If I were a retreat director...

Let me preface this by a funny and great quote from the retreat this weekend from Sissy:

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plan for life.

Well, I don't think God would laugh at your face if you tell him your plan, but you get the idea--we create great designs for our lives, but it is not our say that is the final one. Well, my plan (here you go, God... you know it already) is to do some combination of post-grad service to the Church and get a Masters in Arts-Theology, Pastoral Studies, or Divinity, then go on to find a job in a Catholic high school that has a dedicated campus ministry department (preferably) and concentrate on retreat ministry and forming Christian leaders from high school youths. Also in there, I want to help out with improv and theatre and baseball coaching.

Well, this weekend affirmed that retreat ministry is one of the elements to the route that fits my charisms and gifts. I am not writing to bash the retreat but to point out where its parts aroused responses in my internal monologue that are the seedlings of the part of me that hopes to direct retreats one day for young people.

We had only short, surface-level small-group time. The short reflections by Fr. John were nice but not especially cohesive or provocative of thought, and his questions did not stir up great introspection or thoughts. The result was timid, brief conversation that did not really do all that much. If I had the opportunity to lead, I would be sure to create a more cohesive theme--not necessarily to box in the direction of things but to guide and aim it to some kind of end. Also, a dynamic of comfort and sharing needs to be established beyond the simple here's my name and fun fact. A degree of that has to continue into the next couple conversations. A good way to encourage sharing and open people up to prayerful participation is to ask for volunteers to lead prayer at the start and end of group time. Familiar prayers led by the group-leader are good prayers, but prayer led by a retreatant, especially spontaneous prayer, is much more pastoral and inclusive and definitely contributes to an atmosphere of faith-sharing.

Our masses were cozy and brief. We were constricted to a small half-room for our chapel with barely enough room to greet each other with the sign of peace. However, we could have done better to be liturgically conscientious and create the best environment for prayerful worship. First, you need to choose lectors beforehand so the readings happen in a timely, decisive fashion that makes them proclamations and not shaky, tentative recitations. Also, we did not have EMs; the small room meant we just passed the Body and Blood around. A nice touch here would have ministering to one another--giving the Body to the person next to you rather than just receiving it yourself and passing on the vessel. Though not everyone is a trained EM, it gives occasion for us to present Christ to one another in the way we should be seeing through our retreat and life. Also, though we had no piano, we had a shelf of hymnals, a few confident singers, and people willing to join along. Given that, I wish we'd have planned out a bit of music to bolster some kind of theme. We could only choose hymns we recognized, so the ones chosen would have been sung by everyone, creating a nice group setting for the mass.

Those are just two aspects of the internal monologue that endured throughout the weekend. The other theme within me was my stubbornness when expectations are not met. Rather than seeking to reconcile reality to my expectations, I cling to a duality to perpetuate some sense of what I wanted and expected alongside a half-assed approach to entering into the actual dynamic. I tried to jot down ideas and write when I wanted to or had something good to scribble down, and at one point Saturday night (when the rest popped in Chocolat for free time), I just left the room and wrote, read, and got to bed a bit early. Meanwhile, I only dwelled peripherally in the laid back, hanging out in Portsmouth vibe that everyone else seemed so content to be in. The result is that I characteristically missed out on the socializing that everyone else so naturally does. I didn't know how to reconcile my personality and desires to be spiritual and introspective with the way everyone else was going with the flow. It was nice to meet some new people and relearn the constant lesson that people are never exactly what you think, but I was disconnected in a way that I didn't really make any friends. But I enjoyed the nice people and the glimpses of their stories that I caught.

Lent 2010

So for Lent the frequent question bandied about is usually, "What are you giving up for Lent?" I think we often treat Lenten sacrifice more like New Year's Resolutions that lack the spiritual aspect of true sacrifice; when we crave or desire that which we give up, it is meant to invoke the sacrifice of Jesus and make it a meaningful part of the day in those places where the things we give up would usually fall. Anyway, as spiritual and introspective sacrifice can be, I choose to add something rather than, or sometimes in addition to, some kind of sacrifice. We sacrifice to recall Christ's self-giving, but we can also add to respond in different ways: to better honor our bodies as temples of the soul; to reflect how we as people are made in God's image; to respond to Jesus' call to self-giving.

