Been Busy

Sorry you haven't heard from me in a while. I've been busy on some of my other websites. Here are some of the things I've been writing:

Mary Speaks to All of Us

What I Learned About Marriage From Two Nursing Home Residents

I re-posted my last reflection on Lumen Fidei.

Saint of the Day: Saints Fausta and Evilasius

Some memes I've made:

Confirmation Classes are starting again. Technically, I'm going to be teaching two classes at once which is unheard of in my parish. One of my classes will be ending in November, so it shouldn't be too bad. 

There have been a number of things in the news lately about pro-life and women's issues that I would like to comment on and I'll get to work on that. I just wanted to let you know I haven't disappeared. 

I gotta use this cartoon every excuse I get. Although I'm done with the shameless plugging.

Lumen Fidei #22: Why Does God Allow Suffering?

From #57: To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light.

In my time as a nursing assistant and later as a chaplain intern, I was asked many times why is there suffering. It came up in many of my classes. I even had one class that dedicated a semester completely do that question in college.

The best I can say is that no one answer is going to work for every person in every situation. If someone who is suffering asks you "Why?" there is no answer you can give that will help them. The best you can do is, if appropriate, help them find an answer themselves and listen to them.

One thing I appreciate about Christianity is that it offers something more than an answer. It offers a God who knows all about suffering and who cares about each and every one of us deeply. Jesus Christ died abandoned by his friends in one of the most horrifying ways imaginable (likely asphyxiation). During his life, he suffered all the pains we do. Friends of his died, notably Lazarus. He lived far from home as he traveled preaching. He felt hunger, he felt thirst, and I'm sure he felt all the other aches and pains that we do.

So when we come to him in our suffering, he understands us intimately. He's been there. He might not be able to tell us why we are suffering, but he can be present to us in our suffering.

This is the last installment in a series of posts reflecting on quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical. It's been fun and given my background, I think it's very appropriate that we ended with a post about the meaning of suffering. If you want to read more, visit here.

Lumen Fidei #21: God of Creativity

Wikipedia cites it as "God creating the cosmos (Bible Moralisee, French, 13th century)"

From #55: If it possesses a creative light for each new moment of history, it is because it sets every event in relationship to the origin and destiny of all things in the Father.

All things originate in God and all things are destined in God. Out of this fertile ground, creativity grows. God is not stagnate, He is active. You may have heard the quote, "God, to me, it seems, is a verb not a noun." (R. Buckminster Fuller) Like many popular quotes, there is some truth in it and some absurdity. That's beyond the point of this post however.

Creativity and the arts can be holy. Creating and viewing it can lead one to the Divine. As JPII said in his letter to artists:

None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.

And for the consumer, a quote from Francis Schaffer as quoted by Joe Carter at First Things:

The arts and the sciences do have a place in the Christian life—they are not peripheral. For a Christian, redeemed by the work of Christ and living within the norms of Scripture and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Lordship of Christ should include an interest in the arts. A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God—not just as tracts, but as things of beauty to the praise of God. An art work can be a doxology in itself.

The creation of art brings the artist closer to God and the consuming of art should bring the consumer closer to God's truth. This is all because all things come from God and all things will ultimately end in God. Art is an important part of this cycle.

This is part of a series of articles reflecting on quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical. To read more, visit here.

Lumen Fidei #20: Courage to Love

From #52: Promising love for ever is possible when we perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a plan which sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love.

We've kind of messed up as a society in our views of marriage. On one hand, we take it so seriously that a lot of young people are scared to take the plunge. They think it's safer and less complicated to just live with someone without getting married. On the other hand, we've lost any sense of permanency. We talk about trial marriages. It's not so much until death do us part, but until we can't stand each other anymore.

It takes a lot of courage to get married. It's not something to do half-heartedly or without thoughtful consideration. In getting married, you are not only changing your own life, but that of another human being. A person that you'll get to spend the rest of your life getting to know and love.

