The Pope vs the President: Give peace a chance?

Hi everybody! Its been another crazy (but whole lotta fun) week here in Bucks County. I've been prepping for my first ever Youth Ministry meeting this weekend. Please say a prayer for me and all the teens of Our Lady of Mt Carmel parish this Sunday, that the Holy Spirit invade all that we do this year. =)

I have to admit I was shocked by what played out in the last few days on Twitter and the social media world between the White House administration and our Holy Father. When the President made his speech a week ago that we had to do something about the one thousand plus people who died in Syria because of a seemingly chemical attack, I believed him. I felt especially for the children, who did not ask for this, not did they deserve it. Remember, at the time of the speech, we did not have real good evidence that the regime used chemical gases or that it was the regime responsible at all. As the evidence in later days began to flood in, I became even more convinced that we had to do something. Great Britain said that they had proof of sarin gas, and it seems that we are just waiting for the UN to confirm the same as well.

But then, the Pope stepped into the spotlight practically shouting "PEACE!". I was shocked. Did he not see that men, women, children were killed? Did he not see that many of them were defenseless (or at least, not in the midst of the fighting). Why not use force to show the Syrian leaders that using chemical gas of your own citizens is wrong and immoral? Why not show them that the world would not stand for such  But more and more, with an open letter to the G20, a Twitter campaign that would have made a political team proud, and a six-step plan toward peace through talks and vocalizing guarantees, Pope Francis pushed for peace. He pushed for policy and discussion. Not guns and missiles. He even made it clear that the Vatican wanted a part in bringing about peace, by being a mediator for peace talks. He put our whole religion out there in the front. And I was left to rethink my position on the whole mess.

Pope Francis made a very interesting set of claims in response to some of the question I (and many, many people) had. He assured us that the images of those killed and the stories many of us had heard were "burned into my mind and heart". But he also very strongly said "War brings on war! Violence brings on violence!" He is standing in the same position JPII did when he called on President Bush to not invade Iraq. And also, I think he sees that this could be a much bigger problem if another country gets involved in violence. Russia is not happy with the US's position and has ships in the area. But also, as the Pope pointed out, further violence could move more people into the surrounding countries as refugees or even put those countries and hence more people in danger. More pain, more injury, more death...in a country, region and world that has already seen too much horror this past year.

I posed to one of my local priests, "What do I tell the teens about Syria?". I wasn't just asking for them, but for myself. I couldn't see how we couldn't respond with force. I am a child of 9/11, a child of TSA screenings, wars in Iraq and Afganistan and "terrorism". All I've known is the decisions of the Gulf War, the Iraq War, etc: you piss us off or step out of line, the US is going to come after you. We are going to bomb you, invade you, and do enough to make you stop your unjust actions. To me, it was a very strange place to be when the Pope (whom I have a deep love for already) is facing off with your President. I knew this would also be the place many teens would be coming from. This is Father's answer to me, written as a prayer of the faithful he is currently using:

We pray for the situation in Syria as it continues to deteriorates. We pray for all involved.

We pray for the men women and children in the midst of the war, who did not ask for this war and live in this violence. God protect them.

We pray for our leaders and the leaders of the world, whose decisions are complicated and difficult. May the Holy Spirit enter into their lives and decisions.

We pray for the men and women of our military, may God keep them safe in all situations as they risk their lives.

We pray for peace and lessening of violence in the region.

This struck me. He admits, as do many, that they would not want the job of the President or a member of Congress. But he also made it very clear to me that our faith is supposed to critique our citizenship. And that to not agree with decisions made does not make you a bad citizen, but a citizen who in this case understands that the call of the Gospel is stronger then that of national security and international protection. I began quickly to realize that I had had much of that idea backwards for a good deal of my life because culture had shown me that military strikes and invasions were the only way to "find freedom".

To trust that things like talking and verbal commitments are going to work take a lot of faith. They are a tool I think we have lost. But the Pope is pushing for each of us to relearn that faith that the Spirit moves and breathes in us, and that by opening the door to work for peace, even if its a tiny bit, He can be let in. And only through God can we find true freedom.

The prayer service tomorrow night in Rome will begin with a prayer for the indwelling of the Spirit. And maybe what Francis is also showing us is that we have to trust in one another again as well. We have to let God be God, and trust that in the end, we are all human. Maybe the leaders of Syria are as selfish and awful as we are being led to believe. But they still are children of God. If they did use chemicals against their own people, they should be held accountable. But we should seek conversion of heart, not a self-righteous sense of justice, no matter how horrible the situation. We should do everything to protect the innocent. But when we cannot protect our own (the poor, the unborn, the abused and marginalized) what gives us the right to take the place of God? Do we really trust the words of the Bible, that tell us that God is in control and that he will have the last say? And do we love first, like He showed us?

