Category Archives: AFFC-blog

By now, Pope Francis has cultivated a reputation as a pope who has a particular concern for the poor and a focused interest in calling the Church to a sustained care for the poor in our world. In his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Francis makes this focus abundantly clear: “Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society” (§ 187).

This call for the preferential option for the poor is deeply rooted in the Biblical story and in Jesus Christ’s witness to us. The story of God’s relationship with humanity, as we find it told in Scripture, is one of God’s liberation of those who are oppressed. In the Exodus, God freed the Israelite slaves. The Law exhorts the Israelites to remember that God freed them and to practice that same liberating impulse in their relationships with those in their communities who most needed care, protection, and justice. The Law calls these who most need our care “the widows and the orphans” – but this category included all of those who have no one else to protect stand up for them. The prophets continually denounced the Israelites when they forgot this call from God, when they failed to treat “the widows and the orphans” with justice. Jesus, too, shows us that we are called to assure that all in the community are treated with justice and love.

Drawing on this scriptural tradition – as well as a very long and profound tradition within the teachings of the Church – Pope Francis calls us to remember that we are all obligated to provide for the just conditions of all in our community. And this call is to each and every Christian; it is not reserved to those few people who work directly with the poor. Just as evangelization is part of the identity of the Church and each of us is called to make up this evangelizing Church, so too is justice a part of the identity of the Church and each of us is called to make up a Church that works for justice.

And this must mean more than simply providing charity for those who are experiencing poverty. While charity – the money, gifts, and time we donate from our excess – is of vital importance, it is not enough. God requires that we also work for justice. Francis reminds us: “The Church has realized that the need to heed this plea [for justice] is itself born of the liberating action of grace within each of us… It means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor, as well as small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter” (§ 188).

This is an enormous mission that God is calling us to: “We are not simply talking about ensuring nourishment or a ‘dignified sustenance’ for all people, but also their ‘general temporal welfare and prosperity.’ This means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive labor that human beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives. A just wage enables them to have adequate access to all the other goods which are destined for our common use” (§ 192). This is a tall order, but it is one that, with God’s guidance and grace, we can manage. In our modern world, we have the resources to end poverty and to structure our societies in such a way as to promote the human dignity of each and every person. What we seem to lack is the commitment that God is calling us to.

As we move towards the end of Lent, let us pray that God will strengthen us in the fight for justice in our world so that we can follow God’s call and help to realize the Reign of God in our world.

In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis reminds us of the good news that God is offering salvation each and every person and that we are called to live out that salvation in the life of the community that we call the church.  “God has found a way to unite himself to every human being in every age.  He has chosen to call them together as a people and not as isolated individuals.  No one is saved by himself or herself, individually, or by his or her own efforts” (§ 113).  While we are each saved by God’s good grace, we are called to live this out in our lives as members of God’s own community.  So it is in the context of being a community that we need to understand what it means to be an evangelizer.

To evangelize is to spread the good news; it is to share what we have found to be good and true and life-giving with all those around us.  The Christian church was founded as a self-replicating community.  In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus sends out his disciples to preach and baptize: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).  Each of us, as members of the community of disciples of Jesus, is called to participate in spreading the good news and inviting others into relationship with God through Jesus.

Some in the church are tasked with particular roles in the evangelizing mission of the church.  The clergy are responsible for preaching and ensuring that we have access to the sacraments; teachers make sure that the faith is handed on to new generations.  We even have missionaries who carry the gospel message to places where it has not yet been heard or embraced.  But these are just a part of the overall evangelizing mission of the church.  The church as a whole is called to be evangelizing; the church as a whole has a mission to spread the good news and invite others into relationship with God.

This means that we cannot rely on those whose official job description is to preach and teach.  Pope Francis reminds us:

“In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples.  All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients.  The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized.  Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love” (§120).

We are all a part of the evangelizing mission of the church.  And this means that we cannot sit in the pews of our church and wait for people to show up to hear the gospel.  We are tasked – by Jesus – to go out to the world and invite people into relationship with God.  We do this through our everyday witness to our faith; we do this through the conversations and relationships we have; we do this by reaching out to those who need our help.  But we have to go out to do it.  To be an evangelizing church means that we are a church that goes out into the world in order to draw the world closer to God.  It is an awesome task!

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection could be summarized as a resounding “YES” in answer to this question!

Jesus’ encapsulates His teaching as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31, Matt. 22:37, Luke 10:27). The first instruction, concerning our relationship with God, comes from Deuteronomy 6:5. The second, concerning our relationship to each other, is from Leviticus 19:18.

In the Church, this balanced relationship between God and our neighbor is often explained with reference to the crucifix. The vertical piece of wood represents our relationship with God and the horizontal is our relationship with our neighbor or “brother”. Helpfully, just in case anyone chooses to be selective as to who “my neighbor” or “my brother” actually is, then, Jesus tells us the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

So what would Jesus think of Pope Francis’ question, “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” I find it interesting that this appears in a paragraph (53) discussing the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”.

