A Pilgrim’s Notes: VIRTUE FASCINATES

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

     In life, virtues are necessary and attractive sources of goodness and happiness. In classical ethics, in moral and spiritual theology, the study of virtue constitutes a fundamental significant chapter. Hereafter I wish to reflect on virtue and virtues from the perspective of reason and faith.

     The natural longing for true happiness is directed and strengthened by a virtuous life. After all, happiness consists in the practice of virtue that entails the good use of freedom (St. Thomas Aquinas). Truly, the purpose of ethics is “to make people good, that is, virtuous” (P. Kreeft).

     Why is virtue important in ethics and in life? Because virtue is a kind of excellence of the soul, a basic trait of character, and a positive moral attitude. In traditional ethics and theology, virtue is defined as a good operative habit. Virtue is a habit, that is, a human quality that disposes the person’s potencies towards good. Virtue is an operative habit, that is, it inclines a person to act in a manner that is pleasant, prompt and easy. Virtue is, specifically, a good operative habit: this quality of goodness distinguishes virtues (good attitudes) from vices (evil attitudes).

     While virtue enhances vision, vice darkens and finally blinds (G. Meilaender). Virtues are intrinsic principles of good deeds. They are embedded in the potencies of the person (intellect, will, sense appetite) who possesses them. Virtues are “successes in self-realization” (C. van der Poel), qualities that make persons “flourishing human beings.” Indeed, virtue attracts and fascinates (Spinoza).

     In every virtue, the human person says “yes to all that is good” (B. Haring). Every virtue is a mediation of love, which is the foundation, the form and the goal of all virtues. Virtues are rooted in and perfected by love. Vivified by love, virtues incline us to deeper love and communion with God, neighbor and creation.

Lao Tzu writes:

                 I am kind to the kind, / I am also kind to the unkind, / for virtue is kind. / I am faithful to the faithful, / I am also faithful to the unfaithful, / For virtue is faithful.

     According to origin, virtues are distinguished into acquired virtues (by personal effort, by repetition of similar acts) and infused virtues (by God). While acquired virtues perfect the human person in such a way that he/she may walk properly according to the natural light of reason, infused virtues perfect the human person in such a way that he/she may walk properly according to the light of grace (St. Thomas Aquinas). Grounded on grace, infused or supernatural virtues orient human potencies and human or natural virtues towards divine life – towards God. Among the infused habits, we have the following: the theological virtues, the moral virtues (elevated by divine grace), and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The theological virtues (faith, hope and charity) are the supernatural habits that, infused by God, relate us directly to him (cf. CCC 1812-1828).

     Human virtues, which are perfected and elevated by divine grace and the infused moral virtues, put order in our personal and social life. The intellectual virtues (understanding, science, wisdom and prudence) incline us to know and understand and judge well, but not necessarily to be good persons. On the other hand, moral virtues (the cardinal virtues and many others) make human actions good and also the persons who perform them. The moral virtues rectify the whole ethical life of the person who possesses them by putting order in the intellect (prudence), in the will (justice) and in the sense appetite (courage and temperance). Since the time of Aristotle, the most important human virtues are the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, courage and temperance. It has been said that the moral life of the human person pivots upon these four virtues as the door upon its hinge. Virtues are connected among themselves: there can be no true prudence without the other three moral virtues, and, vice versa: no moral virtues without prudence. Prudence is the main rational and ethical guide of human life (cf. CCC 1805-1809).

     From the perspective of human ethics, what are the most important virtues today? A good life, an accomplished life, a happy life is a life lived in justice and love. Justice and love continue to be the most significant virtues today. In a world of injustice, there is a continuing need of justice, which inclines us to give to each person his/her due, that is, fundamentally his/her rights. Justice, in turn, needs the virtue of love to become even a just justice.  In a world of selfishness, pride and hatred, there is a great need of love. Love means to give to another person not only what is his or hers, but also of what is “ours.” The greatest virtue in human and Christian ethics is love or charity: as philia (“I am happy that you exist”), as agape (“I am ready to give my life for you”). Love is expressed, in particular, in solidarity with the poor, the sick, the abandoned, the unhappy and the disadvantaged in our families, communities and societies.

     For Christians, as St. Ambrose says: “To speak of virtue is to speak of Christ,” who is the Virtuous One.  And to speak of Christ is to speak, above all, of charity as love of God and neighbor – as agape -, which is the “form” of all virtues: “Over all these virtues (mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness) put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect” (Col 3:14).

     Is it really hard to be virtuous? It is important to note before trying to answer this question that one who longs to be virtuous has to love virtue and to love his or her vocation. Vocation and virtue fortify each other, for genuine vocation is a call to passionate love, to virtuous life.

     I had a medical student who was really fascinated by the teaching on virtues: “It is so attractive. It is easy to have virtues: virtues are like a garden where one can pick the virtues she likes.” To love virtues is easy, but to practice them takes a little longer! Ethically speaking, the truly virtuous person is not born, but made! A person is made virtuous by performing over and over good acts, which form good habits, that is, virtues that form a good character. One acquires the virtue of compassion by performing compassionate acts.

