we connive in when God’s ways are incomprehensible to us, or embarrass us, or disappoint us in our narrowness...

But the decision we then face is whether we’re going to give up on God, or go back to Him.

Never, never, NEVER GIVE UP!

Early April Evening

An early April evening in the Valley, with hues of bright green from new leaves, blue mountains, orange and yellow on the horizon. Digital Art by JJ.

Holy Week Begins: Betrayal, Abandonment, and Service

Palm Sunday this year was unprecedented for us (and people the world over). Not only have I never seen the likes of it; I don't think anything quite like it has ever happened. (Perhaps we have only just begun to notice how many unprecedented events are happening in our times, wherein the whole human race is becoming empirically connected and interactive in so many new ways.)

This is not to say that it was entirely unfamiliar. Certainly not. The Mass was beautiful at our Cathedral of Saint Thomas More in the Arlington, Virginia diocese. The bishop presided and gave a fine and deeply encouraging homily which we appreciated, after the long reading of the Passion of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew. All of these things resonated with many prior experiences of Palm Sundays in the past, as I've known since boyhood.

But it was very different too. We didn't have any palms. No palms on Palm Sunday? That was a big difference. Every year, we carry palms into the church. At the beginning of the liturgy, we celebrate Jesus's "triumphant" entry into Jerusalem, where the crowds hailed him with palm branches and cried, "Hosanna!" (the same crowds that would denounce him or go into hiding from fear by the end of the week).

But today, we had no palms in our hands. And we never went anywhere near the church building. We were at home in our living room in front of the television, "virtually participating" in the bishop's Mass via livestream on the diocese's YouTube channel. Generally speaking, "the faithful" weren't in any of the churches in the greater part of the world. Bishops and priests celebrated with a few assistants, religious sisters, and some essential personnel while Palm Sunday Mass was digitally broadcast to the rest of the people in their places of quarantine.

It's a very "strange" experience. But though it's obviously not something we would even want to become normal, as it cannot take the place of the whole human presence and physical proximity of the sacraments, I am drawn to find something "positive" and educative about these circumstances in which we find ourselves "together apart."

Jesus is still risen from the dead, and we are still members of his Church and participants in the Church's life. We remain united in the Spirit, in prayer, and in charity, while I am finding that the pastors of the Church (the ones I am blessed to know) are taking up and sharing the burdens of their people, seeking to inspire them, guide them, and pray for them with greater ardor.

I find this in my own bishop and our priests, as well as others — including some old friends who I haven't seen for a long time, who are ministering in far away places, and now I can pray with them in their churches by means of what is often a poor internet connection. It's not really the tech as such that matters; it's the creative and sometimes arduous efforts that so many are making so that we in the Church can "stay together" as much as possible in these days.

There is a desire for unity with the Lord and with one another, and special graces to express this unity through works of mercy in the ways that remain possible during the pandemic.

So we begin this Holy Week of the strange Year of Our Lord 2020, accompanying Jesus in the Paschal Mystery of his sacrificial death and the joy of his resurrection.

The Church's liturgical year still gives a constancy and unity to our lives, taking us through the perennial "remembrance" of the events of salvation that draw all of history and time into the worship of God through the definitive offering of the heart of Jesus that fills the whole world. His love gives meaning to everything. Some among us endure great suffering right now, and we are all troubled in various ways by the strange and unpredictable circumstances we are passing through. But Christ's love transforms all, and he is with us even in the most awful, incomprehensible hardships. 

As I have said before, one pastor whose ardent attention to the needs of his flock is so palpable and sustaining in these days is Pope Francis. He celebrated the Palm Sunday liturgy with a few other priests and people who assisted in essential matters in an otherwise empty Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. But the Mass was broadcast and streamed live all over the world. Estimates are that more than half a million people in Italy alone watch the Pope's daily Mass at 7:00 AM.

What mysterious graces may be at work here, in the midst of many sorrows and upheavals of these days?

Some words from the Pope's Homily for Palm Sunday:

“God saved us by serving us. We often think we are the ones who serve God. No, he is the one who freely chose to serve us, for he loved us first. It is difficult to love and not be loved in return. And it is even more difficult to serve if we do not let ourselves be served by God...

