Battling for souls

From the Legion Handbook:

"We must understand what the warfare is. It is being fought not simply to enlarge the Church, but to bring souls into union with Christ. It is that strangest of wars which is fought for the enemy, not against him. Even the term 'enemy' must not be allowed to mislead.

Every unbeliever is, as every Catholic is, a being with an immortal spirit, made in the image of God, for whom Christ died. However violently hostile to the Church or to Christ he may be, our aim is to convert him, not simply to defeat him. We must never forget that the devil wants his soul in hell as he wants ours, and we must fight the devil for him. We may be forced to oppose a man to prevent his endangering souls; but always we want to win him for his own soul's salvation. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit (sic) that we must fight, and he is the Love of the Father and the Son; in so far as the Church's soldiers fight in hatred, they are fighting against him."

- F. J. Sheed: Theology for Beginners

We must recover the urgent concern for souls - for each individual, priceless soul - that the saints of old display.

How to plant seeds of faith with strangers

When having a conversation with someone who is ignorant or hostile to Catholic teaching, a reasoned, gentle defense is most effective

You are sitting at your son’s soccer game, enjoying the crisp weather and your boy’s joy for the game. Then you hear someone nearby say “Catholic Church,” then “divorce”; suddenly the hair on your neck stands on end and your body tenses.

You realize that two parents next to you are criticizing the Church; they notice you looking at them and ask, “What do you think?”

Now that we live in a post-Christian world, every one of us encounters situations like this. The Catholic Church teaches certain precepts that are simply unacceptable — antithetical, even — to the modern ethos. Standing by those precepts, we open ourselves to criticism and even attack. Furthermore — and sadly — there are scandals surrounding some Church figures that open Catholics up for easy condemnation.

Be prepared

So what are Catholics to do? How do we respond? What are our obligations in these situations?
In a time of persecution in a deeply pagan culture, our first pope, St. Peter, wrote to his fellow Christians, “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Pt 3:15, RSV). This is an oft-quoted Scripture passage, especially among evangelists and apologists, but not quoted as frequently are St. Peter’s next words, “yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pt 3:15b, RSV).

Thus we have the guidelines laid out for how we are to react when our faith is challenged or defamed:
◗ Be prepared to make a defense.
◗ Do so with gentleness and reverence.

So, how do we go about following St. Peter’s command?

Read the rest here.

Apostolate!

"A CATHOLIC WHO NEVER TRIES TO WORK FOR THE CONVERSION OF NON-CATHOLICS OR TO BRING BAD CATHOLICS BACK TO THE SACRAMENTS IS A SOLDIER WHO LET THE ENEMY WIN WITHOUT PUTTING UP A FIGHT."

From the Baltimore Catechism

Facere et docere

Some advice from Orbis Catholicus:

Jesus "set out to do and to teach" (Acts 1:1).

We are to do the same: facere et docere.

"All were astonished at the gracious words which came from his mouth" (Luke 4:22).

Use gracious word.

And Fr. Pat Lannan once taught us kids: "You will win them over more with honey than with vinegar."

Being Leaven

He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."

(Matthew 13:33)

Leaven comes from the word enliven, to give life, to vivify.

How are we supposed to be leaven as Christians?

Give life to the world around us.

· Bring Christ to those around us
But if we are convinced and have come to experience that without Christ life lacks something, that something real – indeed, the most real thing of all – is missing, we must also be convinced that we do no injustice to anyone if we present Christ to them and thus grant them the opportunity of finding their truest and most authentic selves, the joy of finding life. Indeed, we must do this. It is our duty to offer everyone this possibility of attaining eternal life.

- Pope Benedict XVI, Homily in Angola

· Be messengers of hope

As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well.

- Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi

· Show love, concern – just a “How are you” can do volumes to make someone feel cared for.

· Speak the truth always

In today’s culture, so hostile to what is true and good, we can’t afford to be neutral on moral issues.

The poet Dante, in the Inferno depicts where cowards and neutrals spend their eternity: neither in heaven nor in hell, because neither place wants them.

Neither can we withdraw from world affairs and think that they will never concern us. As Christians we live our lives very much in the world:

“Nor, on the contrary, are they any less wide of the mark who think that religion consists in acts of worship alone and in the discharge of certain moral obligations, and who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that these are altogether divorced from the religious life. This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age.” (Gaudium et Spes)

We must engage the world, the public sphere – we must form our consciences about what’s right and wrong because in this messed up world, we find that we’re forced to make serious moral choices very often; not just in action, but also through our words, our promotion of what is good.

This is not easy: leaven dies.

When the dough is the oven and the temperature crosses 140C, all life ceases. The yeast whose mission was to raise the dough, in order to complete its mission has to give up its life.

From alive to dead: but from dough to bread.

The death of the leaven results in the end product: bread – the staff of life, the very symbol of life and productivity.

