Magi Caritas

We seven Kings or Occidental Ore
Barring Gifts of Plennary and Lore
Wondering, Receiving, Partaking
In Parallel times, of Spirit and Grace

Miles Caritas, watching their fields
by the stars of night
awaiting their savior
Christ the King

Freedom & Truth

At the same time, however, it aims not only at integration 'within' the person but at integration 'between' persons. The word 'integer' in latin means 'whole'- so that integration means making whole, the endeavour to achieve wholeness and completeness. The process of integrating love relies on the primary elements of the human spirit- freedom and truth.

Freedom and truth, truth and freedom determine the spiritual imprint which marks the various manifestations of human life and human activity. They penetrate the remotest recesses of human action and experience, filling them with a content of which we never meet the slightest trace in the lives of animals.

-Pope John Paul II
Love and Responsibility
Contributor, Follower and Patriarch of Miles Caritas

Meanwhile, in the Sudan

Meel-ehs,

I re-discovered a must read blog. Fr. Herald CFR is on a one-man mission to the Sudan, scoping out the scene, evangelizing, and re-building the war-torn diocese. If you haven't met him, Fr. Herald is one of the most intelligent, articulate, and holy priests I know. And he loves Giussani!

Anyways his blog is full of commentary on what he encounters as he traverses the country, as well as on current events, politics, etc.

Here's a choice quote. On the health/wealth Protestant preachers coming into the region:

Not only is this a betrayal of the message of authentic Christianity, it is an insult to the Sudanese Christians (that’s how Catholics normally refer to themselves here) who are just emerging and recovering from two decades of violence, persecution and destruction. It's the last thing they need, and something utterly unhelpful at this juncture. Now, after the fact, someone shows up with a “miracle machine” that will give you just what you want and will make all your problems go away just by pushing the magic faith button. It is a blatant, mechanistic, mercantile, manipulative reduction of genuine faith and a hijacking of the real hope to be found in Christ (not unlike what took place in the Obama campaign) as Pope Benedict XVI describes it in his encyclical Spe Salvi.

Anyways, I wanted to highlight this post (Advent Message 2008). After 20 years of civil war, (during which two-thirds of the physical structures of the Church in the Diocese of Torit were damaged or destroyed), the Diocese is celebrating its 25 year Jubilee. Fr. Herald is asking for our help in his work there:

Second, I would like to ask for your continued support of my missionary work in Sudan. I know that in the past few months many of you have been hard hit financially by the global credit crisis. For that reason I will be all the more deeply grateful for whatever sacrificial offering you are able to make. Some expenses that are in view for the first half of next year include: the possibility of a heavy duty utility vehicle for transportation on the rough, unpaved roads of the diocese, a series of youth retreats to build up the next generation of adult Catholics, and the prospect of welcoming two potential visiting mission teams – one of CFR friars and another of laity. The ability to fulfill these hopes, of course, depends on the financial resources that God provides through our friends.

He's specifically asking us to spread the word and show the photos he's taken. If you guys happen to come across anyone who would be interested, or have a last minute gift to give, this I know will go into capable and frugal hands.

One last Shoe post

I don't mean to betray an unhealthy fixation on the shoe-throwing incident, but these short words from Ezra Levant (a pugnacious, Jewish-Canadian journalist) really hit a few nails:

I have just two quick thoughts:

1. Is there anywhere else in the Arab world where a reporter could throw shoes at a head of state and not be killed for doing so? Saudi Arabia? Syria? Or how about Iraq under Saddam?

2. What do you think things would be like if the, uh, shoe were on the other foot? If, during a trip to the U.S., someone like Iran's Ahmadinejad or Saudi Arabia's Abdullah had been pelted with two shoes from an American reporter? To be more specific, do you think the death toll of the angry riots would be in the thousands, or merely in the hundreds? Do you think the U.N.'s General Assembly would issue more or less than five angry resolutions?

Just asking.

Snow

Benefits of Snow:

-It's white, which means its pure.
-It's pure
-It's quiet- which reminds me of the Blessed Sacrament. It comes in the quiet stillness of solitude and reccolection, penetrating the world yet doing so without any racket. Unless, of course, people are praying in tongues nearby. Thus Rain= Tongues, Snow= Contemplation
-It's fun
-It releases the creative, relaxed, jovial and childlike spirits within people. This spirit, which is divine, is tpyically smothered with anxiety, lack of trust, stress, despair. Somehow the Snow releases that. It's obvious.
-It's transcendant
- It provides the oppurtunity for winter sports

And many more...many more...

The President of the U.S.A.

