“Though mankind is stricken with wonder at its own discoveries and its power, it often raises anxious questions about the current trend of the world, about the place and role of man in the universe, about the meaning of its individual and collective strivings, and about the ultimate destiny of reality and of humanity. (Gaudium et Spes, December 7, 1965, §3)”

While these concepts seemed too lofty to expect the average voter to consider as he entered the voting booth in the past, we are now being reminded that these are the questions we ultimately face every day.  Simply put, there is hope to be found amidst the fevered political discourse this year because the larger body politic is beginning to remember that a vote is not merely a political decision, but a personal one, and therefore a deeply religious and spiritual one.

Of course we’ve known this for years vis-à-vis abortion, assisted suicide and embryonic stem cell research.  The difference now is that the questions seem to be forcing Americans to ask, “What’s next for me, my family, my country and the world?  How will my decisions now impact my end and our end?”

In order for people to answer these questions properly, not only must they be catechized, but they must be properly prepared for and disposed to a sincere prayer life.  If we accept that the single most important goal in this life is to achieve union with God in the next – theosis – then our prayer lives must necessarily be the single most important “thing” we “do”.  And yet, we spend so little time understanding true prayer, let alone actually engaging in it.  This is important to our lives because communal prayer (liturgy) and personal prayer are the means by which we communicate with God (in terms of dialogue and union).

Unfortunately, too few parishes around America are truly preparing their people to understand that the human capacity for participation in the divinity of God is prayer itself (which is the state of intimate communion with God) and that the spirituality we embrace (which is the type or degree to which one desires and/or seeks a more intimate communication with God) determines our commitment to a life of prayer.  Think about it: when was the last time in your parish that a priest, monk, nun or deacon publicly took a long, sober, traditional look at what needs to be present in the Church in terms of prayer? And when was the last time a multitude of believers gathered to learn how to pray using Scripture and the authentic Tradition with depth and sincerity?

One reason this has rarely taken place over the last four decades is that the province of prayer and spirituality has been hijacked by those who, amidst the burgeoning egalitarianism that arose after Vatican II, sought roles (e.g. spiritual director) that could exert enormous influence over the laity.  Another reason spirituality and prayer are in bad shape is that these same people have sought to mold the ancient and venerable practices of prayer into a modernist, quasi-psychiatric or therapeutic discipline.

To illustrate this point further, simply peruse the websites and newsletters of far too many Roman retreat houses across America.  For example, one retreat center in the South, run by Catholic nuns, works awfully hard to avoid using the word “Catholic” in its publications and boasts the biographies of the 46 contributors who lead their various programs.  The problem is that this list includes a registered yoga instructor, a trained “psychodramatist”, Presbyterians, Methodists, Quakers, Lutherans, a minister from the United Church of Christ, and a host of psychiatrists and therapists.

Aside from the obvious scandal this has caused, what we have been left with, it seems, are the people on one side for whom spirituality is a communal activity, marked by feel-good slogans and soft, self-affirmations.  It would be equally imprudent to endorse those on the opposite side who would reduce spirituality to a merely individual activity marked largely by intellectual pursuits and quasi-ascetic disciplines.  Neither version leads to a healthy understanding of prayer, which was modeled for us by Jesus Christ, or spirituality, which was and is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line is that the importance of prayer cannot be overstated.  Tradition has time and again reaffirmed that the life of prayer is the most powerful of all realities.  “The principal fruit of prayer is not warmth and sweetness, but fear of God and contrition (Theophan the Recluse in The Art of Prayer, p. 124).”  And this is why Scripture originally described the spiritual life in terms of fire, water, a pillar of cloud, a thunderous noise and a rushing wind.

In order to reignite this kind of bold intensity in our spiritual lives we must set our minds on what comes next.  “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1-3).”

We also must be vigilant.  “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).”

And, finally, we must do our best to overcome the obstacles in our world: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My father on His throne (Revelation 4:21).”

Even though the political discourse will assuredly plummet to new lows by the time this election is over, because of the topics that have been broached this year we no longer have an excuse not to engage people at their core, which is about man’s origin and his destiny.  Doing so will continue to push people to grapple with what it means both to grow in communion with God by deeper communication with Him and how this life in God ought to determine their every decision (even in the voting booth!).  Hopefully these considerations will move mankind a little closer to taking more seriously the need to spend dense periods of time with God in prayer.

Rarely can it be found in the annals of American history when, as a people, we so willingly enjoined each other in a spontaneous and deeply-felt expression of prayer.  All across the nation Protestant joined with Catholic and Orthodox while Jew joined with Christian and Muslim to utter the words of our faiths in the hope of gaining help from the one, true God.  We sought wisdom, we sought signs, and most of all we sought simple answers to our most fundamental problems.

What came next were calls for the creation of ongoing opportunities for inter-religious and ecumenical prayer services that sprang up from all corners of the religious world.  Dialogue became the watchword for universities and the ideas of peace and co-existence occupied the heads of adult education programs in churches across America.  There was a palpable desire to learn more about religion and an even greater commitment to prayer.

