I'll take this occasion, too, to honor three other big saints from this week, two of whom I just happen to be reading about with the kids (we're working through the Vision books of the saints in our bedtime reading). We're just starting the life of St. Dominic, whose feast was Tuesday.
I find the lives of the saints make comforting reading not just for their pious example (which, let's be candid, I'm hoping will induce my kids to self-reform), but because of the historical context. Every time seems to me worse than our own --a strange comfort, perhaps, but it's a salutary reminder that Christ is the Lord of history and dire circumstances don't have to end poorly if people of faith intercede. It so happens the saints we've been reading about lately (just finished Anthony of Padua & St. Francis and St. Clare) all lived in dangerous times --when the Church in many places seemed corrupt or weak and the forces of Islam were on the march. Enemies from without and within . . .and yet Christendom is still standing.
Dominic, Anthony and Francis all longed to be crusader knights until God showed them other paths. Anthony & Francis each did travel to North Africa to preach to the infidels. Even Clare had to face down an army of Saracens who'd been hired as mercenaries to sack Assisi. She carried the Blessed Sacrament to the city walls, the enemy took sudden fright and fled. Her feast is tomorrow.
Yesterday was the feast of one of my favorites: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, better known as Edith Stein. A friend sent me the homily of one Fr. Victor Brown, about whom I know nothing, but I liked what he had to say:
The Nazis did their best to exterminate all Jews, and did succeed in killing six million of them. Now, the Moslems would like to destroy the state of Israel, and the mutual bombardments are going on right now in that country and Lebanon, where the Moslem terrorist group, the Hezbollah, is strongly entrenched. Let us continue to pray for peace in that part of the world, through the intercession of St. Edith Stein, canonized just recently by Pope John Paul II. And more than that, let us pray for the conversion to Our Lord Jesus Christ of both the Chosen People – the Jews – and the other descendants of Abraham – the Moslems.
Any or all of these worthies would be good friends to cultivate in times of war and rumor of war.
On the topic of corruption in the Church: the other day I had a conversation with a Protestant friend who, having just listened to Mother Angelica on tape at my recommendation, wanted to know how Catholics could trust bishops after the way two particular bishops treated Angelica. I tried to make the case that "infallibility" isn't a power wielded by authority ("there are now 157 persons to the godhead and you must believe it), but a protection for the little guy. Here's a short article about that.
Forgive the rambling nature of this post, but it so happens that the same friend had an interesting experience with St. Anthony at the National Gallery recently. Friend writes:
Crusty old Protestant that I am, many of the Medieval and Renaissance paintings of saints, far from inspiring devotion, inspire a grim horror –St. Lucy with her eyeballs on a plate, St. Denis holding his own head, St. Sebastian full of arrows and St. Anthony battling with all the weird creatures from hell. Today, however, I went to the art gallery to see the exhibit on Venetian Renaissance painters with a former student and had a completely different insight.
Do tell, the proselytizing Catholic asks greedily! Friend then details some difficulties and sorrows that have made it a bad summer, winding up with this:
I grieve for soldiers lost if nothing positive is gained in Iraq and all these worries torment my faith like the demons in St. Anthony’s painting. Every day I battle with the demons by reading the Bible and praying and then I regain my heart, but the next day they come return and I must battle again. Now I think I understand St. Anthony's condition better.
Hmm. What was I saying yesterday about grotesque art? While we're making friends in high places, though, it would be well to ask them for big favors in these situations:
- 90 Catholics arrested in China last week. This article claims they were arrested after a crackdown by house churches. Surely they mean on, right? Surely Protestants aren't helping to round up Catholics?
- Indonesian Christians facing the firing squad.
- Civilians in Israel & Lebanon of course. Perhaps particularly those in Christian towns where Hezbollah comes, fires rockets to draw Israeli fire, and then splits?
Finally: Cardinal Bertone's coming to town. Preliminary story here. Still waiting for a full translation somewhere. Notably, he says events in Iraq are showing the Vatican opposition to the war to be prophetic. However, also warns against cutting and running. And here's yesterday's Audience. (Yay, it's back; I've missed it.) What I really want is the transcript of the interview B-16 gave the German press a few days ago, but it won't run on German tv until the 13th.