In closing, if we want to understand the reason the Pope is calling for peace, let us remember the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospels...

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us...

May those words ring in every heart tonight as we pray for the people of Syria. The Lord is working on my heart to remember his promises and his call to discipleship, especially in moments like these. My prayer tonight is that He does the same for all people of faith.

God's love and mine,

Chris

Miley and the Novena for the VMAs

Hello friends!

Back again after what seems to be a seriously crazy week. Its nice to be able to walk into a three-day weekend! I won't many open weekends after this one for a while!

So I'm guessing all of us (minus those who do not have access to the electronic connect-o-sphere) have heard/seen what Miley Cyrus did this past Sunday. I wasn't sure I was going to blog on it because this girl has been given so much attention already. But I think I want to offer a suggestion the midst of all the speculation, condemnation and dismissal.

What if we prayed for her? Seriously. What if every parish prayed for Miley and her parents this weekend? And what if we prayed (out loud) for all woman and men in the music industry? Might we start taking a different approach to our worship? Would we approach how we see people and speak about them differently?

Now, I am like 99.9 percent of people who reacted with "oh, gross!" or "OMG, what is she doing?" or "Wow, thats sad." I don't agree with anything she did. But isn't it funny that we all are speaking about her, giving her more publicity and, even in some cases, more validation. But what instead of condemning, we prayed? We didn't say "We pray for Miley Cyrus because she does terrible things at the VMAs" but just let's offer prayer for this girl. I want to challenge that again there seems to be a disconnect between our "Sunday lives" and the other six days. Can't our Sunday intentions and our daily prayer involve those moments made so famous by our 24-hour media news cycle? What if every time some scandal happened (even a pop-culture scandal), the Church prayed? Could we not become the bearers of peace for this world and trusted by others? People might listen more, or at least, be less hostile to our existence and structure. I think our first role as a Church is to put everything back into that hands of God. And as we show people that we can (and do) pray for everything that happens around us, they too might trust in the Lord in a deeper way.

So how do we do this? Start personally. I'm going to offer a VMA novena for the next week (just a Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be...and no, I'm not kidding) for everyone in the music industry. Also, I'm going to offer it for all women who are used everyday, that they might find healing. And a separate set for those in Syria and those who have been killed. We need peace so desperately, and I believe that only God can mold hearts for that to happen.

It's funny that the Syria violence story and the Miley story both made news the same week as the feast of Sts Monica and Augustine. Here is a woman who begged God that her son might be saved. And he went on to become the most influential theologian and bishop in the history of our faith. What if we did the same? What if the Church was full of intercessors asking the Lord to change the mistakes made by so many simply because they don't know Him? Wouldn't our world look a lot different? Wouldn't our Church be ALIVE, with relationships healed and lives changed?

Maybe this is just a pipe dream. But its something I think we have to work towards or otherwise we won't be relevant in the coming years.

Have a blessed weekend, everybody! Happy Labor Day!

Chris

Dialogue and How We Should Spread the Gospel

Hi friends! I'm back, after a major (like, nearly two years?) delay. Quick catch up--I am now back in my old stomping grounds in Bucks County, PA. Last week, I began my first 'big-boy job': youth minister for two parishes. I will be running programing for Our Lady of Mt Carmel parish (my parish throughout high school and where I first began to really live out my faith) and St Rose of Lima Parish. I am excited to get started and that I am just weeks away from having a MA in Systematic Theology. Its great to be back in the state I grew up in and surrounded by family I have not seen on a regular basis for almost six years!

So onto the topic of discussion for today. Samuel Gregg wrote a very interesting blog on religious dialogue (that is, dialogue between those of different faiths - generally in Christianity, we refer to this type of dialogue between denominations as ecumenism). He makes some very good points about what is good and bad approaches to dialogue and I encourage you all to read it. While I don't agree with everything he says (his notes on Karl Rahner try to place a very particular theology in a realm that I am not sure it should go...Rahner doesn't really fit into a mold except for his own), he places dialogue, a seemingly 'new' idea into the light of 2000 years of tradition. In fact, he shows that it is not a new idea, but something the Church has been doing all the way back to the times of St. Peter and Paul. His blog article can be found here.