Looking back, it is good that many of the so-called prayer services and dialogical programs began after September 11 are now defunct.  Too many of them were visceral reactions to a devastating attack and ended up becoming a platform to apologize for the supposedly hegemonic history of Christianity.  Under the banners of “tolerance,” “diversity” and “inclusivity,” too many Christians chose to hide from their beliefs in the Trinity and the Hypostatic Union, and far too many of those used these occasions as an opportunity to once-and-for-all embrace a “spiritual” life over an explicitly “religious” one.

Having said that, nine years later it is important to ask the questions that should haunt us: Where have all the prayers gone?  Where are the throngs of believers publically begging God for love, forgiveness and mercy?  Where is the genuine desire within the homes and communities of Christians to stand spiritually before God with an ardent desire to submit ourselves to Him?

After everything that has transpired since September 11 – not the least of which has been the engagement of two wars and an economic collapse not seen in more than a generation – one would think that this desire for an outpouring of prayer would be somewhere near as strong today as it was nine years ago.  Since it is clear that the desire has waned, the time has come to renew our understanding of and commitment to prayer.  We must re-learn why we pray, how to pray and what it means for our lives.

“To pray is to stand spiritually before God in our heart in glorification, thanksgiving, supplication, and contrite penitence.  Everything must be spiritual.  The root of all prayer is devout fear of God; from this comes belief about God and faith in Him, submission of oneself to God, hope in God, and cleaving to Him with the feeling of love, in oblivion of all created things.  When prayer is powerful, all these spiritual feelings and movements are present in the heart with corresponding vigour (Theophan the Recluse as quoted in The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, p. 93).”

Simply put, we must pray because prayer is tied to the whole point of our existence, which is theosis or union with God.  The Father teaches us this in the Old Testament.  Even with a cursory look at the Psalms alone we find a juxtaposition of the life of the godly with the life of the ungodly relative to prayer.  We are exhorted to meditate day and night.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the troublesome; but his will is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by streams of waters, that produces its fruit in its season; and his leaf shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper…for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish (Psalm 1).”

We know that prayer is tied to the whole purpose of our existence because the Son taught us to pray in the New Testament.  First, even as God, He set the example for us by praying.  “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed (Mark 1:35).”  Second, He showed us how to pray.  Not only did He find a solitary place in order to be free from distraction, but also He did so early in the morning to demonstrate that prayer should be our first priority and the conduit through which we help others.

We know that prayer is tied to the whole purpose of our existence because the Holy Spirit is with us to this day, teaching us all we need to know through prayer.  “‘These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name.  He will teach you all these things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:25-27).”

We are always in need of reinvigorating our life of prayer not because we are witnesses to thousands of deaths, but because it is the very tool we were given to join with God now and in eternity.  Jesus Himself reminded us to persevere in our prayer (Matthew 26:41) and to know that prayer is powerful (Matthew 21:22).  And now, just as we willingly opened ourselves to the Holy Spirit on that particularly dark day in September nine years ago, we can find Him now if only we have the courage to listen for Him without the need of a deafening explosion.

The reason it is important both to understand and to seriously reflect on the meaning of this spiritually-rich and theologically-intense time period is not merely because we need to be catechized (which we do) or that we need to be more obedient (which we do) or even that we need to live more virtuous lives (which we do).  We must reflect on the meaning of these weeks because they form the mystical center of our faith.  In other words, they contain everything we need to know God, to love Him and to return to Him in eternity.

The arc of these weeks shows us who God is, who man is and what is contained in the relationship between the two.  They explain in a whisper that from all eternity God loved us to the point of creation and continues to love us to the point of consummation.  These weeks softly speak the gentle encouragements of a God who tells us that there has never been a time when He didn’t love us and there will never be a time when He does not desire our eternal return to him.  In these weeks God also makes the thunderous demands of one who intends to cleanse us of our fallen nature by the power of bread, wine, water and oil.

Sadly, too many of the lay faithful doubt they have heard His whispers and tend to ignore His booming voice because they have been taught over a four decade or more span that their thoughts, feelings and day-to-day experiences are the valid conduit through which God will save them.  In other words, the trend among spiritual bureaucratic types in the Church has been to train lay narcissists fully convinced that “where they are” is simply enough.  The rationalization, of course, is that life of the layman is inherently noble with its struggles in and with spouses, children and work.

Certainly, marriage and family are estimable and laudable.  That goes without saying.  But at a time in history when technological advances have trained us to desire ever greater speed in all facets of life, when loans and credit cards have trained us to desire ever greater material goods, and when individualism has given way to voyeurism and exhibitionism, then we cannot allow the person in the pew to remain content with the ubiquity of a type of spirituality that is self-absorbed, therapeutic and minimalistic.

So, just as the Church has been working to clean up relativist theology and secularist liturgy, the time has come to clean up humanistic spirituality.

