Avoiding The Cross Is The Essence Of The Demonic

"Avoiding the cross is the essence of the demonic." - Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen  

Why, in our modern world, is there a refusal to accept the Cross?  Why do so many Christians accept the Trinity or the Resurrection of Christ, and yet balk at His Cross?  They know that His Death and His Blood are what saved us from sin; yet they accuse Catholics of placing too much emphasis on the Cross because we display crucifixes in our churches, homes, and schools, and because we say that the Mass is the same Sacrifice as the Sacrifice of the Cross.  Why does Western Civilization embrace "Christ without the Cross"?  Why does our modern world try to turn Christ "into a 'Communist Commissar' who promises nothing but bread"?  Why does our modern world want "the Christ without the Cross . . . a weak, effeminate Christ unable to save us from sin"? Why, even as Catholics, do we shrink from viewing the Mass as a Sacrifice and want instead to speak of it as a sacred "meal"?  Why do we turn away from the Crucifix, why do we replace the Crucifix with the strange figure of the Risen Christ bursting forth, not from the tomb, but from the cross? 

What does it mean that our modern world only wants Christ as long as they don't have to have His Cross, too?  What kind of Christ is this that the world wants?  In The Priest Is Not His Own, Sheen explains what Christ is reduced to when the world accepts Him but refuses to accept His Cross:    

None of those are the true identity of Christ; He is our Savior, our Redeemer from sin, Who came to earth to suffer--on the Cross--in atonement for our sins.  The Cross is the instrument on which Christ won salvation for us through an excruciatingly painful death, and showed the height of His Love in His Sacrifice for us.  This is why we refuse to accept the Cross: we're uncomfortable with that for which it stands.  Just as a heart is a symbol of love, so too, the Cross, at its most basic level, is a symbol of pain and suffering, as Sheen explains in The Eternal Galilean:    

This problem of pain has a symbol, and the symbol is the cross.  But why is the cross typical of the problem of suffering?  Because it is made up of two bars, one horizontal and the other vertical.  The horizontal bar is the bar of death, for death is prone, prostrate, flat.  The vertical bar is the bar of life, for all life is erect, upright.  The crossing of one bar with the other signifies the contradiction of life and death, joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, pleasure and pain, our will and God’s will.  The only way a cross can ever be made is by laying the bar of joy against the bar of sorrow; or, to put it another way, our will is the horizontal bar, God’s will is the vertical bar; as soon as we place our desires and our wills against God’s desires and God’s will, we form a cross. Thus the cross is the symbol of pain and suffering.   

And what would Christ be without the Cross?  Another teacher like Buddha or Lao-tzu; a sociologist spreading whipped cream on socially disapproved behavior; a psycho-analyst reducing guilt to a complex and banishing sin as a "hangover" from savagery; a preacher too polite to mention hell or divorce; a reformer for whom all discipline is masochistic and who proclaims self-restraint and moderation as unnatural and in conflict with the biological urge to self-expression.

Excerpt from the Theological Librarian's post on "The World's Response to the Cross."

Sins Of The Tongue: How To Detect Them And Avoid Them

From The Integrated Catholic Life:

Sins and Faults of the Tongue: To Speak or not to Speak – That is the Question

Dear Sister,

There is a lot of noise around me – constantly. So much chatter. It seems to me that conversations in general are getting more superficial. I’m reminded of the title of one Shakespeare’s plays. It seems to fit what I am trying to say – Much Ado about Nothing.What are your thoughts?

Dear Friend,

Ah! Much Ado About Nothing. Well said!

I hear a longing in your question – a longing for something deeper, restorative and spiritual.  To fulfill this longing, we must all try, even though it is not so easy in today’s culture, to re-discover the healing power of silence. As Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time a time to be silent, and a time to speak.”

Each one of my Carmelite Sisters, including myself, is required to make an eight-day silent retreat yearly. When we first entered Carmel, silence was difficult for us. It was new. Many of us spend our first eight-day retreat simply meditating with growing astonishment that anyone could even keep quiet for eight full days, and how were we ever going to get through it?  Of course, throughout the years, we have all come to love it.

There are two kinds of silence – exterior and interior silence. Each complements the other. Each makes the other possible. Both bring you closer to God. We learn to keep still and quiet so that we may pray. It doesn’t take long to realize that the external silence, once achieved, reveals all those interior noises that converge within our minds.  The Carmelite way is a way of profound prayer and we all find out soon enough that our interior thoughts can be very noisy. I’ve heard from people who had tried the hermit way of life, and left it because the silence uncovered so much of their interior noise. As they put it, it uncovered too much.