     Is it hard to acquire and practice virtues then? Yes and no: Yes very hard, if one wants to acquire and practice them by himself or herself alone. Not so hard, if the person is guided by significant others, and cooperates with God’s grace, which is available to all. Let me add that usually God does not grant dole-outs but seeds to be watered and nurtured.

     William James suggests four steps to acquire human virtues: First, make a strong resolution; second, make no exceptions; third, actualize resolution often, and fourth, make daily and generous exercise of resolution.

     May virtue be taught? In a way, yes! How may it be taught? By teaching verbally and practically the qualities that make a person “good.” In truth, only the just man or woman knows what justice is; only the Good Samaritan knows what genuine merciful love of neighbor is. Philosophers and theologians have repeated that the best way to define virtue is by pointing to a virtuous person. The authentic path to describe the virtuous person is by pointing to a person who is honest, kind, compassionate, humble and prayerful – a good person.

     Do we really, really want to be happy? Socrates says: The person who knows what is right will do right. Because why would anybody choose to be unhappy? For the great Greek philosopher and ethicist Socrates, knowing what is good implies doing it. For ordinary mortals, however, it is not that easy: we know what is right and often we don’t do it!  Happiness, however is found in practicing what is good, which is best way of knowing virtue: “To know and not to do is not yet to know” (Buddhist Proverb).

     In a well-known poem, Samuel Smiles tells us simply and beautifully that to be virtuous is not that difficult:

                                Sow a thought and you will reap an act.

                                Sow an act and you will reap a habit.

                                Sow a habit and you will reap a character.

                                Sow a character and you will reap a destiny.

(Published in O Clarim, November 25, 2017)

A Pilgrim’s Notes: THE ENCHANTING WORLD OF DIVINE GRACE

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

         Who is a Christian? A Christian may be correctly defined as a baptized person, who is loyal to the Blessed Trinity – to the grace of the Holy Spirit. Divine grace is the foundation of our being and acting as Christians, who are called to a life of grace, virtues, love, prayer and compassion – to holiness.  Hereafter, I present basic teachings on divine grace. (Cf. CCC 1996-2095)

         For a Christian, grace is the greatest power towards his/her full realization as a human being, a child of God and a brother/sister of all persons. As Christians, we are asked to do good deeds, to acquire by human efforts and’/or receive from God good attitudes or virtues, and to be good in the depth of the soul. The fundamental goodness is given by grace, which elevates the soul to the supernatural level or the level of God as God. Divine grace is always united to love. The New law of the believer is the law of grace and of love.

         Grace is the gift of gifts – a totally unmerited, gratuitous gift. Writes Saint Gregory of Nyssa: What words, thoughts of flight of the spirit can praise the superabundance of this grace? Man surpasses his nature: mortal, he becomes immortal; perishable, he becomes imperishable; fleeting, he becomes eternal; human, he becomes divine.

         In the present state of our wounded nature, we need grace in two ways: at the natural level, to be able to do all the possible good of nature (healing grace), and absolutely at the supernatural level, that is, to be elevated to the level of God as God (elevating grace). “It is through grace that you have been saved” (Eph 2:5). With the gift of grace comes the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the depth of the soul (Jn 14:23) is the effect of God’s special love for us.

         Grace in the soul is gratia, charis, chesed:  gracefulness, charm, graciousness, favor, kindness, piety, gratitude. Grace is a special love of God for all humans. God loves with common love all creation, and with special love humanity. God wants the salvation of all, and Christ died for all. Thus, God has bound himself to give sufficient graces to all. No one will be able to say: “Lord, You did not give me enough graces to reach salvation.” As free human beings, we may say no to God and thus commit sin, which is a betrayal of God’s grace and love. Without grace, moreover, one may – and should – pray always, and rely on God’s infinite mercy.

         Grace is a real participation in the very nature of God: “So that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet 1:4). The consequences of this incredible real and limited share in divine nature are truly awesome: we become children of God, God’s heirs, sisters/brothers of and in Jesus Christ, temples of the Blessed Trinity, new creatures indeed (cf. Rom 8:15-17; I Cor 3:16, Col 3:8-10).

         There are different kinds of grace. Grace “gratum faciens” is “grace that makes us pleasing to God by making a person holy (habitual or sanctifying grace) or preparing him for sanctification or preserving him or making him grow in it (actual graces)” (Cf. CCC 1999-2000).

         Another distinction of grace: Sanctifying grace, which is mainly ordered to personal sanctification, and freely bestowed graces (gratis datae), which are given for the salvation of others – like the different vocations and special graces. These special graces, or charisms – like the gift of miracles or of tongues – are also “oriented to sanctifying grace, and are intended for the common good of the Church” (CCC 2003).

         God is the principal cause of Grace: only He who is divine can make us divine. Christ is the meritorious cause of grace: all graces pass through Christ who redeemed us, satisfied for our sins, and ransomed us. Christ is the only Mediator of all graces. All graces flow from Christ: in particular from His Humanity and also from the Sacraments, in a unique way from the Holy Eucharist. To the end of time, the Holy Spirit will make the grace of Christ flow into the world and in the Church.

         The main effects of grace are justification and merit. Justification, which is the principal effect of grace, is the movement of the rational creature from the state of sin to the state of justice/holiness (St. Thomas Aquinas). Justification entails the following elements: forgiveness of sins, renewal and newness of life, and the human person’s free cooperation with grace. “God saving justice given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. No distinction is made: all have sinned and lack of God’s glory, and are justified by the free gift of his grace through being set free in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23-24).

