Year IV, Number 40

Institutes completely devoted to contemplation, composed of either women or men, are for the Church a reason for pride and a source of heavenly graces. By their lives and mission, the members of these Institutes imitate Christ in his prayer on the mountain, bear witness to God’s lordship over history and anticipate the glory which is to come.

In solitude and silence, by listening to the word of God, participating in divine worship, personal asceticism, prayer, mortification and the communion of fraternal love, they direct the whole of their lives and all their activities to the contemplation of God. In this way they offer the ecclesial community a singular testimony of the Church’s love for her Lord, and they contribute, with hidden apostolic fruitfulness, to the growth of the People of God. Thus there is good reason to hope that the different forms of contemplative life will experience continued growth in the younger Churches as an evident sign that the Gospel has taken firm root, especially in those areas of the world where other religions predominate. This will make it possible to bear witness to the vitality of the traditions of Christian asceticism and mysticism and will contribute to interreligious dialogue.

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I am in a group of 21 men who are potential candidates for the deaconate in our Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis. Twelve will be chosen about mid-May to enter into the program. What criteria do they use to make their selection?

- Kirby

A. Dear Kirby,

I presume you are talking about the permanent deaconate. It is tempting to think of the permanent deaconate as a voluntary act of service to the Church, no more. It is in fact a vocation, a call. (Our will assents to the call; it does not create it.) Deaconate is a participation in the ministry of service that the local Bishop exercises towards the Church committed to his care. As in all vocations, there are the general, objective signs, and there are the particular, individual circumstances that have to be weighed, both of the individual who is offering himself and of the Church he will serve. It is quite possible that each and every one of the potential candidates has all the objective qualities required in a future deacon, and that each of them is also in the best of dispositions, but the needs of the Church or some special local circumstances dictate that only half are to be called at this time. The Bishop then is the one who ultimately (in prayer, and usually in consultation - bishops are humble men) makes his decision, and becomes the voice of Christ (whose Vicar he is in his diocese) who calls the chosen individuals to this ministry of service. Our human pride tends to make us think in terms of, “I have all the qualities, I want to do this, I have a right to it, it would be unjust to pass me over.” In the economy of salvation, in the Church it is different. We offer ourselves, but it is God who decides what he would have us do (Read Luke 8, 26-39, especially the last two verses.) There were many excellent men in the time of St Peter, but he only chose seven to be deacons (Acts 6). I hope this helps. God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I am trying to discern whether or not I really do have a vocation to the religious life. I am 19, and I converted to Catholicism and was received in the Church at Easter 2002. I have thought this out since I was twelve years old and have some experience of religious life as I was a postulant for four months, but much to my deep regret I left. Should I get a spiritual director or just continue to let the spirit guide me and go wherever? I really want to get to the right place for me and I know that the Benedictines are the ones for me, but I’m sort of lost now as to what to do! What do you suggest?

- Elizabeth

A. Dear Elizabeth,

Obviously you have been very attentive to God’s voice in your soul, and continue to be eager to do his will. Don’t let your ups and downs, or your mistakes, distract you from your purpose or make you doubt about his love and fidelity.

It seems to me, if you were received into the Church last Easter and have already done 4 months of postulancy, that it probably was a little hasty to have entered when you did. Normally it is best to let at least a year and a half go by before entering religious life.

My suggestion to you is this: plan on at least another year before entering religious life. Use this year to grow in your understanding and practice of the Catholic faith - go often to Mass, get a spiritual director and a regular confessor, give yourself to your work or studies, read and study about the faith, do some apostolic work, and especially continue to keep your vocation foremost in your mind.

If you think the Benedictines is the place God is calling you to, visit them regularly and get their input. In your social life, make sure all your decisions are guided by thoughts of your vocation.

Be sure of my prayers.

- Fr Anthony

I already mentioned that the inspiration to found the congregation came to me on the feast of the Sacred Heart. From my childhood, especially under the influence of my mother, I lived in my home this devotion which, as you know, is focused on Christ’s love for humanity. I remember us living the devotion quite spontaneously: we expressed it by receiving the sacraments of Confession and Communion every first Fridays and by imitating Christ’s virtues, especially his charity. There were other traditions too such as praying the litany or enthroning an image of Christ in the home, but that was somewhat secondary. The most important was really to know, love and imitate Christ. Later, during the Cristero war as I also mentioned, I saw men – elderly, adult and adolescents – die invoking Christ. For me, a relationship with Christ was something very natural and spontaneous.

Later, as time went by, I began to reflect in God’s presence on what focus I should give to the congregation’s spirituality. No matter how much I turned over and considered the lives of the saints and spiritual authors, I realized that in every case their holiness or wisdom ultimately came from imitating Christ and being deeply united with him. Therefore I didn’t want our men to have any other model but Christ. With the passing of the years, as I became more and more experienced in forming priests and interacting with lay people, I realized how attractive it is to present people with Christ. We often forget to talk to Christians about what is most obvious, which is to talk to them about Christ. When you preach to people, especially the youth, about Christ – the Christ of the Gospel, true God and true man – they are captivated by the beauty of his message and the appeal of his person. If we truly believe that he is the Son of God made flesh, if we really believe what Vatican II says and John Paul II repeats so vigorously, that man finds the fullness of his vocation and his happiness only in Christ, then we would be less hesitant to proclaim him in all his beauty and with all the demands of his teaching.

Gospel: Mk 10:17-30

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.

Introductory Prayer: Jesus, come to my aid today that I may be coherent with respect to my love for you.

Petition: Grant me the generosity to go the full nine yards when your will is asking me for more than I feel like giving.

1. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Time is also a talent entrusted to souls which all to often we overlook. Whether rich or poor, vigorous or sick, we all have the present moment before us. What are we doing with this present moment? If we are shrewd, like the man in today’s gospel, we will seek to invest the present moment in that which will give us eternal fruits. Do I have this perspective in my life, or am I consumed with the circular race pursuing dreams that never meet the yearnings of my soul for the enduring happiness that I was created? Perhaps the reason for so many discontent souls in today’s world, who seem to have it all and yet feel empty inside, is that they really haven’t acquired anything over the years… anything, that is, that will last. Living each moment here and now with your eyes fixed on eternity, puts a whole new perspective on what is important in life and what you need to be doing “now” to arrive there.

2. “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

One thing is to know what we are to do, and another is to motivate our will to accept it. It was quite clear for the young man what he had to do, but his heart was not disposed to let go of his attachments. He had, as it were, one hand on the plow ahead of him, yet he was glancing back at what was now behind him. His heart was in his amassed wealth. Our “riches” can be any creature that we hold in greater value to the kingdom of God. This is what our Lord refers to when he said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Is there anything in my life that may be blocking God? For some it may be material possessions; for others, a lifestyle or “my freedom”; for others, a disproportionate attachment to my family, my home, my plans…etc. Whatever it may be, these are all strings that we attach to our love for Christ and so condition our total surrender. Christ doesn’t want unhappy followers who drag their feet behind them. He parts with those souls who not ready to follow him radically on his terms, leaving them in their former ways. Christ needs generous souls. Am I prepared to step up to the invitation as his disciple?

3. “A hundred times more now in this present age.”

If the wager which Christ asks of his disciples is great, the reward is much more so. Scripture has proven that God is never outdone in generosity. Just as Abraham left all to follow Yahweh and was compensated with more than Abraham could ever have amassed for himself in ten lives, so too has Our Lord been worthy of his promise to his disciples throughout the ages. Who would doubt today the profound joy of souls like Pope John Paul II or Mother Theresa of Calcutta? Yet in their youth they had to make their radical option to follow Christ instead of a more complacent and comfortable life lived only for themselves. Nothing in life, after all, is worthwhile unless we really have to suffer for it; and how much more so we can say when our suffering in patient love was for the sake of the kingdom of Christ. Looking back on a life of fidelity to the will of God, what sacrifices could compare with the infinite joy of the eternal salvation of a single soul?

Dialogue: My Jesus, you know my heart and my longing to be a generous soul. How often my days end though in good intentions unfulfilled. I want to wrench from your heart the grace of persevering generosity. Despite my former shortcomings, I renew my decision to offer you the “first fruits” of all my endeavors for your greater glory. What is there to hold me back from living this day forward by my convictions instead of my whims? Today, my Jesus, through your grace I will be a magnanimous soul! Come to my aid!

Questionnaire:

1. Have I honestly asked Our Lord in prayer what it is he wants of me? Do I say like the boy Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”?

2. Is there anything that my heart is attached to which conditions my love for Christ?

3. Do I believe and hope in the promise of God’s fidelity to his generous souls with certainty? Am I prepared to take whatever steps God might be asking of me now?

There are two fundamentally different attitudes towards signs that we find reflected in two closely related passages of Luke’s gospel.

The angel gives Zechariah the stupendous news that in his old age he will have a son who will be a prophet. But Zechariah’s reaction was to ask for signs that would prove to him what he was hearing. “Show me,” he says. “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” (Luke 1:15) Trust, faith, acceptance of God’s messenger were left aside. His wasn’t a first case, he knew from the stories of our Old Testament that God occasionally intervened in this way, he had an angel in front of him... yet he wanted to be a little surer.

Then, later, Mary is visited by the same angel. (Luke 1:26-38) She is given even more overwhelming news, that she is to be mother of the Messiah. Mary has a question, “How will this be, since I know not man?” The angel tells her how, and gives her the extra news that her cousin Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, even in her old age has conceived and will have a son. Mary had not asked for a special sign, and when she is given it does not ask for the chance to check it out; she answers, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.” Mary asked not so much for a sign as an indication of how, concretely, God wanted her to carry out something that seemed contradictory at first sight.

These two passages can be further understood if you consider the balance you find in the following words from Matthew, which can be helpful in our pursuit of signs: And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “...You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” (Matthew 16: 1-4)

Our Lord in essence told them that they had enough signs and they should not be looking for more - it is good to remember that this passage comes in the gospel right on the heels of the multiplication of the loaves.

He then says that they will be given the sign of Jonah. This is taken as referring to his resurrection, yet we see from the gospel that those who had rejected him during his life also rejected the evidence of his resurrection, bribing the guards to say he had not risen but that his body had been taken away by his disciples.

For a person without the proper dispositions of faith and trust in God, and willingness to accept his word, even the most compelling signs will be never be enough.

Upcoming Events & Retreats

(( Listed here are retreats directed by the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members. For a listing of diocesan activities and other events, click here to go to the vocation.com website ))

LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST

Rome, Italy. December 27, 2003 - January 5, 2004. Youth Pilgrimage for boys ages 11-15. Chaplains are the Legionaries of Christ. Contact Ray Arsenault at (902) 854-2808 or arsenaultacres@pei.sympatico.ca

Rome, Italy. December 27, 2003 - January 5, 2004. Pilgrimage for college-aged men and high school seniors. Price: $399 + airfare. Chaplains are the Legionaries of Christ. Contact Karolee Stauduhar at kstauduhar@msn.com or (407) 869-8263.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

Call Tony MacDonnell for more information, (301) 365-3205. amacdonnell@arcol.org.

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