“But how did the Lord serve us? By giving his life for us... This astonishes us: God saved us by taking upon himself all the punishment of our sins. Without complaining, but with the humility, patience and obedience of a servant, and purely out of love...

“Jesus suffered betrayal... we were born to be loved and to love, and the most painful thing is to be betrayed by someone who promised to be loyal and close to us. We cannot even imagine how painful it was for God who is love.”

But Jesus “healed us by taking upon himself our infidelity and by taking from us our betrayals. Instead of being discouraged by the fear of failing, we can now look upon the crucifix, feel his embrace, and say: 'Behold, there is my infidelity, you took it, Jesus, upon yourself. You open your arms to me, you serve me with your love, you continue to support me… And so I will keep pressing on.'

“In today’s Gospel, Jesus says one thing from the Cross, one thing alone: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' (Mt 27:46). These are powerful words. Jesus had suffered the abandonment of his own, who had fled. But the Father remained for him. Now, in the abyss of solitude, for the first time he calls him by the generic name 'God.' And 'in a loud voice' he asks the most excruciating question 'why': 'Why did you too abandon me?' These words are in fact those of a Psalm (cf. 22:2); they tell us that Jesus also brought the experience of extreme desolation to his prayer. But the fact remains that he himself experienced that desolation: he experienced the utmost abandonment, which the Gospels testify to by quoting his very words: 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?'

“Jesus experienced total abandonment in a situation he had never before experienced in order to be one with us in everything. He did it for me, for you, to say to us: 'Do not be afraid, you are not alone. I experienced all your desolation in order to be ever close to you.'

“That is the extent to which Jesus served us: he descended into the abyss of our most bitter sufferings, culminating in betrayal and abandonment. Today, in the tragedy of a pandemic, in the face of the many false securities that have now crumbled, in the face of so many hopes betrayed, in the sense of abandonment that weighs upon our hearts, Jesus says to each one of us: 'Courage, open your heart to my love. You will feel the consolation of God who sustains you.'

“So, in these holy days, in our homes, let us stand before the Crucified One, the fullest measure of God’s love for us, and before the God who serves us to the point of giving his life, and let us ask for the grace to live in order to serve. May we reach out to those who are suffering and those most in need. May we not be concerned about what we lack, but what good we can do for others.”

     ~Pope Francis (Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020)

One Year Anniversary of My Father Going Home to God

Dad passed away peacefully early in the morning on this day, one year ago, April 3, 2019. 

I can't believe it's been a whole year already! We miss him very much.💔 

May our merciful Lord grant him eternal glory.

Above top: Dad ("Papa" to his grandchildren) in 2012. Middle: at age 80, with his two sons and grandson.

Below: Memorial.

Pope Francis's Prayer to Mary, "Health of the Sick"

Mary and Jesus, Santa Marta cappella

O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope.

We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.

At the foot of the Cross, you participated in Jesus's pain, with steadfast faith.

You know what we need.

We are certain that you will provide, so that, as you did at Cana of Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial.

Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform ourselves to the Father's will and to do what Jesus tells us: He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and bore our sorrows to bring us, through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection.

Amen.

Welcome to April 2020

Well, here we are.

Happy April 2020! Wherever this month takes us, the flowers will bloom, and Easter will come.

There is suffering and death in the world. We all have a different, more specific kind of awareness of this reality in these days as we join together in the fight for life. We are united in the effort to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us, and (with so many unknown factors in this pandemic) to preserve our own lives and so much that is genuine and good in our societies.

We have hope, ultimately, not because of the absolute sufficiency our own power, but because God gives the measure and value to our efforts, according to love.

Death is a sorrow without parallel, but Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life."

Quarantine: "It's The Law" in Virginia (And All Over the World)

We have reached the end of what might be the most bizarre month of world-altering events that I have ever experienced.

Yesterday, the governor of the State of Virginia joined more than 30 other States in the United States of America in giving the force of law to what had been "guidelines" and "recommendations" to stay at home, and practice social distancing. 

