The Heart of the Matter

The shortest sentence in the whole Bible is only three words: “And Jesus wept” (John 11: 35).  It’s when Our Lord visits the grave of his dear friend, Lazarus, who has been dead for four days.  While succinct, the words give us much to ponder.  Here we have Jesus, God Incarnated—all knowing, all powerful—not just shedding a tear, but literally weeping.

Jesus is true God and true man.  He has a human heart that beats as ours; He has a divine heart that loves with a perfect love.  God feels emotions.  He has a heart that feels deeply because He loves so deeply.

The whole month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The devotion also has its own special day, which is the third Friday after Pentecost (this year: Friday, June 28).

When we consider the Heart of Our Lord, we are really talking about two different levels of meaning.  Of course, on the surface, there is the literal physical heart of Christ.  This organ should be the most important one in the body since it provides life to all the other parts.  Our Lord’s heart now beats in heaven in His Resurrected body.  It is with us, too, in the Eucharist where He is fully present body, blood, soul, and divinity.

Yet, when we think about a heart, we also mean more than a bodily organ.  On Valentine’s Day there are hearts galore and they mean more to us than an anatomical muscle.  In Judaism, the word “heart” has to do with the very core, the essence of a person: it is the very center of one’s spiritual life and emotions.   

Just consider some of the turns of phrase we use.  “He has his heart set on it.”  “My heart goes out to you.”  “She poured her heart out to him.”  “He wears his heart on his sleeve.”  All of these point to the fact that the heart is an outward expression of a person’s inner reality.

And the inner reality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of abounding love and mercy.  Christ has a heart of flesh that contains the love of God for us.  Everything Our Lord did in His life was directed by this love in His heart, from humbling Himself to be born an infant in Bethlehem, to curing the sick, to suffering and dying on the Cross for each one of us.  Christ Himself tells us, "Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart" (Matthew 11:29).

Historically, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has Scriptural roots and a long history in Church Tradition.  Yet, it became much more widespread after Christ appeared to St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque in the 17th century.  St. Margaret Mary was a Visitation nun living in France.  In 1672 Our Lord explained devotion to His Sacred Heart to her.  The next year He gave her the great gift of being able to rest her head upon His Heart, which filled her with consolation.  Our Lord told her that she would spread the message of His love for all people.  Then, in 1674, Jesus shared His desire that people would honor His Sacred Heart, especially on the First Friday of each month.  In 1675 He asked that the Feast of the Sacred Heart be celebrated every year on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi. 

On May 8, 1873 Pope Pius IX officially approved devotion to the Sacred Heart and in 1899 Pope Leo XIII dedicated the whole world to the Sacred Heart.

You have probably seen an artistic rendition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, either in a painting or on a statue.  This image of the Sacred Heart that we have comes to us through St. Margaret Mary, who saw it in her visions.  She describes:

“The Divine Heart was presented to me in a throne of flames, more resplendent than a sun, transparent as crystal, with this adorable wound. And it was surrounded with a crown of thorns, signifying the punctures made in it by our sins, and a cross above signifying that from the first instant of His Incarnation, that is, as soon as the Sacred Heart was formed, the cross was implanted into it and from the first moment it was filled with all the sorrow to be inflicted on it by the humiliations, poverty, pain, and scorn of His sacred humanity was to endure throughout His life and during His sacred passion.”

Christ’s Sacred Heart is surrounded by flames, a sign of the intensity of His love.  His heart literally burns with love for us!  The fire also reckons back to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were burnt offerings.  Christ’s perfect, one-time sacrifice on the Cross was the perfection and completion of all the Old Testament sacrifices.  Fire is a sign of God, too (think of Moses and the burning bush).

The Sacred Heart also shines with a light brighter than the sun.  Jesus is, after all, the light of the world.  This resplendent light recalls the Transfiguration, when Christ’s face shone like the sun and His clothes became dazzling white.

