Great News from Pope Benedict: Agapic Love is Erotic; Erotic is Agapic!

This news is better than good, better even than great, it is FANTASTIC! Agapic love is erotic; erotic love is agapic. Pope Benedict, and Dietrick von Hildebrand, are our teachers here. God, in his generous, overflowing, creative, redemptive and sanctifying love does not only give to us, but he desires us. From the cross, Jesus thirsted. Blessed Mother Theresa understood that he desires us, thirsts for our love, yearns for our own delighted and desiring response. His absolutely agapic-generous love is also erotic-desirous. And the inverse is also true: our erotic- needy love is also, in seed, agapic and generous. When we seek God, appreciate Him, and abide joyfully in Him, we satisfy his desire; we are ourselves generous. What this means concretely for me is that the check-out line in the supermarket is much more than a near occasion of sin; it is an occasion of grace. As I view the desireable faces and figures on the magazines and am aroused with restless desire, I recognize not only my own need and longing, but the seed of generosity. And so, renouncing lust and covetousness, I move through the emptiness into an act of giving: praying for Angelina, Jennifer, or Penelope I recognize my own poverty as well as theirs; I offer us to God; my need becomes absorbed into the surpassing fatherly-spousal-inspiring love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and I become myself a Lover, of these lovely creatures and of our Creator Himself!

Catholic Politics: Mortal and Venial Issues

The mortal/venial polarity is a familiar one for Catholics. A mortal sin, of course, is a grave, lethal offense that kills the life of God in the soul; a venial one is slight, pardonable, and harms without destroying the life of God in the soul. With regard to the Church's social teaching and political judgment this distinction may be helpful. Here "venial" might refer to issues about which there is no defined Church teaching, which allow for a diversity or catholicity of opinions, in which essential evil is not engaged, in which prudential judgment, involving subjectivity and indeterminacy, is involved. We Catholic can, will and must disagree and argue about these issues without breaking the bond of love, faith and truth that unites us. These include most political and economic issues: immigration, health care, taxation, size of government, gun control, global warming, warfare and the death penalty. There are, however, a very few issues about which the Catholic view is absolutely clear, about which all of us must agree, about which prudential calculation and subjective values do not pertain. In the current situation there are precisely three such mortal issues: the protection of innocent life, the sanctity of marriage and family, and religious liberty. A Catholic vote for the party of abortion, gay marriage and mandatory financing of contraception is a mortal act: it strikes a dagger in the heart of the Church, it kills the sanctifying life we share, it tears apart the Body of Christ.

Liberal Dogmatism

Religious dogmas are accepted by faith; scientific theories are tested by reason. So, as Catholic I accept that Mary was assumed physically into heaven; I do not seek to test that truth. Liberals have contempt for conservatives as anti-reason or anti-science because they themselves accept, on faith as dogmatic creed, a network of scientific theories which are entirely problematic and unproved: We humans evolved from apes; man-made global warming presents a clear and imminent danger to human flourishing; there are too many people on the earth; people are born homosexual; oral contraceptives are very good for women; masturbation is healthy and normal; humans need sex; men and women are alike in intellect and all important ways; parenting by a homosexual couple is equivalent to that by a man and a woman; the unborn fetus is not human; liberals care about the poor and conservatives do not; gender is a cultural construct subject to personal choice and social experimentation. These twelve dogmas are accepted, uncritically, as absolutes by liberals. To express reasonable, scientific doubt about them is to be stigmatized as dogmatic, ignorant, bigoted, and irrational.The shoe is on the other foot. The deep human need for certitude, for firmness in truth and faith, for dogma, when denied and repressed, will re-express itself as violence. We Catholics are self-aware that are belief in dogma, say the Assumption, is an act of faith in a supernatural revelation. As a result, we understand that many are not given that gift so we do not despise them for that. Additionally, we can consider scientific theories (say, climate change or the origins of homosexuality) with a certain lightness. The liberal, by contrast, unaware of his dogmatism, can only view dissent and skepticism about such issues as hatred and ignorance.

