Lent is perhaps the single most dangerous time, spiritually, to be a Christian.
The enemy hates to see us pray, he hates to see us fast and he will do anything to keep us from repenting. Anything. Since the Season of Lent is devoted to unabashed penance, to self denial and prayer it infuriates him. We can expect--we should expect--to be attacked as individuals in our prayer life, our liturgical life, our mode of repentance, and our efforts at reform. Perversely--because Satan perverts and inverts everything good--we can expect our efforts to wrestle with the Seven Deadly Sins to be confusing: if we work on Lust, Pride will rise up, and if we work on Pride, Avarice will raise it's head, so on and so forth. Wrath will dog our steps, we will become discouraged as we look at some of the things our Shepherds do and wonder why we're trying, we will fall into Acedia and lose the will to fight. These things are Satan's Counter Offensive, and he will deliver it with violence, craft and, most insidiously, relentless infiltration.
Dig in! prepare your positions for the counter offensive. Stake out your territory, what you think you should most work on, and do your work, but post Pickets and Sentries, for there will be attempts to flank you, to slip quietly through your weak points and attack you from the rear, to destroy the resources you depend on in this season of spiritual strife.
We need to give mind to something else as well--Lent is a time for collective repentance as well. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. (Is 58:1) This is written in the plural, it's not addressed to a specific sinner, but to the People of God as a whole. We repent--which means not just bemoan and express sorrow for but to turn away from--our sins as God's people, the new Israel. This is where we will collectively fall on our fundaments.
No one can look at the state of the Church right now and emerge all happy and pleased. We are still reaping the results of the Abuse Scandal, a scandal that was essentially intended to be a truncheon in the hands of Satan, fomented by Satan through the agency of those who willingly cooperated with him in sin, and who were deceived by him in policy. We are under attack by the coercive power of the State, using our very unfaithfulness against us to justify their intrusion into our spiritual and religious life. Our response to this is just coalescing, yet already factions are emerging, and we are not going to weather this well without the intervention of God. We have those who will actively campaign for the State, but they are no matter--they are nothing more than the Old Testament Wives of kings who pressed for the erection of altars on the high places, and worship of foreign gods. With their disciplining, or expulsion, this can be solved. And the stake are growing large enough that this shall occur.
Bu to those of us who consider themselves traditional, conservative Catholics, there is a danger presented that is as grave as that of the Harlotry of Secular Relativism.
We are prone to discount the Social Justice aspects of our faith, to take root in a political conservatism that disregards our duty to those who need our help. Just as Liberal Catholics will see paying taxes as Social Justice and Charitable outreach err, we tend to err by looking down on, and being contemptuous of the poor and oppressed. Here I must say that I do not believe that taxes can ever be a Charitable Outreach--we do not give them to the poor, but to the government, and they are not applied in the Love that is Charity--the disinterested desire for the greatest good of another--but in a program, that sees not individuals, but "units". At the same time, relief given through private means that is given with contempt, with condescension, isn't Charity either--it's given not for the Greatest Good of an individual, without reference to what one can get from it (that's called disinterested Love) but almost as a bribe, a way to "buy off the Lord". It is in the end as false as saying that we voted for and established poor laws, so we've done our duty and established justice. Both are failures, both are unacceptable to the Lord.
These two views, for want of better words the Liberal and the Conservative, are no longer in tension in the Church, they are in conflict, outright opposition. And the Lord mentions this, as well: "Why do we fast and you not see it? Afflict ourselves and you take not note of it?"...Lo on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits...Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high. (Is 58: 3,4) The division between the progressive, "Social Gospel & Liberation theology" people, and the traditional "prayer, penance and reformation" people will be the weak part that Satan used to attack the whole Church this Lent. And it's up to faithful Catholics to reinforce this weak point with prayer, fasting and almsgiving!
Is this not the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you and the glory of the Lord shall be our rear guard. Then you shall call and the lord will answer, you shall cry and he will say, Here I Am. (Is 58:6-9)
The NAB translation of this text, used in the Liturgy of Hours says, "...not turning your back on your own" where the Translation I favor (RSV) says "...Not to hide yourself from your own flesh".