Christ’s Sacred Heart is surrounded by a crown of thorns, which obviously points to Our Lord's passion.  He felt the pain of His suffering right into the depths of His heart.  Yet, Christ’s Heart still feels pain.  As St. Margaret Mary writes, the punctures of the thorns aren’t from Good Friday; they are from today, from you and from me and the sins that we commit.  This is a sobering reality.

Finally, there is the cross above, “implanted” into the Sacred Heart.  The positioning seems to suggest that we can only really understand the crucifixion through the love of Christ.  Love is more than pretty words; it is sacrifice, the giving of oneself.  Our Lord suffered on the cross out of love for us.  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 13).

Christ opens His heart to us … He doesn’t keep His Sacred Heart closed or hidden because He wants every soul to receive His love and mercy.  As He said to St. Margaret Mary, “Behold this Heart which has so loved men!”

Yet, in opening His Heart to us, Christ makes Himself vulnerable.  The reality is that Christ’s love for us isn’t always reciprocated.  Many times, His love is even rejected or despised.  Our personal sins puncture the Sacred Heart.

So this Friday when we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, let us try to console the Heart of Christ, so wounded by indifference, lukewarmness, sin, and rejection.  Devotion to the Sacred Heart should lead us to reparation, to making up for the times when Christ’s love is spurned.  Maybe it’s beginning the First Friday devotion Our Lord recommended.  (Here is a great explanation of how to do this.)  Perhaps it’s placing an image of the Sacred Heart in your home where it can be honored.  

Or maybe it’s just placing yourself in the presence of Our Lord in prayer and saying simply, “I love you, Jesus.”

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Stairway to Heaven

 I have had marriage on my mind a great deal recently.  My sister is getting married this summer, as are three of my cousins.  Recently, my husband, Chris, and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary, which is such a tremendous blessing!

A number of years ago, my husband and I attended the wedding of some friends.  A Dominican priest whose name I cannot recall now gave the most beautiful homily, reflecting on the sacrament of matrimony.  I often think about his words and find inspiration in them.

He said that we should always thank God for the gift of marriage.  Just think about how good God is to us. For those of you called to marriage, God in His great love and generosity has created an entire, other person—just for you!  As He formed Eve to be the perfect complement to Adam, God has created a whole other soul, made and molded specifically for you. As I have said to my husband before, he is not a perfect person … but he is perfect for me.

Beginning from infancy with your baptism day, God has formed you to be the person you are, through the good times as well as the bad.  God did the same for your spouse, too. And while you may never have even known each other growing up—perhaps living in completely different areas of the country—God knew you belong together.  Slowly and carefully, like a master-craftsman, God prepared you for the day you would meet your future spouse and fall in love.

All of us should rejoice whenever a man and woman come forward before the altar of God to be married.  Why? What the couple is about to do has eternal ramifications. They are, by exchanging their vows, literally changing the face of heaven!  The purpose of their union is to create—with God—new life, new little souls who will hopefully one day be with all the saints and angels in heaven.  Marriage is a gift to all of us!

When the man and woman marry, their lives are forever changed.  Marriage only begins at the altar. The sacrament of marriage isn’t just the moment of saying, “I do.”  Once the couple exchanges their vows, they live continuously in a sacrament.  It is always there!  A husband and wife, joined in matrimony, are always living in the grace of the sacrament.  Just consider: their wedding rings are sacramentals. This is why my husband and I, when saying goodnight each evening, kiss each other’s wedding ring.

Of course, those of us who are called to marriage know that living this sacrament can sometimes feel like a crucifixion.  Marriage is hard. It’s a process of dying to self and living for the other. And sometimes it can feel like we are running on empty.  But Christ gave us the model of what to do during those times of difficulty: we should go to our Blessed Mother and then go to Jesus.

Reflect on the wedding feast at Cana.  Like that new couple, sometimes in marriage the “wine” runs out.  But if we go to Mary and then to Jesus, we will find that God will always refill the jars.  We may go to him one thousand times with empty jars.  No matter: He will refill them. And not just that! He will refill them with even better wine than what was there before.  Ten years into marriage, my love for my husband has definitely changed: it is richer and fuller, like wine that has aged and become more perfected in time.  God has refilled our jars again and again.

A man and woman must exchange their wedding vows before a priest, who is the “witness” to their marriage.  But what, exactly, does that mean? Well, the man and woman are expressing one kind of love. But the priest is witnessing to another kind of a love, a higher and more perfect love: the supernatural love of God.  As much in love as a man and woman may be, it is just a small reflection of God’s divine, perfect love.  The priest reminds us of this love and invites the husband and wife to lead each other closer to the One who is Love.

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, when Christ was lifted up into heaven.  Someone once said to me, “Your stairway to heaven has a name and it’s Chris.” For those called to the vocation of marriage, our whole goal and purpose is to help our spouse grow closer to God.  If we are going to be with Christ in heaven one day, it is through our marriage.

That is reason enough to say, “I do” in every moment of every day!

The Best Mother's Day Present

I've been trying to think of a good present to give to my Mother for Mother's Day.  I could give her a bouquet of flowers. Something tangible is always good. But I also thought about giving her the gift of time—just being present with her and talking with her.  

What about you?  Did you pick out a gift for our Mother?

It's a little tricky, since our Mother is the Queen of Heaven and Earth.  In a sense, she doesn't need anything. Yet, she is a true mother and, as such, she desires the love of her children.

May is the month of Mary, which seems only fitting, since it's when we celebrate Mother's Day.  It is a special time to reflect on Mary's role in each of our lives and to honor the great gift Christ gave us in His most perfect Mother--our helper, our protector, our model, our mom.

When I think about the Blessed Mother, I don't always have an emotional response.  I'm not filled with a warm and fuzzy feeling all the time, so to speak. However, there is not a single doubt in my mind that she has been watching over me and with me.

I particularly call to mind an experience I had while in college.  I was sitting in a practically-empty chapel, praying before the Blessed Sacrament.  My heart was in turmoil over some particular problem. As I spoke with Our Lord, the door to the chapel opened and a young man came in.  I didn't recognize him and tried to put him out of my mind as I returned to prayer. Yet, a few minutes later, the young man walked up to me.  He held out a Miraculous Medal and said simply, "This is from your Mother. She is praying for you."

During the big moments of my life, I definitely see our Mother's loving presence.  My husband and I began our relationship on the Feast of the Assumption. On our wedding day, we placed a bouquet in front of the statue of Our Lady.  I knew that she had worked behind the scenes to bring us together. When I was in labor with our children, I prayed the Hail Mary through each contraction.  

If ever there is some trouble or distress, I run to her ... just like our toddler seeks me out when she is upset.

And why not run to her?  She is our Mother. As Our Lord hung on the cross, He looked down upon Mary and St. John, the beloved apostle.  "Behold your son ... behold your Mother." In these words, Christ gave His Mother to all of us, represented in John.  Why would we ever reject this gift from our Lord? He wants us to love Mary and to be devoted to her.

Besides, drawing closer to our Mother means drawing closer to Our Lord.  St. Louis de Montfort urged devotion to Mary, explaining that such devotion is the surest, the easiest, the shortest, and the most perfect way to Christ Himself.  Mary's intercession for us is so powerful: just remember the wedding feast at Cana. Our Lord performed His first miracle at His Mother's request. Jesus "began and continued His miracles by Mary, and He will continue them to the end of the ages by Mary" (St. Louis de Montfort).

Perhaps, as a gift to our Blessed Mother during this month of May, you may consider praying the rosary—whether alone or as a family.  The word "rosary" comes from Latin word rosarium, or rose garden.  Our rosary prayer is like a wreath of roses we are presenting to our Mother.  For those less familiar, here’s a helpful summary of how to pray the rosary. There are lots of rosary apps out there as well.

This might just be the perfect gift, since it's the one our Mother especially requested!  When the Blessed Virgin appeared at Fatima in 1917, she asked that the rosary be prayed every day.  If that isn't enough motivation, every pope for the past 400 years has encouraged this devotion. The rosary is our opportunity to sit with our Mother and to ponder those great events of her life and that of her Son. While we finger the rosary beads and speak the vocal prayers, our hearts can contemplate those mysteries of our salvation.  “The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you will be amazed at the results” (St. Josemaria Escriva).

Our Mother is with you.  She watches over you, prays for you, loves you, and desires to bring you ever closer to her Son.  Let us all be better children of this most perfect Mother and, this month of May, may we come to love her even more.

Lessons from 1984

Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.

1984 by George Orwell is included on practically every list of famous dystopian novels.  Published in June 1949, Orwell's work focuses on a totalitarian government that rules through oppression, constant surveillance, unending warfare, and the manipulation of facts.  

Society is divided into an Inner Party, Outer Party, and--the lowest class--the proles.  Thought Police monitor the behavior of all party members through the use of telescreens: a kind of television through which the Thought Police can broadcast commands and information as well as constantly (and at times secretly) watch people.  

There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.  How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork.  It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time.  But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.  You have to live--did live, from habit that become instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

The Party is ruled by "Big Brother," whose large, imposing face is plastered everywhere, though no one has actually seen him in person.  There are three slogans that define the Party: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.  

Protagonist Winston Smith, an Inner Party member, works for the Ministry of Truth.  Ironically, what he actually does is the exact opposite.  Winston's task is to rewrite history, substituting truth for fiction in order to ensure that the Party is always right.  Some people who oppose the Party become "unpersons."  They are deleted from all historical records.  For all intents and purposes, it is as though they never existed.  Winston's country of Oceania is perpetually at war, but whether it is with Eastasia or Eurasia depends on what better suits the Party's purposes.  The Party, you see, can never be wrong.

The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia.  He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago.  But where did that knowledge exist?  Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated.  And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed--if all records told the same tale--then the lie passed into history and became truth.

In this world, history is no more.  It is always being altered, modified, and falsified.  There exists no proof of facts being falsified--all earlier versions of history are promptly burned within the Ministry of Truth building.  Should anyone object to the Party's version of history, he or she could promptly expect to become an unperson.  

As a history major in college, I took a course about the study of history itself.  How is history presented?  How is the past preserved?  How does the storyteller get to shape the story?  We read a chilling book about Holocaust deniers and how they misrepresent and manipulate the facts to prove that the Holocaust never happened--at least, not to the extent and degree that it did.  

"Those who control the present control the past."  This statement came to my mind a few months ago when reading about the Columbus murals at the University of Notre Dame.

First, a little background.  Fr. Sorin, founder of Notre Dame, ordered the painting of a series of murals of Christopher Columbus inside Notre Dame's Main Building.  Their purpose was the honor the Catholic faith being brought to America.  Italian painter Luigi Gregori painted the murals from 1882 to 1884.

In a letter to campus dated January 20, 2019 current Notre Dame president Fr. Jenkins announced his decision to cover the Columbus murals.  He explained that they "reflect the attitudes of the time," namely the attitudes of the large Catholic immigrant student population.  In the 1800s, Fr. Jenkins explains, Catholics faced much prejudice in public life.  Yet, Columbus was lauded an American hero.  Thus, the Catholic immigrants turned to him as a figure they could cheer, as he was a Catholic and immigrant, too.  

Yet, Fr. Jenkins continues, many today take object with these murals because they do not accurately depict all of the negative consequences that Columbus' voyage had on the Native Americans.  "For the native peoples of this 'new' land, however, Columbus's arrival was nothing short of a catastrophe."  

To defend his decision to cover the murals, Fr. Jenkins refers to a conversation St. John Paul II had with Native Americans in 1987.  He quote: "The encounter [between native and European cultures] was a harsh and painful reality for your peoples. The cultural oppression, the injustices, the disruption of your way of life and of your traditional societies must be acknowledged.”

But this is not just a matter of covering murals.  It is covering up history.  Fr. Jenkins is not telling the whole story.

