Hallowe'en

I've never been terribly big on the celebration of Halloween. This might be because various pagan religions and rites not only still celebrate October 31 as some sort of high religious festival-most notably Wiccans and other practitioners of the Occult. The whole day just makes me uneasy. Maybe it is because the Church was not very successful in de-paganizing the day, despite her best efforts. We call it Hallowe'en because it falls on the vigil of one of the most important Holy Days of the year.

Perhaps I don't particularly care for it because it can rightly be said that it was on this day-October 31, 1517-that the division and schism of Western Christendom began in earnest. It is not a day that Catholics who believe in the unity of the Church might find terribly celebratory.

Maybe I don't care for Halloween because the USS Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk today in 1941. I had a Great Uncle on my Mother's side who I never met who died on the Reuben James long before I was born. Paganism, schism, and the first American deaths in World War II make today not the greatest of festival days-good Catholics ought not relish paganism, schism, and war-but should pray for the conversion of pagans, the healing of divisions among us, and the victims of war.

"Oh David," you might say "you are such a party pooper, for think of the children enjoying themselves today, going trick-or-treat." I haven't forgotten the kids, and I enjoyed trick-or-treat when I was their age as much as they do. Today, the other members of the Fire Department and myself will be enjoying our annual picnic and chili supper while we all hand out candy to the children, and we might invite a few of those kids to join us, because while other children in the community are out roaming the streets, the children of the firefighters in our town will be enjoying a more wholesome family atmosphere and plenty of good food with the rest of us.

It has to be admitted, though, that there is an ulterior motive other than trick-or-treat for choosing Halloween as the night that our local firemen and emergency response team gather for their annual night of food and controlled family hyperactivity. Halloween is usually one of the biggest nights of the year for fires or other similar incidents, either because someone is trying to play some juvenile prank, or someone finds some "other significance" in setting fire to something tonight-and most Halloween fires are often found to be intentionally set. If all of the firefighters are at the Fire Hall for a social gathering, they will all be there if and when those pagers go off. Last year, for the first time that I can recall since being a part of the team here at WPFD, there was not a fire on Halloween Night. This year, I am sure everyone here wants to make it two years in a row with no Halloween fire.

Next time you get to thinking that those of us who don't really like Halloween are just party poopers, remember that it is probably because there is too much that has happened on October 31st that isn't worth a party-unless you go to a vigil Mass tonight, that is.

The school of humility

Permanent Deacons assist the Holy Father on the Feast of the Mother of God.

(Hat Tip: Roman Catholic Vocations) 

Matthew 23:1-12:

Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,
"The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;
so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.
They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues,
and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men.
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren.
And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ.
He who is greatest among you shall be your servant;
whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 

There are a few passages in the New Testament which give people the best possible description of the role of the Deacon, and I think the last few verses of this weekend's Gospel are in the top two or three. It might be that there are Deacons somewhere who have made it through to ordination who have some sort of crude predisposition to self-promotion, but I have yet to meet any like that in the Diocese of Knoxville. Perhaps it is because the discernment process needed in order to become a Deacon teaches a man to be more humble-at least it has done this so far for me.

I have learned to admit to myself and others that I do not have all the answers. I have re-visited my own vulnerability, and the Holy Spirit has opened me up to the idea that it is alright to ask for help, and in my case, for a lot of it-after years of struggling to prove I could be independent. The Lord is teaching me dependence-total dependence and reliance on Him, and on the respect and love of my Brother Aspirants, because I have always needed Him (and do now more than ever).

I have learned to trust God completely, for no matter how impossible it may seem, if it is God's will, He will make provision for it. And that teaches a man to humble himself, and learn what Christ meant by humility.

Pray for me, as I continue to learn humility in the discernment process.

Trying to decipher Thomas

In addition to our monthly in-class formation, a few of my confreres and I meet through the blessing of the internet a few times each month to share our experiences with the academic and spiritual material we are assigned, and often simply to enjoy each other's spiritual company as we travel down this road together. We've had internet meetings a couple of times this month and we agree on one thing: We sure hope that Father Bede Aboh, our instructor for this month's series of classes, will help us make sense of St. Thomas Aquinas, because God help us, we can't-at least not on our own.

Among the four texts that we've been  assigned for the forthcoming month's classes-the Philosophy section-is St. Thomas Aquinas' Treatise on Human Nature, part of the Summa Theologica. What we are reading is an English translation of Thomas' work, but it is nonetheless couched in what we believe to be a philosophical and theological language which the few educated people around in St. Thomas' day would have understood, but which is over our heads. To give you an idea of how over us this seems, those of you who know me well know that my degree is in Political Science-but my minor concentration was history, and I concentrated on the Europe of the Middle Ages through the Renaissance- the high point of the Middle Ages roughly fell during Thomas' time. Brother Thomas has me confounded.

Don't get me wrong here, none of us have given up on Thomas, we are all searching for and finding resources which explain him and the glories of his work for the Lord to us in ways that we can understand it. One of my Brother Aspirants discovered Peter Kreeft's A Shorter Summa and has gone to the trouble of sharing parts of it with some of the rest of us. Still others have discovered something called Aquinas 101, and some of us have wondered why these were not assigned as texts since we can actually understand them, and they help us understand what Thomas is saying.