This Lent, my added elements will be returning to my recently unearthed charism of trust and humility. I have been seeking a way to re-stabilize my nightly prayer and here I think I have found it. In place of or maybe in addition to the usual thanks and praise, I will process my day in the hermeneutic of trust and humility. I want to gain perspective on the decisions I make and actions I take and discern how they do or don't reflect trust in God and humility in myself.

My hope is that (1) I remember to do it each night and go through is conscientiously rather than begrudgingly and (2) that a diligent discipline in prayerful reflection will bleed over into my day. I hope that reflecting in prayer on these important virtues will make consideration of them more natural and instinctive to my constant decisions and actions.

As with all virtues, these are mostly ideals--things that require perfection, which we cannot really reach. Humans cannot be perfect, but we have the saints as models of the pinnacles of man's capabilities as good Christian children of God. We must work to pursue the Christian ideal--Christ was perfect, and though I cannot be, it is in seeking that perfection of Christ that I grow and develop in faith and love most.

We'll see how this goes...

The Simpsons and Theology (?)

So as my theological mind and spiritual heart and soul grow, already existing in larger quantity and quality within my being is a ridiculously large fortress of knowledge involving the Simpsons, which I have no shame of at all. The fun by-product of these two streams of dominant thought in my brain are the occasional overlaps that delight me. I must admit, this current episode is brought on by my impending acceptance to write a Senior Thesis on the Kingdom of God in Luke-Acts.

This morning, during lunch, I was watching some Simpsons online, as I do just about everyday here (it's the only TV I watch--an episode or two of that a day and that's it). I settled on Missionary: Impossible, from season 11, a part of the Golden Age. Basically, Homer makes a phony pledge to end their pledge-drive that interrupts a show he likes; when he hides from the PBS bounty hunters in Lovejoy's church, the Reverend sends him to the South Pacific to do missionary work with island people. (Go here for more info or here for the episode.)

Among the many delights and laughs in the episode, Homer tells them to stop building a well, chapel, or immunization center and instead go for some "razzle-dazzle". After the casino he starts causes drunkenness, violence, and debauchery, Homer reverts back to the Christian mission his predecessors had started there and starts building the chapel. The conversation goes something like this:

Ach: Why are you... building chapel?
Homer: Cuz you're all terrible sinners.
Ach: Since when?
Homer: Since I got here. Now grab a stone, or go to hell.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna paint Homer as a hell-fire-and-brimstone preacher. But I loved the way Homer's simple, plain way of dealing with problems that are often quite complex or dense clarifies the Christian mission.

Jesus teaches, centrally, in the Gospel, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near [or at hand]." It is our mission and call to build up and make the Kingdom of God more visible and present here on earth in anticipation of the fullness of the Kingdom in salvation.

In Homer's situation, he realizes that extreme attraction to fun things on earth--gambling, drinking, socializing with the opposite sex--can cause dire problems when they get out of control. There is a great contrast in the episode between the half-finished chapel of a few stones and the fancy casino Homer oversees building of with several tables, a bar, and a fancy buffet. The debauchery of what that all represents exists in a well constructed building that is tended to carefully. Meanwhile, the chapel sits in disarray, unfinished.

Homer realizes that he has led them all down a dreary, troublesome path, so he shifts his attention and leadership back to building up the chapel, the powerful symbol of morality and right worship (wholesome, righteous worship of God rather than misdirected pride in worshiping earthly things). Homer quite plainly tells them, "Grab a stone, or go to hell."