What I am proposing here is that all of those whose work somehow touches on spiritual formation (especially priests and religious) employ their charisms to the task of encouraging an understanding of and practices that can lead to legitimate, authentic and traditionally-understood mysticism.  The time has come to remind the lay faithful that “the perfection of man does not consist in that which assimilates him to the whole of creation, but that in which distinguishes him from the created order and assimilates him to his Creator” (Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 114).

What I am talking about here is ridding seminaries, retreat centers and parishes of solipsistic spiritualities.  These are the programs of spiritual formation and direction that tend to utilize psychological paradigms rather than spiritual ones.  I am also proposing that we begin to scale down what I term “spiritual direction mills” that churn our so-called spiritual directors who have little or no directly contemplative experiences with God.

So, what I believe we need is a new breed of spirituality (which is, in fact, quite old) that directs the lay faithful to more fervently work toward union with God.  It’s just like what Pope John Paul II wrote in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (§60): “There is no doubt that spiritual formation ought to occupy a privileged place in a person’s life.  Everyone is called to grow continually in intimate union with Jesus Christ, in conformity to the Father’s will, in devotion to others in charity and justice.”

Instead of directing the lay faithful to focus almost exclusively on the “devotion to others in charity and justice” at the expense of the call “to grow continually in intimate union with Jesus Christ”, I propose that the time has come for the ordained (and/or those in professed vows) to lead the laity to that precipice where God is experienced in a type of mystical fullness.  It is equally time for the lay faithful to demand from themselves and their spiritual directors that theosis or union with God be the focal point of their spiritual life.  This is the only way we can guarantee that true charity and justice will reign in our lives here on earth.

One of God’s great gifts is that He grounds us in our creation and lifts us up toward His kingdom.  The experience of Him in between – in this life – is already awe-inspiring and life-changing.  That is why we must learn to live like it.  By His wisdom we can see the world as He sees it and by His love we can see our end in his heavenly kingdom.  We can see the beyond that has been inaugurated in this world and will be consummated in the next.  So now is the time for us to decide we are going to embrace a spirituality which – instead of merely enfolding ourselves in our humanity – awakens in us that which is divine.

This last group consists of people who ally themselves with the forces marshaled by the Adversary himself.  These are the ones who propagate the tradition of betrayal that extends from as far back as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the host of Old Testament betrayers like Alcimus and Ahithophel, and Holy Week’s apostle-turned-apostate himself, Judas Iscariot.

The worst part of this week, however, is that the story of Christian betrayal didn’t end when Judas hanged himself.  It continued afterward in the guise of heretics fighting against the early Church, and it still exists in our day.  In fact, the age in which we are living is decidedly despicable because not only has it invented its own heresies, but it is resuscitating the same ones put to rest in the early Church.  That is why it is vitally important for Catholics, the Orthodox and other-tradition-minded Christians to understand our patrimony.  We must inform ourselves about the ancient faith and use that knowledge and a commitment to prayer to learn to spot heresy in our own time.

As soon as Holy Week is over — since you would have been reminded of the story of Judas — take some time to understand more about the historical development of Church doctrine by becoming more familiar with the debate surrounding certain early heresies.  Include in your research Gnosticism-Docetism (denying God came in the flesh), Arianism (denying Jesus is God), Pelagianism (denying man is dependent on God), Iconoclasm (denying the use of images of God in prayer), Macedonianism (denying the Holy Spirit is God), Origenism (denying an eternal judgment) and Messalianism (denying the sacraments and ecclesiastical obedience).

While doing so it might appear that some of these heresies are obscure debates that have little to do with the modern person in the pew.  On the contrary, the controversies over doctrine in the first centuries of the Church are at the very heart of the challenges we face today.

Therefore, the second activity you can undertake is to make connections between what happened in the early days of the Church and what is happening today.  In other words, once you are grounded in these doctrines and debates, I hope to help you see how the modern world is re-adapting these heresies and passing them off as some sort of modern cultural orthodoxy.

Specifically, notice how Gnosticism-Docetism is alive in Scientology, the entertainment world and even some parishes.  Arianism can be found among Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Unitarians and in certain parts of inter-religious dialogue. Pelagianism is rampant in American culture and can be found in modernist spirituality and homiletics. Iconoclasm is captured in public policy and is prevalent in the design of modernist churches.  Macedonianism has reappeared in the New Age movement (which is largely synonymous with environmentalists now) and in modernist spiritualities within the Church.  Origenism can be found not only within the wider secularist culture but also among Christians who dismiss the truth of the final judgment. Lastly, Messalianism can be found among Quakers, Buddhists and Marxist spiritualities that reject sacraments and ecclesiastical obedience.

Recognizing these connections should mean to us that Docetism, Origenism, Arianism, Macedonianism, Pelagianism, Iconoclasm and Messalianism are not obscure theological and spiritual debates weighed down by the miniscule ravings of hermitic lunatics who sought to hide in caves away from a disappointing world.  These seven heresies, in fact, are vitally important to how we understand God and His Church.  More than that, betrayal and heresy-as-betrayal offer us an important key to unlocking the rather confusing and disheartening times in which we live.

