First the renewal, then the aggiornamento

One of my heroes and guiding lights is Mother Marie William MacGregor, OP, who was the Mother General of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia (Nashville Dominicans) from 1964-1976, during a difficult time in the Church, when there was much confusion following Vatican II.  Many in the Church, from the average parish to the biggest religious congregations, began to abandon their traditional way of life for the sake of "modernization."  Ancient practices were abandoned, teaching the fullness of the faith was exchanged with a watered-down mess, and now an entire generation of Catholics is under-Catechized and uninterested in the Church.  

Many argue that religion is no longer pertinent.  Some can't handle that people who consider themselves religious are indeed imperfect.  Others don't realize that there is a difference between freedom and license.  Our culture is screaming for Hope.  They are thirsting for Truth--and looking in all the wrong places.

There are a "rebellious few" out there who know and love the fullness of Truth, of Beauty, of Goodness, found only in the Person of Jesus Christ and His Spouse, the Church, of whom He gave His life for.  We desire all to know this fullness.  We desire to be the tip-of-the-spear leading our generation to the "Springtime of the Church" which Pope John Paul II preached about.  And it is coming.  Do you feel it?

But, before we run off to conquer the world with Love, we must look at our own hearts.  Have we let Him fully conquer ours first?  Have we really surrendered all to Him, that all the holy work we desire to do is truly His work and nothing of our own?  If we desire to preach and love through the New Evangelization, have we allowed that new evangelization to constantly renew our hearts?

"First the renewal, and then the aggiornamento..." were the words of Mother Marie William to her congregation as they set out to serve the post-Vatican II Church.  She understood that the most important thing to face the perils of the quickly-changing culture was to first to renew your own heart and commitment to Christ, then adapt to the times.  

Pope Paul VI said this: "Modern man is more willing to listen to witnesses than to teachers.  If they do listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.  In short, be the witnesses of sanctity."  For us to be witnesses, and hence bring our generation to Love, we must be always renewing our hearts and adapting.  To live is to change, to be perfect is to change often.

As we face the depravity of the world, may we find our Hope in the Divinity that dwells within each of us.  May we constantly, daily, in all things, renew our hearts with the Love of Christ, that we might be always be ready to share our reason for hope--which is something our culture is, quite literally, dying for.  Only then can we be the change the world needs.

"We wish to start Heaven here on earth..."

Salt+Light TV, the Catholic TV network of Canada, has spent the past year and a half working on a documentary of the life of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia, our beloved Nashville Dominicans.  They wrapped up filming this fall, and the final 55-min piece is scheduled to air in January.  They have a beautiful trailer posted on their website...

And here are some of my favorite quotes...

"They're looking at leaving behind good things; the good and beauty of married life and parenthood, and to see, can I be a spouse to Christ; and yet, to say, I'll leave those behind for the greater good of Christ alone, where He becomes my everything."

"If you think about it, all people are called, ultimately, to live totally united to Christ; and most people will do so in Heaven.  We wish to start heaven here on earth."

"The vocation to the religious life is a call to love Christ as our Spouse, and our neighbor as He loves them.  It's magnificent.  He gives us the grace to love, and we have to remain faithful to that grace."

Saint Cecilia, wise, prudent, and faithful virgin, pray for us!

Thy Kingdom Come

"In our present political climate it would be very easy to somehow link our courage and hopefulness to the outcome of political endeavors.  It would be easy to position our hope in some kind of political strategy and call for greater courage in fostering that particular strategy.  

The fact that whatever kind of kingdom we manage to build here will always be an imperfect kingdom helps us keep our focus on that in which and for which we ultimately hope, a kingdom of God in eternity."

~Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon

This is so well said.  Nothing can or should steal away our hope.  We are a people of Hope, we are a people of Christ.  As our Holy Father has said, people who have Hope live differently.  And that is our call--and quite honestly, always has been our call.  Living the Christian life, authentically, is a radical call to live the gospel; and in our society, that is living quite differently. Rejoice.  Pray.  Have Hope.  This is our call!  

And might I add--I got to spend time with Bishop Vasa at World Youth Day--LEGIT. 

VOTE LIFE

50 million dead.

1/3 of our generation killed.

The greatest holocaust in history.

VOTE LIFE

Everything you hold sacred...

Another video by Grassroots, the folks who brought you "Fishers of 

Men," "God in the Streets of New York," etc. This is really moving, 

and so true. We have such a big job this election.

May Truth prevail!

One Long Act of Love

"May my life be a continual prayer,

one long act of love.

May nothing be able to distract me from You.

I would like so much, O my Master,

to live with You in silence.

But what I love above all is to do Your will, 

and since You still want me to be in the world,

I submit with all my heart for love of You.

I offer to You the cell of my heart;

may it be Your little Bethany.

Come to rest there.

I love you so."

~Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

An Intense Conviction

"It wasn't like a voice from the sky.  

But it was like an intense conviction of what I was made for."

   ~A Dominican Sister 

on knowing her vocation

I Have My Mission

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.  I have my mission--I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.  I am a link in the chain, a bond of connection between persons.  He has not created me for naught.  I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

Therefore, my God, I will put myself without reserve into Your hands.  What have I in heaven, and apart from you what do I want upon earth?  My flesh and my heart fail, God is the God of my heart, and my portion forever.  Amen.

~John Henry Cardinal Newman

Under Construction...

After a summertime blogging hiatus, I've decided to start a blog update/facelift/renewal.  Father Baker and the Vandy+Catholic blog is rocking, and I feel like it might be time to step up my game.  All I've changed so far is the name and header, as you can see.  Bear with me as I wait for inspiration!  

"Believe in the whisperings of God in your own heart."

~Blessed Mary MacKillop

Tears of the Saints

My discovery of a great new band and one of their incredible songs has beautifully coincided with a huge event in my family's life.  My grandmother, in her 70s, who was married to my grandfather, a devout Catholic, for over 50 years, and who raised 4 wonderful Catholic children, this past week came home and was fully received into the One, Holy, Apostolic Church.  She had been thinking about converting for a long time, but just never really did.  With much joy, my family converged on the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in tiny Greenwood, Mississippi in the heart of the Delta last weekend to witness her reception.  It was beautiful.  I couldn't hold back the tears.  This woman, my wonderful grandmother, whom I have adored for so long for her strength and ability to unite our family, for her real understanding of motherhood, was home.  And she was now united to me and my family in a new and profoundly beautiful way--through the Holy Eucharist.  Indeed, things will never be the same.  At that moment, I already felt closer to her, as she received the Eucharist for the first time.  Hearts united.  The beautiful collision, where depravity meets divinity.  Oneness.  Truth.  Beauty.  Love.

The band is Leeland.  Their song is "Tears of the Saints."

there are tears from the saints

for the lost and unsaved

we're crying for them, come back home

we're crying for them, come back home

and all Your children will stretch out their hands

and pick up the crippled man

Father, we will lead them home

Father, we will lead them home

I can't help but think on these words.  What does that look like?  Tears of the saints?  To think of the tears the saints in heaven shed over our depraved world.  The sorrow they feel for the lost, for the weary, for those who do not know real Love.  The sadness when God's own children on earth aren't helping those lost.  Or when we, His children, turn from Him.  

Yet, at the same time, they also can shed tears of joy.  I know they were last Sunday as my grandmother came home.  Heaven greeting earth in a holy kiss in the Mass, as she encountered heaven on earth for the first time in her life.  Tears of the saints, heaven rejoicing, as she entered into the fullness of Truth and Love.  If my feeble little heart shed tears at that moment, there is no doubt that the pure hearts of heaven were, too.

"There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."

~Luke 15:7