Meditation for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Today is Ascension Thursday, forty days after the Resurrection.  As I’ve read, only the dioceses of Boston, Hartford, New York, Omaha, and Philadelphia have in the United States today as a Holy Day of Obligation.  More than likely if you are reading this, the celebration of the feast for you is pushed over to Sunday.  Well, after some early confusion, I realized I had to get to Mass today, and I did.  It was worth it.  The readings are wonderful.  Today’s Gospel is taken from Mark’s Ascension narrative.

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Go into the whole world

and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;

whoever does not believe will be condemned.

These signs will accompany those who believe:

in my name they will drive out demons,

they will speak new languages.

They will pick up serpents with their hands,

and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.

They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

 

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,

was taken up into heaven

and took his seat at the right hand of God.

But they went forth and preached everywhere,

while the Lord worked with them

and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

~Mk 16:15-20

This is the famous snake handler passage.  Do not do this.  People have actually died following this.  How is one supposed to read it?  It’s a sign of the power of evangelizing, not the literal prevention from harm.

More importantly, Fr. Geoffrey Plant provides the theological underpinnings of the Ascension.

 

The Glory Cloud is the key to the passage! 

 

Meditation: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

 

 

Sunday Meditation: The Joy of Love

On the sixth Sunday of Easter the Gospel continues with Jesus’s great discourse, and here He gets to the heart of Christianity.  Keep in mind that the second reading is from the First Letter of St. John, where the evangelist makes the astounding declaration that God is Love. 

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"As the Father loves me, so I also love you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,

just as I have kept my Father's commandments

and remain in his love.

 

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you

and your joy might be complete.

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

No one has greater love than this,

to lay down one's life for one's friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves,

because a slave does not know what his master is doing.

I have called you friends,

because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you

and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,

so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

This I command you: love one another."

~Jn 15:9-17

If God is love, then what kind of love is God?  In Greek philosophy there were five kinds of love: Eros, or romantic love; Philia, or love between friends; Storge love between family members; Philautia, or self-love; and Xenia or hospitality.  Jesus uses none of these terms.

What Jesus uses is Agape, and here is a definition from Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape

Agape (/ɑːˈɡɑːpeɪ, ˈɑːɡəˌpeɪ, ˈæɡə-/;[1] from Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē)) is "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for [human beings] and of [human beings] for God".[2] This is in contrast to philia, brotherly love, or philautia, self-love, as it embraces a profound sacrificial love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance.

What it comes down to is charity to the point of sacrifice.  That is what Jesus calls us to do.  I’m going to offer two homilies.  First from Fr. Joshua Kibler, C.O. at the Pittsburgh Oratory.

 

Here also is an excellent homily from Bishop Barron.

 

 

That is spot on.  I have grown tired of all the people point out errors of dogma or of flawed morals and have no love.  They are nothing more than “noisy gongs” and “clanging cymbals” (1 Cor 13:1). 

Sunday Meditation: "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you

and your joy might be complete.”

 

Today’s John Michael Talbot song appropriate for the reading, I Found My Beloved.

 

If you didn’t catch the closing lyrics, here they are:

So I have abandoned

All I ever sought to be

And in dying

My spirit has been released

Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Part 9

This is the ninth post of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s historical novel, Quo Vadis.

You can find Post #1 here.  

Post #2 here. 

Post #3 here.  

Post #4 here. 

Post #5 here. 

Post #6 here.  

Post #7 here. 

Post #8 here. 

 

Chapters 57 thru 63

Summary

The games are interrupted by three days of rain and hail.  Once they resume, Nero wants to arm Christians to fight each other to the death in the arena.  The Christians refuse, throw their weapons to the ground, and kneel in prayer.  Nero is forced to put an end to them by having real gladiators come in and slaughter the Christians as they passively kneel.  Then Nero, inspired to exceed all past games, creates enactments of mythic and historic stories where the Christians will be raped and killed per the legends.  Another spectacle put on in the arena is real crucifixions, and so Christians are nailed to crosses and lifted up, the arena filled with so many crosses it looks like a forest with the audience enjoying the slow deaths of the crucified.  One such Christian is the old man Crispus, preaching the wrath of God as he is nailed and dies on the cross.  The cross on which Crispus is nailed stood opposite the emperor’s podium, and Crispus and Nero faces look on each other.  Crispus in his dying breath denounces Nero.

