Category Archives: Culture

You Are My Hiding Place

by

The Anchoress reminded me of a verse from the Evening Prayer of the Divine Office for Thursday Week I.

So let every good man pray to You

in the time of need.

The floods of water may reach high

they shall not reach him.

You are my hiding place, O Lord;

you save me from distress.

You surround me with cries of deliverance.   (Psalm 32: 6-7)

When I read the words, “You are my hiding place,” Corrie ten Boom’s story,”The Hiding Place” came to mind.  I was also reading Immaculee Ilibagiza’s book, “Left To Tell, Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.”  Both Corrie’s story and Immaculee’s book leave vivid images of the faithfulness of God not only in the mind, but in the heart, .  Neither tells the story of the proverbial rose garden that we all want.  Corrie and Immaculee lose the people they love.  Their homelands become unrecognizable.

Corrie introduces us to her sister,  Betsie, who dies in the concentration camp.  What I loved about Betsie was how she made a home in the midst of  the horrific circumstances of the camp; cheery dish towels hung at the window.  Betsie’s actual home was the hiding place she made in the heart of God.  Betsie was prepared to die.

Immaculee’s book describes an actual hiding place, a bathroom that became a haven for her and seven other women for ninety-one days.  It was here they hid, and silently prayed, while hundreds of crazed, “machete-wielding” neighbors sought to butcher them.  Again, God proved to be the real hiding place.

The triumph of  their stories is told by the transformed hearts of these women of faith.  Their books are a witness to God’s faithfulness in times of desperation.

The Problem of Evil

by

These verses from Chapter 51 of Imitation of Christ speak to my prayer vs world experiences and fluctuations:

“My Son, thou art not always able to continue in very fervent desire after virtues, nor to stand fast in the loftier region of contemplation; but thou must of necessity sometimes descend to lower things because of thine original corruption, and bear about the burden of corruptible life, though unwillingly and with weariness. So long as thou wear a mortal body, thou shalt feel weariness and heaviness of heart. Therefore thou ought to groan often in the flesh because of the burden of the flesh, inasmuch as thou canst not give thyself to spiritual studies and divine contemplation unceasingly.”

“At such a time it is expedient for thee to flee to humble and external works, and to renew thyself with good actions; to wait for My coming and heavenly visitation with sure confidence; to bear thy exile and drought of mind with patience, until thou be visited by Me again, and be freed from all anxieties. For I will cause thee to forget thy labors, and altogether to enjoy eternal peace. I will spread open before thee the pleasant pastures of the Scriptures, that with enlarged heart thou may begin to run in the way of My commandments. And thou shalt say, ‘The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.‘”

Old Bishop, New Priest

by

WITH PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING TO

ALMIGHTY GOD

THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SANTA FE

ANNOUNCES

THE ORDINATION TO THE

SACRED PRIESTHOOD OF

JEFFREY N. STEENSON

THOUGH THE IMPOSITION OF HANDS AND THE INVOCATION OF THE

HOLY SPIRIT

BY HIS EXCELLENCY

MICHAEL J. SHEEHAN

ARCHBISHOP OF SANTA FE

SATURDAY,THE TWENTY-FIRST OF FEBRUARY,TWO THOUSAND AND NINE

AT  TEN-THIRTY O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING AT ST.THOMAS AQUINAS CATHOLIC CHURCH, RIO RANCHO, NM

Jeffrey M. Steenson will be new to the Roman Catholic priesthood, but not new to our Lord’s vineyard.  When ordained February 21, 2009 by Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of the Santa Fe Diocese of New Mexico, Steenson will continue a faith adventure that still astounds him.

It was much more than the divisions within the Anglican Church over issues such as the affirmation of the openly gay Gene Robinson as bishop, and the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the first female presiding bishop, that coaxed the then Bishop Steenson onto a new path.  These issues were monumentally troubling to his church and he was himself,  “deeply troubled about where the Episcopal Church is heading.”  Bishop Schori had also blessed same-sex unions.  Though grave, still more important issues than these motivated his faith journey to the Roman Catholic Church.  No less than the Fathers of the Church held great sway in this matter of faith, conscience and desire.

Before he even entered the ministry, Jeff thought about entering the Roman Catholic Church.  One of his professors, a nun, did a very good job showing him that the early Church looked and was as it continues to be very Roman Catholic.  She also pointed out that she thought he might have a vocation to the priesthood but he was married and so that was then not to be.  Years passed, Jeff became an priest and then a bishop in the Anglican Church .

The Church Fathers still sounded Roman Catholic but life got very complicated.  It took the powerful personage of the inimitable Pope John Paul II to re-ignite his Catholic leanings.  He made a promise to himself that he would revisit his Catholic inclinations and act if that meant becoming a Roman Catholic.  Acting on the promise was tougher and so a bit late in being fulfilled.  He meant to act while JPII was still alive, and not doing so troubled him, but life as Rt. Rev Steenson of the Rio Grande Diocese of the Anglican Church made serious decisions too serious to rush.  Prayer, study, meetings and mentors,  more prayer and more study, soon demanded that conscience be honored.  The promise he made to himself ended with his resignation as bishop.  This was not without pain.  There were explanations to be given and loose ends, at all ends.  In his customary gentle manner,  Jeff reached out as best he could to make clear with persuasive reason and Patristic history the underpinnings of his choice.

Happily, eventually the sun did shine on the road ahead for Jeff and his wife, who shared these dilemmas and discoveries.  Soon came his entry into the Roman Catholic Church. and now, more promises to be made, the promises of the sacred priesthood.  Jeff goes forward carrying his faith-filled past in his heart, grateful for loved ones in his Anglican Church family and his beloved deep Anglican roots.   At this, a new beginning on a continuing faith journey, may God bless Jeffrey Steenson and his family.

Who’s the Leper Now?

by

The Leper, who comes to Jesus in today’s Gospel (Mark 1:40-45,) is often seen as an embodiment of those who are the “untouchables” of  our society (the poor, the weak, the unwed mother, the addict.)  The Leper, in another view, is one who is “outside the camp”.  The leper is the one cut off from worship and cut off from community.

In the United States today, the Leper is 75% of those who call themselves Catholic, yet no longer celebrate Mass or practice their Faith. No matter the reason that they left the Church (disbelief, anger, lifestyle, boredom), they are now “outside the camp.”

The tragedy is that our worship, while directed to God, has an effect on us.  Worship orders the one who worships.  Worship grounds the worshiper once again in the Truth of Who it is he worships.  It prepares a man for battle, so to speak.  “Happy the people that know the joyful shout!” (Psalm 89:16)  Without worship, the World becomes the voice that lies to him, tempts him and in the end may even conquer him.

The poor and the weak are in the Lord’s camp. The true outsider is one Jesus calls home. “I do will it.  Be made clean.” (Mark 1:41)

This Is What Love Looks Like

by

While I’ve given the secular world it’s due, I’d be remiss in not mentioning that today is actually the Feast day of  Sts. Cyril and Methodius, not St. Valentine.  These brothers of the ninth century loved Christ,  His Church and the Slavic peoples.  They heroically endured the politics of their day.  Do you think the political storms of our day might actually challenge us to end as saints?

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”

“When I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor 12:9-10)

iconpieta3

This is what real love looks like.

Foundational Basics

by

Today is about more than hearts and flowers.  Everybody knows it’s crunch time for the U.S.A.  When things get really bad,  the American people have a way of getting back to basics.  The basics start with the foundational underpinnings of our Nation.  Ronald Reagan got it right!  Others, it seems, don’t like the founding fundamentals   They hope for changes that will create an America no one will recognize as America.    Texas Rainmaker and the Anchoress spell it out.

Reagan and Obama in their own words.