The Catholic Virginian

January 28, 2008 | Volume 83, Number 7

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First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A (Feb. 10, 2008)

by Ann Ruggaber

A favorite memory from a graduate school class came to mind as I reflected on the readings for the first Sunday of Lent.

The priest who taught a course in Christology was one of my most influential professors. Dressed in his usual flannel shirt with rolled-up sleeves, ever-present cigarette in the corner of his mouth, he leaned over the podium and growled, “I don’t know about you, but I’m doggone proud to belong to the same human race as Jesus Christ!”

The readings for the first Sunday of Lent place before us two figures from that human race: Adam and Jesus.

In the first reading, we have the account of the sin of our first parents. In the Gospel, we have Matthew’s account of the temptations of Jesus in the desert, and between them, Paul’s reflection to the Romans on Jesus as the new Adam.

The parallel of the temptations is striking. In Genesis, the evil one whispers, “If you eat the fruit, you will be like God.”

In the gospel, the temptation is a crafty twist on the same theme. “You don’t have to be human!”

Both were tempted to deny their humanity.

Temptation is always based on a lie. Just a few verses before this narrative, we read that God created Adam and Eve in God’s own image, and that God saw that it was very good. They were already like God! They didn’t need to be anything other than how God created them: loved and loving.

Their sin was denying their own goodness and godliness. They accepted the illusion that they were the ones in charge, that they could make themselves better, more God-like, by their own actions. They would correct the divine mistake!

Adam and Eve bought the lie, and thus began the sad and violent history of human sin.

Jesus, too, was tempted to deny who he was. He was tempted to refuse to be “human like us in all things except sin,” as Paul describes him. He was tempted to use his divinity in a self-serving way and to turn his back on the human condition.

He could have turned the stones into bread, or thrown himself off the temple parapet and summoned angels to bear him up, and in doing so, surrendered himself to the delusion that he knew better than God.

But this time, the outcome was different. Jesus resisted the temptations. He did not accept that God’s vision was somehow deficient.

In humble obedience to the will of God, he made the choice to fulfill his mission as a fully human person, drawing people to him with love rather than with power and prestige.

Both Adam and Jesus were tempted to take action on their own to do something that would make them different from how God made them. Jesus is the New Adam precisely because he triumphed where Adam failed.

He lived his life completely, totally in union with the will of God, and he did it as a human being. He is the one human being who succeeded in doing what every human is created to do — image God by being fully human.

All of us have a foot in Jesus’ world of love and Adam’s world of sin and deception. We fall for many versions of the lie that something other than God and God’s will for us will make us happy, complete, fulfilled human beings.

We try to fill that God-shaped hole with possessions, pleasure, power, and prestige. And we find ourselves still hungry, still grabbing for the apple, still lacking wholeness.

The traditional Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is simply a call to return to the way of Jesus, the way we promised at our baptism — to refuse the lie that God’s way and God’s life will not be enough for us, to refuse the lie that we know more than God, and to rejoice anew at Easter that we, too, are part of the same human race as Jesus Christ!

How do we deal with the homeless?

by Mary Hood Hart

Recently, my husband and I spent the weekend in Baltimore. Once we arrived at our downtown hotel, we valet parked the car and didn’t retrieve it again until we checked out and were ready to drive home.

We were in a central location and able to walk wherever we needed to go.

While not brutal, the weather was cold, especially once the sun set.

The first evening, as we were walking to a restaurant, a woman about my age stopped us and asked for spare change. Her speech was slurred.

To be honest, I never know how to respond in an encounter like this. If I had been alone, I probably would have walked on, shaking my head apologetically.

But my husband asked me to retrieve the spare change from my purse, and so I did, handing her a fistful of change, maybe a dollar’s worth, at most.

She thanked me almost too heartily, saying that she needed the money to catch the bus.

Maybe she did. But her demeanor and slurred speech suggested she may have been seeking money to buy alcohol.

Later that same weekend, we passed men who appeared to be homeless, but none asked us for anything. They just sat or slept in quiet heaps, leaning against walls or on benches, silent reminders of the chasm that exists between those who can afford to sleep in downtown hotels and those who sleep on the streets.

Because of where I live, I don’t often encounter the homeless. Because it’s not routine for me, I don’t have a conditioned response.

I don’t automatically ignore them, nor do I routinely help them. I honestly don’t know what to do.

