In preparation for our Homegrown Harvest Gala in the fall, which will benefit the Diocese of Jackson Office of Vocations, over the next several weeks we will feature a Q&A with one of our seminarians. This week, meet Tristan Stovall who is entering his first year of formation.
Tristan Stovall
Home parish: Holy Cross Philadelphia
Background: I was born and raised in the red clay hills of Neshoba county.
What is your vocation story? I was raised a Baptist. My first memory of Catholicism is seeing the funeral of Pope St. John Paul II on television. At the time I was awestruck by all the proceedings. I had so many questions about what was happening and who this man was for whom the whole world was coming to a halt. I became more and more interested as I grew up. When I was 15, I went to Mass for the first time at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. I knew then that I had to become a Catholic. At the Easter Vigil in 2014 I was received into full communion with the church. I have always had a deep desire to dedicate my life entirely to God. This desire was present for as long as I can remember. Entering into the sacramental life of the church changed my life. I began attending daily Mass and frequenting the sacrament of penance.
The example of the saints was very influential in my pursuing a vocation to the priesthood. St. Catherine of Siena has always exercised an influence over me. Seeing her example of total dedication has constantly inspired me to give myself entirely to the service of Jesus Christ and His Bride, the church. I hope one day to receive the call to Holy Orders and to be entirely dedicated to the service of the church.
What draws you to diocesan priesthood? The care of souls is what draws me to the diocesan priesthood. The care of souls means that the primary responsibility of the diocesan priest is to work for the salvation of those souls who are entrusted to his care. I believe that this is the specific ministry to which the Lord is calling me. This ministry is specific to the diocesan priest. I discerned the religious life for a while, but ultimately came to see that that was not what the Lord was asking me to do.
What are your hobbies/interests? I enjoy playing the piano. I also very much enjoy reading and traveling.
Who is your favorite saint and why? My favorite saint is Catherine of Siena. I love her because she has been a friend to me in my discernment. She is a “no-nonsense” sort of person. She was at once extremely joyful and serious. I think St. Catherine represents the divine humor which we so often miss in our faith. This 20-something-year-old, illiterate Italian girl was not afraid to confront the world’s most powerful people in order to carry out Christ’s work. Her life was profoundly ecclesial, she was focused on being faithful and ensuring the unity of the church, for which Christ prayed.
Do you have a favorite devotion? My favorite devotion is lectio divina, which is the prayerful reading of the Word of God. I am drawn to this devotion because it brings me to a deeper knowledge of Christ.
What is something people might be surprised to learn about you? I was once part of a Southern rock band.
Who is your favorite sports team? If my answer to this question was not “the LSU Tigers” my family would disown me.
What has been the most rewarding part of being a seminarian? And the most challenging? The most rewarding part of being a seminarian has been coming to a deeper knowledge of the faith. To know God is to love Him. I have experienced this concretely in my life throughout my years of seminary formation.
What advice do you have for those discerning a vocation? Don’t be afraid to give it a try. You have nothing to lose. You can’t discover whether or not you have a vocation until you try it out.
By Most Reverend Louis F. Kihneman and Most Reverend Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D. JACKSON – We join our voices to vehemently denounce racism, a plague among us. It is an evil and a force of destruction that eats away at the soul of our nation. Ultimately, it is a moral problem that requires a moral remedy — a transformation of the human heart — and compels us to act. “The evil of racism festers in part because in our nation there has been very limited formal acknowledgement of the harm done to so many, no moment of atonement, no national process of reconciliation and all too often a neglect of our history.” (Open Wide Our Hearts)
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz
“Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love — a pastoral letter against racism” was officially endorsed in November, 2018 at the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops Annual Conference in Baltimore. Following upon this near unanimous endorsement, the Cause for Canonization of Sister Thea Bowman, the granddaughter of slaves, the only African American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a woman who transcended racism to leave a lasting mark on Catholic life in the late 20th century, was introduced and overwhelmingly approved by the bishops. A prophetic document and a prophetic life combined to show our nation a better way, the path to greater justice and peace, whose beginning and end is the dignity of the human person. As the church seeks to be a leaven in society for solidarity, liberty and justice for all, we must recognize our participation in the chains of racism. “Therefore, we the Catholic bishops of the United States acknowledge the many times when the church has failed to live as Christ taught, to love our brothers and sisters. Acts of racism have been committed by leaders and members of the Catholic church, by bishops, clergy, religious and laity, and her institutions. We express deep sorrow and regret for them.” (Open Wide Our Hearts) Significant numbers of African Americans are born into economic and social disparity. We must recognize that generations of African Americans were disadvantaged by slavery, wage theft, “Jim Crow” laws, and the systematic denial of access to numerous wealth-building opportunities reserved for others. Racism can be institutional, when practices or traditions are upheld that treat certain groups of people unjustly. The cumulative effects of personal sins of racism have led to