The Events of 1 May 2011

The Most Fascinating Story on May 1st- Statement by Communion & Liberation:

On the one hand, countless news outlets proclaimed the death of Osama Bin Laden. Yet, dramatic as this story’s particulars may be, it is not really new.

This tale tells of the demise of a man whose ideology led him and his followers to perpetrate and rejoice in the death of others. In fact, ideology always encourages those caught in its grip to devalue human life in front of the idols it creates and to delight in the deaths of those who refuse to worship them. From this point of view, we found the emotional celebrations for Bin Laden's death to be a disturbing sign of the dominion of another ideology over some, albeit one that employs words such as "freedom," "democracy" and "justice."

On the other hand, we saw that 1.5 million people gathered in Rome to celebrate the beatification of the late pope, John Paul II. Here we witnessed a fascinating story, one that is truly new.

His dramatic life played out within two of the wickedest regimes ever known to history, inspired by two of the most blinding ideologies ever fashioned: Nazism and Communism. Living his faith in the words of Pope Benedict XVI as the "intelligence of reality" led him to recognize and proclaim the ultimate goodness and dignity of every person, founded upon a unique relationship with God. By encouraging his countrymen to join together in solidarity and put that intelligence to use, he gave them a weapon that vanquished Communism within their nation, triggering its collapse in Europe.

That intelligence of faith likewise bestowed upon him a palpable love for human beings, witnessed particularly by his forgiveness of his would be Muslim assassin. Who can forget the 1983 picture of John Paul II in prison with his arm around Mehmet Ali Aca, while shaking his hand? We’ve recently witnessed that same intelligence of faith wrestle with the ideology of Islamic terrorism in Pakistan, after the murder of its ex-Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti. After Shahbaz's death, his brother, Paul, said he and his family have forgiven the assassins, "because our faith teaches us to do this. Our brother Shahbaz was a Christian and the Christian faith tells us to forgive."

The intelligence of faith also made John Paul II courageous in front of evil, proclaiming to all, "Be not afraid," because, "Love is stronger than death!" What a contrast to the fear that grips so many after Bin Laden’s death!

We find the story of John Paul II’s life and its continued draw upon millions around the globe a much more fascinating story than that of one man’s death. This is so because six years after his own passing, John Paul II’s story still witnesses to the only truly new announcement in history: the fact of a man who is risen from the dead and of His continuing presence among us.

Looking at His witnesses, we struggle to follow Christ present today and to learn to render the intelligence of our faith an intelligence of reality, in order to build what John Paul II termed a "civilization of love," one that is stronger than that which opposes it, the culture of death.

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"A regard for every person starts the dialogue"

I am working very hard to avoid politics, apologetics, confrontations over the course of this holy season. Nonetheless, the world marches on and, alas, I am still me. So, with a deep diaconal bow to my dear friend Sharon, I want to draw attention to something written by Giorgio Vittadini, whom I admire very much. In addition to bringing Vittadini's remarks to my attention on Cahiers Péguy, Sharon also translated them into English from Italian. Her translation of Giorgio's piece appears in its entirety on the English page of the on-line publication Il Sussidiario, which is a site I urge you look at every day. In the interest of full disclosure and by way of a "plug", from time-to-time the editors of Il Sussidiario pick-up items from this blog and occasionally I write exclusive pieces. My most recent piece was on Egypt.

Getting to the point, here's an excerpt of what Vittadini wrote about the incoherence of the politics of armed intervention over the past two decades. With Vittadini, I ask, is this the best response?

"The excuse is always a humanitarian intervention or the defense of peace in jeopardy. It began with Serbia in the 90s. With the justification of humanitarian intervention, Belgrade and Serbia were indiscriminately bombed, leading to the overthrow of Milosevic.

"Arrested and tried for crimes against humanity at The Hague, he put attorney Carla del Ponte in a corner by demonstrating, in the light of international principles, that the reasons given for the action against his government had no legal basis. At that point, he died mysteriously in prison. Milosevic's was not an exemplary government with regard to the rights of his people, but he was democratically elected and his was not worse than other regimes (such as China) to which countries like France have bowed. Then it came to Saddam Hussein and the two Bush wars: the first for the invasion of Kuwait, the second for alleged possession of nuclear weapons. It turned out that Saddam did not possess any weapons of mass destruction. Only John Paul II and a few others, in fact, were against the war."

Pres. Obama seems to positively embrace incoherence, looking straight into the cameras yesterday in Santiago, Chilé and saying with a straight face that while it is his administration's determination that Col. Qaddafi must relinquish power, getting him to let go of power is not an objective of our military intervention. So, again, what are the implications of our involvement and our determination to get rid Qaddafi, do these decisions, as seemingly incogruent as they are with each other, take into consideration, as Vittadini insists they must, "all the factors at play"?

Meum cum sim pulvis et cinis

Your present and your destiny

In discussing the relationship most people have to religion, to church, to faith, Giussani likens it to being distracted, to not listening, not learning. He speaks of walking down the street with a friend while passionately making some point, when his friend notices a beatiful woman across the street and becomes distracted, but who keeps mechanically saying "Uh, huh. Yes. Okay..."

Rachel Weisz

Don Gius points out that his replies "are not valid because he did not pay attention to my arguments." "This," according to Gius, "is the offense that the majority of people commit when they face the problems of destiny, faith, religion, the Church, and Christianity because being 'anxious and troubled with many other things,' in these things their minds are 'dead and buried'" (The Religious Sense, 30). Despite this, everyone believes himself capable of pronouncing definitive judgment on these matters, "to have an opinion, partly because it is impossible not to have a viewpoint on these matters" (30). Just as a child cannot help but have an opinion about her parents, no one can avoid "having a view concerning the connection between his or her present and destiny" (30).

Interior of The Cathedral of the Madeleine

While everybody has an opinion, all opinions are not equal, far from it. It is not only possible, but important, to arrive at, to possess, knowledge concerning these matters. For many, their opinions on these issues are rooted in either a preconception or a misconception precisely because they refuse to listen, because listening means turning your attention away from life's distractions, be it a beautiful woman, or paying your monthly bills. Giussani teaches us a method, a way to listen and to judge. Indeed, the more vital and elementary the value of the question that captures your attention "the more nature gives to each of us the intelligence to know and judge it" (30). Hence, either jumping to a half-baked conclusion or taking a powder on life's most serious questions is not a reasonable (i.e., not a human) response to the provocation of reality.