Chilo, trying to leave the games, tries to persuade Nero to leave for Greece, but Nero says not until after the games are over.  Chilo insists he will no longer attend the games, but Nero stipulates that he be forced to sit next to him.  Chilo feels that death is coming for him through the vengeance of the Christian God.  Petronius says that the Christians in their passive deaths are actually arming and with patience will bring down Rome.  Tigellinus says that this is insane.

Petronius believes that Vinicius is devising a new plan to free Lygia, but Vinicuis has lost hope.  Still Vinicius decides to try to enter the new prison, just to see Lygia.  Dressed as a slave the guards do not recognize him and he goes in.  The prison is vast and he hears the groans of all those infected with fever.  Deep in the dungeons he finally finds Lygia and Ursus.  Lygia, asleep on the floor, is emaciated.  He kneels by her and she awakes.  She is weak but grateful to see her beloved.  He tells her Christ will save them, but she believes she will die, either in the arena or in prison. 

For three nights Vinicius similarly comes to the prison to be with Lygia.  They talk about how they will love and live with each other beyond the grave.  Petronius is astonished that Vinicius is at peace with the situation.  Petronius informs him that the Christians will be human torches for Nero’s garden the next day.  Vinicius again dresses as a slave and heads over to the prison.  He gets there in time to see Christians being led out to go to Nero’s garden.  Scanning their faces he does not find Lygia or Ursus, but he does notice Glaucus. 

The Roman people have grown tired of the games, and Nero and Tigellinus are hoping with the last of the Christians to bring the spectacle to an end.   In Nero’s garden, Christians are tied to poles and plastered with pitch.  At a given command, a slave beneath each pole sets fire to a pile of straw.  The fire climbs the pole and ignites the pitch.  As the fire climbs the poles and up the bodies of the Christians, screams can be heard, smell of burnt flesh can be smelled, and the garden is as bright as day.  Chilo is forced to attend with Caesar, and is horrified at the distorted burning bodies, some still in agony, some frozen in a death gaze.  As Nero’s entourage stroll through the garden they come to the pole where Glaucus is strapped.  Chilo lets out a cry upon recognizing him.  Nero laughs at the shock he sees in Chilo’s face.  Chilo begs Glaucus to forgive him, and Glaucus does before he dies.  Chilo drops to the ground in tears and the Romans wonder what is happening to him.  Chilo gets up and pointing a finger at Nero and in a loud voice screams that Nero had been responsible for the fire.  The Roman people within earshot believe him and question why the need for the murderous games.  In the chaos, Chilo wanders away and comes across Paul the Apostle.  Chilo makes a confession and Paul baptizes him into Christianity.  Tigellinus finds Chilo, and Chilo announces that he has become a Christian too.  Tigellinus has guards apprehend Chilo who torture him to retract what he said about Nero.  Chilo refuses, and Tigellinus has his tongue pulled out.

Tigellinus comes up with a new idea for a spectacle.  He will have a Christian hang on a cross while devoured by a real life bear.  The Roman audience has begun to believe the Christian divinity will conquer Rome.  When it is time for the bear scene, to the audience’s surprise two guards drag out Chilo, naked and decrepit from his broken bones.  He lay calm, awaiting his fate with peace.  They nail him to a low cross so a bear can reach up to him.  The bear is curious but does not attack Chilo, as if in pity for the man.  As Chilo looks up, he smiles as if in a vision of wonder, and then dies.  A voice from the top of the amphitheater yells out, “Peace to the martyrs,” silencing the audience.