But there is a bit of recklessness involved to. It is called "taking the plunge." After all the thought and prayer, you eventually have to do it. Courage doesn't mean not feeling fear, it's not letting that fear control you. One antonym of fear is faith.

To get married, you have to have faith in a bigger picture. This bigger picture might not be exactly what you think you want. But we have to believe that this bigger picture is what is best, that the Person in charge of the bigger picture only wants the best for us. Marriage is never easy. It will require sacrifice. It will require change.

But all of that sacrifice and change is making you into a better, holier person. The main job of a spouse is to make sure their beloved makes it to heaven. That's one heck of a responsibility and one heck of a reward.

This is part of a series of reflections on quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical. To read more, visit here.

Lumen Fidei #19: Let Us Build A House

From #50: That faith is not only presented as a journey, but also as a process of building, the preparing of a place in which human beings can dwell together with one another. 

As much as we want to cram religion into the personal sphere, religion cannot be simply personal. If you are close to God, you want to share Him. You want to reach out to other people who are also getting close to God. Something so big cannot be contained. A journey as important as faith cannot be done alone.

When you are baptized, among other things, you are baptized into a community. When my son was baptized, it was important for me that it happened as part of a regular Sunday Mass. We don't have any family in Syracuse and not many friends, but I wanted to share this event with others. I liked the symbolism of having it as part of the Mass, my only regret being that the baptismal font was at the back of the church so most people couldn't see it.

Although my son will never appreciate it, the people who were at that Mass certainly did. We still get stopped after Mass by people who comment on how good he is and how much he's grown. I think sharing that moment with our family helped other people in the parish to adopt our son. He's a part of the parish community in a way that my husband and I will never be. He's had the opportunity to grow up with them and they with him.

If you want to read more about his baptism: How My Son's Baptism Helped Me Heal From My C-Section

This is part of a series of reflections on Pope Francis' first encyclical. To read more visit here.

Lumen Fidei #18: Equal Opportunity Faith

Source.

From #48: The Gnostics held that there are two kinds of faith: a crude, imperfect faith suited to the masses, which remained at the level of Jesus' flesh and the contemplation of his mysteries; and a deeper, perfect faith reserved to a small circle of initiates who were intellectually capable of rising above the flesh of Jesus towards the mysteries of the unknown divinity. In opposition to this claim, which even today exerts a certain attraction and has its followers, Saint Irenaeus insisted that there is but one faith, for it is grounded in the concrete event of the incarnation and can never transcend the flesh and history of Christ, inasmuch as God willed to reveal himself fully in that flesh. For this reason, he says, there is no difference in the faith of "those able to discourse of it at length" and "those who speak but little," between the greater and the less: the first cannot increase the faith, nor the second diminish it.

Paul tells us that in God there no Jew or Greek, slave or free, man or woman, because we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28). We are also told:

One body, one spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

Seems pretty clear to me. Just as there is one God, there is only one faith. And faith isn't just for the theologians or the church-goers. Faith is for everyone.

I always think it's funny when people assume that I'm somehow closer to God because I have a Master's and I volunteer a bunch for the Church. I'll let you in on a little secret. Even people like me have doubts. We, too, have things that we struggle with, things that we don't completely agree with the Church hierarchy about, and things that just don't make sense to us. We also go through dry periods in our spiritual lives and dark nights of the soul.

I'm not any more precious to God than some militant atheist troll on the internet. We're all precious in His sight. We are all His children. He wants nothing more than to welcome us all home. He created us all, He redeemed us all.

Any faith that claims that some people are superior to others is full of it. We are all called to holiness and we all fall short. God loves us all more than any of us will ever understand and He wants a relationship with every single one of us. As the CCC quotes (605), "There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer."

Full of it like this baby.

Lumen Fidei #17: Sacramental Reality

From #40: The sacraments communicate an incarnate memory, linked to the times and places of our lives, linked to all our senses; in them the whole person is engaged as a member of a living subject and part of a network of communitarian relationship.

A while back I reviewed The Catholic Imagination, by Andrew Greeley. I remember overall appreciating the book although he did perpetuate some half-truths about Catholic teaching. The main point of the book is that people who are raised Catholic, even if they later leave the faith, have a very distinctive mindset.

The Mass and all of the other Sacraments bring the divine into everyday life. That should permeate our whole lives. Encountering the divine in the Sacraments helps us to recognize the divine in the ordinary. Not in the same way, but just as real, Christ is present in the Mass and in our neighbors.

Moreover, the Sacraments connect us not only to God, but to all believers at all times. As this quote points out, it highlights all of the major events in our lives: birth, marriage, birth of our children, death...

And the Sacraments are multisensory experiences. You witness the priest at the altar. You smell the incense. If you go to confession seated across from the priest, you feel his hands on your head as he says the words of absolution. You hear music, the prayers, and the readings.

Growing up with these experiences leaves a permanent mark on cradle Catholics. Those I know who have fallen away still have a deep appreciation for social justice causes, still has a grasp for how interwoven we all are. Many of the ex-Catholics I know fall squarely into the "spiritual but not religious" category as they see God everywhere. I pray that they find the Sacraments again and come back.

If you want to read more of this series of posts reflecting on Pope Francis' first encyclical, visit here.

Lumen Fidei #16: Share The Light

From #37: Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another.

This is one of the many points in this encyclical in which I'm reminded of this year's Lawn Chair Catechism series at Catholicmom.com. We're reading Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddell. While my participation in the series has been shoddy at best, I have been faithfully reading along and I love this book. Just this summer, I've recommended this book on at least three different occasions. That is saying a lot for me. I don't usually volunteer book recommendations.

In the book, the stages of conversion are discussed. Essentially, in order for someone to become a disciple of Jesus, they need to have a personal relationship with His Church. Faith is passed on in personal contact between one person and another. We can't just launch into catechesis; a person needs to trust the Church and have a relationship with the Church before they can learn.

This reading has changed my views on my job teaching Confirmation at my parish. Last year, I concentrated mainly on giving my students accurate information and making that information relevant. This year, I'll likely put more emphasis on prayer and developing a connection with my students.

If you want to read more of my reflections on Pope Francis' first encyclical, visit here.

And when spreading the faith, don't forget new media.

  

Lumen Fidei #15: Technical Jargon

From # 36: Theology also shares in the ecclesial form of faith; its light is the light of the believing subject which is the Church. This implies, on the one hand, that theology must be at the service of the faith of Christians, that it must work humbly to protect and deepen the faith of everyone, especially ordinary believers. On the other hand, because it draws its life from faith, theology cannot consider the magisterium as something extrinsic, a limitation of its freedom, but rather as one of the internal, constitutive dimensions, for the magisterium ensures our contact with the primordial source and thus provides the certainty of attaining to the word of Christ in all its integrity.

In other words, theology as a discipline must serve the ordinary believer and work with the magisterium, not against it. I almost didn't share this quote because 1) it's too fracking long and 2) I thought only me and my fellow armchair theologians would appreciate it. I decided to share it because it needs to be said.

The Magisterium is not the enemy. We're all in this together. The Magisterium contains the collective wisdom of thousands of well-educated men and women accumulated over centuries. When we say "the Church teaches X," we are referring to this well of knowledge. It really shouldn't be cast aside like it's worthless or rebelled against like it's always wrong. At the very least, it deserves a fair hearing and thoughtful (prayerful) consideration. God gave us the Magisterium. The Holy Spirit leads the Magisterium. You can't just ignore the Magisterium.

If you want to read more of this series of reflections on Pope Francis' first encyclical, visit here.

Jesus giving the keys to Peter

Lumen Fidei #14: We're all Magi

From #35: And image of this seeking can be seen in the Magi, who were led to Bethlehem by the star (cf. Matthew 2:1-12). For them God's light appeared as a journey to be undertaken, a star which led them on a path of discovery. The star is a sign of God's patience with our eyes which need to grow accustomed to his brightness.

Every year at the Christmas party at my Newman Center, everyone got rewards. One year, the organizing committee thought it would be cute to base all of the rewards on the Christmas story. As the token convert (and a non-Christian convert to boot), I received a cute homemade ornament featuring the three magi.

The magi: Traditionally, there have been three although the Bible doesn't give an exact number. They came from the East (like I did) following a star. They looked for the Christ.

Just like the Magi, we may have a very far way to go. In this life, the vast majority of us will never completely make it. But that doesn't mean that we stop searching. The Kingdom of God is the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46), it is the treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44).

Source.

You can find the rest of this series on quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical here.

Lumen Fidei #13: It Takes Three

Stolen from.

From #32: Once we discover the full light of Christ's love, we realize that each of the loves in our own lives had always contained a ray of that light, and we understand its ultimate destination. 

In the wedding ceremony, the husband and wife are considered to be the ministers. Everyone else is witnessing the ceremony in which the husband, wife and God become one. I've heard it said by a number of different sources that the Trinity is a Community of Love. Married people have a special responsibility in reflecting that love in their households. Our other relationships need to reflect that love as well.

How do we do this? By asking one clichéd, but still very important question: What would Jesus do? Jesus gave us an example of self-sacrificial, world-changing love. In all our relationships, including the martial ones, we need to follow that example. Easier said than done. No one said any of this would ever be easy.

This is part 13 of a series of reflections on quotes taken from Pope Francis' first encyclical. To see the other reflections, visit here.

Borrowed from.

On a personal note, I'm sorry I haven't been here for the past week. My son had surgery on his eyes about a week ago. His recovery went well, but I wanted to/needed to unplug for a while to take care of him and myself.

Lumen Fidei #12: To Touch with our Hearts

Source: http://www.lushquotes.com/

From #31: Saint Augustine, commenting on the account of the woman suffering from haemorrhages who touched Jesus and was cured (cf. Lk 8:45-46), says: "To touch him with our hearts; that is what it means to believe."

The woman with the haemorrhages. She'd been bleeding for years. Scholars say it was likely a gynecological issue which would mean that no man could touch her and be ritually clean. She was so sure that Jesus could heal her that she reached out and touched His robes. All He felt was someone tug on His clothes and some power leave Him. When Jesus questioned the crowd to see who had touched Him, she reluctantly came forward knowing that as a bleeding woman, she had no right to touch a man. But Jesus doesn't rebuke her. He says simply that her faith has healed her and tells her to go in peace.

I am originally from the "show me" state. We all value what our senses tell us as true. Right now, we cannot directly see God. We can see Him in creation. We can feel His love through other people. But we cannot see Him Himself. The closest we can get is to touch Him with our hearts, to believe. As Jesus says to Thomas:

Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” - John 20:29

Lumen Fidei #11: At First We See Dimly

No, that's not James. This kid has a lot more hair.

From #30: Joined to hearing, seeing then becomes a form of following Christ, and faith appears as a process of gazing, in which our eyes grow accustomed to peering into the depths.

This quote reminds me of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians:

For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. - 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 

One of the most liberating things about Catholicism is it's understanding of conversion. It's not a one time deal. You're not "born again" and then your done. You have to choose every single day to follow Jesus. (Note: I know that many more mainstream Protestant churches share the same idea.)

Our faith takes more than a lifetime to understand. It takes an entire lifetime to even begin to grasp God and His love. I know grandparents who still don't know God's will for their lives.

To read more of this series on Pope Francis' first encyclical, visit here.

Lumen Fidei #10: Love is not an Emotion

Source

From #27: Love cannot be reduced to an ephemeral emotion.

I don't need to reinvent the wheel, so here is a link to my article I posted a while back on YOUCATholic.com.

To read more of this series about Pope Francis' first encyclical, go here.

Lumen Fidei #9: The Need for Knowledge

From #24: ...we need knowledge, we need truth, because without these we cannot stand firm, we cannot move forward.

How do we know what is real? Without a firm grasp of what is real, we cannot really interact with the world around us. An example that was used frequently in my philosophy classes was:

We need to have an idea of what is real to even get out of bed in the morning. When you swing your legs over to get out of bed, you have to trust that there is a floor there that will hold you up.