The people behind these heresies, the theological details of these heresies and the spiritual impact and meaning of these heresies can all be found in our world today.  It is possible, in fact, to say evil was at work in the early Church, and we can say it is today, too.  But it is altogether too important to ignore man’s decidedly dark attempts throughout our history to destroy God’s Churches, to dissuade His followers and to try to dissuade God’s people from the validity of His sacraments.

That is why the third activity you can take on after Holy Week is to pay better attention to the prayers right before Communion.  In the 1970 Missal of the Roman Rite (Novus Ordo) take note of the phrase: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you […]”  In the 1962 Missal of the Roman Rite (Blessed John XXIII) the believer begs: “Let not the partaking of Thy Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgment and condemnation […]”  Finally, and most significantly in the Byzantine Catholic Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the believer asks and promises: “Accept me today as a partaker of your mystical supper, O Son of God, for I will not reveal your mystery to your enemies, nor will I give you a kiss as did Judas […]”

Let us not be like Judas and let us fight against those who are.  For we know the truth that God Himself became man so that man could become more like God.  We know He came in the flesh, worked miracles, preached the Kingdom, was betrayed, beaten and crucified.  Thankfully, we also know He was resurrected.  But we must take what we know into the world.

Our efforts during this week and in the weeks to come will make us wiser in understanding and handling the hidden messages and methods used by the forces of those who wish to ignore the revelation of God.  Understanding and rooting out this betrayal where it exists will further toward the ultimate, heavenly goal: theosis or union with Him for all of eternity.

Modern Iconoclasts Hard at Work

What is less obvious, and sometimes more insidious, is the subtle twisting of the words that are ordinarily used to define and defend the most important aspects of our faith.  Simply put, pop bands and pornographers are not necessarily the liars, they don’t hide their identities.  But the omnipresent words and images that drench the American landscape through advertisements and press releases are subtley distorting the meaning of words traditionally in the comfortable possession of popes, patriarchs, priests and deacons.

Just try conducting a web search of the following: the second coming, true religion, seven deadly sins, incarnate, heaven and resurrection.  Would it surprise you to know that these words are used to describe everything from clothing and food to cars and games?  Though their etymology is long and varied, the modern distortion of these words makes it all that much more difficult for the Church to catechize the young and old alike.

The Sacred Canopy

On page 48 of his book, Why Religion Matters, the late Huston Smith offers one explanation for the problem:

Today we do not live under a sacred canopy; it is marketing that forms the backdrop of our culture. The message that advertising dins into our conscious and unconscious minds is that fulfillment derives from the things we possess. Because this is not true, the message serves us badly, so we need to be aware of the worldview that sponsors it.

By and large this quotation speaks for itself, but I do want you to take note of an important item within it.  Dr. Smith uses the phrase sacred canopy, which evokes for us an image of the tabernacle. Think about that.  Envision the tabernacle.  It provides protection for what is sacred and holy.  The Church, in general, does this for us too.  It provides the sacred canopy that shelters us by defining and protecting what is true, good and beautiful.

The marketing backdrop, on the other hand, cannot, by design, provide long-lasting structure and true meaning.  So why should it surprise us that in the most recent surveys Americans seem to be growing ever more lax in their faith?

Responsibility Goes Both Ways

During the Second Vatican Council there emerged a minimally-publicized document.  Inter Mirifica, The Decree on the Media of Social Communications, set a course for how the Catholic Church would view, use and challenge the media.  It starts by recognizing the benefit of the media as early as paragraph two:

The Church recognizes that these media, if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly contribute to men’s entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support of the Kingdom of God.

But that same paragraph continues with the recognition of a problem that has been visible in every living room in America since the 1950s.  “The Church recognizes, too, that men can employ these media contrary to the plan of the Creator and to their own loss.”

So, the Church called on the laity “…to instill a human and Christian spirit into these media, so that they may fully measure up to the great expectations of mankind and to God’s design” (§2).  In other words, the Church was asking those who work in advertising and public relations to take upon themselves the responsibility of being the guide for what is acceptable when it comes to the words and images that are used to promote companies, products, services and ideas.  At the same time, though, the Church did not abdicate the viewer, listener or reader from his responsibility of turning off the radio, television and Internet or putting down the newspaper, magazine and book.

Paragraphs 10 and 11 in Inter Mirifca bear out the idea that responsibility works both ways.  “Those who make use of the media of communications, especially the young, should take steps to accustom themselves to moderation and self-control in their regard…”  And, “The principle moral responsibility for the proper use of the media of social communication falls on newsmen, writers, actors, designers, producers, displayers, distributors, operators and sellers, as well as critics and all others who play any part in the production and transmission of mass presentations.  It is quite evident what gravely important responsibilities they have in the present day when they are in a position to lead the human race to good or to evil by informing or arousing mankind.”

Evangelizing the Communicators

These and other documents — particularly the 1997 Ethics in Advertising — showed how media abuses became realities and not hypothetical possibilities.  And now, today, we are faced with a tough dilemma: with so many people struggling to understand the faith, how do we catechize them and, at the same time, change the culture of anti-religious and anti-Eucharistic advertising and public relations?

