Tag: Christianity

Photo: volgeparhia.ru On October 21, 2016, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church canonized St. Arsenia of Ust-Medvedits as a locally venerated saint of the Volgograd Metropolis.

Abbess Arsenia (1833-1905) came from a notable family of the Don region. At the age of seventeen, Anna Mikhailova entered the Ust-Medvedits Monastery of her own accord. The monastery reached its highest peak in the 40 years of her abbacy, from 1864 until her repose on August 3, 1905.

Besides her educational and charitable activities, the main fruits of Venerable Arsenia’s labors were the Kazan Cathedral, which was erected from 1785 to 1885, and the famous caves, dug in the image of the Kiev Caves. Today the monastery’s main shrine is there—the miraculous stone slab with hand and knee imprints of people kneeling in prayer, where the faithful come to beseech St. Arsenia for healings, the good arrangement of worldly affairs, and prosperous family lives.

In addition to her holy life, St. Arsenia left us valuable writings on the spiritual life, which we present in honor of the anniversary of her canonization.

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In 1833, a daughter was born to the Sebryakovs—a family of well-known landowners in the Don Province. She was baptized with the name Anna. Her parents had a special love for her because she was an unusually kind, joyful, and intelligent girl. The amazing purity of heart that God gave Anna from birth was preserved in her until the end of her life, and therefore the path of her life was clear and straight.

The spiritual gifts of little Anna were noticed by Archbishop Anthony (Smirnitsky) of Voronezh, who was revered by many for his kind life and clairvoyance. Anna was not yet three years old when her parents took her to Voronezh to visit the archbishop, whom they had known for a long time. As soon as the girl saw the elder, she broke away from her nurse’s arms, ran up to him, and prostrated before him. He blessed her and told her surprised parents: “She will be a great woman.”

These words proved prophetic: Abbess Arsenia was truly great in her spiritual life.

When Anna was six, her mother died. After the death of his beloved wife, her father, Mikhail Vasilievich, refused secular pleasures and never left the Sebrovo estate. He was very intelligent, very educated, and most importantly—he was a deeply believing Christian. He spoke with his children a great deal and passed on his best qualities to them. He often read the Gospel and the lives of the saints to the children, and would then explain what he had read in an accessible way. These readings and talks sunk deep into the soul of little Anna. “I was so amazed as a child,” she later said, “by the wondrous, high teaching of the Savior, and the thought that we don’t fulfill His holy commandments deeply disturbed my soul.”

“Why don’t we do what the Lord commands?” she asked the sisters. “Why don’t we give everything away and follow Him?” These questions were the most important thing for her, but even her own sisters couldn’t understand her. However, Anna didn’t withdraw into herself, but remained friendly, compassionate, and very open. She was very sensitive to all the good in the people around her, and was able to support, gladden, and bring people out of despondency, and unwittingly instilled in her loved ones the joyful outlook on life that was characteristic of her from early childhood.

At the same time, realizing that even loved ones couldn’t answer her most important questions, Anna intensified her prayers to God, asking Him to show her the meaning and purpose of her whole life. And the answer came in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, long familiar to her: I am the way, the truth, and the life (Jn. 14:6), which opened up in a new way, sounding forth like a revelation: The meaning of life, and peace, and the happiness of man are in God, in following Him, in acquiring those qualities of soul that unite a man with Him.

Anna was just fourteen years old when she came to understand this. She passed through this difficult age, as they say now, when young souls experience the heaviest temptations and stray from the path of truth, having confirmed herself in faith and having preserved the purity of her thoughts. Remaining cheerful and friendly with everyone, she increased her prayer and began to read spiritual literature more, especially the Gospel, which she often hid under the cover of a secular book so as not to draw attention to herself. Thus, without even thinking about monasticism, she was already essentially following that monastic path that prefers hidden, inner work to visible asceticism. Several years went by, the thought of monasticism grew up and matured within her, and Anna decided to speak with her father about it. Mikhail Vasilievich blessed his beloved daughter, and on December 30, 1850, took her to the poor Ust-Medvedits Monastery, when Anna was seventeen.

Ust-Medvedits Monastery     

Igumena Virsavia, abbess of the monastery, was happy to receive Anna; the name of Mikhail Vasilievich Sebryakov was known throughout the Don Province, and for the abbess, it was a great honor to receive his daughter into the monastery.