More than 80 percent of the population of the USA is now legally under constraints similar to the ones in Italy, most of Europe, and indeed most of the rest of the world. The evidence is clear that this is the best way to slow down the spread of the potentially serious respiratory infection known as COVID-19. This is a global pandemic of a very peculiar "new virus" that is highly contagious, that causes a relatively minor-to-moderate illness (including cases with few or no significantly discomforting symptoms) in the vast majority of people it infects, but can cause very grave illness requiring hospitalization in something like 15% of identified cases. Numbers can be cold; we are talking about multitudes of people who will die or develop serious lung disabilities or at least require a long and difficult period of recovery from a disease that is transmitted to them by other infected members of the community who may not even know they have it. Such a chaotic phenomenon is obviously something that societies can't ignore (as has been demonstrated by the disasters in countries that did try to ignore it). 

During the second half of March, the USA was forced into the position of trying to mitigate as much as possible the effects of a problem it neglected for too long, which is already multiplying prolifically, killing thousands of people, paralyzing the health care system in some major urban areas, and posing many unknown dangers. It is very hard to predict how things will unfold from here. Best-case projections are looking at 100,000 - 250,000 deaths in this country with many millions of serious illnesses requiring intensive medical care.

Obviously the numbers for victims worldwide are or will be exponentially higher. At this point, the only way to slow down (and eventually stop) this pandemic is for entire communities of people to "act as if" each member has the virus at least to the point of being possible communicators of the infection to others. In other words, everyone must observe at least some aspects of quarantine. As much as possible, we must stay at home, or practice "self distancing" when it is necessary to procure (or provide) essential services.

These are unprecedented restrictions, and we don't really know how long they will be necessary. But for now, they are necessary.

Perhaps this is all just a temporary "inconvenience" for the vast majority of us — an odd pause in our "normal" lifestyle of crisscrossing the Global Village unhindered, using our hyper-travel machines to move between and interact with various massive gatherings of bodily human beings, continually trafficking in millions of germs that our immune systems can handle.

Or perhaps it is the beginning of as yet unimaginable changes in how we relate to one another on a global and local scale. This is a possibility. All through my life, there have been people who have insisted — for various reasons — that such changes are inevitable and necessary, and that if we don't make these changes, events will force them upon us. I think they are pointing to something very real, which has to do with this elusive yet unmistakably emerging new epoch that I have been pondering in recent years.

We really are all interrelated and interconnected. We are all one human family. We are immersed within a delicate ecosystem. We are not submerged, so as to be merely a part of a larger system that takes precedence over our "species." We are human persons, with spiritual personal existence, intelligence, and freedom. Even as we transcend the physical universe, we also "belong" in it as its apex and crown. Here we mature and fulfill our vocation. The world has been entrusted to our care — not to abuse as meaningless stuff to be pillaged and destroyed in pursuit of our endless violent cravings, but to receive as a gift that can provide adequately for our physical needs, and a place we engage with wisdom and gratitude, cultivating spaces of habitation that peoples call "home," where human persons live in communion with one another and with gentle, organic solicitude for all the natural world and the beauty and diversity of its creatures.

I remember when we saw Earth on TV

We have not been doing this very well. For all of our dazzling material achievements, we have too often used our power recklessly. We use our power over the world and over our own bodies for many good things, but also (and too often) to build gigantic edifices and systems in the service of our titanic illusions.

Though our delusions and ambitions are limitless, nature is not. A culture of power-without-wisdom is fundamentally unsustainable. We must change the way we live, or else change will be forced upon us.

Here I confess to my own weakness: I do not like change very much.

I have lived my life in a historical period of seismic changes. I haven't weathered the stress of change very well. I have endured the earthquakes by somehow managing to fall into the cracks where survival and even some ingenuity remain possible. They have served in part to provoke me to those deeper changes that are essential to growing and moving forward in the journey of being a human person. I seem to be very slow to change. I know that I prefer to change slowly!

