Monasticism, Homeschooling and the One Thing Necessary

                 

This is my latest article.  It appears in Seton Magazine.  Please share it with anyone you think would be interested.  God bless you!  Sr. Anne



Monasticism, Homeschooling and the One Thing Necessary

It can be challenging to look at the world today and to remember the words of Scripture: "…where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more." (Rms 5:20). We know the Gospel's relevance is timeless. But the way in which it penetrates a specific period in time requires a creativity found in the Holy Spirit, Who searches the hearts of men and applies the deep things of God within concrete historical situations.

Pope Benedict XVI, meeting with representatives from the world of culture at the Collège des Bernardins, Paris, in 2008, addressed the threats to modern culture by drawing attention to the roots of Western Civilization. He did this by speaking of monasticism and its development. "Amid the confusion of the times, in which nothing seemed permanent, they (the monks) wanted to do the essential – to make an effort to find what was perennially valid and lasting, life itself. They were searching for God. They wanted to go from the inessential to the essential, to the only truly important and reliable thing there is...Quaerere Deum, to seek God.”

Whether on the mainland (Europe) or in Celtic lands, the establishment of monastic communities was ordered to a life that was conducive to the finding of God and to living out a covenantal relationship with Him. The daily communal life of the prayer and work of Christ became a seal against the chaos and barbarism of the times, a stamp of the deeper Gospel message that brought order, meaning, and ultimately, great cultural development.

It should not surprise us that the biblical principles by which the monks lived and their deep study and contemplation of the mysteries of God, started to leaven the secular order, so that time, learning, art, music, animal husbandry, farming, care of the poor, all began to be marked by the laws and light which God Himself had put into creation. An order and a fruitfulness developed that actually had heavenly origins. The bells announcing the call to prayer, which punctuated each day, and the liturgical seasons with their abundance of solemnities, feasts, and even the rich Gospel lessons of ordinary time, made the meaning of life, one's responsibilities, one's destiny, readily understood. And though there were variations of monastic tradition and development between the mainland and the Celtic lands, the essentials were the same: "the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus"...(Phil 3:8), in light of which all else is rubbish.

It is interesting to recognize that monasticism did not begin as an attempt to create a new culture or civilization. The holy men and women of those times were interested in the one thing necessary. The impact upon the surrounding culture, even when efforts to evangelize became more direct, was quite in accord with the words of Christ: "Seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides." (Mt 6:33)

The Catholic homeschooling movement in our present age has, at its heart, this same seeking of the monks. It is a response to a loss of vision. Caryll Houselander, in her book, Guilt, noted that "The great repression of our age is the repression of Christ in man." (p85) Nowhere is this more evident than in secular education. We live in a time that has known Christ and now rejects Him. Given this, we cannot wonder that man no longer understands himself: apart from Christ it is not possible. "For in Christ were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations, or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him, all things hold together.” (Col 1:16-17). He is the pattern, the form of our own identity and destiny. His life must be allowed to grow in us. Apart from Him, everything begins to disintegrate, both interiorly and exteriorly, individually and communally. Our own time witnesses to this with alarming clarity.

In Catholic homeschooling, genuine education seeks to assist the child in developing into the fullness of all that God has created him or her to be. This kind of education involves heart, mind and soul and fulfills its purpose by forming children to Christ, preparing them ultimately to see God face to face. In coming to the full measure of the mature Christ, they become natural evangelizers in all the realms of human activity in which they may engage: intellectual, physical, scientific, academic, artistic, apostolic, spiritual, etc. The Christ-life within is the essential thing in the midst of the contemporary bombardment of the inessential and our own growing barbarism. And it is a gift that one begins to yearn to give for the happiness of others.

The path of a movement such as Catholic homeschooling is provided by God, just as it was for monasticism, in His Word and in the rich teachings and traditions of the Church. A beautiful image for today is of little domestic monasteries where children are formed to true humanity. With authentic education, they begin to become (not in a forced way, but in a supernaturally natural development), little Christs touching the world in the activities of their childhood and adolescence. Finally, in adulthood, they become even greater leaven as they take their places in the world.

