-       Nurtured by the Church       - 

JESUS ESTABLISHES THE CHURCH, and he establishes us within the Church. The mystery of the Church is closely united to the mystery of Mary, mother of God and mother of the Church. Mary brings us forth and cares for us, and the Church does also. Mary helps us grow, and the Church does also. Mary help us grow, and the Church does also. And at the hour of death, the priest bids us farewell in the name of the Church and leaves us in the arms of Mary. She is "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Revelation 12:1). That is the Church and that is the modest Virgin that our faithful people venerate. That is why in speaking of the Church we need to feel the same devotion as we feel for the Virgin Mary. A favorite expression of Saint Ignatius  was Santa madre Iglesia hierarchica, "our holy Mother the hierarchical Church" (SpEx 353). This expression evokes three concepts that are linked to one another: holiness, fruitfulness and discipline.

WE WERE BROUGHT FORTH for the holiness within the body of our holy Mother the Church. Keeping ourselves firmly inserted in that holy body is the key to our apostolic fruitfulness and our calling to "be holy and immaculate in God's presence." The Church is holy: it is present to the world "as a sign - simultaneously obscure and luminous - of a new presence of Jesus, of his departure and of his permanent presence. She prolongs and continues him" (Evangeli Nuntiandi, 15). The Church's holiness is manifest in "the intimate life of this community - the life of listening to the Word and the apostles' teaching, of charity lived in a fraternal way, of sharing of bread (cf. Acts 2:42-46; 4:32-35; 5:12-16). This intimate life acquires its full meaning only when it becomes a witness, when it evokes admiration and conversion, and when it becomes the preaching and proclamation of the Good News" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 15). The Church's holiness is not naive, for she knows that "she is the People of God immersed in the world and often tempted by idols and she always needs to hear the proclamation of the 'mighty works of God' (cf. Acts 2:11; 1 Peter 2:9) which converted her to the Lord; she always needs to be called together afresh by him and reunited" (Evangeli Nuntiandi, 15). The holy Church Fathers expressed this mystery of the Church's holiness by calling her casta meretrix, the "chaste prostitute." The Church's holiness is reflected in the face of Mary, the sinless one, the pure and spotless one, but she does not forget that she gathers in her bosom the children of Eve, mother of all us sinners.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts. (Acts 2:42-46)

There is a wealth of theological literature about holiness. In canonizing saints, the Church, with the unfailing assistance of the Spirit, uses criteria with which we are all familiar. In our clerical lingo, we often jokingly overuse the word "holy" such as when we say with a smile, "this holy house" or "these holy customs." But it is also true that when we are impressed with a person's virtues and want to pay tribute to them, we say, "This person is a saint." In doing so, we renounce our many idols and kneel down before the mystery of God and of his infinite goodness as revealed in a human person. Love and devotion for Holy Mother Church means love and devotion for her faithful children. In our Church, we have many saints with whom we deal on a daily basis: in our parish life, in the confessional, in spiritual direction. Sometimes I wonder about the real relation for the bitter criticism of the Church, the censure of her many sins, the despondency we feel with respect to her. Are this negative attitudes perhaps not due to our being malnourished because we fail to take delight in the human holiness that surrounds us and reconciles us all? For it is by such holiness that God dwells in his body.

Holiness reveals itself in us through our desire to announce the Good News: "Our evangelizing zeal must spring from true holiness of life, and as the Second Vatican Council suggests, preaching must in turn make the preacher grow in holiness, which is nourished by prayer and above all by love for the Eucharist" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 76). This is the nexus between the Church's holiness and her maternal nature, and it is also the nexus between our holiness as consecrated persons and our effectiveness in forming Christian hearts. Here we may reflect on the questions proposed to us by Paul VI, question that we are all responsible for answering: "What is the state of the Church ten years after the Council? Is she firmly established in the midst of the world and yet free and independent enough to call for the world's attention? Does she testify to solidarity with people and at the same time to the divine Absolute? Is she more ardent in contemplation and adoration and more zealous in missionary, charitable, and liberating action? Is she evermore committed to the effort to search for the restoration of the complete unity of Christians, a unity that makes more effective the common witness, 'so that the world may believe'?" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 76).

TALKING ABOUT HOLY MOTHER CHURCH makes us think of fertility. Often we become skeptical in hoping for fertility, like Sarah who laughed to herself when she was promised a child (Genesis 18:9-15). Other times, in contrast, we become euphoric and set about quantifying and planning our productivity so assiduously that we end up repeating the sin of David, whose vanity impelled him to take a census of his people. The fecundity of the Gospel travels by different paths. It is always aware that the Lord never abandons us and that he fulfills his promise to be with us until the end of the world. This fecundity is paradoxical: it means being fruitful  but at the same time never being fully aware of it - and yet not being unaware either! I remember the words of that indefatigable missionary of Patagonia, Father Matthias Crespi, who when he was old used to repeat, "My life has flown past," as if to say that it seemed to him that he had never done anything for the Lord. This is the fecundity of the dew that dampens everything without a sound. It is the fertility that comes from a faith that may ask for proofs but understands that those proofs can never be definitive. The only unfailing proof is to be found in the "passing of the Lord" who consoles us, who strengthens us in faith, and who places us in our mission as stewards who will faithfully await him "until he comes."

They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh "; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."