I don't know how to live during the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 except one day at a time. It has not (at least, not yet) created too many external changes to my rhythm of life. I have been "staying at home" for a long time. What is interesting is that the rest of the world seems to have joined me, and everyone is avidly (perhaps desperately) using the powers of communications technology to make up for what they are missing by being deprived of the freedom to move about with transportation technology.

For now, it has made social media a more genuinely "social," more aware, more creative, more human place. People are discovering that the "digital continent" does exist, that it is more than a means of narcissistic indulgence, haphazard interaction, and invasive curiosity. It is a means of human communication. It also has limits. Recognizing its relative utility and its limits may help us build up constructive facets of media that will endure beyond this crisis.

Presently, the crisis is still unfolding. What will happen? I don't know.

Are we all going to DIE? 

The answer to that question is "YES."

But it is also likely that most of us will not die from the COVID-19 infection. Some will die from it, and others will feel the impact of losing loved ones. We must care for the sick and suffering among us, and stand with compassion and solidarity with those who endure loss from this pandemic and other disasters. But we will all die... eventually. We don't need to be unreasonably morbid or terrified, but the disruptive and disorienting experience of this pandemic can serve as a signal to us of our mortality, and the need to prepare for that final, defining moment.

Being a foolish human being, of course, it's only natural for me to speculate about how this will play out. Obviously we are all taking responsibility for limiting our activity in order to facilitate the end of the pandemic and the prevention of it returning in the future. So we all reasonably hope for that. 

My "speculation" for my own country is that probably this is going to be (for those who are not directly or proximately hit by the affliction itself or its economic and social consequences) a temporary-and-very-strange-period-of-time that will be followed by a season of economic hardship. It will be especially difficult for the poor. In the long run it will yield some small readjustments to human living that most of us will not notice too much in our lifetimes. Maybe there will be some advances in medical science (and our health care system as a whole) corresponding to the needs that this pandemic has revealed to us. Maybe we will even see some of the advantages of "slowing down a bit" and simplifying our lives, focusing on what really matters.

Maybe.

Maybe some of the impressions people are now having about how we are all united as one human family will bring about some good — something that lasts beyond the intensity of sentiments that current circumstances are generating; we all know that sentiments will not last on their own strength.

Maybe we can choose to make some changes for the better in our attitudes as well as our behavior. Maybe we will remember to be less presumptuous about how much we control reality. Maybe we will learn that being reasonable and responsible human persons does not conflict with being open to the ultimate mystery of life. When the reality of life's mystery confronts us, as it has in these days, we remember our humanity, we turn our hearts to one another, we discover in ourselves surprising resources of real practical energy, creativity, courage, and compassion.

"...With You is Forgiveness"

"If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
I trust in the Lord;
my soul trusts in his word....
For with the Lord is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption."

~Psalm 130:3-5, 7

The World is His Parish

The streets of Rome are empty these days.

Italians are doing their best to persevere against the COVID-19 epidemic, spending most of March quarantined in their homes. Similar measures are being taken in many parts of the world. Public gatherings are canceled. Gatherings for religious services have been curtailed or suspended on their own initiative.

The Catholic Church in Italy (and many other places, including dioceses in the USA) has gone beyond dispensing people from their Sunday Mass obligation. Masses are not even being offered with large public congregations. Priests still offer Mass every day, but in empty churches... or, at least, churches without physically present parishioners. What they have are videocameras that bring livestreamimg Masses to unprecedented numbers of "virtual participants," who unite themselves in spirit and heart with Christ's Paschal Mystery which remains the center of the Church's life through the ministerial priesthood.

One 83-year-old priest has a worldwide congregation as he says Mass every morning with his small staff in the chapel at his residence in Rome. Pope Francis from his own place of quarantine is proving more than ever to be the world's pastor. In addition to his daily Masses and Wednesday Audiences, the Pope has led several gestures of prayer for an end to the pandemic. Yesterday's event was especially moving.

With the world "connected" through Vatican Media, Pope Francis preached in an empty St Peter's Square, venerated a large crucifix, prayed to the Virgin Mary,  and then held adoration and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament with a special blessing "Urbi et Orbi" (usually given only at Christmas and Easter), "to the 'city' (of Rome) and the world."