social structures of injustice and violence. (Open Wide Our Hearts) The heartless killing of George Floyd sparked a national outcry against the tyranny of racism. The actions and inactions of the officers involved are symptomatic of a pattern that has reached critical mass and has exploded across our nation and beyond. That brutal assault violates the fundamental truth lamented in “Open Wide our Hearts” that all people are created in the image and likeness of God. When this truth is ignored, the consequence is prejudice and fear of the other, and all too often, hatred. In the Gospel of John 3:16 we hear the foundation of the Christian faith that “God so loved the world he sent his only Son.” Not surprisingly, in the first letter of John 3:15 we hear “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” Despite the great blessings of liberty that this country offers, especially our freedoms afforded in the First Amendment, which includes both the freedom of religion and to peaceful protest, we must admit the plain truth that for many of our fellow citizens, interactions with the police are often fraught with fear and even danger. At the same time, we reject harsh rhetoric that belittles and dehumanizes our law enforcement personnel as a whole, most of whom labor to keep our communities safe, and we condemn attacks against police and the rioting and violence taking place across our country. Sister Thea addressed the toxic reality of racism on many occasions and spoke on behalf of her people. “When I was growing up, many of the old women who had undergone the ignominy of slavery were around, and they told us about slavery because we had to know about freedom. They told us about misery. The black woman has a task when the world says to her children, when the world says to her husband, when the world says to her mamma and to her, ‘there is something wrong with you. Your skin is too black. Your nose is too flat. Your hair is too nappy and too short. And you’re slow. And you’re ignorant. And you can’t learn like white folks. And you’re immoral.’ That’s what the racist society told us and told our children about themselves. The result was one of the great problems of the black community, the problem of low self-esteem, and it kills us.” (Mercy College of Detroit 1989). A poster at one of the peaceful protests in our nation illuminates this lament. “We said black lives matter. Never said: only black lives matter. We know: all lives matter. We just need your help … black lives are in danger.” The enduring call to love is the heart of the matter and the antidote to this toxin. Love is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. For many in Mississippi who strive to live by the Word of God, we cannot ignore the prophets. “You have been told, o mortal, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice, to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8), and from the prophet Amos, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24) Sister Thea’s life is a living legacy and testimony to the sacrifice and commitment of many in the Catholic Church for generations across Mississippi in the quest to overcome racism. Sister Thea was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, December 29, 1937, and grew up in Canton. Her mother was a teacher and her father was the only African American physician in Canton. Her parents sent her to Holy Child Jesus School. Thea was reared as a Protestant, until at age nine when she asked her parents if she could become Catholic. “I was drawn to examine and accept the Catholic faith because of the day-to-day witness of Catholic Christians who first loved me, then shared with me their story, their values, their beliefs; who first loved me, then invited me to share with them in community, prayer and mission. As a child I did not recognize evangelization at work in my life. I did recognize love, service, community, prayer and faith.” (The non-Catholic in the Catholic School) Gifted with a brilliant mind, beautiful voice and a dynamic personality, Sister Thea shared the message of God’s love through a teaching career. After 16 years of teaching at the elementary, secondary school and university level, the bishop of Jackson, Mississippi invited her to become the consultant for intercultural awareness. In her role as consultant Sister Thea gave presentations across the country; lively gatherings that combined singing, gospel teaching, prayer and storytelling. Her programs were directed to break down racial and cultural barriers. She encouraged people to communicate with one another so that they could understand other cultures and races. In 1984, Sister Thea was diagnosed with breast cancer. She prayed ‘to live until I die.’ Her prayer was answered, and Sister Thea continued her gatherings seated on a wheel chair. In 1989, the U. S. Bishops invited her to be a key speaker at their conference on Black Catholics. At the end of the meeting, Sister Thea’s invitation, the bishops stood and sang “We Shall Overcome” with gusto. Sister Thea lived a full Life. She fought evil, especially prejudice, suspicion, hatred, and things that drive people apart. She fought for God and God’s people until her death in 1990. (Cause for Canonization) As bishops in our time in Mississippi, we recommit ourselves to continue to liberate the Church from the evil of racism that severely compromises our mission to make disciples of all nations in the name of Jesus Christ. With the ordained priests and deacons, religious and laity in our diocese we pledge ourselves to strengthen our Catholic tradition to educate, to serve, and to empower all who are on the margins in our communities, especially those who are oppressed by the yoke of racism. We are not powerless and the witness of Sister Thea’s life is an icon of hope that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Por Obispo Most Reverend Louis F. Kihneman and Most Reverend Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D. Unimos nuestras voces para denunciar vehementemente al racismo, una plaga que existe entre nosotros. Es un mal y una fuerza destructiva que devora el alma de nuestra nación. Es definitivamente, un problema moral que requiere un remedio moral, una transformación del corazón humano, y nos obliga a actuar.
Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz
“El mal del racismo se agrava en parte porque en nuestra nación ha habido un reconocimiento formal muy limitado del daño hecho a tantas personas, ningún momento de expiación, ningún proceso nacional de reconciliación y, con demasiada frecuencia, un descuido de nuestra historia”, tal como se expresa en “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love” (Abramos nuestros corazones), una carta pastoral contra el racismo y que fue respaldada oficialmente en noviembre de 2018 en la Conferencia Anual de la Conferencia Católica de Obispos de los Estados Unidos en Baltimore. Tras este respaldo casi unánime, la Causa de Canonización de la Hermana Thea Bowman, nieta de esclavos, la única afroamericana de las Hermanas Franciscanas de la Adoración Perpetua, una mujer que trascendió el racismo para dejar una marca duradera en la vida católica a finales del siglo XX fue introducida y abrumadoramente aprobada por los Obispos. Este es un documento y una vida proféticos combinados para mostrarle a nuestra nación un mejor camino, el camino hacia una mayor justicia y paz, cuyo principio y fin es la dignidad de la persona humana. A medida que la Iglesia busca ser una levadura en la sociedad para la solidaridad, la libertad y la justicia para todos, debemos reconocer nuestra participación en las cadenas del racismo. “Por lo tanto, nosotros los obispos católicos de los Estados Unidos reconocemos las muchas veces que la Iglesia ha fallado en vivir como Cristo enseñó, en amar a nuestros hermanos y hermanas. Actos de racismo han sido cometidos por líderes y miembros de la Iglesia Católica, por obispos, clérigos, religiosos y laicos, y sus instituciones. Expresamos profundo pesar y arrepentimiento por ello. “ (Open Wide Our Hearts). Un número significativo de afroamericanos nace en la disparidad económica y social. Debemos reconocer que generaciones de afroamericanos se vieron en desventaja por la esclavitud, el robo de salarios, las leyes “Jim Crow” y la sistemática negación al acceso de numerosas oportunidades de creación de riqueza reservadas para otros. El racismo puede ser institucional cuando las prácticas o tradiciones, injustamente, han mantenido ese trato con ciertos grupos de personas. Los efectos acumulativos de los pecados personales del racismo han llevado a estructuras sociales de injusticia y violencia. (Open Wide Our Hearts). El despiadado asesinato de George Floyd desató una protesta nacional contra la tiranía del racismo. Las acciones e inacciones de los oficiales involucrados son sintomáticos de un patrón que ha alcanzado una masa crítica y ha explotado en toda nuestra nación y más allá. Este asalto brutal viola la verdad fundamental expresada en la carta Open Wide Our Hearts, que todas las personas son creadas a imagen y semejanza de Dios. Cuando esta verdad es ignorada, la consecuencia es el prejuicio y el miedo al otro, y con demasiada frecuencia, el odio. En el Evangelio de Juan 3:16 escuchamos el fundamento de la fe cristiana de que “Dios amó tanto al mundo que dio a su único Hijo”. No es sorpresa que en la primera carta de Juan 3:15 escuchemos que “todo el que odia a su hermano es un asesino.” A pesar de las grandes bendiciones de libertad que ofrece este país, especialmente nuestras libertades otorgadas por la Primera Enmienda, y que incluyen tanto la libertad de religión como la protesta pacífica, debemos admitir la clara verdad que para muchos de nuestros conciudadanos, las interacciones con la policía a menudo están llenas de miedo e incluso de peligro. Al mismo tiempo, rechazamos la severa retórica que menosprecia y deshumaniza en su conjunto a nuestro personal encargado de aplicar la ley, la mayoría de los cuales trabajan para mantener a nuestras comunidades seguras, condenamos los ataques contra la policía, los disturbios y la violencia que tienen lugar en nuestro país. La hermana Thea abordó la realidad tóxica del racismo en muchas ocasiones y habló en nombre de su pueblo. “Cuando iba creciendo, muchas de las ancianas que habían sufrido la ignominia de la esclavitud estaban todavía vivas y nos contaron sobre la esclavitud y porque teníamos que saber sobre la libertad. Nos contaron sobre la miseria. La mujer negra tiene una tarea cuando el mundo le dice a sus hijos, cuando el mundo le dice a su esposo, cuando el mundo le dice a su mamá y a ella: ‘hay algo mal contigo’; ‘Tu piel es muy negra’; ‘Tu nariz es demasiado plana’; ‘Tu cabello es demasiado enroscado y demasiado corto; ‘Y eres lento’; ‘eres ignorante’; ‘no puedes aprender como los blancos’; y ‘eres inmoral’. Eso es lo que la sociedad racista nos dijo y le contó a nuestros hijos sobre ellos mismos. El resultado fue uno de los grandes problemas de la comunidad negra, el problema de la baja autoestima, y que nos mata.” (Mercy College de Detroit, 1989). Un cartel en una de las protestas pacíficas en nuestra nación ilumina este lamento. “Decimos que las vidas negras importan. Nunca digas: solo las vidas negras importan. Lo sabemos: todas las vidas importan. Solo necesitamos su ayuda … las vidas de los negros están en peligro.” El llamado permanente al amor es el meollo del asunto y el antídoto para esta toxina. El amor es una fuerza extraordinaria que lleva a las personas a optar por un compromiso valiente y generoso en el campo de la justicia y la paz. Para muchos en Mississippi que nos esforzamos por vivir según la Palabra de Dios, no podemos ignorar a los profetas. “El Señor ya te ha dicho, oh hombre, en qué consiste lo bueno y qué es lo que él espera de ti: que hagas justicia, que seas fiel y leal y que obedezcas humildemente a tu Dios.” (Miqueas 6:8), y del profeta Amós, “Pero que fluya como agua la justicia y la honradez como un manantial inagotable.” (Amós 5:24) La vida de la hermana Thea es un legado vivo y un testimonio del sacrificio y el compromiso de muchos en la Iglesia Católica por generaciones en todo Mississippi en la búsqueda para superar el racismo. La hermana Thea nació en la ciudad de Yazoo, Mississippi, el 29 de diciembre de 1937, y creció en Canton. Su madre fue maestra y su padre era el único médico afroamericano en Canton. Sus padres la enviaron a la escuela Holy Child Jesus. Thea fue criada como protestante, hasta los nueve años, cuando le preguntó a sus padres si podía convertirse en Católica. “Me atrajo examinar y aceptar la fe católica debido al testimonio diario de