Pray and Love: This Is What We Must Do

'Pray and Love:

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Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere ‘command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us…. The consciousness that, in Christ, God has given himself for us, even unto death, must inspire us to live no longer for ourselves but for him, and, with him, for others. Whoever loves believe that this same poison that has so sickened the political and civic culture around us has also found its way to infect our Church and to divert our attention, and to turn our hearts, from the God who is Love (Deus Caritas Est). Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire Catholic ministry and well-known author, teacher, and evangelist, recently posted a YouTube video on, “Social Media and the Catholic Culture of Contempt.” In it, he describes the “vitriol, negativity, personal attacks, and outright calumny that come regularly from selfprofessed Catholics,” and of the “hateful, vituperative, venomous words” that have been written to and about him on social media sites by fellow Catholics. He speaks the command of universal love is concerned, let us not accept excuses or preach prudent caution. The Lord was not cautious; he did not yield to compromises. He asks of us the extremism of charity. This is the only legitimate kind of Christian extremism: the extremism of love (Pope Francis, Homily at the “Mediterranean: Frontier of Peace” meeting in Bari, Italy / February 23, 2020). If following the path of Christian love sounds too vague or idealistic of a solution, then I would suggest that we meditate on This Is What We Must Do' Todd Graff Director of Lay Formation & RCIA tgraff@dowr.org Lay Formation & RCIA Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be of such expressions of “mean-spirited mob action” where it led Jesus – on the road to Calvary increasingly the image and instrument of the love which within the Catholic community as being “dismaying and to the Cross. It was there that Jesus taught us the flows from Christ. and disedifying in the extreme.” way of love, which is the way of forgiveness, of self-sac-Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, #1, #33 Perhaps most distressing, he attests to how this spirit of utter contempt for one another within the Church is a very potent “counter witness” to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a society which so desperately needs rifice, of bearing another’s burdens, of absorbing evil without retaliation, of accepting suffering as redemptive – and, ultimately, of salvation. As Pope Francis reminds us, “[Jesus] did not point a finger at those reetings of Peace, and Blessings in these Summer Days! I was having a phone conversation the other day with one of my older sons, and he was lamenting that, early in this COVID-19 pandemic, we had discussed our hope that this scourge might be something that could the mercy, love, and compassion of the Body of Christ. A particularly painful expression of this for me has been the public and well coordinated attacks on our Holy Father by many prominent Catholic figures, web sites, and media sources. The lack of charity and respect for Pope Francis, and for his office, is a source of very deep sadness to me. Through many years of who wrongfully condemned him and put him to a cruel death, but opened his arms to them on the cross. And he forgave those who drove the nails into his wrists (cf. Lk 23:33-34).” It is a path we will only be able to walk with grace and in prayer. Our Holy Father encourages and guides us in this: “Ask God for the strength to love. Say to him: bring our country together and unite us. And, now, we service in the Church, never have I witnessed such utter ‘Lord, help me to love, teach me to forgive. I cannot do have seen how even a pandemic that has taken over disregard for the teaching and pastoral leadership of a it alone, I need you.’” 130,000 American lives (and counting) could still be pope. It is dismaying, misguided, and undermining of I will conclude by returning to my recent phone ‘weaponized’ as a source of partisanship and politiCatholic teaching and tradition! call with my son… Our conversation didn’t end on a cal polarization. Few things speak more clearly to the So, where to look for guidance in such troubled note of despair. Despite the divisiveness which even a spiritual poverty of our nation than this. times for our world, and for our Church?... Not surprispandemic couldn’t help to heal in our country, he told

For most of this summer, I have been on a voluningly for those who know me, I will turn to Pope Francis me that he would continue to hope, to care for those tary furlough from my work with the diocese due to the himself. around him, and to focus on the positive change he circumstances relating to the coronavirus pandemic. In a stirring and beautiful homily given this past could make in his circle of work and community, and This has given me a chance to spend a little more time February at a church gathering in Italy, Pope Francis among his family and friends. Thank you for continuing reading, reflecting, and praying. reflected on the gospel reading taken from Jesus’ to choose love, my son! Deo Gratias!

While I continue to marvel at the beauty of our Sermon on the Mount. Speaking to Jesus’ command to, world, and the wonder of our human dignity, I have to “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute Today let us choose love, whatever the cost, even if admit that there is much that saddens me in the time you” (Matthew 5:44), our Holy Father offers us this it means going against the tide. Let us not yield to we’re living. It is clear to me that anger, fear, resentpath of Christian discipleship: the thinking of this world, or content ourselves with ment, contempt, and hatred are strong motivators for human thinking and acting. And, these can be exploited and manipulated in the most clever and masterful of ways by the technological tools available to us. Original sin clearly marks our human experience, and the evil one knows well how to divide us from our loving God, and from one another. Christians, of course, have the antidote to this poison within our faith tradition. It is the way of selfsacrificial love demonstrated by our Crucified Lord as he hung on the Cross for our salvation. But, sadly, I Pray and love: this is what we must do; and not only with regard to those who love us, not only with regard to our friends or our own people. The love of Jesus knows no boundaries or barriers. The Lord demands of us the courage to have a love that does not count the cost. Because the measure of Jesus is love without measure. How many times have we neglected that demand, behaving like everyone else! Yet his commandment of love is not simply a challenge; it is the very heart of the Gospel. Where half measures. Let us accept the challenge of Jesus, the challenge of charity. Then we will be true Christians and our world will be more human. - Pope Francis, Homily in Bari, Italy, 2/23/2020