Abbey-Roads2

Family matters…

Last night a close-enough relative got married to someone she barely knows.. well, they’ve known one another for 3 months or so - he proposed after 12 days.  (My first mistake was asking if her mother did a background check on the guy.)  Needless to say, I did not attend.

The happy couple have been living together for a month or two - how does that work now days?  You get up in the morning, get ready for the wedding, go wherever it is the ceremony is to be held, and then you return home after the reception.  Where’s the mystery?  Or better, what’s the big deal?   

The wedding took place at a  hotel, and of course it wasn’t a Catholic ceremony.  Not that that is so unusual - it happens all the time in Catholic families - even the most uber-Catholic ones.  In this case it is a little unusual, especially since the young woman was raised in an Italian Catholic home, sent to Catholic schools - grade school through college, and her mother always insisted her daughter was a good Catholic girl - almost Maria Goretti-like,  when evidence suggested otherwise. 

“Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be apostate.”  That was a country western song wasn’t it? 

[This post probably should have been on my other blog, Abbey-Roads 1.] 

Fatima 

The three children, Bl. Jacinta, Bl. Francisco, and Lucia were released from jail on this date in 1917.  The apparition  on the 13th of August was missed by them, because they had been arrested by the authorities, although witnesses at the Cova claimed to have witnessed signs that Our Lady had indeed visited.

Unimpeded, the Blessed Virgin kept her appointment with the children on this date instead.  Her message for that day was:

Fourth Apparition - August 19, 1917

“Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them.”

“I have come for division.” - Luke 12 

“Therefore, since we for our part are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every encumbrance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race which lies ahead; let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith.  For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, heedless of its shame… Remember how he endured the opposition of sinners; hence, do not grow despondent or abandon the struggle.” - Hebrews 12

“Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.”

“Oh!  Who can explain the extent of the denial the Lord wishes of us!  This negation must be similar to a complete temporal, natural and spiritual death, that is, in reference to esteem of the will which is the source of all denial.” - St. John of the Cross, Ascent, II, 7: 6

Although the words of St. John of the Cross seem extreme, and some will say these are counsels for contemplatives, I think we can accommodate the spirit of his counsels to ourselves.  Today I doubt many of us realize the extent of self-denial to which our Lord calls us.

Don’t worry - be happy.

Take parents for example, who want nothing more than their children’s happiness - or consider how we ourselves want to be happy at all times.  Therefore we all too often accept, permit, and approve behaviors that are contrary to the Gospel - simply because we don’t want to make someone uncomfortable or unhappy.  Many of us do this rather than endure opposition from those who seek our approval to make them happy, or those who have nothing but contempt for our obedience to the Church.  In and through our misplaced love and permissiveness, we end up “despising the shame” of the cross.  Yet Jesus did not despise the shame of the cross… to the contrary.

The new translation used for the 2nd reading at Mass today is misleading - it reads; “For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame…” - As if Jesus hated the shame that accompanied his passion - indeed, shame is a part of the suffering of the cross.  After all, shame comprises part of “the opposition of sinners”.  An older translation  says, “heedless of its shame”, thus the word “despising”, which suggests something more negative and repulsive, would at least read better if the translators had used  “despite” instead.  But I digress.

The folly of the cross is all about enduring the opposition of sinners who heap mockery and shame upon those who are engaged in the fight against sin.  “Oh!  Who can explain the extent of the denial the Lord wishes of us!”

[Photo: Leftist Spanish revolutionaries shooting at the monument dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  1936.]