The Church is Mother; she brings forth children with the strength of the deposit of faith. She "is the depositary of the Good news to be proclaimed. The promises of the New Alliance in Jesus Christ, the teaching of the Lord and the apostles, the Word of life, the sources of grace and of God's loving kindness, the path of salvation - all these things have been entrusted to her. It is the content of the Gospel, and therefore of evangelization, that she preserves as a precious living heritage, not in order to keep it hidden but to communicate it" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 15). The Church's mission, then, is to bring forth children, to give life. The Church brings forth her children in undying fidelity to her Spouse for "she sends them out to preach: to preach not themselves or their personal ideas (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:5), but a Gospel of which neither she nor they are the absolute masters and owners, to dispose of it as they wish, but a Gospel of which they are ministers, in order to pass it on with complete fidelity" (Evangelii Nuntiandi,  15). By her fidelity to her Spouse, who is supremely faithful, the Church teaches us how to be faithfully fruitful.

Wanting to be fruitful is a legitimate desire, but the Gospel has its own laws for determining the legitimacy of our activities. Its as if someone were to tell us: you will be fruitful only if you carefully maintain your status as a hired worker, only if you seek to balance your hard work with a sense of your own uselessness, and ultimately only if you convince yourself that, after you till the earth and plant the seed, the watering and the harvest are pure grace - they belong to the Lord.

We should love the mystery of the Church's fertility as we love the mystery of Mary who is Virgin and Mother, and in light of that love we should love the mystery of our own unprofitable servanthood, but always with the hope that the Lord will pronounce over us those words, "Good and faithful servant."

OUR LOVE FOR THE CHURCH is a love that inserts us into a body, and this requires discipline. The same idea may be expressed in the phrase, "discerning charity." For a priest, indiscipline means lack of discernment, which always involves a lack of love. Discerning love will help us grow to be fully conscious of belonging to a large community which neither space nor time can limit" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 61). Our consciousness of belonging will make us understand that the mission of evangelizing on which we are sent "is for no one an individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial. When the most obscure preacher, catechist, or pastor in the most distant land preaches the Gospel, gathers his little community together, or administers a sacrament, even alone, he is carrying out an ecclesial act, and his action is certainly attached to the evangelizing activity of the whole Church by institutional relationships, but also by profound invisible links in the order of grace. This presupposes that he acts not in virtue of a mission which he attributes to himself or by a personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in her name" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 60). Our discipline is rooted in the fact that "no evangelizer is the absolute master of his evangelizing action, with a discretionary power to carry it out in accordance with individualistic criteria and perspectives; he always acts in communion with the Church and her pastors" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 60).

Our belonging to the kingdom "cannot remain abstract and disincarnate; it reveals itself concretely by a visible entry into a community of believers:... the Church, the visible sacrament of salvation" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 23). We are called to "communion with the visible sign of the encounter with God which is the Church of Jesus Christ; and this communion is in turn expressed by the application of those other signs of Christ living and acting in the Church which are the sacraments" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 28). Our belonging to the kingdom then, must enter into the side of Christ suspended on the cross, for it is from there that his Spouse is born, the fruitful Mother of a well-disciplined body nourished by the sacraments. "There is thus a profound link between Christ, the Church, and evangelization. During the period of the Church that we are living in, it is she who has the task of evangelizing. This mandate is not accomplished without her, and still less against her"  (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 16).

Discipline is not something decorative, nor is it an exercise in good manners. An undisciplined heart can end up producing the kind of "disruptive person" Saint Ignatius wrote about, for those who have not controlled their passion are often "disruptive." Persons who are undisciplined may sow division and disunion in the heart of a community or a diocese; using deceitful and pharisaical means, they seek to gain a few followers and create a situation of injustice. In presenting the theme of discipline in this way, I don't mean that we should engage in obsessive self-examination and penance before the Lord regarding our defects as pastors. That would be sterile introspection. Rather, the correct attitude is to place ourselves in prayer before the Lord, asking him insistently to pronounce over to us that efficacious word that corrects us and bonds us to him: "Child, give me your heart."

My intention in this meditation has been to speak about love for our holy Mother, the hierarchical Church. We've already talked about the responsibility we have to be sons and daughters of the Church and at the same time to create Church. Our love for the Church should lead us to make manifest to the world her holiness, her loving fruitfulness, and her discipline, all of which flow from her being totally Christ's. The Council states it succinctly with the words, De Verbum religious audiens et fidenter proclamans: the Church "religiously hears the Word of God and faithfully proclaims it." May our Lady, the Virgin Mother, obtain for us from the Lord the grace of a love that is holy, fruitful, and disciplined in accord with the Church.

                                                 For Prayer and Reflection

Reflecting once again on Evangelii Nuntiandi 60, let us end by meditating on our love for and our belonging to our Mother, the Church: The observation that the Church has been sent out and given a mandate to evangelize the world should awaken in us two with two convictions.

The first is this: evangelization is for no one and individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial. When the most obscure preacher, catechist, or pastor in the most distant land preaches the Gospel, gathers his little community together, or administers a sacrament, even alone, he is carrying out an ecclesial act, and his action is certainly attached to the evangelizing activity of the whole Church by institutional relationships, but also by profound invisible links in the order of grace. This presupposes that he acts not in virtue of a mission that he attributes to himself or by a personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in her name.

From this flows the second conviction: if each individual evangelizes in the name of the Church, who herself does so by virtue of a mandate from the Lord, no evangelizer is the absolute master of his evangelizing action, with a discretionary power to carry it out in accordance with individualistic criteria and perspectives; he acts in communion with the Church and her pastors.

We have remarked that the Church is entirely and completely evangelizing. This means that, in the whole world and in each part of the world where she is present, the Church feels part of the world where she is present, the Church feels responsible for the task of spreading the Gospel.

BY HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS - Open Mind, Faithful Heart - Reflection on Following Jesus -

     -   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -