Personal relationship with Christ?

From time to time there is discussion in Catholic blogs about the idea that we are called to an individual relationship with Christ, and so with the life of the Trinity.  This is sometimes flagged as a "Catholicism-lite" when this call made on the part of Catholics is perceived as being a call that is indifferent to doctrinal content; and it has also an affinity to the life of non-ecclesial Christian communities that, despite a Biblical base, do lack real sources of doctrinal belief. There is also a suspicion by Traditionalists of anything that appears evangelical in its origins and impact rather than ecclesial.

In this context, it was interesting to read the "Meditation of the Day" in MAGNIFICAT for this coming Thursday, the feast day of St Dominic. The text was taken from Pope Benedict XVI's General Audience address for 8th August 2012.  One thing that vividly emerges from Pope Benedict's presentation of the prayer of St Dominic is the movement from Liturgical prayer to personal meditation "in which prayer acquires an even more intimate, fervent and soothing dimension":

.... personal meditation, in which prayer acquires an even more intimate, fervent and soothing dimension. After reciting the Liturgy of the Hours and after celebrating Mass, St Dominic prolonged his conversation with God without setting any time limit. Sitting quietly, he would pause in recollection in an inner attitude of listening, while reading a book or gazing at the Crucifix. He experienced these moments of closeness to God so intensely that his reactions of joy or of tears were outwardly visible. In this way, through meditation, he absorbed the reality of the faith. Witnesses recounted that at times he entered a kind of ecstasy with his face transfigured, but that immediately afterwards he would humbly resume his daily work, recharged by the power that comes from on High.

St Dominic, in his life of prayer, expresses quite precisely the appropriate mutual relation between Liturgical prayer and personal devotion, between the ecclesial encounter with Christ and the personal encounter with him. We can perhaps add to this Pope Francis' repeated insistence that it is not possible to come to know Christ without the Church.

The language of "personal relationship with Christ" might well be an unfamiliar language for some Catholics; and it is, I suspect, more to be associated with the newer movements and ecclesial communities than with older Catholic organisations. Whilst a vocation to the priesthood or religious life might have always been seen as a way of living a closer personal relationship with God, that the life of lay persons should be seen in the same way has a certain novelty about it. I would suggest, however, that Catholic life has always included ways for lay people to live this closer personal relationship with God - through sodalities and a whole range of pious associations. According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, it is the sacraments of baptism and confirmation that call each and every Christian to a vocation in the Church - and the danger for the Catholic is that this where that vocation comes to a stop (the danger for the pentecostal is that it does not reach this point at all). What the newer ecclesial movements explicitly do is articulate the forms of commitment associated with a life lived according to their charisms as a specification to a particular form of the vocation received in a general way through baptism and confirmation.

So, for example, the Marian consecration according to the teaching of St Louis Marie de Montfort promoted by the Legion of Mary and the Foyers of Charity (it is the concluding act of the "fundamental retreat"). The Catholic Charismatic Renewal also understands the gift of "Baptism in the Holy Spirit" in a relation to the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, seeing it as an opening out of the grace of those sacraments.  I have posted on this theme here. Fr Cantalamessa wrote of his own experience of Baptism in the Holy Spirit:

For me, baptism in the Spirit was a chance the Lord gave me to ratify and renew my Baptism...

The pastoral implication of all of this is that, if formation programmes in Catholic parishes are limited to the immediate preparation for the sacraments of initiation, then there will be an intrinsic failure to consistently develop the (additional) specification of the grace of those sacraments that constitutes the "living personal relationship with God". The additionality provided by formation to a particular charism in the Church is needed to achieve this - I suspect I am not alone in feeling that those one meets in parish life who have a more-than-average sense of Christian life have almost without exception gained that sense of Christian life from experience of one or other of the new ecclesial movements.

[A development of the them of this post would be to evaluate the Marian character and sense of the evangelical counsels that can be seen in many of the new movements.]

What is "state education"?

My own trade union has begun a discussion with its membership aimed at arriving at a kind of "manifesto for education". If I have understood the intent of this conversation correctly, it is intended to support the union's work in responding to the rampaging policies of the present Coalition Government and to provide a strong document that can be used to challenge the major political parties as they move towards the next General Election in May 2015.

I took part in a seminar earlier today that was part of this conversation. Two things struck me about the seminar. The way in which the question was set for us precluded any discussion of the aims of education (though that might have been more explicitly addressed in other discussion groups). And religion was not mentioned as a factor to be included in a consideration of education.