         Merit, which is the secondary effect of grace, is a title to a supernatural reward. An essential point: the first grace cannot be merited. Grace belongs to a higher level to which we cannot go up by ourselves but only with God’s help, with his divine grace. Without grace, we can merit nothing. No one can truly boast of the good labor or deeds he or she has performed: “What have you got that was not given to you?” (I Cor 4:7). Our merits, St. Augustine writes, “are God’s gifts” (CCC 2009). With God’s grace and gifts we can “merit” eternal glory, the increase of grace, and – only if helpful on the way to heaven – temporal goods. There are many texts in the Bible that speak of reward for work well done: “Your labor will have a reward” (Jr 31:16}; “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first” (Mt 20:8; cf. I Cor 3:8). Jesus’ Parables of the Ten Virgins, the Talents and the Last Judgment speak of different rewards or merits from God.

         Our baptismal and sacramental grace can grow and develop in a threefold manner: through the worthy reception of the sacraments, the practice of infused virtues – especially the theological virtues of faith, hope and, above all, charity-, and prayer of petition. Grace – always in the company of love – is developed and intensified by growing in charity as love of God and neighbor. St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the ascending perfection of charity: of the charity of the beginners, of the mature, and of the perfect.

         We may also grow in grace by ascending the ladder of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation, contemplation, and union. One of the best descriptions of the development of grace is found in the Interior Castle or Las Moradas of St. Teresa of Avila, where she explains the seven mansions of the soul on its way to spiritual marriage and deepest union with God.

         Graceful believers are asked by their faith to be faithful to divine grace. Fidelity to grace is “the loyalty or docility in following the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in any form that He shows Himself” (A. Royo-Marin). Fidelity to grace entails fidelity to habitual and actual graces; in particular, to the many actual graces that God gives to all daily. It implies fidelity to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:14), to the movements of the Holy Spirit and his Gifts.

         With grace, the Holy Spirit enlightens us and moves us to know and do the right thing. He inspires us indirectly, too, through various instruments, such as saints and angels, preachers, good books, friends – and the cross! Our Lady, Mother Mary aids us in a unique way, after Christ: she is the “full of grace.”

         Grace is given to us in baptism as God’s powerful gift, which calls for a task – our free cooperation. It is not given to us as a piece for a museum, nor as a light to be hidden under a bushel: “This grace in me has not been fruitless”; “yes, working together with him, we entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (II Cor 6:1). Divine grace is God’s gift to us that requires our free and responsible cooperation. Life is not easy. With God’s grace and love, one can bear any adversity. St. Paul reminds us of God’s words to him: “My grace is sufficient to you” (II Cor 12:9).

         Grace is “a divine seed” (I Jn 3:9), which we have to water, nurture, and care for through life. A young man entered a beautifully lighted store, which announced itself thus: “Everything you wish.”  He asked the angel managing the store: “I wish the end of all wars; justice for the exploited of the earth, tolerance and generosity towards all foreigners, profound love in the families, decent work for all the unemployed, and… and…” The angel interrupted him kindly: “Excuse me, young man, I think you did not understand me. Here, we do not sell fruits; we only sell seeds.”  Only seeds!  Grace and graces: divine seeds!     

(Published by O Clarim, November 18, 2016)

Significant Work of Mercy: FRATERNAL CORRECTION

                FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

(faustogomezb@yahoo.com)

 Through Christian tradition, the corporal works of mercy were generally focused on almsgiving while the spiritual works of mercy on admonishing the sinner, usually understood as fraternal correction or correction to the erring brother or sister (Mt 18:15). Fraternal correction is recommended by the Fathers of the Church and classical theologians.

Fraternal life means, “a life shared in love” (John Paul II), loving one another as brothers and sisters. Charity is undividedly love of God and love of neighbor. Loving the neighbor entails doing good to him or her, including correcting fraternally and prudently their faults. Fraternal correction is spiritual almsgiving, an external act of charity, an act of charity as love of neighbor by the path of mercy (St. Thomas Aquinas).

We speak here mainly of personal, individual fraternal correction – one on one -, which can only be made public when the fault is public and required to avoid scandal (I Tim 5:20). Beside personal fraternal correction, there is also public social correction not only from authorities and superiors, but also from subjects and citizens. Authentic public social correction is mainly an act of justice and has to do with the common good. As citizens of a country and of the world, and as believers in Jesus, at times we have to condemn and denounce publicly social evils, such as violence, injustice, human trafficking, exploitation of others, corruption.

Individual fraternal correction is ordered to repentance, to the amendment of the brother or sister who committed serious sin. Amendment – or conversion and change – is the goal or end of fraternal correction. I remember the words of Romano Guardini: “What is essential in love (in friendship) consist in this: that one wishes that the other be good and perfect.”

Generally, one does not call the attention of our neighbor to any and all moral faults or sins. Jesus tells us: “Do not judge and you will not be judged; because the judgments you give are the judgments you will get …” (This is a kind of karma) “Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?” (Mt 7:3).

