Living the Gospel of Life in a Culture of Death

Living the Gospel of Life in a Culture of Death

Mark 3: 1-6
[Jesus] entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us." Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

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Respect for Human Life and Human Dignity

The man with the withered hand could have been content to remain that way for the rest of his life, but he heard the word of Christ and risked persecution by stepping forward.

Being a person of life, promoting a culture of life and civility in our culture of death, is undeniably countercultural. We too must stretch forth our withered hands in prayer and compassion to our neighbors.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a "Gospel of life." It invites all persons to a new life lived abundantly in respect for human dignity. We proclaim that human life is a precious gift from God; and that society, must protect and nurture human life at every stage of its existence.

A culture of life begins with our refusal to destroy someone through gossip, ridicule, discrimination, deceit, disrespect, or any type of violence; and being pro-life requires a personal decision to respect the dignity of others, seeking to affirm and safeguard the gift of human sexuality and the gift of procreation; and to uphold the dignity of marriage.

But being pro-life means standing in solidarity with all of human life. As Christians, Jesus challenges us with these words: “Whatsover you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.”

We are called to be neighbors to everyone, and to "show special favor to those who are poorest, most alone, and most in need of mercy. In helping the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the homeless, the sick, the unwanted, or the imprisoned, we serve Christ Jesus.

The Christian disciple therefore not only avoids evil, he or she does not even think or wish another person any harm – even the most wretched or vicious, for "The measure of forgiveness that you measure out to others will be measured out to you." Christ's words of mercy are clear: "Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy," and the prophet Ezekiel spoke God’s word: "God does not desire the death of the sinner."

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There are those who criticize the Church for her pro-life stance just as there were those who criticized Jesus for eating with sinners and forgiving sin. Jesus lived the pro-life gospel by insisting that no person should be abandoned or regarded as hopeless.

We are all lost sheep from time to time; our hands are at times clenched tight, withered shut, keeping God’s mercy only for ourselves. Yet there are no lost sheep in God’s Kingdom! There are no expendable children – born or unborn! There are no worthless human beings! There are no useless persons! There is no one beyond the reach of God’s mercy! For every drop of blood that Christ Jesus shed was shed for you and me and every other sinner.

We are all called to be prophets that stand on the side of life and witness to the burning love of God in an often cold, cruel world, through our forgiveness, mercy, and compassion. In one of the Catholic prayers associated with the rosary, we pray, “...lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most in need of mercy.”

If we love God and long for God, then we will truly come to love the things that God loves, and love the people God loves. And if we long for union with Christ, then we must have the mind and the heart of Christ! And to practice what he taught! How impossible this seems - yet it is possible with God’s grace, and so we pray for his Grace – even now in the eleventh hour.

The Church holds a belief in the unique worth and dignity of each person from the moment of conception, made in the image and likeness of God - even those who have taken life must be treated with dignity – yes, even those who may show no sign of remorse or contrition. As St. Paul wrote, “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5.8). Christ’s blood was shed even for the sins of murderers.

“Our witness to respect for life shines most brightly when we demand respect for each and every human life, including the lives of those who fail to show that respect for others”! (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 22).

Christ taught us that we must love our enemies, not that it would be a good idea, but that we must love them. The gospel message is this: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” (Lk. 19.10) Is it not our task to carry on the work of the Lord? Christ did not give us an exception to the rule ‘love thy neighbor.’ Otherwise, the Good Shepherd would have remained with the loyal ninety-nine sheep and let the lost sheep plummet over the edge of the cliff to its death.

Therefore, let us cast away our fear of loving the unlovable and step forward like the man in the gospel. Let us abandon ourselves to mercy and seek to love as God loves by stretching forth our withered hands.

Those who seek vengeance against the perpetrator of a heinous crime only reduce themselves to the very thing they seek to destroy and merely perpetuate the culture of killing.

Capital Punishment can neither restore the victims’ lives nor uplift the survivors or lessen their grief and pain. Only mercy, love, and forgiveness can do that. 

We must stand with victims of crime –including the children of those who are incarcerated, but State-sanctioned killing affects us all because it diminishes the value of all human life.

St. Paul wrote: “Where sin abounds, God’s grace more and more abounds.” We have faith that no matter how horrible the sin or the tragedy of sin, God’s grace is even greater. God creates each of us as his children. God never abandons us. Human beings may believe the worst about other human beings, but God is LOVE. Humans may hate; but God is love. This is our hope and hope does not disappoint. Our sins cannot overshadow God’s love; nothing can separate us from the love of God!

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There are four stories I want to share with you.

The year is 1375. A particular Italian Dominican Sister was asked to visit Nicolo di Toldo, an angry prisoner, who refused to see a priest and would not reconcile himself to Christ. He was going to be executed for committing a capital crime while under the influence of alcohol. The woman listened to him in his pain and fear, gently assuring him of Jesus' great love for him. When her attempts to commute his sentence to imprisonment failed, Niccolo asked her to accompany him to his execution.

She wrote: "I waited for him at the place of execution, and I kept praying…Before he arrived, I lay down and stretched out my head on the block, and begged the Blessed Virgin Mary for the grace I wanted, namely, that I might give him light and peace of heart at the moment of death…Then he arrived, like a meek lamb, and when he saw me he asked me to make the sign of the cross over him…

She caressed his head as it lay on the block and bent down to him, reminding him of the blood of the Lamb. His lips kept murmuring only "Jesus," and he was still murmuring when she received his head into her hands, the executioner fulfilling his function.

She wrote: “My soul rested in peace and quiet, in such a way that I couldn’t bear to wash away his blood that had splashed upon me.”

Through her, Christ was present to Niccolo, assuring him, “You are not alone. I am with you.” This woman knew that we love God by loving our neighbor.