In the monastery, Anna took no notice of the poverty, was not afraid of the simple fare or the seeming severity of the nuns, realizing that they were to become her sisters in Christ. And this good disposition of her soul couldn’t but arouse sympathy in the hearts of the guileless nuns! Anna bore the most difficult obediences with them: She helped roll out the dough and bake prosphora, she went around at night to rouse the nuns for midnight prayer, she served meals in the trapeza, and washed the floors—and all this on par with ordinary girls, trying to imitate them in everything.

She didn’t disdain any menial labor, including chopping wood, stoking stoves, washing dishes, and cleaning cauldrons. She always slept in her cassock and a leather belt and dressed very simply. When not working, she spent her time in prayer and reading spiritual books. Reading the works of the Holy Fathers, she sought to experience and assimilate their rules. Trying to always keep the Jesus Prayer in her mind, she habituated herself to silence, making it a rule not to say anything superfluous.

However, in general, her life in Ust-Medvedits Monastery didn’t develop at all as she had hoped. It was impossible to wholly leave the world and its glory there: Everyone knew and revered her, and this disturbed her inner peace of soul. The things the abbess was concerned about began to weigh on Anna. She saw a difference in their spiritual orientations: The severe, purely external asceticism of Abbess Visaria, not filled with an inner search for the Living God, seemed almost pointless to her. Anna started looking for a spiritual guide from amongst the nuns, but those with whom she tried to find a common path were inexperienced in spiritual matters. They hoped more in external asceticism in the work of their salvation, giving little attention to the purification of their hearts. Anna sought a mentor for six long years. During this time, she was tonsured as a nun with the name Arsenia (1859). Finally, she turned to Schemanun Ardaliona, whose simplicity, sometimes bordering on rudeness, previously prevented her from seeing her spiritual depth.

When Mother Arsenia began to turn to the schemanun with various questions about her thoughts, her answers convinced her that she had a deep understanding of the spiritual life. Arsenia was amazed by her clear determination of the states of the human soul and her concept of prayer. Schemanun Ardaliona soon became Nun Arsenia’s spiritual guide, and she went under full obedience to her, completely cutting off her personal will. Her guide led her so strictly along the monastic path that, viewed from the outside, it could seem that she was rude and unjust with her spiritual daughter.

For example, wanting to wean Arsenia from any, even insignificant earthly attachment, the schemanun once cut up an embroidered rug that Arsenia especially treasured. Arsenia endured this seemingly cruel act with complete humility and obedience, seeing in it only her mentor’s concern for the salvation of her soul.

Another time, Arsenia gave a beggar a fifty-kopeck piece (a considerable sum for that time). The schemanun, seeing that with such generous alms she seemed to elevate herself above others, and fearing that vanity would thereby arise in her soul, angrily reproached her and sent her to find the beggar and take back the money.

There were many other instances of strict spiritual guidance from one side and deep humility and obedience from the other.

Thus, Arsenia spent five years in labors, prayer, and complete obedience to the eldress. Later, when she became abbess, she would tell the nuns about that period: “I consider those years the best in my life.”

And she spoke about the guidance from her mentor:

The activity of even the most subtle passions couldn’t hide from Mother’s clairvoyant gaze. Pointing to these passions living in the heart, she would give her interlocutors advice for her to get out of the passions, to attain purity of heart, which is all the Lord is looking for from us. With a word, like a sword, she worked on the soul of her neighbor, cutting off its impurity; and she acted in deed, sometimes putting you in a position where you either had to renounce your self-love or some other passion, or lose your spiritual guide…

Not attaching any special importance to external asceticism, the schemanun would say: “The main goal of your search should be the virtues. And in order to acquire them, you have to uproot the passions and all carnal impurity. It’s not easy…”

Much later, in old age, recalling this, Mother Arsenia told one of her close disciples:

The path of the battle against the passions is the most difficult path. It is indicated by Jesus Christ, and He calls it narrow and sorrowful. Another, easier path, which many people take, is life according to the passions. You see that many sisters don’t even know about the existence of another path beside the one they’re on. They go to church, read the familiar rule, make a certain number of prostrations, and they’re convinced they’ve fulfilled everything. They don’t undertake to work on the inner man; they don’t seek, they don’t try to annihilate the passions at the root.

After the repose of Abbess Virsavia in 1863, almost all the sisters asked Mother Arsenia to accept leadership over the monastery. Arsenia agreed only out of obedience to the schemanun, and at the age of thirty, she was consecrated as abbess. She bore this cross in her native monastery for more than forty years, until her own repose.