When I first saw the Shoe Incident I thought it was an SNL skit...the way he dodged it looked like it was choreographed--and the smirk afterwards: priceless.

His response to the incident is even funnier:

The Lord's House

Unto this realm of hospitality
a quiet dwelling for flame and love
Sits a bride with eyes intent
her interior unstained and free

The burning yearning
of anticiaption and uncertainty
come my King she whispers
and smiles, because she knows He's on his way

Shoe Throwing in Iraq

Today's paper said:

"throwing shoes at somebody is a sign of contempt in Iraqi culture"


This is definitely something John Madden would say...

I thought throwing a shoe at somebodies head was a sign of adulation and laud...

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/12/12/gps.powell.limbaugh.cnn

find the one where bush gets the shoe thrown at him

Updates

Welcome Simon. The first condition for your membership is a renunciation of your Asian heritage. You must pledge allegiance to the following, and the rest is water under the bridge:

1. The Republic of Ireland
2. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of Miles Caritas
3. Maine
4. Grandma Jeane
5. Pope Benedict XVI

Renouncing allegiance to Canada will help your canonization process.

--

Brothers:

Happy feast day of Guadalupe.

Peace
Mile Danny

Comments by Bush

I was impressed by a few comments of President Bush regarding alcohol and drug abuse.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/11/bush.alcohol/index.html

When a professional baseball player gave his testamony about his struggle with drug addiction and how it was the words spoked to him by his grandmother that touched his heart and allowed Jesus into his life, Bush responded:

"I'm a faith-based guy. Sometimes, to help change a person's behavior, you have to change their heart. Government's not really good at that."

I couldn't agree more, while the government can provide many of the physical needs of the people, it is quite difficult to provide the people with what is really lacking, mainly Love. The difference between what Bush referrs to as Faith Based programs and government programs is that for the former their service provided is a means to give Love to the people while for the latter the service provided is the end in of itself. There are obviously exceptions to my observations, many agencies and individuals do not hold true to my observations, on both sides. This also calls to mind the statement that I've read a few times recently from Pope Benedict (then Cardinal Ratzinger), "Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes not divine, but demonic. "

Another comment that Pres. Bush made that I really like was:
"One of the most striking aspects of being president is the power of prayer in my life. I feel it," Bush said. "Some days are happy. Some days are not so happy. But every day is joyous."

I like how he made a distinction between 'happy' and 'joy'. Being happy is more of an emotion and depends more on external situaltions, the things going on around us. While being joyous is not based on emotions and it depends more on our interior situation; it's more foundational. I feel that the Christian life is a life of joy. Regardless of how we're feeling or what's going on around us we have Hope is Jesus, and that's cause enough for "every day to be joyous", as Bush proclaimed.

Brendan

About the CNN story...

Wow. I agree with Annie. I think I’m guna like it here. Thanks for the invitation to be part of this blog.

The rise of official secular groups is fascinating to me because I think it really is an urgent mirror reflecting a) to Christians where our own faith and fidelity are lacking, and b) to the secularists much about their own nature and freedom.

Listening to the secularists’ statements in the article, it’s clear their impression of Christians is that we are exclusive, anti-human, and unreasonable. Given this impression and the absence of faith, it’s no wonder they feel the need to establish something called the Freedom from Religion Foundation. And I think this impression is largely the doing of Christians, my self firstly, who have not undertaken the journey themselves to discover what Christ has to do with my humanity and my reason, let alone share this with others. To a large extent, the Christ the secularists are rebelling against is a spiritualized, irrelevant, and moralistic (Do This or Go to Hell) kind of guy. But is not this the Christ we often purport to follow when we separate His presence from our daily experience, and relegate Him to the corner of “spiritual” activities and moral norms?

For the secularists so hell bent on eradicating “religion” their very efforts point to the question “Why?” (They even admit that people ask them, “Why are you hateful?”) Yet behind their immediate answers (i.e. rhetorical swipes at Christians), there is something deeper going on. What is this “humanity” that they want to preserve from religion? If it’s a humanity that will not bow down to a tyrant, then they’re onto something. If it’s a humanity that rejects the infighting finger pointing hypocrisy of others, again, they’re absolutely right.

But if—if Christ was not a tyrant but the dearest lover, and if all the corrections that we offer to one another are not power-struggle-one-up-moves but reminders of the One who fulfills us, what a surprise that would be. If Christ helps me become more myself, more human, what a shock to the world. And how much more likely would the seed of faith find fertile soil among the secularists? (Stranger things have happened, if we recall the sorts of people who became His most fervent friends). Our task is to share this discovery (utterly a grace none of us could have manufactured) of this Christ with one another.