In the section entitled “No to an economy of exclusion,” the Pope also calls into question the “trickle-down theories” advocated by those who support “The Market” and “Laissez Faire” economics espoused by thinkers like Adam Smith and Ayn Rand. Those whose consciouses make them uncomfortable often cite: “The poor will always be with you” (Mark 14:7). However, it is enlightening to note that Jesus is echoing Deuteronomy 15:11: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be open-handed towards your fellow Isrealites who are poor and needy in your land.” Indeed, the Laws given by God to the People continuously make special provision for the poor along with the “widows and orphans.”

For many in the Church, our faith life is about our relationship with God in heaven and saving our souls. We also pray for the souls of our loved ones. However, we are often uncomfortable with those others in the Church who feed the hungry, visit those in prison, clothe the naked and serve the sick. This kind of activity may be acknowledged as “corporeal works of mercy” but is often also labelled – in a disparaging way – as mere “social work” and is seen as taking attention away from piety.

In Romans, St. Paul talks about being justified or saved by faith, but how do we know that we actually have faith? That one isn’t deluded or deluding one’s self?  Jesus said that “by their fruit you will know them” (Matt. 7:16-20) and, in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus praises “hearing the word, receiving it, and bringing forth fruit” (Mark 4:20). This seems to suggest that, as far as Jesus is concerned, belief results in “fruit” and that faith will yield good fruit.

The book of James builds on this by asking the very practical question: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” Hence, the author concludes that “Faith by itself, if it not accompanied by action, is dead.” He also says “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.”

In all this I am guided by what Jesus says about judging between the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46). Those whom He says are blessed by His Father and receive the kingdom are those who fed Jesus when He was hungry, invited Him in when they saw Him as a stranger, clothed Him when they saw Him naked, cared for Him when they saw Him sick, and visited Him in prison. For as Jesus says, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.”

In conclusion, the Pope named himself as ‘Francis’ recalling one of the most beloved and acknowledged  ‘good’ people who ever lived.  For many of us, St. Francis is the closest example of what Jesus would have been like. In the early 13^th century St. Francis was part of a non-materialism reform movement sweeping through Europe. His followers were to focus on poverty, simplicity, chastity and obedience and he emphasised the humanity of Jesus. St. Francis, known for his joyfulness, recalled for many the joyful early Christian communities we know from the Acts of the Apostles where all shared what they had in common and no one was in need. Their interdependence, on each other and therefore on God, resulted in joyfulness.

In his critique of our acceptance of poverty and injustice, Pope Francis is saying to us:  Perhaps the “something” which we are all searching for in life is the realization that we are our brother’s keeper and accepting that truth is the joy of the gospel.

In his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis’ view of women is ambiguous, showing sympathetic acknowledgement of abuse (211, 212, 214) women often face, while also becoming entangled in stereotypical generalizations elsewhere (46-49,103,139-141, 284-288) where womanhood is always associated with motherhood. The Pope says that, “the legitimate rights of women to be respected, based on the firm conviction that men and women are equal in dignity, present the Church with profound and challenging questions which cannot be lightly evaded.” However, he then goes on to affirm that “the reservation of the priesthood to males, as a sign of Christ the spouse who gives himself in the Eucharist, is not a question open to discussion.”

The Pope also says, “it can prove especially divisive if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in general.” He also notes that the idea that ordination simply confers power not only robs the Church of valuable contributions from women, it presents a misguided view of the priesthood and the sacraments. “The configuration of the priest to Christ the head – namely, as the principal source of grace – does not imply an exaltation which would set him above others,” Pope Francis writes. “In the Church, functions do not favor the superiority of some vis-a-vis the others.”

Perhaps, a problem lies in the fact that the Roman Catholic Church’s organizational structure, with the Pope as head, is a hierarchical structure and, no matter what he says about power not being “understood as domination, but the power to administer the sacrament of the Eucharist,” the exclusion of women based on their gender from being a member of the priesthood, and hence from decision making, seems to many women and men to be a problematic distortion of power.

The Pope acknowledges that “we need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church,” including “the possible role of women in decision-making in different areas of the Church’s life.” But within a hierarchical structure what does this actually mean? Women may lead Religious Education in a Parish, the Outreach Program, perhaps even the Finance Committee, but the priest is always the boss and, according to the Pope, the boss will always be male.