Pope St. John Paul II often pointed out that the Church and the world are at a crossroads. He exhorted us to commit to a New Evangelization in order to usher in a new springtime of Christianity. He also warned us that if we do not follow the movements of the Holy Spirit, we will see a new age of barbarism. Among the great signs of hope, we can claim Catholic homeschooling as one of the harbingers of the formation of the new man and a new springtime, knowing that, "a Christian has only to be, in order to change the world." -C. Dawson, Christianity and the New Age.

July 24, 2015. Hythe, England
Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT


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Mary, Motherhood and the Family of God

Mary's motherhood, like motherhood in general, was lived out quietly behind the scenes. St. Pope John Paul II pointed out that "History is written almost exclusively as the narrative of men's achievements, when in fact its better part is most often molded by women's determined and persevering action for good." (Papal Message On Women's Conference to Mrs. Gertrude Mongella. May, 1995)

Mary achieved more than any other human being. This was done in the most intimate way in the context of Her Divine Motherhood, a role which God asked her to live, and which She joyfully assented to! She continues to bring souls to life in grace and to love saints into being, so essential and eternal is Her motherhood to who She is.

But just as God took His own flesh from the body of Mary, so every child comes into this world through the body of a woman. Every conception is a kind of annunciation, God asking permission of the woman to bring a new life into the world because His creative love has delighted in the thought of that particular and unique little one. He "entrusts the human person to her in a special way" (JPII) and asks every woman's immediate care and participation in the formation of the life He gives. Just as He sent His own Son to be His ultimate gift to a world dying from sin, so He sends every child to be a gift to a world in desperate need of His goodness.

Some are meant to show the face of Christ's mercy, others His compassion. Some will be teachers in His likeness, others will bring his miracles into people's lives. Others will spend and consume themselves to heal and unite us all into one Family of Our Father.

Every mother wants greatness for her child. That greatness will be measured by the part they play in the greatest drama ever, the drama of redemption, the battle for souls, the battle for the brothers and sisters of our own particular age. The call on every life is to participate in redeeming its own age. Every gift of Christ made incarnate in the lives of those born into this world is meant to serve this.

It should be no surprise then that the attack on family is so strong today. We have an enemy who fights ferociously to keep us from living the image and likeness of God, especially as mothers and fathers. He hates the reflection of the Incarnation in every newborn child. And he despises the communion of Trinitarian love that each family is called to live.

Mothers have a particular answer to this which is seen most clearly in the life of our Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross. In Christ, all the joys and sufferings, sorrows and glories of motherhood are taken up into His own Mystery and become redemptive. Archbishop Fulton Sheen puts it this way:

“The pains which a woman bears in labor help to expiate the sins of mankind, and draw their meaning from the Agony of Christ on the Cross. Mothers are, therefore, not only co-creators with God; they are co-redeemers with Christ in the flesh.” (Three to Get Married)

There is likewise a Eucharistic reflection which St. John Chrysostom notes: "As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life."

If we are to imitate Christ and become one with him in all things, Motherhood is truly a privileged place where, with Christ, a woman can fully say: "This is my body which is given up for you." The tragedy today is that so many women are saying instead: "This is my body and I will not give it up for you." They have not seen nor understood the greatness of their calling.

The work of pointing the way and leading people to the kingdom that is not of this world, is not an easy work. It requires death to self. But God takes even the most insignificant daily realities and makes them fruitful in this work. Mary did for Jesus everyday what all mothers do for their children, dressing them, washing them, feeding them, teaching them. It is hidden work but has immeasurable value.

Mothers know this better than others. They not only live out the Paschal Mystery in their own flesh and spirit, but they also live it out for and with their children. Their boundless love bleeds redeeming grace into the lives of their sons and daughters. Mary is the most profound example of this. But it is clearly seen in the lives of women like St. Monica, St. Gianna Molla, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and countless mothers whose lives will never be known to anyone outside of their immediate circles, until they get to heaven that is, where they will be honored and esteemed for their deep and faithful participation in the creation of God's own Family.

