The CatholiCity Message
Volume XIV, Number 1 – February 1, 2010
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
Our warmest greeting to all our new readers. We have several items today, including news of the passing of an amazing Catholic man, some counter-intuitive spiritual advice on how to deal with loss, Catholic quotes we know you have never read before, an extremely brief update on our Christmas Appeal, and of course, our 50,000-reader group prayer together (if you have not done this yet, it is truly powerful and changes lives).
1. RALPH MCINERNY, REST IN PEACE
A Catholic Renaissance Man, Ralph McInerny, died early Friday morning and will be laid to rest on Monday. Many knew him as the author of the Fr. Dowling mystery novels (upon which the 1980s TV series was based). He was also a Marine, a distinguished professor (primarily at Notre Dame), and one of the great Thomistic scholars of our age. He helped start the influential Crisis Magazine. Through a cornucopia of professional works and initiatives too numerous to list, he directly influenced thousands of Catholic leaders in America and all over the world. Such talents! Novelist, scholar, lecturer, poet, teacher, leader, founder--yet all who knew him were struck by his humility and common sense approach to life. He profoundly inspired the Mary Foundation's founder and its mission to reach to millions of souls. Even if you did not know of him before this day, you are in his debt. The Catholic Internet neighborhood, particularly at CatholicThing.com, FirstThings.com, CatholicExchange.com, and InsideCatholic.com, are richly eulogizing his life and we encourage you to learn more about this saintly man and to pray for his soul. Ralph McInerny, man of virtue, fly, fly swiftly to heaven.
2. A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO LOSS
Loss and the suffering associated with it rains down upon us in many forms from virtually the first moment of our births. As a child, we play simple board games and lose half or most or some of the time. We experience injustice, illness, pain, the passing of loved ones (even the young), and family strife. Even siblings can be mean, selfish, nasty, and inconsiderate of each other. Parents routinely lose sleep for the sake of their children and spend entire days fatigued as a result. Virtually all of us lose our jobs or incomes at some point, experiencing material privation. Even the very act of aging, day by day, is a gradual loss of vitality, causing melancholy, bitterness, or useless vanity.
"Days turn to minutes and minutes to memories. Life sweeps away the dreams that we have planned." (John Mellancamp)
Ah, the loss of dreams! Unfulfilled dreams of having professional success, or of finding a spouse, or of having children--these are among the worst losses. Or, having achieved worldly success, we realize too late that our earlier, empty sacrifice of time could have been better spent in prayer and with family.
Two common human reactions to the injustice of loss are anger and despair, in all their degrees and categories. Frustrated, parents give up on reigning in their child's sinful behavior, and thus neglect them. Embittered and humiliated, the formerly hardworking man might become lazy and withdrawn over the years. The Church has long taught that anger is actually a legitimate emotional reaction to injustice. But that does not mean we should be slaves to this emotion. Adults who give in to the anger that arises from mistreatment at the hands of others will become malicious, sullen, and vindictive.
Faith in Jesus in conjunction with our humble acceptance of loss, just or unjust, in all things great and small, is the only mature Christian response. (We are referring here to our internal spiritual response. Injustice often requires us to take steps in our practical actions to correct injustices, or, to make prudential decisions to address the loss--that is, if your child breaks his arm, you must take him to a doctor.) Our faith that God will restore all things (even if only in heaven after our death) opens the door in our soul for hope. We beg you, do not let that word, hope, slide by your mind. Hope is a supernatural virtue, a gift the flows from faith--a powerful reality available from God in matters of loss. When was the last time you felt the awesome power of supernatural hope?
These might sound like lofty and idealistic words, but you will experience (or witness) some kind of loss today, or this week, perhaps in a small matter. When this happens, attempt to examine your internal emotional and spiritual reaction. Then, make an act of faith--tell God that you believe in Him, and that you believe He can and will restore the loss, and remind yourself that God often uses loss (if we accept it correctly) to teach us something, or to prepare the path to some future greater good that is unfathomable at the current moment. After your act of acceptance and faith, make sure your internal spiritual radio is tuned into Channel Hope. Discern hope, feel hope, wait for hope. It will come. If you react this way often enough, hope will begin to shine through your eyes. People will turn to you in times of loss to see and feel the reality of hope in your eyes. In other words, when people see you, they will see...
a saint.
3. CATHOLIC QUOTATIONS
"Whatever enlarges hope will also exalt courage."
Samuel Johnson
"No man is able by himself to grasp the supreme good of eternal life; he needs divine help. Hence there is here a two-fold object (goal): the eternal life we hope for, and the divine help we hope by."
Saint Thomas Aquinas
"Sweet hope is sovereign comfort of our life: our joy in sorrow, and our peace in strife."
St. John Beaumont
"Nothing, how little soever, that is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God."
Thomas a Kempis
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man never is, but always to be, blest."
Alexander Pope
"Waitings which ripen hopes are not delays."
Edward Benlowes
"As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is a mere flattery or platitude. It is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength at all. Like all the Christian virtues, it is as unreasonable as it is indispensable."
G.K. Chesterton
"I would be starved until I die rather than die starved of hope."
Joseph Wood
"Bodily suffering makes wicked souls miserable, but borne with fortitude it purifies souls that are good."
St. Augustine
4. FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE PRAYING TOGETHER
Let us pray the following, taking hope in the knowledge that tens of thousands of your fellow Catholics are praying this with you over the next few days:
Dear Jesus,
We all have friends or family members who are out of work, or who are struggling financially, and with great hope, we boldly ask with very simple words for you to help our friends and family find the jobs they need, as soon as possible, even if it takes direct supernatural intervention and miracles. Thanking you ahead of time, Amen.
5. CHRISTMAS APPEAL UPDATE
Although we fell short of our relatively modest goal of $78,000 by almost $40,000, we are extremely grateful to everyone who made donations in response to our emails. Roughly 1% of our readers made a contribution. The 99% who receive the CatholiCity Message (along with the millions of web surfers who gain access to everything CatholiCity.com offers) are in your debt. You can still make a donation (and receive the gorgeous High Priest fridge magnet, lapel pin, and art-house frame-ready icon as our tangible thank you) here:
http://www.catholicity.com/support/donation.html
Until next time, keep the faith!
Your Friends at CatholiCity