Reality cannot be completely subjective or there will be chaos. There has to be an up and down, a right and wrong, a true and false. Otherwise, we cannot get out of bed in the morning, much less make any real choices, changes, or movement in our lives.

To read more of this series on Pope Francis' first encyclical, go here.

Lumen Fidei #8: So Mote It Be!

From #23: He is the same God that Isaiah will later call, twice in one verse, the God who is Amen, "the God of truth" (cf. Is 65:16), the enduring foundation of covenant fidelity.

Welcome to another interfaith lesson from your favorite convert! So, what does "amen" mean? "So be it." What does "So mote it be" mean? "So be it."

What is "So mote it be"? It the traditional ending of prayers that was used by the Freemasons and has been adopted by Neo-Pagans.

Thought to ponder: "Witches" and Christians end their prayers in the same way.*

I want to speculate on what deeper truth this similarity could point to. What does this say about God?

The quote above talks about God as "the enduring foundation of covenant fidelity."

God's covenant with Abraham

Oftentimes, we pray because we're asking for something. It really doesn't matter what religion you follow. If you believe in a deity, you're going to ask that deity for something.

God's covenant with His people was and still is a covenant of trust. The people follow and trust in God. God stays with and favors His people.

It takes a lot of trust to ask for something and consider it done. "So be it," isn't a request. It's a statement.

We are supposed to trust in God and God is completely worthy of that trust.

* I put "witches" in quotation marks because I know some followers who are insulted by that term. I used it because that is the term that most outsiders know them by.

This is part of a series of reflections on quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. For the other parts, go here.

Lumen Fidei #7: An Absent God is not a God

Cool CD cover.

From #17: Our culture has lost its sense of God's tangible presence and activity in the world. We think that God is to be found in the beyond, on another level of reality, far removed from our everyday relationships. But if this were the case, if God could not act in the world, his love would not be truly powerful, truly real, and thus not even true, a love capable of delivering the bliss that it promises.

Our Bible tells the story of people's relationship with God. Everywhere along the way from Genesis to Revelation, God intervenes on the behalf of humanity by doing thing like: saving the Israelites from slavery, helping the Israelites conquer the promised land, giving the Maccabees strength to rebel from Rome, and coming in the form of man to save us from sin and death.

But God's intervention in our lives isn't just something of history. He still intervenes every. single. day.

If you envision God as some old man in the sky who watches us intently and waits until we die to either reward us or punish us, you're not envisioning God, you're envisioning a cosmic Santa Claus.

A God who only exists out there in some netherworld who is vaguely defined and has an undefinable relationship to humanity is not the Christian God and might as well not exist at all. What use is He? How can we know He exists? What difference does His existence make?

What would be the point to religion? If we can't define God and God has no tangible relationship to us, why should we care?

But we do care. At least 90% of us in the US believe that God exists.

The Bible tells us that God is Love (1 John 4:8). We know that love exists because we love our family and friends. We endlessly seek love. God intervenes in our lives every day through those we love and those we don't particularly like.

In the quote above, Mr. Rogers is looking for love/God in the midst of tragedy. He's looking for hope through the helpers.

Our God is not some being in the sky. He's as close to us as our own family, as our very selves. That is the only God worth knowing, the only God that has any relevance. The clock-maker God is no God at all.

This is part of a series looking at quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. For the other parts, go here.

Lumen Fidei #6: "Make Straight in the Wasteland a Highway for Our God!"

John the Baptist

From #13: Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our history.

 I have a pretty colorful history. When I was younger, I hung out with a different crowd. Goths, potheads, you name it! I never participated in any drinking or drugs, but I was close to people who did. We were the outsiders at school. By my senior year, we joked that I was the "mother" of the outsiders. I did have quite the protective, mama-bear attitude going around with my friends.

I would not win any prize for having the most colorful history, though. Many saints have more colorful histories than I: St. Ignatius of Loyola- the ambitious soldier, St. Francis of Assisi- the spoiled pretty boy, St. Augustine of Hippo- wine, women, and song.