The woman was Saint Catherine of Siena – a doctor of the Church. Catherine of Siena was like the merchant in search of a pearl of great price. She sought the pearl of Niccolo di Toldo among the slimy oysters of her day and was left with his blood smeared upon her religious habit.

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Another young woman was moved by God’s Grace. The year was 1888. She was fourteen years old at the time. She heard of an unrepentant murderer name Henri Pranzini. He had murdered three people and was to be put to death by guillotine in France. She determined to try to save him through her prayer.

She wrote: "I heard talk of a great criminal condemned to death for some horrible crimes; everything pointed to the fact that he would die unrepentant. I felt in the depths of my heart the desire to pray for all sinners. I told God I was sure He would pardon the poor, unfortunate Pranzini; that I'd believe this even if he went to his death without any signs of repentance or without having gone to confession. I was absolutely confident in the mercy of Jesus.”

She prayed and sacrificed for Pranzini, desiring his complete conversion to Jesus, even though he was judged guilty and condemned to death.

“The day after his execution I found the newspaper,” she wrote. “I opened it quickly and what did I see? Ah! Pranzini had not gone to confession, but he had mounted the scaffold and was preparing to place his head in the opening, when suddenly he turned, took hold of the crucifix the priest was holding out to him and kissed the sacred wounds three times!

“My prayer was answered." Though she would never be a mother physically, she called him her first child, and dedicated herself even more to praying for souls. Today she is one of the most popular saints and some people may be surprised to know that this young woman was St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, and that her first spiritual child was a murderer.

No one is beyond the mercy of God.

No One.

For who are we to dictate to God who should be saved or damned?

Therese stumbled upon the news story of Henri Pranzini. How often when we stumble across a story of a criminal in the news is our first thought to pray for his conversion or his salvation?

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Father Stephen Theodore Badin – a priest who escaped the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror (which employed the guillotine without restraint) - was the first priest ordained in the United States by Archbishop Carroll. Badin served in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan for most of his life and told this story that took place in the years 1830-1840.

“A young farmer killed another man in a fight over a barmaid at a Bardstown, Kentucky tavern. At his trial, he was found guilty and condemned to death. I spent the night in jail with him before he was put to death. He wasn’t pious by any means, and he wasn’t Catholic, so I couldn’t hear his confession, but when the hangman came for him in the morning, he began to express remorse over his mortal sin as I accompanied him to the gallows.

“When the hangman placed the rope around his neck, he asked God to forgive him. Those were his last words. I went down and stood at the foot of the platform, holding his mother and praying with her as the trap door was sprung, killing her son.

“The whole affair illustrates the uselessness of killing a murderer. The Lord Jesus said, did he not, ‘Forgive as I have forgiven you. If you do not forgive others their offenses committed against you, I will not forgive you your offenses against me’? No man, by killing another, can restore the deceased to life, nor bring about any happiness in this world or the next; only an injustice and an assault upon the law of charity is done by adding sorrow to sorrow and tears upon tears.”

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Another tale that occurred in southern Michigan north of South Bend involved Father Badin and his catechist Angelique Campeau, a half Canadian and half Algonquin woman . In June of 1832, Topenebe, a twenty-five-year-old Potawatomi chief under the influence of alcohol, killed a young brave Nananko at Chief Pokagon’s village.

A council was held where Topenebe surrendered himself. The family of the murdered man produced their knives and tomahawks and, according to tribal custom, Topenebe fell prostrate in their presence and waited for death.

Chief Pokagon delivered a speech hoping to spare the tribe of another death, but those ready to avenge Nananko heard nothing. As they were about to execute justice, the female interpreter,

Angelique Campeau, stepped forward and said in their native tongue, “Kill me instead and be satisfied.”

All were shocked. None of the Indians expected such an offer, especially an offer from a woman.

Father Badin rose in response to his companion’s offer. He stepped forward and spoke in the Potawatomi tongue.

“To all the chiefs, indeed all my children of the Potawatomi Nation, my brethren in Christ, I am your father, the old French priest, one of the last blackrobes. You know how we French blackrobes have always been the friends of the Indians. Listen to me. I wish for all of you to be happy. What I say I say in truth. Love one another, and forgive, if you wish God to forgive you, who has often been offended by your drinking whiskey and in many other ways.

“If you do not forgive others their offenses against you, God will not forgive your offenses against Him. My children, Jesus, the Son of God, became man and was put to death by wicked men. When they were crucifying him he was praying to God for them. He did not wish for revenge and their deaths. He said, ‘Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.’ If we do as Jesus has done, we will be happy with him and with God, the Father of all men—red and white.

“My children, I speak to you as a father speaks to his beloved children. What I tell you is truth. God has sent me to instruct you; he has commanded me to teach you what His son Jesus Christ taught. Be assured that my heart cherishes you all equally, the least no less than the great. God shows no partiality. I have already spoken too long, but I must say one word more. Open your ears. Open your hearts. No man, by killing Chief Topenebe, can restore Nananko to life nor give happiness to his soul in the other world; only great harm would be done by adding sorrow to sorrow and tears to tears.

“My Potawatomi children, I, as your father, am confident that all wise men among you—indeed all men—will agree that what I have said to you is right and true.”

According to reports, Father Badin sighed and looked around at the assemblage before taking his seat again. His eyes were still on Angelique Campeau, standing in the center of the circle next to Topenebe. Topenebe had remained prostrate before the mother, brothers, and friends of the victim, Nananko.

Finally the mother of Nananko stood and called for the elders of the tribe. In their conference, the Indians conceded that it would be best to spare Topenebe’s life and refuse Angelique’s offer.