Here's where we are weak: The progressive elements within the Church are wed to the Democratic party, and will resign charity to political activism--they may well work for justice, but not Christian justice, and not as witness but as part of a political machine, an act more or less devoid of charity and grounded in politics. Justice without Charity--again the disinterested desire of the Greatest Good for another--isn't justice, it is merely law. The traditional elements within the Church will labor mightily for our religious liberty, but will quite likely buy off on the Republican party as the proper avenue to this end. But that too, will not be justice, for we will have to ally ourselves to other portions of the Republican agenda that are not grounded in Charity, or even liberty, but the desire for a particular economic situation. We may think that by so doing we are establishing an environment where economic opportunity can flourish, and so be doing our duty to the poor and oppressed, but this too will be devoid of true Charity.
Rather we should realize that every pizza we skip this Lent, every movie ticket we don't buy, every chocolate we eschew is not only an act of self denial, but an opportunity for love--and the money for that should hit the poor box of your Church. If your church hasn't got a poor box, you have just found a task from God--agitate for one. And when you put the money in, even as your stomach growls, you should be as happy as you would be to present your little brother with a candy bar, or your mother a bouquet of flowers, because we are all children of God, and the poor, the oppressed--even the dirty objectionable and weird-- deserve our help and respect. And if we do not ground our actions concerning the economy, the political climate, services and outreach in Charity, in Love, then all our fasting is worthless, unseen by the Lord.
(Just in case anyone is wondering where I got this, an dhow i picked the scriptures I cited, this is the Scriptural reading from the Liturgy of the Hours for Ash Wednesday, The Office of Readings. This is from the Liturgy of the Roman Rite, and we can't blow it off just because it doesn't sit with our opposition to the "Peace and Justice and Social Liberalism" wing of the church!)
The enemy hates to see us pray, he hates to see us fast and he will do anything to keep us from repenting. Anything. Since the Season of Lent is devoted to unabashed penance, to self denial and prayer it infuriates him. We can expect--we should expect--to be attacked as individuals in our prayer life, our liturgical life, our mode of repentance, and our efforts at reform. Perversely--because Satan perverts and inverts everything good--we can expect our efforts to wrestle with the Seven Deadly Sins to be confusing: if we work on Lust, Pride will rise up, and if we work on Pride, Avarice will raise it's head, so on and so forth. Wrath will dog our steps, we will become discouraged as we look at some of the things our Shepherds do and wonder why we're trying, we will fall into Acedia and lose the will to fight. These things are Satan's Counter Offensive, and he will deliver it with violence, craft and, most insidiously, relentless infiltration.
Dig in! prepare your positions for the counter offensive. Stake out your territory, what you think you should most work on, and do your work, but post Pickets and Sentries, for there will be attempts to flank you, to slip quietly through your weak points and attack you from the rear, to destroy the resources you depend on in this season of spiritual strife.
We need to give mind to something else as well--Lent is a time for collective repentance as well. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. (Is 58:1) This is written in the plural, it's not addressed to a specific sinner, but to the People of God as a whole. We repent--which means not just bemoan and express sorrow for but to turn away from--our sins as God's people, the new Israel. This is where we will collectively fall on our fundaments.
No one can look at the state of the Church right now and emerge all happy and pleased. We are still reaping the results of the Abuse Scandal, a scandal that was essentially intended to be a truncheon in the hands of Satan, fomented by Satan through the agency of those who willingly cooperated with him in sin, and who were deceived by him in policy. We are under attack by the coercive power of the State, using our very unfaithfulness against us to justify their intrusion into our spiritual and religious life. Our response to this is just coalescing, yet already factions are emerging, and we are not going to weather this well without the intervention of God. We have those who will actively campaign for the State, but they are no matter--they are nothing more than the Old Testament Wives of kings who pressed for the erection of altars on the high places, and worship of foreign gods. With their disciplining, or expulsion, this can be solved. And the stake are growing large enough that this shall occur.