It is difficult for humans to judge another rightly. Indeed, only God judges rightly; we, humans, “by appearance” (cf. I Sam 16:7). God our compassionate Father deals with us all as his sons and daughters, and corrects our faults: “God is treating you as his sons. Has there been any son whose father did not correct him?”(Hb 12:7; Ws 12:1-2). Imitating God our Father, we are asked by Jesus to be compassionate: “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate” (Lk 6:36). Fraternal correction is a merciful or compassionate act of love of neighbor.

 Jesus also says to us: “Do not keep judging according to appearances; let your judgment be according to what is right” (Jn 7:24). Jesus made corrections. He often calls the attention of his disciples individually or collectively: of Peter, John, Joh and James, and the disciples (cf. Mk 8:32-33, 14:29-31, 9:38-40; Lk 9:51-55). He corrects them for their lack of faith and trust in God (Mt 8:26, 14:31; Lk 17:5-6) and of vigilance (Mt 16:6-8). In Revelation we read the admonitions of the Spirit to the churches (Rev 1:4 – 3:22), and his call to repentance: “I reprove and train those whom I love: so repent in real earnest” (Rev 3:19).

Jesus exhorts us to practice fraternal correction: “If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you… But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community …” (Mt 18:15-17). Before Jesus, the prophets – Jeremiah, Amos, Micah… – made strong admonitions to God’s people and some individual leaders. The saints and the preachers make corrections. St. Dominic de Guzman corrected the brethren when they did wrong with justice and compassion: “Brother, you have done wrong, do penance.” Pope Francis practices fraternal correction. For instance when on December 22, 2014, he accused the Roman Curia of fifteen possible “sicknesses.”

Correcting sinners is a serious responsibility of love (Lv 19:17-18; Sir 19:13-15; I Cor 11:17-22; 1 Th 5:14; 2 Th 3:13-15).” Admonishing the sinner is a precept of charity and at times it may be obligatory to practice it. When? When our neighbor commits something morally grave or seriously sinful and the circumstances warrant it. Admonishing someone who is not going to make amends is useless and not advisable. If correction to another is going to be counterproductive or make things worse, then it is not prudent to do it.

It is fashionable nowadays to be “politically correct,” that is, to say what others want to hear regardless of truth, justice and solidarity, which are with freedom the great social values.  Thus, for some – or many – among us, it is not “politically correct” to admonish sinners. Why complicate our life? It is not my concern! He or she knows what to do, anyway. St. Augustine questions us: “You do not care about the wounds of your brother?” Sin really hurts! The Bishop of Hippo sentences: “By keeping silent you are worse than he is by committing sin.” Fraternal correction is a precept and obliges all, including sinners, that is, all of us! Is it proper for a sinner to admonish another sinner? The Fathers of the Church answer in the positive, but caution us to be careful and not fall into the temptation of considering ourselves “holier and wiser than thou”! Often we commit the faults we are accusing others of. In these cases, St. Thomas Aquinas advises: We do not condemn the other but together weep and help each other to repent.

How to admonish sinners properly? Benedict M. Ashley answers wisely: “To make such a fraternal correction one must have certitude of the fault, a real necessity for the correction, a suitable opportunity to speak with the person, and a real possibility of the correction having a good effect.” Christian tradition recommends a fraternal correction which is “charitable, patient, humble, prudent, discreet, and ordered” (A Royo-Marin). The correction to a brother or sister must be done in the first place in secret (Mt 18:15): he or she has a right to a good name.

Generally, the saints accuse themselves and excuse others. They tell us that ordinarily the best way to practice fraternal correction is by giving good example and praying for the sinner in question. “Great wisdom is knowing to keep quiet and not looking neither to words nor deeds nor the lives of others”; “Do not harbor suspicion against your brother, because you will lose the purity of heart” (St. John of the Cross).

Pope Francis teaches us that one cannot admonish another without love or charity. Moreover, the Argentinian Pope adds: one can help another to grow by aiding him recognize the objective evil of his or her actions, but without judging his or her responsibility and culpability (cf. EG 172).

When and how to admonish or criticize others then? There are two kinds of criticism or judgment: negative (to destroy) and immoral, and positive (to improve) or ethical. The qualities of positive criticism are: first, we usually praise others and exceptionally, criticize or admonish them; second, we do it out of fraternal love; third, our correction is rooted in humility, and fourth, our neighbor’s moral fault is true and not the result of suspicion or rumor-mongering. When we are obliged to judge others, to make corrections, we do it, then, truthfully, humbly, charitably, and exceptionally! (Martin Descalzo).

On one hand, charity as love of neighbor calls us to admonish others when it is proper. If we love others and they feel loved by us, they will accept our correction: “Nothing moves to love than to feel loved.”  Moreover, as some authors underline, our humble and fraternal correction to the other may lead us to become more aware of our own faults and more committed to erase them. On the other hand, merciful charity urges us to accept proper fraternal correction from others: “Whoever rejects discipline wins poverty and scorn; for anyone who accepts correction: honor” (Pr 13:18). We will accept the corrections of our brothers and sisters because they love us, and “We listen to those who love us.”

Jesus keeps telling us: “Love one another just as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34).

