Examination of Conscience

No doubt my Canadian friend is wondering if I intend to fulfill my promise and write a bit more on the Sacrament of Penance. I do so willingly in hopes to be a source of encouragement even to one person. 

I want to talk about our preparation for Confession and then about how best to confess, while repeating my advice that Confession can be both regular and frequent, should never be relegated to a perfunctory observance of that minimum precept-ed by Mother Church in all wisdom, and certainly, yes, Confession must be for seeking liberation from mortal sin and restoring the life of grace in our souls as quickly as possible after the fact. 

Preparation for Confession is both remote and proximate. By remote, we mean the daily examination of conscience which every Christian can with profit include in his or her bed time prayers (a critical review of the day, if you will). By proximate, we mean that gathering or gleaning from our daily exam for the sake of preparing our actual confession (it wouldn't be wrong to make of it a rehearsal for our part in the actual celebration of the sacrament). Why the examination of conscience? It is too little to say that we must live consciously. It is wrong to say that the unexamined life is not worth living. Even the simplest, the frailest among us is no stranger to love. As I am able, I must love. The love of my life is always on my mind or in my heart; I seek not to detract even in the smallest matters from our relationship by thought, word, action or omission. The First Great Commandment: How else can Christ live in me but that I love Him with heart, soul, mind and strength? The Second Commandment, which is like unto it: Wife? Husband? Parent? Child? Other who is in some way a part of my life? How else can I truly love them one and all like myself? I owe myself and all my significant others, and Christ in first place, my remote examination of conscience each day and my best possible confession within the sacrament itself, by reason of proximate preparation on my part for that celebration.

The Decalogue, the Ten Commandments are our point of departure for that examination. But some would say that they are so "OT", so bound to the Law, to the letter which kills as opposed to the Spirit who/which gives life! Oh, really? I hadn't noticed and I don't agree. Wouldn't it be better to use the Beatitudes (Mt. 5)? poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting for justice, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness sake, all on account of Jesus... salt of the earth and light of the world...? Leave the inspired Word of God according to Matthew in its full context, as does the Church. Continue reading Matthew 5 from verse 17 on through chapters 6 and 7. Maybe you'll understand the wisdom of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Part Three: Life in Christ is indeed big, but it allows the fulness of the Christian life to shine through in a traditional examination of conscience using the Ten Commandments.

I know people who recommend and have followers who try to make a good confession by expressing themselves using the language of the virtues and vices, but in a detached almost abstract fashion. I much prefer the small boy who clearly says that he hit his sister, he lied to his teacher and he stole money from the top of his parents' dresser. Sure, he was angry, fearful and selfish, but even adults find it hard to work on abstract defects like anger, fear and selfishness. My amendment of life takes on clear form when I stop hitting, lying and stealing. He may say that he has problems managing his anger, but it would be better to say that he's guilty of beating up on the wife and children and needs to stop. Shouldn't our confession be as concrete as our sins? - What? How often? Any extenuating circumstances? - Simplicity and clarity, in the most direct form possible, are for our good.

By the same token, there are those who fail to grasp the gravity of the thoughts and desires we entertain. It is not only looks or an angry glance that can "kill". Many Easter Confessions never come to grips with the 9th and 10th Commandments. We must do so, however, as our lust or envy are really what poison the well of true love.

Frequently we have doubts as to whether the objective gravity of an act or omission isn't or couldn't be mitigated, reduced, cancelled by our frailty or lack of freedom. If you are bound and gagged of a Sunday, you certainly don't commit a sin by missing Mass. Other matters should be as obvious to people but somehow are not. For instance, the matter of the 5th and 6th Commandments (killing and illicit sexual union) are grave as such. But, we live in an ignorant world which is so in many cases in a vincible fashion (no excuse), if only people would accept the gravity of abortion and infanticide, if only they would realize that there is no alternative to a stable and chaste marital union which is open to children. I can remember years ago the rector of our college seminary, in a house conference for us men (18-24 years of age), where he cautiously and respectfully, but firmly explained the moral principles involved and offered a prayer that our hard hearts would soon come to accept sexual self-indulgence as grave sin and to confess it rightly. Too many people judge themselves helpless and hopeless.

