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Today is the Feast Day of St. Dominic.
St. Dominic was known for his preaching and intellectual rigor. I used to belong to a church that was led by Dominicans and their homilies were intellectually intense.
I appreciate St. Dominic and his order because I cannot stand bland, trite, watered-down Christianity.
St. Dominic preached against the Albigensian heresy that sprang up in France. It’s a complex heresy and I don’t have the space or time to fully flesh out its tenets, so I’ll just focus on one part.
Albigensians believed that only the spiritual was good and matter was bad. Consequently, they believed that our souls—the spiritual side of us—were the good part and our bodies were bad.
This, of course, had all kinds of ugly ramifications. Suicide was commendable, especially doing it by starvation because feeding the body was bad. Marriage was looked down upon because sex within marriage was seen as bad. Any good pleasure for the body was seen as bad and therefore should be avoided—food, sexual intimacy between spouses, care of the body, etc.
It is obvious to see why this was a great heresy that needed to be condemned. Our souls and bodies were created by God, He designed us that way. We are different than angels in that we are not just pure spirit. While we can get into a lot of sin and vice using our bodies, ultimately it is our soul that animates our bodies. Our bodies just follow our will and our will is of a spiritual nature.
This is not to say then that the soul is bad. Neither the spiritual or material world is inherently bad. Both are great goods, created by God. The material world is how we experience much of our human existence, through our senses. We need the material world to sustain our bodies through food, water, medicine, clothing, etc.
We, also, are spiritual creatures and need our souls sustained by the Eucharist, prayer, and the Sacraments.
It is good and right, Catholic Pilgrims, to care for our bodies and our souls and not to view a war between the two. Thank goodness, St. Dominic challenged that heresy and set the record straight.
Have a blessed Tuesday.
St. Dominic, pray for us!
I got a question yesterday in the comments from someone responding to the post I made on Sunday. The question: "How does one really be transformed?" They commented that they know that they need a change, but not sure what that looks like. So, I thought I would respond in a more general area in case anyone else wants to see what I would say. My answer is by no means the ultimate answer, it simply is what I know from my own life. In my late teens and early twenties, most of you know that I lived a very worldly life. I called myself a Christian, but there was no evidence in how I lived to witness to that...at all. By my own choosing, I had walked away from God because I was mad at Him and I decided that I was going to fix myself and that I didn't need His help. As time went on, I became more and more unhappy. I tried to find happiness in worldly things, but mostly I just ended up more unhappy and disappointed in myself. After many, many years, I found myself giving my general confession right before my conversion to Catholicism. I had finally realized that I couldn't fix myself. I needed God. The first thing you have to do to be transformed by God is identify what it is that you are struggling with? What sins and vices are you clinging to? You must identify what needs to change or you can't change it. For that, I would recommend sitting down in silence and giving at least 15 minutes for reflection. Doing this at church in front of the Tabernacle is best, but regardless, just do it. If you've established what the problem is, you must ask God for help. Grace is Divine help. You will need it. I had to learn that I couldn't fix myself on my own. I needed God's Divine Life within me to help me, but we must ask for it. Lastly, start with small, positive changes. Oftentimes when people think of being transformed, they think they need to drop everything and run off to become a monk who spends 15 hours in prayer in order to be transformed. Very few people on earth can do this. If you haven't worked out your discipline muscle in a long time, you will need to build it up first. So, start small. Read one chapter of one of the Gospels each day. Just one. Set a timer and pray starting at 3 minutes. Go to confession and then commit to going to Mass each Sunday. Start here and then build from there. We are all a work in progress. Somedays we do well, somedays we don't. Each day is a day to get up, ask for the grace we need, and start again. Over time, you will see the effects God makes in your soul. Have a blessed day, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingThis past week, our priest was TDY to Georgia, so we didn't have daily Mass on base. TDY means temporary duty for military members in a different location than where they are stationed. Nearly every day for Mass, it's me, my son, and another lady that works on base. We'll call her Maria. Other people come and go, but we are kind of the constants. I love when we have a full little chapel. Anyway, Maria and I decided that we would still come up to the chapel to pray the Rosary together during Mass time. Well, I quickly found myself making excuse after excuse not to go up. "Oh, we need to finish up some school." "Oh, the door will be locked. Who wants to bother trying to find someone with a key." "Oh, I can pray it here at home." "Oh, this. Oh, that." Maria, though, has such a beautiful level of piety that it's infectious. She has a bag of religious books that she carries with her everywhere. She says her daily prayers with such love and devotion. She is always excited to do anything that brings her closer to God. I love her and her beautiful spirit. Because I knew she would be up there to pray, I went even when the inertia of my soul wanted to keep me at home being lazy. One day, I got there early and the door to the Blessed Sacrament room was locked and I was so sloth-like that I didn't even put forth the effort to go find someone with a key. I just kind of was like, "Oh well, guess not today." But, when Maria showed up and heard that the door was locked, she immediately turned around and went to find someone. In that moment, I felt so pitiful. Here I was standing around, not on my lunch break, but with time and I couldn't even move to go get someone to open the door. Maria on the other hand didn't even think twice. And I thought to myself right then and there, "God, I still have much work to do. Please forgive my lazy ways and help me be more like Maria." This is why we need each other, Catholic Pilgrims. This is why our Catholic Faith can't just be about a personal relationship with us and Jesus. We will easily slip into the deadly sin of sloth. Maria is a shining example for me and she holds me accountable. I need her witness. Have a blessed Monday.
Continue ReadingMost people want to go to Heaven. I was thinking today, though, at Mass, that while most people want to go to Heaven, they don't want to bring Heaven to earth quite yet. What do I mean by this? Well, early on in my Christian life, I wanted to go to Heaven. Mostly, it was because I just wanted to see departed loved ones again. And, it sounded nice, to be in a perfect place. I felt kind of like I was owed it simply by the sheer fact that I called myself a Christian. But, in the meantime, I didn't really want to live a holy and pleasing life here on earth. I wanted to indulge in a few choice sins, if you know what I mean. Heaven sounded good for after I'd had all the "fun." Though I felt I was owed it, I certainly didn't want to try to create Heaven here on earth through my own actions or cooperation with God. So, when suffering came my way, I was appalled that God would allow me to go through that. I felt I was owed a suffering-free life and Heaven. "Don't ask anything of me, yet give me all that I feel I deserve." This is what we call insufferable pride. I just didn't really understand anything about sacrifice or suffering as it should be understood to a Christian. When you are constantly told that Jesus did it all, there's nothing for you to do but sit back, call yourself a Christian, enjoy the ride because Jesus has got you, and live however you would like, because, again, you are covered by the Blood of Jesus, well, you will grow lukewarm real quick. Baptized believers are the Body of Christ, and that means, that we all make up Jesus' Body in a mystical, spiritual way. Christ suffered for us. As part of His Body, we can unite our suffering to His suffering and offer it to the Father. We are to participate with Him, not just hit cruise control. God has always wanted our participation and the craziest thing about Christ's suffering is that it was/is redemptive. Our suffering and sacrifices when united to His are redemptive, too. This is one of the ways we become more Christ-like. And so, this means, that we have to necessarily live differently. We can't "conform ourselves to this age" but instead "be transformed," as St. Paul tells us, Catholic Pilgrims. Our lives should look different. Have a blessed Sunday.
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