Let's first take a look at the conversation St. John Paul II had with Native Americans.  It took place in Phoenix, during the pope's apostolic journey to the US in 1987.  Fr. Jenkins quoted from that speech, as I have included just above. However, it is enlightening to notice what St. John Paul II said immediately after that.  He next proceeds to say, "At the same time, in order to be objective, history must record the deeply positive aspects of your people's encounter with the culture that came from Europe."

The pope explains these "deeply positive aspects."  He points to the brave missionaries who defended the rights of Native Americans and set-up missionaries, particularly in the southwest, to educate and improve living conditions for the natives.  Most of all, however, these missionaries brought the Gospel of Our Lord.

"This Gospel of Jesus Christ is today, and will remain forever, the greatest pride and possession of your people." [my emphasis]

While Columbus's arrival here undeniably had negative consequences for the Native Americans, the preaching of the Good News of Jesus Christ brought them eternal salvation.  Considering that, how could his coming to America be considered a "catastrophe?"  

History furthermore corroborates this.  What were Columbus's motivations?  What was he hoping to accomplish by taking such a courageous, unheard of voyage?

In a letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella dated December 1492, Columbus encouraged them to "spend all the profits of this my enterprise on the conquest of Jerusalem."  Thus, his driving motive was to find riches in order to finance a crusade to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims.  

Another letter reveals his deep faith and the way his whole expedition was grounded in God.  In 1493 Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, an official in the royal court of Ferdinand and Isabella.  In describing his interactions with the Native Americans, Columbus writes, "I gave gratuitously a thousand useful things that I carried, in order that they may conceive affection, and furthermore may become Christians ..."  

He remarks upon the Native Americans' ability to communicate with each other and notes how promising that is in the effort of evangelization.  Columbus praises God for finding this land, not lauding his own seafaring skills but acknowledging the Higher Power that guided him.  Finally, he urges that Christendom should "give solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity for the great exaltation they shall have by the conversion of so many people to our holy faith ... "

What if the only record that passed into history was Fr. Jenkins' letter to campus?  Columbus would be remembered as a villain and persecutor who brought nothing but evil upon the Native Americans.  The murals would be hidden and so would the truth.  

Thanks be to God, the primary sources are still here.  We can look back and read Columbus's actual words.  We can find the truth in the historical records.  

May there never be a "Big Brother" who takes that away from us.  Let us search for the truth, cling to it, and proclaim it so others may know it, too.  Otherwise, we may find ourselves living in 1984.

Make the Castle of Your Heart Stronger

As parents, we like to give good things to our kids.  We make sacrifices for them and try to give them the best—from buying organic food to driving hours so your child can attend a sports competition.

When I was a child, I loved receiving gifts.  What little boy or girl doesn't?  But now, as an adult, the thing that brings me greater happiness is seeing my children receive a gift.

Our oldest daughter, Mary, received a tremendous gift a few weeks ago: she made her First Reconciliation.

I have been to the sacrament of Reconciliation (or Confession) so many times in my life.  I always appreciate that feeling of relief, gratitude, and spiritual healing when I leave the confessional.  I suppose, however, that familiarity softened the power of the sacrament for me ... I had sadly become accustomed to it.  I began to take it for granted that this gift of mercy had been purchased by the price of Christ's blood on the cross.

As Mary bounded up the stairs into the confessional room (she was very excited to be making this sacrament), I knelt and stared at the tabernacle.  All I could think was: Lord, you died for her.  You suffered excruciating pains, You endured such agonies—for my daughter, my precious child I love so much.  Even if she were the only person in the world, You would have done all of that for her.  You have given her the greatest gift of all: the opportunity to be home with You forever in heaven.  And, Lord, You did it because You love her even more than I.

Immense gratitude flooded my heart.  My husband and I might try our best to give our kids a good education, to instill strong morals and virtues, to provide them with a happy and holy home.  But we could never give them this: we could never forgive their sins.  