After the burning of the Christians as torches in Nero’s garden, there are not many Christians left.  The Roman population is convinced the Christian God will take revenge.  The rumors that Nero and Tigellinus are the real culprits of the fire spread through the city.  To calm the populace more free food is provided.  Vinicius is reassured that when Lygia dies he will be given her remains.  He too has become emaciated from his stress.  The thought of reuniting with her in the afterlife consoles him.  Ursus too is consoled in the thought of serving Lygia in the afterlife.  The prison guards admire the mild good temper of the gentle giant. 

###

My Comment:

Good Lord, the degradation on the Christians sinks lower and lower. The crowd is bored with the slaughter, so the powers have to devise more disgusting spectacles to hold the audience's interest. The slaughter of the Christians is a holocaust, which reminded me of Nazi Germany. The book, however, was published in 1896, well before WWII.

Michelle’s Reply:

This was so very hard to read about! It's hard to fathom how people could watch the Christians brutalized in the "games" and see them as entertainment. It's very disturbing.

 

On a lighter note, the reconciliation between Chilo and Glaucus was unexpected but touching, wasn't it? I was really glad that it happened.

My Reply to Michelle:

It was very hard to read Michelle. The blackness of the Roman people’s hearts to watch and be entertained by this is chilling. I don’t believe the author is exaggerating. I do think the Roman people were numb to cruelty.

 

Chilo surprised me at every turn. I did not expect him to betray the Christians nor convert to Christianity nor stand up for Christianity and accept martyrdom. He was a weak man who was strengthened by the grace of God and did the right thing in the end

Frances’s Comment:

Over the weekend my husband and I watched the movie “Gladiator,” which as many of you who saw it when it first came out about 20 years may remember well. It takes place during the reign of the Emperor Commodus (177-192 A.D.), while the events in Quo Vadis occurred during the reign of Nero, around 54-68 A.D. (Christians were persecuted, tortured and martyred during the first through fourth centuries, as you doubtless know.)

 

Two observations: 1). After seeing the film, I looked up reviews of it.

I was not that surprised to read in one review that all mention of Jesus and Christianity were deliberately left out. The hero, played by the actor Russell Crowe, dies a martyr’s death; the afterlife he goes to resembles the Elysian Fields of ancient mythology. Above, Manny referred to the blackness of the Roman people’s hearts, to watch such cruelty as entertainment. This is not apparent in “Gladiator.” Spectators are watching “the games.” We can deduce their attitudes, but they aren’t highlighted by the filmmaker.

 

2) Now go to Tom Holland’s brilliant book, Dominion. In it Holland stresses he was surprised to learn what a savage and alien place the ancient world was. And he discovered there was a certain innocence about the citizens’ callousness: they lived with it, not aware of their attitudes toward savagery and slavery. Caring, sensitivity, respect for human rights: these were the gifts of Christianity. Our culture at large doesn’t recognize that the values of Western civilization trace their roots to early Christianity, but they do. I find it particularly sad that the makers of the movie “Gladiator” chose to ignore this. Quo Vadis did not.

My Reply to Frances:

Oh I love the movie Gladiator and caught a scene that same day you were watching Frances. My wife was watching it. Unfortunately I had to go out.

 

I think the Roman people were probably mixed on the gladiatorial games. But the fact that they were a big source of entertainment suggests that most supported them. As with anything, repetition without challenge will normalize all sorts of hideous behavior. There are many things in society today that is accepted as normal that would have been disgraceful 100 years ago. You can probably make a list resulting from the sexual revolution.

Kerstin’s Comment:

I found these scenes very disturbing too. I actually skipped much of it, it was too much.

From the beginning Sienkiewicz has been very consistent in depicting the Romans as people without the gentling influences of Christianity. It exposes the inner tension that must exist in a person who will love those close to him and not care one whit about anyone else.

###

The first excerpt I’ll post is from Chapter LXI; Nero, Tigillianus, and Chilo are walking through Nero’s garden with the Christians hung on poles as human torches.