Eucharistic Appetite or Anorexia?

The wedding banquet has been prepared by the King, but the guests are disinterested and apathetic or even hostile and homicidal to his agents. (Today's gospel: Matt 22.) There is one person I know who would have gone, enthusiastically, to the feast: Marylynn my wife. She loves good wine and food, she loves to dance and to dress up, and she loves to go to Church, especially for a wedding. "She has a good appetite. God bless her!" This old saying has frequently been applied to her. It recognizes appetite as a gift from God, a marker of vitality, of zest for life, and of appreciation for Creation in all its splendor and desireabilty. The opposite of appetite is anorexia, a mysterious and devastating condition. It's origin is understandable as an obsession with thinness on the part of an adolescent woman, uncertain of her value, bombarded by the media-and-peer message that only thin is beautiful. But at the advanced stage it becomes diabolical: a disgust for food, for the feminine body, and for life itself. Consider this contrast between appetite and anorexia as an analogue for our participation in the Eucharist. Jesus was clear: "If you do not eat my body and drink my blood, you will not have life within you." The word for "eat" used in this text was not the one normally used for human dining, but for animals as they bite, gnaw and devour flesh. By Catholic custom we speak of consuming, not eating the host as we distinguish from normal digestion in that we do not devour God, but are ourselves assumed into His life. Such language is important. We do not take communion, but receive it...as a gift from the One who initiates and accomplishes the entire Act. Likewise, it is NOT bread and wine that we receive, but body and blood. Actually! Literally! This is NOT metaphor or symbol or poetry. Jesus' choice of words, so different from our pious custom, indicates that He wants us to devour him, aggressively, desperately, passionately. Here there is no room for passivity, apathy or indifference. I think of my sons or my old buddies from UPS in a Portuguese restaurant, downneck Newark, being served Rodesia (a smorgaboard of meats): a glint in the eyes, saliva flows, hormones are exploding, the teeth tear into the flesh, stomach chemicals are percolating to receve the feast, there is laughter and good cheer. Now that is appetite, not anorexia. And so I have little use for Catholicism Lite: a piety of effete, non-gendered, under-sexed, apathetic, skeptical, unaggressive, anorexic gentility. If we are to be Cathlic, let's really be Catholic: as aggressive, meat-eating, blood drinking, passionate lovers, enflamed with desire! Let us hunger and thirst, desperately, for Christ in the Eucharist!

The Queenship of Mary: Influence, Not Control

Mary, whose regal dominion we honor today, is not in control. Instead, she exercises influence. Control implies domination, a lessening or even elimination of the freedom of the other. Influence, by contrast, enhances freedom. Contrast: "He controls her" with "She is having a good influence on him." The male has a penchant for control: possession of of the TV remote; power struggles; competition. The business world exalts control: the controller has controls in place. Technology is the exercise of control over nature. The female is more facile in the emanation of an influence that attracts and yet respects the inner liberty of the other. But anxiety often traps women into the compulsion to control, out of concern for the other. Mary our Lady was not in control: not of her son, not of her husband Joseph, and certainly not of the Father and the Holy Spirit. She allowed herself to be under their influence, all of them. In turn, she exercised influence. May we today, release control, and surrender to her influence. After that, may we influence each other: awakening love, enhancing freedom, inspiring zeal and magnanimity.