Human motherhood, along with human fatherhood, comes directly from the hand of God. Both are, in fact, a reflection of and participation in God's own Fatherhood which is Divine. When God created man He considered what would be the human expression of the life He Himself lives. His answer was Family, and family constituted as mother, father and children.

In the simplicity of God, our life on earth is meant to be about what our life in heaven will be like. The real stars in heaven will be mothers, for without their "yes" to our existence, none of us would have a chance of going there. But the supreme star will be our Queen, our Mother Mary whose "yes" to God's love gave us our Savior and Redeemer, the chance to once again call God our Father, and the gift that every heart longs for: to live in the perfect family forever.

Who Needs Healing?

Who Needs Healing?

Imagine a post-apocalyptic world which has been decimated by the unleashing of tremendous forces of destruction. Imagine this world inhabited by wounded and traumatized survivors who face innumerable challenges, including the need to protect themselves from evil, mutated creatures actively seeking their annihilation. Visualize the landscape and atmosphere, heavy with unknowns and potential dangers.

The fall of man in the Garden at the beginning of time can be likened somewhat to this. What existed in unimaginable beauty, harmony and perfection was blown apart and scattered with such force that we are still, many thousands of years later, reeling from the effects. We live in a wasteland by comparison to what was originally given to us. The fall was something like a nuclear reaction which began as an internal chain of events. It resulted in a massive, life-shattering explosion. The damage did not stop after the initial blast but continued in the form of long-lasting fallout that weakens our inner being, our will and understanding, and affects all of creation. This was the first sin.

We are all born into this fallen world. We compound the difficulties already present, with our own personal sins, further fragmenting our lives. Because of this, everyone and everything needs healing. From the Pope down to the tiniest baby, from the mega galaxies to the most hidden crevices of creation, there is need for healing. All creation labors under the weight of a brokenness that was not a part of our origins in God. In the beginning, there was no need for healing.

Colossians 1: 16-17, reflecting the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel, explains creation as it was made by God:
“For in Christ were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations, or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him, all things hold together.”

In Christ, all things hold together. Apart from Christ, all things fall apart. Adam and Eve quickly and tragically discovered this when they decided to do their own thing rather than follow an order which God had established for them to live in. The brokenness found in our world today is nothing more than being separated from the One Who holds all things together in Himself.

There is nothing God wants more than our healing. In fact, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said: “Healing is an essential dimension of the apostolic mission and of Christianity. When understood at a sufficiently deep level, this expresses the entire content of redemption.” -Jesus of Nazareth, pg 176

Jesus is the only One Who knows how to put the pieces of our lives back together as they are meant to be. And where He cannot use the broken pieces, He gives us new ones: new hearts, new minds, new lights, new visions, new courage, new hope, new strength, new or renewed relationships, and so much more. Our unhappiness always comes from not being able to live as we were created to live, in a communion of life and love with God, others, ourselves and all of creation.

What can be done? The answer is relatively simple. Draw near to Christ. More importantly, let Him draw near to you. He is like a magnet that begins to pull all the fragmented pieces of your life back together into a beautiful recreation and restoration of God’s first intentions for you.

Approach Christ in the sacraments, in the Mass, in His Word, in prayer, in adoration, in the love you share with others. Let Him encounter you. Take time out for retreats. Allow Him to pour His healing grace into your life. Trust Him. Don’t worry about distractions. Jesus will work. He needs only the smallest invitation. He will come with delight to attend you and shower your life with blessing. Let Him come in! You will not be sorry! In the end, even creation will rejoice with you.

Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT

A Passing Look At Football

This is a hard article to write because I love football. I come from a family of nine: Mom, Dad, 6 brothers and myself. From late August through January, the Sunday family ritual always included football. Packers football. No question. We all went to Mass together, and when we came home, Dad gave Mom a break by feeding all of us ham and rolls from the local bakery.

Then, we settled in front of the TV for time together, united in one and the same desire for a good game and a win for our team. It was something we were all a part of. As a girl, I was not excluded. A fan is a fan after all! We loved being able to throw ourselves into the game with Dad. And he enjoyed teaching us all he knew. As a result, I can talk football with the best of them. Every game links me back to the feels, smells, tastes and high excitement of Sunday afternoons growing up.