It's not quite that black and white on that island or in life. However, here the simplified situation helps elucidate a basic choice in life: dedicate great time and focus on more fleeting enjoyments or work constructively to build God's Kingdom. It's not always an absolute either or choice, but in this case, the natives have strayed too far down the path to one side of the continuum. Some moderation must be found in which we seek happiness and more importantly joy--that which makes us profoundly peaceful and happy, a.k.a. our vocation. There is a balance where we can moderately enjoy the more light-hearted thrills of society and also think, act, work, and live for God's Kingdom.

Thank you, Homer for your many words of wisdom. Now it's up to us: will you grab a stone to build the Kingdom or go to hell?

Scripture Reflection for 2/14/10 (6th Sunday in Ord. Time)

I wrote this for the Catholics on Call website. They suggested some changes, some of which I didn't feel comfortable making. So this is the version with some tweaks based on their suggestions but mostly what I originally wrote...

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Be Exceedingly Glad

“Rejoice! Rejoice! And be exceedingly glad! For great is your reward, in heaven,” Jesus Christ proclaims in Godspell, the musical adaptation of the Gospel of Matthew. In one of my favorite songs in all of musical theatre, Jesus and John the Baptist go back and forth in a wildly entertaining song-setting of the words of Christ in the Gospel. The lyrics describe all the rough things that can happen in life—feeling sad, seeming to have dim prospects for the future, having lots of bills to pay—but the song itself is sung happily in a cheerful, celebratory way because ultimately we will have it all through our salvation in Christ.

The first reading and responsorial psalm echo one another by beseeching us to hope in the Lord, telling us that simply hoping in the Lord makes us blessed. The hopeful believer is like a tree whose roots reach down into the water supply and endure the desolation of droughts. Likewise, when we hope in the Lord, our lives and hearts will never lack nourishment or whither away to nothing—the wicked are like the chaff that the winds turn into nothing.

The foundational virtue underlying hope is trust in God. We must feel within us that leaving our lives to the Lord’s ordination, His plan, will lead us to be filled with good things. God created everything, and He foreknows all that will transpire in the world of freedom He created. He can foresee the bad things people and societies will do, and in His grand wisdom, God knows how good can come of all things, good or bad. For example, God foreknows that an earthquake may strike a part of the world; He foresees the disaster and graces the global community to act in solidarity to aid the affected people and their land. The affected people undergo suffering and hardship that we can’t really explain, but that is when God inspires us to aid our brothers and sisters in need most. We can answer the call to service in our Church both through physical, humanitarian aid and through prayer.

Luckily for us, in our limited and doubting understanding as humans, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to be a tangible sign of His infinite love: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall never die but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He made it so that our entire faith wasn’t just hope—He gave us His Son to elicit faith in us that underpins our hope for eternal life with God. By undertaking this grand miracle, God offered us a powerful sign of His love. Through Jesus and His Church, we remain in hope for the coming of the Kingdom, but part of our hope became belief when God came to us in the Word Made Flesh. We continue to hope for the Kingdom of God to come in fullness, but Paul tells us that Christ has already come to fulfill the beginning of our hope. Based on Christ’s coming, dying, and rising, we must now be believers in the saving power of Christ and our Resurrection in Him. “If we have hoped in Christ for this life only, we are the most pitiable people of all.” Paul calls us to live Christian lives while on earth but to be always aware that Christ’s victory points us towards our eternal peace with Him in Heaven.

In the Beatitudes, Christ explains how people are already blessed or full of woe because of their current behaviors. Jesus teaches us how God blesses those who are afflicted—the poor, hungry, saddened, and even those persecuted because of Christ. It is up to us to help make visible and felt the blessings of God to those people that often go overlooked in society. Our Church is a place where we act as Christ’s body to help the struggling poor, feed the hungry, and bring the Light of Christ to the downtrodden. Whether it is through simple food drives or fundraisers or broader campaigns for social justice and political advocacy of marginalized causes, Christians can answer the call to compassion and service in this world, in this day and age.