I’ve heard it said that homeless men and women are most disturbed when passersby avoid them, refusing to make eye contact, when pedestrians walk a wide circle around them as if avoiding heaps of garbage. A kind glance, a smile, or a hello mean as much — or more — than an offer of money.

So, in such cases, I’ve tried to make sure I acknowledge the person I pass, regardless of his or her appearance or demeanor.

Yet I must confess to feeling some fear and discomfort with the encounter. There’s never been an encounter with a “street person,” even one in which I felt I was being appropriately generous, that left me with a sense of having fulfilled my responsibility to the human being I encountered.

If I give money, even all the money in my possession at the time, that contribution would not be enough to make a difference in this person’s standard of living.

The problem of homelessness surpasses my meager ability to remedy it by passing out some dollars on the street. It encompasses a vast network of problems — mental illness, addiction, social injustice, economics, inequality.

While I can’t allow the complexity of the problem to prevent me from doing anything, I am also obligated to recognize that my “band-aid” solution, handing a street woman a fistful of change, is not in itself an act of charity.

The root of the word “charity” is the Latin “caritas,” defined as Christian love. It is not an act of Christian love to try to assuage my sense of guilt and my obligation to my brothers and sisters by handing over a few dollars to a homeless person, pulling canned goods out of my cupboard to give to a food pantry, or buying a few toys for an underprivileged child at Christmas.

Christian love requires a more complete offering, not necessarily of material goods, but of self.

Christian love requires I evaluate the way I live and consider how my lifestyle, my choices, my politics, my greed impact the lives of others, many of whom I will never meet.

Christian love requires I make true sacrifices, not just donations of surplus. And today, I know this in my heart, I am not doing all I could do.

While I don’t want to diminish the importance of tossing loose change into the Salvation Army kettle, it is not enough.

I must continue to challenge myself to see beyond the sort of giving society encourages during the Advent and Christmas seasons, and extend the giving — from that which feels warm and safe, to that which creates discomfort within me and requires a cold, hard look at myself during this season and throughout the year.

Faith and life

by Barbara Hughes

Does your life dictate the way you live your faith or does your faith dictate the way you live your life?

The question occurred to me this morning as I was pondering a topic for this column. The fact that it was about five in the morning and my mind was reviewing everything that I had to do today didn’t make it any easier.

As a matter of habit, I reached for my Liturgy of the Hours Prayer Book and thought to myself: what a comfort!

For the next 20 minutes, I don’t have to think about deadlines to meet, phone calls to be returned or e-mails to be sent.

I can allow the Psalms to sweep the clutter from my mind and allow the Holy Spirit to direct my agenda for the day.

It was then I realized that when I allow faith to dictate the way I live my life, life seems easier. Over the years, I’ve learned that when I choose to let my relationship with God guide my life, I not only find peace, but I’m far more productive and the truth be told, I’m easier to live with.

Prayer creates a rhythm in my life that allows the day’s activities to mellow me and as some would say — to go with the flow.

It transforms a would-be myopic vision where life revolves around me and places God in the center where life revolves around God’s family.

When life gets super busy, we can allow activities and obligations to overshadow the fact that God is in charge, not us. Each person is just a player on the stage of life which God produces.

Every person has been given a part to play at this time, in this place. Throughout the course of life, we enter into a lot of different roles but one role is constant. As Catholics, our primary role is that of a child of God. How we enter into that role is another story. But in the end, it’s the way we embrace our role that really matters.

When I feel like going on strike, or living out of a more secular identity challenge, prayer can come to the rescue.

When I feel overwhelmed because it feels like I’ve been working 24/7, I remember that God has given us the Sabbath to rest and relax and enjoy being present to him.

So my question is: do we see prayer, attendance at Mass and reception of the Sacraments as one more thing to do or do we embrace it as the gift that God intended, to get us through life more effectively and more joyfully?

I have to admit that for many years I thought nothing of doing grocery shopping on Sunday or catching up on laundry, particularly when I was a working mom with five children at home.

And every now and then I’m tempted to do the same. However, over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of the Sabbath.

Our Father, who knows us far better than we know ourselves, told us to keep the day holy for a reason. It wasn’t because we needed one more law to observe. The commandment to keep holy the Sabbath is a directive in self-care. And unless we care for ourselves, how can we even think about caring for others?