los cristianos católicos que primero me amaron, luego compartieron conmigo su historia, sus valores, sus creencias; quienes primero me amaron y luego me invitaron a compartir con ellos en comunidad, oración y misión. Cuando era niña, no reconocí la evangelización en el trabajo en mi vida. Reconocí el amor, el servicio, la comunidad, la oración y la fe.” (The non-Catholic in the Catholic School — El no Católico en la escuela Católica) Dotada de una mente brillante, una voz hermosa y una dinámica personalidad, la hermana Thea compartió el mensaje del amor de Dios a través de su carrera docente. Después de 16 años de enseñanza en el nivel primario, secundario y universitario, el obispo de Jackson, Mississippi, la invitó a convertirse en consultora para la conciencia intercultural. En su rol de consultora, la hermana Thea hizo presentaciones en todo el país; reuniones animadas que las que combinaba canto, enseñanza del evangelio, oración y narración de historias. Sus programas estaban dirigidos a derribar las barreras raciales y culturales. Alentó a las personas a comunicarse entre sí para que pudieran entender otras culturas y razas. En 1984, la hermana Thea fue diagnosticada con cáncer de seno. Rezó “para vivir hasta que muera”. Su oración fue respondida y la hermana Thea continuó sus reuniones sentada, en una silla de ruedas. En 1989, los obispos de Estados Unidos la invitaron a ser una oradora clave en su conferencia sobre los negros católicos. Al final de la reunión, por invitación de la hermana Thea, los obispos se pusieron de pie y cantaron con entusiasmo “We Shall Overcome — Nosotros Venceremos”. La hermana Thea vivió una vida plena. Ella luchó contra el mal, especialmente los prejuicios, las sospechas, el odio y las cosas que separan a las personas. Ella luchó por Dios y el pueblo de Dios hasta su muerte en 1990. (Causa de canonización) Como obispos, en nuestro tiempo en Mississippi, nos comprometemos a continuar liberando a la Iglesia del mal del racismo que compromete gravemente nuestra misión de hacer discípulos de todas las naciones en el nombre de Jesucristo. Con los sacerdotes y diáconos ordenados, religiosos y laicos en nuestra diócesis, nos comprometemos a fortalecer nuestra tradición católica para educar, servir y empoderar a todos los marginados de nuestras comunidades, especialmente aquellos que están oprimidos por el yugo del racismo. No somos impotentes y el testimonio de la vida de la Hermana Thea es un icono de esperanza que para los que aman a Dios, todas las cosas funcionan para bien, “Sabemos que Dios dispone todas las cosas para el bien de quienes lo aman, a los cuales él ha llamado de acuerdo con su propósito.” (Romanos 8:28)
By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Everyone lives a life that is often inconsistent or a “contradiction” because people can be both a sinner and a saint, a victim and a tormentor, Pope Francis said. No matter what one’s situation is, people can put themselves back in God’s hands through prayer, he said June 24 during his weekly general audience. “Prayer gives us nobility; it is able to protect one’s relationship with God, who is the true companion along humanity’s journey, amidst thousands of hardships in life, good or bad, but always with prayer,” he said. The audience, livestreamed from the library of the Apostolic Palace, was the pope’s last general audience talk until Aug. 5, according to Vatican News. His Sunday Angelus address was to continue throughout July, however. With the start of summer vacation for many, the pope said he hoped people could have a peaceful moment of rest despite the ongoing restrictions “connected to the threat of infection from the coronavirus.” May it be a time of “enjoyment of the beauty of creation and a strengthening of ties with mankind and with God,” he said in greetings to Polish-speaking viewers and listeners. In his main talk, the pope continued his series on prayer and reflected on the role prayer played in the life of David – a young shepherd whom God called to become king of Israel. David learned early in life that a shepherd takes care of his flock, protects them from danger and provides for them, the pope said. Jesus, too, is called “the good shepherd” because he offers his life for his flock, guiding them, knowing each one by name, he said. When David was later confronted for his terrible sins, he realized he had become a “bad shepherd,” someone who was “sick with power, a poacher who kills and loots,” the pope said.
Pope Francis speaks during his weekly general audience in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican June 24, 2020. During the audience, the pope said people can put themselves back in God’s hands through prayer. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
He no longer acted like a humble servant but had robbed another man of the only thing he loved when he took the man’s wife as his own. David wanted to be a good shepherd, but sometimes he failed and sometimes he succeeded, the pope said. “Saint and sinner, persecuted and persecutor, victim and even executioner,” David was full of contradictions – being all of these things in his life, he said. But the one thing that stayed constant was his prayerful dialogue with God. “David the saint, prays, David the sinner, prays,” always lifting his voice to God either in joy or deep despair, the pope said. This is what David can teach the faithful today, he said: to always speak with God, no matter the circumstances or one’s state of being, because everyone’s life is often marked by contradiction and inconsistencies. People should tell God about their joy, sins, sorrows and love – everything, the pope said, because God is always there, and he listens. Prayer returns people to God “because the nobility of prayer leaves us in God’s hands,” he said. The pope also noted the day’s feast of the birth of St. John the Baptist. He asked that people learn from this saint, how to be courageous witnesses of the Gospel, above and beyond any individual differences, “preserving harmony and friendship that are the basis for the credibility of any proclamation of faith.”
(The following text is from a homily I gave at St. James Catholic Church in Tupelo on the 15th Sunday or Ordinary Time. This was the first day of the Tour de Priest, a 300+ mile cycling journey that I took to build awareness for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.)