At the beginning of this service, the Pope was seen walking through the middle of the large square, alone, with rain pouring down on him. By the end he was visibly limping, no doubt from the sciatica that pains him, as he carried the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament.

I am so grateful for this 83-year-old man, with part of one lung missing, who is in the highest of the "high-risk categories" for dying if he were to be infected by the coronavirus. His courage is not a surprise: Francis has never made any effort to preserve his life. Since becoming Pope, he has seemed continually ready to offer it.

Now his witness grows greater. In this singular crisis, he is pouring out his life for his flock, and to make the closeness and tenderness of Jesus known to all the world.

It gives great authority to his words, which are worth pondering in their entirety, and so I present them here from Vatican News (below or click this LINK to Vatican News website):

More Spring, Up Close

Ready to get UP CLOSE?😮 ...with buds and flowers...😉

One good thing about not living in the city: we can get lots of fresh air without worrying much about "social distance," since it's just sort of the-natural-state-of-things — normally you walk out your door into your yard and a neighborhood with roads but not much traffic. It's different from the city, where there are always crowds of people.

I grew up in cities. I love cities, the variety of humanity on the walkways, the shops, the cafes, the restaurants... But over the years, I have become accustomed to the quiet environment of the country. It has much to recommend it in any circumstances.

Here's some of what I have been seeing these days: 

[1] Daffodils in bloom. [2] Leaves popping out on (some of) the trees (many trees remain asleep; it's still March, after all). [3] Hyacinth ("Virginia Bluebell"). [4] Baby leaves up close. [5] Cherry Blossoms in the Valley. [6] The good old Dandelion, which is always ready to pop up on a warm day.

Lent Becomes More Concrete, More Meaningful For Us

Picture from Greenfield in Strasburg, late March 2019

The coronavirus pandemic "shutdown" will no doubt have many long term consequences (one of which, we hope, will be the control and eventual eradication of the infection). At the moment, in the midst of Lent, it touches all of us in one way or another. It's a particularly difficult "penance" for those who are sick and their caregivers. For many others, the economic implications are already a source of present suffering. Basic features of our way of life — that we have taken for granted for generations — may not be the same in the future. The past month has taught us that even tomorrow is unpredictable.

For people all over the world, the immediate impact has been a more or less vigorous quarantine, which involves various limitations and changes in the routines of daily life. We can live these days with a greater awareness of the gratuitousness of existence. This thing we call "our life" is inexplicable and utterly fragile if we consider it to be "closed-in-on-itself," as if it were constituted entirely within the limits of what we can materially measure and predict. Only insofar as we trust in God can we realize our inherent dignity and aspirations for life's enduring meaning.

This is a fitting source of meditation for the season. It is also a difficult one. For our family, the past three Lents have been full of experiences of abrupt change, illness, unpredictability, and the urgently felt need to depend on God.

Two years ago at this time, we were in the process of moving my Dad out near us after he collapsed physically and experienced the sudden and frightening onset of severe dementia. One year ago, we were keeping vigil at his bedside as he lay dying. He passed away on April 3, 2019. The first anniversary of his death is nearly at hand.

This Spring of 2020 is something else all together. I miss my Dad. That would have been true in any case, but in the present circumstances my memories are even more vivid and my heart goes out to people all over the world who are losing their beloved elders (old and/or infirm persons are the ones who are most susceptible to fatality from COVID-19). The lives of our elders are precious, beyond any quantitative calculus.

One of the hardest things about our sheltering-in-place is that we are in the Shenandoah Valley while Mom is still at the Assisted Living facility in Arlington (this remains a temporary transitional arrangement, but the plan for her and us to move to a bigger house out here and all live together is — needless to say — on hold for the present). Mom's facility is strictly closed to visitors, so we can’t see her right now, but thank God she’s well-cared-for and we can talk on the phone. They’re taking all necessary measures and precautions. Mom is very frail, but lucid and in good spirits — all things considered.