So what is the problem? It is difficult to admit but my observation is that football today (which I still watch and enjoy) has become a kind of liturgy of the secular culture. And unfortunately, it is the only "liturgy" many people participate in on a weekend.

Humor me for a minute and consider the typical game. There is a communal gathering, most often on a Sunday. People arrive hours ahead of time, prepared to celebrate. They are willing to sit in open air stadiums, through rain, sleet, snow and even subzero temps, hoping to participate in their teams' victory. The Game begins with an entrance procession in which the specially vested (uniformed) enter the sanctuary (I mean arena). An opening hymn (National Anthem) is sung. The seating of the congregation (fans/crowd) takes place, and the beginning of long commentaries (or mini homilies) on the game play starts. The crowd has the "appropriate" responses, before, during and after. And, of course, there is special football food and drink. The homage paid is evidenced by the offering of incredible amounts of time, money and attention on both sides of the ball, by the Management, and by the fans. All elements of Liturgy, but without the Divine. Interesting.

I find myself wondering about these players today. There are many I admire, who acknowledge God for their gifts and express gratitude for His help. (I do wonder if they're given time on Game Day for worship.) But there are also many I've had to mentally "unfriend" after learning about the lack of integrity in their personal lives. This is not because I am any better than anyone out there. I have my sins too. But at the same time being gifted doesn't give anyone the right to behave like a jerk, especially as a public figure who has a part in shaping the attitudes of youth. No free passes here.

Disinhibition is a growing contemporary phenomenon that is alive and well in the world of sports. Fame nowadays seems to give stars license to do and say almost anything they feel like, with little repercussion. It can bring out the worst, just as it does on the internet, where there seems to be hardly a filter left. (Witness the commentary after any article or post. It is 90 % negative, filled with incivility and vitriol. It is embarrassing to see the level that people regress to when there is no moderating influence on them.)

Personally, I prefer to see character, not beast mode, on display. It is mortifying to see grown men behave with vulgarity and crudeness, braggadocio and temper tantrums, gifted or not. Ego can be an ugly thing to watch. And were it not for penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, who knows how far it would go?

When I discover I have been duped by a public persona I am always disappointed and it causes me to back up. Public image does not make the man. And being gifted can create a lot of illusions we eagerly buy into. In our minds we can form one-sided, sentimental relationships with our favorite players (Hollywood star, musician, etc.), all based in fantasy. We idolize people who don't actually exist because we've made them up in our minds. In a similar way, women complain about being loved just for their bodies and not known for who they really are. So it is good to "unfriend" these kinds of ghosts.

Mind you, football, like most everything, has always had it's bad guys. And nobody who knows the game wants it regulated into a tea party. But really, when increasing violence becomes the objective, and winning at all costs is the only motivation, (witness Spygate, Bountygate, Deflategate, etc.) then something is wrong. The game is on the dangerous road to the Roman coliseum. No joke.

I find myself wondering about us too. It is a strange enmeshment. Our own identities become wrapped up with our teams. We're no longer merely fans. When we say we're going to the Super Bowl we mean it personally. And we sometimes take it personally when our teams don't do well, as if they have directly failed us and altered our lives forever. It must be a great weight for particular players to realize that thousands, perhaps even millions, are vicariously living out their own desires for success and excellence through them.

Fantasy of course, in the world of the football money changers is now big business too. And money does drive the game. But it's worth remembering that the coin of Caesar is not the currency of heaven. And Hollywood stars, sports heroes and any famous person, will not find entrance there based on their popularity, or performance in their field. They may be known the world-over, yet still hear The Lord say: "Depart from Me. I never knew you." One of my favorite quarterbacks recently said he doesn't think God "cares a whole lot about the outcome (of a game). He cares about the people involved." -A Rodgers, SI wire. I agree. As Jesus said: "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world yet lose his soul." Mark 8:36. The measure of success in this world is hardly the measure of success in the next.

