Yesterday, I mentioned in a post the importance of being “counter-cultural”. I can’t think of a greater way to be counter-cultural in our pleasure-first, narcissistic world than to practice corporal mortification, something which apparently Pope John Paul II did. This revelation about JPII (which really shouldn’t be very surprising) has raised the typical bewildered reactions from most people. Why in the world would someone voluntarily choose to sleep on the floor and even to whip himself?

Although the practice of corporal mortification has a long history in the Church, it is practically unheard of today. But it is simply one (albeit severe) type of self-mortification, which every Christian should practice in one form or another. Self-mortification is denying yourself some legitimate good in order to offer it in union with Christ’s suffering on the Cross. When your mom or dad said to you growing up, “offer it up!” that was self-mortification. We have been called to take up our own crosses, so denial of pleasure is part and parcel of the Christian life.

Mortification was central to the life of the early Christian. St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 gives a litany of hardships he has endured to preach the Gospel, and being a Christian for the first 300 years after Christ’s death meant living a mortified life leading possibly to a martyred death. But all of this mortification was not usually actively chosen, but simply a result of being a Christian.

After the legalization of Christianity, many Christians wanted to find ways to imitate Christ’s and Paul’s sufferings in their own lives. So many Christians – starting with St. Antony of the Desert – chose to engage in practices to mortify the flesh. By doing so, they desired to both be intimately united to Christ’s sufferings, and also to master their fleshly desires. This is the beginning of self-mortification among Christians: mortification freely chosen for spiritual benefits.

Today there are many ways to practice self-mortification which don’t involve anything like whipping oneself or other severe practices. One of the best ways to do so is at the dinner table. Turning down seconds, not putting butter on your bread, and drinking water instead of soda are all small mortifications which can be offered in union with Christ’s Passion for others. Another way of mortifying oneself is to allow others to get their way in small things. You are beat tired but your kid wants you to read to him when you get home from work? Denying yourself your desire for legitimate rest in this instance is another type of mortification. Other examples include fasting, taking cold showers, getting up early each day or even putting a pebble in your shoe.

But of course corporal mortification gets the most press, as it is the most severe type of self-mortification. Examples of corporal mortification include the “discipline” (i.e. whipping oneself), wearing a cilice, or wearing a hairshirt. These are all traditional – and legitimate – forms of self-mortification which saints have engaged in for centuries. But one important word of caution: NEVER UNDERTAKE CORPORAL MORTIFICATION EXCEPT UNDER THE DIRECTION OF A SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR! I can’t emphasize this enough; not doing so could lead to health problems as well as spiritual pride and an unhealthy masochism.

But we all should engage in some type of regular self-mortification. Discovering the mortifications that JPII underwent is a great incentive to us to take up our own small crosses in our lives and unite them to the Great Cross of Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls.

I guess these people haven’t read 1 Corinthians 6:1-11.

Another German reader takes issue with my support for asylum for a German homeschooling family. He writes:

In Germany we do not tolerate any kind of extremists – neither left nor right nor religious ones. As traditional christian schools seem to actually not be christian enough for this family, my only guess is that they want to indoctrinate their children with stong xenophobic values.

I am happy that our judges forbade this. We don’t allow fundamentlistic muslims to indoctrinate their children either so why should we allow Christians? Parallel societies never led to anything good in our history – so why should we help those who want to start them? If it was only about Christian values then I must say it is something the parents could have taught their children after the normal school as well (which ends at around noon in the first grades).

And just because the law was written when the Nazis were ruling our country (which it was) it doesn’t mean that the law itself may not make sense. Nobody is arguing whether it makes sense to have motorways either despite them having been built mostly to enable the war machinery to go quickly from east to west.

It seems clear to me that Germans have a much different view of extremism, schooling and freedom than (most) Americans do. A few specific points:

Why assume these people are “extremists”? He seems to define them as extremists simply because they want to homeschool. That makes millions of American families and countless other families throughout the world through the ages “extremists”. Extremism as a descriptive term is completely subjective: it simply means someone who significantly disagrees with you. Perhaps they think you are an extremist: should they be able to tell you how to raise your children?

