CALL TO HOLINESS-3

THE JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE

THE NEED FOR AN INTEGRATED SPIRITUALITY

The traditional spiritualities such as the Carmelite, Jesuit, Franciscan, Benedictine and others have been challenged to adjust to some of the fundamental changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council. The insights of this historic event unleashed the power of the social message of the gospel. The final document of Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World had this to say on that topic: “A new humanism is emerging in the world in which man and woman are primarily defined by their responsibility toward their brothers and sisters and toward history.”

Vatican II made it clear that there is no part of human life and history that is not affected by faith and the gospel. Grace touches all of life whether it is personal, in the home, the workplace, the political arena, the theatres, the stadiums or any and all social reality. All of God’s created handiwork is influenced by the saving presence of God’s grace. An isolated “natural order” is a fiction far removed from the divine dominion that encompasses all creation.

Basically, this call for a new humanism is a summons to adjust our religion, to refocus how and where we experience God, to direct our attention and to be open to this world. Many of us were raised to understand our central faith project as saving our souls. Our attention was focused on “the spiritual”, “the other worldly.” Events in this world simply formed the context for this fundamental personal endeavor. Carmelite spirituality, like all other traditional spiritualities, had been distorted over time to exaggerate the personal and private to the neglect of the wider picture of the social and historical, including the actual experience of our daily lives.

Pope Francis, in his beautiful and transforming Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, speaks of our need to change our ways so we can bring justice to the poor. His message is completely in tune with the gospel, the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the long and magnificent tradition of the social teachings of the Church. Francis lays out a concrete program that is founded on a mature development of Vatican II’s message. The problem many people have with his call for involvement is rooted in a narrow and damaging understanding of spirituality.

Slowly, we have come to realize that Jesus did not preach a message of just saving one’s soul. He proclaimed the coming of the kingdom. His message includes saving one’s soul but also concern for this world, its history and the struggle for a just society. The gospel is about the kingdom of God (Lk 4:43); it is about loving God who reigns in our world. To the extent that He reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Both Christi preaching and life, then, are meant to have an impact on society. We are seeking God’s kingdom: “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Mt 6:33) Jesus’ mission is to inaugurate the kingdom of his Father; he commands his disciples to proclaim the good news that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 10:7) Pope Francis highlights this call to social involvement over and over in The Joy of the Gospel. Here is one example: “We cannot ignore the fact that in cities human trafficking, the narcotics trade, the abuse and exploitation of minors, the abandonment of the elderly and infirm, and the various forms of corruption and criminal activity take place … The unified and complete sense of human life that the gospel proposes is the best remedy for the ills of our cities … But to live out human life to the fullest and to meet every challenge as a leaven of gospel witness in every culture and in every city will make us better Christians and bear fruit in our cities.” 1

This is the Justice Perspective. It involves both a personal and a social transformation. It calls us to experience a spirituality that includes the just transformation of our society. This is the prophetic dimension of the gospel which has played a minimal role in the lives of many if not most Christians for centuries.

The Synod on Justice in 1971 captured this fundamental call to expand our horizons in this historic statement: “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as constitutive dimension of preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.”

In his response to the environmental crisis, Laudato Si, Pope Francis makes a strong point about concern for the poor. He states that we must always include a social approach in our response to the gravity of the ecological issues that confront us. We must constantly include action on behalf of the poor. Justice has a vital role in uniting our response to both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

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The Liturgy: The Source and Summit of our Faith

The incorporation of the teachings of Vatican II into the Catholic life has been very uneven. The common experience of the Liturgy has been the biggest area of change and the most accepted by the faithful.

I would like to share a personal story leading into some reflections on liturgical reform and the call to universal holiness.

It was about twenty years before the beginning of Vatican II. I was at the Sunday school mass with my fourth grade class. The nuns kept a great discipline and order among the eight hundred students.

My crisis began when the priest placed two hosts on my tongue at Communion time. I became terrified and lost any common sense perspective. I tried to stay in line on the way back to my seat. I placed the extra host on the side of my mouth with the hope of bringing it back to the Monsignor right after the mass.

I was becoming consumed in a sense of horror as the host was rapidly melting in my mouth. My dilemma was that I could never touch the host nor receive two hosts. Likewise, I had to stay in place and keep quiet. Today we would call it the perfect storm of horror. As the host melted in my mouth, I was expecting the floor to open up and I would plunge straight down to the consuming fires of hell. To my utter amazement, I was somehow spared my eternal punishment at that moment. The floor at my feet held steady.

As soon as I got outside, I ran to the sacristy and told the Monsignor about my two host horror story. He said simply, “That’s all right boy. “Don’t worry about it.” While I was relieved, I also was terribly confused. I said to myself, “What the hell is this about?” Somehow I just avoided the eternal fires of hell and he says, “Don’t worry about it!”

This was the beginning of Vatican II for me. It was the first unraveling of the “Catholic world” that was my inflexible and non-negotiable heritage. This was the culture that had evolved from the defensive stance against the Protestants over the previous four centuries since the Council of Trent.

Vatican II became a process of stripping off the rigid strait-jacket that maintained the Catholic discipline centered around the sixth commandment, Mass on Sunday and fish on Friday. Walking with Jesus had become hidden somewhere along the way.

The Dominance of the Priestly Role

In the pre-Vatican II world, liturgy centered around the priest. Only the priest touching the host was one among many common practices that were established in response to the Protestant reformation.

The priest was seen as the mediator between the people and God. The priest was viewed as special, holy and outside the ordinary lives of the people. An entire culture of exclusiveness developed to support this view and help create a warped clericalism.