An Evening with Grandma Jeane

Last Monday I had about 45 minutes of spare time before I had to meet up with some family and friends for a fierce and ultimate ultimate- frisbee game; it was ultimately great, and cold.

I decided to stop by Grandma Jeane's house to say hello and have a bit of a visit. As always, she was quite happy to see one of her grandchildren, and she went into an elated rapture for the remainder of the visit.

It was the fiest of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, so Grandma Jeane suggested praying a rosary for the family. How could I say no?

The rosary was great; Grandma Jeane loves the blessed mother. Perhaps, it is because she shares her joy and holy anticipation that is characteristic of advent?

Anyway, afterwards we were talking about something and she joyfully exclaimed, as she always does, (looking up to heaven) "God, your so good to me. Look at all of this. So many blessings". Then, she looked at me and said, "I don't really understand it, I am nothing but a little clump of dust, under a bed that someone forgot to sweep, just blowing along, but somehow, I still get by and the Lord continually blesses me and my family".

I was amazed. What a sense of humility and gratitude. Obviously, anyone who knows Grandma Jeane can see her sense of joy and gratitude that pervades her very being, but what special reminder to me for Advent.

Lord, I am nothing without you. Without you, I have no being, form, figure, soul or consioussness. I am nothing but dust- incapable, allergenic, forgotten, formless, and pointless.
Instill in my heart an overwhelming sense of gratitude, awe, and joy. And thank you for the motherly witness of your dear daughter: Grandma Jeane.

The Law of the Reciprical Intensification of the "Yes" and the "No"

I thought the responses to the Nativity Scene were interesting. A Von Balthasar observation via Gil Bailie is in order:

"There is an ever-intensifying "No" to the "Yes" uttered by God in Christ"

Von B calls this the "Law of the reciprical intensification of the 'Yes' and the 'No'"

However, Bailie makes the point that we should have compassion for those with the role of the "No". It isnt a very good role. He also says that "There's no reason why they got stuck with that role and we got stuck with the good one". We need to realize that on our bad days, we can be on the side of the "No". There is a peice of the "world", ruled by Satan, in each of us. But hearing the world's "No" can make us "reach down into that inexhaustible treasury of Christian resource and pull up a "Yes" that is big enough to encompass the 'No'...and convert as much of it as possible". Engaging the "No" can make our "Yes" sharper and more penetrating. This is drama.

Foreign Energy (not a political commentary)

The Trinitarian mystery is an exchange of unconditional love. Humans are made in the image and likeness of God, and are designed to share and participate in that love. We, however, have grasped too ambitiously at divinity. We were wounded in the garden when we hoarded divinity. This wound has not dissapeared. It still sits at the core of our being, empty and stinging, until we treat it with Christ's saving love.

As a man who has been wounded I think that one of the most indentifying characteristics of our falleness is our utter weakness and vulnerability. Self preservation turns into ensalvement. Righteousness leads to comnendation. The strong are brought down; the rich are impoverished. What have we then?

We have our weekness. We have vulnerability and we have our utter and complete dependence on God. To realize this is to realize the wounded, but redeamed, condition of man.

The other day I woke up paralyzed with anxiety, frusteration, and shame. Why do I lust in the morning? Why am I so weak? There is no way I can get through the day.
--
Then I got up, went to the chapel and prayed. "Lord, I'm somewhat miserable, and I can't do this alone". In an instant I felt empowered by something totally from without. Of course, as humans, we have incredible potential for endurance and self-discipline; the adrenaline induced survival instinct but that is limited; an unrenewable resource. This feeling however, was not from within. Something "else". Something "other". Something "foreign". It was an energy. Little by little I went through the day. I made it...on foreign energy.

A Sad Day

As always, I became very upset reading the news.

1. http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/04/shackled.teen.trio/index.html

This kid, age 17, just escaped from a house where he was being abused and tortured over the past year. He escaped in an ankle chain, bleeding wearing only boxers. He came frightened into a gym and aksked them for help.

--
This child had abusive parents so social services put him in a home. He left the home because of more abuse. He moved into his Aunt's house who then abused him. Then, somehow (this part is unknown as of yet) he got captured by this couple who imprisoned him for a year.

This is sick, I feel terrible for him. His whole life has been terror and abuse. The gym manager said he looked like he was only ten years old, and he was EXTREMELY terrified.

--


http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/05/atheists.christmas/index.html

"If there can be a Nativity scene saying that we are all going to hell if we don't bow down to Jesus, we should be at the table to share our views."

"People have been celebrating the winter solstice long before Christmas. We see Christianity as the intruder, trying to steal the holiday from all of us humans."