The texts we use for our lessons, however, are up to each instructor, so we are hoping that perhaps Father Bede will translate Thomas for us.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

The communio

 St. Peter consecrates St. Lawrence as Deacon

(Fra Angelico, 1449)

The requirements of study for the diaconate vary from diocese to diocese in the United States and in the rest of the world. Some dioceses require that you come to the course of study having already received a baccalaureate degree of some kind or other, others do not. Some dioceses require that you have theological training before you can begin formation for the deaconate, while many others do not have that requirement.

A very close friend of mine in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati was some time ago discerning whether or not he might have a call to the deaconate. He told me after much prayer, he had determined that he was not being called to Holy Orders, although I cannot help but wonder if the special rigor of the pre-formation which he shared with me-one in which potential Aspirants (not actual Aspirants) must complete a certificate in lay ministry or like requirement before being admitted to formation-might have had something to do with his decision. Not only is he in a busy professional position, but in one where he sometimes struggles financially. I'd hate to think that someone might turn away from the Lord's call solely because of a reason like that. However, I also know that the educational requirements that a diocese places upon its potential deacons often reflects the needs of that diocese-and as a matter of firsthand knowledge I know that there is a shortage of priests in Cincinnati that is so severe that deacons are being relied on to do much of the day-to-day work of a parish pastor, especially in cases where parishes are being clustered together with other parishes to share a pastor or parochial vicar. Two former parishes at which I was once a member in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati-one in Dayton and one in Cincinnati-have (since I lived there) now been clustered with two other neighboring parishes, solely for the purposes of sharing a priest. In a situation like that, deacons are indispensable, but they may need a bit more formal education.

In the Diocese of Knoxville, Aspirants don't have to have any previous theological or ecclesiastical education before they begin formation (at least not yet), but the way we do our formation is certainly accelerated and it is very intense. Aspirants/Candidates meet once a month for highly focused study, prayer, and spiritual formation. Each month we cover a different necessary topic on the long road to ordination, and the topic doesn't end with our classroom discussion. We have assignments of reading to complete, often on this month's material as well as the next, papers to write (sometimes more than one), and most of us have already begun praying the Divine Office each day-a few have been doing that for years in the first place. If all we had to do in our lives were those things, it would probably be pretty easy to manage but-oh yes-we all have secular lives to lead and daily work to finish on top of those things. If it still sounds simple to you, the class schedule is rigorous because we have to do what is asked of us before the next meeting, and we don't always have a full month. If I could give one piece of advice to any potential Aspirant it would be this: Ora et labora-Prayer and Work! The Benedictine model would serve you well. I am a Benedictine Oblate, and have been for years, but I don't think I have ever fully appreciated how the Rule of St. Benedict might apply more fully to daily life than I now do, as an Aspirant in formation.

I can honestly say that, whatever the rigors of the formation process might be both now and in future, thus far I would not trade it for anything in the world, or as Nicole might say, for all the tea in China (we are big coffee and tea drinkers at our house). The men who I have so far been privileged to be in formation with are proving to be some of the finest people I have ever come in contact with, and they are becoming a blessing for me along this journey. It is easy to see why they are all here, and the format that is used in our formation is also proving to be a blessing, because it is allowing me to come to know these men as brothers in faith, brothers in Christ, and potentially as Brother Deacons with whom I might collaborate for years to come. I thank God for them and pray for them.

The beginning of a journey

Some of you who will come to this brand new weblog will do so in part, I am sure, because you are familiar with my other work.Let me say at the outset that you are absolutely welcome here, but if you have come for your daily political dose, this isn't the place for that. It isn't that we will never discuss political issues of the public square here, as I am sure that sometimes that might come up, but only as it might relate to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church.

 This blog is different because I am using it to share with readers, inasmuch as it is possible to do so, the spiritual journey that I have begun as an Aspirant to the permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee. At first, I hesitated to write this blog because I am just that-an Aspirant. I'm not a Candidate for the Diaconate-not yet-that is nearly two years away, and if I should, by the Grace of God, receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders, that is over four years away. Much can happen in that time, and one of the things we Aspirants were all told when we began this process was to be careful who we share our Aspirancy with, because we should not put undo pressure on ourselves, lest we discover God to be leading us in another direction and we then have to explain to everyone we know why it is we aren't a Deacon.

While that is all true,of course, I can honestly say that I absolutely feel called by the Holy Spirit to be where I am right now-I am supposed to be in formation for the Deaconate, and that is something that the Lord has made me certain of, as sure as I am that the sky is blue. I have trusted God from the beginning of this entire process, and I have told Him that I offer this entire process up to Him for the refinement of my own soul, for the salvation of souls and the conversion of sinners, and most importantly for the discernment of my own vocation. Furthermore, I have told the Lord that I trust Him to lead me in the right path, and  that I believed that if this was where He wanted me to be, that He would provide a way for me to do the things which are required of me. So far, that has more than turned out to be the case, and I will have more to say about that in a future post.

Because I believe that I have a firm foundation in this search for vocation that myself and the other Aspirants are now embarked upon, I feel confident enough to share some of the experience and the many reflections I will have along the way. I'm not entirely alone in this-my fellow Aspirant Scott Maentz also blogs, and his wife is writing a chronicle of this spiritual journey that we are all on together from her perspective. I really felt called and compelled to put virtual pen to virtual paper and share my call with you. I hope you'll come back, because if God wills it, I intend to be here awhile.