 

Darkness had not come when the first waves of people began to flow into Cæsar's gardens. The crowds, in holiday costume, crowned with flowers, joyous, singing, and some of them drunk, were going to look at the new, magnificent spectacle. Shouts of "Semaxii! Sarmentitii!" were heard on the Via Tecta, on the bridge of Æmilius, and from the other side of the Tiber, on the Triumphal Way, around the Circus of Nero, and off towards the Vatican Hill. In Rome people had been seen burnt on pillars before, but never had any one seen such a number of victims.

 

Cæsar and Tigellinus, wishing to finish at once with the Christians and also to avoid infection, which from the prisons was spreading more and more through the city, had given command to empty all dungeons, so that there remained in them barely a few tens of people intended for the close of the spectacles. So, when the crowds had passed the gates, they were dumb with amazement. All the main and side alleys, which lay through dense groves and along lawns, thickets, ponds, fields, and squares filled with flowers, were packed with pillars smeared with pitch, to which Christians were fastened. In higher places, where the view was not hindered by trees, one could see whole rows of pillars and bodies decked with flowers, myrtle, and ivy, extending into the distance on high and low places, so far that, though the nearest were like masts of ships, the farthest seemed colored darts, or staffs thrust into the earth. The number of them surpassed the expectation of the multitude. One might suppose that a whole nation had been lashed to pillars for Rome's amusement and for Cæsar's. The throng of spectators stopped before single masts when their curiosity was roused by the form or the sex of the victim; they looked at the faces, the crowns, the garlands of ivy; then they went farther and farther, asking themselves with amazement, "Could there have been so many criminals, or how could children barely able to walk have set fire to Rome?" and astonishment passed by degrees into fear.

 

Meanwhile darkness came, and the first stars twinkled in the sky. Near each condemned person a slave took his place, torch in hand; when the sound of trumpets was heard in various parts of the gardens, in sign that the spectacle was to begin, each slave put his torch to the foot of a pillar. The straw, hidden under the flowers and steeped in pitch, burned at once with a bright flame which, increasing every instant, withered the ivy, and rising embraced the feet of the victims. The people were silent; the gardens resounded with one immense groan and with cries of pain. Some victims, however, raising their faces toward the starry sky, began to sing, praising Christ. The people listened. But the hardest hearts were filled with terror when, on smaller pillars, children cried with shrill voices, "Mamma! Mamma!" A shiver ran through even spectators who were drunk when they saw little heads and innocent faces distorted with pain, or children fainting in the smoke which began to stifle them. But the flames rose, and seized new crowns of roses and ivy every instant. The main and side alleys were illuminated; the groups of trees, the lawns, and the flowery squares were illuminated; the water in pools and ponds was gleaming, the trembling leaves on the trees had grown rose-colored, and all was as visible as in daylight. When the odor of burnt bodies filled the gardens, slaves sprinkled between the pillars myrrh and aloes prepared purposely. In the crowds were heard here and there shouts,—whether of sympathy or delight and joy, it was unknown; and they increased every moment with the fire, which embraced the pillars, climbed to the breasts of the victims, shrivelled with burning breath the hair on their heads, threw veils over their blackened faces, and then shot up higher, as if showing the victory and triumph of that power which had given command to rouse it.

 

At the very beginning of the spectacle Cæsar had appeared among the people in a magnificent quadriga of the Circus, drawn by four white steeds. He was dressed as a charioteer in the color of the Greens,—the court party and his. After him followed other chariots filled with courtiers in brilliant array, senators, priests, bacchantes, naked and crowned, holding pitchers of wine, and partly drunk, uttering wild shouts. At the side of these were musicians dressed as fauns and satyrs, who played on citharas, formingas, flutes, and horns. In other chariots advanced matrons and maidens of Rome, drunk also and half naked. Around the quadriga ran men who shook thyrses ornamented with ribbons; others beat drums; others scattered flowers.