"Why believe in a God?" the advertisement asks. "Just be good for goodness sake."

and the worst of all...

"When people ask us, 'Why are you hateful? Why are you putting up something critical of people's holidays? -- we respond that we kind of feel that the Christian message is the hate message," he said. "On that Nativity scene, there is this threat of internal violence if we don't submit to that master. Hate speech goes both ways."

-

A hate message??

"I came so that you might have joy, and have it to the full"
-Jesus

I'm sorry so many people have had bad experiences of Christianity. This is upsetting.


Lord, help me to be a good Christian, and a witness to your unconditional love
Amen

Obama Mania

This is not Hypo-mania, this is full fledged mania. Obama now has a holiday, soon to be a mountain, and schools named after him. Not too bad for someone who has not even taken office. Two weeks ago a county in Alabama approved a paid holiday for employees. The holiday will be known as "Barack Obama day", all public schools and county offices will be closed. In response to cricicism that Obama hasn't even taken office yet, County commisioner Albert Turner commented "I don't care what he does. He can't do worse than what Bush has done." Also adding, "I'm hoping his administration won't let America down." The first statement is filled with such contempt and hatred towards Bush that it has severely clouded any sound reasoning that he might normally have. Hatred blinds, it causes confusion and darkness, which leads to the second statement. This hatred, confusion, blindness has contributed to this man being set up for a huge let down. It is impossible for an individual to live up to the hype that people have been giving Obama. There is a false sense of hope being placed Obama by millions of Americans.

During this Advent season, let us prepare our hearts for the arrival of the real Hope, the One who will not let us down. The One who is Light. The One who will cast out all fear and hatred. The One who will bring true freedom and peace. Amen.

Pilgrimage of Transformation

Six months ago now I finished my 500 mile walking pilgrimage through Spain know as the Camino de Santiago. This is an ancient pilgrimage to the remains of the apostle James in Santiago de Compestela. People have been walking there for over 1,000 years. During my pilgrimage I was reading some writings of St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei. Being from Spain, St. Josemaría walked the Camino many times in his life; one of the things that he wrote was that the arrival to Santiago is not the end of your pilgrimage but actually just the beginning. He wrote about the history of the pilgrimage from the perspective of a medieval pilgrim. Santiago was considered to be at the end of the earth, the most western point of the know world. The medieval pilgrim set out westward, to the end of the earth, signifying a type of death or transformation was to occur. After arriving in Santiago, the turning point, the medieval pilgrim would return home, now walking east toward the sun, toward and with new life. Reflecting on the past six months I have found that my arrival in Santiago was indeed a turning point in my life. When I returned home I knew that it would take a while to really understand what happened on the pilgrimage, for I knew that something had changed, a transformation had taken place that I couldn’t quite grasp. I view my 33 days of walking as a time of intense prayer. With all prayer, the fruit of your prayer is not seen during the actual time of prayer. While the positive feelings during prayer can be beneficial to luring or attracting a person into spending time in prayer, they are not the goal or purpose of prayer. I am starting to become aware of the many fruits of my pilgrimage.

The concept of making a pilgrimage, like the one to Santiago, is that it is a reflection of our life, our earthly pilgrimage. This theme is found all throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. Abram is lead out of his home land by Yahweh to the land of Ur, where he is given a new name, Abraham, and Yahweh makes His covenant with Abraham. This theme is also central to the Exodus of the Jews out of Egypt. Even though their journey seems confusing and dark, it is viewed as a pilgrimage guided by Yahweh, it is a journey to the Father. Since my arrival to Santiago, I have been able to hear faintly the voice of the Father calling me to Himself, and He is leading me through a Cloud of Unknowing that sometimes seems confusing and dark. He has on occasion brought me into His Light and I have seen myself as the Father sees me. This has lead to incredible personal insight, especially of my woundedness. Over the past six months I have realized that there have been major obstacles preventing me from responding freely to the invitation that the Father is offering, the pilgrimage in which he has planned for me. I have since surrendered to the Lord my powerlessness over these obstacles and have experienced incredible freedom, peace and joy. My relationship with Jesus has grown tremendously and I now understand that the Christian life is a pilgrimage of transformation. If we are following the Lord, we will need to trust, set out and be transformed. This has been my experience over the past six months. When I look at my life, the exterior and interior, I can’t help but think that this can only be God. There has been such drastic change, all for the better. Each day I set out on my pilgrimage into the unknown. Like Abraham, the Lord is revealing to me my new identity as His son and my mission that He has planned for me. As I recall the past six months since my arrival in Santiago I am filled with gratitude and amazement of the way in which the Lord is working in my life.

