My preaching on Paul and Jane

Preaching Notes on St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 (& Austen’s Mansfield Park)

I recently finished rereading Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. This was probably my third or fourth time reading it, and I was struck, once again, by how painful parts of the novel are. We, the readers, are asked to walk with Fanny Price during one of the saddest parts of her life—as she watches the man she loves fall in love with another woman. Not just any woman—the very worst sort of woman. Mary Crawford walks into the story fully trained by the world in the arts of enticing men. She’s pretty, she’s talented, and she’s bold. Edmund, who’s otherwise very sensible and intelligent, falls for her traps. He puts on blinders, and makes excuses for Mary’s worldly opinions and attitudes.
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But then, the crises happens, as they always do in Austen novels. For Austen, the crises serves as the means to show people and situations as they really are. Mary’s responses to the adulterous affaire between her brother and Edmund’s married sister, and her reaction to the grave illness of Edmund’s older brother, show her to be unprincipled, mercenary, and un-Christian. Only then do Edmund’s blinders come off. He sees both Mary more clearly, and, indeed, Fanny more clearly. With this knowledge, he finally begins to love the right woman—the virtuous, long-suffering Fanny Price.
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Unfortunately, this story line sounds all to familiar to me. God loves us deeply, personally, and passionately, as Fanny does Edmund. But instead of returning that love, we run around creation playing games with the things of the world. We’re easily caught by the enticements of our senses and our imaginations—looking for love, where no real love can be found.
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The crises of our story, however, has already happened. And Lent is calling us to fix our minds on it again. I’m talking about the Crucifixion of Jesus for our sins. The meaning of this crises should help our blinders to fall away, to help us stop making excuses for our attachments to things that aren’t good for us. Above all, it should help us to fall in love with God.
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But how do these stories end? In Mansfield Park, Edmund is lucky that Fanny is waiting for him. She didn’t have to be, after all. Jane gave her an alternative. But Fanny’s cardinal virtue is constancy. So long as there was a chance to be with Edmund, Fanny was willing to wait. When Edmund realizes that not only does Fanny return his love, but that she’s loved him all along, even through all his mistakes, he’s over come with emotion. Austen writes: "His happiness in knowing himself to have been so long the beloved of such a heart, must have been great enough to warrant any strength of language in which he could clothe it to her or to himself; it must have been a delightful happiness!"
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Brothers and Sisters, this same delight, this same happiness should be ours—because I’ve just read the whole delightful and astonishing truth to you, namely that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Let us remember that he didn’t have to do it. The human story could have been very different. We could have been left alone, with only the games of the world to comfort us.
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But we weren’t. God has poured his love into our hearts as proof of his divine constancy. Now that we see the very definition of love before us, the person of Jesus Christ, let us renew our commitments to God, finally returning to him the love he so patiently has shown to us.

Paul, OP

Snow Day!

Actually, I did have one class this morning (the life, thought and works of St. Thomas Aquinas), mass, lunch, and the beginning of another class before school was canceled and I got to go home. It's unusual for our school to close, but things were just ugly today. St. Louis has been having some very strange weather lately. Like the other day, I was sitting at my desk, and out of nowhere this storm of tiny snow flakes erupts. It literally looked like the snow was being pushed down and around the building. Within seconds, the ground had a layer of snow. It was quite magical, in my view, and wonderful to watch. Today's storm, however, was quite dangerous. It was first a layer of icy rain, then more icy snow that coated the ground in white.
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But enough of the weather. I have to say that I'm very excited and hopeful about the work of the Come and See. God is moving the hearts of young and not-so-young men to accept the freedom that comes from the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. It is my hope that many will seek that freedom as Dominicans. Two of the attendees are interested in the cooperator brotherhood. It would be wonderful if both were to eventually join the province! One is already applying. The other is just meeting the Dominicans. We'll see what happens. If the one applying is accepted, that will be three years in a row that a new cooperator brother have come into the province. Perhaps the trend is reversing.
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I finished rereading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. This was probably the third or fourth time that I've read it. I went from being unsure about it, to liking it a great deal. I really must stop watching the film adaptations they make of these films, they ruin my memory of the actual story. The adaptation done on this novel a few years ago with Johnny Lee Miller and Frances O'Connor (both whom, coincedentially now star in their own shows), while beautiful in its own way, did not do justice at all to the actual story. Fanny's character was misrepresented, her relationships with her aunt and uncle are not well represented, and the whole love quadrangle with Mary, Edmund, Fanny, and Henry is not properly done. I'm sure the screen writers thought they were either dramatizing what is brushed over by Austen (namely Maria and Henry's fall from grace) or making it more interesting, but in the process they cheat Fanny out of a certain degree of her saintly constancy. Plus, the novel gives us to understand that the only way Fanny would have even considered marrying Henry is if Edmund married Henry's sister Mary first--dashing Fanny's own hopes for a marriage with Edmund--provided, of course, that Henry continued to improve morally/behaviorly, which he might have done. But this, perhaps, is only interesting to me. Still, I do have to admit, while I liked Fanny by the end of the novel, I did find her hard to relate to. In this way, Mansfield Park reads more like a Dickens novel that is full of interesting characters, except the saintly main character who comes across as a goody-goody, or Pharisee. Was that too harsh? I'm worried less about being harsh than being inaccurate. It is true that Fanny Price is judgmental. While her judgement is correct in the strict sense, it's a personality trait that stands out in her that isn't so dominant in the other Austen heroines. --Fanny's pronoucements on others in the novel are really quite fun to read, so I'll forgive her. Plus, I have a judgmental streak in me, as well.
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I could go on about Mansfield Park, but I won't. I could turn to the five proofs for God's existence we talked about in my Thomas Aquinas class this morning. I have to say, I enjoyed this lecture thoroughly. It's unfortunate that more people don't know about these concepts, considering they might lead people to think more rationally about God--the believer and unbeliever alike. I liked what my professor said, when he mentioned that most people think that when dealing with science and God, believers bring in God to explain things that we otherwise don't understand or can't explain. What Aquinas does is just the opposite. Based on what we do know and understand--for example, motion--we have to eventually come to the conclusion that God exists. Of course, I'm not going to try and explain the arguments here. I will, however, recommend interested parties to see Aquinas's Summa Contra Gentiles I, 9-14.
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The last thing I'll mention is a disappointment I had today. At breakfast and dinner the subject of miracles briefly came up. Both times, I had mentioned something about praying for vocations, meaning that I believed praying for them (in this case, saying the Divine Mercy chaplet) would be effective. In both cases, one of my fellow friars said things that seemed to imply that he didn't believe such prayers would do any good. This concerns me, because if religious don't have faith in miracles, who will? Perhaps they would challenge my definition of miracles, etc. In the end, however, I was surprised the idea was dismissed in this way, considering belief in miracles through the intercession of Our Lord and his saints is an ordinary part of Catholic faith. After all, Jesus commands us to pray that the Father would send workers for the harvest, and to believe that we will receive what we pray for. Are we to believe that when we obey these commands, it has no effect? I say no. We should, every day, abandon ourselves to the will of God, believing whole-heartedly that God will grant us what we ask for, if it be his holy will. Wouldn't it be great if every room of the novitiate is filled next year as a result of prayer and God's mercy?
Peace,
Paul~

What a Weekend!

Well, the "Come and See" weekend is officially over. It was one of the busiest weekends that I've had in St. Louis. Altogether, twenty-four young men arrived from all over the country, including California, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, and Indiana. Some were young college guys, some were thirty or older. Some were back again for their second or third "Come and See." There's nothing like a vocation discernment weekend to get me excited. We're all very much aware of the need for more priests and brothers in our province, so we're invested in helping as much as possible with the discernment of our brothers in Christ.
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The weekend was made even busier by the installation of the new president of Aquinas Institute (the Central Province's graduate school). Father Rick Peddicord, whom I consider a saint and a sage, was officially declared president of Aquinas on Saturday. I was afraid that many of our guests would not enjoy these events, but on their evaluations many made it clear that the events were inspiring. For myself, the best part was the installation mass that was celebrated at 7:00pm Saturday night in St. Pius V Church. The Cathedral choir joined us for the occasion and filled the beautiful space with angelic music. Actually, three of our own friars sung the O Spem Miram flawlessly. All these events allowed me to have a weekend away from the library and my desk, which is not a bad thing, and yet I was quite exhausted and had to take a nap Sunday afternoon!
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Speaking of Sunday, I gave the talk on the cooperator brotherhood for the first time. I think that I gave a balanced talk--a mix of theoretical, historical, and personal. Several of our guests thanked me for my talk, and two expressed interest in learning more. I hope that God will guide them in thier discernment. It would be wonderful if, after years of no new cooperator brothers, more and more would enter and revive this important vocation in our holy order. The General Chapter has expressed its desire for this, so it's up to the friars to get the word out and for everyone to pray that the Lord would send the workers.
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The primary item on the agenda today is the planning of my bookreview for Church History on the book Jane Austen and the Clergy. It was an interesting book in many ways, helping me to understand Jane's particular Christianity and the world of the Anglican Church at that time.
That said, I better get to work.
P~

Oh, the Moon!