 

All that brilliant throng moved forward, shouting, "Evoe!" on the widest road of the garden, amidst smoke and processions of people. Cæsar, keeping near him Tigellinus and also Chilo, in whose terror he sought to find amusement, drove the steeds himself, and, advancing at a walk, looked at the burning bodies, and heard the shouts of the multitude. Standing on the lofty gilded chariot, surrounded by a sea of people who bent to his feet, in the glitter of the fire, in the golden crown of a circus-victor, he was a head above the courtiers and the crowd. He seemed a giant. His immense arms, stretched forward to hold the reins, seemed to bless the multitude. There was a smile on his face and in his blinking eyes; he shone above the throng as a sun or a deity, terrible but commanding and mighty.

 

At times he stopped to look with more care at some maiden whose bosom had begun to shrink in the flames, or at the face of a child distorted by convulsions; and again he drove on, leading behind him a wild, excited retinue. At times he bowed to the people, then again he bent backward, drew in the golden reins, and spoke to Tigellinus. At last, when he had reached the great fountain in the middle of two crossing streets, he stepped from the quadriga, and, nodding to his attendants, mingled with the throng.

 

He was greeted with shouts and plaudits. The bacchantes, the nymphs, the senators and Augustians, the priests, the fauns, satyrs, and soldiers surrounded him at once in an excited circle; but he, with Tigellinus on one side and Chilo on the other, walked around the fountain, about which were burning some tens of torches; stopping before each one, he made remarks on the victims, or jeered at the old Greek, on whose face boundless despair was depicted.

 

At last he stood before a lofty mast decked with myrtle and ivy. The red tongues of fire had risen only to the knees of the victim; but it was impossible to see his face, for the green burning twigs had covered it with smoke. After a while, however, the light breeze of night turned away the smoke and uncovered the head of a man with gray beard falling on his breast.

###

The second excerpt is from Chilo’s crucifixion and death in Chapter LXII.

 

But others spoke of Chilo.

 

"What has happened to him?" asked Eprius Marcellus. "He delivered them himself into the hands of Tigellinus; from a beggar he became rich; it was possible for him to live out his days in peace, have a splendid funeral, and a tomb: but, no! All at once he preferred to lose everything and destroy himself; he must, in truth, be a maniac."

 

"Not a maniac, but he has become a Christian," said Tigellinus.

 

"Impossible!" said Vitelius.

 

"Have I not said," put in Vestinius, "'Kill Christians if ye like; but believe me ye cannot war with their divinity. With it there is no jesting'? See what is taking place. I have not burned Rome; but if Cæsar permitted I would give a hecatomb at once to their divinity. And all should do the same, for I repeat: With it there is no jesting! Remember my words to you."

 

"And I said something else," added Petronius. "Tigellinus laughed when I said that they were arming, but I say more,—they are conquering."

 

"How is that? how is that?" inquired a number of voices.

 

"By Pollux, they are! For if such a man as Chilo could not resist them, who can? If ye think that after every spectacle the Christians do not increase, become coppersmiths, or go to shaving beards, for then ye will know better what people think, and what is happening in the city."

 

"He speaks pure truth, by the sacred peplus of Diana," cried Vestinius.

 

But Barcus turned to Petronius.

 

"What is thy conclusion?"

 

"I conclude where ye began,—there has been enough of bloodshed."

 

Tigellinus looked at him jeeringly,—"Ei!—a little more!"

 

"If thy head is not sufficient, thou hast another on thy cane," said Petronius.

 

Further conversation was interrupted by the coming of Cæsar, who occupied his place in company with Pythagoras. Immediately after began the representation of "Aureolus," to which not much attention was paid, for the minds of the audience were fixed on Chilo. The spectators, familiar with blood and torture, were bored; they hissed, gave out shouts uncomplimentary to the court, and demanded the bear scene, which for them was the only thing of interest. Had it not been for gifts and the hope of seeing Chilo, the spectacle would not have held the audience.