While we should keep sending e-mails and making phone calls to companies when their product advertising offends us, we should also talk to local news outlets when their stories contain obviously biased material.  More than that, the time has come to evangelize those who work in the fields of marketing, advertising and public relations.  In the absence of knowing who to call inside an advertising agency, I suggest you start by seeking out those professionals already in your parishes.  Encourage them to have strength in the workplace.  We want them to know the Church supports them when they are being productive and creative but remind them that they too have a responsibility when it comes to the building up of the Body of Christ.  After all, that is exactly what Pope Benedict XVI wrote on the occasion of the 42^nd World Communications Day in 2008: the task of “seeking and presenting the truth about humanity constitutes the highest vocation of social communication” (§5).

The bottom line is that words and their definitions matter, and for too long the faithful have watched as advertising and public relations professionals twist and torture ours.  If the words we use in faith became any more muddled among the masses we will find it increasingly difficult to evangelize the unchurched and catechize, inspire or incite action among the faithful.

What I found in that stone-cooled room in the middle of the Cappadocia region of Central Turkey would change my life forever. As I stood on the top rung of the ladder I peered inside to see just what those ancient Christians saw: a white-stone room cut no more than six feet wide, eight feet deep and seven or so feet high. To the left and right were stone benches and in front of me was a stone-carved iconostasis (the screen or wall between the nave and the sanctuary in an Eastern Church). As I pulled myself up into the Church, I discovered an altar behind the iconostasis and a grotto cut into the wall to be used as a tabernacle.

Standing in the middle of this roughly 1,500-year-old Church I couldn’t believe I was physically touching one of those ancient sites made holy by Christians who understood what it meant to believe. These people of Asia Minor knew in the pits of their stomachs that God became man; that He lived, died and rose again. At the very center of their lives — and often at the very cost of their lives — they believed that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

These people — who cut through rock with the most basic tools in order to build a temple for the Lord — knew without questioning. They knew at the level of their being what it meant to be a Christian. They knew their job was to honor Jesus and model themselves after Mary. They knew then by practice what we know by definition: that true worship is standing forever before God with your mind in your heart. Without explanation or incentive, they lived their lives in types of mangers (whether in mountain caves or underground caverns). They gathered what they could to live and allowed their minds to sit comfortably on the thrones of their hearts, which had been built by the stone of Divine Wisdom, the fire of the Holy Spirit, the flesh of the Incarnation, and their own simple gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They testified to their faith with their very lives and I am here to bear witness to them. In that cave, like the dozens of others we visited during that May of 2007, I could hear the hymns of praise, I could smell the incense they used, I could feel their worries and their pains, and I could feel their hopes and their joys. I could see them processing in and out of the Church, in and out of their lives, knowing that God was with them and in them. They were unified in the one Holy Spirit and, like St. Paul, they knew that “living is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

To say I couldn’t believe my eyes would be an understatement. To say that I was speechless would be an understatement. Especially when you consider that I knew something was ‘happening’ even before I saw the ancient Cappadocian land of St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Gregory Nazianzen. In fact, while standing on a corner in Istanbul, across the street from the Hagia Sophia (Christendom’s largest Cathedral for 1,000 years) I was already beginning to feel the Spirit coursing through my veins, filling every tissue, girding every bone and pulsating in every muscle. Today, the only possible words I can find to describe what happened was that the Holy Spirit literally entered into my mind like a rush of wind or fire or water, moved through my entire body and came to rest in the deepest part of my being.

While experiencing the presence of God is not new in my life — in fact I’ve never gone through a time when I “didn’t feel” God within me or that I “couldn’t experience” the presence of Christ at Liturgy or “see” the Spirit in the world — these particular moments threw me back on my heels. Perhaps like Moses at the burning bush or Peter, James and John at the Transfiguration, I witnessed something even more profound. I was humbled then and I am humbled now. I still question my worthiness for such an experience, but these days I am mainly working at being, learning to live nestled firmly in the care of The Good Shepherd (John 10:11) knowing all the time I am on a journey toward the Eschaton, being ushered forth by His Spirit toward that moment when we will see the New Heaven and the New Earth (Revelation 21:1).

As I have relayed this story to others I am often asked how such a thing “happened” to me or how it might “happen” for them. The simple answer is that I do not know. Having spent much time with a spiritual director, I can tell you that any potentially emotional or psychological reasons for these experiences were long vetted. Since this occurred about two years ago (meaning that a significant time has passed) and it is as real for me today as it was at the time, I can continue to affirm for you that what happened was the truth and it was given by God.

While these particular types of experiences come to us at times and for reasons only He knows, the two most important things we can do on a daily basis is to remember to be open and to be willing to cooperate as God reaches out toward us. One way that you can do this, starting today, is to renew your commitment to being fully present at the Eucharist. Specifically, be attentive to the prayers up to and including the consecration.