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These stories teach us respect for life. These saints challenge us and call us to ask ourselves the question: Do we love others the way God loves us? God’s mercy is boundless, and no sinner, no matter how great his offenses, should have reason to despair of mercy!

Just as Jesus called the man to stretch forth his withered hand, we too are called to stretch forth our hands in prayer and compassion to all. Who knows whom we may snatch up from the depths of despair?

So tonight we may be chastised for praying for a condemned murderer. Tomorrow we may be ridiculed for ministering to those with AIDS. Next week we may be ignored because we passed up a cocktail party to work the soup kitchen . Next month we may be snubbed because of our stance against abortion. But we are in the good company of Christ and the Saints.

“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you all because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” Mt 5

It is time to abolish the use of the death penalty.

It is time to cast away our fear of loving the unlovable and abandon ourselves to God’s mercy and love as God loves.

Let us pursue justice without vengeance or violence and build a culture of life, indeed a civilization of love, where we will be so committed to the dignity of human life that as a people, we will no longer sanction the killing of any human person for any reason, be they unborn, newborn, deformed, handicapped, elderly, terminally ill, or imprisoned – even those on death row.

May God, through our witness to the dignity of human life, change us and through us change the world so that the gift of human life will be cherished as the greatest of gifts.

Amen.

Catholic Education, Chastity, and Worship

Catholic Education - for the Catholic - is a supplement to the spiritual education that is already taking place in the Catholic home and being lived out at the parish level. Catholic Education ceases to be Catholic education for the Catholic if these conditions are not prerequisites for sending a child to a Catholic school. 

Chastity is challenged today and many of our youth have been so infected with the sins of our culture, that they no longer regard the practice of sexual expression outside of marriage as a sin. The Catechism assists us in teaching about Chastity.

 
The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person. Our children's personalities are being formed during childhood and adolescence. 

Silence over sin is wrong.

Vatican II (Gravissimum Educationis par 2) emphasized that the development of a personal spirituality and participation in the Eucharist are included not just as aims, but as the principal aims of a Catholic school: "Such an education [Christian education] does not merely strive to foster in the human person the maturity already described. Rather, its principal aims are these: that as the baptized person is gradually introduced into a knowledge of the mystery of salvation, he may daily grow more conscious of the gift of faith which he has received; that he may learn to adore God the Father in spirit and in truth (cf. Jn. 4:23), especially through liturgical worship."

Parents have a serious moral obligation to educate their children. Therefore, it is for Christian parents particularly to take care of the Christian education of their children according to the doctrine handed on by the Church. As such, the Resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which Christian faith rests (cf. 1 Cor 15:14). It is an astonishing reality, fully grasped in the light of faith, yet we commemorate the day of Christ's Resurrection not just once a year but every Sunday and every Holy Day of Obligation. Saint Jerome said: "Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is our day".(3) For Christians, Sunday is "the fundamental feast day. 

As Pope John Paul II taught in a 1998 apostolic letter, Dies Domini, the obligation of celebrating the Sunday Eucharist is not an arbitrary law imposed by the Church but "an indispensable element of our Christian identity".

Are the best days of Catholic education schools indeed behind us?

When Catholics routinely no longer believe in the existence of God, miracles, the Resurrection of Christ, the Virgin Birth, or hearken to Church Teaching concerning the power of prayer, the inviolable dignity of each and every human life from conception to natural death, the dignity of human sexuality and marriage, weekly church attendance and participation, the requirements of social justice, pursuing the common good, and belief in the afterlife, and instead believe that the Church has perpetuated a lie or a myth that has deceived millions throughout history, this seems to be a situation that must be addressed in every Catholic home, not simply in the classroom. 

It is – without a doubt – a struggle for the very soul of the Church and our faith in Christ. Our Catholic high schools were established to further the commitment to the faith. May we continue to nurture the faith of our ancestors – many who came here to the United States as unwanted pilgrim immigrants and established Catholic communities with their blood, sweat and tears.

Eternal Time: Reflections upon the works of the Catholic composer Olivier Messiaen

“What comes from the organ is invisible music, propelled by wind, yet whose instrument gives no sign of activity, and whose player normally cannot be seen. Organ music symbolizes and makes real the contact between the mundane and the eternal.Indeed it makes a sacrament of all the world.” - Olivier Messiaen
 
“With Messiaen, all is prayer.” - Charles Tournemire, French composer and organist

“Paul Dukas always told me to listen to the birds.” – Olivier Messiaen


The Miracle of Stalag 8A – A Beauty Beyond the Horror:
Olivier Messiaen and the Quartet for the End of Time
by John William McMullen

In January 2009 while searching for organ works by Bach at the downtown Evansville library, I came across a collection of organ works by the French composer Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 - 27 April 1992).

I had heard a piece by him in the past, but I really didn’t know much about him. I then began to explore more of his musical world and soon discovered that he loved birds and composed for and played the pipe organ. Immediately upon listening to his Apparition de l'église éternelle, Vision of the Eternal Church, I knew I had met a kindred spirit.

Speaking for myself, music was always a part of my life as I grew up; from my parents playing the radio or listening to albums to the good Sisters of Providence getting us to sing every morning at Mass. Yet I can attribute my initial interest in classical music to a performance by the IU Music Department at Vincennes on the occasion of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 300th birthday, March 25, 1985. I am forever indebted to my Philosophy professor, Dr. Verkamp, and his insight into encouraging me to attend the concert. Bach’s music opened a door to another world and he has been a constant companion ever since. Father Columba Kelly, O.S.B., of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, a Gregorian Chant scholar and musicologist, then deepened my love for music while I was a student in his Music Appreciation class at Saint Meinrad in 1986.

Ever since my youth, however, I have had a love for the pipe organ. It all began with hearing our church organist playing the works of J.S. Bach, Charles-Marie Widor, César Franck, Marcel Dupré, and Maurice Duruflé on the pipe organ at the Old Cathedral in Vincennes, Indiana. Over the years the works of Francis Poulenc, Felix Alexandre Guilmant, Josef Rheinberger, John Tavener and John Rutter have enriched my life.

From hearing the pipe organ at the Old Cathedral in Vincennes, Indiana and Saint Meinrad, Indiana, and later attending recitals in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.; Westminster Cathedral in London, England; Notre Dame in Paris, France; and the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) in Florence, Italy; or from listening to Pipe Dreams on Public Radio, my love for the instrument has not diminished.

In April of 2009 my wife and I attended an organ recital at Saint Meinrad Archabbey in southern Indiana and one of the pieces played was the organ work L’Ascension by Olivier Messiaen. The weather was beautiful and the monks had opened the abbey church’s windows. Interestingly as the Messiaen piece began I noticed an unusual number of birds singing and chirping: sparrows, crows, a Mockingbird, but in particular there was a Blue Jay that must have been perched on one of the ledges of the windowsills. He seemed intent on making his voice heard. I wondered if perhaps Olivier Messiaen was smiling upon us, for he loved bird songs very much.

As for L’Ascension, regardless of one’s religious sentiments, I was immediately caught up Messiaen’s his sonorous harmony and subtle theological reflections upon Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven, especially the last movement which rises to the heavens and the sounds seemingly evaporate into the clouds. Messiaen wrote, “What comes from the organ is invisible music, propelled by wind, yet whose instrument gives no sign of activity, and whose player normally cannot be seen. Organ music symbolizes and makes real the contact between the mundane and the eternal. Indeed it makes a sacrament of all the world.”

My wife and I sat next to Father Columba Kelly, O.S.B. at this recital. A renowned Gregorian Chant scholar and humble musical genius, he was also my former music professor while a student at Saint Meinrad College. It was indeed Father Columba who deepened my love for music. After the performance he gave us an impromptu exposition on the piece and further enlightened us on the genius of Messiaen.

The more I read on Messiaen’s life, the more intriguing his life and work became. I soon began collecting his works and found myself returning to them often, meditating upon them. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire (1919-30) with Paul and Marcel Dupré and taught there (1941-78) while also serving as organist of the Church of La Trinité in Paris.

Yet Messiaen was an enigma to the world: an avant-garde composer and also a devout Catholic. However, most of the musical world remembers Messiaen for his Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time), a work composed while Messiaen was a prisoner of war in a German Stalag. I soon obtained a copy of the Quartet for the End of Time and learned of the unique story behind its composition.

The story of Olivier Messiaen, French composer, organist, ornithologist, and devout Catholic drafted into the French army on the eve of Hitler's blitzkrieg is an amazing tale.

Rebecca Rischin’s work, For the End of Time: The Story of the Messiaen Quartet (Cornell University Press, 2003; 2006), chronicles the composition well. Messiaen, who served in the French army, was captured at Verdun by the Germans and sent to Stalag 8A in Gorlitz, Germany, where he composed the great work, Quotor pour la fin du temps, creating musical history in the most unlikely of places.

“Certainly, there are many reasons that Messiaen thought fit to compose a piece for the end of time,” MIT graduate student Sudeep Agawala writes. “Messiaen’s musical narrative takes place at the end of a social and political era—World War II was ushering in a world of economic hardship for the national leaders of the free world; Nazi persecution, torture, and mass murders were re-defining the image of humanity and the regard for human life in terrifying new ways; scientific developments magnified human power over nature to previously unthinkable levels and revolutionized its perception of reality. The ways in which the old regimes were changing were not necessarily exciting or hopeful. In fact, many of the recent developments seemed the opposite. However, written in a German war camp, about the end of the world, the end of time, Messiaen’s piece, steely in its portrayal of God and the Apocalypse still manages optimism. Messiaen’s end is not one of fire, inhumanity and mass destruction. His world saw the end in praise of eternal comfort and glory.”

Throughout his imprisonment, Messiaen suffered numerous hardships, including starvation and freezing temperatures, yet he remained true to his music.

Messiaen had a love for the scripture, especially the Book of the Apocalypse, The Revelation of St. John, with its description of the end of Time. It foretells that Christ’s death and resurrection would ultimately redeem the world. (This is certainly not the typical take on the book of Revelation which, for many, is still about cataclysmic death and destruction).

When Messiaen read the Book of the Apocalypse, or Revelation, he was intrigued by the tenth chapter: “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. In his hand he held a small scroll that had been opened. He then set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the land.…
Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them, ‘There shall be no more Time….”

The three musicians and Messiaen represent the religious, philosophical, and political viewpoints of their contemporaries of the early 20th century. Nonetheless, these four very different men collaborated as a harmonious quartet to create musical history in the most unlikely of places. The Quartet for the End of Time is hailed as one of the most sublime pieces of chamber music composed in the 20th Century.

“There is no doubt that time stood still while these four prisoners played,” Graham Pellettieri wrote, “bringing warmth and light to so many who desperately needed it, during one of the coldest and darkest times in human history. The uncertainty of both the prison environment and the outcome of the war created a ‘timeless’ effect for the prisoners.”

“By 1941, this composer [Messiaen] no longer wanted to hear time being beaten out by a drum—one, two, three, four; he had had enough of that in the war,” writes Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker Magazine. “Instead, he devised rhythms that expanded, contracted, stopped in their tracks, and rolled back in symmetrical patterns…This is the music of one who expects paradise not only in a single awesome hereafter but also in the happenstance epiphanies of daily life. In the face of hate, this honestly Christian man did not ask, ‘Why, O Lord?’ He said, ‘I love you’.”

Messiaen reminds me of the caged bird who sings despite its captivity. In Maya Angelou’s famous poem, I know why the Caged Bird Sings, I believe she captures the spirit of Messiaen as he composed and sang during his captivity.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

In the words of Messiaen scholar, Rebecca Rischin, Associate Professor at Ohio University School of Music: “The Quartet stands as Messiaen’s triumph over time. On 15 January 1941, Messiaen realized his dream of the bird. Where all around him men were making war, Messiaen, like a bird, was making music.”

“The first performance of the Quartet for the End of Time at the Stalag in January 1941 has, together with the premiere of The Rite of Spring, become one of the great stories of twentieth-century music,” wrote Paul Griffiths in his 1985 book, Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time.

The four men who comprise the quartet represent the philosophical, political, and theological complexity of the twentieth century. And I believe that Messiaen’s work is important, not only for contribution to music history, but in the way Messiaen faced adversity. Particularly important is the relationship between the members of the quartet. Messiaen and his three companions become the famous quartet of Stalag 8A. These four very different men collaborated to create musical history in the most unlikely of places.

“While the musical world interprets the miracle of Stalag 8A as the perfect performance of the ‘Quartet for the End of Time’ in inhuman conditions by musicians suffering from cold and slow starvation,” Writes Dr. Philip Pierpont, Former Academic Dean of Vincennes University, “I regard the coming together as one the four musicians: Messiaen, the faithful-Catholic and mystic composer; Pasquier, the agnostic cellist; le Boulaire, the atheist violinist; and the irrepressible Akoka, warrior Trotskyite Jew and master of the clarinet, as yet another miracle.”

Messiaen’s music marks the end of the World War I era and the beginning of World War II. In the face of the economically distressed world, Nazism and Communism were on the rise, and redefining humanity, diplomacy, and warfare. Messiaen’s Quartet, composed in a Stalag, transforms man’s inhumanity to man with hope.

Yet to the avant-garde, Messiaen was too traditional and too religious; to the traditionalists and religious, he was too avant-garde. As a result he will always stand somewhere outside of Time. In the words of Messiaen: Eternity is not a long period of time; it is no time at all.

Rebecca Rischin put it well when she wrote: “On 15 January 1941, in a German prison camp in Silesia, music triumphed over Time, breaking free of rhythm and liberating a quartet of French prisoners and their listeners from the horrors of their time. The Quartet for the End of Time… its musical beauty, at once terrifying and sublime, exalts listeners and performers alike, and the story of its creators stands as a testament to the powers of music and human will to transcend the most terrible of times.”

Messiaen’s Quartet transforms man’s inhumanity to man with hope. In the words of Messiaen: “The future may seem black, but the flowers are in bloom, the sun is shining, and the birds are singing.”

In the words of Messiaen scholar, Rebecca Rischin: “The Quartet stands as Messiaen’s triumph over time. On 15 January 1941, Messiaen realized his dream of the bird. Where all around him men were making war, Messiaen, like a bird, was making music.”
To the avant-garde, he was too traditional and too religious; to the traditionalists and religious, he was too avant-garde. As a result he will always stand somewhere outside of Time. In the words of Messiaen: Eternity is not a long period of time; it is no time at all.

“It would be the highest compliment to me as a composer, Messiaen said, “if you had a spiritual experience because of hearing my music.”


John William McMullen is a Permanent Deacon, Theology Instructor at Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Indiana, and has taught philosophy and ethics at the University of Southern Indiana and Ivy Tech Community College. He is the author of several books: The Last Blackrobe of Indiana and the Potawatomi Trail of Death; Roman; Poor Souls; and Utopia Revisited. His latest work is entitled: THE MIRACLE OF STALAG 8A - Beauty Beyond the Horror: Olivier Messiaen and the Quartet for the End of Time. (Bird Brain Publishing). McMullen resides in Evansville, Indiana, with his wife and children.

The Promise of Christ: Fear Not! Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8 August 2010 Deacon John McMullen

Readings
Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 & Luke 12.32-33

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

1) My wife and I and the kids recently went camping – I know – in July? It was as humid as… well… It was My wife’s idea. But I had time to really reflect on things as I spent time in the woods, in a hot, humid, and wet tent. One question I came home with was: “What is the one thing necessary?” “What really matters?” My wife said a dry bed and air-conditioning would be a start.

Seriously, every morning the birds woke us with their beautiful songs. Let’s face it. The birds have no worries. The first thing they do each morning is wake and sing. They praise God and then go look for food.

2) Today we heard about the Hebrew patriarch Abraham knew what it was like to live in a tent. Abraham, at the age of 75, abandoned all he knew and he and his beloved wife Sarah left home in search of a land God promised He would show him!
He and Sarah were on the camping trail with God. Think of Abraham’s faith. He’s a 75 year old man who was open to the Word of God. He should have been retiring and moving into a condo – certainly not living in a tent!

There is no question that his peers – and his father and brother - likely considered him to be acting like a teenager or thought he was having a late mid-life crisis. Sort of like when my wife said we’re going camping in July and I agreed. But oftentimes God speaks to us through those around us, even our wives, children, friends – and even our enemies!

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. He just started walking to the land God promised to show him...No maps, no GPS, nothing, no evidence except faith in a promise!

Oftentimes it is the very old and the very young who can see the clearest, such as the young Virgin Mary, Juan Diego, or Blessed Pope John XXIII when he dared to call the Second Vatican Council!

3) On the second day of our camping trip we decided to go hiking. The adults in our group were well equipped with water bottles, maps, cell phones, hiking boots, backpacks, even an umbrella, etc.

But the kids with us just took off into the woods, with no water, no map, nothing… all they knew was that there was a trail and there was a lake at the end of the trail. That’s all they had to go on and then they were gone. The kids had complete trust and in their youthful enthusiasm they ran off like they knew what they were doing!

As the kids quickly went out of sight – the adults trudged on. Then the horror stories began about those who have gotten lost in the woods and were stranded for days or actually died, whose skeletal remains were not discovered until much later. The talk then turned even more morbid, recounting other notorious camping trips gone horribly wrong.

One of the adults said, “If we’ve lost the kids, we can notify the park rangers.” But this did not make my wife feel any better. Trust me.

Mind you, that’s when the clouds began to grow dark and then thunder followed. It soon began to rain and rain – and RAIN. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled even more loudly. And still no sign of our children on the trail.

That’s when the mothers of our group began to get really worried. We called to the kids, but no answer. I ran ahead and soon found myself entangled in spider webs across the trail path, which was a sure sign that no one had been on this trail in a while. My son did not answer his cell phone and the rain was a steady downpour as the storm grew worse.

We adults were now deep, deep in the forest. I had a feeling that the kids were fine, but that didn’t allay the mamas’ fears. We adults were the ones who were lost. With all of our sophisticated equipment, we were clueless on the trail in the forest.

4) Have any of you ever felt lost in the woods of life? Haven’t we all at one time or another felt lost in the woods of life – the loss of a job, the death of a spouse, being in a dead end job? Or even just the terrible feeling of loneliness and being all alone?

Jesus told his disciples BE NOT AFRAID any longer, little flock. Just as the birds trust completely in their makers’ care, Jesus assures us that not even one of them is neglected by God. Even their feathers have been counted! Jesus says “Your heavenly Father is pleased to give you the kingdom!” He is pleased to give you the kingdom!

5) As we continued to hike the trail that day, we, the adults, with all our maps, flashlights, and electronic devices, we were powerless. We needed to keep faith. We needed to trust!

As the lightning decreased and the thunder began to subside; the sun broke through the clouds, revealing a blue sky. Then my wife’s cell phone rang. It was our oldest son back at the van, wanting to know what was taking us so long. It turns out the kids had it right.

Like Abraham who trusted in God completely and walked in faith, knowing that the Lord would lead him, the young people with us on our hike that day had faith and hope in the unseen.

The kids had blazed a trail of faith and reminded us of Abraham and Sarah who had obeyed God’s call and made a leap of faith.
In the woods that day, the kids had faith in us adults completely. The kids showed us the kind of faith that Abraham had, the kind of faith Jesus was talking about, when they put their trust in us, knowing that we were going to look out for them and care for them.

We should be the same way with God – trusting in Jesus’ words: “No longer be afraid!”

Be assured, that there will be storms, we will sometimes seem to be lost, and we will be frightened, but we must fear not! For our Heavenly Father is pleased to give us the kingdom! Nothing can separate us from the Love of God that comes through Jesus Christ!

Happy the people God has chosen as his own, for he travels with us on the path of life!

DEPENDENCE DAY 14th Sunday Year C

DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE

What a way to begin Independence Day. “I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals. Eat what is placed before you.” What? So much for Good News!

And these words of Jesus are especially bothersome today for they come to us on Independence Day! Yet these words imply a radical dependence! A total reliance on God and one another, for he sends the disciples out two by two.

But I ask are we really independent or do we recognize our dependence upon God? Are we Americans first, then followers of the Gospel? Which messengers are we following? FOX, MSNBC, the National Enquirer or Cosmopolitan – or Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?

The world says that the more we have, then the better off we are! The world says to consume and use whatever we can to make a name for ourselves. If I can just get that new car or a bigger house or whatever it is, then I’ll be somebody! Advertisers spend billions of dollars every year telling us that we need their products to make us acceptable and help us achieve more! Right? Isn’t that right?

But Jesus tells us today to live simply and not be weighed down with all that extra stuff and not allow our possessions to possess us! So maybe that’s the whole point of the gospel message – that we have become so independent-minded, that we are actually too dependent upon the wrong things and not dependent enough on God.
Christ commands us to live radically simple lives, relying less on things, and relying more on Him and one another; not asserting so much our independence as our interdependence upon one another.

This means that we cannot live just as Americans or citizens of the U.S., though that we are, but our worldview must be focused on the Cross of Christ! Christ’s worldview turns the world’s view upside down.

So I ask are we Catholics first, then Americans, or have we allowed American values to dictate what parts of the gospel we like and discard what doesn’t seem to fit our political agenda?

Christ calls all people to himself. And so has the United States in her history.
Can we imagine what it would be to leave everything we know, leaving our native land and immigrating here with a different language? The people that made the journey to the United States often had little more than a dream in their heart and a hole in their pocket. Many were literally penniless, having sold all they had to simply purchase the ticket to sail on the boat, and with no real guarantee they would be granted entry or survive in the New World. And these exiles, arriving here tattered and torn, with a few words of English, set out to begin a new life. Many of these exiles had nothing to speak of, no money bag, no extra pair of shoes, but only the clothes on their backs. And for many the first sight they beheld upon arriving here was the Statue of liberty.

The image that comes to mind for many of us on this Independence Day weekend is the Statue of Liberty, a universal symbol of freedom and democracy.
The bronze plaque on the Statue of Liberty’s giant pedestal calls her the Mother of Exiles.

How many souls long to belong, long for welcome in this world of ours, and imagine all those who journeyed here to the U.S., whose first sight was the Mother of Exiles, Lady Liberty.

The plaque reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free!

Interestingly, the name "Mother of Exiles" was never taken up as the Statue of Liberty’s name, even though it is engraved in bronze. Yet as Catholics our Blessed Mother and Mother Church herself have both been called “Mother of Exiles”. And isn’t this the hope of all exiles, that they will find welcome and rest and a home?

Yet in a way, as Catholics, we are exiles in this world. If we live by gospel values, we may well be exiled by our neighbors or even our friends. Some may say of us that we’ve gone too far with our faith in Jesus business, that we are unpatriotic to the point where we place gospel values above American values. It is certainly an interesting thought to imagine that the Statue of Liberty is calling us to be better Americans and in the process better Christian, better Catholics.

So if we are marked by the sign of the cross, then we can expect suffering, rejections, and crucifixion. Not everyone can or will accept the gospel cross. We will be judged as fools for Christ. We will be going against the popular opinion. Yet we recognize that Only in God is our soul at rest; our true fulfillment will not be in any party, except the party of Christ. Our independence day is celebrated on Good Friday. St. Paul encourages us to fnd our freedom in the cross of Christ.

Finding rest in Christ, recognizing His Mother as our Mother, and knowing that the Church herself is the Mother of Exiles, is truly liberating! The irony of today is that our true independence is found in our dependence upon God, Christ, Mary, the Church, indeed our dependence upon one another.

There is no such thing as a lone Christian. We are in this together. And just as Jesus instructed his disciples, he continues to instruct us that we must trust in God for our defense and depend upon the hospitality of others for our well being. And this is what we celebrate today: our Dependence upon God and dependence upon one another. God alone is enough.

But if God alone is too much for our neighbors or family to handle, if believing in Christ and following the gospel somehow makes us less patriotic than other Americans, then let us repeat the words of Patrick Henry: “If this be treason, let us make the most of it!”

THE UNTOUCHABLES (11th Sunday Year C)

Joe was a college student who, every day, passed by a bag lady as she pushed a shopping cart. But one day Joe got stopped in traffic and decided to pull into a gas station. The lady smiled at him and came up beside his car pushing her cart full of collected treasures. Some people stared, with the look that said, “What’s that college kid doing with that bag lady?” As Joe filled his gas tank, he asked her name and she told him it was Wilhelmina. She told him her sad story and how she was all alone in the world.

As Joe finished pumping his gas and prepared to leave, he started his engine, rolled his window down, and waved goodbye. However, soft jazz from his radio filled the air. Wilhelmina said, “Oh, I like this music – let’s dance!” Joe was taken aback at first, but then he turned his music up, opened the car windows, and got out of his car. Wilhelmina reached for Joe’s hand and the two touched. Her skin was rough to the touch, but her face brightened with a smile as she and Joe danced and he turned her around a time or two.

Just then a police officer pulled into the parking lot and looked hard at the two with an expression that said, “what the___”

Wilhelmina clung to Joe’s arm and gave the cop a look that said, “We’re together.” Joe nodded and said, “It’s okay. She’s with me.”

The cop just looked at Joe and shook his head in disbelief that this college kid would even touch Wilhelmina. He drove away shaking his head at Joe’s poor judgment.
*****

Joe is a lot like Jesus. Jesus touched all the wrong people. And he allowed the wrong people to touch him. Which brings us to another woman in today’s gospel.

Jesus turns to Simon the Pharisee and asks: “Do you see this woman?” Do you see this woman? * Simon doesn’t see her, or at least does not see her as a real human being, worthy of redemption. And he never answers the question. He could only see outward appearances, he could only see rules and laws that had been broken. And he could not see the woman.

There are still many who only follow the Commandments and the rules of the Church out of a fear of God, rather than trusting in God and allowing the Holy Spirit to help us love others with whom we come face to face.

You see, forgiveness and love weren’t even on Simon the Pharisee’s mind. His religion was about being right, and judging others as either sinful or righteous. The law for the Jewish Pharisees was very, very strict. However, the problem with the Pharisees was that they only followed the letter of the law and forgot the purpose behind the law.

The Pharisees truly thought they were honoring God by their strict rules yet it made life very uncomfortable and difficult for most people, that many people gave up trying. In the Pharisee’s world, that there were only two types of people: the good and the bad.

Do we see this woman?

What we have here is a woman who recognized the presence of God’s love poured out in Jesus. She forgot all the rules of respectable society because she only knew one thing: Jesus. She completely abandoned herself to Divine Providence and gave all she could, her tears, her kisses, her hair, and her costly perfume because Jesus was present to her.

The problem with Simon is that he had already judged this woman as sinful – forever a sinner.

Yet her sin is no longer important – what is important is that she is a forgiven and changed woman! In fact, Jesus does not mention the woman’s sin at all, but instead proclaims her acts of kindness and hospitality as signs of her great love!

Jesus chastises Simon the Pharisee for his sins of omission, and loving too little! His failure to exercise hospitality, failure to tend to the needs of others, and failure to recognize the dignity of even the most sinful. Simon loved too little.

So what is the first thing we see in others?

Haven’t we all been like the Pharisees by keeping certain people in categories or even considering others as hopeless or unredeemable?

How do we see others? What about the poor person at the Dollar General Store we think is on meth? What about that nasty mouthed person at the gas station or the ball field? What about that inept cashier or incompetent waiter or waitress? ……….. You know what I’m talking about.

This is a difficulty for many of us. Indeed it is a cross. We have to die to our neat and orderly worlds where we put people in categories; we must crucify all within us that would seek to diminish or deny the human dignity of even one person, regardless whether he or she is a sinner or not.

Being a Christian is not about trying to live only by the law. Being a legalist can’t give you life. If one could achieve righteousness by following the law, then Jesus’ mission was meaningless. We are called to relationship with Christ and others.

