The Unexamined Life

This afternoon at the library, a lady told me that her little daughter was admiring baby William. "She's always looking out for babies!" said Mom. Sure enough, in a moment her daughter pulled a book about little sisters off the shelf. Mom issued a firm veto. "No little sisters here," she said. "Mommy is done."
A bit later her son brought her a science book. "Mom, what's evolution?" he asked.
"No, it's against the Bible," said Mom, discarding it onto the table without looking at it.

As I silently digested this, I watched the one of the denizens of the fancy new teens' room keeping watch for the security guard on his rounds. Insulated from the rest of the population, the inhabitants of the room had little incentive to shake off the peculiarly adolescent forms of narcissism and indolence. The boys, scrofulous and shaggy, pants too big and limbs too long; the girls in their desperate makeup and their tight shirts; everyone slumped on couches swiping at phones or watching the video game up on the big flatscreen. There was a constant mutter of joyless laughter.

Plato says that the unexamined life is not worth living, and Aristotle proposes that happiness is the highest end of all action. I don't know what constitutes happiness in the minds of the teenagers at the library, but the teen room doesn't seem to be providing it. I don't know what the examined life means to the lady whose sense of Christianity encompasses both creationism and birth control. And what do happiness and the examined life mean to me? If I am a sign of contradiction to the world, am I at least constant in my contradiction, or am I merely contradicting myself?

I don't particularly want my daughters hanging out in the teen room because it seems like more of a hindrance to the examined life than a help to it. I can't control their lives or their future decisions, but I can do my level best to assure that if they ever do live the unexamined life in the library, it will be by choice and not through ignorance.

I also promote their ultimate happiness by giving them little sisters.

Pope Francis on the Myth of Pope Francis

At times, it almost seems impossible to get a feel for the real Pope Francis because the news media is so focused on the media-created myth of Francis. I was somewhat interested to see that in a recent interview he was asked about this and expressed dislike for the Francis myth:

You have said that the Francis-mania will not last long. Is there something in your public image that you don’t like?

I like being among the people. Together with those who suffer. Going to parishes. I don’t like the ideological interpretations, a certain ‘mythology of Pope Francis’. When it is said, for example, that he goes out of the Vatican at night to walk and to feed the homeless on Via Ottaviano. It has never crossed my mind. If I’m not wrong, Sigmund Freud said that in every idealization there is an aggression. Depicting the Pope to be a sort of superman, a type of star, seems offensive to me. The Pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly and has friends like everyone. A normal person.

On an almost entirely unrelated note (other than that I'd been meaning to post this bit and then ran into this other story before I had a chance to do so, here's another Francis quote that struck me this morning, dealing with the topic of confession:

Pope Francis urged the pastors to devote time to hearing confessions and to avoid being either very lax or very strict.

“It’s normal that different confessors have different styles, but these differences cannot be ones of substance, that is, involving healthy moral doctrine and mercy,” he said.

Neither the very lax nor the very strict priest witnesses to Christ, because “neither takes seriously the person in front of him,” he said. “The rigorist, in fact, nails the person to the law as understood in a cold and rigid way; the indulgent, on the other hand, only appears merciful, but does not take seriously the problems of that person’s conscience, minimising the sin.”

This latter seems important for contextualizing what Francis has to say on other topics. He persistently calls for topics to be dealt with "pastorally", which for too much of the Church has come to mean "acting as if moral teachings don't exist", but that is a perversion of what "pastoral" means.

Reclaiming the Term 'Pastoral'

Paul Zummo had a piece up at The American Catholic, "Being Pastoral Doesn’t Mean Watering Down the Faith", which touched on a point that I've been thinking about for a while:

And that, my friends, gets right to the heart of much that is wrong with the Church. Too many of our shepherds are under the impression that being pastoral means being soft and timid. Cardinal Kasper’s vision of being pastoral is placating the sinner rather than leading the sinner towards righteousness. This is in fact the very opposite of being pastoral. A shepherd of the Catholic Church is charged with leading his flock towards its eternal reward in paradise. There are many tools at the shepherd’s disposal, and I am not suggesting that there is any one right way. Certainly haranguing those of his flock who have strayed may not be the best method of getting them back into the fold. But telling them that they’re just spiffy as they march headlong towards the cliff is also inappropriate.

It seems to me that for far too long the term "pastoral" has been hijacked by a conception of the term which is divorced from the duty of a pastor, which is to shepherd souls. Pastoral has come to mean "nice" or "accommodating". As such, it's been embraced by those who reject Church doctrines (particularly those dealing with morality) and is increasingly rejected by those who take doctrine seriously.