Don Giussani on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Luigi Giussani's funeral in il Duomo di Milano

Given his complete fidelity to the Church, it seems to me entirely fitting that Monsignor Luigi Giussani passed into eternity on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Apostle. In keeping with this same theme, it also seems fitting that the Successor of St. Peter at the time of his death, Bl. Pope John Paul II, a friend and advocate of Communion and Liberation, sent the future pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who, even as pope, maintains deep personal ties to the Movement, as his envoy to Milan to preside at Don Gius' funeral. As one would expect, the future pope's homily was nothing short of remarkable, meaning wholly fitting for the occasion.

In describing Giussani's "love affair with Christ," Ratzinger noted that this "love story" constituted "the whole of Giussani's life." This love story "was at the same time quite far removed from any superficial enthusiasm or vague romanticism." Don Giussani knew and taught others that "to encounter Christ means to follow him. This encounter is a road, a journey, a journey that also passes— as we heard in the psalm—through the 'valley of darkness.' In the Gospel we heard of the final darkness of Christ’s suffering, of the seeming absence of God, of the eclipse of the Sun of the world. Giussani knew that to follow means to pass through a 'valley of darkness,' to take the Way of the Cross, and all the while to live in true joy.

"Why is this so? The Lord himself translated the mystery of the Cross, which is really the mystery of love, by means of a formula that expresses the reality of our life in its entirety. The Lord says, 'Whoever seeks his own life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will find it.'"

Giussani's grave

Luigi Giussani, on this your anniversary, pray for us.

Tomorrow marks the first ever public celebration of this important anniversary in Utah. A memorial mass will be celebrated in The Cathedral of the Madeleine beginning at 7:15 PM.

Experiencing resurrection in the here and now

Today I glanced over the notes from Fr. Carrón's most recent School of Community, in which he discussed the final chapter of the third volume of Is It Possible to Live This Way:? An Unusual Approach to Christian Existence. The chapter is about virginity and how it applies to the lives of all Christians.

As I scrolled down my eyes came to rest on the words of a letter written to Fr. Carrón by a woman whose father-in-law passed away suddenly (through a mutual friend, Carlo, I was able to learn that her name is Rossella). Given the circumstances I am living I was very struck by her words, not because I am bereft, but because her words are descriptive of, or at least consistent with, my own recent experiences:

God the Father, by Quellinus Erasmus II, 1682

"I also felt moved by the tenderness the Mystery had for us in these last few days, because He had us experience a fatherhood that is even bigger than this man’s. Pain did not crush us. Instead, it put us face to face with the need for conversion, so we had to wonder: we had to ask ourselves questions about the reasonableness of faith. Saying that not everything is over with death, and that he is in the Lord’s arms, is either just an idea, or it is because of the Presence that we have experienced ever since we encountered the movement. So, faced with something about which the whole world can only say, "I am sorry: I have no words"...the funeral, and friends have been the sign of a Man Who has entered our life, and Who can say, 'Woman, don’t cry!' So the question about my father-in-law’s destiny made me realize that this fatherhood dominates all my days, more so than my feelings (which otherwise would be low, due to the recent circumstances). Whatever happens, I am embraced."

What can save us from ourselves?: The tragedy in Arizona

I noted in the immediate aftermath of the tragic shootings in Tucson, Arizona that ideological moralizing is an inadequate response to evil. Beyond that, it is an act of self-deception, in which we try to convince ourselves that a few feeble legislative actions will solve the problem of evil in the world. The following is a statement by Communion and Liberation in the U.S. on this horrendous event and proposes the only adequate response, Christ Jesus, the Lord:

Who cannot be saddened and sickened by the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and seventeen others, including six who died, among whom was a nine year-old girl? Yet, we so quickly seek the source of blame. We announce our findings. We accuse others or inadequate policies. We provide solutions that can be implemented. Then we argue about them for a time and move on. These events, however, invite us to ask profound questions, such as why such a thing should have happened in the first place, or to ask questions regarding the meaning of justice and evil.

We all thirst for love and truth, for goodness and fulfillment, and the shootings in Tucson outrage us for they contradict these desires. Yet, despite our thirst, evil dwells in all of us. This dramatic event is a reminder of the wound that affects each and every one of us, a reminder of our own evil.

We desire justice, and yet human justice is so limited in front of evil: it possesses so little power to restore the good destroyed by it. No one can give back the lives of those killed. No policy can resurrect a nine year-old girl. There is only One who possesses the power to restore all the good destroyed and he ardently desires to use it: God. “Man […] needs an answer that he himself cannot give,” as Pope Benedict states in his most recent book.

What is needed on our part? That our thirst for happiness become a simple acceptance of the gift of His presence among us. A real conversion is needed, and “Part of this conversion is putting God in the first place again. […] We must, so to speak, dare again the experiment with God—so as to allow him to work within our society.”(Benedict XVI)

We offer the words of Pope Benedict in his homily on Christmas Eve as the most adequate statement on such a tragedy, particularly pained by the suffering of the families of those who died or were wounded:

"God has anticipated us with the gift of his Son. God anticipates us again and again in unexpected ways. He does not cease to search for us, to raise us up as often as we might need. He does not abandon the lost sheep in the wilderness into which it had strayed. God does not allow himself to be confounded by our sin. Again and again he begins afresh with us. But he is still waiting for us to join him in love. He loves us, so that we too may become people who love, so that there may be peace on earth."

Communion and Liberation
January, 2011

Jesus Christ, the light who has risen

"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen."

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matt. 4:15-17).

This excerpt from today's Gospel, in which Jesus begins his public ministry by moving from Nazareth to Capernaum by the sea, speaks directly to my heart after the events of the past two weeks. Matthew's point is direct: Jesus Christ is the "great light" that shines on us. Otherwise, we sit in the darkness of a land overshadowed by death. His call of repentance is nothing other than the change necessitated by our recognition of the fact that He conquered death. Repentance, which means so much more than just being sorry for our sins, or even having a firm purpose of amendment, is what Don Giussani discussed as living in the awareness, not only of my own destiny, but that of all with whom I come into contact, regardless of circumstances. Jesus is the one who teaches us that to truly love another means loving his/her destiny.