Saved by Deep Loveliness

Miguel Manara, the protagonist of a short play of that title by Oscar Milosz, is a notorious womanizer, bored and sated with vice, whose life is completely changed by the love of Girolama, an innocent-but-wise 16-year old whose striking physical beauty is excelled by her inner goodness. She knows and yet loves Miguel, in all his sinfulness, and he in turn conceives a heart-changing love for her in her feminine splendor. He is converted...saved by her deep loveliness. Under her influence, he goes on to become a saint. Our lust-plagued world will be saved, this play suggests to me, by Beauty, by deep, feminine loveliness. Charles DeFocault was similarly converted by the chaste love of his lovely,prayerful woman cousin. St. Augustine was saved by the prayer of his mother. Our Guys, the story of the horrendous Glen Ridge rape, noted that boys who had sisters were disinclined to cooperate with the assault. Recall that Jesus, in his own passion, was comforted and supported almost entirely by women: those at the foot of the cross; the wife of Pilate who was the only one to advocate for him; and the three encounters we recall in the Stations including Veronica, Mary and the women of Jerusalem. If he received and welcomed this feminine touch at Golgotha, so much more may we, who suffer a different kind of passion, seek and relish the healing touch of womanly beauty. With Dostoevsky, we know that we will be saved by Beauty: specifically the radiant femininity of our wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, family and friends.

Companions in Holiness; Sinners' Support Group

There are a lot of people who pray for me: my Mom, wife, family and friends. I have a decent laundry list for intercessory prayer myself. At least 2 or 3 times daily I pray spontaneously with a prayer partner. So, I, gratefully, find myself immersed in a web of holy relationships: we pray with and for each other; we encourage each other with thoughts from scripture, the saints or the Church; and we share our weakness and sin. It could be called a "sinners' support group" or a "sanctity circle" or even a "saints-in-the-making workshop." It parallels our liturgical participation as an informal analogue but the two interpenetrate each other so the formal and the informal flow into each other forming a single Christian life pattern. This web of holy relationships is miraculously powerful as a synergy is released in the interchange: the resulting energy is far greater than the total of all our efforts. It is the work of the Holy Spirit! It pulls us deeply into the Kingdom of God, in disregard for our blatant sinfulness and weakness. It effortlessly overcomes evil, temptation and guilt. It spreads with a mimetic contagion. It is glorious!

"Not Everyone Can Accept This."

Jesus warned us that "not everyone can accept this, but only those to whom it has been given." He says this immediately after explaining God's view of marriage: "What God has joined together, let no man break asunder." In his time, and markedly in our own time, not everyone "gets it." It requires a gift from above, a grace, to understand the deepest nature of marriage, family and sexuality. It is painfully obvious that many of our contemporaries haven't received this gift. Happy are those of us who have received this blessing! It is not for us to judge others who not so blessed. This suggests to me a certain relaxation in the intensity, or at least the negativity, of the culture wars. This does not mean that we simply capitualte to the the spirit of the age, forces of bogus-liberation regarding marriage issues like cohabitation, divorce, and gay marriage. It does mean we relinguish righteousness and anger. It means that we be ever more grateful and joyous that we are granted this understanding and the miraculous ability to live this mystery.

Shall We Dance?