What if each one of us simply sought to do what God wanted us to do, and nothing else? What if we made no excuses, had no other motives, felt no outside pressure, and just did the will of God. If we all did that, there would not be a shortage of priests and nuns, and the priests and nuns that we had would all be faithful and fruitful and joyful in their ministry. If we all sought God’s will, not just in word, but in practice, in habit, by every day entering into prayer, by seeking out the sacraments as taught by the church, and by seeking to stop sinning not because we are terrible but because we need to allow space for God’s mercy to reign, the we wouldn’t have to think about churches closing, or the future of the faith in this country. What if each of us simply sought to do what God wanted us to do, and nothing else?
Father Nick Adam
Loving God is an art. There are parts to it that come naturally to us: We intuit that God is there, but we need help reaching out to him. St. Francis de Sales says that the first thing we must keep in mind is the assurance of God’s mercy. So much of our avoidance of God comes down to the things that we believe are wrong with us or the things that indeed we have done wrong. But this is the whole point of God, to wrap us in his mercy and assure us of his love. But do we seek that out? Or are we too afraid? Too embarrassed to go to confession, too used to avoiding the difficult parts of our life to trust that God will bring healing and peace?
That was me at 23. I knew that there was more to life than what the world could offer, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. It was easier to be steeped in my sin, to seek peace in relationships or experiences that were always passing. Then I entered a Catholic church for the first time after many years away, and I had an experience of God’s presence that could not be mistaken. It was transcendent, it gave me a peace that I could not produce on my own. This is the love that God can give us if only we open ourselves to it.
The world will tell us that this is impossible. The world will say that it is slavery to abandon yourself to the will of another, but remember, the will we are giving ourselves over to is love itself, how in the world is that slavery? So, we need priests and nuns, and I think specifically the Lord has called me to seek out priests and nuns from this soil, from Mississippi. With all our diversity and beauty, and all our baggage and eccentricities, we need men and women to come forward to serve. And my job is to make the soil rich. My job as Vocation Director is to help young people understand how to listen to God’s will and follow it. Because otherwise they may have an initial love for God or impulse to do his will, but their attention can be snatched away in an instant simply because they were not taught anything different. They are like the seed on the path that is taken before it can bear fruit.
I see this in a young man or woman who assumes that their life’s course will be the typical one. “Hey, I want to get married and have a family, therefore, God is calling me to do that.” Well of course you want this for your life, that is only natural. But God calls some to be a witness to the supernatural, a witness to the fact that everything on this earth should be done with eternity in mind, and our most pressing, most rewarding, most urgent relationship is with the Lord. Every young person who takes their faith seriously should come with an open heart. Lord, I may want this, but what do you want?
My job is to help young men and women discern so that the persuasive voice of the world does not obscure the voice of the Lord in their discernment. The church’s teachings are radical, and they will always be challenged and rejected by many. But the church’s teachings are rooted in our belief that Jesus, and no one else, is the way and the truth and the life, and that truth can only be found when we seek to know God. Our world is in a desperate search for justice, but without God true justice will not be found. So someone who is open to God’s will is going to be open to being conformed to the truth that comes from God, and they will not seek to conform God to the truth as he or she sees it.
My job is to help young men and women see that worldly success will only take you so far. Many times we make decisions about our future based on fear. “What if my needs and those of my family are not provided for?” “What if I am misunderstood or ridiculed for not taking a more typical approach to success?” When our only goal is to do God’s will, God will give us the grace we need to overcome that fear. My needs have always been provided for as a priest in amazing ways, and often I have come to realize that I don’t need the things I think I do, and that those hang ups were actually keeping me from a deeper freedom in the Lord.
The church’s job is to provide rich soil for seeds to grow. Seek that out. Find good Catholic voices online when you have a question about the faith. Ask a priest or nun or sister or parish leader if you are struggling to follow the Lord’s will. Take advantage of the sacraments and make them a part of your life. Live fearlessly. And please, ask the question, “am I seeking to follow the Lord’s will?” If so, be open to the call to priesthood or religious life. If you have not been seeking to do God’s will, ask yourself, “where has this gotten me, am I fulfilled, or is there something missing that I can’t pinpoint?” That was the case for me, and if it’s the case for you, know that you are loved, and there is nothing to fear in coming to the Lord and his church and making a change.
What if each one of us simply sought to do what God wanted us to do, and nothing else?
IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI He taught us how to pray while not knowing how to pray. That’s a comment sometimes made about Henri Nouwen.
Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
It seems almost contradictory to say that. How can someone teach us to pray when he himself doesn’t know how? Well, two complexities conspired together here. Henri Nouwen was a unique mixture of weakness, honesty, complexity and faith. That also describes prayer, this side of eternity. Nouwen simply shared, humbly and honestly, his own struggles with prayer and in seeing his struggles, the rest of us learned a lot about how prayer is precisely this strange mixture of weakness, honesty, complexity and faith.
Prayer, as we know, has classically been defined as “the lifting of mind and heart to God,” and given that our minds and hearts are pathologically complex, so too will be our prayer. It will give voice not just to our faith but also to our doubt. Moreover, in the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul tells us that when we do not know how to pray, God’s Spirit, in groans too deep for words, prays through us. I suspect that we don’t always recognize all the forms that takes, how God sometimes prays through our groans and our weaknesses.