Reading the letters in the current issue of Traces last night before going to sleep, I was struck by a letter from Jerry Brungardt in which he discusses "the gaze" of Christ and how we experience His gaze through the eyes of others. Being able to look at another with "the gaze" is what it means to love another by loving her/his destiny. It is also what it means to truly see. Jerry concludes his letter by writing "I beg that I will be able to share with others this gaze... as I look more and more on reality- and those around me- as a friend, as an opportunity for me in my conversion, to recognize Christ in the here and now."

"But reflect, I beg you, what it means to accept this world"

In 1971, well before anyone could foresee the day when the Berlin Wall would be torn down and the subsequent fall of the empire of evil, established by the Soviet Union, events that happened as a direct result of human desire being trampled on for far too long, Josef Zvěřina, a Czech Roman Catholic priest and theologian, wrote A Letter to the Christians of the West. Not long ago, a dear friend of mine, who is also a steadfast companion, Fred, sent an e-mail to what I can best describe as our little group, which, in addition to Fred and I, consists of Sharon and Suzanne, with a copy of Zvěřina's letter attached.

In other times many have specualted that Zvěřina would have been at least a bishop, if not a cardinal of Holy Roman Church. His excellence stood out from a very young age and was recoginzed especially when, as a young priest, he studied in Rome. "Instead," as his fellow priest and theologian, Odo Madra, wrote, in accord with the calling the Lord placed on him, "his life became a model of a directly downward career." Fr. Zvěřina was imprisoned by the Czech communist régime from 1952-1965. He said of his experience in prison, "In prison you learn about living the Gospel, that God sends rain and light on the good and bad." Below is the letter he sent, which remains very relevant during this age of ideology that seeks even to revise, reform, revolutionize something as basic as the family and which is resurgent after the fall of the great evil known as Marxist-Leninism:

Fr. Josef Zvěřina

Brothers,

You have the presumption of being useful to the Kingdom of God assuming as far as possible the saeculum, its life, its words, its slogans, its way of thinking. But reflect, I beg you, what it means to accept this world. Perhaps it means that you have gradually lost yourselves in it? Sadly, it seems you are doing just that. It [is] difficult these days to find you and recognize you in this strange world of yours. Probably we still recognize you because in this process you are taking your time, because you are being assimilated by the world, whether quickly or slowly, but late all the same. We thank you for many things, or rather for almost everything, but we must distinguish ourselves from you in one thing. We have much to admire in you, so we can and must send you this warning.

"Do not conform to this world, but transform yourselves by the renewal of your minds, so that you will be able to recognize the will of God, what is good, what is pleasing to him, what is perfect" (Rom. 12:2). Do not conform! Me syschematizesthe! How well this expression reveals the perennial root of the verb: schema. In a nutshell, all schemas, all exterior models are empty. We have to want more, the apostle makes it our duty, "change your way of thinking, reshape your minds" metamorfoùsthe tè anakainósei toù noós. Paul's Greek is so expressive and concrete! He opposes schèma or morphé – permanent form, to metamorphé – change in the creature. One is not to change according to any model that in any case is always out of fashion, but it is a total newness with all its wealth (anakainósei). [It's] not the vocabulary that changes but the meaning (noùs).

So not contestation, desacralization, secularization, because this is so little compared with Christian anakainósis. Reflect on these words and your naïve admiration for revolution, Maoism, and violence (of which, in any case you are incapable) will abandon you.

Your critical and prophetic enthusiasm has already borne fruit, and we cannot indiscriminately condemn you for this. We simply realize, and tell you sincerely, that we have more esteem for St. Paul's calm and discriminating invitation, "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?" (2 Cor. 13:5).

We cannot imitate the world precisely because we have to judge it, not with pride and superiority, but with love, just as the Father loved the world (Jn. 3:16) and for this reason pronounced judgment on it.

Do not phroneîn – think, and in conclusion hyperphroneîn- but sophroneîn, think with wisdom (Cf. Rom. 12:13). Be wise, so that we can discern the signs of the will and the time of God. Not the fashion of the moment, but what is good, honest, and perfect.

We write as unwise to you who are wise, as weak men to you who are strong, as wretched men to you who are even more wretched! And this is stupid of us because there are certainly among you some excellent men and women. But precisely for this reason we need to write foolishly, as the Apostle Paul taught us when he took repeated Christ's words that the Father has hidden wisdom from those who know a lot about these things (Lk. 10:21).

This translation of Fr. Zvěřina's letter is taken from pages 110-112 of the book Generating Traces in the History of the World: New Traces of the Christian Experience, by Luigi Giussani, Stefano Alberto, Javier Prades.

Keep your lamp trimmed and burning

As both of my readers know, on 24 November, Manuela Camagni, who belonged to Memores Domini and, as such, also belonged to the papal family, living in community with the Holy Father and, with three other companions, caring for him, was killed by car while walking with friends in Rome. Her death was sudden and unexpected. On the morning of 2 December, Pope Benedict celebrated a memorial Mass for his departed friend. What follows, courtesy of the Movement of Communion and Liberation's international website, is the Holy Father's homily from the Mass. My reason for posting it, in addition to remembering Manuela, is because it is perhaps the best piece on Advent I have ever read.

"Dear Brothers and Sisters, in the last days of her life, our dear Manuela used to talk about the fact that on November 29 she would have belonged to the community of Memores Domini for thirty years. And she said that with a great joy, getting ready – such was the impression – for an interior feast celebrating her path of thirty years towards the Lord, in communion with the Lord’s friends. But the feast was different from what was expected: precisely on November 29 we took her to the cemetery, we sang asking for the Angels to accompany her to Heaven, we guided her to the ultimate feast, to God’s great feast, to the Lamb’s Wedding. Thirty years walking towards the Lord, entering the Lord’s feast. Manuela was a 'wise, prudent virgin,' she had oil in her lamp, the oil of faith, a lived faith, a faith nourished by prayer, by a dialogue with the Lord, by her meditation on the Word of God, by communion in her friendship with Christ. And this faith was hope, wisdom, it was certainty that faith opens up to the real future. And faith was charity, it was giving herself for the others, it was living in the service of the Lord for the others. I, personally, must thank for her availability to put her energies at work in my house, with this spirit of charity and of hope that comes from faith.