Imagine that I am offered, by God, another life and any gift I want: wealth, power, good looks, athleticism, intelligence or whatever. I know exactly what I would choose: to be able to dance like Fred Astaire, with Ginger Rogers, of course. In the history of this created universe (I cannot speak for alternate universes or a multiverse!), there never was and never will be anything quite like these two dancing together. Lightness: when they move together, there is a miraculous, even supernatural lightness that is simply heavenly. The normal rules of nature, the gravity and heaviness of the material, the antagonism between body and soul, flesh and spirit...all of this is suspended and we witness the wedding of the heavenly and the earthly, the material and the spiritual, the masculine and the feminine, and the love embrace of intellect, passion, will, spirit and all that is carnal. Their movement, together, quintessentially represents the Catholic vision of reality: the Theology of the Body; flesh as expressive of spirit; the beatific, nuptial and expressive purpose of the sexual, gendered, humble yet splendid human form. They show us what it was like, before sin, when Adam and Eve walked and talked and sang and danced with God at twilight in the Garden. They show us something of the bodily splendor that Jesus and Mary share today in heaven and (in hidden, and yet manifest manner) on earth. They show us our carnal identity and destiny. They inspire us to open our hearts and minds and bodies to the love that infuses the universe; to steadily if slowly become gracious, free and light. Their professional partnership was fluid, fruitful and inspired by heaven. Apparently, their personal relationship was loving, joyous and reverent, but also dense, intense, and complex: not without the tensions of sexual-romantic attraction, professional rivalry, and class dissonance (Rogers was higher on the ladder.)But when they danced, it was heaven on earth, for them and for viewers of every generation. That he was older, and not classically handsome or sexy, enhanced and elevated the romantic erotic dimension, freeing it of libidinal tension and gravity. He is masculine as wise, experienced, sober, fatherly, transcendent, admiring, directive, confident and strong. This paternal-and-yet-romantic balance seemed to liberate in her a feminine, filial trust; a serenity and innocence; graciousness, spontaneity and fluidity. Effortlessly, she becomes docile, receptive and responsive to his admiration and delight (as we are all invited to be in relation to our heavenly Father and Spouse.) As in traditional portrayals of the virgin Mary and the older, fatherly Joseph, eros attains new depth, richness,intensity and range as it it sublimated into chaste, paternal-filial tenderness and loyalty. God bless Fred and Ginger and us all!

Al Smith Dinner: A Catholic Sensibility?

I scratch my head in puzzlement: "Did he really invite him? Did Cardinal Dolan really invite our President to the Al Smith dinner? Why would he want to break bread, drink wine, and share jokes with the one who deprives us of religious liberty, would destroy all our institutions of corporal mercy, decimates innocent unborn life, and deconstructs sexuality and marriage? Why honor our worst enemy? " Is it because the Cardinal is, deep down, an unrepentant New Deal, liberal, big-government Democrat, like most of our bishops of the last 80 years? Is it because he is by nature jovial but naive, clueless as to the toxic political consequences of honoring this incumbent candidate in the midst of a campaign? Is it because he is a compulsively irenic reconciliator, like Cardninals Bernadine and McCarrick before him, who wants to be friends with everyone? Is he afflicted with the classic "Hesburg" Catholic inferiority complex, with a desperate need to be approved by the pretigious and powerful? Or worst of all, is he another tolerant cleric, lacking in guts and fortitude, turning a blind eye to evil and thereby enabling it, as so many bishops did in the priest sex scandal? Is it all of the above? It is, in any case, a disappointment for those of us who treasure religious liberty, value defenseless human life, and honor marriage and family. Nevertheless, there is another, more positive way to look at the invitation. It reflects a Catholic sensibility in regard to civility, love of the enemy, and the non-ultimacy of politics. First, regarding civility: our politics has become sadly polarized as left and right increasingly demonize each other. It is a good thing, a Catholic and catholic and inclusive thing for political enemies to sit down, joke and enjoy each other. Even if we must return to warfare the next morning. Secondly, we are told to love our enemies. For a Catholic in 2012, President Obama is clearly the enemy: therefore, we invite him to dinner and honor him and love him. This is a very Catholic and catholic thing to do. Finally, for the Catholic, politics is not of ultimate importance. It has significance, but not absolutely. More important for each of us is our concrete, immediate opportunity to love our neighbor. You can tax me to death, take away my religious liberty, close down my institutions, and install a regime of sexual license and annihilation of the innocent, but you cannot deprive me of my interior freedom, my life of faith hope and love. Whatever your politics, I will still love and honor, you, beloved enemy Obama, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. In this regard, it is a Catholic thing to honor an Obama. Would we do the same for Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Hussein or Bin Laden? The Al Smith dinner this year is a richly ambiguous event. I am myself very much of two minds about it. We are exhorted to always speak truth in love. We see here that love is present. Is truth? St. Ignatius of Loyola directed us to always put the best possible interpretation on the actions of others. This goes doubly in the case of bishops. In that light, I am working very hard to appreciate the Catholic sensibility of Cardinal Dolan.Cardinal Dolan is intelligent and articulate, he is fierce in defense of our values, he has a sense of humor and a Catholic sensibility about what is of ultimate importance: That we love each other! My hope is that he has the guts and intelligence to use the moment to issue a stern message to our President and our country. I imagine him echoing the spirit of another leader who faced such a threat to liberty: We love and honor you Mr. President, but we will fight, for our liberty, for our defenseless, for our youth and families...relentlessly and tirelessly, unto the spilling of our blood...we will fight you..."by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy...We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." Now that is a Catholic sensibility: a blend of civility, humor, agapic love for the enemy, and Godly, militant zeal!