Having become the abbess, Igumena Arsenia became the mother for all the nuns, experiencing all their sorrows in her heart as her own. Her love for neighbor, that is, for anyone who turned to her for help and advice, was obvious to everyone. This love was inseparable in her from love for God, which visibly shone in her eyes. The nuns recalled that sometimes Mother was so inspired in spiritual conversation that her face changed and it was impossible to listen to her without a particular inner excitement.

Under Abbess Arsenia, the monastery was transformed. She first dealt with the library, realizing the exceptional importance of the writings of the Holy Fathers for learning humility, repentance, and for correctly seeing one’s soul with all its passions, unexpectedly revealed to the attentive eye. In 1867, Matushka managed to open a girl’s school in the monastery. At first, young novices studied there, who later became teachers themselves. Abbess Arsenia and the priests of the monastery also taught there.

According to Abbess Arsenia’s design, the Kazan Cathedral was built with the lower church of St. Arsenios the Great (1875–1885). A two-story building was built for the nuns, a house for the clergy, outbuildings were renovated, but her work didn’t stop there. Over the course of the last fifteen years of her life (1890–1905), Abbess Arsenia built a monastery dependency in the village of Uryupinsk. Under her leadership, the old Holy Transfiguration Church was renovated, and a side chapel in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and St. Seraphim of Sarov was appended to it. The abbess also founded a skete on her sister’s estate.

How Mother managed to combine her inner spiritual life, preaching, and works of love with the active management of the monastery remains a mystery of her talent. One thing is clear: She was chosen by God, and her whole life justified the words of the elder who once said of little Anna: “She will be a great woman.”

Mother Arsenia, very demanding with herself, was condescending to the infirmities and vices of others and tried not to condemn anyone, but only deeply grieved for those who stumbled and made haste to give a helping hand. She generously shared wise advice, was able to calm the grieving, and found a word of comfort not only for the sisters, but also for laypeople who turned to her for spiritual help, who shared their troubles with her as with their own mother.

It sometimes happened that Mother Arsenia spent the entire day with visitors and managed to retire to prayer only late in the evening. The sisters noticed that she became even more open, that some special humility and meekness was manifested in how she dealt with others. “Was our Mother like this before?” they said in the monastery, recalling how their abbess used to be: young, full of life, and sometimes strict, not accessible to everyone. “She’s getting weak, apparently. She walks with strength, and it seems she’s ready to accept everyone, to talk with everyone.”

Here are examples of Mother’s spiritual discernment preserved in her letters and diaries:

If you were at war, could you say you don’t want to go fight? No, you would go, without thinking, to an obvious death. If there’s a spiritual battle ahead, if God’s commandments demand a struggle, how can we say we don’t want to fight, that it would be better to give ourselves captive to our enemies? What a disgrace!…

Salvation is possible in every place and in every affair; it need not be sought outside of us; everything can be found in our souls—both Heaven and Hell. If we find Hell in it, then by the grace of God, laboring over ourselves, we can also find Heaven…

We don’t even know what’s good for us and what’s bad. But we can see God’s help, His mercy for us, in that He allows us to bear the unbearable with patience, with humility, with submission to His holy will…

Don’t jest with your feelings; they, like a fire, can destroy everything in the soul, and in the heart, and in the mind: What the word of God has planted, they will burn and leave the soul with only its passions and sins. We have to preserve purity of body and soul, otherwise the soul will die…

In the last years of her life, Mother paid absolutely no attention to her infirmities and ailments and didn’t take any care for herself at all.

She was ill the entire winter of 1904–1905. Sensing her imminent departure, she instructed the nuns: “You have to get used to the thought that I won’t be with you, and learn to live without your mother.”

In the summer, she went to Sarov to venerate the relics of St. Seraphim. It was a difficult journey; she was seriously ill along the way.

On July 21, in Sarov, Mother Arsenia communed of the Holy Mysteries for the last time. She was no longer able to go to the All-Night Vigil. According to the testimony of her cell attendant, Agnia, late in the evening, just before her repose, Mother seemed to have seen something joyful. She gasped once or twice, her face brightened, then she let out her last sigh, and the ascetic peacefully departed to the Lord, without a groan, without any torments. Her eyes remained open, as though she continued to see. Her cell attendant closed them, marveling at such a peaceful, painless repose.

