“Good Pope John”

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Pope John XXIII, prayer, Second Vatican Council, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we honor Pope (now “Saint”) John XXIII, the humble man whose vision shocked the world of the 20th century with an aggiornamento (updating) that invigorated the Catholic Church in the modern world. His faith and integrity was grounded in his love and holiness. He was known to have lived by simple prayer and love for his Church, the world and people everywhere. Here is one of his simply stated pearls of wisdom.

Prayer is the raising of the mind to God. We must always remember this. The actual words matter less.

Good Pope John

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Gospel, Pope John XXIII, Saint John XXIII, Second Vatican Council, serve, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understand

Today we honor the life of the one remembered as “Good” Pope John, now called “Saint John XXIII.” Pope Francis made official in April of 2014 what Christians (and others) around the world knew for decades. Most vivid in my memory were the videos of the day in October of 1963 when the Second Vatican Council was inaugurated. Carried in procession in the midst of throngs of Catholics and others from the worldwide gathering, Pope John oozed humility and love. His head slightly bowed as he waved to those gathered, tears were in his eyes at the momentous beginning of what was to be a Council that rocked the world and changed the trajectory of the Roman Catholic Church for good.

Less than a year from that day, John XXIII died, leaving a final message of hope, not only for his beloved Church, but for the entire world. We would do well to reflect on it today and re-energize our efforts toward his vision.

Now more than ever, he said, certainly more than in past centuries, our intention is to serve people as such and not only Catholics.; to defend above all and everywhere the rights of the human person…It is not the Gospel that changes; it is we who begin to understand it better...The moment has arrived when we must recognize the signs of the times, seize the opportunity and look abroad. (June 3, 1963)

Inspiration

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Holy Spirit, inspiration, love, Mother Teresa, Second Vatican Council, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Agnes of Assisi, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning I find myself considering the concept of inspiration, a word that, in itself, has a complex history and many different – if related – meanings. It comes from the Latin inspiratus, the past participle of a verb that means to breathe into. In a concrete way, it tells us how we get air into our lungs which is, of course, the basic necessity for living. I found what I was looking for, however, in the answer to an internet question that asked, “What does it mean when someone says, You are my inspiration?” Here is what it said.

The definition of inspiration is “the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions; a person, place, experience, etc. that makes someone want to do or create something.” (Merriam-Webster)

My religious congregation, The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, like many others around the world, have seen significant change over the years, the inspiration for which has been a mix of necessity and response to needs. The most significant impetus for the change in my lifetime was the dictum of the inspired Second Vatican Council (1962-65) which called us to go back to the spirit of our founders and bring that vision to expressions appropriate to the modern world. This effort has initiated monumental changes over the past 50 years and continues to enlighten us about the mission that we have been given. We are often reminded of the six women who sat in a kitchen in Lepuy, France in 1648 discussing the needs of their immediate world and then went out to divide their city in response to those needs. Now we are everywhere in the world, doing our best through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to do the same.

Today we celebrate Agnes of Assisi, the younger sister of Clare, who followed St. Francis in 1221 and gathered around herself women of like mind. I was amazed as I read the list of places to which Clare sent her sister Agnes (beginning at the age of 24!), cities throughout Italy and then Spain. And that was just the beginning. By the turn of the century (1300) the foundations had spread to France and then jumped the Channel to England and beyond.

We often characterize the Holy Spirit as a fire – a great passion of love that moves people to great things – or small things in a great way, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta characterized possibility for most of us. I wonder at the greatness of heart of young women like Clare and Agnes and those who caught the call of God beaming out from their lives and followed. Where does that fire exist today and how can we fan the flames? How can any group of us make it our task to create together and to inspire others in the name of love?

 

 

 

 

 

Pope Saint John XXIII

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gratitude, holiness, humility, humor, Job, Pope John XXIII, saint, Second Vatican Council, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we celebrate Pope John XXIII, canonized (some would add “finally!”) by Pope Francis in 2014. The website franciscanmedia.org opens today’s reflection with a wonderful sentence: “A shy, retiring man with a wonderful sense of humor, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli became our beloved Pope St. John XXIII.” It is well known that he was elected by the College of Cardinals as a stop-gap pope to give them time to “get the politics ironed out for a more permanent candidate.” The Holy Spirit had other plans, however, as John XXIII rocked the Church by calling the Second Vatican Council, an aggiornamento (updating) that changed the face of Roman Catholicism for all time.

We remember Pope John for that cataclysmic event (1962-1965) as if he had never done anything in his life before, but here are a few of his credentials that should have alerted people to his fitness for the “job” of Pope even before the Council.

He was the eldest son of a farm family, simple and not interested in the limelight but rather proud of his down-to-earth roots. Having served as a stretcher bearer in World War I, he experienced war firsthand. After ordination to the priesthood he became a canon lawyer, secretary to his bishop, history teacher in the seminary and publisher of the diocesan newspaper in Rome. Subsequently, he was Italy’s national director for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith while also teaching in the seminary. He served as a papal diplomat in Bulgaria, Turkey and France. During World War II he became acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders and with the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people. As a cardinal, he was the Patriarch of Venice and a residential bishop, finally being elected Pope in his 78th year. As pope, He worked with political and religious leaders around the world and was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. He enlarged the membership of the College of Cardinals, making it more international, and wrote important encyclical letters to the world, most famously about the Church: Mater et magistra (Mother and Teacher) and the world: Pacem in terris (Peace on Earth).

