Year IX, Number 26

At this point we cannot forget the beginning of the "Decalogue", the Ten Commandments, where it is written: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex 20: 2-3). Here we find the meaning of the third constitutive element of Corpus Christi: kneeling in adoration before the Lord. Adoring the God of Jesus Christ, who out of love made himself bread broken, is the most effective and radical remedy against the idolatry of the past and of the present. Kneeling before the Eucharist is a profession of freedom: those who bow to Jesus cannot and must not prostrate themselves before any earthly authority, however powerful. We Christians kneel only before God or before the Most Blessed Sacrament because we know and believe that the one true God is present in it, the God who created the world and so loved it that he gave his Only Begotten Son (cf. Jn 3: 16). We prostrate ourselves before a God who first bent over man like the Good Samaritan to assist him and restore his life, and who knelt before us to wash our dirty feet. Adoring the Body of Christ, means believing that there, in that piece of Bread, Christ is really there, and gives true sense to life, to the immense universe as to the smallest creature, to the whole of human history as to the most brief existence. Adoration is prayer that prolongs the celebration and Eucharistic communion and in which the soul continues to be nourished: it is nourished with love, truth, peace; it is nourished with hope, because the One before whom we prostrate ourselves does not judge us, does not crush us but liberates and transforms us.

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I have been wondering whether to make a career out of music in college but I cannot decide if this is what God truly wants me to do? Not only do I have talents in music, but I am very good with computers and medicine, which makes me feel I should try a medical degree. Priesthood is always an option, too. How do I know what God's plan is for me?

-Kenny

A. Dear Kenny,

God has many ways to speak to us and to make his will known to us. Only rarely will he send an angel, or intervene directly (we sometimes wish he did it more, to take away our doubts) and even when he does, like those saints who did have apparitions and received messages directly from him, they never trusted their own experiences but always went to his representatives, to the Church to confirm the authenticity of what they had received. His ways of speaking to us are much more ordinary and may not seem like his voice at all until we use the gift of faith, and realize how close he is to us as our Creator, Redeemer and life-giving Spirit.

God has given you talents in music, computers and medicine. He has also given you spiritual talents that you should not underestimate: Faith, Hope and Love, which you received in Baptism. Like the human talents you received, these won’t grow or be of great benefit to you unless you develop them, and in developing them you will see more clearly why God gave them to you and how he wants you to use them.

We have to ground our life in Faith. That means, in part, using our faith when we are thinking about life (where did life come from, what is it for, what comes after life, what is most important in life, etc) and to base our decisions on the truths we discover, and not only on our impressions and likes or some passing pleasure or satisfaction.

We also have to live our life in Hope and Trust. We hope to reach eternal life in Heaven after this life is over. We hope to be happy for all eternity. We trust in Christ that if we put him first we will find this everlasting happiness and also be filled with peace in this life.

We trust in Christ that he will not abandon us, no matter how difficult life or our vocation might be at times.

And especially, we have to ground our life on Charity. No matter what we do or how great our works are, if we don’t love it is all a waste of time. And consequently the wisest decisions we make as regards life and how we will live it are those that are based on Love: love for God and love for our neighbor as ourselves.

So, I would encourage you to grow through prayer and the Sacraments in these three virtues. Jesus died on the Cross so we could be born to this new life, which is worth more than our natural life itself. Use them as your principal points of reference when you are making your life-decisions, and many other considerations will fall into place much more easily.

God bless.

-Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

Why is chastity so important to the religious life?

-Millie

A. Dear Millie,

There are three 'Evangelical Counsels', which are poverty, chastity and obedience. These are the characteristics of Christ's life and message, and every Christian is called to practice them in a way compatible with his state in life. The chastity of a young person dating and the chastity of a married couple are signs today of how different Christ's message is from the world's.

So everybody is called to live chastely and what is particular about religious life is the form that chastity takes, the type of chastity the consecrated person is called to, and that is celibacy.

The value of celibacy lies in the fact that this is the type of life Christ chose for himself, and Mary also lived it. From the very beginning of the Church it has been a call given to certain of Christ's followers. Generally it is a sign that a Church is authentic when God gives this grace to some of its members.

Celibacy also has practical fruits: it leaves us free to dedicate ourselves totally to prayer and God's work; it is a sign that we really believe in what we preach (this life is not everything, etc.), but especially it makes us more like Christ, and is a sign to the people we serve of how God loves them.

-Fr Anthony

At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Introductory Prayer: Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I accept and adopt the way of life to which you call me through the grace of faith. I hope in your mercy and forgiveness so that I can remain faithful to a holy way of life and the inheritance you have promised. Lord, I know you love me. I can see it in the joy and trials in my life. You are there through it all, calling me to you. I vow to remain childlike in my relationship to you so that all you have hidden may be revealed to me in your time.

Petition: Jesus, help me to seek you with a sincere heart.

1. You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding comprise three of seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. So in itself being wise and learned cannot be an issue. Jesus is here speaking of those whose pride and inflated ego make them wise and learned in their own estimation and for their own purposes. In such souls an altered form of wisdom and knowledge develops that eventually does not recognize the practical need for God in one’s daily life. The mysteries of God are thus hidden from them precisely because they have focused their hearts and minds on themselves as the supreme good. They get lost in their own sophistication and lose sight of their true purpose in life. The greater a being is, the more it wants to determine its own life. It wants to be less and less dependent and, thus, more and more itself a kind of god, needing no one else at all. This is how the desire arises to become free of all need, what we call pride. (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, God and the World, p. 125). In the end, it is they who have closed the door to God since God will never close the door to us.