Insanity

Talk about "nightmarish and hellish" logic...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/12/02/pet.allergy/index.html

--
Kenny, I have not yet read the article ( I will tonight), but I found that audio CD which covers similar material to be very insightful. Gil makes a good point, while growing up in the school system there was always such an emphasis on "being yourself" and "being original". We were never taught to really "imitate" Christ. Since originiality and uniqueness had such a high value, it is hard to see the virtue in the imitation of Christ. I see this attitude to be very pervasive among our generation.

I am reading God's Fool, a bio on St. Francis. It is really good, I loved reading about his conversion. The author describes it as "total interior transformation" and "being totally possessed by Christ". It really is fascinating.

Lord, transform me, possess me- Amen.

I recommend this essay by Gil Bailie that I ran across: http://girardianlectionary.net/res/bailie_vine-and-branches.htm.

You might be familiar with Bailie's quotation of this Virginia Wolf passage in critiquing the modern romantic value of individual autonomy:

"Now I will lean sideways as if to scratch my thigh. So I shall see Percival. There he sits, upright among the smaller fry. He breathes through his straight nose rather heavily. His blue, and oddly inexpressive eyes, are fixed with pagan indifference upon the pillar opposite... He sees nothing; he hears nothing. He is remote from us all in a pagan universe. But look -- he flicks his hands to the back of his neck. For such gestures one falls hopelessly in love for a lifetime. Dalton, Jones, Edgar and Bateman flick their hands to the back of their necks likewise. But they do not succeed." (25)

The irony is that Percival's successful gestures arise out stupidity, and really a lack of personality. I thought of Daisy in The Great Gatsby ( a romantic critique in novel form), for whom "personality was an unbroken series of successful gestures". I also thought of some of James Bond's gestures in the new movie. Bond's successful gestures are acted, artificed, but they are purported to arise out of a certain jadedness.

If you look up "jaded", one of the definitions is "dissipated", which happens to be a leitmotif in Bailie's essay. He explains that the prodigal son dissipates his ousia, his substance, in a way that is prophetic of modernity. Isnt it an irony that what are considered successful gestures seem to have to come from someone who is dissipated, who has in a sense lost his substance? or in the case of Pervical never really had substance? Yet, these are the people we seek substance in. And once we try to draw from their supposed substance by imitating their gestures, the success is lost because they are no longer spontaneous. The logic is nightmarish, hellish. Instead, Bailie suggests that we seek our substance in the true Vine of Life: the essay is called "The Vine and the Branches Discourse: The Gospel's Psychological Apocalypse".

The Voice of God

In my experience, the voice of God, or God's "call", comes about in a few particular ways. I have found that this Divine inspirational guide comes about in ways characteristic of the person of Jesus: urgent, sympathetic, compassionate, compelling, true, total, and loving.

Of course, I cannot nor will not put standards or limits on God; He can, and has spoken, in many ways but, in my experience, I have found that God speaks, inspires, calls, moves, people in certain ways, and in contrast, the Father of Lies torments, accuses and confuses in particular ways. Don't mind my 'invtented adverbs'.

The Father of the Light "speaks":
Lovingly,
Slowly,
Patiently,
Subtely,
Quietly,
Deliberately,
Compassionately,
Compellingly,
Urgently,
Divisevely,
Courageously,
Intimately

The Father of Darkness speaks:
Hastley,
Accusingly,
Partially,
Rashly,
Hopelessly,
Desperately


I do think that the Lord has different ways of communicating to us at different times. The mystics can prove this. Sometimes, it is a quiet subtle realization of something and sometimes it is a compelling, urgent call. The Lord can (and will) speak bluntly and harshly, but will also speak compasionately and patiently.

In discernment, I have come to realize that, for the most part, God's will is something that must be deliberated with ample time, rational reflection and courageous faith. It is in times of hectic confusion, where a naggig voice is saying "stay away, you'll just screw it up" that we know that is from the enemy. If the Lord doesn't want you in a certain place, he will not nag saying "stay away you miserable wrech". He will lovingly guide you another way, closing a door (maybe in your face) if he has to. He will illuminate a new path. His voice will be hopeful and understanding. He plants seeds, and waits patiently for the great fruit.

The Lord's voice isn't always soothing. His callings can be difficult and challenging. These are invitations to purification. I think it is a good sign if you being purified; that is evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in an individual. When God begins to make us whole, he rids us of what is not "of Him" which can be painful. I think its similar to cleaning a wound, first it stings, but then it heals slowly.

Lord, purify our hearts so we can see You. Speak to our hearts and guide us closer to Your love and mercy.