Of course, it's not possible to predict or guarantee anything. We can only do our best to be prudent and to follow the proposals of those who have authority to attend to the common good. Beyond that, however, we have hope; we carry on with confidence that the infinite wisdom and goodness of God holds us all in his love. In Jesus, the reality of God's love embraces every aspect of our humanity. In our sorrows we discover more and more that Jesus is the central reality of our lives.

It has been hard in recent years. But Lent and Easter have become more concrete, more meaningful to us as the vital ecclesial "memorial" of the events of salvation that correspond to the questions, the needs, and the suffering of our own specific lives.

The Beginning of Everything

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Saint Oscar Romero: Transfigured in Eternity

On this evening forty years ago, Archbishop Oscar Romero was martyred at the altar while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. His heroism in life and in death is now universally acknowledged by the Catholic Church that canonized him in 2018. Romero's prophetic legacy has proven both perceptive of his own time (with his integrally Christian and human vision of "liberation" as transformation in Christ) and rich with meaning for today's very different circumstances.

The Cold War that seemed to define so many Third World political liberation movements in Marxist-Leninist terms has long ended. The ideology of dialectical materialism with its utopian collectivist dream has been jettisoned by power seekers. In its place we have a broad spectrum of secularist political tribes and criminal organizations that occasionally try to cover themselves over with intellectual justification but are largely focused on controlling societies to serve their ambitions, greed, or other peculiar vices. Of course, there are also those who are dedicated to building a genuine political order in the service of justice and the common good.

El Salvador has endured a horrible civil war followed by a series of unstable regimes. The poor are still poor, threatened now by gangs, cartels, and all sorts of anarchic violence in a region still lacking an equitable relationship with its titanic northern neighbor.

Now the year 2020 is giving all of us a taste of the fact that our sense of control over reality is something of an illusion. Our economic and social power is not as secure as we thought. The dynamics of global interconnection has opened up new kinds of vulnerability, and the fragility of nature itself increasingly protests our presumptions of unlimited increase of material wealth.

What is the hope of society? The gospel shines its light all through history - a light that illuminates life in this world even as we journey toward the fulfillment of eternal life. As Christians, we know that Jesus Christ is the source of all our hope. Everything belongs to the Risen Christ. We are called to reflect the light of his reign in every part of this world, even in the building up of temporal societies and the identities of peoples. But we work within the world in the freedom of Christ, not with worldly violence. Our politics does not attempt to impose the gospel; rather we are stirred by the hope that the gospel awakens in us of the transcendent Kingdom of God (which encompasses the transfiguration of all the goodness and all the meaningful work of history in Jesus's glorified humanity). By the light of loving faith and hope, Christians can engage society with a politics shaped by justice, equity, compassion, and mercy.

I believe that this is what Saint Oscar Romero preached. This is the heart of his prophetic witness, from which we still have much to learn.

Excerpts from Romero's homily of Sunday, March 2, 1980:

"The plan of God has to prevail over all human plans if these plans want to be truly human plans and not anti-human plans. The Church always has before her eyes the human person. This is the star that guides the Church’s journey, a journey that is often misunderstood and at times slandered because many people want their temporal plans to prevail. 

"Yet for the Church, the human person is that which is most important: the human person, a child of God. It is for this reason that we are pained when we find dead bodies, men and women who have been tortured, men and women who suffer. For the Church the goal of all plans has to reflect the plan of God which is focused on the human person. Every man and woman is a child of God and in each person that is killed we find Christ sacrificed and for this reason we also venerate our martyrs....

"This is how God desires to find people: freed from sin and death and hell, living the gift of his eternal life, immortal, and glorious. This is our destiny and so as we talk about heaven we are not speaking of some form of alienation but talk in this way in order to motivate people to work with more energy and joy and to accept their great responsibility toward the world. 

"No one works on this earth and on behalf of the political liberation of people with more enthusiasm than those who hope that the liberating struggles of history become incorporated into the great liberation of Christ. We must come to the understanding (as the Council states) that everything that we sow in this world, for example, justice and peace, and calling people to use common sense, all of this we will be transfigured in the beauty of our eternal reward....

"Saint Paul..places in opposition the followers of Christ and the enemies of the cross of Christ who only seek worldly benefits, who only aspire to worldly things. 'Their god is in their stomach and their glory is their shame.' Saint Paul uses these harsh words in order to declassify those plans of history that only seek temporal goods and then present the great plan of God who desires to incarnate in the plans of the earth his great divine plan. 

"God is telling us that from the perspective of the resurrection Christians are inhabitants of eternity and thus they journey on this planet and work on this earth because they have to give an accounting to God, but their definitive land is where Christ lives forever, where we will be happy with him, the great liberator of freed people. The people who are freed will be those who have made their own that which Saint Paul calls the power that enables them to use the energy that they possess [in Christ] and that enables them to submit everything to God....

"My sisters and brothers, we are not weak when we speak as Christians about our faith in Christ. No one has the power of a Christian who has faith in Christ who lives and is the power of God. What leader of humanity is able to tell his followers that he lives forever? What victorious person in the world can point out to all the world the great victory of his death and resurrection? These are not false considerations but the fundamental reality of our Christian faith. Christ has risen and death no longer has dominion over him.

"The destiny of the risen Lord is to subject all of this to his kingdom so that one day he is able to hand over to God the universal kingdom, the kingdom of women and men, the kingdom of history where even his enemies appear to be chained beneath the power of Christ who has overcome death forever. Jesus has said that this is our faith that overcomes the world and for this reason the plan of God can rely on the greatest power...

"The theology of the transfiguration is telling us that the path of redemption must first pass through the cross and Calvary but beyond history lies the goal of Christians. This does not mean that we become alienated from history but rather that we give a more profound meaning, a definitive meaning to history. From the time that Christ rose from the dead the torch of eternity remained hidden in the history of time. From the time that Christ rose in history people have retold this story to encourage people and make people aware of the fact that Christ lives and those who work with him will live forever. From the time that Christ rose and was transfigured for all people in history, Christ is saying to all his followers: 'whoever believes in me, even if they die, will live.' This same Christ had encouraged Saint Paul when he..told the Christians community: 'Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all thing into subjection to himself'....

"My sisters and brothers, let us not lose sight of the transcendence of the Christian message no matter how great our concerns or our responsibilities in the struggles of people. Let us not be content with immanent energy but let us also realize the need for transcendence. I would like to see many politicians and young people and women and men organizing themselves but I would like to see this being done with a profound Christian meaning. May these same people bring this witness of transcendence to the process of our people because more than ever before our people need this Christian witness.

"For this reason those involved in the liberating process of our Salvadoran nation can be assured that the Church will not abandon them but will continue to accompany people in this process. The Church will do this with the authentic voice of the gospel, the voice of transcendence and the voice of Jesus. The Church will continue to demand of all liberators that if they want to be strong and effective then they must place their trust in the great liberator Jesus Christ, and must not separate themselves from him for any reason."

Rejoice in the Lord

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is "Laetare Sunday," and we are invited with vibrant roses to "rejoice" as our Lenten journey progresses. In the midst of many difficulties this year, we can still find reason to "rejoice," because the Lord accompanies us through everything.

"The Passing of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict"

March 21 used to be Saint Benedict's feast on the Roman calendar, but it continues to be observed (along with numerous other days, including July 11) by the Benedictine tradition.

It commemorates his death and entrance into eternal glory, and remains a solemnity on the particular Benedictine liturgical calendar. (Pictured here is the image of Saint Benedict from a Rosary of the CL Fraternity.) Therefore, I want to wish a Happy Feast of "The Passing of Our Holy Father, Saint Benedict" to all Benedictines monks and nuns, all those in the Benedictine tradition, all oblates, all members of the Benedictine family (which in the broad sense includes the members of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation), and to all who follow the 1962 calendar.

God bless all Benedictines and Cistercians and all who follow his 1500 year old Rule as a "school for the Lord's service." 

Holy Father Saint Benedict, pray for all of us especially in these times of pandemic, and watch over the sick, those who care for them, and the overall needs of our societies. Protect us from every evil, and turn our hearts toward one another in the midst of our present difficulties.

Help us as we "pray and work," that we might "love Christ over all things," and "never despair of the mercy of God."