You can kind of see how we got here. If a shepherd's duty is first to find his sheep where they are, and then to gently lead them back to where they belong, scaring the sheep or treating them so roughly they come to fear the shepherd is an obstacle. In human terms, a pastor will find it harder to lead people to God's truth if he doesn't understand where they currently are and manage to speak to them in ways that they don't instantly reject. He has to have a certain sensitivity to their feelings, and that often means not offending them. (Of course, one of the difficult things in these days of "I'm a good person" is that to many people simply suggesting that something they have done is wrong is in and of itself offensive. And clearly, if he's going to lead someone to a Christian understanding of sin and repentance a pastor is going to have to overcome that conception.)

However, too often people commit the fallacy of assuming that if being pastoral involves in part not offending someone such that he closes his mind to the faith, that therefore anything which avoids offense much be a "pastoral" approach. And once one has committed this fallacy, the obvious easy way to not offend someone is never to tell him that he's doing anything wrong.

Ditching Catholic teaching is not pastoral, because it fails to bring people to the truth. If we believe that God is truth and that we find our truest happiness in following God and achieving eventual union with Him in heaven, then glossing over or trying to change Church teaching is arguably the least pastoral thing we can do. Figuring out how to present the truth to people in ways that will actually get through to them and bring them closer to God may be more harder than telling them they're they're already "basically good people" and that's good enough (because what kind of mean God would say "be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect"?) But that is what being pastoral actually is. If shepherding simply meant leaving the sheep to wander into whatever dangers they wanted, we wouldn't actually need shepherds.

Novena for Order, Day 9

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your Lent! 

For Ordering a Life Wisely
St. Thomas Aquinas

O merciful God, grant that I may
desire ardently,
search prudently,
recognize truly,
and bring to perfect completion
whatever is pleasing to You
for the praise and glory of Your name.

Put my life in good order, O my God

Grant that I may know
what You require me to do.

Bestow upon me
the power to accomplish your will,
as is necessary and fitting
for the salvation of my soul.

Grant to me, O Lord my God,
that I may not falter in times
of prosperity or adversity,
so that I may not be exalted in the former,
nor dejected in the latter.

May I not rejoice in anything
unless it leads me to You;
may I not be saddened by anything
unless it turns me from You.

May I desire to please no one,
nor fear to displease anyone,
but You.

May all transitory things, O Lord,
be worthless to me
and may all things eternal
be ever cherished by me.

May any joy without You
be burdensome for me
and may I not desire anything else
besides You.

May all work, O Lord
delight me when done for Your sake.
and may all repose not centered in You
be ever wearisome for me.

Grant unto me, my God,
that I may direct my heart to You
and that in my failures
I may ever feel remorse for my sins
and never lose the resolve to change.

O Lord my God, make me
submissive without protest,
poor without discouragement,
chaste without regret,
patient without complaint,
humble without posturing,
cheerful without frivolity,
mature without gloom,
and quick-witted without flippancy.

O Lord my God, let me
fear You without losing hope,
be truthful without guile,
do good works without presumption,
rebuke my neighbor without haughtiness,
and -- without hypocrisy --
strengthen him by word and example.

Give to me, O Lord God,
a watchful heart,
which no capricious thought
can lure away from You.

Give to me,
a noble heart,
which no unworthy desire can debase.

Give to me
a resolute heart,
which no evil intention can divert.

Give to me
a stalwart heart,
which no tribulation can overcome.

Give to me
a temperate heart,
which no violent passion can enslave.

Give to me, O Lord my God,
understanding of You,
diligence in seeking You,
wisdom in finding You,
discourse ever pleasing to You,
perseverance in waiting for You,
and confidence in finally embracing You.

Grant
that with Your hardships
I may be burdened in reparation here,
that Your benefits
I may use in gratitude upon the way,
that in Your joys
I may delight by glorifying You
in the Kingdom of Heaven.

You Who live and reign,
God, world without end.

Amen.

translation by Robert Anderson and Johann Moser

Novena for Order, Day 8

Lent starts tomorrow, and I still don't have many concrete ideas, but I feel called to live out my vocation more fully, in whatever form that takes. Still, living out anything takes a concrete form, so I'm examining myself to see what concrete changes I can make. Giving up Facebook will net me more time, but I have to use it wisely. Well, wisdom and order are what I've been praying for.

For Ordering a Life Wisely
St. Thomas Aquinas

O merciful God, grant that I may
desire ardently,
search prudently,
recognize truly,
and bring to perfect completion
whatever is pleasing to You
for the praise and glory of Your name.

Put my life in good order, O my God

Grant that I may know
what You require me to do.