Catwoman and St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross

In the blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, Anne Hathaway, as Catwoman, steals the movie, despite an ensemble of outstanding performances. She owns every scene in which she appears. First of all, she is as smart as can be: two steps ahead of Batman, the police, and the bad guys. Second, she is tough as nails, effortlessly besting three of four thugs at a time, and then gracefully walking away, every hair in place and serene as can be. Thirdly, she is breathtakingly beautiful, in an elegant gracious manner. She is not sexy in a needy, manipulative, seductive, I-need-a-man way. So, fourthly, she is independent, competent, and self-sufficient without a man. Fifthly, she is good...at the end of the day; although far from perfect. She is, after all, a cat burgler. But most importantly, in regard to the movie, she is light-hearted. There is a heavy, masculine, aggressive tone to most of the movie: the fights, the chases, the soundtrack, the ominous, muscular and dominant villain Bane. But Catwoman brings a distinctively feminine sense of lightness to the entire thing. It is when she appears and makes coy, witty comments that we, as viewers, realize, somewhere in our brains, that this is, after all, a comic strip; it is fun and funny; and we don't really have to grieve too deeply about the diminished potency of Batman or the fate of poor Gotham. Catwoman is an analogue, a image or icon, on a lower level, of our saint for today: St. Theresa Benedicata of the Cross, a.k.a. Edith Stein. She was a towering intellectual. As a protege of the great Husserl, she was considered a brighter light than her classmate Heideggar, who is probably the most influential philosopher of the 20th century. She was courageous: facing martyrdom in a concentration camp with serenity, exuding calm and consolation to her fellow prisoners. Physically, she was lovely to behold. But her spirit was even more splendid. She wrote and spoke brilliantly on the female psyche in a vein similar to that of her fellow mystic-phenomenologist, John Paul II. She was good: a consecrated virgin, a pure soul. But most of all, in regard to the drama that was her life and the life of that dark century, she brought a distinctively feminine lightness, a joy, a radiance of hope into the darkness of the Shaol. Liberated women! You go girl! We love you Catwoman, Anne Hathaway, and Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross!

Make Me Steadfast, O Lord

"My heart is steadfast" prays the psalmist. What a beautiful word: STEADFAST! The word implies: abiding, ardent, allegiant, constant, dedicated, dependable, enduring, constant, everlasting, abiding, permanent, lasting, loyal, faithful and true. We think of it in terms of relationships of fidelity: a steadfast friend, in good times and bad, forever. Loyalty in family and community: Steadfast. A Lover is steadfast in regard to the Beloved. One is steadfast in regard to a mission or work: suffering setbacks and difficuties but continuning up the long hill of fidelity. Steadfastness is an attitude, the quintessential attitude, in that it abides and remains, regardless of the flux and flow of cicrumstances and mood swings. What a beautiful word! What a marvelous reality! Make my heart steadfast, O Lord!