 

At last the looked-for moment came. Servants of the Circus brought in first a wooden cross, so low that a bear standing on his hind feet might reach the martyr's breast; then two men brought, or rather dragged in, Chilo, for as the bones in his legs were broken, he was unable to walk alone. They laid him down and nailed him to the wood so quickly that the curious Augustians had not even a good look at him, and only after the cross had been fixed in the place prepared for it did all eyes turn to the victim. But it was a rare person who could recognize in that naked man the former Chilo. After the tortures which Tigellinus had commanded, there was not one drop of blood in his face, and only on his white beard was evident a red trace left by blood after they had torn his tongue out. Through the transparent skin it was quite possible to see his bones. He seemed far older also, almost decrepit. Formerly his eyes cast glances ever filled with disquiet and ill-will, his watchful face reflected constant alarm and uncertainty; now his face had an expression of pain, but it was as mild and calm as faces of the sleeping or the dead. Perhaps remembrance of that thief on the cross whom Christ had forgiven lent him confidence; perhaps, also, he said in his soul to the merciful God,

 

"O Lord, I bit like a venomous worm; but all my life I was unfortunate. I was famishing from hunger, people trampled on me, beat me, jeered at me. I was poor and very unhappy, and now they put me to torture and nail me to a cross; but Thou, O Merciful, wilt not reject me in this hour!" Peace descended evidently into his crushed heart. No one laughed, for there was in that crucified man something so calm, he seemed so old, so defenceless, so weak, calling so much for pity with his lowliness, that each one asked himself unconsciously how it was possible to torture and nail to crosses men who would die soon in any case. The crowd was silent. Among the Augustians Vestinius, bending to right and left, whispered in a terrified voice, "See how they die!"  Others were looking for the bear, wishing the spectacle to end at the earliest.

 

The bear came into the arena at last, and, swaying from side to side a head which hung low, he looked around from beneath his forehead, as if thinking of something or seeking something. At last he saw the cross and the naked body. He approached it, and stood on his hind legs; but after a moment he dropped again on his fore-paws, and sitting under the cross began to growl, as if in his heart of a beast pity for that remnant of a man had made itself heard.

 

Cries were heard from Circus slaves urging on the bear, but the people were silent.

 

Meanwhile Chilo raised his head with slow motion, and for a time moved his eyes over the audience. At last his glance rested somewhere on the highest rows of the amphitheatre; his breast moved with more life, and something happened which caused wonder and astonishment. That face became bright with a smile; a ray of light, as it were, encircled that forehead; his eyes were uplifted before death, and after a while two great tears which had risen between the lids flowed slowly down his face.

 

And he died.

 

At that same moment a resonant manly voice high up under the velarium exclaimed,—

 

"Peace to the martyrs!" Deep silence reigned in the amphitheatre.

This video clip is not from any of the movies but a historical retelling of the events. 

As you can see, the novel follows the historical events very closely.

 

St. Catherine of Siena: Letter to a Layman

Today, April 29^th, is St. Catherine of Siena’s feast day.  As you may know, she is the patron saint of this blog and my personal patron saint.

The magazine Magnificat has a meditation with today’s Mass readings by St. Catherine for her feast day.  The meditation is an excerpt of one of her letters, one of 380 letters that have survived.  The magazine does not give any details of the letter, so I looked through my volumes of her letters and after an hour of searching I found it!  The letter can be found in Volume 1 of the four volume complete collection of her letters titled, The Letters of Catherine of Siena, translated and annotated by Suzanne Noffke, O. P.  It is a magisterial collection that is a prize in my library.

So the letter is identified as T60, written in the summer of 1375 from Catherine’s stay in Pisa.  The addressee is unidentified and Sister Noffke deduces from the comments in the letter that he is a layman and a parent.  Catherine exhorts him to keep the commandments and embrace the virtues.  Her image two wings is as striking as is the image earlier in the letter of the fountain sprinkling out the blood of Jesus.  Here is the excerpt as published in Magnificat.

 

I long to see you a true servant of Jesus Christ, an observer of his commandments.  No one can have the life of grace who is not the keeper of those commandments….Once we see that of ourselves we are nothing at all, we are completely humbled at the knowledge of what our benefactor has done for us.  We so grow in love when we recognize God’s great goodness at work in us that we would rather die than transgress our dear Creator’s command.  This holy trembling brings us to tremendous love, a love we draw from the fountain of the blood of God’s Son, which was shed for our redemption just to wash away the guilt of sin….