"She entered the Lord’s feast as a prudent and wise virgin because she lived not in the superficiality of those who forget the greatness of our vocation, but in the great expectation of the eternal life; so she was ready when the Lord came.

"Memor Domini for thirty years. Saint Bonaventure says that the memory of the Creator is inscribed in the depths of our being. And precisely because this memory is inscribed in our being, we can recognize the Creator in His creation, we can remember, see His traces in this cosmos created by Him. Saint Bonaventure also says that this memory of the Creator is not merely a memory of the past, because the source is present, it is a memory of the presence of the Lord; it is also a memory of the future, because it is certain that we come from the goodness of God and that we are called to strive for the goodness of God. Therefore in this memory there is the element of joy, our origin in the joy that is God, and our call to reach the great joy. And we know that Manuela was a person in[wardly] penetrated by joy, precisely that joy that derives from the memory of God. But Saint Bonaventure also says that our memory, as well as all of our existence, is wounded by sin: therefore memory is obscured, is covered by other superficial memories, and we aren’t able any more to overcome these other superficial memories, to go deeper, all the way to the true memory that sustains our being. Therefore, because of this oblivion of God, because of this forgetfulness of the fundamental memory, also joy is covered, obscured. Yes, we know that we were created for joy, but we don’t know any more where we can find this joy, and we look for it in various places. Today we see this desperate search for joy that increasingly moves away from its true source, the true joy. Oblivion of God, oblivion of our true memory. Manuela was not one of those who had forgotten memory: she lived precisely in the living memory of the Creator, in the joy of His creation, seeing God in all creation, even in the daily events of our lives, and she knew that joy comes from this memory – present and future.

"Memores Domini. The Memores Domini know that Christ, on the eve of His passion, renewed, or better, elevated our memory. 'Do this in memory of me,' He said, and in this way He gave us the memory of His presence, the memory of the gift of Himself, of the gift of His Body and of His Blood, and in this gift of His Body and Blood, in this gift of His infinite love, we touch again with our memory a stronger presence of God, of His gift of Himself. As Memor Domini, Manuela lived exactly this living memory, that the Lord gives Himself with His Body and renews our knowledge of God.

"In His dispute with the Sadducees about resurrection, the Lord tells them, who don’t believe in it: 'God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob'. Those three men are part of God’s name, are inscribed in God’s name, are in God’s name, in God’s memory, and therefore the Lord says: God is not for the dead, He is a God for the living people, and those who are part of God’s name, those who are in God’s memory are alive. Unfortunately, we human beings with our memory can remember only a shadow of the people we have loved. But God’s memory doesn’t keep only shadows, it originates life: the dead live here, with His life and in His life they have entered God’s memory, which is life. This is what the Lord tells us today: you are inscribed in God’s name, you live in God with a true life, you live from the true source of life.

"So, in this moment of sadness, we get comforted. And the new liturgy after the Council dares to teach us to sing 'Halleluiah' even during the Mass for the dead. This is bold! We feel most of all the pain for the loss, we feel most of all the absence, the past, but the liturgy knows that we are in the Body of Christ and that we live starting from the memory of God, which is our memory. In this in[tertwining] of His memory with ours we are together, we are living. Let’s pray the Lord that we may feel this communion of memory more and more, that our memory of God in Christ becomes more alive, so that we can feel that our true life is in Him and in Him we stay united. In this sense, we sing 'Halleluiah', certain that the Lord is life and that His love never ends. Amen."

Two days ago, on the feast of the virgin martyr Santa Lucia, I cited the Holy Father's words in response to the assertion that virginity in today's world is impossible. Manuela showed us that not only is it possible, but that virginity for the sake of God's kingdom, which is lived out in community, is beautiful and joyful, because living is, indeed, memory of Him.

Maranatha

What keeps everything from remaining mere words? Experience in a companionship

Experience of communion, that is, companionship...

"Not any companionship is true, but that companionship that makes Christ's gaze be present to me. This is why it is not enough to read texts of the past. Even to read the texts of the past like the Bible, tradition is necessary, because tradition is the beginning happening again...If Christ doesn't remain as present as at the beginning - as Fr. Giussani always taught us - we find ourselves alone with the texts of the Bible and myriad interpretations, as happens for the Protestants, until we get bored" (Fr. Carrón from Living is Memory of Me).

Maranatha

"Jesus sweet memory, that gives true joy to the heart"

Courtesy of Getting Used To Seeing This in Everything, composed by my dear friend Suzanne, comes the message sent by the Holy Father for Maria Camagni's funeral:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I would willingly have presided over the funeral of dear Manuela Camagni, but -- as you can imagine -- it was not possible for me. However, communion in Christ allows us Christians a real spiritual closeness, in which we share the prayer and affection of the heart. In this profound bond I greet all of you, in particular Manuela's family, the diocesan bishop, the priests, the Memores Domini, and her friends.

I would like to give here very briefly my testimony of our sister, who has gone to heaven. Many of you knew Manuela for a long time. I was able to benefit from her presence and her service in the papal apartment, in the last five years, in a family dimension. Because of this I wish to thank the Lord for the gift of Manuela's life, for her faith, for her generous response to her vocation. Divine Providence led her to a discreet but precious service in the Pope's house. She was happy about this and took part joyfully in family moments: at Holy Mass in the morning, at vespers, at meals in common and in the various and significant happenings of the house.

Pope Benedict praying at Maria's coffin

Her departure, so sudden, and also the way in which she was taken, have given us great grief, which only faith can console. I find much support in thinking of the words that form the name of her community: Memores Domini. Meditating on these words, on the meaning, I find a sense of peace, because they call to a profound relationship that is stronger than death. Memores Domini means: "those who remember the Lord," namely, persons who live in the memory of God and Jesus, and in this daily remembrance, full of faith and love, they find the meaning of everything, from small actions to great choices, of work, study and fraternity. The memory of the Lord fills the heart with profound joy, as an ancient hymn of the Church says: "Jesu dulcis memoria, dans vera cordis gaudia" [Jesus sweet memory, that gives true joy to the heart].