Bu to those of us who consider themselves traditional, conservative Catholics, there is a danger presented that is as grave as that of the Harlotry of Secular Relativism.
We are prone to discount the Social Justice aspects of our faith, to take root in a political conservatism that disregards our duty to those who need our help. Just as Liberal Catholics will see paying taxes as Social Justice and Charitable outreach err, we tend to err by looking down on, and being contemptuous of the poor and oppressed. Here I must say that I do not believe that taxes can ever be a Charitable Outreach--we do not give them to the poor, but to the government, and they are not applied in the Love that is Charity--the disinterested desire for the greatest good of another--but in a program, that sees not individuals, but "units". At the same time, relief given through private means that is given with contempt, with condescension, isn't Charity either--it's given not for the Greatest Good of an individual, without reference to what one can get from it (that's called disinterested Love) but almost as a bribe, a way to "buy off the Lord". It is in the end as false as saying that we voted for and established poor laws, so we've done our duty and established justice. Both are failures, both are unacceptable to the Lord.
These two views, for want of better words the Liberal and the Conservative, are no longer in tension in the Church, they are in conflict, outright opposition. And the Lord mentions this, as well: "Why do we fast and you not see it? Afflict ourselves and you take not note of it?"...Lo on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits...Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high. (Is 58: 3,4) The division between the progressive, "Social Gospel & Liberation theology" people, and the traditional "prayer, penance and reformation" people will be the weak part that Satan used to attack the whole Church this Lent. And it's up to faithful Catholics to reinforce this weak point with prayer, fasting and almsgiving!
Is this not the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you and the glory of the Lord shall be our rear guard. Then you shall call and the lord will answer, you shall cry and he will say, Here I Am. (Is 58:6-9)
The NAB translation of this text, used in the Liturgy of Hours says, "...not turning your back on your own" where the Translation I favor (RSV) says "...Not to hide yourself from your own flesh".
Here's where we are weak: The progressive elements within the Church are wed to the Democratic party, and will resign charity to political activism--they may well work for justice, but not Christian justice, and not as witness but as part of a political machine, an act more or less devoid of charity and grounded in politics. Justice without Charity--again the disinterested desire of the Greatest Good for another--isn't justice, it is merely law. The traditional elements within the Church will labor mightily for our religious liberty, but will quite likely buy off on the Republican party as the proper avenue to this end. But that too, will not be justice, for we will have to ally ourselves to other portions of the Republican agenda that are not grounded in Charity, or even liberty, but the desire for a particular economic situation. We may think that by so doing we are establishing an environment where economic opportunity can flourish, and so be doing our duty to the poor and oppressed, but this too will be devoid of true Charity.
Rather we should realize that every pizza we skip this Lent, every movie ticket we don't buy, every chocolate we eschew is not only an act of self denial, but an opportunity for love--and the money for that should hit the poor box of your Church. If your church hasn't got a poor box, you have just found a task from God--agitate for one. And when you put the money in, even as your stomach growls, you should be as happy as you would be to present your little brother with a candy bar, or your mother a bouquet of flowers, because we are all children of God, and the poor, the oppressed--even the dirty objectionable and weird-- deserve our help and respect. And if we do not ground our actions concerning the economy, the political climate, services and outreach in Charity, in Love, then all our fasting is worthless, unseen by the Lord.
(Just in case anyone is wondering where I got this, an dhow i picked the scriptures I cited, this is the Scriptural reading from the Liturgy of the Hours for Ash Wednesday, The Office of Readings. This is from the Liturgy of the Roman Rite, and we can't blow it off just because it doesn't sit with our opposition to the "Peace and Justice and Social Liberalism" wing of the church!)
1 comment:
Fine and powerful post. Long ago I came to the conclusion that St Francis and numerous other Saints were right. The poor are friends of God and it's an honour to serve them.
God bless.
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