Celebrate? What do we really mean by that? What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear that word?
The word has its roots in the terms solemnize and honor. And yet, what do we think of, usually? We tend to think of a special day or an event and a resulting party to go with it. I know that prior to my conversion to Catholicism my first thought was to think of the last of the definitions in the dictionary; 7. to have or participate in a party, drinking spree, or uninhibited good time.
Now my first word association with Celebrate is Mass. This is one of those subtle changes that Martha was speaking of in her comment on Chapter 4. I am not sure when this change actually took place, but take place it did.
Again in this Chapter Kelly challenges us regarding the visibility of our Faith to those around us. On page 44 he speaks of a teenager’s room. This is an easy place to throw stones in this context for sure, but step out of that room and go out in the front yard of your home. Do you see anything out there, other than the obligatory statue of St. Francis, celebrating your Faith? (and St. Francis almost does not count since even non-Christians put one out there in the garden for some reason!) Can someone simply walk in to your yard and conclude that a Catholic, or even a Christian lives in your home? Try stepping in to the front hall and the living room and ask yourself the same question. Move through the rest of your home, even in to the, dare I say it, bedroom!
Dictionary definition 2 of celebration: to make known publicly; proclaim. In part we do this by the art and the furnishings that surround us in our homes. This is a way of demonstrating and proclaiming what is most important to us. There will be family pictures for all to see for sure! How about a Crucifix? Or a statue of our Blessed Mother? Or an image of the Holy Father? Is there something highly visible that proclaims the good news of the Gospel without a word ever being spoken?
As he moves on to the concept of personal Holiness and our application of the Gospel at every moment of our lives I am “convicted”, as our Protestant brothers are prone to say, of my daily inadequacy in this regard. I am reminded of a wonderful little book to recommend by Brother Lawrence entitled “Practicing the Presence of God”. It addresses how to do just that, live moment to moment aware of God’s constant presence. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, with every decision we are choosing to move closer to or farther from God. Easier said than done, but something to strive for! A direction in which to move! On page 50 “Life should never be wasted”….then comes the clincher for we often think of this to mean “an entire life, start to finish” but no; he adds “Not one moment because life is precious”. How many moments of our precious lives do we waste?
So let us celebrate our Faith openly, working however imperfectly but to the best of our ability to be visibly Catholic, showing an example so that others might see it and wonder why we are the way we are and conclude that it would be good to join in. At that point the truth of the matter will come out and folks will realize that it is The Church, through the Mass and the other sacraments, who is feeding us and guiding us on the incredibly wonderful and exciting journey to Holiness. In this way we can show them the relevance of Jesus (see page 46) in our time and place.
Luke
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Oh, agree- no surprise there. Here’s a question: do you have more team sweatshirts than religious articles in your home?
ReplyDeleteAs for celebrate, at the oddest times, and increasingly often, I feel a surge of delight in my life, and want to leap into the air, click my heels together and shout, “Yippee! I am CATHOLIC!!!” Faith really ought to be something that fills us with delight, even at difficult times. Father Corapi tells the story of a man dying from melanoma, who has become emaciated and pain wracked—but who had learned how to so join himself with Christ on the cross that he reflected in his last hours, “You can’t believe the joy.”
You can’t believe the joy. I’m not at the point that I am likely to make that statement in a times of distress (Please, God, may I get there) but I can say it in the midst of my ordinary life.
Martha
The author points out that some faith communities are in extreme difficulties while others are coming to life again by honestly recognizing the causes of their difficulties and taking very positive steps that inspires new life in their church. This requires an honest look at a specific faith community's actual situation. While this seems self-evident, it is easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteThe basic underpinning of this chapter is to realize that we become what we celebrate. it is critical to recognize that the human will seeks what it perceives to be "a good". For example, if we fill our minds with the bad things that are seen on some TV shows, it is not unreasonable to expect that we will begin to modify our understanding of what is good and what is bad. Bad becomes more acceptable or perhaps even very good if we only feed our minds with bad things. Where are our children in this situation?
Our church is in real trouble and it is deteriorating in membership and in preaching the truth. I believe, as a general statement, that we have been moving away from the Church Christ established to something "more comfortable". That simply means we are in an age that is watering down the real truth that we should be celebrating. Truth has become relative and our wills frequently seek, not God, but worldly pleasures, wealth and power.
As an aside, about twenty years ago I attended a very large prayer meeting and retreat with other folks at Steubenville University - a marvelous Catholic educational institution. One individual, moved by the Holy Spirit, offered a prayer in some unknown language . Another individual, moved by the Holy Spirit, interpreted the prayer and stated the Catholic Church would become very large but that the real, true, Catholic Church would become very small. That, I believe, is where we are today. Our real Catholic Church has become very small.
To recover from the current malaise in our Church, we need to become holy as individuals and then our Church will again become holy and exciting as God intended. The author eloquently states: "holiness is simply the application of the values and principles of the Gospel to the circumstances of our everyday lives-one moment at a time". If we are looking for excitement in our lives, we need to try turning our needs over to God and watch Him "do His thing". Now that's excitement to celebrate. Mr. Kelly rightly states: "...it is time for us to reassess the place and priority our faith has in our lives". Our future depends on it.
The author reminds us that our churches are emptying. We lack contact with our youth. Divorce is destroying our families and vocations are scarce. From my personal experience, what we are teaching our children is "pabulum". How can we expect our children to be strong Catholics, excited about God, if we don't give them the complete story so to speak? We have serious problems and one would have to be somewhat blind not to recognize that we have them.
Mr. Kelly makes a very good point about making a strong effort to go out and bring the Church to the people. While I agree with that mission of Christ, it is my view that we must first pray for the Holy Spirit to help us "educate" the people we do have with the absolute truth and then send them out with that truth. This begins with our priests and religious educators who must fearlessly teach and live Christ's message without compromise.
Mr. Kelly concludes that personal holiness is the solution to the Church's obvious problems and I certainly agree with him. We become what we celebrate - what we think - what we believe and how we live. There is nothing as attractive as a person who is truthful or authentic. We must be all we can be.
Theodore's blog was inadvertently placed in the comment section. It has been re-posted where it belongs.....
ReplyDeleteCannot figure out how to remove a comment once up there, so this will stay where it is.
Kelly's comment about celebrating things as a culture I think hits the nail on the head. Living the Christian life has in itself become countercultural. Church attendance on Sunday only is what it is, because there remain some cultural norms to "do that" on Sunday. Our "judeo-Christian" culture has utterly removed Judaism and Christianity from the other 6 days of the week (and I suppose all 7 in Western Europe).
ReplyDeleteThe "smallness" of the Faith that Theodore mentions above though should be approached with caution. Whatever the size of the so-called "invisible Church", it should by no means detract from the large "visible church".
Not wanting to veer off into a side discussion, but the idea of an invisible church is one that stems from the Protestant reformation, and the need to construct a church that was other than the Catholic Church from which they split. Christ does not indicate in any way that He is founding an "invisible" church. He is founding visible church (city on a hill, lamp on a lamp stand) with a real head who represents Christ on earth (keys of the kingdom, power to bind and lose) and populated by those who are faithful and those who are not (wheat and tares, not, as most proponents of the invisible church say, the society of all "saved" true believers) Whatever that invisible body of believers separated by man-made division is, it is not the Church as Christ defined it. Martha.
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