Hence, because of this it gives me peace to think that Manuela is a "memor Domini," a person who lived in the memory of the Lord. This relationship with him is more profound than the abyss of death. It is a bond that nothing and no one can break, as St. Paul says: "[Nothing] can separate us from the love of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39). Yes, if we remember the Lord, it is because he first remembers us. We are "memores Domini" because he is "memor nostri," he remembers us with love of a parent, a brother, a friend, also at the moment of death. If at times it seems that at that moment he is absent, that he forgets us, in reality we are always present to him, we are in his heart. Wherever we fall, we fall into his hands. Precisely there, where no one can accompany us, God awaits us: He is our Life.

Dear brothers and sisters, in this faith full of hope, which is Mary's faith near the cross of Jesus, I celebrated the Mass for Manuela's soul the very morning of her death. And while I accompany with prayer the Christian rite of her burial, I impart with affection to her family, her fellow sisters and all of you my blessing.

Maranatha

In memoriam Manuela Camagni of the Papal Household

UPDATE: For those who are wondering and do not know the circumstances of Manuela's death, she was walking in Rome with some friends on Tuesday evening when she was struck by a car. She died yesterday morning due to serious brain injuries she sustained in the accident. Carol Glatz has a nice post over the CNS blog, in which she writes about the Holy Father mentioning his relationship with his "papal family" in his new book-length interview with Peter Seewald, The Light of the World. He lives with his family of Memores Domini, celebrates daily Mass, shares meals, and enjoys watching movies on DVD with them and, yes my dear ciellini, School of Community!

Members of the papal family eat their meals together and often relax in the evenings watching DVDs, he said in the book. They celebrate the holidays and feast days together, even exchanging gifts, and “there is above all Holy Mass in common in the morning,” the pope said.

“That is an especially important moment in which we are all with each other in a particularly intense way in the light of the Lord.


Press release:
Message of Fr. Julián Carrón on the sudden death of Manuela Camagni, Memores Domini of the papal household

Upon learning of the sudden death of Manuela Camagni, a member of Memores Domini who served in the papal apartment, Fr. Julián Carrón, President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, sent this message to the entire Movement:

Dear friends, the sudden death of our friend Manuela Camagni is the mysterious modality by which the Lord forces us to think of Him, renewing the certainty that “not a hair on your head will be destroyed," as today’s Liturgy said. Let us draw together ever more intensely in the embrace of the Holy Father, as children who want to share in all his wounded humanity.

"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” Manuela’s laying down of her life was manifested evidently and surprisingly both through her openness to mission in the experience in Tunis, and in her service of the Holy Father. May her sacrifice renew in all of us the truth of our "I", that the victory of Christ be increasingly affirmed in our hearts.

May Fr. Giussani obtain from Our Lady the gift of eternal happiness for our friend and the gift of consolation for the Pope.

The CL press office
Milan, November 24, 2010

Thank you to my dear friends, Stefania and Sharon for passing this news along.

All holy men and women, pray for us

Visions of Jack: affection and the heart

It seems fitting on the day that Pope Benedict XVI dedicated the beautifully bizarre La Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, to write something more about Jack Kerouac, especially given that we are still only a week into November. La Sagrada Familia is the realization of the unique vision given to Antoni Gaudí, a vision, as the Holy Father pointed out, "inspired by the ardour of his Christian faith."

Not all beautiful visions are fully realized, however. Perhaps many unrealized visions are the result of the visionary being so intent on satiating desire that he crashes into the inherent limits of our fallen and contingent world. The limitations that, when recognized, lead to humility and, if we're honest, some disappointment, are summed well in a psalm: "LORD, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me. Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me" (Psalm 131).

The insatiable visionary wants to suckle the breast of God until it runs dry. The problem, therefore, becomes the classic case of trying, like the Chinese brother, to drink, not only the ocean, but all the oceans, attempting to pour infinity into a one gallon pitcher.

Once again, for anyone struck by Kerouac's overheated vision, I cannot recommend too highly John Leland's book Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think). Leland cites something Kerouac wrote in his journal, namely that he was looking for "a purpose in eternity, something to decide on from which I'll never deviate now in whatever dark existence follows... Why should I want this?- Because there isn't enough here on earth to want, or that is, not a single thing here exists that I do want... [R]eason and the body of facts, science and truth, do not make me feel, and do not bridge eternity, and in fact choke me like stale, close air."

Yesterday, watching and listening to Fr. Carrón's Beginning Day Assembly, I was tremendously struck by his affirmation of the unity of reason and affectivity. Citing Don Giussani, he said that reason and affection are what constitute our hearts. And only the heart can claim the victory over relativism, over the ephemeral, over the constant temptation to reduce signs to mere appearances, which empties existence of meaning and reduces our humanity, thus giving rise to ideology, even among the so-called religious. If your faith is most noticeable by your political commitments, then you are reducing the signs to appearances and so reducing your humanity and that of others because you have reduced faith to morality. By reducing faith to morality you give God's grace, which is but a name we give to God's wild unpredictability, no space, no time.

Indeed, it seems to me that Kerouac's project was to overcome the so-what?ness of earthly/earthbound existence. While this insight may sound banal, it is not. Too often we are victims of a false dilemma. As beautiful and unified a vision as Kierkegaard presented us with, he was quite wrong to articulate as an axiom either/or. Jack Kerouac never reduced the sign to a mere appearance! But, as Leland brilliantly shows, Kerouac, at least in the character of Sal Paradise, comes away from each vision, each encounter, "not enlightened but broken... [t]he vision's vagueness gives him nothing to hang on to." But if, as Carrón insisted in his Beginning Day remarks, "honesty constitutes the morality of a person," then Kerouac was very moral because he remained intensely loyal to his experience, even mortally so.

I remember watching a documentary on Kerouac many years ago, shortly after reading On the Road for the first time. The documentary was more of a hagiographic piece, meaning very anti-thetical to Jack's way of being. His parish priest from Lowell, MA, who was interviewed towards the end, said that he was a saint. I am inclined to think not. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that there is something discernibly saintly about Kerouac's acute grasp of the fact that we exist between being and nothingness, what might best be summed up as the crisis of being, which is the source of our existential angst, which provokes us to think again when we think we have it all doped out.