So, is there room for football on a Sunday? I hope so. With a few cautions. Like anything we enjoy, there is a temptation to go overboard and to give inordinate amounts of attention to what we love until before we know it we're in a kind of bondage to it.

It's good to remember that worship and recreation/ entertainment, are different things. And it's good to remember, as Archbishop Fulton Sheen pointed out that “If you do not worship God, you worship something, and nine times out of ten it will be yourself." (Sports can definitely become a vehicle for the vicarious worship of oneself, even as a spectator.) Archbishop Sheen reminded us, " we have a duty to worship God, not because He will be imperfect and unhappy if we do not, but because we will be imperfect and unhappy.” He also wisely noted that "All these externalizations are signs that we are trying to escape God and the cultivation of the soul". So, first things first.

In the meantime it is helpful to understand that our attraction to physical and moral excellence touches on our yearning for the transcendent, which will only be completely realized in Christ. He is the fullness of all excellence! That is why excellence is exciting to see in any area. Sports is no exception. Pope John Paul II expresses this beautifully:

"...every sport, at both the amateur and competitive level, requires basic human qualities such as rigorous preparation, continual training, awareness of one’s personal limits, fair competition, acceptance of precise rules, respect for one’s opponent and a sense of solidarity and unselfishness. Without these qualities, sport would be reduced to mere effort and to a questionable, soulless demonstration of physical strength.

“When sports are played and understood in the right way, they are an extraordinary expression of a person’s best inner energies and of his ability to overcome difficulties, to set goals to be reached through sacrifice, generosity and determination in facing the difficulties of competition.”

All lessons to be learned and disciplines to be cultivated in facing the ever present challenges and battles that need to be won in our own lives!

Destiny and the Blessing of Fathers

Deprivation can be an awful thing. There are many serious poverties in the world today.  But there is one poverty that is perhaps too easily overlooked and yet has some of the most far-reaching effects upon destiny that one can imagine.  This is the poverty that comes from the lack of blessing, and specifically the lack of a father's blessing.

Scripture shows us this from the very beginning of creation.  There is a fundamental principle which hasn't changed, a principle that is even more necessary in a fallen world: The principle:  If something is to flourish, the good must be correctly recognized and properly blessed.  Pure and simple!  God’s joyful affirmation of the work of His own hands ignites creation’s growth and development and multiplies it's  fruitfulness. Our Heavenly Father blesses our world from its inception.

The fruit of every womb too awaits blessing, a blessing that God has willed should come in a special way from fathers. Without this blessing, even mothers can find it harder to receive their children as gifts from God.   Without the blessing of fathers, millions of children never see the light of day, or, if they do, they grow up with a gnawing hunger for acceptance, for an affirmation of their very existence.

In short, without the blessing of fathers, wherein the goodness of each child is personally acknowledged and celebrated, we end up with a society of orphans.  And orphans become slaves because they have no one to protect them from the exploitation of the world at large, no one to help them navigate the world's dangers, no one to protect their dignity and keep them safe in truth and right order, no one to form them in authentic work and a vision of the eternal.

Consider the consequences:

"85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes.  The absence of a biological father increases by 900 percent a daughter’s vulnerability to rape and sexual abuse, and for boys has been linked to sexual maladjustment and greater aggressiveness or exaggerated masculine behavior.

"63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.  80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes.  85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes.  And 70% of youths in State institutions come from homes without fathers."*

Fathers, along with mothers, have the special task of blessing and preparing their children in order that they bring forth gifts essential for our age.  The world is in desperate need of these gifts.  But instead of an abundance of meaningful talent, we see among many children and young people, a massive psychological and emotional failure to thrive and an overwhelming neediness which is actually the fruit of parental selfishness and the modern love of criticism, negativity, and tragically at times, outright rejection. These are all forms of non-blessing.

Today, there are mountains of books written on discipline and parenting.  None of these are nearly as important as understanding the power of blessing, presence and involvement in the life of a child.  It is a fundamental lesson of Genesis, where God, does not create without blessing, and where things do not increase and become fruitful without blessing.

