Deacon Dan Wright

Well, it Says it in the Bible on Page 453

When I saw the story I'm featuring today I couldn't really resist it.  Not to pick on Italy--I know that I have regular readers in Italy, one of whom comments from time to time.  The fact is this piece speaks more to me of things I've experienced closer to home.  Anyhow, here's the story excerpt:

Italy professes to be a Catholic nation - but a majority of Italians do not know "even the most basic facts" about the Bible, according to a survey.

The international poll, conducted by Eurisko for the Catholic Biblical Federation, showed that in Italy only 14 per cent of those questioned were able to answer a series of questions about the Bible correctly. They included whether Moses or St Paul featured in the Old Testament, whether Jesus had written any of the Gospels, and whether the Gospels form part of the Bible. Another question which defeated most Italians was: which of the following - Luke, John, Peter and Paul - wrote the Gospels?

Among the respondents 88 per cent of Italians described themselves as Roman Catholics, three quarters said they kept a Bible in their home, and 79 per cent said they felt their lives were "protected by God". But only 32 per cent described themselves as "regular churchgoers", and only 28 per cent thought the Bible should be taught in schools.

Whereas in the US 75 per cent of Americans claim to have read a Bible passage recently, in Italy the figure is 27 per cent. Vatican officials said the survey, co-ordinated by Luca Diotallevi, a Rome University sociologist, offered "food for thought" for the Synod Bishops in Rome this autumn on the Word Of God, where its implications would be discussed.

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It was just this past weekend that I was invited to attend a parish youth religious education event with my older son who will start high school in August.  Overall I was impressed because I have been searching--even praying--for something to get my kid interested.  "These kids are really excited," I thought to myself. The excitement was truly evident, and the program is obviously a fantastic success.

My son has gone to Catholic school his whole life and he's gotten a lot of positive things out of it; nevertheless, it hasn't been all that long ago that he asked me, "Hey dad, are we Catholic or Christian?"  As a parent I sometimes blame myself but there are some gaps in his theological understanding.  However, let's give him a break--he's a typical 13 year old, right?  My hopes are that the parish program will get him into his faith.  Still, he's not alone in the world of not knowing much about what his Church teaches.

Some of the kids at the event on Sunday had made a home movie and showed it as a closing thing for the evening.  I got the feeling while watching that the adults in charge may not have previewed what we were watching--nothing really bad, just some teenage horsing around.  However, what caught my interest was that they were interviewing fellow teens about biblical topics.  They were asking those whom they were interviewing "Who was St. Lucifer?" When they asked the question I about fell down.  "Okay, it's only a joke," but some things can't be faked and these kids were stumped by the question.  Another kid was asked "Who was Moses?" She replied, "Wasn't he one of the disciples?"

Unawareness of the faith isn't all that uncommon, but we should expect folks who have had religious education and Catholic school not to be entirely ignorant.  I am reminded of years ago hearing a forthright young lady explain that God was against sin and that it said so right on page 453 of the bible.  This was before my conversion so I can't blame it on Catholic school or the shared praxis model of religious education (These days to utter the words "direct teach" is pure profanity in some circles--with the possible exception of special education).

Each year my mother-in-law invites family members to her home for major religious holidays.  In our celebrations the children of the family are always invited to read scripture.  I have been amused on several occasions to hear the highlighted chapter titles and footnotes of the NAB read as though they too were part of the sacred text.  Coming from children it's one thing, but let's face it there are adults too who don't know that page numbers differ from bible to bible or that the sacred authors were not John, Paul, and George, and that the footnotes and NAB headings were not written by the hand of Jesus.

At first I was going to classify this post under religion and culture, but really it belongs in my rants category.  I deserve a rant occasionally, but complaints should always be accompanied with suggestions for improvement.

So what's needed?  How about adult religious education on a wide scale--forgive me but it's a harp I've been playing for years.  Some direct instruction would be good too. Question and answer catechisms were mostly before my time, that is with the exception of Fr. John Hardon's notable work.  Maybe it's time to bring back something like that. 

Certainly a well planned approach to adult religious education is something that will go far.  What's keeping it from happening is often the trouble of logistics and dealing with committee differences (I'm really not thinking about anyone in particular--Well, okay, maybe I am).  Then there's the issue of training catechists.  Too often we feel that a catechist should have a degree--not true.  Forget it.  And the folks who say that you can't give answers but you have to allow people to find the answers on their own?  That's great, they should have their own bible study--maybe in their Small Christian Community.