In the liturgy, the mass centered on the exclusive role of the priest. He prayed quietly in Latin with his back to the people and separated by the communion rail. The main part of the Mass became the special words of the priest changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. This was identified by the ringing of the bell at the elevation of the host and chalice.

This emphasis on the importance of the priest led to the greatly diminished role of the laity. My crisis of not touching the sacred host was crossing the sacred division between the exalted role of the priest and the inconsequential role of the laity. The reality was clear. The priest was the holy one. The laity were along for the ride. They just needed to follow the rules and all would be well because the priest was bringing God to them.

The Church as the People of God

The changes in the liturgy mandated by Vatican II were a radical transformation from the priest-dominated reality in the centuries following the Council of Trent. The basic change was the Church was now seen as the People of God. Priests were part of the common people of faith. They are distinguished by a role as is the laity. The main difference at the Eucharist is not the change of the bread and wine but the transformation of the entire community into the Body of Christ.

This relates strongly to the call for universal holiness. This is why we call the liturgy the source and summit of our faith. Many other changes flow from these basic insights of the new emphasis on the People of God celebrating the Eucharist. The priest no longer is the celebrant. The entire community celebrates in unity. The priest presides over the communal celebration.

The laity have increased roles as lectors, Eucharistic ministers and ministers of hospitality. Likewise, the role of the musician and choirs have grown in importance. The Eucharist is placed on the hand without the separation of the communion rail or the posture of kneeling.

Most importantly, the message of the celebration and the liturgical seasons and scripture readings are all leading into a central and governing emphasis on the Pascal Mystery of Christ. All are defined most accurately not as priest or laity. All are Disciples of Christ, gathered to journey through life in the footsteps of Jesus. That is why we call the liturgy the source and summit of our faith. We are all, first and foremost, Disciples of Christ.

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Baptism’s Call to Holiness

This blog, Praying Alone Together, has a clear goal. It hopes to teach people to pray with a depth that will produce the significant personal changes. It aims to achieve personal purification to move away from hidden selfishness and sinfulness. It hopes to enlighten one to gospel values. Finally, it seeks a personal transformation to prepare one for a deeper and purer experience of God.

It is problematic to lay out such a clear goal for most Catholics. They are participants in a Catholic culture that is much less demanding. For most Catholics, the issue is to go to church regularly, say their prayers, and make sure all the family has a clear understanding of the faith and to live a good life. Basically, it is an effort to cover one’s bets by the religious rituals and practices and then live your life until the next crisis.

Vatican II has two basic teachings about spirituality that challenge that religious practice that is less demanding. The first is this. There is a universal call to holiness. The second is that this holiness comes through a spirituality that participates and engages with the world. The will of God for every human being is their personal sanctification. The average Catholic has no interest in being a saint. Most just want to be a good Catholic.

Herein we come face to face with the problem. There are at least three factors in general Catholic culture that secretly rejects this Vatican II call to holiness which is foundational to this blog, Praying Alone Together.

The first difficulty is how we look at saints. The second is our perspective on those who have left the world for religious life to more authentically follow the gospel. The third is how we view priests as mediators between God and the lay people.

Catholic culture views the saints as spectacularly holy. They are in a totally different level than the ordinary folks. This leads most people to feel they are not called to be holy. Yet, all are called in an ordinary and simple manner to be holy by living an authentic and loving way. We need to move beyond the obstacle of the wildly heroic saints. We need to realize that we have the opportunity of being holy in the flow of the commonplace events of our life.

The second obstacle to lay holiness inherent to Catholic culture is the idea that holiness is for those who withdraw from the world and have entered religious life. They left all to help their pursuit of holiness. The rest are seen as second class citizens and are held excused in the holiness game.

The third deterrent is the perceived role of the priest. The priest is seen as on a pedestal and called to a much greater degree of holiness. He is another Christ. He is identified as a mediator with God.

Role of Baptism

Vatican II’s call to universal holiness is rooted in the proper understanding of baptism. All baptized are members of the community of faith, the body of Christ. All baptized are called to live the fullness of the gospel call. The vows of religious are simply a different means to achieve this common goal. The priest is not separate from the community but has a particular role in the people of God. Baptism is the great sacrament of equality and entrance into this holy community.

In the early Church, all the members were called saints. St. Thomas Aquinas saw the Christian vocation as charity, loving God and loving neighbor. The vows of religious are simply a different means to that common goal shared by all. Like so many other things related with religion, this basic truth of the universal call to holiness was distorted over the centuries. It put vowed religious in an unrealistic and distorted role in the faith community.

A good example of this was the shock when many nuns chose not to wear the religious habit. This had nothing to do with their pursuit of the gospel. Most of the nuns saw it as a step toward freedom in seeking God.

The basic and truly overwhelming truth is this. Baptism, which unites us all with Christ, makes us members of the People of God. It is as members of the People of God that we share the call to holiness. This universal call needs to be the guiding force in the life of all, no matter what role they may have in the community. The roots of this baptismal call to sanctity do not allow for separation, elevation or hierarchy among the members of the faith community. The basic norm is equality.

All are brothers and sisters. Some have roles of service in the common quest to be one with God in love.

Catholic Culture

It is impossible to practice our religion without a culture. However, all cultures share in the human condition of sin and grace. Every religious culture must be evaluated by the standards of the gospel. This is what Vatican II did in relationship to spirituality and the call to holiness.

The point of interest here is that inherent in Catholic culture there are at least three hindrances to the common acceptance of the baptismal call to holiness.

In the following few blogs in this series I will attempt to further develop these points of interest about the universal call to holiness along with the need to live it out in the midst of our daily lives in this world.

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