The renowned preacher Frederick Buechner, speaks of something he calls “crippled prayers that are hidden inside our minor blasphemes” and are uttered through clenched teeth: “God help us!” “Jesus Christ!” “For God’s sake!” These are prayers? Why not? If prayer is lifting mind and heart to God, isn’t this what’s in our mind and heart at that moment? Isn’t there a brutal honesty in this? Jacques Loew, one of the founders of the Worker-Priest movement in France, shares how, while working in a factory, he would sometimes be working with a group of men loading heavy bags onto a truck. Occasionally one of the men would accidently drop one of the bags which would split open leaving a mess and a mini-blaspheme would spring forth from the man’s lips. Loew, partly seriously and partly in jest, points out that while the man was not exactly saying the Lord’s Prayer, he was invoking the name of God in real honesty. So, is this in fact a genuine modality of prayer or is this taking the Lord’s name in vain? Is this something we should be confessing as a sin rather than claiming as a prayer?
The commandment to not take the name of God in vain has little to do with those mini- blasphemes that slip out between clenched teeth when we drop a bag of groceries, jam a finger painfully, or get caught in a frustrating traffic jam. What we utter then may well be aesthetically offensive, in bad taste and disrespectful enough of others so that some sin lies within it, but that’s not taking the name of God in vain. Indeed, there’s nothing false about it at all. In some ways it’s the opposite of what the commandment has in mind.
We tend to think of prayer far too piously. It is rarely unadulterated altruistic praise issuing forth from a focused attention that’s grounded in gratitude and in an awareness of God. Most of the time our prayer is a very adulterated reality – and all the more honest and powerful because of that.
For instance, one of our great struggles with prayer is that it’s not easy to trust that prayer makes a difference. We watch the evening newscasts, see the entrenched polarization, bitterness, hatred, self-interest and hardness of heart that are seemingly everywhere, and we lose heart. How do we find the heart to pray in the face of this? What, inside of our prayer, is going to change any of this?
While it is normal to feel this way, we need this important reminder: prayer is most important and most powerful precisely when we feel it is most hopeless – and we are most helpless.
Why is this true? It’s true because it’s only when we are finally empty of ourselves, empty of our own plans and our own strength that we’re in fact ready to let God’s vision and strength flow into the world through us. Prior to feeling this helplessness and hopelessness, we are still identifying God’s power too much with the power of health, politics and economics that we see in our world; and are identifying hope with the optimism we feel when the news looks a little better on a given night. If the news looks good, we have hope; if not, why pray? But we need to pray because we trust in God’s strength and promise, not because the newscasts on a given night offer a bit more promise.
Indeed, the less promise our newscasts offer and the more they make us aware of our personal helplessness, the more urgent and honest is our prayer. We need to pray precisely because we are helpless and precisely because it does seem hopeless. Inside of that we can pray with honesty, perhaps even through clenched teeth.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
THINGS OLD AND NEW By Ruth Powers The Portiuncula Indulgence is coming up! What is that? Let me explain.
Ruth Powers
Possibly one of the most misunderstood teachings in the Catholic treasury is that of indulgences, and because many Catholics misunderstand this gift of God through His church, we do not take advantage of them when they are available to us. In order to understand indulgences one must first understand a little bit about church teaching on the consequences of sin and the nature of penance. First of all, sin has consequences: guilt and punishment, and punishment is both eternal and temporal (in this world). The idea that we have consequences for sin in the world goes all the way back to the story of the Fall in Genesis, where God tells Eve, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children.” (Genesis 3:16) When the sinner repents God removes both the guilt and the eternal punishment, but the temporal punishment may remain, as we see in the story of David when he repents of his sin with Bathsheba, and the prophet Nathan tells him that God has forgiven him, but that he will still have to suffer some consequences for his act. (2 Samuel 12) Temporal penalties can also be remitted or removed, and God uses the church to do so. This is the basis of both the idea of the penances given as part of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the church’s teaching on indulgences, which are closely connected. In the early church when one confessed sins one was given a penance that was often public and severe to lessen that temporal punishment for sin, but the church realized that the sinner could shorten the time of that penance by pious acts of prayer or charity that expressed sorrow for the sin concretely. The concept of indulgences developed as a way to shorten the time one would have been required to spend in doing a particular penance. It became customary to assign a particular number of “days” to a particular indulgence, meaning that performing this act would have removed that number of days from the person’s penitential discipline. Unfortunately, many people misinterpreted this to mean that a certain number of days would be removed from their time in Purgatory. This is not possible, as time in Purgatory does not exist in the same way we know time here. Instead, we can look at the definition of indulgences given by Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Constitution on indulgences. He said, “an indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the church’s help when, as a minister of redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints.” In an attempt to eliminate the confusion around “days” of indulgences, at the time he issued this teaching, he reduced the terminology around indulgences to partial (removes some of the temporal punishment due to sin) or plenary (removes all of the temporal punishment due to sin). However, he is clear that only God knows exactly how efficacious any particular indulgence is, because only God can read the heart of the person seeking it. The church offers numerous opportunities throughout the year for us to obtain a plenary indulgence, and one of my favorites as a Franciscan Secular is coming up soon. On Aug. 2 we celebrate the Feast of the Portiuncula. The Church of St. Mary of the Angels, which was called the Portiuncula or “Little Portion” was one of the chapels repaired by St. Francis of Assisi in the time after his conversion. It became the chapel where he lived and where he began to gather the followers who would eventually become the Order of Friars Minor, or Franciscans. It was also the place where he came to die in 1226. The little church, which is the cradle of the Franciscan Order, is now completely enclosed by the beautiful Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi. In the beginning the indulgence could only be obtained at the little church itself, but in 1967 when Pope Paul VI reformed the teaching on indulgences he reaffirmed the Portiuncula Indulgence and extended it to all parish churches. A plenary indulgence can be obtained on that feast day by devoutly visiting the parish church, and there reciting at least the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed for the intentions of the Pope, and receiving sacramental confession and Holy Communion. In order to gain the indulgence one should also be free from any attachment to sin, even venial sin. In these times of stress especially it is important to avail ourselves of the many helps the church holds out to us to help us remain faithful to the gospel, and draw closer to God, and the gift of indulgences is an underused treasure.