The context of much of the discussion was the policy of the present Coalition Government in promoting Academies, Free Schools, Studio Schools etc - that is, a range of different types of schools funded from central government through funding agreements and run by bodies that are "private" in the sense that they are not bodies of central or local government. The headline of the teacher unions' campaigning against this policy is that of "defending state education".

But the question I asked was: what exactly does the union mean when it uses that term "state education" in the articulation of its policy against Academies, Free Schools etc.? Does "state funding" define a state ownership of the educational enterprise, in which case the funding defines the enterprise as a state enterprise? Or, which would be more in line with Catholic teaching, does the state funding enable parents, and the schools who are their collaborators in the provision of education for their children, to fulfil their responsibilities (subsidiarity and all that)? In this latter case, the ownership of the educational enterprise rests more at a level of civil society, shared between the parents/legal guardians. And, of course, there is rather less of a problem in principle with funding mechanisms that allow state funds to support private bodies - ie civil society - in the provision of this education. [There might well still be other grounds for opposing government policy in this area, but the in principle "no to privatisation" does not quite work, because on this model the state does not have ownership of the enterprise anyway.] And when I suggested ever so gently that learning and coming to know what was true was a part of the purpose of education ... I felt I was a rather lonely voice.

The absence of consideration of the part to be played by religion or religious communities in the provision of education prompted me to go back to the UN UNiversal Declaration of Human Rights, which contains clear provision with regard to the rights of parents/legal guardians with respect to the education of their children. Article 26 reads as follows:

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.  

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.  

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

The principle underlying state funding of an education service is that it enables a UN member state to fulfil its obligations under paragraphs (1) and (3) of this article, paragraph (3) additionally requiring a degree of plurality in the types of educational provision that are funded. Paragraph (2) provides a basis for a state to require certain standards of the education that is provided using its funding.

These provisions are further supported in a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Convention against Discrimination in Education from 1960. What is interesting here are the provisions of Article 2, which clearly recognise a place for considerations of religion in an educational system.

Article 1

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term `discrimination' includes any distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference which, being based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic condition or birth, has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing equality of treatment in education and in particular:

(a) Of depriving any person or group of persons of access to education of any type or at any level;

(b) Of limiting any person or group of persons to education of an inferior standard;

(c) Subject to the provisions of Article 2 of this Convention, of establishing or maintaining separate educational systems or institutions for persons or groups of persons; or

(d) Of inflicting on any person or group of persons conditions which are in-compatible with the dignity of man.

2. For the purposes of this Convention, the term `education' refers to all types and levels of education, and includes access to education, the standard and quality of education, and the conditions under which it is given.

Article 2

When permitted in a State, the following situations shall not be deemed to constitute discrimination, within the meaning of Article 1 of this Convention:

(a) The establishment or maintenance of separate educational systems or in-stitutions for pupils of the two sexes, if these systems or institutions offer equivalent access to education, provide a teaching staff with qualifications of the same standard as well as school premises and equipment of the same quality, and afford the opportunity to take the same or equivalent courses of study;

(b) The establishment or maintenance, for religious or linguistic reasons, of separate educational systems or institutions offering an education which is in keeping with the wishes of the pupil's parents or legal guardians, if participation in such systems or attendance at such institutions is optional and if the education provided conforms to such standards as may be laid down or approved by the competent authorities, in particular for education of the same level ;

(c) The establishment or maintenance of private educational institutions, if the object of the institutions is not to secure the exclusion of any group but to provide educational facilities in addition to those provided by the public authorities, if the institutions are conducted in accordance with that object, and if the education provided conforms with such standards as may be laid down or approved by the competent authorities, in particular for education of the same level.

Article 3

In order to eliminate and prevent discrimination within the meaning of this Convention, the States Parties thereto undertake:

(a) To abrogate any statutory provisions and any administrative instructions and to discontinue any administrative practices which involve discrimination in education;

(b) To ensure, by legislation where necessary, that there is no discrimination in the admission of pupils to educational institutions;

(c) Not to allow any differences of treatment by the public authorities between nationals, except on the basis of merit or need, in the matter of school fees and the grant of scholarships or other forms of assistance to pupils and necessary permits and facilities for the pursuit of studies in foreign countries ;

(d) Not to allow, in any form of assistance granted by the public authorities to educational institutions, any restrictions or preference based solely on the ground that pupils belong to a particular group;

(e) To give foreign nationals resident within their territory the same access to education as that given to their own nationals.