All holy men and women, pray for us

Elections 2010: What Do We Desire?

A statement by Communion & Liberation on the elections

On the eve of the midterm elections, our nation faces grave issues that touch the lives of all Americans: a deep and extended recession, stubbornly high unemployment, a crisis in health care, and a ten-year war in Afghanistan. We are pained because the possibility for dialogue in our political culture seems to be evaporating. With this flyer, we hope to offer a contribution to all men and women of good will before the November vote.

We discern the origins of the polarization and hostility in our political culture and the origins of the most pressing problems our nation faces as the forgetfulness or, perhaps, the undervaluing of our common human desire.

We know no other reason for tirelessly making the effort to dialogue with others, if not to gain a better understanding of truth. Without a dogged dedication to discovering what is real, communication ends, leaving only the will to power in order to impose one's own ideology. Ideologies, in turn, become evermore rigid and restrictive. We also recognize that the struggle to realize justice can frustrate and tempt us to disillusionment. Yet, if we do not take up that struggle, what is left but surrender to the powerful? We understand that there can be no better relationship among people than love. And clearly love costs sacrifice for the other’s true good. But, if we surrender to the fear of sacrifice, we become trapped in ourselves, alone, numb to the needs, desires, and sufferings of others. Moreover, the social structures we build tend to alienate and manipulate others. Above all, we recognize the risk in constantly betting on human freedom and its ability to seek what is good, beautiful, and true. Yet, without betting on human freedom, we entrust ourselves to policies, procedures, rules, and regulations, pretending that—in the words of T. S. Eliot—we can dream up a "system so perfect, no one will have to be good."

We recognize these primal human yearnings as the voice of the mystery of God in each of us, ever calling us forward, beyond ourselves toward a richer human existence, capable of love for the truth and others. Yet, even without such certainty, we are sure that there is no more attractive adventure than a life and a society that seek the answer to these yearnings.

To live such an adventure is the goal of any truly human education, and particularly a Catholic one. For this reason, the first criterion that guides our assessment of any political party, candidate, or system is support for freedom of education, the most critical element of religious freedom.

People who have the courage to live with human authenticity build enterprises, communities, and institutions animated by justice, truth, beauty, and love. For this reason, our second criterion is subsidiarity. Government should defend the common good, supporting and deferring to those human structures that dedicate themselves to the good of persons and communities. The recent disappearance of Catholic hospitals (such as St. Vincent's in lower Manhattan, the first hospital to welcome AIDS victims en masse), orphanages, adoption agencies, and other charitable organizations impoverishes our communities.

We offer such a statement because we want to affirm what Pope Benedict XVI recently said in Scotland: "Society today needs clear voices which propose our right to live, not in a jungle of self-destructive and arbitrary freedoms, but in a society which works for the true welfare of its citizens and offers them guidance and protection in the face of their weakness and fragility."

Communion & Liberation, October 2010

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

What it means to remember Christ, to resist a world after Him and without Him

In her truly remarkable witness, given at the La Thuile Assembly of Responsibles of Communion and Liberation back in August, "Living Is The Memory of Me," Prof. Marta Cartabia discussed her experience of living in New York City for a year. What she experienced there in terms of faith and religion she described as "an invisible and ineffectual religiosity," or, "the clear separation between public and professional life...and the religious dimension" of life for people of faith, especially her fellow Catholics. She notes that the student Masses were well-attended, but there was no discernible Catholic student presence at the university outside of Mass.

She went on to point to a very important insight she ran across while reading an essay by Ernest Fortin, in which he observed that Nietzsche's declaration that God is dead "is perfectly compatible with 'bourgeois religiosity'." Prof. Cartabia states "that a society without Christ is essentially a society that, without us realizing it, atrophies our relationship with Christ. It makes it mute and ineffective to personal and social lives," which, she devastatingly observes, "reduces Christ to moments of emotional or sentimental religiosity or, even worse, to a set behaviors," to a kind of moralism. This is all very compatible with the pragmatic thrust of life in the U.S.

Last night, before going to bed, I finished reading P.D. James novel, The Children of Men, which is set in the England of AD 2021. The state has become so much more than a nanny state without becoming too totalitarian, just very efficient and practical, carefully seeing to the needs of a dying and dwindling population. Two members of the small and largely ineffective resistance group, "The Five Fishes," are Christians, who celebrate Eucharist together every morning, that is until Luke, the Anglican priest, is brutally murdered. The Christians are flawed and engaged in adultery together, which led to the other of them, Julian, conceiving a child, the first human child known to be conceived in the world in some twenty-five years. This betrayal causes Julian's husband, who understandably believes himself to be the father of the child until it is revealed he is not upon Luke's murder, to betray them.

Re-reading Prof. Cartabia's witness at the same time I read James' novel created an interesting and informative juxtaposition. In James novel we have both the result of a "world after Christ, without Christ" and we also have what can rightly be characterized as a truly faithful remnant, two people, Luke and Julian, two fallible and flawed people, the latter of whom lays down his life for his friends, who show us that when we can no longer even dream of it and when we no longer expect it, "the One re-enters man's life in order to save it." Christ, Fr. Giussani told us, "gives Himself again by dying for man. He gives all of Himself, a total gift of self up until: 'No one loves his as much as one who gives his life for his friends.'"

Don Gius tells us that "there's one, final nuance: what Christ gives us by dying for us - dying because we betrayed Him - in order to purify us of the betrayal, what He gives us is greater than what we expected." To understand the greatness of what Christ gives us (i.e., His whole self, body, blood, soul, and divinity) we have to understand our betrayal, "we have to think about our distraction, because it's a betrayal to spend days, weeks, months... what about last night: when did we think about Him? When did we think about Him seriously, with our heart, in this last month, in the last three months"?

All true martyrs, even literary ones, show us how to "aim for a victory without power!" After all, even at the end of James' novel, it is Theo the "good" but unbelieving man who places the symbol of power on his own hand, thus showing us that victory is not complete until He comes again in glory, a coming we await in joyful hope, a hope that shapes how we live now. He is the victory without power! This brings into clearer focus the truth of Archbishop Javier Martínez axiom that "the Eucharist is the only place of resistance to annihilation of the human subject."