Finally, be brief and to the point. If Father needs more details in order to forgive you he can ask. It is my hope that there will soon be so many people waiting of a Saturday afternoon at church that Father will need the time to dedicate to others, many others in need of the forgiveness which comes from God through the mediation of His Church.

A HUMBLE CONTRITE HEART, O GOD, YOU WILL NOT SPURN.

The Transfiguration - The Reflection Continues

"Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

St. Peter's awkward interjection into the glorious scene atop Mt. Tabor has been for me the scriptural moment of this year's Feast of the Transfiguration. It has dominated my thoughts today. Strangely enough it does so in the midst of an ongoing reflection on my part concerning what it is that we as Church need most surely in our day in the face of hostility aimed at us as Catholics, we being those who as a body/communion are most clearly identified with the Lord Jesus and His Truth, whether we like it or not.

While it is possible that Peter's words might have been inspired by good old Middle Eastern hospitality, I would rather suspect as do many others that the prince of apostles was trying to hold onto a moment he didn't rightly understand. We probably do the same in the face of hostility and persecution: Oh, Lord, show us Your Face! Dear Lord, pitch Your tent among us! Cast a glance and put fear into the hearts of our foes! The almost universal popularity of charismatic expressions of faith, the admiration enjoyed by mediatic, mega-church preachers, despite behind-the-scenes intrigues or the simple fact that the Crystal Cathedral of Orange County is up for auction to the highest bidder... prophecy, tongues, signs of power, wonders or miracles seem to be the path. They may seem to be the way, just as Peter's tent strategy seemed good or right to him on the Mount of the Transfiguration.

Let me set another anchor for my reflection with a quote from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange,OP:

"Sanctifying grace and charity, which unite us to God in His intimate life, are, in fact, very superior to graces gratis datae and extraordinary, such as prophecy and the gift of tongues, which are only signs of the divine intervention and which by themselves do not unite us closely to God. St. Paul affirms this clearly, and St. Thomas explains it quite well.

Infused contemplation, an act of infused faith illumined by the gifts of understanding and wisdom, proceeds, as we shall see, from sanctifying grace, called "the grace of the virtues and the gifts," received by all in baptism, and not from graces gratis datae and extraordinary. Theologians commonly concede this. We may, therefore, even now seriously presume that infused contemplation and the union with God resulting from it are not intrinsically extraordinary, like prophecy or the gift of tongues. Since they are not essentially extraordinary, are they not in the normal way of sanctity?

A second and even more striking reason springs immediately from what we have just said: namely, sanctifying grace, being by its very nature ordained to eternal life, is also essentially ordained, in a normal manner, to the proximate perfect disposition to receive the light of glory immediately. This proximate disposition is perfect charity with the keen desire for the beatific vision, an ardent desire which is ordinarily found only in the union with God resulting from the infused contemplation of the mysteries of salvation.

This contemplation is, therefore, not intrinsically extraordinary like prophecy, but something eminent which already appears indeed to be in the normal way of sanctity, although relatively rare like lofty perfection."

On Mount Tabor the Lord Jesus let Peter, James and John hear the Father's voice, they could in an image contemplate the fulfillment in His Person of all that the Law sought and the Prophets longed for. The Transfiguration in and of itself was not the fulfillment:

"As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus charged them, 'Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

The Resurrection, the victory over sin and death, is the event. Our share in His intimate life through love and His gift of sanctifying grace is our share in that victory, foretaste and promise of the world to come. We have here no lasting dwelling place; this is not the time to be setting up tents, if you will. We strive onward with our eyes open and focused on the truth which comes to us from God: the truth about life, about man and his relationships, the truth about our dignity and destiny. We push on with a certain urgency from the vision of Tabor to the reality of Golgotha.

To say seek the higher gifts, strive for virtue in your everyday life, might be to say too little, as people often miss the point as did Peter. It is hard to turn from what Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange tags as "extraordinary" in favor of the eminently "normal" which is at once so terribly profound. Even crystal cathedrals can end up on the auction block!


What about the hard times we are presently facing? Apart from petitioning the Lord to go easy on us His servants, we need to dedicate ourselves to serving Him, God, first and foremost. In his novel Callista: A Tale of the Third Century Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman speculates on the role persecution played in the life and vitality of the Church in North Africa. He looks soberly at persecution and puts real content into the expression "The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians". Many were lost in the persecutions, but oh so many were refined in the crucible of suffering and became lights not only for their own generation but for the centuries following. 