If we look to the Bible, we can find a very different description of the relationship between men and women.  In the Gospels, for example, women are often key figures in the evolution of Jesus’ mission.  Mary’s ‘Fiat’ and ‘Magnificat’ are key to any understanding of discipleship; her giving birth to Jesus is akin to the moment of Consecration at Mass as she brings Jesus to the world. Elizabeth’s understanding and joy as she welcomes Mary, recognizing the baby in Mary’s womb as her ‘Lord’ without doubt or hesitancy, is the blueprint for all followers of Christ.  Anna heralds Jesus. Mary encourages Jesus to begin His mission at Cana. The Syrophoenician woman challenges Jesus’ understanding of His mission. The Samaritan woman is the first person to hear Jesus say He is the Messiah and she is the first missionary. A woman anoints Jesus for His burial while His apostles are still arguing about who will be the greatest. Martha declares that Jesus is the Messiah. Women support the itinerant disciples and accompany Jesus to Jerusalem and the Cross. Women are the witnesses to (and thus the link between) His death, burial and resurrection. Mary Magdalene is the Apostle to the Apostles. Women receive the Holy Spirit along with men at Pentecost. St. Paul talks of the key leadership roles played by Prisca, Lydia, Phoebe, Chloe, and many other women. Obviously motherhood is not the only role women fulfilled in the early Church.

Interestingly Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matt 12:50) and “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Luke 11:28). Mary is the mother of God, but what is most important about her is that she did the will of Jesus’ Father in heaven; she heard the word of God and observed it. Mary is important because she was a disciple and did what was asked of her.

In conclusion, where does Evangelii Gaudium leave women? I suggest that the Catholic Church will take women seriously in all their potentiality (and not just as mothers) when the Church returns to the radical urgency of the first generation of Christians. To do so we need to rid the Church of the domestication that occurred when Christians realized that the ‘Second Coming’ was not going to happen immediately. If it wasn’t coming quickly then that necessitated that the Church had to ‘fit into’ the prevailing cultural and social norms of the Roman Empire which meant taking on the prevailing cultural views of the place of women in the Church. There is nothing wrong with these traditional roles – as mother and consecrated virgin — but they can deprive the Church all the other talents that God has given women. I am reminded of the Parable of the Talents and the judgment of the servant given one talent who hid it in the ground, unused, awaiting the Master’s return.  Will the Church be judged, in a similar way, for hiding, unused, the talents of generations of women?

Pope Francis begins his Apostolic Exhortation (Evangelii Gaudium) saying that “the joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.” But is this true? Is this your experience of the people who claim to be Christians in your life? The Pope then says that “those who accept God’s offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness,” but are the Christians you know “aglow with the Spirit,” as St. Paul puts it (Romans 12:11)? Or are they as sinful, sorrowful, empty and lonely as everyone else?

Yet the Pope himself clearly shines forth with joyfulness, as did Mother Theresa of Calcutta. When I met Jean Vanier, I felt his joy as if it were an energy filling the room. So I know that the joy, which the Pope speaks of, actually exists! But why is it not experienced in the lives of all Christians? Pope Francis is very aware of this, admitting that “there are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.”

Perhaps we once felt excited by Jesus and committed ourselves to living God’s will for us, but we now feel lifeless and end up resentful, angry and listless as Pope Francis writes? We still go to Mass, perform corporal and spiritual works of mercy, donate to Church appeals. But is being a Christian really about a ‘to do list’ where we earn heaven via those in need (on whom we perform our works of mercy)? Have we “lost our first love” (Revelation 2:4)?

The Pope’s answer is to “invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting Him encounter them.” If I don’t think I require this invitation then I need to ask myself how joyful I am. Would anyone meeting me know I was a Christian?

In case we doubt the importance of joy in the life of a Christian, the Pope gives example after example from scripture about how joy is the sign of being close to God. The Pope doesn’t quote his fellow Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who said “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God,” but he could have! However Pope Francis does assure us that our joy in our relationship with God is not one sided. He reminds us that God rejoices “over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing, as on a day of festival” (Zeohaniah 3:17) or, as a scripture scholar once told me, the last segment of this quotation can also be translated as “every time God thinks of you, God dances for joy!”

What examples do we have from scripture of persons whose response to God is filled with joy? Jesus of course, but also King David! In Paul’s sermon at Antioch he refers to the statement made by God concerning David: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22, cf Isaiah 13:13-14). I suggest that this beautiful compliment, “a man [or woman] after My own heart,” should characterize every Christian. David sinned, but he honestly admitted his faults and returned to God asking for forgiveness. He trusted God, he was grateful; he sought out God’s will and was obedient. He was filled with joy as when he danced (2 Samuel 6:14) as the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem, much to the embarrassment of his wife! David and God were in a close relationship with each other which was constantly being renewed.

As humans we will always stray but “whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that He is already there, waiting for us with open arms,” as Pope Francis says, “with a tenderness which never disappoints but is always capable of restoring our joy, He makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew.” As our Savior says of himself, “Behold I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). “How good it feels to come back to Him whenever we are lost!” Pope Francis says with evident joy.