Now I realize that some professions require working on Sunday, but if that’s the case, it’s important to build a day of rest into the week and then keep it holy.

One way to do this may be to attend Mass or spend some time reading Scripture.

A walk in the park for no reason other than to appreciate nature and thank God for the gift of creation can be both restful and rejuvenating.

Having lunch with a friend or reading a book adds balance to lives that are overly busy. Even allowing yourself the luxury of an afternoon nap can restore your spirit.

Now if you think you can’t afford to take the time, you’re wrong. Consider the fact that before I began my morning prayer, I had no idea what I would write about. By the time it ended, the creative juices were flowing and I wrote this column in record time.

When we build the rhythm of work in prayer into our day, not only do we see life differently, but we deepen our relationship with God in the process. If Jesus found it essential to spend time in prayer in order to know his Father’s will, can we really presume to know God’s will unless we first come to know him?

And like every other relationship, getting to know someone takes time. Because God is infinitely above our level to fully understand, our relationship with God takes a lifetime.

If we find God or the sacraments are no longer relevant, we might do well to ask ourselves, “why.” God is always present but am I always present to God?

Life is full of questions, some are tougher than others but when faith guides our life, the answers come from the wisdom of God.

And how could we ask for a better director?

An interview with Steve Neill

Q. Are expectations progressing in preparation of the five-year Diocesan Pastoral Plan?

A. In terms of the diocesan pastoral planning process, Beth Neu, (Diocesan Director of Pastoral Planning), the Pastoral Planning Commission and the regional groups of the parish representatives have been coming together. Beth has done the training of the facilitators for the regional groups. The parish representatives are expected to work together with one another with the data and statistics that they have and come up with some suggestions.

We seem to be well organized and moving forward with the planning process. I’m really anxious to hear what they have to say and suggest.

I’m optimistic they will come up with a very positive kind of plan for our future, especially with respect to parish life.

Q. Many people seem to think that the plan will involve assigning priests to more than one parish. Is that part of the package?

A. What we’re trying to the extent it is possible, is make sure that we have enough priests to care for the number of individuals and families in our Diocese. We shouldn’t overextend the priest and his ability to care for them. It may well be that in some cases some priests may have more than one parish. If the right resources are there, he may be able to comfortably take care of two or more parishes. This could mean with help from a deacon, help from a business manager, and help from a coordinator of religious education.

If he has some or all of these resources at his disposal and also has the assistance of the parish pastoral council and finance council, he will have the help he needs to do his job and handle his responsibilities of pastor very well.

It isn’t so much that we’re going to mindlessly push a priest into two parishes. We would first expect him to have the necessary resources, both human and otherwise, to fulfill his religious mission.

Q. Are there any changes in the diocese’s approach to youth ministry and campus and young adult ministry?

A. First of all, when Sister Diane Guy (who had been director of the diocese's Office of Campus and Young Adult Ministry) decided to move and take over the program for “We Walk by Faith,” we decided to step back and review the campus ministry program, its mission and its goals and how it ought to unfold in the Diocese of Richmond.

We charged Father John Grace, campus minister at Virginia Tech’s Newman Community, and a committee to look into the whole matter of Catholic campus ministry and then make their recommendations about how campus ministry should operate in the Diocese of Richmond. We have set financial resources aside for a consultant to come in and review with them their work and help formulate recommendations to outline areas of strengths in the current program and areas that need strengthening and what direction it should take.

We’re waiting to receive those reports.

We are looking at youth ministry in the same way. We want to learn what ought to be the goals and objectives of such a ministry and find where youth ministry should be situated underneath the diocesan umbrella. We want to be sure that the person we hire for youth ministry would handle the ministry in a contemporary way.

Q. Does the parish with a college or university in its geographical boundaries, such as Bridget’s with the University of Richmond, have responsibility for that school’s campus ministry program or is that program the responsibility of the diocese?

A. I think it’s a good question because it’s similar to the question of the role of the pastor in a parish with a Catholic school. In terms of all the institutions within the geographical boundaries of the parish, that all falls to the responsibility of the local pastor and his pastoral team. That being said, the diocese offers help and assistance to the local pastor for this specialized ministry.

The diocese asks the pastor to yield in a prudent way to the expert knowledge of the coordinator of Catholic campus ministry and work in a collaborative fashion with both the director of Campus Ministry and the local Catholic campus minister. Our experience has been very positive. In the rare occasions there are any difficulties, we as a diocese always stand ready to help facilitate those relationships.

Q. How can parishes seek to have an effective youth ministry program?

A. Essentially, there are both national and local offices of the USCCB in Washington as well as in our own central administration of the diocese that one can call to seek information about an effective youth ministry program. For example, we have the Office of Catholic Schools and the Office of Christian Formation which can be helpful in creating an effective youth ministry program.

Q. What should be the primary focus of a parish youth ministry program?

A. Most of the youth ministry programs in parishes are multi-faceted in how they present themselves to young people. First of all, the whole purpose of a youth ministry program is to help youth in their religious formation, to get to know Jesus better and learn to pray and grow closer to Jesus together with their brothers and sisters.

This is part of their calling as baptized persons who have received the Eucharist and are fully initiated. They can go out and live their lives as married, single or religious in this world. The youth ministry program is supposed to support that vocation they have as lay faithful in the Church and the marketplace.

Most youth ministry programs have an instructional dimension which helps them to grow in deeper knowledge of Jesus and the Creed, morality, the sacraments and Scripture. The informational part should be there and there should also be a component of outreach to people who are poor or who have disabilities. These are areas of peace and justice.

Finally, there is a social dimension. Our youth have a chance to meet other young Catholic men and women who are like-minded. That should be the primary focus.

Q. Will the diocese continue to use the 11th grade as the normal age for the sacrament of Confirmation?

A. I usually let that particular question go the Office of Catholic Schools and Office of Christian Formation and the catechists and parents throughout the diocese along with the pastors. If they come up with other recommendations as to the age for Confirmation, I am always eager to hear what they have to say.

Q. Are you pleased with the move to the new Diocese of Richmond Pastoral Center?

A. I am very happy with it because it provides for our mission. Our mission as a Pastoral Center is to continually help and be of assistance to parishes throughout the diocese. It should also be a center where people can regularly meet and exchange ideas and receive continuing education and formation.

We need decent facilities, up-to-date technology and ample parking. The new Pastoral Center provides all of these for our people. We’re very grateful for our new setting.

But we’re also very grateful for our former setting because it provided the wherewithal for a good many years to provide for our mission. We’re also grateful to Virginia Commonwealth University for having acquired the old buildings and preserving the grand old architecture that has really graced the landscape of the Fan District. They will be useful for VCU’s mission. Their purchase of the property enabled us to move here.

Q. Will most diocesan commissions and councils now hold their meetings at the new Pastoral Center?

A. We would prefer that whenever it is possible and convenient people would use the Diocesan Pastoral Center rather than rent facilities. This way we hopefully will also save the parishes some money.

Q. Will the building open for such meetings on weekends and during the evening?

A. That’s right. We’re working on a system in which people can call the facilities manager, Mr. John Murphy, for information as to how one can use the Pastoral Center on weekends and evenings.

Q. Are there going to be new marriage guidelines for couples planning marriage in the diocese?

A. The marriage guidelines in the diocese are not new. Canon law of the Church has rather simple guidelines for couples. What we have noticed is that over the past 10 to 20 years people involved in the preparation of engaged couples haven’t really gotten together to discuss the curriculum and the characteristics of people presenting themselves for Catholic marriage here in the Diocese of Richmond.

We had not discussed much about what ought to be the qualities and characteristics of those who are mentoring couples planning marriage. We felt that with the 10 to 20 years of not having gotten together it’s about time we sat down and discussed, from the cultural, social and economic and value perspectives, who are presenting themselves in the Diocese of Richmond as candidates for marriage. What are the characteristics that make them unique from the couples who have gone before them?

Second of all, what ought to be the characteristics of those who are the mentoring couples in the formation process prior to marriage?

Third, what ought to be the material that is shared with them prior to marriage?

We have not so much updated the guidelines as much as reviewed the existing guidelines and made sure that those who are responsible for formation are all working out of the same expectations. There are some legitimate differences going from couple to couple and from one area of the Diocese to another. People were a bit concerned that there was no uniform curriculum from which we should be operating.

Currently we’re working with the priests and the laity. We have a representation from the Diocesan Priests’ Council working with lay colleagues who are discussing how best to share the curriculum with the couples.

Q. What hopes do you have for the year 2008?

A. That we do our mission well — namely to proclaim that Jesus has come to save us from sin and spiritual death and that all are welcome.

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