With the woman, Jesus breaks the law and reaches out and touches the "untouchable." We too are called to break out of the neat little boxes society has created for us to live in. The woman only saw Jesus because she knew she was loved and forgiven by Him.

Therefore, no matter how difficult or different others may be, may we see them in our midst as calling us to mercy and compassion; not running from them or casting stones at them, but allowing them to help us be witnesses of Christ’s unconditional love.

May we have the courage to love as Jesus loved and the faith to always give thanks to God for his mercy.

Just like Joe and Wilhelmina, the people in my story, Wilhelmina saw Joe and found in him a friend. Joe in turn saw Wilhelmina as a person and stopped worrying about what others might think and became so forgetful of himself that he was willing to dance with her in public – even in the presence of a police officer who likely knew Wilhelmina’s past and her sins.

As Joe reached out to Wilhelmina, Jesus reaches out to those from whom all others draw back. Jesus showed us that Christianity is about reaching out to the untouchables so that God’s love will be real to those most in need of His mercy!

Joe was changed that day. On his drive to school, he knew in his heart that Wilhelmina was more than just a bag lady with lots of baggage – but a human being, a person, who longed to love and be loved.

ASCENSION THURSDAY (ON SUNDAY)

I can recall very clearly my first day of school when my mother and father took me to school and left me there. I watched them as they walked back to their car and drove away. I remember crying great tears of sadness.

It happened again when my parents drove me to college and left me there…I recall watching them drive away…as I carried my luggage to my dorm room. There were both tears of joy and sorrow.

Or what about those of us here who have lost loved ones and when we are at the cemetery and they lower the casket into the ground and after the final prayers the funeral directors announce that “this concludes our service…. you may return to your cars.” Those tears may stream for days or years.

In these situations of transition, moving from one phase of our lives to another, we feel all alone and vulnerable, and ask: “Now what?”

I believe that may indeed have been what the disciples experienced on the day of the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven.

The crucifixion didn’t make sense to the disciples. The resurrection was unbelievable as well when they first heard the news, and were doubly astounded when they witnessed him alive again! And just as they were getting used to him being with them, he informs them that he must ascend to the Father.

The disciples lament: “We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.” And the disciples asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

The disciples were thick headed. Can you imagine it…the disciples are worried about whether Jesus is going to restore the kingdom of Israel to its former glory! They were still stuck in the old mindset that religion is about power and that the Kingdom is about material wealth or fame.

“Oh, how foolish you are,” Jesus says in Luke’s account. The disciples we’re hoping that he would restore the good ol’ days. Yet is that really what Christ came to do? And can we ever truly recover the good ol’ days? And what are the good ol’ days? And were the good ol’ days all that good?

So on the day of his Ascension, Jesus gathered his scattered flock together and led them out as far as Bethany where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived – perhaps he wanted to bid his dear friends farewell, along with the rest of the Apostles and disciples. I imagine His mother was there as well.

And as He Ascends into Heaven the disciples are still a bit clueless because they are staring at the sky until two angels inform them that they ought to move along. They might as well have said to them: “this concludes our service…. you may return to your cars.”

Now what? In one respect we cannot remain fixated on the clouds above and ignore the plight of our fellow human beings! On the other hand, we cannot allow our entire focus to be here below. We must seek that fine balance of being centered in Christ, with the eyes of our hearts fixed on the things of heaven, yet also our eyes seeking Christ in our neighbor and our ears being open to the cry of the poor and our hands outstretched to all those in need!

The early church community could not remain hidden away living a private religion in the upper room. They could not live in the past, but had to move forward into the future! We have to recognize now more than ever the urgency of the gospel message and that it must be proclaimed!

So the Ascension was a new beginning. The disciples were no longer downhearted but rather full of joy, assured that Christ could no longer be separated from them.
As I attended the college graduation ceremony for my sister-in-law, I was once again reminded of those first days when I was left alone on the campus of college as well as the day of graduation.

I spoke with my sister-in-law, and other graduates about their experience of their first days of college and their graduation. We found that both events brought joy mixed with uncertainty.

In a way we had all been at similar crossroads as were the first disciples and asked: “Now what? “

The graduates have walked across the stage, received their diploma and heard those glorious words: “Graduates: By virtue of the authority and power granted to me, I now confer on you all the "rights, privileges, and responsibilities to which you are entitled."

So “Now what? A graduate can’t let those words go to his head. These “rights, privileges, and responsibilities” are words of great consequence. In the words of Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility!

And just as graduates receive their degrees, all of us as disciples will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill our mission as Church!
But let’s face it, coming down the mountain after experiencing Christ’s Ascension is hard, and living the faith, day in, day out, is going to be hard.

It’s tough for children as they adapt to new surroundings in a new school. It’s difficult for college graduates to adapt to a new way of life in the working world. And for us too, it is a great challenge to constantly adapt to the changing circumstances that call us to embrace our faith anew. But this is what we are called to on this feast of the Ascension.

Just as the disciples realize that they could not dwell on the past, we too must work to bring about the kingdom now! The urgent call to repentance must echo through our world. Forgiveness must be extended to all! And tidings of great joy have to be spread far and wide!

We are assured that Christ is seated at the right Hand of the Glory of God. We have a heavenly intercessor in Heaven who hears our prayer as we head back to school or work or home each day.

Now What? When we walk out of here, will be dumbly looking to the sky, - or will we get on with the job of spreading the word? We cannot live in the past, but must move forward into the future, by being clothed from the power from on high, the Holy Spirit!

And on the Last Day we too will ascend to Heaven and hear the Words of Christ: “By virtue of the authority and power granted to me, I now confer on you all the "rights, privileges, and responsibilities to which you are entitled as my disciples. Come into the presence of my Father where there will be great joy, where every tear will be wiped away.”