This joy is longed for by all of us! So when we feel genuine joy in someone, we are attracted, we want what they have. Joy is for sharing, joy is pure energy which makes us feel alive! Without it life is flat as if we are living by rote, existing rather than living! Evangelization is the sharing of this joy and as St. Francis of Asisi said “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” May our joy speak for us as it attracts everyone we meet to Jesus!

“Well, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit had had their dinner, and were looking at the world they’d made, and they saw how messed up it was. They were a bit depressed.

‘What will we do now?’ said the Father. The Spirit thought for a bit and said: ‘Well, we tried clearing out all the bad people – remember the Flood? But it didn’t work, and we lost a lot of people and animals that time.’ The Son said, ‘Yes, and I remember we sent the prophets to tell the people to stop being bad, and that didn’t work either – they got it in the neck! We also tried punishing them to make them pay attention – remember we shipped them all off to Babylon? That went fine for a bit, but too many of them became backsliders pretty soon after getting back.’

The Father said, ‘You make it all feel pretty hopeless, but we can’t let them drown in their misery. After all, we made them in our own image and likeness. I want them to be happy, like us. I’m determined to save them, no matter what the price.’

There was more silence, and then the Son got all fired up. He said: ‘Suppose I joined in with them and became one of them? I’d show them how to live properly. I’d go in disguise of course, not to frighten them off. It would take them a while to guess who I am. I’d lead them back home to here!’

The Father said, ‘Son, don’t get carried away with this idea: it could cost you your life! And if they killed you it would break my heart.’

There was more silence, and then the Spirit coughed, as shy people do, and said: ‘I think the Son is right, and I’ll be with him if he’s willing to do it. You know how infections work with them? Well, this will be like a good infection! It will be an inside job. I know it will take a good while to get around everyone, but I believe we can!’

So they got in touch with Mary and she was great. She just said, ‘Yes, I’ll help any way I can’. So Jesus was born on Christmas Day ‘a long time ago, in Bethlehem’.”

Increasingly Advent (the period of four weeks before Christmas Day) has become associated with the period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. This is the time when we ‘shop till we drop’, go to parties, watch Christmas movies, fill our world with Christmas lights and music and wish everyone ‘Happy Holidays’! It seems to equate with the ‘Holiday Season’ and ends on Christmas Day (sometimes with Christmas trees being discarded on the side of the street by the afternoon).

However 50 years ago, Advent was a very different experience (at least according to my family in Europe.) Advent was a time of preparation of soul and body for the joy of the Christmas Season, which in those days meant the twelve days of Christmas ending on January 6th. This day was when the coming of the three Wise Men (or Kings) to bring gifts to the baby Jesus was celebrated. In much of Eastern Europe, this was the day when children received gifts (rather than Christmas morning). In the West, January 6th was celebrated in France as the feast of the three kings with a special cake being baked and in Ireland it was known as ‘Little Christmas’ with various celebrations, including the baking of a ‘three kings cake’ containing three rings to be found with much excitement.
Back in those days, Advent was viewed as a mini-Lent. It was a period of four weeks rather than six, and people fasted, but not as severely as during Lent. A poem called ‘Advent’ by Patrick Kavanagh talks of ‘dry black bread’ and ‘sugarless tea’. This poem clearly illustrates the understanding of people in times past, ‘Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder’. In order to prepare for something special it was necessary to deal with the jadedness of a world where nothing is special. Through familiarity we get used to our world and take it for granted. So as Patrick Kavanagh says, ‘penance will charm back the luxury of a child’s soul’ in each of us. Then we are ready to enjoy, and appreciate the twelve days of Christmas. People are ready to party, to celebrate and enjoy each other. By their experience of Advent they have learnt again that it is important to savor the good things of life and take nothing for granted. Their hearts are filled with gratitude and they are open to the presence of God in all things, ‘and Christ comes with a January flower’.

Some of this past understanding of Advent can still be found today. You will notice that purple is worn by the priest during both Advent and Lent; the difference is in the shade of purple! Purple can symbolize pain, suffering, and therefore mourning and penitence. It is the liturgical color of Lent. It is also the color of royalty and traditionally has also been used for Advent. It is still used in Catholic churches but blue is replacing purple for Advent in many Protestant churches. The difference in ‘purple’ between Lent and Advent is that, in Lent, a deeper darker shade is used since Lent is the time we ask God to prepare us for Our Lord’s death (before ‘all things being made new’ Easter morning). Advent purple is a lighter shade with a hint of pink. After all, the third Sunday of Advent is ‘Joyful’ Sunday and is represented by a pink candle (rather than purple) in the advent wreath. We would do well to remember that we are awaiting a baby’s birth and it would be heartbreaking not to notice ‘God’s breathe in common statement’!