Next time you are at Liturgy or Mass look for what is called the anamnesis and also the epiclesis. Simply, the anamnesis is the portion of the Eucharistic prayers through which we remember the life of Christ (up to and including His betrayal and death on the cross). The epiclesis is the portion of the prayers which invokes the Holy Spirit so that He may come to make holy the bread and wine, and the people present. Pay attention to those prayers because in them you are a participant in the life Jesus lived 2,000 years ago, you are a witness to Him now and you are being given the foretaste of Him in the time to come. Remember always to “Be what you can see, and receive what you are” (St. Augustine, Sermon 272, Pentecost) so that, outside of the Liturgy, you may abide in your faith through the cornerstone of His Wisdom and the urging of His Spirit. “For every good and perfect gift is from above, coming from You, the Father of lights. To You we give glory, thanksgiving, and worship, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen” (from the dismissal of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom).

For the better part of 14 years, The Orientale Lumen Conferences have provided ordained and lay Roman Catholics, Eastern Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox a forum for understanding the similarities and differences among the Eastern and Western Christian Churches. With endorsements ranging from the Vatican to the Phanar, these conferences include a variety of prayer services, learning experiences and intellectual discussion.

“It is with great pleasure and paternal joy that we humbly greet the blessed… Orientale Lumen Conferences,” said Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in 2006. “Your pioneering ecumenical gatherings have indeed provided an exceptional forum… [and] your sacred intent is blessed from within and from above by the very nature of your initiative. For, while your effort may be — as you describe it — ‘grass roots’, we are convinced that it is at the same time rooted in heaven.”

Meeting annually since 1997 in Washington, DC and other locations around the world — including San Diego, Detroit, Birmingham, UK and Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey — these conferences host some of the world’s best-known and well-loved experts in a variety of fields that range from theology and history to liturgy and spirituality. Each speaker gives a plenary session followed by a panel discussion and a question-and-answer session; all of the papers presented at the conference are published. More importantly, a variety of liturgical services are conducted during the conference to provide an opportunity for attendees to pray together for Church unity.

“Wherever Christian faithful meet for growth in communion, it is the Holy Spirit who inspires and prompts them,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, during a June 2006 video commemorating the 10th anniversary of the conference. “What you are doing at the level of local Churches is appreciated as a true contribution of promoting Christian unity.”

This year’s conference is being held in Washington, DC, June 15-18, 2009, at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center and will focus on the theme of “Monastic Spirituality for Everyday Life”. The focus of this session will be on returning to God and seeking to find a meaning in the mystery of life by making use of certain specific practices like prayer, fasting, silence, vigils, reading and good works.

“One aspect of the conference that is worth noting is that there is no [political] agenda involved,” said Jack Figel, president, Eastern Christian Publications, which runs the conference. “What that means to the number of clergy — including cardinals and patriarchs — who have mentioned it is that these conferences offer face-to-face interaction without the need for official reports and studies. That is a benefit to all the Church and ultimately benefits the formal dialogue between Churches.”

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan and Professor at Oxford University, Kallistos of Diokleia, who will once again be featured at the conference, once remarked: “Let me begin by saying something about what I see as the specific gift of Orientale Lumen and its spirit. I can best express this by recalling some words of Cardinal Suenens of Belgium… ‘If we are to unite together, we must first love one another. And if we are to love one another, we must first get to know one another’. I see a group such as Orientale Lumen as fulfilling an important task in this mutual knowledge and mutual love. Part of the function of Orientale Lumen is to build up ecumenical friendships. And if we are to make progress in the ecumenical movement we do need personal friendships, not simply reports by experts, but human contact.”

For Roman Catholics this conference may be an opportunity to live out not only the spirit of John Paul II’s apostolic letter that must be observed but its letter too.

Since, in fact, we believe that the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches is an integral part of the heritage of Christ’s Church, the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with that tradition, so as to be nourished by it and to encourage the process of unity in the best way possible for each. Our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters are very conscious of being the living bearers of this tradition, together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters. The members of the Catholic Church of the Latin tradition must also be fully acquainted with this treasure and thus feel, with the Pope, a passionate longing that the full manifestation of the Church’s catholicity be restored to the Church and to the world, expressed not by a single tradition, and still less by one community in opposition to the other; and that we too may be granted a full taste of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church which is preserved and grows in the life of the Churches of the East as in those of the West (§1).

Registration details for this year’s conference (as well as the 2010 conference in Istanbul) can be found on-line at www.olconference.com . Photos and quotations from past speakers can be found on the conference website, and videos of past plenary sessions and liturgical services can be viewed at www.oltvweb.com .

2009 speakers will include: Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ, Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome, Italy, (by prerecorded video); Bishop Hlib Lonchyna, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Kyiv, Ukraine; Mother Lois Farag, Coptic Orthodox Church, Assistant Professor of Church History, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN; Sister Barbara Jean Mihalchick, OSBM, Byzantine Catholic Church of America, Retreat House Director, Uniontown, PA; Prof. Richard Schneider, Orthodox Church in America, Professor and Director of the Orthodox Eastern Christian Studies Program at Trinity College, University of Toronto, Canada; Mr. Elias Damianakis, Greek Orthodox Church, Iconographer and Lecturer, Tampa, FL; Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, New York, NYand Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, Greek Orthodox Church, Oxford, England.