Like leaven we must offer our lives in the service of our brother and sisters. Also, we must offer our life to Christ and be ready to suffer for him – die to ourselves for the truth.

A hero of mine is St Thomas More – he’s the patron saint for lawyers and politicians. I’ve come to realise why he’s such an amazing model for all of us after reading a chapter in Archbishop Chaput’s Render Unto Caesar.

Archbishop Chaput tells us that we realise there’s something missing in the way we live our public life. And he says Thomas More reminds us of what that is. More stands as a witness against cowardice.

He loved life and was a wonderful father and husband. He was a loyal friend. The great philosopher Erasmus said that nowhere could you find a more perfect example of true friendship than in Thomas More.

When we read of the early martyrs we see them on fire with a desire to die for their faith in Christ.

What draws men to the example of Thomas More is that he urgently wanted to live; but not at the cost of his soul. He persuades us not because he wanted to die for his beliefs like some other saints, but because he didn’t. He used all his skills to avoid martyrdom, but he refused to escape it when the price came down to the integrity of his faith.

More became a saint not by dramatic gestures or words. He did it by the simple daily habit of examining his actions in the light of his faith. He fed his conscience with prayer, he submitted himself to the routine of seeking and choosing what his Catholic formation knew to be right. He knew his personal sins and weaknesses and so knew he had a duty to rightly form his conscience by anchoring in truth outside his own will.

This same path to God is open to anyone who sincerely seeks it.

We should not delude ourselves into imagining that sainthood is exclusive. God creates all of us to be saints. The only thing that sets St Thomas More apart from the rest of us is that he persevered in his pursuit of God’s will without excuses or alibis.

Our society needs people who are willing to stand alone, without apologies, for the truth of the faith and the common human values it defends. One person can make a difference – if that individual has a faith he or she is willing to suffer for. Are we ready to say to the hostile forces of the culture of death, the words of Bishop John Fischer, More’s friend and fellow martyr, “I come to die for the faith of Christ and Christ’s Catholic Church”?

Conclusion:

Are we enlivening the world around us? Is our environment better because we’re in it? Or would it be the same if we weren’t around? Are we messengers of love, hope and faith. Do we actively promote goodness?

Let us ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for us, that we may, like her, bring Christ’s light to the world.

Amen

Based partly on a talk by Peter Reinhart, “The Art of Baking Bread”:

Apostleship

From Talks to Legionaries by Fr. F. Ripley

We might define apostleship as the pouring of faith in
and love of Christ into the mind and heart of another.
It is the radiating of conviction rather than the
spreading of knowledge. This becomes evident when we
consider the conversions of the early days of
Christianity. They were brought about by the common
people, the workman, the slave, the little, feeble and
oppressed members of that powerful, rich, enlightened
society in which they lived. The fact is that then and
now every convinced Catholic, even though his
knowledge of his faith is imperfect, has a certain
mental picture of what the Church means to him and
possess the capacity to convey this impression to the
mind of another whom he seeks to influence. Our
Handbook quotes a former Archbishop of Birmingham as
saying, ”We must always remember that religion is
caught, not taught. It is a flame set alight from one
person to another; it is spread by love and not in any
other way. We take it only from those whom we think
friendly to us. Those whom we regard as indifferent or
hostile cannot recommend religion to us.”

Argument, controversy and bitterness must be avoided
by Legionaries like the plague. We might almost make
it a principle that when we win an argument we lose a
soul. If we put ourselves in the position of a
non-Catholic who finds his beliefs being attacked by a
Catholic we will have to admit that the first thing we
would do under such circumstances would be to go out
and find an answer to the Catholic’s attacks or
objections. When our faith is criticised by our
separated brethren we may know the answer or, if we do
not, we soon find one. Therefore, attacking the
beliefs of others or attacking others in any way at
all is not the Legionary’s way of apostleship.
We may meet those who are fond of bandying texts. They
will quote the Scriptures and give the impression that
they are experts. But we ought not to let them make
the ground. Gently and ever so sweetly we ought to ask
a few simple questions about the authority for what
they quote. How do they know that it is inspired word
of God? Who told them that so many books made up the
whole Bible? Who made the choice of those books from
the many which are in circulation in the fourth
century? How do they know that their interpretation of
the texts is correct when it is questioned by many
other non-Catholics? Let them see that they need an
authority. They may appeal to the Holy Spirit. With
kindness we can point out that is what so many people
do who contradict one another in essentials and so
make the eternal Spirit of Truth responsible for
contradiction- and that is surely absurd.