(Published in O Clarim, November 4, 2016)

Remembering Saint John Paul II

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

On October 22, 2016 the Church celebrates the feast of Saint John Paul II: October 22 (1978) was the day of his papal inauguration. The Polish Pope was proclaimed a Saint by Pope Francis on April 27, 2014. Earlier, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed him Blessed on May I, 2011. Karol Josef Wojtyla – the future Pope – was born in Wadowice, Poland, on May 18, 1920.

I had the great luck of meeting John Paul II personally a few times. The first time I met him was on September 5, 1980 in Castel Gandolfo. Together with twenty eight priests and eight bishops, I had the great luck of concelebrating at the Eucharist presided over by the Holy Father. What impressed me most then was the contemplative attitude of the Holy Father through the Mass:  totally absorbed, following carefully the rhythm of the Mass, pronouncing each word (in Latin) slowly and distinctly, making strategic pauses of silence.

Throughout his 26 years as successor of Saint Peter the (he is the 264^th successor), John Paul II showed the primary place of prayer in his life. Some authors today consider him a modern mystic. It is said that he made decisions on his knees. Monsignor Slawomir, the postulator of the Pontiff’s cause of beatification, was asked: What aspect of the Pope’s life particularly struck you? He answered: He was certainly a mystic, “a mystic in the sense that he  was a man who lived in the presence of God, who let himself be guided by the Holy Spirit, who was in constant dialogue with the Lord, who built his whole life around the question (asked by Jesus to Peter), ‘Do you love me’.” A close collaborator of the Pope said on April 30, 2011: “To see him pray was to see a person who was in conversation with God.”

I remember with special fondness the third time I met him personally. (The second time I met him took place during his first visit to the University of Santo Tomas, Manila in February 1981; in this visit, he beatified Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions Martyrs – now saints – at the Luneta Park, Manila) It was during the World Youth Day in Manila (January 1995), where the Holy Father had the greatest audience ever – until then: more than four million people attended the Pope’s final Mass. (One Hong Kong newspaper wrote that on that occasion the multitude became a megatude). Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in the University of Santo Tomas with the youth delegates – 245 from all over the world – to the 5^th International Youth Forum. This time after the Mass he greeted one by one the students and some others who had the great luck of attending the Mass. While the Holy Father greeted the youth he embraced them – and also some others not so young including me. While he embraced me I could hardly tell him, “Holy Father I have read your lovely book Crossing the Threshold of Hope.” He looked at me intensely and kindly, and told me “Bene, bene.” I was deeply touched! I remember the words of TIME when the magazine named the Pope Man of the Year (1994): “He generates electricity unmatched by anyone else in the world.”

The last time I met the John Paul II was on February 21, 2004 at the Sala Clementina in the Vatican in the company of about a hundred and fifty people, most of us members of the Pontifical Academy for Life. By that time, he was already sickly, with his Parkinson developing slowly. He could not walk anymore and it was hard to understand his speech. But even then, and against the advice of some of his assistants, Pope John Paul II greeted us – about 130 people – one by one: we knelt before him and kissed his ring; he blessed us and smiled.  Many writers on John Paul II underline this characteristic of the late Pope: he was concerned with the person, with each person, each one creature and image of God. This is one of the reason he touched the hearts of so many people throughout the world: the young, the children, the old, men and women from other religions and cultures…

In his first Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, Redeemer of the World (1979), issued a few months after his election, Pope John Paul II explains that man is the road of the Church and Christ is the road of man: Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Son Mary, the primordial foundation of Christian morality, the Way, the Truth and the Life. John Paul II was missionary of the world: he visited about 130 countries during his papacy. He was from Poland but, indeed, the world was his parish. The well-known Catholic convert André Fossard once said: “This is not a Pope from Poland, but a Pope from Galilee.”

St. John Paul II knew Jesus deeply, loved him intimately and followed him unconditionally up to the end. He was a great devotee of Mary the Mother of Jesus and her faithful servant: totus tuus, all yours! The Polish Pope believed that it was mainly the Virgin Mary the one who saved him after being shot and gravely wounded in St. Peter’s Square precisely on May 13 (1991), the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  In his lovely Apostolic Letter on “the most holy Rosary,” Rosarium Virginis Mariae (2002), Pope John Paul II writes that Mary is the best teacher on Jesus. In union with Mary, we “learn” Jesus: we learn “to read Christ, to uncover his secrets and to understand his message.”

October of every year – the month of the Holy Rosary – will remind us of St. John Paul II’s holy life, of his total dedication to Christ, Mary and the Church, of his fundamental writings and teachings. In particular one recalls his teachings on human life found especially in his Encyclical (he wrote fourteen encyclicals) Evangelium Vitae,” or The Gospel of Life (1995), the first encyclical on bioethics, where he repeats one of his constant mottos: “Human life must be defended from the moment of conception to natural death.”  I also treasure his radical and creative social teachings found in his three social encyclicals and many addresses and exhortations. It is worth noting here that John Paul II, a remarkable worker since he was a youth, was beatified on May 1, the day of labor. He wrote a pace-setting social encyclical on human work, Laborem Exercens (1981): “Capital is for labor; work is for man.”  From the social teachings, I consider this point most innovative: heretic is not only the believer who does not accept or distorts an article of the Creed, but also one who does not share something with the poor and weak of the world. (Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 2001)

I love to underline his substantial teachings on freedom and truth (in his basic encyclical Veritatis Splendor, The Splendor of Truth, 1994): “Freedom is not freedom from the truth but freedom in the truth”; on justice and love: “love is the soul of justice”; on peace and democracy (as it is well known, the late Pope contributed immensely to the collapse of European communism in 1989). Just before the war of Iraq he shouted from the famous papal balcony in the Vatican: “No to war. War doesn’t resolve anything. I have seen war. I know what war is.” The Pope words on justice and forgiveness (after the incredible terrorist attacks against the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001) ring frequently in my ears: “No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness.”