Our German friend further states that because this family wants to homeschool “my only guess is that they want to indoctrinate their children with stong xenophobic values”. That is quite an illogical leap. Many, many people in this country who are non-religious (or, as he would say, “non-extremist”) choose to homeschool simply because they find it is a superior educational method to institutional schools. One may disagree with this assessment (although many studies would support it), but one cannot dismiss it outright, considering homeschooling has been with us since the beginning of time and has produced some of the world’s greatest intellects. Assuming homeschooling=indoctrination is simply a coded way of saying that you don’t agree with what these parents believe and you want to prevent them from teaching it to their children. This is one very small step from just taking children away from their parents who don’t support the beliefs of the majority mob.

Finally, a point about freedom. In a truly free society, you must allow a wide multitude of beliefs and practices. Some you may find distasteful, but that is the cost of freedom. Unless they are advocating a truly criminal behavior (such as assassination or other types of violence), they should be allowed. And yes, this means practicing Christians, Muslims and other religious people. But perhaps that is too “extreme” for modern Germany.

The German homeschooling family I blogged about has been granted political asylum!

However, at least one of my German readers would be perfectly happy with restricting the freedom of those he doesn’t agree with.

Speaking of being counter-cultural and killing your TV, a reader writes in to tell the beautiful results of living such a life:

We killed our tv 30 yrs ago when our youngest was 3 yrs old. We spent our evenings reading 1) lives of the saints 2) good secular literature such as the Chronicles of Narnia 3 and memorizing the Baltimore Catechism. We had a prayerful, peaceful, joyful home with NO rebellion whatever when the kids reached their teens. They NEVER asked why they had to go to Mass.  At ages 32 and 30 they are fervent Catholics and my daughter is a contemplative nun.

Aside from that, killing the tv was the best financial decision we made.  The kids’ attention span was not being constantly being fractured,and the people who tested them for the school district (two years apart) both remarked on their extraordinary attention span.  They both did very well in school.  My daughter was an A student for the 16 yrs of her schooling and they both got a lot of scholarship help on a merit basis.  In fact, my daughter was a National Merit Scholar. None of the above would have happened with a TV. Our home was very conducive to study without it. It paid off.

It drives me to distraction to hear parents worry about “the culture” as they are walking out the door to drive over to Best Buy to buy a still bigger entertainment center to import the dreaded culture into their own home and into the hearts and minds of their children.

It also drives me to distraction to hear all the talk about the “vocations crisis.”  There is no vocations crisis.  There is a parenting crisis.  There is a leadership crisis.  When priests and bishops kill their own tvs, and can persuade even as little as 5% of their young parents to do the same, within 15 to 20 yrs they would have more priests and religious than they would know what to do with- especially if they pointed them in the direction of the lives of the saints, the Baltimore Catechism and family evenings together.

One of the biggest challenges in Christian living is navigating our relationship with the world. When is it harmless to accommodate to the world, and when must we reject it? Our Lord in the Gospels tells us,

You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Our lives must stand out from the rest of the world; how we live must distinguish us and make us lights to the non-Christian world. How this has been implemented has varied through the ages. In the 6th century, St. Benedict separated himself completely from the (disintegrating) world and formed a new society in the monastery. In the 13th century, Sts. Francis and Dominic retained much of a monk’s separation, yet also entered into the world more directly in order to preach to it. In the 20th century, St. Josemaria Escriva encouraged Christians to remain in the world and to redeem it from within.

Each of these ways of relating to the world are valid, and some are more appropriate than others depending on the culture in which one lives. The more a culture is filled with Christian values, the less counter-cultural one must be. But today we live in a post-Christian world, and the only option for Christians serious about following Christ is to be at least somewhat counter-cultural.

What I fear, however, is that too many Christians have become indistinguishable in their lives from their non-Christian peers. The Gospel should change how we live in ways both large and small. Every decision we make should be made in light of the Gospel’s demands on our life.

Furthermore, living a changed life has tremendous evangelistic consequences. By letting the Gospel impact your life deeply, you are modeling not a perfect life, but a superior ideal. It is, after all, the “Good News”. If you live the Gospel seriously, then, when your neighbor realizes the emptiness and shallowness of a worldly life, he will look to your joyful Gospel living as something attractive. But if you live just like your neighbor, why would he look to you as a model?