Above all, out technique with both lapse Catholics and
non-Catholics should be to make them appreciate the
treasures of the Church. Tell them something about the
wonders of intimacy with Christ really present in the
Holy Eucharist. Talk to them enthusiastically about
the Eucharistic devotions in our Church. Let them know
how we love the Mass and why. Speak to them about the
liturgical year and how it makes Christ live again in
our lives. Tell them about the lives of the Saints,
never hesitating to point out that all those whose
names are household words were Saints because they
lived up to the means of holiness which the Catholic
Church offers to all. Tell them of the happiness of
being able to turn to the Church for certain guidance
in the moral problems which perplex the human race
today. Speak to them of the joy which comes when we
know that our sins have been forgiven in confession.
Bring them in spirit to the grotto at Lourdes, God’s
miracle factory, and sweetly explain the significance
of the heavenly things which have taken place there.
Do not hesitate to talk to them about the love of Mary
as a dear Mother who inevitably leads us to the Heart
of her Son.

That is our aim, rather like that of the modern
walk-round store. People go in, never intending to
spend a penny. They see something they think they
want. There and then they decide to buy it; so with
our Catholic faith. Most of those outside know little
about it. More often than not such knowledge as they
have is false or inadequate. Those who think they have
a true picture of it have but a caricature. Even those
who have fallen away have probably only a blurred or
prejudiced image in their minds. By speaking to them
simply but enthusiastically about our deepest
convictions we will make them jealous and desirous of
possessing our treasures. Our aim must be to attract
them to the Church. Our greatest ally in this is the
holy Mother of God.

From Paul C.

Every door opens to the humble and respectful Legionary

The Leaven in the Community - a creative minority

"Believing Christians should look upon themselves as such a creative minority and help Europe espouse once again the best of its heritage, thereby being at the service of humankind at large." --Joseph Ratzinger

Important, however, as may be the work in hand, the Legion does not regard it as the ultimate or even as the chief object of its members' apostolate. Such work may employ two, three, or many hours of the legionary's week, whereas the Legion looks beyond this to every hour of that week as radiant from the apostolic fire which has been kindled at its hearth. The system that imparts this quality of fire to souls has put abroad a mighty force. The apostolic spirit enters in only as master, dominates every thought, word, and action; and in its external manifestations is not confined to set times and places. The most diffident and otherwise least equipped person becomes invested with a peculiar capacity to influence others, so that whatever the surroundings, and even without the pursuing of a conscious apostolate, sin and indifference will end by bowing to a power greater than themselves. Universal experience teaches this. Therefore, with the satisfaction with which a general contemplates important posts adequately held, does the Legion think of each home, shop, factory, school, office, and every other place devoted to purposes of work or recreation, in which a true legionary may be set by circumstances. Even where scandal and irreligion are at their worst, entrenched so to speak, the presence of this other Tower of David will bar the way to further advance and menace the evil. The corruption will never be acquiesced in; efforts at remedy will be essayed; it will be a subject of sorrow, of prayer; will be contended against determinedly, unremittingly, and probably successfully in the end.

Thus the Legion begins by bringing its members together to persevere with one mind in prayer with their Queen. Then it sends them into the sinful and sorrowful places, there to do a good work, and by catching fire in the doing to do a greater. Finally it looks out over the highways and byways of the everyday life as the object of a still more glorious mission. Knowing what has been done by limited numbers, reflecting that the potential material for its ranks is almost beyond number, believing that its system, if vigorously utilised by the Church, affords a strangely efficacious way of purifying a sinful world, the Legion yearns exceedingly for the multiplication of its members, that it may be legion in number as in name.

Between those working actively, those giving auxiliary service and those being worked for, the whole population can be embraced, and raised from the level of neglect or routine to that of enthusiastic membership of the Church. Consider what this can mean to village or town; no longer merely in the Church, but a driving force in it, sending directly or through the Communion of Saints its impulses to the ends of the earth, and into the dark places thereof. What an ideal - a whole population organised for God! And yet this is no mere ideal. It is the most practical and possible thing in the world to-day - if eyes are but uplifted and arms unfolded.

"Yes, the laity are a 'chosen race, a holy priesthood', also called to be 'the salt of the earth' and 'the light of the world'. It is their specific vocation and mission to express the Gospel in their lives and thereby to insert the Gospel as a leaven into the reality of the world in which they live and work. The great forces which shape the world - politics, the mass media, science, technology, culture, education, industry and work - are precisely the areas where lay people are especially competent to exercise their mission. If these forces are guided by people who are true disciples of Christ, and who are, at the same time, fully competent in the relevant secular knowledge and skill, then indeed will the world be transformed from within by Christ's redeeming power." (Pope John Paul II's address in Limerick, Ireland, October 1979)

- Handbook of the Legion of Mary, Chapter 12, point 2

The Holy Father on lay evangelizers

"Through the testimony of their Christian life, they can carry to all sectors of society the light of Christ's message, attracting to the ecclesial community those whose faith has been weakened....Therefore, the lay faithful need to intensify their relationship with God and acquire a solid formation, especially in regard to the social doctrine of the Church....Thus, as leaven in the dough, they will be able to fulfill their mission to transform society according to the will of God."

~Pope Benedict to the bishops of Honduras