Loving the Other as "Other"

“All of Paul’s ‘fruits of the Holy Spirit’ are marks of an outward-looking, expansive magna anima (great soul), which stands in contradistinction to the pusilla anima (the cramped soul) of the sinner.  Thus love is willing the good of the other as other; joy is self-diffusive; patience bears with the troublesome; kindness makes the other gentle; self-control restricts the havoc that the ego can cause; etc.” – Bishop Robert Barron, daily Gospel reflection for June 27, 2018

When I read this quote from Bishop Barron, I thought how applicable it is to the experience of families with varied religious backgrounds, a fitting subject as this week brings to a close Religious Freedom Week.  For instance, my father was raised Mormon, though he has not been a practicing member for decades.  My brother was raised Catholic and is now a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).  My mother and I are practicing Catholics.  This makes for some interesting conversation around the dinner table, especially at the holidays when we see other relatives from my dad’s side who are still practicing Mormons.

If we strive to love in the manner that Bishop Barron talks about in this quote, we need to love “the other as other.”  That is, we need to accept others with differing beliefs.  We need to recognize that belief, regardless of what it is, may be rooted in years of tradition.  Because of this, human beings can be very passionate about this aspect of our lives.  This is why the old rule of etiquette was “Never discuss religion or politics.”

Jesus showed us the value of showing love and respect toward those of differing faiths and/or cultural backgrounds.  He gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan, which models good and ethical behavior toward those of other cultural backgrounds.  He modeled polite discussion with people with varying religious beliefs (e.g., the Pharisees and Sadducees).  He ate with tax collectors and associated with prostitutes, and he treated them with respect.

Mary too, in her apparitions has shown us the values of diversity.  She has appeared to people all over the world in the form of a woman of the particular ethnic group of the region (e.g., as Our Lady of Guadalupe).  In Jesus and Mary, we have good examples to follow.

Next week, we will recognize Independence Day here in the United States.  The early European settlers of this country were Puritans seeking a place where they could practice their religion freely.  The founding fathers wrote freedom of religion into the Declaration of Independence.  Let us pray that our current government leaders will continue to champion the freedoms so many seek when they come to the United States.

Like an Old Friend

Mass is essentially the same wherever you go.  It might be in a different language or have different music than you are accustomed to, but you can still follow along with relative ease.  I have been privileged to travel to Europe several times, and I have heard Mass in Latin, German, French, and Hungarian.  On my most recent trip two years ago this month, my mother was amazed that I was able to follow along so well with the music at a Mass in a small village in Hungary.  I told her that because I know the basic rules of pronunciation for the language, it wasn’t that difficult.  Mass is Mass.

This week at St. Ambrose, we had a funeral Mass with many elements in Latin.  It is important to note that, while the Second Vatican Council allowed the use of the vernacular in Masses and sacraments, it did not say that Latin could not be used (Sacrosanctum Concilium).  And yes, there were parts of the Mass I did not understand.  However, it felt more like a greeting from an old friend than an imposition of times past.

I realize that I may come at this from a unique perspective.  I learned many Latin Mass settings during my years at the Madeleine Choir School.  It’s always fun to get to sing them again.  It had been over ten years since I had sung the setting of the “Pie Jesu” we used at this funeral.  Pulling it out again brought back memories of the last time I sang it.

I think it is good for us to revisit the “old ways” from time to time.  It reminds us where we came from and where we have been.  We need the lessons of history to help us move forward.  For me, using the Latin texts makes me feel as if I am strengthening my prayers.  It makes me feel as if I am closer to God.  Anything that draws us closer to God is worth pursuing.  I am grateful for the opportunities I have now, and those I have had in the past, to participate in varied liturgies.

What do you use to enhance your own prayer life?  How might you incorporate different elements to deepen your relationship with God?

Having Trust in the Lord

On Tuesday, I received what should be good news from a medical procedure.  However, in the moment, it didn’t feel like good news.  It just meant I had eliminated one thing from a list of possible problems.  I have a good relationship with the doctor whom I saw.  In fact, when I began my medical “adventures” as I like to call them, he was one of the only people who acknowledged that there was a problem to begin with.  I found out yesterday that he is retiring next month.  It felt as if he was abandoning me, even though another of his colleagues will continue to follow me.  There have been many changes in my “care team” in the last few years, as those I have known and trusted have left their practices to other professionals.  I find consolation in the fact that my new doctors are and will be trusted colleagues of those who came before. 

This situation reminded me of the story of the person walking along the seashore with Jesus at his side.  Looking back, the person saw two sets of footprints in the sand.  As this person walked through life, he faced many challenges.  When he looked back at these times, he saw only one set of footprints.  The person asked Jesus, “Why did you abandon me at my weakest moments?”  Jesus replied to him, “It was at those moments that I carried you.”

There are times when life seems very difficult and perhaps hard to understand.  At these moments, it is tempting to believe that God is not with us, that He may have abandoned us, in fact.  It is precisely at these times, however, that we need to remember that God is always with us.  As Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.  Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” God takes care of the lowliest creatures, so why should He not take care of us?  God will always be there for us.  We just have to remember to turn to Him in our times of need.

The Importance of Being a Good Example

On Sunday afternoon, my mom and I went for a walk around Silver Lake, in Big Cottonwood Canyon near Brighton.  This is one of our favorite places to go when we want to escape the heat of the valley in the summer.  As we were walking around the lake, we passed a man and what appeared to be his adult children.  Another passerby might not have noticed, but my mom saw the Hungarian emblem on this man’s shirt and asked him if he was Hungarian.  It turns out this man was born in New Jersey to Hungarian parents who came to the United States after the 1956 revolution in Hungary.  My mother was born in Hungary at the end of the Second World War and came to the US in 1960.  They started conversing in Hungarian, and I was amazed at how little of an accent this man had.  He didn’t sound Hungarian when speaking English, but he didn’t sound American when speaking Hungarian either.  He learned Hungarian as his first language, and English as his second.  As they spoke, I caught a word here and there that I understood, but it seemed his young adult children did not understand anything that was said.

This got me thinking.  In both my mother’s and this man’s case, the parents who lived through a culture shift and revolution kept the language of their homeland alive for their children who grew up in the US.  The next generation, however, did not learn the language.  Why?  Was it a simple matter of assimilation?  A lack of motivation on the parts of our first generation American parents?  Our own lack of interest as the children of native speakers?

I think this situation could apply to what is happening in the Church today, with more and more youth leaving as they get older.  Youth with parents who make church a priority and set a good example for their children may be more likely to continue attending church as they grow into adulthood.  Youth who grow up surrounded by traditions are more likely to keep those traditions and pass them on to future generations.

To bring it back to my own experience, I picked up most of the Hungarian I now recognize from repeated exposure as a child.  Similarly, I recall that I didn’t so much memorize the prayers we say at Mass through isolated practice but through repeated exposure at Mass.  My cousins, the children of my mother’s brother, on the other hand, who were raised in an environment where the use of Hungarian was less accepted, didn’t pick up as much of the language as I did.  These same cousins are not regular church goers as adults either.  The two are not related in any way, other than perhaps the example of my uncle was less effective than it could have been compared with my mother’s.

In order to keep a culture alive, people need an example to follow.  By the same token, in order to keep our churches and faith vibrant in the future, we need to first examine our own behaviors and attitudes.  What sort of example are we setting for the next generation?

In the comments, feel free to share your own ideas or experiences on this topic.

The Mystery of the Trinity

In his homily this past Sunday for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Father Andrzej brought up the Arian Heresy, which denied the Hypostatic Union.

If you are anything like I was when I first heard that term, you're probably saying, "The Hypo-what now?"

My bachelor's degree is in English.  I've always loved words - spelling them, learning about their etymology, picking apart their roots to get at their deeper meaning.  So, Hypostatic Union.  Let's take that apart.

In terms of doctrine, Hypostatic Union refers to the mystery that Jesus Christ was fully human and fully divine.  The term comes from the Greek hypostasis, meaning substance.  So, literally, the Hypostatic Union means a bringing together of substances - the Divine and the Human - into the one person, Jesus Christ, "the eternally begotten Son of the Father who became man and revealed in a human form, in a human language, the mystery of God," as Father said in his homily this week.

In response to the Arian heresy, the Church convened the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD, out of which came the Nicene Creed, which we profess at Mass on Sundays.  In the most recent English translation, this creed states that Jesus Christ is "consubstantial with the Father", consubstantialem Patri in Latin.  Again, we can take the word consubstantial apart to get at its deeper meaning.  The prefix con- means together or with, and substantial means relating to substance.  Consubstantial, as it is used in the creed, means “of the same substance as the Father,” further emphasizing the divinity of Jesus.

Still, the mystery of the Holy Trinity, one God in three divine persons, is just that, a mystery, which is hard for us humans to wrap our minds around.  Saint Patrick is said to have tried to explain the Trinity using a shamrock, three leaves but one plant.  I really like how Father Andrzej explained it later in his homily:  From all of eternity God’s perfect knowledge of God begets the image of God, which is the Son, eternally begotten Son, the perfect image of the Father.  Their mutual intimacy and love begets from all of eternity the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Divine Being, which contains from eternity the immensity of love between the Eternal Father and the Eternally Begotten Son.  The eternity Father Andrzej is referring to here means nothing created yet.  God would not be love if there would be nothing to love.

One of the benefits of being a cantor is I often hear a Sunday homily more than once, or I hear different homilies at different Masses on the same Sunday.  At the 5:00 PM Mass on Sunday, Father Patrick Elliot pointed out that the Church baptizes in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, not in the names of the three persons.  The one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

"Our baptism in the name of the Trinity ... means that we are to participate, that is to say, we are called to participate in the life of God, into an intimate relationship with God, to join in the circle of love which is God.  This is how Christians experience God:  the Father who creates and sustains us, the Son who is our Savior, who gives Himself completely for us, and then the Spirit who lives within us.  Why?  To animate us, to guide us, and to direct us in our daily lives."

Father Andrzej stated at the beginning of his homily that sometimes we do not give as much thought to the Sign of the Cross as we should.  If we strive truly to live our lives in the mystery of the Trinity, we need to begin by being mindful of the mystery we profess when we say, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."

New Beginnings

In the coming weeks we will be looking at revitalizing this blog.  As with any new beginning, there will be stops and starts, things that work, and things that don't.  The first order of business is an introduction.

My name is Sarah Maland.  I am lifelong member of St. Ambrose Parish.  I have been involved in the parish from a young age, serving as an altar server for three years, assisting my mother as a classroom aide in religious education for three years, singing in the choir since 2003 and serving as a cantor since 2008.  I recently took on a position with the parish in Homebound and Bereavement as well as management of our parish online communications.  I will be posting to the blog as St. Ambrose.  I am excited to get started!

I attended the Madeleine Choir School from 1997-2001, and I had the privilege of studying religion with Mr. Gregory Glenn.  I went on to attend Judge Memorial for high school, Westminster College in Salt Lake City for my bachelor's and master's degrees, and Silver Lake College of the Holy Family in Wisconsin for further music studies after receiving my master's.  My professional background is in special education.  I worked as a classroom aide in a Kindergarten-first grade classroom for students with autism, learning disabilities, and/or physical disabilities for two and a half years, and as a classroom teacher for students with autism and learning disabilities.  Most recently, I was an aide at Blessed Sacrament's Blessed Beginnings Daycare, which opened in September 2017.

My vision for the blog is a space to share faith resources and inspirational stories, as well as personal observations.  Interaction is encouraged.  You are welcome to leave comments on posts and converse with others who do so. 

Please keep in mind, this is a Catholic space.  Please be respectful of others in your interactions.

Final Destiny

When my cousin was young, she spent a lot of time in the closet.  Not because she liked it there, especially.  Mostly it was to give my aunt Stephanie a few minutes of respite from her antics.

 It really wasn’t so bad in the closet, which was actually a tiny room with a comfortable chair, a window that opened, and books and blankets and pillows.  And a door.  The door was always closed unless the closet was occupied, since, unlike a bedroom door, which opens in to the room, this one opened out to the hallway, blocking traffic. 

My cousin was a bright, inquisitive, and determined preschooler who was very creative, and very fast.  And thus, long before the term “time out” was coined, she spent many an afternoon “in the closet.”

One summer afternoon, so the story goes, my cousin was outside playing.  I can picture her, with her dark curly hair and rosy cheeks, a chubby bundle of energy happily immersed in some shenanigan or another. 

Aunt Stephanie had learned long before to keep one ear tuned to the tell tale sounds of mischief in the making.  It had been awhile, and Aunt Stephanie had heard neither whisper nor word from my cousin.  Just as she was beginning to wonder what trouble the silence was signaling, she heard the screen door slam, followed by the sound of little feet running across the hard wood floor.  Before Aunt Stephanie could reach the living room, she heard my cousin call out exuberantly, “Open up the door, Steph, I’m coming in!”

I love that story, which for  years  has been told over and over at family reunions and

get-togethers.  I love that my cousin was absolutely certain about the end result of her

behavior.  She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt where she would end up, and she accepted the outcome with her typical enthusiasm.

That’s how I want it to be when I die.  I want to know, without a doubt, where I’m going and why.  I want the assurance that I will be spending eternity in the most wonderful place in all of creation.  And when my time comes, I want to call out with joyful confidence, “Open up the gates, Lord, I’m coming in!”

Yet, I have doubts.  I have a little voice in my head that tells me I’m not good enough, not holy enough, not prayerful enough.  I yell at my kids, I swear when I get cut off in traffic, and once when I was five years old, I stole my cousin’s eraser. 

But here’s the thing.  God, in His infinite mercy, has made provisions for slackers like me.  The bible tells us, “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him” (Daniel 9:9)  ;

See?     

John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

So, when I hear those little voices, when I mess up on a day-to-day basis, I know it is important to silence those voices.   I must not let myself be defeated.  Instead, I need to confess my sins, thank God for His loving mercy, and rest assured that when my time comes, I’ll call out ahead, “Open up the gates, Lord, I’m on my way!”

Do you feel defeated by sin and bad habits?  What helps you to stay positive and  to keep trying?  What helps you to remember that you are a child of the Lord who is waiting to welcome you with open arms?