Article 4

The States Parties to this Convention undertake furthermore to formulate, develop and apply a national policy which, by methods appropriate to the circumstances and to national usage, will tend to promote equality of opportunity and of treatment in the matter of education and in particular:

(a) To make primary education free and compulsory; make secondary education in its different forms generally available and accessible to all; make higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of individual capacity; assure compliance by all with the obligation to attend school prescribed by law;

(b) To ensure that the standards of education are equivalent in all public educational institutions of the same level, and that the conditions relating to the quality of the education provided are also equivalent;

(c) To encourage and intensify by appropriate methods the education of persons who have not received any primary education or who have not completed the entire primary education course and the continuation of their education on the basis of individual capacity;

(d) To provide training for the teaching profession without discrimination.

What interests me, or perhaps, more accurately, concerns me in the context of the discussion that has been initiated in my own trade union is a failure to look back to documents such as these from the United Nations that can provide a principled basis informing that discussion.

The Field of Faith: "Jesus offers us something bigger than the World Cup!"

I have been away from home (and will be again from tomorrow). This means that I have only been able to dip in to the coverage of Pope Francis' visit to Brazil and the World Youth Day.

The two texts that I have so far had time to read are Pope Francis' address at the Way of the Cross on Friday evening and his address at the Vigil on Saturday evening. This vigil included a time of Eucharistic Adoration. Both texts are well worth reading in full.

A thought occurring spontaneously to me as I read both texts was that, given a certain difference in style, "this could be Benedict XVI".  Pope Francis drew a contrast between what Jesus offers to young people and a contemporary context that was very pertinent to Brazil:

..... Here in Brazil, as in other countries, football is a national passion.

Now, what do players do when they are asked to join a team? They have to train, and to train a lot! The same is true of our lives as the Lord’s disciples. Saint Paul tells us: “athletes deny themselves all sorts of things; they do this to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable” (1 Cor 9:25). Jesus offers us something bigger than the World Cup! He offers us the possibility of a fulfilled and fruitful life; he also offers us a future with him, an endless future, eternal life. But he asks us to train, “to get in shape,” so that we can face every situation in life undaunted, bearing witness to our faith.

And at the Mass which concluded the World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI also offered an analogy between the living of Catholic faith and contemporary scientific culture:

In their hearts, people always and everywhere have somehow expected a change, a transformation of the world. Here now is the central act of transformation that alone can truly renew the world: violence is transformed into love, and death into life.  

Since this act [ie the Eucharistic consecration] transmutes death into love, death as such is already conquered from within, the Resurrection is already present in it. Death is, so to speak, mortally wounded, so that it can no longer have the last word.  

To use an image well known to us today, this is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being - the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death. Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world.

Adam, where are you? ... Where is your brother?

It is somewhat late to comment on Pope Francis' visit to Lampedusa. It is of interest, though, to reflect on the significance of this journey for the Church and the world at large. I have been inclined, precisely because of the significance of this journey as an appeal to the consciences of peoples and of nations, to place it alongside the visit that Pope Paul VI made to the United Nations in 1965. As L'Osservatore Romano expressed it, the intention of Pope Francis' journey was

... to reach out from that centre which must be exemplary in presiding “in charity over all the Churches”, as the Pope recalled, presenting himself to the world, to one of the geographical and existential peripheries of our time.

Just as Pope Francis in his homily issued a resounding appeal to the consciences of the peoples and nations of the world, an appeal all the more forceful for being made in the very place that epitomises the failure of those consciences, so did Pope Paul VI suggest at the end of his address to the UN that the work undertaken by the United Nations is built upon human consciences.

First the words of Pope Francis in his homily on the island of Lampedusa:

This morning, in the light of God’s word which has just been proclaimed, I wish to offer some thoughts meant to challenge people’s consciences and lead them to reflection and a concrete change of heart....  

How many of us, myself included, have lost our bearings; we are no longer attentive to the world in which we live; we don’t care; we don’t protect what God created for everyone, and we end up unable even to care for one another! And when humanity as a whole loses its bearings, it results in tragedies like the one we have witnessed.  

"Where is your brother?" His blood cries out to me, says the Lord. This is not a question directed to others; it is a question directed to me, to you, to each of us. These brothers and sisters of ours were trying to escape difficult situations to find some serenity and peace; they were looking for a better place for themselves and their families, but instead they found death. How often do such people fail to find understanding, fail to find acceptance, fail to find solidarity. And their cry rises up to God! Once again I thank you, the people of Lampedusa, for your solidarity. I recently listened to one of these brothers of ours. Before arriving here, he and the others were at the mercy of traffickers, people who exploit the poverty of others, people who live off the misery of others. How much these people have suffered! Some of them never made it here.  

Today too, the question has to be asked: Who is responsible for the blood of these brothers and sisters of ours? Nobody! That is our answer: It isn’t me; I don’t have anything to do with it; it must be someone else, but certainly not me. Yet God is asking each of us: "Where is the blood of your brother which cries out to me?" Today no one in our world feels responsible; we have lost a sense of responsibility for our brothers and sisters. We have fallen into the hypocrisy of the priest and the levite whom Jesus described in the parable of the Good Samaritan: we see our brother half dead on the side of the road, and perhaps we say to ourselves: "poor soul…!", and then go on our way. It’s not our responsibility, and with that we feel reassured, assuaged. The culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people, makes us live in soap bubbles which, however lovely, are insubstantial; they offer a fleeting and empty illusion which results in indifference to others; indeed, it even leads to the globalization of indifference. In this globalized world, we have fallen into globalized indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business!

Then the words with which Pope Paul VI ended his address to the United Nations:

.... Messieurs, un dernier mot: cet édifice que vous construisez ne repose pas sur des bases purement matérielles et terrestres, car ce serait alors un édifice construit sur le sable; il repose avant tout sur nos consciences. Oui, le moment est venu de la « conversion », de la transformation personnelle, du renouvellement intérieur. Nous devons nous habituer à penser d'une manière nouvelle l'homme; d'une manière nouvelle aussi la vie en commun des hommes, d'une manière nouvelle enfin les chemins de l'histoire et les destins du monde, selon la parole de saint Paul: « revêtir l'homme nouveau créé selon Dieu dans la justice et la sainteté de la vérité » (Eph. 4, 23). Voici arrivée l'heure où s'impose une halte, un moment de recueillement, de réflexion, quasi de prière: repenser à notre commune origine, à notre histoire, à notre destin commun. Jamais comme aujourd'hui, dans une époque marquée par un tel progrès humain, n'a été aussi nécessaire l'appel à la conscience morale de l'homme. Car le péril ne vient, ni du progrès, ni de la science, qui, bien utilisés, pourront au contraire résoudre un grand nombre des graves problèmes qui assaillent l'humanité. Le vrai péril se tient dans l'homme, qui dispose d'instruments toujours plus puissants, aptes aussi bien à la ruine qu'aux plus hautes conquêtes.
[...Gentlemen, a last word: this edifice that you are building does not rest on purely material or earthly foundations, since that would be an edifice built on sand; it rests before all on our consciences.   Yes, the moment has come of "conversion", of personal transformation, of interior renewal. We must become accustomed to thinking  of man in a new way; in a new way, too, of the shared life of men, in a new way in the end of the roads of history and of the fate of the world, according to the word fo St Paul: "put on the new man created according to God in justice and holiness and truth" (Eph. 4:23). Here is the hour which imposes a stop, a moment of recollection, of reflection, almost of prayer: think again of our common origin, of our history, of our common destiny. Never like today, in a time marked by so much human progress, has it also been necessary to appeal to the moral conscience of man. Because the danger does not come from progress or from science, which, used well, are able on the contrary to solve a great number of the serious problems which assail humanity. The true danger is found in man, who has instrument ever more powerful, which can be used both for ruin or for ever higher conquests.]

Here in the UK the question of immigration has a high political profile. But do we ever hear in that debate considerations of our duty to be neighbours to those who arrive here from overseas? Pope Francis' appeal to consciences should surely be recognised for its significance to our own country.

Can we continue to disbelieve in his disbelief?

Today's "Day by Day" meditation in Magnificat is extracted from the collection of writings of Madeleine Delbrel published in English under the title We, the ordinary people of the streets.

It has a striking relevance to the themes of Pope Francis' encyclical, Lumen Fidei - perhaps not least in the phrase I have used as the title of this post. At least, on my rapid scan reading of the encyclical this appears to be the case. The text of the meditation in Magnificat is taken from the second half of an essay entitled "The Good News" (p.171 ff in my copy of We, the ordinary people of the streets) and is a contribution to a series of discussions about parish life and evangelisation at a conference. If you can find the full text of the essay to read, it is worthwhile.

For his brothers and sisters around him, the Christian is a man who loves the things of this world as they really are, according to their true value, but he is also a person who prefers the God in whom he believes to all other things. This preference leads him to make certain choices. People see him choosing the invisible God. These choices pose a new question to the world, a question about whether there may not be something greater than the world...