(Ruth Powers is the Program Coordinator for St. Mary Basilica Parish in Natchez. She has over 35 years’ experience as a catechist and theology teacher at all levels from preschool to graduate school.)
Reflections on Life By Melvin Arrington All throughout Scripture we read about the need for and the benefits of patience, the fourth Fruit of the Spirit. The frequent references extolling longsuffering and endurance suggest that these qualities were lacking as much in the ancient world as they are in our own time.
Melvin Arrington, Jr.
In his classic Way to Inner Peace, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen offers penetrating insights into this elusive but essential virtue. He notes that patience is not an absence of action; rather it’s timing, waiting on “the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.” He calls it “submissive waiting: a frame of mind which is willing to wait because it knows it thus serves God and his holy purposes.” And he adds “a person who believes in nothing beyond this world is very impatient, because he has only a limited time in which to satisfy his wants.” In conclusion Sheen believes “the more materialistic a civilization is, the more it is in a hurry.” Some people seem to be in a hurry all the time, and they don’t want to slow down for anything or anybody. In fact, they would probably view waiting as a waste of time. When I was young and immature that was more or less my perspective. Back then, I didn’t realize that, paradoxically, it’s possible to accomplish a lot by not doing anything. For example, when we find ourselves in a holding pattern – standing in line, sitting in a doctor’s office, or on the phone “on hold” hoping to be able to speak to a “real person” – we’ve actually been granted extra time for prayer and reflection. In these situations we should be still and listen because God is probably trying to tell us something. After all, being busy, in a hurry, rushing here and there can lead to serious consequences, such as anxiety. Perhaps those things are outward signs of an inner turmoil that’s already present. Either way, we all know how harmful anxiety can be physically, psychologically and spiritually. Anyone suffering from this malady should obviously seek medical help, but also invoke divine assistance. We should never underestimate the power of prayer. The Psalmist must have had prayer in mind when he wrote, “Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted!” (27:14) When we pray, we want an answer immediately; we don’t want any delays. But as the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18) shows, our petitions should not be of the one-and-done variety. Rather, we must “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17), and pray confidently, knowing that the Lord hears and answers every prayer – yes, every single prayer! Sometimes the answer is “yes,” and other times it’s “no.” And more often than we realize the answer is “Hold on. It’s not time yet.” According to the old saying, “the early bird gets the worm,” but for those who are impatient the pertinent adage is “good things come to those who wait.” If we do this, one of the things we’ll discover is that God’s clock keeps perfect time. When something is supposed to happen right away, and it doesn’t, some of us may become irritable; others may begin to worry; a few may even succumb to anxiety. But God’s schedule is not necessarily the same as ours. His timetable always overrides our own. He’s in charge and He has a plan for us, so we need to trust His timing and allow His will to unfold. Those guided by patience have a view to the big picture. They know they’re in for the long haul. And they know that good things do indeed come to those who wait. And so, we see that patience has connections to each of the theological virtues, faith, hope and love. It takes faith to yield to the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives rather than attempt to accomplish all things on our own. It takes hope to anticipate the good things God has in store for us without becoming restless. And, of course, there’s love. I Corinthians 13 tells us that love is patient; love bears all things. Patience is forbearance; it enables us to endure suffering. Bearing wrongs patiently is one of the spiritual works of mercy (CCC 2447). My whole life I’ve heard people refer to “the patience of Job,” but after reading his story in the Old Testament I came away with the impression that in some ways he didn’t seem patient at all. Job complained and he questioned God about his predicament; however, he did remain faithful and he persevered. And it’s important to note that in the end he was rewarded. So that has to be the lesson for us as we continue to go about our daily lives as best we can, given the restrictions of the corona pandemic. How long can God’s people endure being away from the Mass and the Eucharist? How long? As long as it takes. Because we know there’s a prize reserved for the stouthearted, those who persevere, those who wait for the Lord.
(Melvin Arrington is a Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages for the University of Mississippi and a member of St. John Oxford.)
THEOLOGY AT THE MOVIES By James Tomek, Ph.D. Watching on Netflix Bob Nelson’s 2016 “The Confirmation,” about a boy and his father looking for stolen tools, immediately makes me think of “The Bicycle Thieves,” a 1948 post war Italian film about a father and son’s search for a stolen bicycle, necessary for work. There is a theology lesson in the comparison. After a short discussion of the two films, I will focus on the treatment of sacrament in the Nelson film.
James Tomek, Ph.D.