What a day I have had! It began at 5:30am, just so I could be ready to run downstairs by 6:00 to practice organ. (Thurs. and Fri. of this week was my turn for playing for morning prayer.) Luckily, I've seemed to have been able to calm down a little about playing for the community. I usually stress out--the perfectionist in me--whenever I have to do some liturgical function. This time, I was more confident that things would be alright, even if I messed up. Turns out, I did mess up here or there, but nothing horrible, and the head organist said that it went fine. I'll take his word on that.
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One of the joys of Thursdays is that I get to pack my own lunch, because I'm at school all day and can't make it back to the priory for lunch. Today, I shook things up by packing (besides my usual peanut butter sandwich) some sun-dried tomatoes, two slices of mild cheddar cheese, and a mix of cashews, walnuts, dried-plums, and dried-cranberries (what am I, a squirrel?) It's funny the kinds of things that are simple pleasures.
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As the "Come and See" weekend is coming up tomorrow, I had to practice the talk I'm scheduled to give on the cooperator brotherhood. I think the material I have relates to the very first postings I did here, but maybe is more clear, so it might be a good idea for me to write my talk down and post it. It's interesting how difficult it is to handle the topic in one talk, because I see theoretical, historical, and practical aspects that are talks all their own. I think this means I've just got to buckle down and write a book.
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So the half-moon has been driving me crazy. (I'm a Cancerian, so the moon is my "planet" according to the zodiac.) I know some people don't put a lot of stock in the whole "moon" "mood" connection, but I swear by it. And you can ask anyone who's had to live with me, and they will testify that it's true. I can't predict what effect each major phase will have on me, but when one is having one, I know it. For example, recently, I noticed that I was sluggish, sensitive (to what people would say to me), a little anti-social, etc., and sure enough, I checked the calendar on the worst day (they're usually three day spans) it was the half-moon. I'm feeling a little better, but we'll see what tomorrow brings.
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That's all from my life for now. Please pray that our "Come and See" weekend is successful.
Peace,
Br. Paul~
P.S. Thanks to Jeanie for the moon shot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanien/512688089/

St. Catherine de Ricci, OP

Our sister, St. Catherine de Ricci, was one of those rare Christians who was in such a state of perpetual communion with God that she often was in ecstasy. Like others, this almost got Catherine kicked out of community, because people didn't understand what was going on. We are told that Catherine had a deep concern for the poor souls in purgatory, and as a result, would suffer great pains on their behalf. For twelve years, she suffered the pains of Our Lord's passion, and received the stigmata.

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Because of her union with Christ's sufferings, I think Catherine a great model for Christians walking the way of Lent. No great saint became that way without a great appreciation for the suffering of Jesus on behalf of sinners. This takes an understanding of our own sinfulness. It is only when we realize what Christ has done for us that we can love him as he deserves--with our whole being.