While reading his article, I realized that his argument also nicely fits into pastorally working in the Church. Pope Francis has been very firmly pushing the Church to evangelize to the people around us. And he has been making it clear that we have to meet them where they are in order to be the inviting catalyst to begin to show them the faith. He has repeatedly called priests to head into the streets and meet the people where they are. This same message has come to the youth at World Youth Day 2013. At the Prayer Vigil with Young People, Pope Francis told them: "Today too, as always, the Lord needs you, young people, for his Church. My friends, the Lord needs you! Today too, he is calling each of you to follow him in his Church and to be missionaries. The Lord is calling you today! Not the masses, but you, and you, and you, each one of you. Listen to what he is saying to you in your heart." The Lord is asking each of us to go out into the fields for him. But how do we do this without trying to 'force Jesus down someone's throats' (anyone who has even walked through the streets of DC as I have most likely have seen this at play from a street corner, doom and gloom, preacher) and without losing the truth of our faith in the midst of the world? Building off Samuel's article, I have a few thoughts.

Know the Lord and have a life that includes Him in the center of it - I think this is the more important step. Before we can go out running around trying to share Jesus with everyone, we need to have a good relationship with him. In other words, a solid prayer life. Now, I didn't say you have to pray for so long everyday or practice certain prayers, etc. No, I think only a person can truly know where he or she is in relationship with Our Lord, but we have to be able to say that when the chips are down and stuff is tough, that we trust enough to turn to God in prayer and 'recharge our batteries' before we can try to go out past our own lives. For me, its offering praise to God every morning and talking throughout the day with Him to keep myself focused. For others I know, its daily Mass, a Rosary, the Angelus, even just five minutes of silence to start and end the day. Whatever it is, the habit trains us to trust God and bring our needs to Him. Plus, we learn to love Him more and to take His Love and share it with others.

Start small - When I was 14, the Lord tapped me on the shoulder one day and my life began to take a very different direction. I became interested in my faith and in God. The first people I told were my siblings and my parents, because I trusted them that they wouldn't spread it too far. As a family, we talked and saw a renewal in all our faiths as God invaded not only my life, but theirs as well. If you want to share God's love, start with those you know trust and love you. Family and friends are good because even if they are not so sure about your love of God and how it might fit in their lives, they know you deeply and thus those conversations will start easier. Its far harder to have a deep conversation with a total stranger.

Its not all talk - I think one of the great 'rediscoveries' that Pope Francis is calling us to is that actions speak just as loudly as words. Our evangelization needs to be the light that people see in us of a life changed. Work on doing little things for those around you that you normally wouldn't do. Take those situations to prayer and ask God where you might be able to show His Love - a word of encouragement, helping someone complete a task that normally would be left for them, etc. Our Church, especially in places like Philly and Boston, where it has really taken a beating and lost a lot of trust in the past decade, desperately need people to step out of the their own lives and be examples of good will and charity to others. Groups like Knights of Columbus and St Vincent DePaul still have active ministries because they are based on doing small acts of charity, helping people whenever and wherever they are. Join a group you believe in, begin to look to be a positive change in your community.

And finally:

Don't be afraid to speak in the language of the world - This point I am directly taking from Gregg's article (and thank you for writing such a great example from St Paul! Huge burst of encouragement!). I think we as a Church have gotten very comfortable with 'Church speak'. We have certain words that make us different and we use them when we are doing 'Church things'. This is one of the many reasons we struggle as a Church with compartmentalization in the United States. We have yet to discover how to show others our faith in the Monday to Saturday fashion. If we use our 'Church language', many will be left alienated and confused. Instead, we have to find ways to express God's love in light of the surrounding culture.

In youth ministry, this kind of idea is thrown around a lot. I will probably have to use examples of MTV, homework, nagging parents, etc to show the youth that I can relate to their lives. And through that, I can be an open invitation for them to begin to relate to mine, one of someone who also believes in Christ and can be a mentor for them as they work through having faith in this world. I think we all are called to do this, be it if we are speaking to a teenager or a grandparent. Age, culture, and life-experience dictates that their lives are going to be very different. But if we can ask God for the guidance to relate to those we want to share the Good News with, we will begin to see walls come down. And for those we are sharing with, they will see that God fits in their lives as well. Those fallen away from the Church will begin to return and new believers with passion and fire from God's love will begin to walk through the doors of our parishes. This kind of evangelization is a domino-effect: each person brings more opportunity to spread the love of Jesus Christ to the ends of the world. 

God Bless! See you next week!