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

The Judas Shuffle

"It was not for the thirty pieces of silver / but for the hope / that He awakened / in me that day. I was a quiet man, / I had a comfortable life, / I even used to pay my respects / to God in His house. / But one day that Man came, / He spoke of peace and love / He said that He was the Messiah, / my Savior. // Through lands dried up by the sun, / through the streets of every village / we were suffocated by the crowd / with their outstretched hands, / but then the days went by / and His kingdom did not come. / I had already given Him everything / and He betrayed me. // My heart became like stone / and my eyes became good at escaping. / He had given me anguish / and so He had to die. / Hanging from a tree is a body / that is no longer mine. / Now I see in His eyes / that He is the Son of God." (C. Chieffo, Il monologo di Giuda [Judas’ Monologue]).

The lyrics of this song by Claudio Chieffo describe well the interior drama that all serious Christians experience. In fact, it is something that leads many to stop following Him, at least in an intentional way. Our initial encounter is something that holds a lot of promise, the answer to many of life's problems, a way to overcome our many difficulties. Let us never forget that His summons to us is this: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" (Luke 9:23-25- ESV). Without doubt this is a hard saying. It is not what we want to hear, let alone to strive to live.

The Prayer of St. Francis, which cannot be traced any earlier than the second decade of the last century, expresses this well. Most often we hear or recite the first line of this beautiful prayer, which, if not composed by my brother deacon, certainly expresses well his manner of discipleship: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace." But the way I see it, it is the prayer's ending that should catch our attention, echoing, as it does, the summons of the Lord:

"For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life"

Indeed, as we endeavor to serve the Lord each day by carrying our cross and helping others to carry theirs, by giving without counting the cost or expecting anything in return, by forgiving even the most egregious wrongs others commit against us, by dying to ourselves and living for Him, we easily begin to wonder, What's in this for me? How long must I keep this up? When, Lord, will I see your glory? The short answer to the first question is- Everything! As Fr.Carrón recently reminded the Responsibles of Communion & Liberation: "There’s no [distance] greater than the one between being and nothingness!"

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

From Communion & Liberation of Connecticut

Islamophobia and Mother Teresa:

The proposed construction of an Islamic center and mosque at Ground Zero has resulted in the outrage of many Americans and the recent public discussion about "Islamophobia" in America. These events provoke us to affirm the following:


1. We notice a growing tendency to manipulate circumstances to serve as a pretext to create a public furor that demands people make a choice between one of two pre -packaged, ideological positions. We refuse to engage in a debate about whether or not to build a mosque at Ground Zero. The reality of Islam in America brings up questions that go much deeper than that of the construction of one mosque. Indeed, one critical and open question is how contemporary American culture comes to grips with the human person's religious sense.


2. Many of those among the cultural elite, as well as many who hold the levers of power in our nation, have abandoned the religious tradition that informed the lives of the vast majority of their ancestors: Christianity. They have reduced it to a moral code or a vague myth, linked to a man dead for more than 2,000 years. Instead, they have embraced a "scientific" outlook on human life. But science provides no answer to those questions that continuously gnaw at the human heart, such as the problem of justice, the meaning of human life, or the problems of suffering and evil. In fact, science tends to stifle them. Hence, contemporary American culture finds itself weak and tremendously uncertain about any response to universal human inquiries and longings.


3. Just over two weeks ago, we marked the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa of Calcutta's birth. One who looks at her sees a resplendent human person, overflowing with love for everyone, especially strangers of different religions. Her humanity touched all: religious and atheist; Muslim and Hindu; rich and poor. Mother Teresa's life invites anyone who seeks truth to open his or her heart and mind and take a fresh look at Christianity.

4. For serious Christians, the challenge of Islam, the large-scale abandonment of Christianity, the emptiness of the dominant culture, and the witness of Mother Teresa signal the urgent need for conversion. Pope Benedict XVI recently said that "conversion...is not a mere moral decision that rectifies our conduct in life, but rather a choice of faith that wholly involves us in close communion with Jesus as a real and living Person." The Pope brings us face to face with the defining difference between Christianity and Islam: one religion bases its response to the human person's religious sense upon a message delivered 1,400 years ago, while the other offers the experience of a Man who died but is alive and present with us today. As Fr. Juliàn Carròn, President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, recently affirmed: Jesus' message and even all the miracles He performed were not enough to overcome the sadness of His disciples on the road to Emmaus --only His risen presence could ignite their hearts once again.


5. We are not Islamophobic, nor do we fear our post-modern world. On the contrary, we invite all to look at Mother Teresa and at the Man to whom she gave her life. In His Person, present with us today, all can find the Truth that alone will deliver the freedom America promises.


Communion and Liberation

September 11, 2010


Notes
Benedict XVI, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, February 17, 2010 (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100217_en.html)

I thank my dear friends for their well considered and timely judgment.

"censoring of the scope of desire"

In the annual Spiritual Exercises of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, Fr. Julián Carrón stated that "the sign par excellence of the marginalization of Christ from life is the shriveling of the dimensions proper to humanity, a reduced understanding of one's own humanity, of one's perception of self, a reductive use of reason, affection, and freedom, a censoring of the scope of desire" (Can a Man Be Born Again, Once He Is Old?, pg 7). One manifestation of this is what is best described as the pathologizing of behavior, which means applying the disease model to everything and referring to every deviation from political correctness as a "phobia," an irrational fear, something that requires treatment, re-education. In this it is easy to discern the seeds of a new totalitarianism.

To shift gears, because we're now all about sex all the time, even to the point of asserting that our sexual preferences are the basis for rights, and the fact that from time-to-time I engage on the subject of sex in a straightforward way, it seems opportune to point out that the "censoring of the scope desire," by which I mean reducing desire to sexual desire, as if sexual desire itself is an end, not a means to our end, which celibacy for the sake of the kingdom seeks to embody in the here and now, was summed up well by Allan Bloom in an article he wrote for National Review back in 1982: "There is nothing wild, Dionysian, searching, in our promiscuity. It has a dull, sterilized, scientific character." An example of this leads me to make a guilty admission.