It could be said that all of those credentials, so wonderfully documented at www.franciscanmedia.org, are overshadowed by his holiness and humility. Although it is useless to quantify such qualities, we would do well to think on these things and pray in gratitude for this saintly friend of God who served his Church and the world so well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Enduring Legacy

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Assumption, birth, Catholic Church, courageous choices, exile, God's will, Luke, Magnificat, Mary, Messiah, Pope Paul VI, poverty, say yes, Second Vatican Council

Today the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, into heaven. It is one of many feasts observed by Catholics the world over – in both Eastern and Roman rite – and gives pride of place to the woman who said yes to the call of God to bring Christ to the world in the most significant way possible: by birth. In the renewal of the past half century, begun at the Second Vatican Council, we have come to appreciate Mary in perhaps more expansive ways. What I mean is that if we do indeed recognize her as a young woman (probably still a teenager) who lived in a small village in the Middle East, perhaps illiterate and certainly not privileged in any social way, her “yes” to God seems as extraordinary as it always has, but with one additional understanding that generations rarely if ever conceded – or even considered. This seemingly ordinary, humble young woman who cooperated with grace in an uncharacteristic way is the same girl who responded to the recognition by her kinswoman Elizabeth that she was carrying the Messiah with the following words:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord…From this day all generations shall call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me…He has shown the strength of his arm and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly…(LK 1:39-56)

Commenting on Marialis Cultus, Pope Paul VI’s apostolic letter on Mary, Elizabeth Johnson writes that the Pope “describes Mary as a strong and intelligent woman, one who has the wits to question back when the angel addressed her, one who experienced poverty and suffering, flight and exile. In the midst of these troubles she consistently gave active and responsible consent to the call of God, made courageous choices, and worked to strengthen the faith of others….In the most quoted passage from this letter, the Pope then declares that far from endorsing the particulars of Mary’s own life as exemplary, the Church proposes her to the faithful as an example to be imitated: not precisely in the type of life she led, much less for the socio-cultural background in which she lived and which today scarcely exists anywhere. Rather, she is held up as an example for the way in which, in her own particular life, she fully and responsibly accepted God’s will (see LK 1:38), because she heard the Word of God and acted on it, and because charity and a spirit of service were the driving force of her actions…(#35)“

Johnson concludes that “what has a permanent, universal, exemplary value is the way she walked the path of her own life before God, which can instruct and inspire people’s own creative responses in this new era. We can be inspired by her because we are all human together. Mary is ‘one of our race,’ ‘a true daughter of Eve,’ indeed (as Pope Paul says) ‘truly our sister, who as a poor and humble woman shared our lot’ (#56).”

Our Journey in Faith

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Christian path, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Pope Francis, Second Vatican Council, st. francis, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’m on my way out early this morning to share with 25 people interested in considering influences in their lives of faith. I have chosen four from the 2000 years of Christianity. My choices are those that follow here.

1. Jesus, without whom there would be no Christian path.
2. Saint Francis, the “Little Poor Man of Assisi,” who surrendered everything of himself for God in love, who delighted in all of God’s creation and who founded a religious order that thrives today in an attempt to renew/rebuild the Church.
3. The Second Vatican Council, which “opened the windows” fifty years ago to let in the Holy Spirit, ushering in a new way of being Roman Catholic that reverberated throughout the Christian world and engaged lay people in a way that had not been seen since the early days of Christianity. The opening lines of the document on The Church in the Modern World say this: The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the people of this age, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.
4. Pope Francis, named for the above-mentioned saint, who has rocked the world with his simplicity, his humility and his loving ways. Francis has given new hope for people the world over for a Church that is less hierarchical, more Christ-like and ecumenical, focusing on the ideals expressed at the Second Vatican Council, calling Catholics and others to care for the needs of the world as his predecessor, St. Francis, did so vividly.

What people/events would be on your list?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singing from the Inside

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guitar Mass, Isaiah, Master Musicians, music, musicians, one who sings prays twice, praise, Scripture, Second Vatican Council, St. Louis Jesuits, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, voice

It occurred to me this morning just how often as I read the Scripture for the day I hear words and melodies in my head. In the 1970s Catholics experienced a new phenomenon that came to be known as “guitar Masses” or – usually spoken of by those who found the movement distasteful – “hootenanny Masses.” It was an attempt after the Second Vatican Council for liturgists to find new ways to praise God during ritual that would appeal to new generations of worshippers. Some of the results of this “experiment” were dismal but as serious musicians and theologians entered the scene the beauty of voice and instruments – from guitars to entire orchestras – produced some wonderful compositions that are still beloved almost 50 years later. One of the most prolific and talented groups of that era was the St. Louis Jesuits, five young men who were studying for the priesthood at St. Louis University. Many of their compositions sing of God’s care for us in the words of the Hebrew Scriptures and for me they are always illustrative of the adage, the one who sings prays twice. Even here alone this morning I can feel the surge of love and faith within me as I sing silently the words of the prophet Isaiah (40: 25-31).

We will run and not grow weary, for the Lord will be our strength and we will fly like the eagle. We will rise again!

Today I thank God for all the musicians who lift my spirit or comfort me in times of darkness. Any genre of music is miracle to me and I am grateful to give voice in praise. Whether loudly accompanying a CD in my car or silently swaying to the music of my heart, I bow always to the Master Musician.