Here are some practical ways to see if you are living a life that stands out to your neighbor:

1) Children
How do you decide how many kids you will have? Is it based solely on monetary concerns? Is it influenced by how many kids other people have?

2) Television and Movies
What do you watch on television and in the movies? Does it uplift your soul or at least teach something valuable about the human condition? Is it pure?

3) Housing
What type of house do you live in? Is it the biggest, most expensive one you can (supposedly) afford?

4) Automobile
What type of car do you drive? Does it reflect an embrace of Gospel poverty?

5) Education
How do you educate your children? Is the emphasis on Christian formation or simply academic achievement?

6) Charitable Giving
What charities do you support with your tithe? How much do you tithe?

7) Entertainment
How do you spend your entertainment dollars? Do you go into debt just so you can take the kids to Disneyworld?

8) Voting
How do you vote? Is your vote based primarily on self-centered pocketbook issues, or do you also consider moral issues such as abortion and help for the poor?

9) Culture
How do you look at our celebrity culture? Do you put “stars” on a pedestal who are terrible examples for our youth (and us)?

10) Reading
What books do you read? Do you read books only for mindless entertainment, or do you look to expand your knowledge of the world and our Faith?

The point isn’t to be counter-cultural simply to be different. Instead, simply be counter-cultural because our culture is rotting at the core, and the Gospel is the means to save it. We just need to demonstrate this truth to the world by our lives.

I thought this was a beautiful story: Alvaro Siviero, a professional pianist from Brazil, has become friends with Pope Benedict based on their shared love of music. Here is a brief video which tells this touching story:

This is pretty cool: someone has gone through the entire Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and noted all the biblical references in it. A small example:

Choir: Through the prayers of the Theotokos (Mother of God), Savior, save us.

Bible References:  Galatians 3:24, Saint Luke 1: 46 – 55, Saint Luke 1:42

Deacon: Again and again in peace let us again pray to the Lord.

Bible References:  1 Thessalonians 5:17

Choir: Kyrie, eleison.

Translation:  Lord, have mercy.

Bible References:  Psalms 51:1

Deacon: Help us, save us, have mercy upon us, and protect us, O God, by Your grace.

Bible References:  Psalms 123:3, Psalms 106:47, Saint Mark 9:22

Choir: Amen.

Deacon: Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God.

Bible References:  Saint Luke 1:42

Choir: To You, O Lord.

Bible References:  Acts 20:32

Priest: For Thine is the majesty, and Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory:  of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

Bible References:  Revelation 8:12, 1 Chronicles 29:11, Saint Matthew 6:13, Daniel 4:34

Oftentimes Protestant Christians will accuse liturgical Christians such as Catholics or Orthodox of not engaging in “biblical worship”. This page shows that nothing could be further from the truth.

I recently added my blog to the Networked blogs at Facebook, and added a widget in the right column in which you can click to follow the Divine Life blog. Please do so!

Also, I have a badge of my own FB profile in the right column as well – feel free to click on it to add me as a “friend” (yes, as much as I appreciate Facebook, I am unable to use the term “friend” without quotes surrounding it when referring to Facebook “friends”. Call me old-fashioned).

In the days leading up to the March for Life, I kept meaning to blog my appreciation for Metropolitan Jonah’s strong encourgement to his fellow Orthodox to take a public stand for Life. The Orthodox Church has always stood strong in condemning abortion, but they have unfortunately been mostly silent in this country in fighting legalized abortion (with Frederica Matthews-Green being a very notable exception). But this year Metropolitan Jonah urged all Orthodox – from bishops to the lowliest layman – to attend the March and to work against legalized abortion. I thank him for that effort.

But what reminded me was seeing this photo over at Byzantine, TX:

(Metropolitan Jonah is in the center in white).

What struck me about the photo was seeing my former classmate Jeff Fortenberry (second from left). Jeff was in the Masters of Theology program with me at Franciscan back in the mid-90′s and we worked together in the campus computer lab during that time. Jeff is now a congressman from Nebraska (quite a step up from assisting students and faculty in using MS Word!).