The believer, even if his faith is weak, is never completely alone, never completely without help. The non-believer is one who knows loneliness in its absolute form, and inhuman loneliness. He is deprived of the relationship that most fundamentally belongs to him ....

Once we realise this profound misfortune that besets the non-believer, will be ever more dare to infer from what he says, from what he does, from what he seeks, that the Good News of the Gospel would be useless to him? Can we continue to disbelieve in his disbelief?  Or wouldn't the living God of the Gospel rather burn in us with an unbearable intensity to the extent that we did not cry his name out loud to those living in quiet desperation? If, in hearing us call upon God, they were to turn themselves around, it would be for them the beginning of the one and only good News.

Fides News Agency: reports on the situation in Syria

I have for some time included a link to the Fides News Agency in a side bar. From time to time, Fides carries reports based on news received from Catholics present "on the ground" in difficult situations, thereby offering an insight into events in the news that might not be noted by mainstream media.

Some recent reports on the situation in Syria are particularly pertinent, given the move on the part of the governments of developed nations to start militarily supporting rebel groups in the country. The following reports are in date order of publiction:

ASIA/SYRIA - New report on the civil war: Christians are among the "most vulnerable"

ASIA/SYRIA - Military offensive on refugee camps in the north

ASIA/SYRIA - The "Caliphate" of Saraqib, where Fr. Murad was killed

ASIA/SYRIA - Rape and atrocities on a young Christian in Qusair

Pope Francis: United in our differences ...

I have found it somewhat amusing (and that is probably not to my credit) to watch the Traditionalist minded in the Catholic blogosphere trying desparately to come to terms with Pope Francis' homily for the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul:

United in our differences: there is no other Catholic way to be united.

So, for example, Fr Ray observes that:

... like much of what he [ie Pope Francis] says there is often a great deal of ambiguity ..

and one of the comments on Fr Ray's post remarks that

... his [ie Pope Francis'] gift does not include precision of expressions of thought....

The Bones, after placing Pope Francis' words alongside those of Pope Benedict XVI speaking on a the same occasion a year ago, asks:

Does anyone detect a shift in emphasis?

I am amused by the sudden change from decrying perceived reluctance on the part of bishops and priests to do what they thought Pope Benedict wanted with regard to the Liturgy to a legitimising of disregard for the pastoral approach of Pope Benedict's successor, Pope Francis. It would appear that the idea of a "hermeneutic of continuity" has only lasted as long as it suited.

Now the "eastward gaze" of Pope Francis' homily becomes quite transparently obvious when it is placed alongside the address given the day before the Solemnity, to the delegation of the Ecumencial Patriarch of Constantinople, visiting Rome to join the celebration of the Solemnity. And the references to difference and to synodality gain their very specific, and not in the least big confusing or ambiguous character, from that "eastward gaze". In so far as it also has a "westward glance", the reference to the work of the Synod of Bishops - established after the Second Vatican Council as a continuing expression and realisation of collegiality rightly understood, and perhaps better characterised by the term "communion" - is equally un-problematic, though I had not previously taken cognisance of its ecumenical import in quite the way suggested here.

To confirm in unity: the Synod of Bishops, in harmony with the primate.

I do actually think that, like Pope Benedict XVI before him, Pope Francis has a quite exquisite and precise choice of phrase. It is different in style to that of Pope Benedict, but in an absolute continuity with it; it has been most apparent in some of the strap lines emerging from his homilies at the morning Mass in Domus Santa Martha. The following is from Pope Francis's homily for Sts Peter and Paul , with my italics added:

In the Church, variety, which is itself a great treasure, is always grounded in the harmony of unity, like a great mosaic in which every small piece joins with others as part of God’s one great plan.

... compared to Pope Benedict XVI's homily a year before (h/t to The Bones), again with my italics added and the suspicion that Pope Benedict was referring to a thought by Hans Urs von Balthasar:

we know that together we are all cooperators of the truth, which as we know is one and “symphonic”, and requires from each of us and from our communities a constant commitment to conversion to the one Lord in the grace of the one Spirit.

As an exercise in use of the communications media, the Traditionalist minded who have sought to undermine Pope Francis' homily in the blogosphere appear to me to have scored an enormous own goal. Apart from feeling that they simply haven't "got it" as far as the homily and Pope Francis in general goes (they need to move out from their own limited territory in order to achieve that), their broadcasting of what they think others will make of it has rather given the views of those others a huge boost.

[In the context of the discussion of Pope Francis' homily, there is a very sensible analysis of how we should understand Pope Francis here: Understanding Pope Francis.]