Mother’s body was taken to her home monastery, and only there, after her death, did the sisters learn of another form of the abbess’ asceticism. It turns out that despite her poor health, Mother Arsenia, emulating the ancient ascetics, wore heavy icon chains on her body, exhausted by labors and illness.

After the funeral, many people said they experienced an unearthly, blessed peace during the panikhida for Mother Arsenia. Remarkably, the grief receded, and a joyous feeling filled their hearts with peace.

In one of his teachings, St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), whom Mother Arsenia greatly revered, said: “There is no doubt that the reposed is under the mercy of God if at the burial of his body, the sorrow of those present is dissolved by some incomprehensible joy.

OrthoChristian.com will be posting some of the instructions of this great and righteous nun, Abbess Arsenia. Stay tuned!

In the fourth century, pagan Saxons invaded England with the goal of destroying the Catholic faith and violating the purity of all young English virgins. A group of 11,011 young women, including St. Ursula, fled from England to escape this fate, but in 383, all of the women were found slaughtered for their faith. 

The martyrdom of St. Ursula and her companions happened in Cologne, Germany, and a shrine is erected there that contains as many of the girls’ bones that could be recovered. 

In 1535, St. Angela Merici founded the Order of Ursulines, in honor of St. Ursula. The order is devoted to the education of young girls, and has helped spread devotion to St. Ursula across the world. 

St. Ursula is the patroness of Catholic education, especially of girls, Cologne, educators, holy death, schoolchildren, students, and teachers. She is often depicted in art as a maiden shot with arrows. 

All of the U.S. bishops will descend upon Baltimore next month for their 2023 Fall Plenary Assembly in which they will be voting on several new committee chairmen and offering updates on conference initiatives such as their National Eucharistic Revival.

At the gathering, which takes place Nov. 13–16, they will also be voting on items such as updates and materials related to the bishops’ guidance on political responsibility ahead of the presidential election in November 2024.

The meeting comes shortly following the close of the first October session of the universal Church’s Synod on Synodality in Rome, which is part of the culmination of a four-phase process aimed at refocusing “our gaze on God” and being “a Church that looks mercifully at humanity,” as Pope Francis put it earlier this month.

The U.S. bishops’ assembly takes place amid the second year of the Eucharistic revival, which they launched in 2022 in part to respond to a Pew Research poll that indicated that only one-third of adult Catholics in the U.S. believe in the Church’s teaching on the Blessed Sacrament.

Just last month, a new study challenged some of the findings in the Pew report demonstrating that almost two-thirds of U.S. adult Catholics believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Regardless, both studies suggest that a significant number of U.S. Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence, which the Church teaches is the “source and summit” of the Catholic faith.

The agenda

Papal Nuncio to the United States Cardinal Christophe Pierre will address the assembly to begin the conference, followed by comments from the USCCB’s president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

Following the return of 14 of the bishops from Rome after partaking in the Synod on Synodality’s first October session, an update on the process will take place at the assembly.

An update will also be given on the bishops’ National Eucharistic Revival, which is in its “Year of Parish Revival” aimed at building devotion to the Eucharist within American parishes.

That update will also include information about the revival’s National Eucharistic Congress, which will be held July 17–21, 2024, and is expected to draw 80,000 Catholics to Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Indianapolis Colts.

The revival announced 17 speakers in July to be featured at the congress, which includes the popular face of Ascension Presents and host of the hit “Bible in a Year” podcast Father Mike Schmitz; founder of the media apostolate Word on Fire, Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron; and Sister Bethany Madonna of the Sisters of Life, an order dedicated to pro-life ministry and Eucharistic prayer.

The assembly will also offer an update on the bishops’ recently created Institute on the Catechism, which will have just launched days prior to the start of the meeting.

The institute, which falls under the USCCB’s Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis, will focus on finding new ways to promote and teach catechesis on local levels in consultation with the bishops, dioceses, Catholic publishers, and catechetical consultants.

Also on the agenda is the bishops’ new mental health campaign aimed at destigmatizing mental health struggles and advocating for those suffering from mental illness.

The National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, launched by Bishop Barron and Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, began on World Mental Health Day, Oct. 10, with a nine-day novena of prayers.

Also at the assembly, the bishops will hold a consultation session on the cause of beatification and canonization of Servant of God Isaac Thomas Hecker. Hecker, the son of German immigrants who was born in New York City, founded the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, known as the Paulist Fathers, in 1858 to evangelize in the United States. He was named a Servant of God in 2008.