P~

St. Scholastica

Of course, today is the first Sunday of Lent--but I can't resist wishing everyone a Happy St. Scholastica Day. This holy woman was the beloved twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia. Just last night at dinner I was speaking to a fellow friar who once was a Benedictine and he recounted to me a story I know well--the story of how God sided with Scholastic against her brother.
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The story goes that Benedict was either visiting his sister or visitating her convent (a more formal visit designed to check on the progress of the lives of the nuns). Well, it was getting late, and Benedict knew that he ought not to be there much longer, as it isn't proper for a man to stay within the cloister. Scholastica, however, wanted to stay up all night talking. Of course, Benedict had to have his way, and insisted on going. Well...Scholastica said a prayer to God and sure enough, a storm errupted. Benedict was forced to stay the evening with her. The two talked of God well into the morning.
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Benedict was reputed to revere his sister, and call her the holier of the two of them. When she died, it was reported that her spirit ascended to heaven in the form of a dove (one of her symbols in art).
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When I was a senior in high school I had to have my jaw broken and my mouth wired shut. I knew, because the surgery was on Feb. 10th, that everything would be alright. St. Scholastica would watch out for me.
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In other news, life is going right along for me. Of course, there's never seems to be enough time to do everything--which is a lesson to us all to pick and choose in life. I guess the weather had me feeling a little lonely this week, but all in all, I've been doing well. I'm enjoying rereading Mansfield Park by the great Jane Austen. I hope to begin a paper on her representations of Anglican clergy in that novel soon. I have another paper on Aquinas's theory of predestination, a paper on conscience, a paper on nuclear weapons, and a paper on the Song of Songs. Luckily, they aren't all due at the same time.
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Our "Come and See" is this coming weekend. I know it's a lot of work, but it's always fun. This time, I get to do the talk on the history of Dominican Cooperator Brotherhood. I hope it goes well. I'm praying hard that God will send the Order many more cooperator brothers (among other vocations). We shall see.
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You'll notice to the right in the info panel the image of the Divine Mercy. You can email me prayer requests for me to include in my daily recitation of either the Divine Mercy Chaplet or Holy Rosary. Part of the charism of being a religious, certainly, is praying for the needs of others.
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Please pray for vocations.
All for now,
P~

Ash Wednesday

What a beginning to Lent I have had! To be fair and balanced, I will say, that I have been making good efforts at prayer, study, and positive community interaction. Only, recently, I've been indulging in negative thinking. For the past few days, brothers have been getting on my nerves a little more than usual! And I mean that in a normal, affectionate way, except these minor annoyances have gotten me to use the judgmental side of my own perfectionist spirituality. Oh, the claws I have! It's quite disheartening when I step back from my thoughts and say, "wow, what's really going on here?" Of course, being someone who doesn't like to be outwardly confrontational, I store up all this negativity, until I really am too good at backtalk in my head. I know I would never say the things I think of aloud, but the fact that the thoughts, or way of thinking, is there is a concern. This is especially highlighted by Lent, because the Lenten season calls us to ask ourselves what kind of person we want to be--it reminds us, again, to focus on conforming ourselves to the example of our beloved Lord Jesus. And I know that there's a balance between accepting my anger, finding positive outlets for confrontation, and letting go of the anger in the end. What I'm trying to say is, I'm not advocating a repression or denial of the emotions that the brothers and others "inspire" in me, rather, I want to work on where/and if I store these thoughts and allow them to become patterns of thinking. To experience an emotion is one thing, to let the emotion take on a life of its own, is another.
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To get back to today, I was bogged down by these emotions, as I said, and was in danger of sulking in my room all day, when I remembered that my school was hosting a reconciliation lunch period, during which priests would be available to hear confessions. So, I got up and went. Talking to the priest, confessing my concerns, and receiving absolution freed me spiritually to move on and to begin again. I was so cheerful when I later went to class, that my instructor commented on it, and wished me a "Happy Ash Wednesday." The class laughed at this, but really, isn't this what today's reading from the Gospel tells us to do? To throw off the gloomy, superficial burden of penance, and embrace the gift of penance, which leads to joy? As a religious, I know that I am called not just to do penance, but to lead a penitential life. The first step is not the examination of conscience and listing of sins--it's an examination of Christ, and in his light, seeing who we truly could be.
Peace and Happy Ash Wednesday!
P~
And may God bless those who died in the tornadoes last night eternal rest, and their families consolation.

"Come and See" Weekend Feb. 15th-17th

Come and See: Dominican Vocation Discernment Weekend.

To follow up on my last posting, I wanted to make sure that I mentioned the "Come and See" weekend that is coming up this month. From Friday Feb. 15th through Sunday Feb. 17th, St. Dominic's Priory in St. Louis will host 25-30 men who are discerning a Dominican vocation. This is a great opportunity for men to meet the Dominicans of the Central Province of St. Albert the Great, learn about the Dominican charism and our history, and to discern seriously if they are called to follow in the foot steps of the 13th Century apostle, St. Dominic de Guzman.

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I was reminded of the weekend tonight, when I received a phone call from a fellow cooperator brother who asked me if I would be willing to give the talk on the cooperator brotherhood this year. While disappointed that our guests won't get to hear this brother's wonderful talk, I am excited about sharing my vocation story.

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If you, or someone you know, think you are being called to be a priest or brother, please email me for more information.

cooperatobrother@gmail.com.