Discernment is the Key

As the Church winds down the Pauline Year, what we should be left with is a commitment to the expansion of valid discernment methods that will assist the human person in (1) determining the will of God in his or her life and (2) renewing his or her life of faith. Done well and under the auspices of faithful bishops, priests and deacons, the discernment process at its core finds the human person placing his mind in his heart before God in open, loyal and loving worship.

The Basis for Valid Methods

Much has been done over the last ten years to incorporate methods of discernment in selecting members of parish pastoral councils and school boards, but more people need to know about the methods that have assisted popes, patriarchs and priests for two millennia. Here’s what you need to know to get started.

Scripture

To start, take time to re-read St. Paul’s conversion in chapter nine of the Acts of the Apostles. This story helps us to know that God can and does cause immediate change “like a sudden flash of lightning”. It is important because it helps us recognize the difference between our impatient demands for a quick-fix solution and being open enough to allow God to point us down a road not previously considered. The story is also helpful because it provides the encouragement that we can read the signs of true conversion. In Paul’s case, the community witnessed his silence first then heard him immediately proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.

Next, re-read chapter one of the Acts of the Apostles, particularly verses 12-26 . After returning to Jerusalem the apostles (the leaders) gathered together with the community. You will also notice that they had devoted themselves to prayer and that Peter recounted the story of Judas. He explained that one who was with them from the beginning needed to be chosen to take Judas’ place as one of the twelve. Notice that it was the first among them who instructed the group and pay attention to how all of them prayed for God’s guidance in order to ensure the proper person was chosen. In other words, the community listened to the call of the Holy Spirit and not to their own desires. (Keep in mind that many other passages can be used here: perhaps the ones about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, perhaps on Christ’s selection of the apostles, perhaps even on Mary’s "yes" to become the handmaiden of the Lord.)

Tradition

There are those among you who might be a bit squeamish when hearing words like "discernment", "community" and "spirit". If so, it might help you to know that the process described in Acts is essentially what a conclave of the College of Cardinals follows in order to select a Pope. If you are still not convinced, read what it says in paragraph two of the Church’s 1965 Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity .

No part of the structure of a living body is merely passive but has a share in the functions as well as life of the body: so, too, in the body of Christ, which is the Church, "the whole body…in keeping with the proper activity of each part, derives its increase from its own internal development" (Eph. 4:16).

Also, take a look at number 204 of the Code of Canon Law last revised in 1983.

The Christian faithful are those who, inasmuch as they have been incorporated into Christ through Baptism, have been constituted as the people of God; for this reason, since they have become sharers in Christ’s priestly, prophetic and royal office in their own manner, they are called to exercise the mission which God has entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world, in accord with the condition proper to each one.

And, finally, read paragraph 58 of Pope John Paul II’s 1988 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici .

The fundamental objective of the formation of the lay faithful is an ever-clearer discovery of one’s vocation and the ever-greater willingness to live it so as to fulfill one’s mission. God calls me and sends me forth as a laborer in His vineyard. He calls me and sends me forth to work for the coming of His Kingdom in history. This personal vocation and mission defines the dignity and the responsibility of each member of the lay faithful and makes up the focal point of the whole work of formation, whose purpose is the joyous and grateful recognition of this dignity and the faithful and generous living-out of this responsibility.

The tradition is clear: each of us is responsible for participating in and learning from a valid process of discernment. Why? The lay faithful must understand their roles in Christ’s kingdom.

The Process

The basis of a valid discernment — in the context of determining a person’s ministry or potential role in a parish — stems from a series of disciplined steps. Namely, (1) the leadership of a diocese or parish is present, (2) it must be done in community (normally in a parish setting), (3) prayer must form its center, (4) explanations about the process and its basis in Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition must be proclaimed, (5) since unity and continuity are important, the community must look to choose from among those who regularly bear witness to the Truth, (6) participants must be willing to abandon pre-conceptions and to acknowledge that God alone knows our hearts, (7) a balloting process must be conducted (more than once if necessary), and then (8) the community must be willing to show support for what has been determined.

If this process is to be used by one person discerning what God is calling him to, then the process is altered accordingly. For example, the person would need to seek the assistance of a spiritual director, priest, deacon or nun; to be able to clearly state the question or decision being considered, engage in ongoing prayer and silence; and perform some kind of penance or service in order to cleanse the heart of its natural self-centeredness. Of course, at some point the person would have to make a decision and act.

Whether it is for an individual or group, discernment is a commitment to determining what God is leading one to and an invaluable process that goes far beyond a self-guided tour through the psyche.

The Challenge for Our Time

With so many questions in the world today, we need to make sure our parishes avoid the temptation of either (1) relying on handouts with fill-in-the-blank action plans (which tend to have a deflating effect since the one who desires real change wants more than a guide to time management and better organization) or (2) dismissing the quest for metanoia with the standard encouragement to "follow the urging of the Holy Spirit" (which also has a deflating effect for someone who acknowledges they don’t know how to "listen" to the Holy Spirit).