 

I beg you then to make use of these two wings that will help you keep God’s commandments and, once you have managed the commandments, will enable you to fly into everlasting life.  The first wing is hatred and contempt for sin and for selfish self-love, the source of every vice.  The second wing is being the lover of virtue.  Once we see that virtue is essential for us, we love it; we see God wants us to be lovers of virtue and despisers of vice.  Oh how sweet it will be for you to have this virtue!  It frees you from slavery to the devil and gives you liberty, delivers you from death and gives you life, relieves you of darkness and gives you light.  Sin is just the opposite: it leads one into every sort of misery.

 

I beg you, for love of Christ crucified, let your soul’s eye be directed toward God in all that you do.  Oh what great joy and happiness you will feel when the time comes for you to be called by First Truth, knowing you are in company of the virtues, supported by the staff of the most holy cross from which you have learned God’s holy commandments!  And you will hear at the end those sweet words: Come, my blessed son, and possess the kingdom of heaven, because you conscientiously cast aside desire and affection for conformity to the world, and reared and nurtured your family in holy fear of me.  Now I am giving you perfect rest, for I am the one who repays you for all you have suffered for me (cf. Mt 25:34).

She ends with a quote from Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 25, where Jesus where Jesus welcomes onto the kingdom those who taken care of the least but improvises her ow theology onto it.  This is so Catherinian.  We do keep the commandments for love of God because God has done so much for us, including the shedding of the blood of His beloved Son.  And the great sin, the sin that leads to all other sins, she identifies as “self-love,” that is, selfishness.  She is just brilliant.

Happy Feast of St. Catherine of Siena.

###

Monday is my Adult Faith Formation class and we’ve been reading Sigrid Undset’s biography of St. Catherine.  I have covered this book extensively here on the blog.  Since Catherine’s feast day fell on a Monday night class, we had a little celebration.  I brought in black and white cookies, the colors of the Dominican Order.  Fr. Eugene, our pastor, had a cake ordered and we had a special writing on top of the cake. 

 

Beloved Catherine, I hope you’re smiling on us.  Pray for us.

Sunday Meditation: The True Vine

On the fifth Sunday of Easter in Year B, we get another “I Am” passage from the Gospel of John.  Today we get one of my favorites, the pruning of the grapevine in John’s chapter 15.  This is one of my favorite passages because right around this time of year I am pruning my own grapevine.  As it so happens, I pruned last week, a little late in the season, but it’s tough to find a day.  Every year as I prune I mutter “I am the vine, and you are the branches!”  And just as I snip the dead wood and the long extended vines that will not bear fruit, so Jesus says His Father will prune as well.

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.

He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,

and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.

You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.

Remain in me, as I remain in you.

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own

unless it remains on the vine,

so neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,

because without me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not remain in me

will be thrown out like a branch and wither;

people will gather them and throw them into a fire

and they will be burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

By this is my Father glorified,

that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

~Jn 15:1-8

Notice, Jesus doesn’t just say “I am the vine,” He says “I am the true vine.”  So let’s unpack the metaphor.  God the father is the gardener who prunes; Jesus is the vine; we who are in Him are the branches; the fruit are the good works we do to glorify the Father.  Here are some visuals from my vine.

The vine is the stem and the main vertical branches.  You can see it growing against my fence.

You can see the branches growing off the vine trained to go up toward my deck.

And here’s a top view where you can see the blossoming leaves. 

The fruit will come later in the summer.  I love gardening, but I think the most difficult of my gardening activities is pruning and maintaining a grapevine. 

Dr. Brant Pitre will explain the theology of this passage.

 

That is a great apologetics comment by Dr. Pitre at the end.  Make sure you listen to the end.  I also like Jeff Cavins more pastoral application of the passage.  It’s short enough to include.

Sunday Meditation: "Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.”

And another John Michael Talbot song appropriate for the reading.

 

Oh how lovely!