As a consecrated person I appreciate John Paul II Vita Consecrata (1996), his important Apostolic Exhortation in which he invites religious men and women to be holy, that is prayerful and compassionate: to go up to the mountain of prayer and to come down to the market-place of the world and witness their passion for God and compassion for humanity.

I remember that once, somewhere in 2004, I discussed with a Dominican brother from the States the possibility that John Paul II might resign as Pope. Later on I read somewhere that someone asked John Paul II: “Will Your Holiness resign.” The Pope answered him marvelously: “I cannot, because Jesus did not go down from the cross.” On February 21-23, 2005, the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life could not have an audience with the Holy Father. By then John Paul II was gravely ill. He would die one month and a half later, on April 2, 2005, after giving his most moving and last speech to the world:  his patient, compassionate, dignified, exemplary way of dying and facing death. Before dying, when thousands of young people were camping near the Vatican and praying for the Pope, he said to his assistants: “Tell the young, I love them.” We are told that his last words – almost inaudible – were: “Let me go… Let me go to the house of the Father.” I remember the Pope had said at the beginning of his pontificate, then with his booming voice: “Our life is a pilgrimage to the house of the Father.” He is in the house of the Father! I am sure he remembers us singing in Manila, in New York, in London, in Rome: “John Paul II, we love you!” Now we petition him: Saint John Paul II, pray for us!

(Published by O Clarim, October 21, 2016)

The powerful sound of SILENCE

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

When I was a student of philosophy, we had a holy and wise Master of Students, Fr. Luis López de las Heras. He gave us a lecture every Saturday morning. One lecture that lingered in my mind for life was his talk on silence, a silence he practiced in his humble Dominican life. Later on, I was moved by one of my favorite songs, “The Sound of Silence” of Simon and Garfunkel: the singers, the song, and the lyrics! It is enchanting. I love its title!

As human beings, as Christians in particular, we need to hear and listen to the sound of silence through our life. We are invaded, bombarded today by too many words, too many noises… Silence is a great value and virtue in all religions and faiths. The Church “must discover the power of silence” (Cardinal Luis Antonio de Tagle).

Silence is the other word. After the word, preacher Lacordaire says, silence is the second power in the world. Word and silence are two ways of speaking; two aspects of communication; the two sides of talking. Both words complement each other. “We all need the use of words, but to use them with power we all need to be silent” (John Main).

 I invite you to listen with me to words on the awesome sound of silence – not the sound of bad silence, but of good, virtuous silence.  There is, indeed, bad silence, like the silence that does not utter words when it should speak: “We believe, and so we speak” (II Cor 4:13). The Lord says to Paul: “Do not be afraid, go on speaking and do not be silenced, for I am with you” (Acts 18:9-10). The apostles Peter and John were asked by the Jewish authorities to keep quiet about the Crucified and Risen Lord. Their answer: We have to obey God, rather than men; “we cannot stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20.

Leo XIII says that at times we ought not to be silent, we have to speak, as when he spoke powerfully of the poverty of workers at the end of the 19^th century: “By keeping silence we would seem to neglect the duty incumbent on us” (Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum). The Christian is asked by his humanity and faith to speak on behalf of those who have no voice: children, women, the poor, the elderly, the migrants, and the marginalized.

Forced silence is also bad, such as the silence imposed by dictators and the like on others, on promoters of human dignity and rights, on peaceful followers of religions and faiths. Money, too, may force some of us to keep silent when we ought not: “When money talks, the truth is silent” (Chinese Proverb). Nowadays, moreover, it is not hard to find people who do not talk because speaking is not “politically correct.”

Speaking of silence without adjectives usually means good, positive, healthy and holy silence. We need silence, good silence, not for the sake of silence, but as a way to know ourselves more deeply, to listen to God and his creation, to Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior, to our own hearts, and to all women, men – all creatures and children of God.

Silence is needed to hear the wordless voice of our heart. “Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights” (Khalil Gibran). Silence is needed to listen to God, “to listen to the Voice: “I will keep silent and let God speak within” (Meister Eckhart).  “Speak, Lord, your servant listens.” Like to the prophet Elijah, God speaks to us not in the hurricane, not in the earthquake, not in the fire; God talks to us in a light murmuring sound, in a “still small voice” (Cf. I Kgs 19:11-13). To hear God’s silent voice, our senses, our hearts must be silent: “I hold myself in quiet and silence, like a little child in his mother’s arms, like a little child, so I keep myself” (Ps 131:2).

Silence is needed to listen to God’s creation – to the stars, the ocean, the wind, the flowers, the birds. In his Encyclical letter Laudato Si (2015, Pope Francis invites us to contemplate God’s creation and to listen to its silent voice. He quotes St. John Paul II: “For the believer, to contemplate creation is to hear a message, to listen to a paradoxical and silent voice” (Laudate Si’ 85).

Silence is also needed to listen to others. Job tells his talking friends: “If you would only keep silent that would be your wisdom” (Jb 13:5). Pope Francis speaks of the importance of learning the art of listening, “which is more than simply hearing” and implies “an openness of heart”; he recommends “respectful and compassionate listening” (Evangelii Gaudium 171). Unfortunately, some if not many of us do not listen to others but just wait for them to finish their talking and continue with ours: “People talking without speaking; people hearing without listening…” (The Sound of Silence). We keep silent when our word will be hurtful to the other, or boastful or unkind. Then, as my father used to say, “La mejor palabra es la que está por decir” (the best word is the one not yet spoken).  The great mystic St. John of the Cross advises silence when facing the lives of others: “Great wisdom is to keep silent and not to look to sayings, deeds or the lives of others” (Sayings of Light and Love).

We need silence to speak the saving word. In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini (2010), Pope Benedict XVI recommends that the People of God be educated on the value of silence, which is needed to speak of and listen to the word. The word, in fact, “can only be spoken and heard in silence, outward and inward”; “the great patristic tradition teaches us that the mysteries of Christ all involve silence” (VD 66). The liturgy speaks of “sacred silence,” which is recommended in the Eucharist, and in the recitation of the Psalms. Pauses of silence are also recommended when praying the Rosary, particularly at the beginning of each mystery.

The saints invite us to cultivate good silence in our lives. They practice the silence and silent prayer of Jesus. Like Saint Joseph, who feeling the hand of God accepts silently the motherhood of Mary and the mysterious life of Jesus (cf. Mt 1:24). He does not say a word. He just talks by the good deeds of his daily life attuned to God’s will. Like the Virgin Mary, the greatest saint, who kept all the things happening around Jesus in her heart (Lk 2:51): in her, “all was space for the Beloved and silence to listen” (Bruno Forte).

We are asked to be silent before God, who is usually silent when we talk to him. On the Cross, Jesus faced the silence of God, too. “Why have you abandoned me?” Jesus cried out from the cross. At times, we ask God: Why have you abandoned me? God’s answer was and is silence. The silence of God, yesterday and today in the midst of darkness, of desolation, of injustices and war is a mysterious silence unveiled in his love: “God so loved the world that He gave it his only begotten Son.” Why is the good Lord silent when we suffer? “God does not want suffering; He is present in a silent way” (E. Schillebeeckx). Why is God silent? St. John of the Cross says that God is silent because in his Son Jesus He gave us everything, and in the Word He has said everything (todo): “In giving us his Son, his only Word, God spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word – and He has no more to say.”

On Good Friday, Jesus is silent: his serene silence to the many questions of Pilate and Herod; his calm silence to the cry of the people: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” His humble silence while he is horribly scourged at the pillar. Jesus is patiently silent through his whole passion; at times, he pronounces a few words which dramatize his talking silence. Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh “never opened his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb before the shearers, he never opened his mouth” (Is 53:7; cf. Acts 8:32). Yes, “like a silent lamb, but in reality instead of a lamb we have a man, and in the man, Christ that contains everything” (Meliton de Sardis).

Word and silence are two ways of speaking, like the two eyes of the face of life, or the two wings of a bird. Word and silence are ordered to a third word: love, which is silently witnessed in good deeds. “A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak” (Benedict XVI).

The strongest voice of silence is silent love: “The language God hears best is silent love” (St. John of the Cross). Silent love is a most powerful sound: the sound of silence!

(Published in O Clarim, Macau Catholic Weekly: September 9, 2016)

Mary, Mother of Mercy

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

       The mother, our mother, is the icon and model of mercy and tenderness. Saint John Vianney, a lovely soul, says that the Blessed Virgin is better than the best of mothers. Hence, Mary is the Mother of Mercy, Mater Misericordiae.

       Mary is the Mother of God, of Jesus who is the Son of God and her Son: Mary’s “entire life was patterned after the presence of mercy made flesh” (Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus). Mary, Our Lady, is also our Mother, the Mother of Mercy.

       St John the Evangelist speaks of Mary twice in his Gospel: Mary at Cana, and Mary at Calvary, and in both cases, the Evangelist presents Mary as the Mother of Jesus (Jn 2:1-3; Jn 19:25-27; cf. Lk 1:31-32). In a deep sense, the expression Mother of God tells us everything about Mary. The motherhood of Mary is the source of all her privileges and graces: she was conceived without original sin (she is the Immaculate Conception); she was taken up to heaven in body and soul (the Assumption of Mary); she is the Virgin Mary and the Mother of God.

       Mary, the Mother of God! This is how she is called through the first centuries of Christianity. She was dogmatically declared Mother of God in the Council of Ephesus in 431: “Theotokos,” that is, God’s Mother. Vatican II says that “Mary is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Redeemer, and, therefore, she surpasses all other creatures in heaven and on earth.” In the Church, “she is the highest after Christ and yet very close to us” (LG, 54), and she is the Mother of the Church. Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God: “She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ; Presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him in suffering as He died on the cross” (Vatican II, LG, 61).How can Mary, a creature, be the Mother of God, the Creator? Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God, not only of the body of Jesus, but of Him who took flesh in her and who existed before her.

       Mary, the Mother of the Son of God, is our Mother. Jesus from the cross looked at Mary and John and pronounced the third word from the cross. Jesus says to Mary: “Woman, behold your son,” and to John: “Behold your Mother” (Jn 19:25-27). Jesus then and there gives to John, and to each one of us, what was dearest to him – his Mother Mary. From now on, Mary is our Mother too

       What kind of motherhood is the Motherhood of Mary? Mary does not replace our own mother. She is our Mother in a different dimension: Mother in the Spirit, Mother of those reborn in the grace of the Spirit, Mother of the Redeemer and of the redeemed. In the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, Mary is our spiritual Mother under Christ, who is our Head, “because she cooperated with her charity in the birth of the faithful of the Church that are members of the head” (St. Augustine). Mary’s maternity is a maternity of grace – she is the “full of grace.”

       The life of Mary is “a rule of life for all” (St. Ambrose). As the disciple of disciples, Mary is “a model of the virtues” (LG 65). She is an example, in particular, of the following virtues: of faith (“Blessed are you because you have believed”- Lk 1:19); of prayer  (she treasured everything that happened around Jesus in her heart and ponder upon it – Lk 1:19), of obedience (“Let it be, Fiat” – Lk 1:37-38); of missionary zeal (she visited Elizabeth and proclaimed Jesus to her – Lk 1:39-45), of solidarity with the poor neighbor (Lk 1:46-55), and her compassion for all the needy, that is her mercy (Lk 1:45-55).

       Mary is called the Mother of Mercy, our Lady of Mercy, and Mother of Divine Mercy. Mary received mercy from God in “an exceptional way” and in “an equally exceptional way” ‘merits’ God’s mercy through her earthly life by sharing in Jesus’s messianic mission and merciful love. Mary is the Mother of Mercy and, above all, the Mother of the Crucified and Risen Lord. Mary shared like no one else in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross: “Her sacrifice is a unique sharing in revealing God’s mercy… No one has experienced, to the same degree as the Mother of the Crucified One, the mystery of the Cross, the overwhelming encounter of divine transcendent justice with love: that ‘kiss’ given by mercy to justice” (John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia). “The Mother of the Crucified and Risen One has entered the sanctuary of divine mercy because she participated intimately in the mystery of his love” (Pope Francis, MV 23).

       As the disciple of disciples, Our Lady is the most merciful disciple of Christ. Romanus the Melodist (6^th century) writes: “Fittingly, the Merciful One has a merciful Mother.” As the closest to Jesus, Mary has, according to St. John Paul II, “the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God’s mercy” (DM, 9).

       As true followers of Christ, the Merciful One, all the saints practiced merciful love after Mary, the Mother of Mercy.  Like the saints, the followers of Christ are asked to imitate Mary’s mercy: Mary is icon and model of mercy. In her Magnificat, Our Lady sings a great song of praise, gratitude and merciful love – a merciful love that “extends from age to age…” (Lk 1:50). God’s infinite merciful love extends to our age, a love which we are asked to respond with merciful love.

       We Christians believe that Mary is the Mother of God. Because she is the Mother of Jesus, Our Savior and Redeemer, and because she is our Mother, we are asked to have a special devotion to her – a devotion that is above our devotions to the saints. Our Marian devotion includes imitating Mary’s mercy.

       Special devotion to Mary means basically filial love to Mary as the Mother of Jesus and Our Mother. As our Mother, Mary wants us, above all, to follow Jesus. Our filial devotion to Mary is ordered to our devotion to Christ. Christ is the end of all devotions, including the devotion to Mary. Saint Bernard, a great devotee of Mary, said: “The reason for our love of Mary is the Lord Jesus; the measure of our love for her is to love her without measure.”

       As Mother of Mercy, Mary prays for us and we approach her to ask her to intercede for us. The Christian prays confidently: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…” At Cana, Mary shows her role for us as merciful intercessor: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). We often sing to her: “Salve Regina Mater Misericordiae.” The Marian devotion of the people to merciful Mary is expressed in the varied avocations naming the Virgin Mary, in particular Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sorrowful Mother and Mother of the Poor (cf. W. Kasper, Mercy).

       At the Immaculate Conception Shrine in Washington D.C., there is an altar presided over by a beautiful statue of Mother and Child, with the inscription: “More Mother than Queen.” I love it! Mary Queen of all creation, of course. Above all, Mary Mother of Jesus, the Son of God, and the Mother of the Church and our Mother, the Mother of Mercy.

       Mother Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us!

       With Saint Thomas Aquinas we pray:

O most blessed and sweet Virgin Mary, Mother of God… I entrust to your merciful heart…my entire life… Obtain for me as well, O most Sweet Lady, true charity with which from the depths of my heart I may love your most Holy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and, after him, love you above all other things…and my neighbor, in God and for God

(In Benedict XVI, Great Christian Thinkers from Early Church through the Middle Ages).

(Originally published in O Clarim, Macau Catholic Weekly: July 8, 2016)