Why does Jesus tell us to bless even our persecutors?  Because blessing has the power to overcome all that disfigures the image and likeness of God.  Blessing has the power to integrate.  Blessing has a power that moves something to its fruition in God.  It has the power to multiply goodness.  It has the power to make holy, to sanctify.  Blessing is life-giving.  It illuminates the core goodness of all God has created.

On the other hand, the fruit of non-blessing causes people to labor under unnecessary weights and burdens that can drag them to despair and eventual destruction.  This is not just a psychological principle: It's a deep spiritual one!

Imagine a marriage where husband and wife pray blessings over each other as they begin and end each day.  Imagine a family where parents regularly bless their children and where siblings do the same.  Would there be nearly as much divorce, division, self-centered squabbling? Imagine the protection from evil that would come over such a family if they called down God's blessing upon all their doings!

Would there be millions upon millions of our brothers and sisters lost to abortion if the blessing of their fathers were upon them?  Would there be close to 25 million children in this country alone who do not live with their biological fathers if they were received as a blessing and further blessed in thanksgiving?  While it is true there are women who disregard the rights of fathers when it comes to abortion, causing terrible anguish for them, are there not even more "fathers" who can't be inconvenienced and insist on having "things taken care of?"

If people want healing in their families, and by extension, in society, they must learn what real blessing is and start blessing.  Cursing and blaspheming, berating and negative nit-picking, so prevalent today as to often go unnoticed, will bring a house, a family, to ruin in no time.  Blessing will stabilize and set the foundations for restoration.  Blessing will strengthen and multiply the goodness already present.

There is no greater need today than that the hearts of fathers be turned to their children.  A child may occasionally abuse his parents’ blessing as the prodigal son did; yet it was that father’s very blessing which drew him back home and restored him.

Both men and women, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers are called to bless.  Real mothers and fathers bless and prepare their children and then give them as gifts to the world, just as God bestowed His own Beloved Son.  There is hope.  Malachi prophesied almost 25 centuries ago (3: 23-24):

"Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet,
Before the day of the Lord comes,
The great and terrible day,
To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the land with doom."

Scripture provides the warning, but also the remedy once we have lost the gift.  "...A father's blessing strengthens the houses of the children..." (Sirach 3:9), and "creation looks forward to the revelation of the sons of God" (Romans 8:19). All society awaits the peace and order and benefit that will come when fathers truly learn the transforming power of God's love which is theirs to communicate to their children.

*(see http://firstthings.org/father-facts)

Christmas and the Fulfillment of Human History

God does not usually surprise us without first preparing us, sometimes for a long period of time, for what He is about to do. And yet, we are often surprised because we do not recognize His preparations.

All of history, up to the first Christmas, was a preparation for that Holy Night. That Christmas, and every celebration of Christmas since, was a great revelation of a simple but astounding truth: God's plan, His desire, His dream, is to dwell with us, to make His home among us, so that He might be our God and we might be His people.

The whole of Scripture can be read in the light of this desire of God to live with us, to share with us a life of intimacy, familiarity and communion. We find it from the beginning, when God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden in the cool of the evening. We find it in Exodus, where God’s presence with His people was manifested in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night which the people followed. We find it in the meeting tent, when Moses came out with radiant face after speaking with God.

This desire of God to be near His people is seen in the ark of the Covenant, the building of the tabernacle and the temple and in the liturgy of the Jewish people. We find it in the covenants themselves. And then, in an absolutely extraordinary way which few people recognized at the time, the whole of the Old Testament culminates in God coming to us in Person, taking on our flesh and coming to live with us as one of us, in Christ Jesus. "In the midst of our fallen world, in the midst of incredible darkness, in the midst of a world dying from sin…He comes to make a home for Himself. He comes to set up camp among us and establish a place where people can come to be healed, to be saved, and transformed.” (Fr. Michael Keating, CMSWR address 2011)

This is really quite extraordinary. Very few people were expecting this. And most of the world missed it. Only a few holy souls, Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, a few simple souls (the shepherds), and those seeking wisdom (the wise men), witnessed this marvelous mystery of God coming into the world in Person to dwell with His people.

In Jesus, this Divine desire for intimacy with us becomes incarnate. He dwells within the womb of Mary for 9 months and then comes into the world as a tiny infant to dwell with us in utter poverty and need. He lives and grows up among us in the ordinary surroundings of daily life. He learns the ways of a trade with His foster father, dwelling in deep communion in a family, the Holy Family with Mary and Joseph.

When He begins His public ministry, He invites and calls the apostles and disciples to live with Him. They do everything with Him, accompanying Him in His work, asking Him questions, being fashioned and formed by His gaze, His teachings, and the words and works and wonders that come forth from Him.

And then, as He’s about to enter into His Paschal Mystery, He devises a way to still stay with them. He gives them the Holy Eucharist and ordains them so they will forever be able to bring Him down into the midst of our valley of tears -- so mankind will never be without God. As He is ascending into Heaven He reminds the apostles that He is not really leaving. He says: “Go forth and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit… and lo, I am with you till the close of the ages.” (Mt28:20)

This is astonishing, this reality that God simply does not seem able to keep away from us, does not want to keep away from us. He longs to be with us! He delights to be among the sons of men!

Fr. Hans Urs von Baltazar describes it this way: “For you must understand: He desires nearness; He would like to live in you and commingle His breath with your breathing. He would like to be with you until the end of the world. He knocks at all souls. He makes Himself small and inconspicuous so as to be able to partake of all their little transactions and concerns. He approaches quietly so as not to disturb or be recognized; He comes to be present incognito in the full hubbub of the earth’s annual fair. He seeks trust, intimacy; he is a beggar for your love.” ("Heart of the World")

When we understand God’s desire to live with us, to be one with us, our vision of life is changed. The world is full of His invitations, His attractions, His drawings to intimacy with Himself. We begin to find ourselves stealing away to be alone with Him. We begin to experience in the silence of our own spirits an ever deepening desire to be with the Lord, and to live in His House all the days of their lives.

The first Christmas contains within it the promise found both in the beginning of man's history in the Garden, and at the end of man's history in Revelations 21:1-4:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. The sea was no more, and I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

In the midst of all our preparations, may this Christmas find us seeking the tiny Babe, that we may take Him into the humble dwelling of our own hearts where He longs to be. To the glory of God, which the angels sang on that first Holy Night, may it be said of us:



"Behold, the dwelling of God is with men."


Advent, 2014

The Healing Power of Silence

We live in a wilderness, a wilderness of noise.  Noise is not just about sound.  It has to do with the constant barrage of stimulation to our senses, emotions and even our intellect, (read information overload.)  The problem with all this noise, pure and simple, is that it is an obstacle to our own inner order and peace, and more importantly, to a living communion with God and with others.

For some reason, many of us either seem afraid of silence, or, more likely, we have lost familiarity with the wonders of silence.  Yet it is essential to our physical and spiritual well-being.

Authentic silence is not emptiness.  Things come to us in the silence.  We hear new languages. We are visited by penetrating peace, insight, God Himself, His wisdom, light, His perception and understanding.  In authentic silence we hear new sounds and enter new worlds.  In silence we come to know our own hearts.

It is interesting to note how often people observe that the sounds God has put in creation:  wind rustling in the trees, birds chirping, the lapping of waves at the ocean, are a balm to the soul.  This stands in stark contrast to the agitation and disturbance created by the sounds of the modern world driven by mechanical energy and a volume, a pitch that does violence to one’s nerves, stressing them beyond what they are meant to endure.  Silence is almost completely exiled from our modern culture. Yet it is exceedingly important for us.

Silence in fact is so important to us that it may be one of the main reasons God has structured us to sleep a third of our days.   We know that when we can’t sleep, when our bodies and  minds are deprived of  the stillness good sleep brings, we become sick.  Anyone who struggles with insomnia knows the anxiety and frustration lack of sleep brings.  “If I could just sleep, I would feel better,” is the all too common cry.  For those saints who were able to pray the night away and not be ill-affected, it was because they entered a deep contemplative silence that so rejuvenated soul and spirit, the body was refreshed and strengthened by it…

In the Liturgy, given to us by God through Moses on Mt Sinai, and Jesus at the Last Supper, there are spaces for silence.  That tells us that silence is part of a Divine Rhythm, part of the rhythm of life in Heaven…it tells us silence is a good thing, a medium for God’s communication of Himself to us.  The lives of Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph, in particular, bear striking witness to the inseparability of silence from great holiness.

In those who are progressing in prayer, in the inner experience of the presence of God, silence becomes a medium for God’s deeper and deeper communication of Himself to the soul.  St. Teresa calls one of the early stages of contemplative prayer, the Prayer of Quiet.  God begins to suspend, or silence or still the human activity of the mind, the will, the memory, the imagination, the passions, so that He can communicate Himself more deeply.  And in that, the soul itself begins to be healed of its defects and weaknesses and disorder.  St. John of the Cross poetically describes this as:  “My house being now all stilled…”  He goes on to say that once there is this stillness (which comes through real purifications) the soul is now able to go out to find God without hindrance or distraction.  This, by the way, is often something one sees in those who are going through the process of dying.  They become strangely quiet in the months and weeks preceding their deaths.  It is as if they no longer have words. In the activity of God in their souls, as they are being readied to enter eternity, they often go through, all at once, the purifications as well as the sweet visitations of the Lord, that the person who prays regularly, goes through over a period of time.

We are all interested in healing these days.  This is the true healing we seek, that which comes to us from God Himself, the Divine Physician, and which heals us from the inside out and orders our inner being to bring it into communion with He Who is our ultimate bliss and fulfillment.

If we want to be healthy, we must cultivate spaces of silence in our lives.  Not the isolating silence so many live in, but a silence that nurtures peace within and communion without.  One place to begin is to keep our Churches as sanctuaries of silence, not places for chit chat.

Another concrete step is to actually set aside real time for silence.  Silent prayer.  Not vocal prayer but a prayer of presence, of being, in silence, in the presence of the Lord, even for 5 minutes a day, preferably in a place where there is no outside noise. (That may be early in the morning before the rest of the family rises.)  Simply ask the Lord to take you into Himself for 5 minutes, to be still and know that He is God.

Over 100 years ago, Maria Montessori noted that children have an innate need for intervals of stillness and silence, silence for her, meaning the cessation of every movement:

“One day I came into class holding in my arms a baby four months old, which I had taken from the arms of its mother in the courtyard.  … The silence of the little creature struck me, and I wanted the children to share my feeling.  … To my amazement I saw an extraordinary tension in the children who watched me. It seemed as though they were hanging on my lips, and felt deeply all I was saying.  “Then its breathing,” I went on, “how soft it is. None of you could breathe as it does, without making a sound…” The children, surprised and motionless, held their breath. In that moment there was an extraordinary silence; the tick of the clock, which generally could not be heard, became perceptible. It seemed as if the baby had brought with it an atmosphere of silence such as does not exist in ordinary life. This was because no one was making the smallest movement. And from this came the wish to listen to the silence, and hence to reproduce it.” Maria Montessori  (The Secret of Childhood)

She created the “Silence Game” in which children begin practicing this kind of silence for small intervals at first (even 30 seconds), and then for longer periods. There is a joy the children, (and the teacher) experience, when they are able to do this.  They later come to ask for the Silence Game when things become chaotic or noisy, recognizing that this silence has the power to restore their inner peace and equilibrium.  Then, as a year progresses, the silence begins to happen spontaneously, within the whole group.  The children will look up when this happens, smile, and go back to their work.  The natural, contemplative spirit of the child, over time, is released.

It may seem like passivity to focus on silence when the world is screaming for answers and actions to address it’s many grave problems.  Yet, “if The Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor.”  Likewise, the walls of Jericho would never have come tumbling down, nor would the people have persisted in the right action, if they had not consulted and stayed faithful to the Lord’s rather odd directions.

It  has become an almost urgent necessity today, to ask Our Lord and Our Lady to lead each of us to the kind of silence we speak of.  The release of a true contemplative spirit among us, one in which the Lord lives and moves us, will, in the end, be the key to the salvation of our modern world.

Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT