Servant of the servants of God

I remember one Sunday school lesson about an Indian boy converted to Christianity by missionaires.  I must have only been around 5 or 6 years old at the time.  I was living with an aunt and uncle (my parents had divorced - long story) and later at home I asked, "What if the Indian boy's first religion is right?  How do we know?"  My simple question ignited a brief firestorm.  "How can you ask that!?  Of course Christianity is right and those heathen religions are wrong!"  I learned not to ask that question again any time soon.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I don't mean to criticize my aunt and uncle.  How many of us who are Christians are prepared to answer that same question?  And to a small child?

Well, as I grew older and learned better to understand the truth of Christianity, another stubborn question arose in my mind.  What about those countless number of people who have lived and died without ever hearing about Jesus Christ?  Seriously, at the time Jesus walked the earth, there were people living on other continents who knew nothing of the Jewish religion, much less of Jesus and "The Way" as the early Christians self-identified their religion.  What happened to those people after death?  Are they saved?  Damned? 

I asked these questions and searched and never heard a satisfactory answer until I encountered Catholicism.  And within Catholicism there was one man and one book that really provided a solid, intelligent answer.  That man was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his book Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions.  In this book - a collection of essays and lectures - Ratzinger clearly affirms that Christianity is the true faith and that Christians are called to evangelize.  At the same time he recognizes that other religions are a groping after the Truth; that those other religions have attained glimpses of the Light (see Acts 17:22-31).  Yet, they are incomplete and only Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Much of the book deals with how we as Christians ought to approach those of other faiths. 

As far as my question about the ultimate fate of those who have never heard of Jesus, Ratzinger doesn't claim to know for certain except to argue that God is love, God created those people and that God surely manifests himself to them in some way.  Christ's atonement on the cross applies to those people and their sins as well. 

 

Benedict and our times

When a man is elected to serve as Pope (a servant of the servants of God), he chooses a papal name.  Cardinal Ratzinger chose Benedict.  Why? 

Saint Benedict, called the Father of Monasticism, lived during the 5th century.  This was the time after the collapse of the Roman Empire, referred to as 'The Dark Age.'  As the Roman Empire decayed and finally died out, so did public order, learning, cultivation and the mechanical arts.  The Christian monastic system initiated by Saint Benedict maintained knowledge of reading, writing, and the agricultural and mechanical arts.  The monasteries were like burning lamps scattered across dark Europe.  They nursed the seeds of civiliation so that Europe could flower again once a measure of safety and order was re-established.

Saint Benedict

 

 

Joseph Ratzinger recognized that we are descending into another Dark Age in our time.  The general state of learning and culture is abysmal and getting worse (I defy you to roll through the television or radio channels, or scan the magazine racks at any supermarket, and tell me this isn't so).  Ratzinger knows that faithful Christians are tasked with holding fast to the wisdom and beauty of our Faith in a dark and barbaric time.  After the imminent civilisational collapse, unless Jesus returns beforehand, the Church will need to restart human culture.  Therefore, Ratzinger chose Benedict as his papal name, and he's the 16th pope to be called Benedict.

 

I was as shocked as anyone else to hear of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation.  But, I understand and respect his reasons.  The Church, the Barque of St. Peter, is sailing perilous seas and we need a captain who is mentally and physically up to the task of guiding her.  The pope realizes he is not up to this task anymore and after much prayer has decided to turn the keys over to another.

 

For those of you who are not Catholic and/or get your information on the Catholic Church from the mainstream media, please understand that the Church is not a political organization or a mega-corporation.  The media constantly talks about the upcoming conclave that will elect a new pope in terms of power struggles or political calculation.  I am not naive and I understand that the Cardinals who are about to elect the next successor to St. Peter are fallible humans, but I also understand that the Holy Spirit will guide these men as they pray and deliberate over their choice.  If the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church (Matthew 16:18), then neither will a handful of white-haired old men.

 

 



Standing on a whale

I think we've all seen the image in various cartoons: a character standing on what he thinks is a sunny island when in fact he's standing on a whale basking in the sun.  At any moment the whale will wake from its doze and dive under water, potentially drowning our character who is oblivious to his danger.

This image came to my mind again recently because of the situation I'm about to relate. 

The days before the beginning of Lent are the season of Carnival.  The primary school where my children attend held a costume ball during Carnival.  Parents voted on best costumes and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers received prizes.  One little girl was dressed as the pop star Rihanna - she of the revealing outfits and risqué stageshows - and won first prize.

I was working and couldn't attend this costume ball, but when my wife told me later about the little girl dressed as Rihanna I gasped.  I already knew that this particular pop star is very popular among pre-teen girls; I guess what bothered me was the idea of parents in effect giving a big 'thumbs up' to a little girl emulating her.

Innocence

A year ago one of my students, a young girl, informed me of the dirty video Rihanna made for her song S&M (and no, that doesn't stand for 'sunshine and moonbeams').  I found it on youtube and was disgusted at what I saw.  On the scale of human achievements where some reach as high as the heavens, this video and song are so far in the depths that they give off the stench of hell.

What are parents thinking?  As my wife remarked, "they probably don't even listen to the music their kids are listening to."  Of course, here in Poland, a lot of parents wouldn't understand the English lyrics.  I suppose too that parents of a certain generation remember the more innocent songs of their youth and assume things are the same now.  Or, they figure every generation's music is a "natural rebellion" against their parents' values and is "harmless" - "just a part of growing up." 

Yet, I'm sure these same parents wouldn't give their kids heroin or feed them a plate of dog doo.  The culture that engulfs our kids is toxic and too many of us are completely oblivious to it. 