Heavenly Conversation

The gospel for today, the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord, has Jesus glorified on the mountain before his friends, in conversation with Moses and Elijah. This is arguably the clearest glimpse we get into heaven, and what do we see? A conversation! They are just talking with each other: the three of them! How fascinating! What could they be talking about? And then another voice joins the conversation: the Father expresses his delight in his dearly beloved Son and directs the three disciples to listen to him. Peter eventually joins in with an impertinent, clueless suggestion, but at least he is in the conversation. From this we may conclude that heaven is, among other things, a Grand Conversation; and that heaven-on-earth has to do with good conversation. For me, there is hardly anything better than a good conversation with an interesting, intelligent, fascinating partner. Consider the dynamics: we become intrigued and captivated by our friend, we gain new visions and understanding, we surprise ourselves with our own wisdom and depth, we share an exhilaration in serendipitous, energetic insight. Good conversation...reverent,humorous,informed, loving, inquisitive, transparent,light and lively...surely is something heavenly. I look forward to many such conversations, in this life and especially in the next!

Praying for the Beauties!

I was channel-grazing with the remote when I stopped to watch Howard Stern interview Pamela Anderson. My conscience flashed the red light: "Do not watch! Occasion of sin!" But flesh prevailed over spirit, so voluptuous was she, of face and figure, in her tight-fitting top. Little did I know that this would soon become an occasion of grace, a specific, concrete and precious actual grace. He was asking provocative, indecent questions as she responded in a kittenish, coquettish, sexy manner. Then the irreverent, degenerate shock jock crossed the line into the dark, mortal abyss of violation and abuse: "Tell us about the first time you had sex!" he said. Pamela froze; her face became ashen white; and a look of deep sadness came over her. She did not speak. The buffoon filled the silence with his idiotic nonsense. In her flawless face I saw the innocence, the fragility, the delicacy and the indescribable pain of a 12-year-old maiden who is violated. Involuntarily, she had dropped her erotic, provocative mask and unveiled herself as precious, lovely and deeply harmed. Later I heard that when she arrived for her first photo-shoot for Playboy she wept uncontrollably for an hour before she could do her make-up and preparation. I would never be able to further collaborate with the original molester, with Hefner, Stern and the millions of Baywatch voyeurs in re-enacting that primal violation. I can only consider her with care and reverence, prayerfully. And so, I have learned to pray for our sex goddesses, iconic figures who are used and abused by our media and culture, who are not treated the way they deserve: Angelina Jolie, Hally Berry, Gweneth Paltrow and even Paris Hilton. In offering these short prayers, I am confident that I please the hearts of Jesus and Mary, that I help these women who need God's grace, and I am myself healed of the restlessness of lust and covetousness and restored in serene, Christ-like, virile generosity. And may Marilyn Monroe, on this fiftieth anniversary of her death, be held close to the hearts of Jesus and his Mother...and the same for all such women who are much more than goddesses of masculine fantasy; they are precious, delicate hearts that long to be revered, cherished, loved.

Praying for Sinners

A dear friend reminded me that Saint Faustina was told by Jesus himself that prayer for great sinners comforts his heart. This calls to mind the prayer of St. Theresa of Lisieux and the last-minute conversion of the murderer Pranzini. Prayer for such sinners is a win-win-win: it comforts the heart of Jesus, it helps the sinner repent, and it draws us closer to the heart of Christ. And so, we are praying for Assad of Syria, Bernie Madoff, James Holmes and Jerry Sandusky. Pedophiles and serial killers seem to be particularly in need of God's mercy. Such prayer for the living is a good thing. Prayer for deceased sinners is not so clear, to me. I personally am disposed to remember Sadaam Hussein in light of his last two acts: approaching his executioners, he personally shook the hand of each American soldier and thanked them because they had treated him decently in his last months; but then he heard the accent of his Shiite executioners and he died cursing them and being cursed by them. This historic incident highlights the profound dramatic ambiguity of every life: each of us is capable of goodness and of evil. I find myself averse, however, to praying for Hitler, Stalin or Mao. They seem too evil. I do not pray for them. Justice, which is fulfilled but not nullified by genuine Mercy, seems to require more than purgatory for them. I leave them in God's hands. I just do not know.