Bestow upon me
the power to accomplish your will,
as is necessary and fitting
for the salvation of my soul.

Grant to me, O Lord my God,
that I may not falter in times
of prosperity or adversity,
so that I may not be exalted in the former,
nor dejected in the latter.

May I not rejoice in anything
unless it leads me to You;
may I not be saddened by anything
unless it turns me from You.

May I desire to please no one,
nor fear to displease anyone,
but You.

May all transitory things, O Lord,
be worthless to me
and may all things eternal
be ever cherished by me.

May any joy without You
be burdensome for me
and may I not desire anything else
besides You.

May all work, O Lord
delight me when done for Your sake.
and may all repose not centered in You
be ever wearisome for me.

Grant unto me, my God,
that I may direct my heart to You
and that in my failures
I may ever feel remorse for my sins
and never lose the resolve to change.

O Lord my God, make me
submissive without protest,
poor without discouragement,
chaste without regret,
patient without complaint,
humble without posturing,
cheerful without frivolity,
mature without gloom,
and quick-witted without flippancy.

O Lord my God, let me
fear You without losing hope,
be truthful without guile,
do good works without presumption,
rebuke my neighbor without haughtiness,
and -- without hypocrisy --
strengthen him by word and example.

Give to me, O Lord God,
a watchful heart,
which no capricious thought
can lure away from You.

Give to me,
a noble heart,
which no unworthy desire can debase.

Give to me
a resolute heart,
which no evil intention can divert.

Give to me
a stalwart heart,
which no tribulation can overcome.

Give to me
a temperate heart,
which no violent passion can enslave.

Give to me, O Lord my God,
understanding of You,
diligence in seeking You,
wisdom in finding You,
discourse ever pleasing to You,
perseverance in waiting for You,
and confidence in finally embracing You.

Grant
that with Your hardships
I may be burdened in reparation here,
that Your benefits
I may use in gratitude upon the way,
that in Your joys
I may delight by glorifying You
in the Kingdom of Heaven.

You Who live and reign,
God, world without end.

Amen.

translation by Robert Anderson and Johann Moser

Novena for Order, Day 7

I'm realizing that I need to give up not writing a novel for Lent, though Im not sure what the spiritual aspect of that will be.

For Ordering a Life Wisely
St. Thomas Aquinas

O merciful God, grant that I may
desire ardently,
search prudently,
recognize truly,
and bring to perfect completion
whatever is pleasing to You
for the praise and glory of Your name.

Put my life in good order, O my God

Grant that I may know
what You require me to do.

Bestow upon me
the power to accomplish your will,
as is necessary and fitting
for the salvation of my soul.

Grant to me, O Lord my God,
that I may not falter in times
of prosperity or adversity,
so that I may not be exalted in the former,
nor dejected in the latter.

May I not rejoice in anything
unless it leads me to You;
may I not be saddened by anything
unless it turns me from You.

May I desire to please no one,
nor fear to displease anyone,
but You.

May all transitory things, O Lord,
be worthless to me
and may all things eternal
be ever cherished by me.

May any joy without You
be burdensome for me
and may I not desire anything else
besides You.

May all work, O Lord
delight me when done for Your sake.
and may all repose not centered in You
be ever wearisome for me.

Grant unto me, my God,
that I may direct my heart to You
and that in my failures
I may ever feel remorse for my sins
and never lose the resolve to change.

O Lord my God, make me
submissive without protest,
poor without discouragement,
chaste without regret,
patient without complaint,
humble without posturing,
cheerful without frivolity,
mature without gloom,
and quick-witted without flippancy.

O Lord my God, let me
fear You without losing hope,
be truthful without guile,
do good works without presumption,
rebuke my neighbor without haughtiness,
and -- without hypocrisy --
strengthen him by word and example.

Give to me, O Lord God,
a watchful heart,
which no capricious thought
can lure away from You.

Give to me,
a noble heart,
which no unworthy desire can debase.

Give to me
a resolute heart,
which no evil intention can divert.

Give to me
a stalwart heart,
which no tribulation can overcome.

Give to me
a temperate heart,
which no violent passion can enslave.

Give to me, O Lord my God,
understanding of You,
diligence in seeking You,
wisdom in finding You,
discourse ever pleasing to You,
perseverance in waiting for You,
and confidence in finally embracing You.

Grant
that with Your hardships
I may be burdened in reparation here,
that Your benefits
I may use in gratitude upon the way,
that in Your joys
I may delight by glorifying You
in the Kingdom of Heaven.

You Who live and reign,
God, world without end.

Amen.

translation by Robert Anderson and Johann Moser