That being said, we can foster in their hearts a love of this beautiful sacrament, this opportunity to meet Christ and to receive His forgiveness.  We can help them love the gift ... and its Giver.

So here are some of the ways we try to do that in our family.  Maybe some of them will be helpful for you, too.

• Practice saying, "I'm sorry" and, "I forgive you" among each other.  If our two-year-old pushes her brother, we ask her to say, "I'm sorry."  Also important is her brother's, "I forgive you."  If I commit a wrong toward one of our children, I try to remember to ask his or her forgiveness—we parents aren't perfect and it's good for our children to see we have the humility to admit we our sometimes wrong, too.
• Lead by example: go to Confession regularly yourself.  If you tell your children that Confession is important, but don't avail yourself of the sacrament, they won't believe you.  Let your actions show its importance.  
• Read about Confession and discuss it together.  Mary and I have read A Little Book about Confession for Children by Kendra Tierney together to help prepare her for the sacrament.  We both learned so much from that book—I can't recommend it highly enough.  It's very gentle in its approach and addresses some concerns  and fears children (and parents) might have about Confession.  The questions and answers are thorough and engaging.  Read it as a family!
• Prepare for Confession every day by making a daily Examination of Conscience.  Mary and I do this together at bedtime each night.  We keep it very simple.  First, we each silently think of one good thing we did that day.  Then we think of a sin we committed.  Third, we make a resolution about what we could do better the next day.  Finally, we pray the Act of Contrition.  Doing this each night helps with the daily battle against temptation.  It can keep our sins in check and helps us hold ourselves responsible.  Also, when we prepare for Confession, we can think back to these nightly Examinations of Conscience and remember the sins we committed.

Ultimately, my husband and I emphasized to Mary that Confession is about meeting her best friend, Jesus, and apologizing to Him for the times she hurt Him through her sins.  

St. Teresa of Avila described the soul as a castle where the King, our Lord, dwells.  Through Confession, Mary is getting her soul ready, cleaning it and making it beautiful to receive Jesus in her First Holy Communion.  As we left the church and headed home, Mary remarked to me, "Confession is where you can take your castle heart and make it stronger so the devil can't get in."  All of our castles could use some fortifying.

It's springtime.  Does your soul need some spring cleaning, too?  Let your children ... and yourself ... receive the incredible gift of Confession.

The Broad View

“To thy own self be true.”

It’s a lovely saying, isn’t it?  But sometimes I struggle with living it because I think, in many ways, I really don’t know myself all that well.

I would venture to assert that I’m not alone in this predicament.

Self-knowledge is extremely difficult to acquire.  Yet, how very simple it is for us to know (and in knowing, judge and criticize) those around us.  It’s astonishingly easy to critique and condemn my neighbor while simultaneously remaining ignorant about my own vices and shortcomings.

If I were to ask you, “What is your greatest fault?” could you answer?  Do you really know yourself?  Self-knowledge is so key because, well, if you don’t know what’s wrong…how can you fix it?

The thing is that, no matter how long we stare in the mirror, sometimes it’s just so hard to have an objective view of ourselves.

Sometimes we need to enlist the help of those closest to us.  I thought I knew my greatest fault, but it wasn’t until an incredibly revealing conversation with my husband a couple of weeks ago that my eyes were opened to something I never saw before.  He identified something I really struggle with, but that, until said conversation, I had been more or less blind to.

The reason I bring this up is because it’s a timely topic.  Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and thus starts the holy season of Lent.  It’s traditionally a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  The word Lent means “spring.”  So you can think of it as the passage of your soul from the dead of winter’s sin to the new life of springtime grace and virtue.

For that spring cleaning in your soul to occur, you need to remove the dirt and grime of sin.  You need to really do some soul searching and ask yourself: What is my greatest fault?  What do I need to clean up?

Really step back and take the broad view.  Perhaps you fall into the same pattern that I do: you become so engrossed in the most immediate tasks and problems at hand, you don’t really pause and step back to reflect, to ask the deeper questions, to review, observe, and imagine.