What should be our hope? We do not and cannot rejoice, for example, in the damage done to our Catholic healthcare and social service systems worldwide by rabid atheists, militant secularists and bigoted relativists. By the same token, as we study and pray, as we, out of a genuine and pure love, refine our arguments and our strategies for service (in the case of healthcare and social services), we draw our hope from the clarity of our witness, (taking a clue from Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity) continually sacrificing ourselves out of love for our neighbor even without all of the sophistication and efficiency which technology and government subsidies can provide. We seek to serve man as he is in God's eyes. Our hope should be to join Christ Who prophesied that lifted up on the Cross He would draw all to himself. 


What do we do in the face of hostility? Maybe we'll know better if we stop balking at accepting our share in the sufferings of Christ, Who gave His life for our salvation.

SERVIAM

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Cognition and Contemplation

Last evening on EWTN's The Journey Home, Marcus Grodi and his guest reflected together or maybe we could say they struggled together with a distinction between faith and recognition, which Marcus had gleaned from an English spiritual author. The two men applied it to a common experience of converts to the Catholic faith, namely, that they come to faith, they experience a conversion, but having been part of a protestant tradition, they still have a way to go to reach the expansiveness, the fullness of Catholic faith which comes to us from the Apostles. The classic example or illustration of this distinction between faith and recognition comes regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. They also applied the distinction in reverse to "cradle" Catholics saying that the recognition is there as habit and is a good thing, but sometimes the faith is deficient or lacking.

I don't want to challenge either them or that English bishop author (whose name escaped me for its unfamiliarity) concerning their distinction, but I'm wondering whether some of the guest's cautious observations about his actual conversion process and the fact that the priest who prepared him for reception into the Catholic Church seemed to be in no hurry might indicate a more essential way to describe our walk of faith, whether by way of conversion from another Christian expression to the Catholic or by way of growth in the faith of our baptism. The guest on the program hazarded the suspicion that the priest was waiting to see humility in his seeker before proceeding. My guess is that Father was a wise man who was looking for signs of the life of virtue, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the only sure signs we have, presided over first and foremost by genuine humility, the only indicators we have of holiness of life, of zeal for the Lord and His Rule.

As Catholics we know that the goal of a life of penance, penitential practice, asceticism is the cultivation of the virtues. Turning our backs on vice or self-indulgence to seek the Lord and His Rule over us, "spiritual combat" as my friend Lorenzo Scupoli called it, is right, is the only good in terms of living uprightly. We are constantly gifted by God and to the extent (a bow in the direction of St. John of the Cross and our whole tradition!) that the Theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity conquer Satan's pride in our lives, the Lord gifts us again and again with the contemplation of His Face, of the Mysteries, of the great Truths by which only we can live.

Something I read these days in conjunction with the annual celebration of the Baptism of the Rus and the instrumental role of St. Volodomyr in that process, which has marked more than a millennium of people so profoundly that no amount of political machinations and oppression over time have been able to diminish altogether or completely destroy that soul, led me to think again about my own roots of faith and the crisis of faith generally in Western society. Cognition is certainly part of faith; faith and reason belong together. There is a teaching of prayers, a learning of Catechism which must be, but salting that with the "rousing" Sundays of animated parishes of the last 40 years is not enough. The full sacramental life, from childhood on, with the Sacrament of Penance under the vigilance of parents who want their children to be holy/virtuous is a sine qua non. Mom and Dad's faith, hope and charity, their daily prayer and personal sacrifices born out of love are indispensable. The reform of our Catholic Liturgy, the recovery of its sobriety and beauty, securing sacred space and guaranteeing it for Sunday must be.

We've been too distracted and for too long. I hope and pray that no more souls will be lost to our failure, yes to recognize the pearl of great price and sell all to obtain it. Maybe more in line with the tradition and more to the point would be to recognize, unworthy as we are, the responsibility we have for leading others especially children to the Lord by drawing them out, educating them, helping them to choose life and in abundance from God, the source of all good. Beyond faith, what Marcus and his guest termed recognition is contemplation as gifted to the virtuous, who humbly recognize the Lord as the be all and end all of our lives.