A consultation will also be held supporting the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, which is petitioning the Vatican to name the 19th-century cardinal St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church.

Additionally, the bishops will be voting on the conference’s 2024 budget and will be holding a discussion regarding the reauthorization of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, which aims to educate about the inherent dignity of all humanity in response to the sin of racism.

Just about one year ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, a discussion and vote is expected to be held on a new introduction and materials related to the bishops’ teaching document on Catholic political responsibility, the USCCB’s press release said.

That document, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, was approved by the bishops in 2015, and new introductory letters have been introduced since then.

The document is reviewed “regularly” prior to each election cycle and resources are often updated or added, Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the bishops, told CNA. However, the document is also expected to be reviewed after the 2024 election as well.

Discussion and votes are also expected to be held for a framework of ministry to Indigenous peoples; several updates related to liturgical texts; and replacing the conference’s strategic plan, which is scheduled to guide the bishops from 2021–2024.

The plan, which is a thematic guide for the bishops throughout a certain period of time, will be proposed to be replaced with a new “mission planning process,” the USCCB’s press release said.

Elections

At the meeting, six new chairmen for committees and a new conference secretary will be chosen.

Once chosen, the bishops will each serve one preliminary year as chairman-elect and begin their three-year tenure as chairman following the fall assembly in 2024.

For USCCB secretary-elect — and chairman-elect of the committee on priorities and plans — Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City and Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, are the nominees.

Springfield, Massachusetts, Bishop William Byrne and Hartford coadjutor Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne are nominees to lead the committee on communications.

For the committee on cultural diversity in the Church, the two nominees are Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan and Columbus Bishop Earl Fernandes.

Nominees to lead the committee on doctrine include Marquette Bishop John Doerfler and Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop James Massa.

Jefferson City Bishop Shawn McKnight and Reno Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg have been nominated to lead the committee on national collections.

For the committee on pro-life activities, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas are nominees.

The assembly’s public sessions on Nov. 14 and 15 will be livestreamed on the USCCB website.

    

I am not a specialist in ballistics or armaments, I am a Christian; and therefore I want to be true to God’s Word! I am obligated to speak in agreement with Him and only in agreement with Him!

Today [October 18] we are once again witnesses to a grievous event: As a result of military action, once again both civilians and our church, the hierarchical Cathedral of the Protection have suffered harm. This is by far not the first temple of our Church that has suffered from missile strikes.

I address the leaders of the countries participating in this military conflict: I beg you: Stop! Sit down to the negotiations table and stop this madness once and for all. Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes (Rom. 3:15–18). I would like to turn the attention of all representatives of the governments on all sides of the conflict to this citation from Holy Scripture. Can madness have so swallowed you up that instead of constructive negotiations, the civilian population, churches, and infrastructure continue to suffer? All the riches in the world cannot surpass the value of one human life. Not one goal can be justified and attained through the corpses of innocent children, women, and peaceful citizens.

Unfortunately, there are many examples in the world of the same such madness: World wars, the war between Palestine and Israel, Great Britain and Ireland, the hundred-year war between France and England, the countless wars between African countries. What did they bring to the world? To the producers of weapons they brought a testing field for new weapons in real-life conditions, the joy of enormous sales—but to the population, lamentation and woe. Everyday both peaceful civilians and soldiers are dying. I am certain that the families who are grieving over their dead curse all participants in this conflict, because they are experiencing a personal loss. People are left without rooves over their heads, they can’t sleep peacefully at night, they leave their homes and properties behind, and chaos reigns.

War is a terrible thing and is always the result of sin. Our world, unfortunately, is sunk in sin, and even in the face of possible sudden death people continue to turn away from God, instead of repenting!

History from most ancient times has given us a vast number of examples showing that war brings only woe and suffering to the majority, while a tiny circle of organizers receives profits. To make profit from war is something that can be done only by unprincipled scoundrels, who pour oil on the fire.

Wars on Earth will only increase the further we go. And each warring side will have its ironclad truth. But there is always only one real Truth. And the history of mankind will end with the same thing with which it began—a meeting with the impartial Judge, God. And each person needs to decide here, on what side he’s on: With God, Who is Love, or with the world, which justifies its evil-doing with its chase after phantom justice.