***Please pray for vocations.

Your brother,

paulie~

Happy February (and Feast of St. Brigid of Ireland)

I had an interesting conversation with two female peers of mine at school yesterday that I would like to share.

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It all began around 3:30. The snow was falling lightly outside, and inside, the topic of vocations was brought up. I surprised my two classmates by explaining that I didn't believe that there is some mysterious, it's-your-destiny quality to vocations. Rather, that I believe people can freely choose to be a religious or to be married. I soon discovered that I was in the minority on this. Both young ladies recounted stories about how they had discerned a religious calling for many years until something happened unexpectedly to make them think that God had changed his plans. For example, one said that she was basically ready for the convent when she met the guy to whom she's now engaged. She was confused, because this made it seem like God was suddenly giving her a different vocation. The other classmate said that she prayed and prayed and believed that she had received a sign (a rosary ring she always wore broke.)

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From my view point, neither of these events points to God changing his mind. In the first classmate's case, for example, I would say that just because a person feels called to the religious life does not mean that he or she won't be attracted to people, or even fall in love. She claims that meeting the guy was a change in calling from God. Who's to say, instead, (in the it's-your-destiny model) that the guy was a test of her fidelity and that she completely failed her vocation by abandoning her call to be a sister in favor of a relationship? And that she's rationalizing now, by blaming God for her weakness and inconstancy. I'm not saying that I believe this to be true, because, as I said earlier, I don't hold the it's-your-destiny model. This classmate, I would argue, could freely have chosen to deny herself this relationship she is in currently, in favor of a religious vocation, but she chose not to. Was she wrong? Maybe, but not necessarily. As for the other classmate's story, I do not hold that something like a ring falling apart is a sign from God that she isn't called to religious life. The ring falling apart could be explained in other ways. She, in my view, is using this event to externalize the reality that she doesn't want to be a religious.

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I don't have a problem with either of my classmate's decisions. What I did, and do, have a problem with is their explainations. Both, in basic language, said that God seemed to change his mind. I think it's all too easy to blame God for our own decisions. Vocation is not some easy decision that suddenly looks clear one day. I, for example, am not certain that I will be a religious for the rest of my life. I have not been given that certainty or clarity. Vocation, whether to the married life, the single life, the religious life, or to the priesthood, requires trust. Trust, in the face of temptations, doubts, confusions, and dryness. We rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance, grace, and help, but in the end, vocations is still our choice and our work. We respond to God's call, yes, but this call is universal to believers. How we live the call is, I believe, greatly dependent on us.

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I think another important note on vocation was made by one of my Dominican brothers. He said that you don't discern a vocation to the married life without being in a relationship. In the same way, you don't discern a vocation to the religious life without going and living in community. Certainly, preliminary ideas and thoughts preceed dating, on the one hand, and novitiate, on the other. But in the end, to really know, you have to do, that is, you have to be in a relationship, or live in community. Otherwise, you'll live in the world of theory, which only you define and control--not God and not other people. That said, people will come and go in religious formation, and we who are left, have to be understanding and supportive. This also means that chaste dating is very important, so that people really know the other person before they commit themselves in marriage vows.

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So my advice to people who "think" they have a vocation to the religious life and/or priesthood is to try living the life. This may mean taking your faith in hand and giving yourself over to the Holy Spirit and a new community. It may mean leaving family, home, and work. And it may mean taking a risk that, in the end, won't work itself out the way you think. I think this is the reality of vocation.

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In the end, we look back at the 'old' or the 'golden' days and hear the stories about novitiate classes of 50, 100, etc. people, and we think, what has changed? It isn't, I believe, that God isn't calling people to religious life anymore. It's that people are chosing not to be religious. Our society doesn't value sacrifice, anymore, or suffering, or penance. People aren't looking toward heaven and their ultimate goal, but are focused on what pleases now. And understand, I'm not referring to people who are getting married, I'm talking about the people in our society who aren't chosing any of the traditional Christian vocations. From what I can tell, people are more worried about being distracted from life's hard questions than they are about getting the answer to those questions. For myself, I do believe that asking those questions is part of why we exist, and that there are real answers, and that Christianity has them. That's why I converted to the Catholic faith when I was eighteen, and why I left family, home, and work to become a Dominican cooperator brother.

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Jesus had it right. His name be praised forever.

Paulie~