Anyone who even slightly follows Catholic-Orthodox relations knows that the Petrine ministry is at the forefront of the divisions between West and East. Both Catholics and Orthodox accept a primacy for the bishop of Rome, but the biggest conflict is in interpreting what that primacy means in practice. Does the Pope have full universal jurisdiction over the Church as well as the ability declare a doctrine infallible, or does he have only a primacy which is mostly one of honor as the “first among equals”? This is the seemingly intractable problem which faces a potential reunion between the two Churches.

Much of the debate surrounds how the office of the papacy was practiced during the first millennium, when the two Churches were in full communion. This is the topic that a high-level Catholic-Orthodox commission has been discussing in recent years. Most interesting for those of us who have been following this commission over the years is that the Italian blog Chiesa has leaked a document that was written by the commission over a year ago:

The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium

Take the time to read this document in full; it is fascinating reading.

One insight which the commission has emphasized, and which I have always found striking, is that East and West didn’t agree on the role of the Pope even in the first millennium, yet remained (mostly) in full communion during that time. In other words, their variant views on how the pope exercised his primacy wasn’t a communion-breaking issue. I think this tells us something important.

Of course, even if the two Churches came to agreement on how the pope exercised his primacy in the first millennium, we still have the second millennium to deal with, when the two views diverged much more widely, culminating in the Vatican I pronouncements of papal infallibility and universal jurisdiction. But still, an agreement on first millennium practice would be a huge step forward.

Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us!

Those who actually come to my blog – as opposed to just reading my posts in a RSS reader – may have noticed that I added a new section in the right column called “Pictures of Holiness”. It consists of photographs of some of my favorite saints (and one blessed), all of whom (save one) lived in the 20th century. Why did I add this?

Many people believe that the 20th century was one of the most evil of centuries. And in many ways, they are right: eugenics, Nazism, Communism, legalized abortion, acceptance of contraception, and rampant consumerism all flowered in that sad century. But it is always good to remember that God does not leave His children abandoned; even in times of trial and suffering, He raises up saints to show us the way to love Him in every age.

Furthermore, we must always remember that saints are real people: they are not statues which we admire from a distance, but flesh-and-blood men and women who had to pick up their cross daily in the midst of the world just like all of us. And because they were real people, they could be photographed just like anyone else. So I purposely wanted to display photos of these holy men and women to emphasize the realness – and reachability – of their lives.

St. Theresa of Lisieux, pray for us!
Pope St. Pius X, pray for us!
Blessed Miguel Pro, pray for us!
St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us!
St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us!
St. Gianna Beretta Molla, pray for us!
St. Pio of Pietrelcina, pray for us!
St. Josemaria Escriva, pray for us!

I got an interesting question recently:

Hello,

I am frustrated in my attempts to grow in holiness, and I was hoping you could help me out.

For some reason, I feel that I have stagnated in my spiritual growth and can’t seem to figure out why. I go to Mass almost every day, pray the Rosary regularly, and try to make time for reading the Scriptures on a regular basis. I also perform works of charity and volunteer at my parish as much as I am able. I try my best to follow the 10 Commandments and go to confession at least monthly. Also, most nights I invite some entertainers into my house whose performances oftentimes include taking off all their clothes and simulating having sexual relations.

Can you give me any advice on what I am doing wrong? What can I do to move forward in the path of holiness?

Okay, I admit it: I made this question up. I did it to highlight what I think is a serious problem among many practicing Catholics today: watching movies and television shows with sex and nudity without any realization of how horrible they are to the spiritual life. Even many Catholics who are aware of the dangers of pornography on the Internet don’t think twice about watching “mainstream” movies and TV shows which include gratuitous scenes of sex and nudity (and the amount of sexual content in movies and on TV is only increasing).

The problem is desensitization: we have become so used to what passes for acceptable in our culture that our own bar of acceptability has adjusted as well. If a movie has a great plot, good production values, is well-received by critics, and has but a single sex scene, how many of us would refuse to watch the movie for that one scene? But if the scenario I mentioned above actually happened – live performers came into your house and simulated having sexual relations – would you not be shocked and extremely offended?

So why allow it when it happens in a box in your living room?

It seems that every Catholic blog and news outlet is reporting that Pope Benedict recently encouraged priests to be involved with online media in order to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’ve seen headlines to the effect “Pope to priests: get a blog!” and “Pope urges priests to go online”. It is true that the Pope made such remarks, but I think we would do well to also see in what context the Pope made this recommendation (emphasis added):

The Pope added, however, that “priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ.”

“Thanks to the new communications media,” he said, “the Lord can walk the streets of our cities and, stopping before the threshold of our homes and our hearts.”

“With the Gospels in our hands and in our hearts,” the Pontiff noted, “we must reaffirm the need to continue preparing ways that lead to the Word of God, while being at the same time constantly attentive to those who continue to seek.”

“Indeed,” he added, “we should encourage their seeking as a first step of evangelization.”

The Holy Father affirmed that “no door can or should be closed to those who, in the name of the risen Christ, are committed to drawing near to others.”

He pointed out that “the ultimate fruitfulness” of ministry “comes from Christ himself, encountered and listened to in prayer; proclaimed in preaching and lived witness; and known, loved and celebrated in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation.“

The online world is a wonderful way for priests and all Catholics to preach the good news. But we must always remember that it is but the first step in evangelization. No one can become Catholic or follow the Catholic Faith entirely online: he must directly interact with priests and other Catholics in order to grow in his faith and live it in the way Jesus commanded.

It is vitally important that priests are involved in online work, but I’d rather have a technologically-clueless holy priest than a web-saavy but spiritually immature priest any day. Let us pray that our priests are first holy and only then adept in the online world.

Probably no man has done more to introduce the spiritual patrimony of the East to Western Christians than Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. Like many others, my first introduction to the Orthodox Church was his “The Orthodox Church” which along with “The Orthodox Way” are classics on Eastern Christianity.

I was therefore very excited to find out that Metropolitan Kallistos will be in the United States next month, and not only that, but in my backyard:

• Tuesday, February 9
  “An Insider’s View: Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue Today”
  Caldwell Auditorium, The Catholic University of America
  400 Michigan Avenue, NE, Washington, DC
  4:30 pm – Prayer Service
  5:30 pm – Reception
  6:30 pm – Lecture

• Wednesday, Feb 10
  “Athens and Jerusalem: Hellenic Paideia and the Greek Fathers”
  Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church
  30 Malvern Avenue, Richmond, VA
  6:30 pm – Refreshments
  7:00 pm – Lecture

• Thursday, Feb 11
  “Lent: Our Personal Journey”
  Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church
  3410 Woodburn Road, Annandale, VA
  6:30 pm – Reception
  7:30 pm – Lecture

• Friday, Feb 12
  “Salvation in Christ: the Meaning of the Cross”
  St. Katherine’s Greek Orthodox Church
  3149 Glen Carlyn Road, Falls Church, VA
  6:00 pm – Reception
  7:00 pm – Lecture

• Saturday, Feb 13
  “Our Transfiguration in Christ: The Message of the Philokalia”
  St. Mark’s Orthodox
  7124 River Road, Bethesda, MD
  12:30 pm – Lecture 1
  1:30 pm – Lecture 2
  2:30 pm – Lecture 3
  5:30 pm – Great Vespers

• Sunday, Feb 14
  Divine Liturgy and Homily
  St. Mark’s Orthodox
  7124 River Road, Bethesda, MD
  9:30 am – Divine Liturgy

• Monday, Feb 15
  “Lent: Our Personal Journey”
  St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church
  2200 Church Road, Toms River, NJ
  6:00 pm – Great Compline
  7:30 pm – Refreshments and Lecture

• Wednesday, Feb 17
  “The Trinity: Heart of Our Life”
  St. George’s Greek, 7701 Bradley Blvd, Bethesda, MD
  6:00 pm – Presanctified Liturgy
  7:00 pm – Refreshments
  8:00 pm – Lecture

I plan on attending at least one of his talks, and if you are in the area, try to make an effort to attend.