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of parishes doing good work to help people find answers to the tough questions. But I pray for more. I pray that wide swaths of people can utilize this holy process of discernment to be moved through life by the Wisdom and Spirit of our Most Holy Trinity.

On the third day He rose again according to the Scripture s

The eyewitness accounts relayed in the New Testament are clear: Jesus Christ rose from the dead.   The Gospel of John recounts two events in chapter 20.  After excitedly sharing the story of her journey to and from the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene exclaims to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”  Immediately following John explains what happened to the disciples.  “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you’.”

Luke, of course, shares the same story of the woman visiting the tomb in chapter 24, verses 5-6, and later in the Acts of the Apostles (13:29-33) we are offered a summary of the Resurrection experience.

Paul, too, gives accounts of the Resurrection but goes even further in explaining its significance.  “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.  If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have died* in Christ have perished…But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…* For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:16-18, 20-22).

Unfortunately, the eyewitness accounts of those who were there and believed were not enough to convince everyone of the truth of the Good News.  As time worn on there were larger and larger groups of people who could not accept that not only had God made Himself into man so that man could become more like Him, but also that God would allow Himself to be crucified, to die and to rise again three days later.

Chief among the deniers and disbelievers was a sect generally known as Gnostics.  These were groups of people who could not accept that matter (the created world including the human body) was something to be celebrated.  To them all matter was evil and that the sooner they escaped the corruption of their bodies, the sooner they could become pure spirit.  They also believed that not everyone could ascend to this spiritual realm because special knowledge had to be imparted on you to achieve such heights.

One specific example of how Gnostic thinking filtered into the Christian world came in the form of the heresy called Docetism.  The title “docetist” is derived from a Greek word which means “to seem”.  Simply put, the docetists believed that Jesus only appeared to have a human body because God could not have taken on the limitations of humanity and remained God at the same time.  St. Ignatius of Antioch worked against this heresy and it was condemned in the year 110.  Saints Irenaeus and Tertullian attacked Gnosticism more broadly and it is generally accepted that the bulk of this heretical thinking was stamped out by the third century.

All of this information can be tough to wade through.  But it’s important because this heresy has been passed to our modern world with the recent interest in such writings as the so-called gospels of Judas and Thomas.  More specifically, Gnostic thinking has filtered into the conscious and sub-conscious of our society through the host of materialist philosophies that sprouted in Western Europe and America in the post-enlightenment period.  These theories — most notably in Marxism and its various off-shoots — promote the idea that the only truth that exists is that which is empirically verifiable, or, that that which can be observed.  Therefore, any revelation, especially such dogmas of faith as the Incarnation and Resurrection, are not believable because there is no scientific evidence of them.

We look for the resurrection of the dead

The sad part about these ideas and the people who espouse them is that, while they seek to hallow the human and all of his endeavors, they don’t understand how much they actually devalue the person.  This can be explained most readily by considering the Icon of the Resurrection.  The predominant visual expression of the resurrection in the East is Jesus’ descent into Hades.  While His figure is shown with the rays of glorious light, Jesus is depicted as raising Adam and Eve (and all those who came before Jesus) from the depths of hell.  The point of this depiction is that if Jesus does not come in the flesh, if He does not suffer and die, if He does not rise, then He cannot reclaim us from our human death.

Suppose an unbeliever asks: ‘Who is this that is crucified? Who is this that has risen and is trampling on the head of that old man?’ Do you not [O man], teach him from the Icons, saying: ‘This crucified man is the Son of God, Who was crucified to take away the sins of the world. This man that has risen is He Who raised up with Him­self Adam, the forefather of the world, who fell through diso­bedience. He is trampling on Hades, which held Adam for so many years bound in unbreakable fetters and bars in the nethermost regions’? In this way you gradually bring him to the knowledge of God (“Demonstrative Discourse Concerning the Holy and Precious Icons,” §10, Patrologia Græca, Vol. XCV, cols. 325D).

Springtime of evangelization

As you can see, modern man is not much different than the ancient one.  Today, we live in a world that doubts everything about religion and tradition, especially the Resurrection.  But because of the Resurrection we know for sure what the Early Church Fathers (St. Irenaeus, St. Gregory of Nyssa and others) knew: that man is the image of God.  These priest-theologians explain this in terms of our sovereign dignity and lordship over the world, and find it in man’s spiritual nature, soul, mind, intellect, in his reason, freedom, or inner determination.  Sometimes we are identified with the ability to know God, communicate with Him, share in the divine being of Christ, or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  But these things are only possible in and through the Resurrection.

So the next time you come into contact with someone who does not understand, remind them of what the eminent theologian Vladimir Lossky once wrote: that the “perfection of man does not consist in that which assimilates him to the whole of creation, but that in which distinguishes him from the created order and assimilates him to his Creator” (The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church , p. 114).

Christ is Risen.  He is Risen indeed.  Alleluia!