During one eight-day silent retreat, the retreat master, who happened to be Father Thomas Dubay, SM, spoke about the opposite of silence. He concentrated on speech, on WHAT we CHOOSE to say and WHEN we choose to say it.

I still have my notes from that memorable eight-day retreat. Each point was an eye-opener for me.  You may find this helpful in your quest. So, here are my notes from conferences given by Father Dubay, who divided the topic into two sections:

1. Obvious Sins of the Tongue
2. Unrealized Faults of Speech

Obvious Sins of the Tongue – “In a multitude of words, sin is not lacking” (Proverbs 10:19).

• Detraction - speaking about another persons’ faults (faults that are true) without a good reason (Sirach 21).
• Calumny - which is speaking about a persons’ faults (faults that are not true).
• Bickering - speaking nasty or biting remarks
• Nagging - the constant complaining, scolding or urging about a fault even if it is true; to find fault constantly (Proverbs 21:9).
• Ego-centrism - constantly referring to what I did, what I said, etc. Constantly talking about ME
• Breaking confidences - for there are natural secrets that should not be spread; people have a right to their reputation (Proverbs 11:13)
• Dominating a conversation to prove a point - and most of the time we are unaware we are doing this.
• Salacious talks/jokes - which has to do with speaking impurely (Ephesians 5:3-4).

Unrealized Faults of Speech

• Talking can be a big waste of time - when the talking is empty and gossipy (Matt. 12:36)
• Neglecting the spiritual in our speaking with others - which is the main business of our lives (Ps. 25:15; Eph. 1: Col. 3:12; Eph. 5:18-20)
• Dissipation and draining of our psychic energies - leaving us fatigued, distracted, and unable to do our tasks at hand
• Bad example - to our family, friends, co-workers, but especially to our children
• Excessive comfort-seeking through words - which includes talking over and over again about one’s hurts
• Excusing ourselves - when we should not
• Vain discussions - when our time could be better spent (2 Tim. 2:16-17)
• Meddling in others’ affairs (2 Thess. 3:11-12)

How to Overcome Sins of the Tongue

1. Daily prayer.
2. Frequent Confession and Holy Communion.
3. Pray for the grace to recognize all of the sins of the tongue -- some are obvious, some are subtle.
4. Pray for the grace to keep silent during discussion of a bad situation.
5. Pray for the grace to keep silent during discussion of another person.
6. Just keep silent.

RULE: NEVER pass on derogatory or uncomplimentary information about anyone, unless the Word of God has given you the specific authority and responsibility to do so, and the person you are informing likewise has responsibility in the situation and a need to know the information.

Of course, the reason we have times of silence is so that we may turn our conversation toward God. The silence we are speaking of is a prayerful, expectant waiting silence.  Our world has too much noise in it today, and if we are really honest, each one of us could probably say that our hearts do also. When we do speak, let us be more attentive to what we say, why we are saying it, and how it affects others.

Thank you for your question and until next time,

Sister Laus Gloriae, O.C.D.

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Send your questions for Sister to asksister@integratedcatholiclife.org.

Jesus Probes This Woman's Heart

Mary Healy wrote this beautiful reflection on the story of the woman at the well. Here is the excerpt that really grabbed me:

Jesus promises the Samaritan woman that his water will not only quench her thirst but become “a spring welling up” within her. This suggests that to the degree we drink from the inexhaustible fountain of God’s love, we become a fountain of life for others.

At this point the woman is finally ready to ask for the gift Jesus longs to give her:

“Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

She still does not understand; she is glad at the prospect of never again having to trek out to the well. Yet her request, like that of the Jews for the bread of life (John 6:34), is sincere. On a symbolic level, without knowing it she is asking for baptism (cf. John 3:5).

But Jesus’ reply is unexpected.

“Go, call your husband, and come here.”

Why this apparent digression? Now that her request has provided an opening, Jesus probes this woman’s heart, uncovering the place where she is wounded. Only the truly thirsty, who are willing to acknowledge what is parched and lifeless within them, are able to drink the living water. This woman’s brokenness, like that of so many others, is in the area of love. In fact, her life is a history of broken relationships.

Her reply, “I have no husband,” is somewhat evasive, but Jesus brings to light her true moral state.“You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly.”

Although this revelation is painful, the woman recognizes Jesus’ total lack of condemnation (cf. 4:39). He exposes sin not for the sake of condemnation but forgiveness and freedom.

You can find the rest of the article here.