Years ago my wife and I, when we were up late, used to periodically watch the show Blind Date. The show would arrange a blind date for two people. The date always included limousine service, which would pick up the man first before swinging by to pick up his date. It always included supper and an activity, bowling, mini-golf, bungee jumping, what have you. Sometimes it led to dropping the lady off at her doorstep and culminating with a friendly peck on the cheek and a clear determination no follow-on date would ensue. Other times, it led to more. The couple was always debriefed after the date during which they were asked whether they would like to date the each other again. More often than not, either one or both of the people did not want to date the person again. One such episode sticks in my mind. After supper and the scheduled activity, the couple wound up getting in a hot tub and went "all the way." During the debriefing, the woman was adamant that she would not date the guy again. When the show’s host said something like, “But you had sex with him,” to which she replied, "I was bored." Boring, indeed

Answers to some personal questions about being a deacon

A friend from Brazil, Adriano, made a comment in which he asks some really great questions about the permanent diaconate. He is especially curious about the diaconate and religious orders and the diaconate and the so-called movements, like Communion and Liberation, Focolare, the Neocatechumenal Way, which I recently discovered exists here in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Opus Dei, etc. Because the diaconate is a subject about which many people, both Catholic and non-Catholic alike, have questions, I thought it would be a good idea to answer with a post instead of keeping it in the combox. Adriano, who is Brazilian writes in English, but apologizes for his use of the language. I want to say publicly, your English is very good! Great job.

I am a deacon of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, incardinated into the diocese by virtue of being ordained here, thus making me what is known as a regular or secular cleric, as opposed to one who belongs to a religious order, or a personal prelature. With regards to my participation in CL, I will stick with how I recently described myself: a CL fellow traveller, as opposed to a full-blown member. In keeping with the spirit of charism, I only participate insofar as it is useful for me personally. Through experience I have learned that in many ways it is not. Other than friendships, which are a necessary to Giussani's method and that mean more to me than I can describe in words, plus the odd contribution to Il Sussidiario, I am not plugged into CL in any formal way. I am also a Knight of Columbus, though I have to admit to pretty much being a member of KofC (if a 3rd degree) in name only, though I am also an insurance member, having purchased a policy when I was first married. I think the Knights do great things in and for the Church.

I know that the restoration and renewal of the permanent diaconate envisioned that there would be deacons in the religious orders. Even now there are a few deacons (very few) who belong to orders. The major orders, like Salesians, Jesuits, Dominicans, and even major Franciscan orders don't seem to have a place for permanent deacons. It is especially bizarre in the case of Franciscans because, in all likelihood, St. Francis himself was a deacon. Being a deacon, which allows one to preach, would also seem to me to fit in well with the Dominican charism. A religious order with which I am very familiar, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, at least St. Anne's Province, which encompasses the United States, is open to having professed members who are deacons. In fact, one brother of the Congregation was in formation with me for a year or so. I would be surprised if there weren't third order Franciscan and Domincan deacons, though, as in the movements, they probably are not distinguished from other third order members.

As far as CL, I don't think anybody in CL knows much about permanent deacons. The movements in general seem to have well-developed ways of thinking about and engaging the laity, but in many ways their ecclesiology, like that of some major religious orders, still seems to lag, especially regarding deacons.

As far as my belonging to CL, the best way to put it is that while I cherish the charism given to Don Giussani, even seeing his method as indispensable for me, I struggle with the Movement a great deal, especially this last year or so. While there are several reasons for my stance, the one that is relevant to our discussion is the cognitive dissonance that arises for me from the incongruity between being in the Movement and being a deacon. To be fair, CL is primarily a lay association. To be fair to me, my identity as a deacon, given to me sacramentally as a grace, has priority and is more fundamental. Much the same can be said about the Knights of Columbus, which only recently began formally recognizing deacons as clerics by treating them as such. For example, prior to this recognition, members of the clergy other than deacons, did not have to pay annual membership dues, not that $25 is killer, but... So, I suppose that marks some small progress.

At the end of the day, a deacon is a servant. Each deacon serves in a unique set of circumstances, most of us in parishes. It is precisely here that one is a deacon and is recognized as such only insofar as he makes clear, in his very person, the necessary connection between the altar and service to others, which makes it truly Christian service, that is, diakonia. Whether the movements, or religious orders, ultimately find a place for the diaconate or not, it is an order of ministry that shows by its dynamism that it is a work of the Holy Spirit, even if one that may best be lived out in local churches.

Without Christ you have not embraced reality according to the totality of factors

As Sts. Clare and Francis clearly knew, precisely from the change that occurred when they encountered Him, we must put all things at service of fulfulling our destiny, nothing held back. To do so requires letting go, which requires trust. Just as we don't have faith in faith, a mistake so many make (faith cannot be its own object anymore than can love and hope- it is the object of these that make them the theological virtues), we must place our trust, that is, our hope, in Someone.

So, when we say, sometimes thoughtlessly, "There is a reason for everything," that reason can be summed in two words, Jesus Christ. He is the One we must learn to trust totally. This trust often falters because we are childish: "He didn't give me what I want," we say (even if what I want seems a good, even selfless thing to me). Therefore, He doesn't exist, or, even worse, He doesn't care about me. As St. Paul tells us in that over-used and very often grossly sentimentalized passage on love in 1 Corinthians, we must put aside our childish ways in order to know as we are "fully known" (13:11-12- ESV). Sometimes, as Fr. Aldo Trento observed in a recent interview with Marina Corradi for Il Sussidiario, which is well worth checking out daily, somtimes there is a void, like St. Paul's thorn, in order "to provoke a more intense question.".

The Head of Christ, by Georges Rouault c. 1937

You may well ask "how" does Christ do this, especially when we apply this to ALL things? Green Day provides a better answer than I can: "It's not a question but an answer learned in time," that is, through experience, which is the instrument for our human journey, a journey that has a destination, a fulfillment, which is our completion. In other words, Christ works through reality, not over and above. He does so in a pervasive way.

To see this, to really live this, requires a method and the companionship of others. So, while I am seeking intercession today for a myriad of reasons, I look to Msgr. Giussani for guidance, not just from heaven, but also in The Religious Sense and in the Exercises.