2. You have revealed them to the childlike. Later in this same Gospel Jesus will reaffirm this basic truth in another way: Unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18:3). Even as adults we must never cease to be childlike, uncomplicated and properly dependent. Christ obviously knows that original sin has affected all humanity and that even children will sin.

But children are not naturally complicated and deceitful. Hiding behind masks and developing pretenses is a tendency learned with time. We must strive to be sincere with our Lord and sincere with ourselves, seeking to please him above all things. Otherwise, we risk destroying our lives by living a divided, insincere life.

3. Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Rest, not in the sense of cessation from work and struggle, but in the sense of peace of soul, joy, and profound happiness. This is the rest that we all long for, the rest that will one day be uninterrupted in the bliss of heaven. We have each met individuals who experience this peace and joy despite their circumstances. Notice that Jesus does not promise to take away the burdens or trials and sufferings. But if we take his yoke upon ourselves, if we will submit to his plan, to his will and to his love, he guarantees us joy. If we have never experienced it, then let us begin today, giving him what we know in our heart he is asking of us. Sometimes our fear of the cross and what Jesus might take from us keeps us from accepting the Lord’s yoke. More than anything, except mortal sin, this fear robs us of the peace and joy he wants to give us. Though it may hurt at first, as does every yoke, this one brings peace and the ease of joy. If you struggle daily to do what is morally right even when those around you take shortcuts, then come to Jesus; if the life of selfish pleasure and illicit gain seems exceedingly attractive, then come to Jesus; if you are burdened with your patterns of sin and weaknesses of character that affect your vocation as a Christian, then come to Jesus; if life seems unfair and God seems distant at best, then come to Jesus. He calls us not to a set of principles and noble ideals, but to his very person. We do not follow rules, we follow Jesus. Only when we have first come to him will we understand the need for the rules which simply help protect the depth and truth of this relationship.

Conversation: Lord, you lead me towards everlasting peace if I will simply follow, but following does not always seem simple. Give me the very thing you ask of me: faith, generosity, courage, trust, love. With these gifts and your grace I will have the necessary strength for the journey. Mother Most Pure, make my heart only for Jesus.

Questionnaire:

1. How much “wisdom and prudence” is there in my life?

2. How simple and childlike am I in God’s hands?

3. What “burden” is Jesus asking me to carry that I am still leaving aside?

Mysterious gift of the sense of time and eternity — abundant and generous, given to me by my Lord since my early youth. He has taught me to free my soul from all that comes and goes, and anchor it to the one enduring good. To look at everything around me — things, events, people — with the eyes of a traveler who makes his way without a moment to stop, without attaching his heart to anything, because at every moment everything is beginning and everything is ending; and there exists a Being close by, yet distant to whom he must look and toward whom he must go in order to find — in him, yes — his temporal and eternal moorings. School of wisdom and light that taught me to value time and eternity, and to strive never to waste even a single moment in which I could accomplish something for the Kingdom of God and the good of my brothers and sisters, heedless of the groans of my sensuality.

Building a life and building it within God’s plan is not easy. Nonetheless, I have been greatly helped by the contemplation of eternity, the generosity and love of Christ the Redeemer, and constant vigilance to reject anything that could hint of evasion in fulfilling my humble and total self-giving.

After his “conversion”, on the way to Damascus, Paul traveled throughout parts of Asia Minor (currently Turkey), Syria and Arabia (now Jordan), all the way to Jerusalem, before reaching Europe, Greece and ultimately Rome. One can reasonably date his journeys back to around the 50s A.D. or so.

First Journey

From Antioch to Cyprus and to the south of Anatoly (Perge, Antioch of Psidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe), Paul and Barnabas preached with ardor in the synagogues the Good News of the Resurrection and salvation in Jesus, establishing some communities there. When the Jews distanced themselves from him, Paul then turned his preaching towards the Gentiles.

Second Journey

Paul’s first objective was to go with Silas to meet the communities he created in Southern Anatoly (in Lystra he met Timothy, who accompanied them during their journey). They continued their travels towards the northwest, up to the Dardanelles, to Troas, from where they departed for Greece; Paul established the Churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens and Corinth. Afterwards he went back to Antioch, his main base, passing through Ephesus and Caesarea. In Antioch, for the very first time the believers were called “Christians”.

Third Journey

This journey can be considered one of strengthening. Paul revisited the Churches he created in Anatoly and Greece, together with Timothy and Titus. He sailed again to Tyre, Caesarea and Jerusalem, where he was arrested.

The Journey in Captivity

His voyage to Rome as a prisoner was not a missionary journey; nevertheless his activity as an evangelizer did not cease to continue.

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

Test Your Call Weekends. Experience the novitiate in Cheshire, CT with retreats for young men ages 16-27 sponsored by the Legion of Christ. These weekend retreats combine time for personal reflection, preached meditations, conferences, and opportunities for confession and spiritual direction with the experience of the day to day life of the seminarians. For more information, please call Br. Francois at (800) 420-5409 or email vocation@legionaries.org. Dates in 2008: July 25-27, Aug 14-17, Oct 10-12, Nov 26-30, Dec 19-23, and Dec 26-30

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated women

Mark your calendars for World Youth Day in Australia 2008! In the days leading up to the celebration of World Youth Day, young people from around the world will gather to take part in a special service mission proclaiming the Holy Fathers message throughout parish communities. By joining us as Missionaries for the Pope you spend four days helping local parishes get the Word out about the upcoming World Youth Day events. Young Women ages 16-29 are invited to join MissionYouth during the World Youth Days' activities July 7-21. Cost is $1700, not including airfare, but does include the WYD. For more information please contact Katie Stephens at kstephens@missionnetwork.com or 678/679-2512.

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