This Lent, I challenge you shift your perspective.  Reflect on your life–past, present, future.  Then ask yourself: What do I see as my greatest fault, the vice that most often is the obstacle in my way of being the person I should be?  Test your answer by asking someone who knows you best; his or her response may cause you to revisit the question.  And then work at your fault–it may mean stopping a particular habit, or perhaps pursuing a positive habit in its place.

My challenge this Lent?  Moral courage.  I’m not talking about letting my faith show–I’ll whip out a rosary in any public place without a second’s thought.  I’m talking about having the moral courage to speak the truth, especially when such truth will be met with opposition.  I’m going to strive not to be a “people pleaser.”  Obviously charity must always guide our actions, but sometimes charity demands confronting someone who is hurting him or herself through sin.

There is a memory that is so clear in my mind.  I was on bus #76, riding along Spring Avenue on our way to high school.  My sophomore self was sitting next to sixteen-year-old Leah, a real talker who loved music, her boyfriend, and life in general.  Leah had a developmental disability.  In front of us sat two boys, who sadly fall under the stereotypical category of “bully.”  For that whole ride they bullied Leah, tormenting her with crass jokes, disrespectful names, and taunts and teases.

And I sat there, burning inside that they could be so cruel and hurtful.  But it was like I was paralyzed.  I said nothing.  Why?  I was scared.

It’s a scene that’s been replayed throughout my life–different people, different scenarios, but the same idea: I was met with a challenge and, through fear of what someone might think or concern I would offend or bother someone, I was silent when the truth needed to be declared.

So, courage.  That’s my Lenten goal.

By the way, since we are on the topic, let me also share something else I do every Lent.  It’s a favorite tradition of mine, one I was inspired to start more than ten years ago.  Each Lent I cut out 40 pieces of paper and write on each one the name of someone important in my life: mostly family and friends, but I include my “enemies,” too, since we are also supposed to pray for them.  Then every morning I draw out a name and pray for that person throughout my day, remembering him or her in my prayers and offering up any sufferings for him or her.  It’s very beautiful, plus it’s exciting to see how grace works.  Frequently I have found myself praying for someone the very day he or she needed extra prayers.  God works in pretty neat ways sometimes.

I pray that this Lent will be a springtime of spiritual renewal for you.  The beautiful thing is that, when we shift our perspective and take the broad view, suddenly our lives are filled with the new light of understanding and clarity.

Do some reflecting tonight.  And tomorrow, begin Lent by tackling that which most needs work in your soul.

Lessons from A Brave New World

Imagine a world with no conflict or warfare, a world free from physical suffering or the pains of old age, a world of contentment where each person is satisfied with his or her position in life.  

It seems, at first glance, like a kind of utopia.  Yet, the society visioned by Aldous Huxley in A Brave New World is the exact opposite: it is dystopian.  Different from other novels in that genre, Huxley's characters do not suffer from a society that oppresses or controls through violence; instead, the government conditions and predestines people for happiness and then provides them with entertainment and drugs to maintain that state.  

A Brave New World is one where there is no family unit.  Instead, children are manufactured in labs and assigned to a certain social class from conception.  They are conditioned in artificial wombs (for example, children who will eventually work in tropical regions doing manual labor are exposed to more heat).  This conditioning continues as children, raised collectively in the Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, listen to recorded messages in their sleep, disposing them to particular attitudes and perspectives (such as feeling content with his or her social class).

The World State upholds three virtues: Community, Identity, and Stability.  In the name of stability, strong emotions are suppressed--hence, why the family unit is no more.  Consider the passion of parenthood and the feelings that it provokes.  In A Brave New World, speaking of motherhood or giving birth is akin to uttering a blasphemy or base insult.  

A proverb in the World State asserts that "every one belongs to every one else."  People in this society find their identity in the community.  There is no time for solitude--in fact, those who seek time alone are marked as suspicious and warned for their misbehavior.  There are no exclusive relationships between man and woman.  Again, such behavior provokes too strong of emotions (passion, jealousy, yearning) and dangers the stability of the World State.  So instead men and women freely and openly engage in sexual behavior with multiple partners, with no commitment or consequence (women, in fact, wear fashionable belts that keep a safe supply of contraceptives at hand).  

"Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today..."

And if, in spite of their class contentment, the ready availability of sexual pleasure, and absence of emotional suffering, someone is still unsettled or disturbed, the World State has manufactured a drug called soma that transports its user to an ecstatic state of pleasure.  With soma, depression, distress, and unease are wiped away.  Everything is made right again.

There is no need for God.  God is invoked in times of trouble, particularly toward the end of one's life when disease and crippling health conditions make one stop to consider, reflect, and contemplate.  That need is eliminated: science has developed medication that curbs the outward affects of old age.  People do not become ill now or physically deteriorate.  Instead of invoking the name of Our Lord, people honor Our Ford--Henry Ford, manufacturer of the Model-T and the assembly line model.  They even make the Sign of the T on their bodies (a cross with the top cut off).  

Stability is the "primal and the ultimate need."  Without it, there can be no happiness and here, in A Brave New World, the whole purpose is to be happy.

"The world's stable now.  People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get.  They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave.  And if anything should go wrong, there's soma." 

The key question at play is: what is happiness?  Is it the fulfillment of desire?  The absence of suffering or pain?  One character, Bernard, engages in the usual entertainments and amusements of the World State, but is not consoled or at peace.  A member of the highest class, Bernard is actually a source of ridicule because he is shorter than his peers (some speculate there was an error made in the lab during his embryonic development).  On a date with Lenina, a popular girl many men have enjoyed, Bernard reflects:

"Don't you wish you were free, Lenina?"

"I don't know what you mean.  I am free.  Free to have the most wonderful time.  Everybody's happy nowadays."

He laughed.  "Yes, 'Everybody's happy nowadays.'  We begin giving the children that at five.  But wouldn't you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina?  In your own way, for example; not in everybody else's way."

By conditioning people and providing them with what they need, the World State has created a society of people who do not even recognize what they lack.  They are entirely ignorant, failing to understand that the lives they lead are less than fully human.  They will not rebel because they see no reason to do so ... they are chained by their "happiness."  As Rod Dreher explains in his article "Christianity in the Brave New World," this government "is a totalitarianism that is welcomed by those enslaved to it because it makes them comfortable, and because they don’t recognize it for what it is."

This happiness is an empty one.  God created the human person for a greater end than being happy: we are meant to be holy, made consecrated through God's grace.  In doing so, we become even more than human.  Through divine filiation, we become children of God, citizens of Heaven.

Our Lord gave us the path to this blessed state in the Beatitudes, which present quite the juxtaposition to the means of happiness in the World State.  Who does He call blessed?  It is not the ones who are rich, who are filled and laugh, or who are lauded by others.  No, those people--while happy now--will weep.  Instead:

 “Blessed are you who are poor,

for the kingdom of God is yours.

Blessed are you who are now hungry,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who are now weeping,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you,

and when they exclude and insult you,

and denounce your name as evil

on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way."

To be unhappy by earthly standards, is to be happy by eternal ones.  Suffering in these various ways makes us reliant on God--we turn to Him in our time of need and pain.  We realize we can't do it on all on our own; we are not our own gods.  Suffering is also a wake-up call to turn from sin.  If we never felt the negative consequences of our transgressions, we may remain the dredges of our wrongdoing.  Lastly, suffering is a training ground.  It helps us to practice virtue and sharpens the will in its effort to choose the good in the face of temptation.  

We are members of something greater and more powerful than the World State.  God forbid there should ever come the day when all of society becomes blind to that reality.  But we can take comfort in the fact that "the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against" God's holy Church.

"But I don't want comfort.  I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness.  I want sin."

"In fact," said Mustapha Mond, "you're claiming the right to be unhappy."

"All right then," said the Savage defiantly, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy."

May we be unhappy, too, and in that unhappiness, we will find eternal joy.