God still makes radical changes in everyday lives. I've met one man who was a part of a motorcycle gang with all the worst that that can entail: drugs, crime, and hedonism. He found Jesus after having a stroke and radically changed his life.

God truly makes straight the crooked lines of our history. I remember my first time in Eucharistic Adoration. I had the overwhelming feeling that everything I've ever done, every event in my life was orchestrated to get me to that place in that moment. I felt like I had known all of the people in that chapel forever, even though I had never met them before in my life. As little sense as it has ever made to me, I truly feel I was made to be a Catholic. This is where I belong.

This is part six of a series looking at quotes from Pope Francis' encyclical Lumen Fidei. The others can be found here.

Lumen Fidei #5: Idols, Idols Everywhere!

From #13: Idols exist, we begin to see, as a pretext for setting ourselves at the centre of reality and worshiping the work of our own hands. Once man has lost the fundamental orientation which unifies his existence, he breaks down in to the multiplicity of his desires; in refusing to await the time of promise, his life-story disintegrates into a myriad of unconnected instants.

I don't wanna go to sleep
I wanna stay up all night
I wanna just screw around
I don't wanna think about
What's gonna be after this
I wanna just live right now - C'mon, Ke$ha

Above is the bridge of a current popular song. The whole song is about drinking and hooking up at a party. Now, I listen to classic rock, so I'm not going to even pretend to be a puritan when it comes to these lyrics. But I think this illustrates quite nicely what the Pope is talking about in today's quote.

Without God, without community, our life becomes disconnected. We start to live only in the moment. No, I'm not talking about the religious practice of living in the moment; the practice of giving each moment your full attention. I'm talking about immediate gratification of desires. As we do whatever we want whenever we want, we ultimately become our own idol.

I actually really like Happy Bunny, I'm looking at my desk calendar right now.

Life can't be all about you. That leads to an empty existence. Forget the afterlife or God, your current life will suffer if you worship at the altar of yourself. You'll be lost in a haze of desires and moments. You'll just live to get past the next hurtle. You'll be attached to the self. But the self is always changing, always growing. God is never changing. Don't you want to be attached to something bigger and more permanent than yourself?

This is part 5 of a series discussing parts that struck me out of Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. For links to the other parts, go here.

Lumen Fidei #4: God of History

Source

From #12: Gothic architecture gave clear expression to this: in the great cathedrals light comes down from heaven by passing through windows depicting the history of salvation. God's light comes to us through the account of his self-revelation, and thus becomes capable of illuminating our passage through time by recalling his gifts and demonstrating how he fulfills his promises.

Every year, I attempt to go to a Passover Seder. At the Seder, the experience of the Exodus is remembered. A couple years ago, I went to one where the family let me keep a copy of the book of prayers that was used. Let me share a couple of them with you so you can get a taste of what the Seder is like:

Leader says: In every generation, each of us should feel as though we ourselves had gone forth from Egypt, as it is written: "And you shall explain to your child on that day, it is because of what the Eternal did for me when I, myself, went forth from Egypt."-pg. 17

Leader says: Tonight we have told the story of our Exodus from Egypt; we tell the story to our children so that someday they will tell it to their children and to their children's children. By telling the story again and again we express our hope that each of us will be a link in the chain that stretches from G-d to Moses and Miriam, to our grandparents and our parents, to us and to our children, our hope that each of us will be a strong link in that chain that stretches from generation to generation, like hands holding hands across the years.-pg. 23

In the Passover Seder, the diners don't just remember the Exodus as some good thing that happened to their people millennia ago. It's God's action in history. It's God's intervention yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

It's like the Eucharist. The Passover Seder and the Mass both make history present. They link us with everyone who has come before and everyone who will come in the future. God isn't some clock-maker, He didn't just do good things in some distant time and then disappear. God is here. God is still working. He's never left the building.

This is part 4 of a series where I share parts of Lumen Fidei that struck me. Here are links to the others.