Review: Things Worth Dying For

 

My initial thoughts on this book (before I finished reading it) were the author’s use of the word “Things” in the title.  The things he refers to are communities of people:  country (patriotism), Church, family and God.  I would have said those are “People worth dying for.”  The general groupings of people “may” be worth dying for, but many in particular are not --- depending on who you ask.  Cardinal Chaput quotes The Song of Roland “which notes that we are willing to die for is what we hold sacred.”  Chaput then quotes Lincoln at Gettysburg: “We have come to dedicate … a final resting place for those who gave their lives that our nation might live.  But, in a larger sense, we cannot consecrate; we cannot hallow this ground.  The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our power to add or deduct.”

Cardinal Chaput explains the demolishing of groups of people over time since “The Enlightenment”, in favor of self.  And he cites the huge increase of people thought worthless: in martyrs, abortions, and suicides since.  And Jesus came to die for all of them.  We promote ourselves as being unique and alone (so death becomes our decision), but The Good Shepherd sees us as just one of His family who is lost.  We are never alone.

I think Chaput gets to the heart of the matter near the end of the book. These are quotes:

Learning to love God more than our own desires and appetites --- and others because they’re loved by God --- is the substance of a Christian life.

The theological virtues are gifts from God.  We receive them as individuals, but they’re sustained in community.  As virtues, they survive and thrive with the help of others.

The tipping point in the life of people, a culture, and a nation do happen; points beyond which everyday reality is changed in kind, not merely in degrees.  We’re living in such a moment today.

Cardinal Chaput quotes Lubac: “I do not have to win the world, even for Christ:  I have to save my soul.  That is what I must always remember … It is not our mission to make truth triumph, but to testify for it.”

Today we need to do whatever we can, however modest and wherever life places us, to encourage our friends in Jesus Christ and to make this world a better place in the light of the Gospel … And we are not alone.

We rarely see the full effects of the good we do in this life.  But one day … we’ll see the beauty that God has allowed us to add to the great story of his creation, the richness we’ve added to the lives of our family and friends, the mark for the better we’ve left on the world, and the revelation of his love that goes from age to age no matter how good or bad the times.  We are each an unrepeatable, infinitely treasured part of that story.    And that is why our lives matter.

 

Meekness and Humility

 

Meekness and humility are two virtues which seem to lacking in much of our country.  Everyone speaks out with confidence, and answers when no one has questioned.  The Litany of Humility I pray each night helps me, but I know those virtues are not deep in my heart, as they should be.  So, I was pleased to read words on the topic in my Divine Intimacy meditation (#214). 

Here are some excerpts and the closing colloquy:

When the divine Master offered us His Heart as a model, He spoke of two virtues in particular; meekness and humility.  “Learn from Me because I am meek and humble of heart. (Mt 11:29).  Meekness … this is the virtue by which man is enabled to master everything that falls under the heading of “anger”. … These irritations are almost always caused by something which has wounder our “ego”,

It takes only a small amount of pride, of self-love, of attachment to our way of seeing or doing things to make us unable to stand opposition. Then, we lose our serenity.  If serenity is lost, calmness of judgement is also lost; therefore, we are no longer able to see clearly the divine light showing us which path to follow.  … As long as any traces of pride and self-love remain in us, there will always occur circumstances in which we will lose some of our control and self-mastery; consequently, we shall lack meekness.

Colloquy

“O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, You desire so ardently to shower Your favors upon the unfortunate, and to teach those who want to advance in the school of Your Love; You continually invite me to be meek and humble of heart, like You.  For this reason, You convince me that in order to gain Your friendship and to become Your true disciple, I can do nothing better than to try henceforth to be truly meek and humble.  Grant me, then, that sincere humility which keeps me subject to everyone, which makes me bear little humiliations in silence, which even makes me accept them willingly and with serenity, without excuse or complaint, remembering that I really deserve more and greater ones than I receive.

If I find in myself an abyss of agitation, impatience, or anger, I shall fly to Your Heart which is an abyss of meekness.  In every circumstance, at every encounter, I want to abandon myself to Your Heart, the ocean of love and charity, and I will not leave it until I am all penetrated by its divine fire.    (cf. St Margaret Mary).

 

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In Matthew 6, the Bible says “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.”  It’s talking about humility.  It’s also saying righteous deeds done ultimately for our own benefit is not love of neighbor.  Therefore, the increasing number of government programs to help the poor (as the government defines it) are doing righteous deeds in order that people may see them (and vote for those who enact them).  This is not achieving the root reason for righteous deeds:  the commandment to love our neighbor.  It is true, we may show love of neighbor by our alms-giving, but a government cannot love anyone.  We cannot delegate our Gospel obligation to the government and think we are satisfying the commandment.  People who think that are the ones referred to at the end of Matthew who upon their death go to Jesus and say I achieved all the commandments, and He responds: “I don’t know you.”    

I Can't Believe How Much He Loves Me

 

Those were the words of the dying woman after she had spent an hour in the Adoration Chapel.  Not a Catholic, yet she had asked me to take her to a chapel, and afterward in my car she could not stop crying for happiness.

I’ve had some difficult days these past few months.  A fall caused serious injury to my hand.  As I prayed for in the Litany of Humility, honors and praise left me, as did esteem and friends.  But as in that prayer where I pray for God to help me to bear those things, I find that He does.

This week, I received a call from a woman I helped years ago.  Then, she was in a most troubling situation. We spoke over an hour during her call, and she sent me pictures of her new baby, Mary, and her family of eight kids.  She described how God had aided her in these troubled times, and in particular her most troubled children, and now they were happy and one previously-rowdy child even received a note from his teacher praising him for his prayerful example to others.  When things are going bad in our lives, God does not forget us.

And during this past year, my cleaning lady of 25 years retired while I cloistered myself away from contacts during this pandemic.  But this week we exchanged notes, and today she came and cleaned my home --- and I could not pay her enough, nor thank her enough for putting me on a regular cleaning schedule again. 

God does not forget us.  Whether we are dying or suffering pains or humiliations, or even giving up the effort to clean our house, God does not forget us.  I am so blessed to see His reminders all around me, in the people He puts into my life.