The biggest success I ever had in teaching religious education was a class on the Catechism of the Catholic Church that I did before my ordination back in 1998.  We read through the Catechism in nine months and I stood in front of a chalk board and lectured for an hour and a half every Wednesday morning.  No one dropped out in the whole nine months and it changed several lives, including mine.  Perhaps it's time to do something like that again...Okay, now that I've presented the action, allowed for critical reflection, dialog, story, and vision--modeled the praxis--please go to page 453 for the answer.

Advocacy

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.

The Advocate--too we often fail to give sufficient attention to what it means to have the help of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.  Yet, help is exactly what we should expect.  Divine advocacy is also exactly what we should seek.

I have to admit that I have sometimes failed in my consideration of the gift of spiritual advocacy.  I have not sought the help that is available.  Anyone who ever felt bogged down in work, or with life in general, knows what I am talking about.  Nevertheless, in each and every mundane moment of our lives, we have access to supernatural assistance.  Every situation presents an opportunity for the divine to be present in our world.

Recently I experienced just the kind of "bogging down" that I am talking about.  It was something so pressing at work that I scarcely had time to do anything else--I'm referring to the state-mandated assessments that I mentioned in last week's post.  However, I knew that I would get through it and be able to return soon the regular routines of work and life.  Nothing really is too mundane to seek God's assistance with it.

Really, it's not work that typically challenges me the most, though it often has a way of taking time that I'd rather spend doing other things.  The greatest challenges I find are in being a husband and father, in having a teenage child, in meeting the responsibilities of the ordained ministry, and like everyone else, in facing the challenges of living in today's world with it many voices and influences.

The lesson to be learned is that God will provide us with the help we need when we ask, but we must ask.  I think it's important to ask frequently as well.  Honestly no two situations in our lives are identical, and each day--each situation--is such that we should pause and say "God help me.  Send the Holy Spirit to assist me.  Fill me afresh with the power of your presence."

Although in our need for divine advocacy most of us can relate best to everyday life, we shouldn't forget the second part of today's gospel reading.  It presents us with a grave context for seeking the help of the Advocate:

“I have told you this so that you may not fall away.
They will expel you from the synagogues;
in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you
will think he is offering worship to God.
They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.
I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”

Dangerous times have certainly been a part of the history of being a Christian.  In too many ways western Christianity--American Christianity in particular--has been shielded and isolated from the fact that having faith could be easily be ticket to life in prison or even a death sentence.  Yet even in the gravest situations it is not the Lord's will that any of us fall away.  Just the help we need is present always.

Spiritual advocacy comes to us in a variety of ways.  Perhaps studying the word of God and seeking Christ in it is one way to invite God's help; being faithful to the Liturgy of the Hours might be another.  Daily prayer and devotion to the Mother of God is yet another way that we might invite the advocacy of the Holy Spirit.  When we put our minds to it, when we make a spiritual effort, many ways open that will allow God's power to help us.

As we begin our work week, we might pause for a moment and give thanks for the help that is available.  If you are anything like me, God's help is something that you will  welcome in each moment and not just in those times when things seem--or perhaps are--somewhat dire.  The key is remembering to ask for help.  When we ask, we are sure to receive.

 

Not Gone Forever

While it may seem as if I packed my things and left the blogosphere, it's really only a momentary hiatus.  For the past couple weeks I've been stuck in the yearly spring ritual of state-mandated assessments.  Of course the assessment I administer is an alternative to the day or two that general ed teachers do.  Basically I will have little time for much else until the end of next week.

Unfortunately, I have missed a lot of good news to blog about--not to mention the papal visit--and some of my best spiritual thoughts and images have been replaced with nightly dreams, or I should say nightmares, of the online assessment tool with its endless drop-down menus and links (who knows why) that will delete the whole show, which are placed precariously close to the ones used to make a simple edit.

So tonight, I thought I might take just a moment to say hello to whomever may be wondering if I had decided to blog no more.  Indeed not.  Give me a week or so and I'll be back again.  Summer is near, and with it I have blogging inspiration.  Inspiration that will begin taking shape hopefully before the summer break.

