Fr. Franco's Letters

I was blessed to participate in the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis that ran from July 17-21. It was an event that exceeded expectations. The venue, the speakers, the music and liturgies were very inspiring. The flow of the Congress led to a commissioning of participants to leave with a sense of mission. We were sent out to proclaim Jesus Christ, invite people to back to the Church and inspire others with a deeper faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Here are three words I gleaned from this event:

First-Hope! This word came to me in two ways. The first was a conversation I had with a fellow pilgrim on the bus ride to Indianapolis. Among other things, this woman shared with me some of things that she had heard from her spiritual director as they discussed the writings of St. John of the Cross. It seems that St. John of the Cross identified the virtue of faith with the intellect. Perhaps this is why faith comes from hearing the word of Christ (see Romans 1017) and is fed by the word of God (see Matthew 4:4). St. John roots the virtue of love in the will. We choose the good of the other over ourselves. Finally, St. John of the Cross identifies the virtue of hope with the memory.

I pondered that thought for a while. I believe that when St. John wrote, the memory included the imagination. I could easily see that hope would be strengthened as we recalled God’s faithfulness or claimed a promise given to us by the Lord. I could also see how hope would be eroded by our brooding over past failures and hurts. Also, if our imagination raced ahead to all the bad things that could happen in a certain situation, hope would diminish.

I was reminded of something I learned from biking. If I was biking near the edge of the asphalt trail and looked down at my tires, I would often slip off the trail. However, if I looked ahead to where I wanted my bike to be on the trail, instinctively my bike is guided to that part of the path.

In developing the virtue of hope, I realized that I needed to keep my focus on God and his faithfulness. Focusing on the past failures or the emotional wounds of life will squelch hope.

The second time the word hope came to me was during the Congress itself. I participated in the Empowerment workshop led by Deacon Larry Oney and his wife Andi. One of the presenters during their three-session workshop gave a word of knowledge that God was liberating: God was freeing participants from hopelessness. So it was “out with hopelessness” and “In with hope”. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Second-Engage! I also participated in a number of sessions for priests. Msgr. Shea, President of St. Mary University in Fargo, North Dakota gave a brief recap of his book From Christendom to Apostolic Mission. In some ways, the title says it all. Christendom would be a society in which its major institutions were framed with the values and worldview of Christ. This is no longer true of our time. The values and worldview of Christ has been so eroded that we are now in a new era. Like the time of the early Church, government, the entertainment industry or educational institutions do not hold a worldview influenced by Christ. Therefore, we must adopt a missionary posture if we are to remain genuinely Christian and fulfill our purpose. This workshop also included a panel discussion with three bishops: Archbishop Perez of Philadelphia (our former bishop in the Diocese of Cleveland), Archbishop Sample of Portland, Oregon and Bishop Robert Lombardo, an auxiliary Bishop of Chicago.

I thought that Archbishop Sample summarized possible responses to our times in three words. His first word was: capitulate. And we know that many people have. Our culture has eroded the faith and values of many people and they simply “go with the flow”, even though that flow is diametrically opposed to Christ and his manner of life.

The second word Archbishop Sample used was: retreat. Perhaps we know some people who have adopted this posture. Because the culture has become so “anti-Christ”, these people simply withdraw into an insulated cocoon. They only associate with believers. They lament the fact that the “good old days” are gone. They desire to preserve tradition without actively reaching out to non-believers.

The final word that Archbishop Sample gave us was the word engage. Being deeply rooted in Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit we are to engage individuals and our culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think of St. Paul’s words to Timothy:

proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching (2 Timothy 4:2)

The words “convenient or inconvenient” can be translated in season and out of season. Bringing Christ to the culture is not always convenient. He will not always be welcome. Our efforts may not always bear fruit. And it may be costly. We will have to pay the price of being ridiculed or worse. Yet, we are called and equipped to engage the broader culture confidently with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Third-Go! The final day of Congress was exhorting us to missionary action. Chris Stefanik, a popular Catholic speaker, gave a rousing exhortation on Sunday morning before the closing Mass. As he encouraged us to witness to Christ, trusting that the Lord will give us words and that He is with us, he pointed out a clever reminder of our mission. Chris said, Remember, “Go” is two thirds of the name of God!How true! All of us need to be about the mission that Jesus gave the Church.

The Roman Catholic Church has both a patron and a patroness for our missionary activity. They are very different. The first patron of the missions is St. Francis Xavier SJ. An associate of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the mid 1500’s, he took the gospel to lands that never heard of Jesus Christ. He reestablished the Church in India and ventured to the far east, planting the Church in Japan. He died of exhaustion off the coast of China.

The patroness of the missions is St. Therese of Lisieux. She was a Carmelite nun whose vocation was lived in the monastery in France. Best known for her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, this Doctor of the Church prayed for missionaries. She died in 1897 at the age of 24.

St. Francis Xavier and St. Therese were both mission focused. One actively proclaimed Christ to foreign lands. The other prayed for the success of active missionaries. Proclaiming the gospel would not be effective without both prayer and action. I would venture to say that most of us will be engaged in the mission of Christ by doing a combination of both prayer and proclamation. The most important thing is that we have a missionary mindset.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy Spirit! (Romans 15:13) Let us fearlessly share the good news: Jesus Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead, is among us in the Blessed Sacrament and will come again to judge the living and the dead. Marantha! (I Corinthians 16:22) Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20).