Jesus’ proclamations in this sermon are profound and important, but between the woes and blessings that get great attention are Luke’s version of Jesus words of hope: “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.” As they wrap up their song-and-dance in Godspell, Jesus and John remind us, “You must never be distressed… it’s all for the best!"

Ecumenical Efforts in the UK: An introduction to my Special Studies while abroad

This semester, I am in a Theology class called THEO 44001-01 Special Studies. The second 4 means it's in London, and the Special Studies means it was custom-designed, in this case by myself and Prof./Rev'd/Dr. Paul Bradshaw, an Anglican priest and Notre Dame Professor of Liturgy. I have already established contact with 4 people involved intimately with ecumenism in the UK, and before I go to meet them, talk with them, and maybe see some ecumenical efforts in action, I have been doing some reading of official documents to warm up to all of this.

I have learned a lot already in just two weeks of introductory reading. I read one lengthy document by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, which was longer than it needed to be. I also read a reaction document by the House of Bishops of the Church of England to an ecumenism statement by the Conferences of England and Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Finally, I just finished a few documents by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission from a few decades ago.

Aside from learning where differences lie and where surprising similarities exist, I learned a few cool facts and concepts that ground me well for my ongoing work and being a Christian:

-The Catholic Church more readily and compatibly allows fuller communion with Eastern rites because of closer sacramental practices. I was aware of closer relations with them institutionally and in some practice, but the overlap allowed because of a lot shared things in sacraments and communion surprised me. At one point, the Catholic bishops discuss the possibility of multiple traditions owning the same Church and sharing the facilities for worship and socializing. For sharing with Protestants, Catholics would need assurances for things like the tabernacle and Eucharistic reverence. With Orthodox, Catholics would need to promise higher reverence for their stricter observances. Additionally, it is good that I was reading from all three perspectives because the Anglicans point out that inconsistency may exist in communion standards within Catholicism. The Eastern rites, like Anglicans, do not assent to the authority of the pope or explicitly affirm transubstantiation (they teach it as a high mystery that cannot be eloquently articulated or explained) but do affirm a real presence in the Eucharist. Anglicans wonder about Catholic standards for communion and desire to have more dialogue on the consistency of Eucharistic inclusion, which I would be interested to see and hear.

-The Greek word, koinonia, which more precisely describes the communion between all Christians, who Christ prays may "all be one". This concept underlies much of the statements from all three points of view. It centrally describes how the Church of Christ is mystically One. It is felt and practiced through Triune prayer and worship--union with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Eucharist is the visible sign, and the episcopacy is the chief servant of the Church. It is a cool concept that uses the Greek word because present-day words oversimplify the mystical bond that unifies all Christ's people as His Body.

-The communion between all Christians has been damaged but not destroyed. Despite human greed and error, historical schisms and breaks in the Church, the Church that Christ established while on earth to be His Body after He ascended to heaven remains and endures. Humans can never destroy the unity that Christ established. It continues to exist in, what Anglicans describe as, "latent but needing to be more fully realized". It is up to us to recoup the damage that our ancestors and society have done.

-One last bit: the Churches Together in England, official ecumenical organization here in the UK, teaches that three crucial elements will lead the way in ecumenical progress: Church, unity, and visible unity. We must decide that the Church is the Body of Christ including all who believe in Him and His Gospel, which acts locally and globally simultaneously. We must achieve closer unity in our prayer and faith, which can begin in our one Christian Baptism and the Eucharist that we all share. Finally, visible unity is participating socially together in ways that make tangible our Christian unity. While Eucharistic sharing remains contentious, other ways of interaction in meaningful ways are very possible. It starts well with basic social needs, from things like dinners and outings to practical needs like babysitting and daycare.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them and let me know. Visit http://www.nd.edu/~dmastert for links to my research journal of summaries and reactions so far (research journal.doc) and to the syllabus I designed with Prof. Bradshaw's help (Ecumenical Efforts in the UK.pdf). I'll have my first real meeting on research tomorrow, and from there, I will probably start working on getting to see the people involved to get a human element going.