Part of my inspiration comes from the last homily I posted.  I'd like to do some close-up reflections on scripture from the viewpoint of Catholic doctrine.  Part of it springs from a desire to revisit the enthusiasm for biblical studies that I had as a youth.  Perhaps at this point I'm simply longing for life after the alternative assessment (quickly becoming something between an explicative and a euphemism for death--at least in my mind).

No, I am not gone forever.  However, it may be a week before you see me here again.  Surely with your prayers I will return sooner.

Sunday Homily: The Twofold Movement

"Were our hearts not burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scripture to us?"

Today we're presented with a wonderful Easter season opportunity to reflect on the power of scripture to reveal Christ to us, and on our opportunity to know him as the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread.

The story of the two disciples meeting Jesus on their way to Emmaus is one that we're all likely to know well. It's one with which we have likely grown to be familiar over the years. However, as well as we may know it, we might view it quite differently if we put ourselves in the story, if we view it from the inside and let it tell us something about our daily walk with Jesus.

I haven't asked all of you, but it's probably a common experience among Christian believers everywhere that we frequently find ourselves feeling somewhat like the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. We have heard, at least from others, that Jesus has been raised from the dead—and we take it, at first, as a matter of testimony on the word of others, not having seen the risen Lord for ourselves, but we desire more. It is not enough for us simply to have testimony of the Resurrection. Our faith itself creates in us a sense of longing and an anticipation of something more.

Because we have faith, that is because we value and cherish our belief in Jesus, we also desire the experience of his presence as a tangible reality, though at first his resurrected presence is something we believe only by listening to stories from a great distance in time. Those behind us on the road, back in Jerusalem, saw the empty tomb, and we take it on their word for now. Nevertheless, deep within we have the expectation of coming to know him all the more and as all the more real.

Although the moment of the Resurrection is separated from us by the millennia, the Resurrection event also has the power to transcend time. Jesus has the power to enter our lives now even at this moment as we listen to the word being opened—the power at work is his in-breaking presence seen throughout salvation history; it is what makes the ancient scripture speak of him.

If we treat the message today as though it were a spiritual roadmap, it contains the necessary ingredients to point out the path of coming to experience, to recognize, the resurrected Lord in our lives. It presents us with a simple message of faith that we should attempt to keep clear and to cherish always as the "how to" of knowing Jesus. The message today is one that should also inspire us to search the scriptures for they reveal his presence to us.

Through scripture we come to assimilate the Lord's presence in our hearts—in the word he is every bit as real as if he were walking along the road beside us. To know him we first listen and allow him to open the scripture for us. It is only when we have walked along the way with him—listening and receiving him in the word as he opens it to us—that we come to know him in the breaking of the bread.

The reality of the risen Christ comes to us in a twofold movement, that of word and table; it is also the twofold movement of the Liturgy of Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist that we as Catholics have come to know in the Mass. Word and sacrament is the way given to us that we might come to know Jesus better, indeed that we might come to know him truly as the resurrected Lord.

It is also in the world of our hearts—in our everyday lives—that we come to assimilate the twofold movement of word and table, of receiving Jesus daily in scripture and in living out a Eucharistic reality of allowing the real presence to shine forth in the world of our relationships with others.

Years ago as a young Christian, before my conversion to Catholicism, I recall first discovering the New Testament proclamation that the Old Testament scripture reveals the person and work of Jesus Christ. For me at that time, not yet being a Catholic, scripture and the proclamation of Jesus revealed in it was the best I could find in my search for his presence. Although it gave me much, at the same time I found myself longing for something more, and intuitively it seems I began to look in the direction of breaking bread with the Lord.

It wasn't that having the bible and understanding it as the word of God was somehow lacking, but it was partial in the sense of the whole truth available. There was still something else to be seen and experienced. The second part of the twofold movement of word and table was missing. The Emmaus experience was not yet complete.

The story of the walk to Emmaus is an invitation for us: we're invited to walk with Jesus, to open scripture with him, and finally to dine with him. In many ways it's what waits at the end of the journey that's most intriguing. We're looking for the Lord being made known in the breaking of the bread—to seeing him in his resurrected glory.

Although we can interpret the story as an allegory referring to our whole life in Christ from birth to death, it doesn't hold that we have to wait until the very end of life to dine with the Lord—to be in his presence and see him face to face. Quite the contrary, the true importance of the Emmaus journey is about learning how to see Jesus in the word we have been given and in our daily bread. The importance of the message is ultimate for hearts that long to see Jesus on the journey and come to dine with him as a friend.