The renown Vittorio De Sica movie is an example of neorealism, a genre that shows the real poverty of post-World War II Rome, where a bicycle is a precious tool to find and do work. With the help of his wife Maria, pawning her bed sheets, Antonio Ricci is able to unpawn his bicycle and leave the unemployment line as a poster hanger. The disparity of classes is shown when Ricci gives up and treats his son Bruno to a restaurant lunch with his remaining money. He tells his son that, with a job, they can eat every day, like at the adjourning table, where a well-off family casually dines. The film ends with Ricci and son wandering aimlessly on foot. In today’s society, Ricci and family belong to those most hurt by the COVID epidemic. “The Confirmation” follows a similar movement, about a father and son searching for a stolen set of tools, but the frame here is slightly different, focusing on the boy’s growing awareness of the complexities of life, as he spends a weekend with his estranged father Walt, while his mother and new husband go off on a weekend Catholic marriage encounter. The film opens with 8-year-old Anthony at confession, where we learn that he will soon receive the Eucharist and then be confirmed. But, here the film seems to lose focus as it hesitates between critiquing the Catholic faith and focusing on a son’s awareness of his father’s troubled existence. Hollywood does not always handle confession very well. Here, Father Lyons corrects Anthony’s awkward confession in a rude abrupt manner. Not my experience. Priests, personally speaking, are very helpful with penitents, especially first-time ones. Then later, in a conversation with his father, when Anthony is worried about the cannibalistic idea of “eating” Jesus’s body, the father Walt demeaningly interjects that it is only crackers and grape juice. Walt does advise Anthony that these are subjects that he will have to deal with later on. Is this in fact, the Confirmation of the title? Cannibalism with an 8-year-old? Grape juice? Bishop Joseph Kopacz, in a recent message to First Communion students, referred to Communion as a beautiful moment of coming close to Jesus who also wants to be with us intimately. Anthony’s mother Bonnie has superficial notions of the sacraments. The absolution she seeks is an imperfect contrition. The 8-year-old boy does seem older, and he does come of age discovering the weaknesses and strengths of his father, who is recovering from alcoholism. The movie does succeed in developing the understanding of father and son. The father is skilled in a smaller more “artistic” type of woodwork. His love of seeing doors mounted well is sacramental. We also see him putting brakes on his wife’s car – an ability requiring a deep sense of car mechanics. Anthony does witness true signs of friendship in Walt’s friend Otto who teaches Anthony about the effects of sobering up and the need to be patient. “The Bicycle Thieves” is very strong in showing the plight of the poor uneducated in postwar Rome, but it does not get into the specifics of Ricci and son. The Confirmation does succeed in getting into the souls of the characters. Relating the sacrament of Confirmation, with an anointing of true wisdom to the characters, is well enacted, but however, spoiled by a view of Catholicism seen in the superficial “get it done” attitude of the mother to the sacraments. Paying attention to our faith is a characteristic of theology seen in the Jane Hirshfield poem “Theology.” “A border collie’s preference is to do anything entirely, with the whole attention. This Simone Weil called prayer. And almost always her prayers were successful.” Paying attention raises existence to a prayer/sacramental level. The carpenter reflecting on his trade is at the start of an understanding of creation. Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist are sacraments of initiation, given to adults in the early church. Confession or Reconciliation is a vital part of maintaining these sacraments. Maybe we should teach children the general notion of sacrament rather than splitting them up individually. In carpentry, when we just want to learn how to fix things, we have a “material” mental attitude. Just get the job done. When we give carpentry more attention on how it really is a co-creation of the world, we are becoming more “sacra” mental. We elevate our existence from a material mentality to a “sacra-mentality.” The father Walt is a gifted carpenter and mechanic. When his tools recovered, he will be able to continue his work or art as a carpenter. With a sacramental attitude one has the patience to give one’s vocation full attention. Our official church Sacraments help us develop this attention. We are baptized into a community that needs forgiving and needs to forgive. Confirmation anoints us with a Holy Spirit strengthening oil, but it is essentially baptismal. We finish the initiation by taking part in the Eucharistic meal. We are not eating just to ease our physical hunger. We are at the table to share our lives with others as we remember Jesus’s example. Do Baptism and Confirmation happen once? We constantly renew these sacraments just as we need to renew our vocations, especially when, at times, we get discouraged and want to quit. The Eucharist is our constant reminder to reconcile ourselves to a sacramental view. In “The Bicycle Thieves,” Ricci and his son are in a society too poor to see the sacramental quality of life. He is a poster hanger – a job that, with a little patience and education, however, can take on sacramental vocational status. I remember, in my youth, when wall papering needed to be done, we had to wait until Aunt Mary was available. She had the patience to measure and prepare the paper and then hang it, thereby transforming rooms into beautiful places to live in.
(James Tomek is a retired language and literature professor at Delta State University who is currently a Lay Ecclesial Minister at Sacred Heart in Rosedale and also active in RCIA at Our Lady of Victories in Cleveland.)
JACKSON – Daniel and Mary McNamara celebrated 60 years of marriage on Thursday, June 25, 2020 at St. Richard Jackson. Father Nick Adam said Mass, blessed the McNamara’s marriage and prayed for them on their special day. The McNamara’s give thanks and praise to God for blessing them with their long happy and wonderful lives together to share with family loved ones and many dear caring friends who have made their lives blessed and more meaningful throughout the entire 60 years. They were orignally married at the Cathedral of St. Peter Jackson. (Photo by Maggie Mayer)