It's not just the "youth culture" either that's corrupt, but the entire culture, whether it's in television, movies, sports, politics, our work habits and even our churches.  Little by little we've let the solid fundamentals of integrity, dignity and wisdom (truth, beauty and light, in other words) be eroded away.  We're like the cartoon character standing on the whale, thinking there's solid ground beneath our feet.  The great beast that we're in fact standing on will suck us down into the frigid deep.

A child sacrificed to the god Moloch
(notice the men feeding the fire at the back of the idol)

Ashes

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I tell you."  So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord's bidding.  Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it.  Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day's walk announcing, "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed," when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. 

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.

When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.   Jonah 3: 1-6, 10

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent, falls on February 13th this year.  Pope Gregory the Great made Ash Wednesday part of the celebration of Lent around the year AD 600, when he fixed the date as 46 days before Easter. 

There are 6 Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter; and since Sunday, the day of our Lord's resurrection, is always a feast day, Sundays are not counted as part of Lent.  Therefore, that leaves 40 days for the observance of Lent.

Before Jesus began his public ministry (which would ultimately lead to his passion, death and resurrection), he spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying.  It was during those 40 days that Jesus was tempted by Satan.  (see Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13)

 

The ashes placed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday (which are made from the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday) represent our repentence, fragility, mortality, and need for God's redemption.  As the priest or deacon applies the ashes he says, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (from Genesis 3:19)

During the 40 days of Lent, Christians are asked to prepare themselves spiritually for Easter through prayer, repentence, almsgiving and self-denial.

"Every Christian renunciation, of whatever kind it may be, means saying 'Yes' to something bigger and more authentic," wrote Adrienne von Speyr.  That 'something bigger' is our death to self, resurrection and eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Stratford Caldecot, editor of Magnificat, writes this month, "Ash Wednesday can be a turning point for us, a moment of true metanoia.  The Greek word used for repentence literally means "change of mind" or "going beyond the mind" - as God calls us out of our sins, out of our old habits and worries, into a new existence, a stronger love for others, and a fresh dawn for the whole world."

 

 

Faith, Hope, Love . . . and Vigilance

There were massive marches recently in the cities of Paris and Washington D.C.  In Paris, hundreds of thousands marched to protest the French government's proposal to legalize "same-sex marriage."  In Washington was held the 40th annual March for Life in protest against abortion.

Marriage = a man + a woman; child = a mother + a father
 

I watched coverage of the Paris marches on TV channel France 24, an English-language news channel based in Paris.  The presenters were dismissive of the pro traditional marriage marchers, labeling them "right wing" and "homophobic."  That's not surprising considering the state of journalism these days in Europe and North America.  And naturally those supporting "same-sex marriage" were given more airtime to put forward their views.  A sign of how debased the thinking on the left has become appeared in one story where airtime was given to the views of "France's leading homosexual magazine" on the issue.  I forget the name of the magazine and I don't have the stomach to do a web search for it.  But let me say that the recent cover of the magazine was shown during the news piece.  The cover depicted a shirtless, well-built male model posing in jeans and a builder's hardhat.  Obviously a serious voice to consult in such a grave matter!  That would be like consulting Cosmopolitan magazine on the issue of sex education in school while simply dismissing the conservative view on the issue as "right wing religious" or "old fashioned."

From what I can gather, French opposition to so called "gay marriage" is going to get steamrolled.  A recent poll shows 63% of the French population supportive of "gay marriage" and the left wing government currently in power is determined to push it through.  Spain and Portugal - both supposedly Catholic countries - both legalized it in recent years (there are currently 8 countries in Europe where it's legal).

Turning the tide against abortion in America looks to have a better chance.  I noticed many, many families with young children at both the American and French marches.  However, in France the education system is completely controlled by the government and is aggressively secular (which made me surprised to see the size of the marches in France in favor of traditional marriage).

The Holy Family

Which brings us to the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. 

Faith - God is lord of all and has revealed his will regarding the sanctity of life and of the family.  We as believers can keep faithful to his will, whatever the odds or chances of success may seem.  As Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said when asked about success, "We are called to be faithful."

Hope - Because God is lord of all, we know that God is triumphant.  We may only see "small" victories from our efforts, but they do weigh in the balance.  The soldier in battle cannot win the entire war on his own, but by performing the task he's called to he contributes to the final victory.  From the March for Life coverage I heard this story: a woman active in sidewalk counseling outside abortion providers had numerous miscarriages.  She and her husband finally decided to adopt and they adopted twin boys.  She discovered later that the boys' biological mother was the first woman that she had ever persuaded outside an abortion provider not to go in and have the abortion.  A "small" victory?

Love - "So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)  Whatever we do we should do with love.  A woman contemplating abortion is often under duress, in great anguish and fearful.  She ought to be approached in love.  People with the condition of homosexual attraction likewise need to be treated with love.  Love doesn't mean tolerating everything that people do or looking the other way.  Love means being truthful - with kindness and respect, yes - but still truthful.  The truth can be hard enough, so there's no need to be hateful or arrogant.

I include Vigilance because being a soldier for Christ means not falling asleep.  Our "sleepiness" can take the form of thinking, "well, what can I do about it?" or "well, I personally wouldn't do such a thing but who am I to tell others what to do?"  Relativism is a powerful opiate: "Who's to say what's true?  What's right for me may not be right for somebody else.  Just live and let live."  When we love somebody, we don't want to see them come to harm.  Furthermore, we are alert to any danger our loved one may be in.  We don't stand by and watch.

"For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.  We are not of the night or of darkness.  Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober."  (1 Thessalonians 5:5-6)