I call out to all participants in the military conflict: Come to the right conclusions and make the decision the people are waiting for, what is best for ordinary people, and to third parties. Every war ends in negotiations, and the earlier they begin, the fewer victims there are, and the destruction of our genetic pool will finally end. Remembering the apostle’s words: Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phillip. 4:6-7), I pray for divine wisdom for leaders and the speedy end to the military conflict.

From the fullness of the Zaporozhie diocese I pronounce my words of prayer and sympathy to the families of the deceased. I call upon the faithful children of our diocese to increase their prayer to God, that He might strengthen all of us and give wisdom to those in whose power it is to put an end to this madness.

Remember, that Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (Heb. 4:13).

In his second year as an offensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks, Abraham “Abe” Lucas is living his childhood dream. Even so, it’s faith, not football, that’s the most important thing for this self-described “hard-core Catholic.”

“It’s my focal point, it drives everything that I do — my faith and my relationship with Jesus Christ,” said Lucas, who grew up near Everett. “It’s my purpose.”

At 6-foot-6 and 322 pounds, Lucas is someone you wouldn’t want to tangle with on the football field. Off the field, he’s been described as a “gentle giant,” considerate and loyal. Currently on injured reserve, Lucas, who turns 25 on Oct. 25, is approachable, open and honest — willing to share his struggles in life and eager to talk about being Catholic.

“He’s experienced his own crosses, his own sufferings, but Christ has always been at the center of his life and how he tries to live his life,” Father Paul Heric, Lucas’ pastor at the St. Thomas More Catholic Student Center at Washington State University, said in a video.

Lucas said he considers his whole life a ministry, and believes football is what he’s “called to do at this moment.”

He never misses weekend Mass, and he tries to pray the rosary daily (sometimes on the team plane), go to confession weekly and attend weekday Mass as often as he can.

He doesn’t shy away from sharing his faith in the locker room. Lucas recalled a great conversation in the sauna with a teammate — a strong nondenominational Christian — about the differences in their beliefs. “To hear him talk about his faith, I love it, it’s fantastic,” he said.

Lucas feels called “to spread the Word of God as much as possible” — never pushing, “but if the conversation gets opened up and someone is curious about it, I’ll absolutely share what it is that I know.”

Lucas is “so grounded in his faith that he can bravely walk into conversations and say exactly what we’re all about” without offending anyone, said Deacon Dennis Kelly, who was campus minister at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett during part of Lucas’ time there. “He’s just a great evangelist.”

And Lucas speaks volumes about being Catholic through the images tattooed on his arms.

They include Christ crowned with thorns, the Virgin Mary, St. Michael the Archangel fighting the devil, a skull representing human mortality and Christ’s victory over death, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha, is the first Native American to be canonized. (His paternal great-grandmother was part Native, and he admires St. Kateri’s commitment to God.)

When teams interviewed Lucas before the 2022 NFL draft, some asked where football falls on his list of priorities. Probably third, he told them, after his faith and his family.

“This is my job now … and I love what I do and I’m thankful for it,” Lucas told Northwest Catholic, the publication of the Seattle Archdiocese. “But if I had to pick between God and football, I would pick God 10 times out of 10. It’s not that hard of a decision to make. Some people don’t understand that because not everybody has faith.”

The seeds of Lucas’ faith were planted and nurtured by his parents, Kelly and Julie, longtime members of St. Thomas More Parish in Lynnwood, a Seattle suburb.

The second oldest, Lucas grew up with four sisters and two brothers. (Another sibling, Joseph Michael, was lost to miscarriage at 18 weeks, Julie said.) Lucas was baptized on All Saints’ Day and attended Catholic schools — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Bothell for Montessori, then St. Thomas More and on to Archbishop Murphy.

Attending school as a youngster was a mixed bag of experiences. Lucas said he was not only “a squirmer,” but he also was a bigger kid and felt a lot of people “didn’t really get me.” But attending St. Thomas More “was instrumental in building the faith,” he said.

At home, the family prayed the rosary every night. His parents also emphasized “receiving the sacraments as much as possible, especially the Eucharist,” Lucas said. The family went to confession at least once a month; today Lucas tries to go to confession before receiving Communion.

“We’re not perfect, of course, but it’s my opinion that you want to be as clean as you can … when you are literally consuming the body of Christ,” he said. “We need that intimate relationship with God through Communion. So I gotta get to confession so that I can receive Communion.”

Sports also were big in the Lucas household, whether it was the kids participating in athletics or Kelly watching lots of football. But sports never won out over going to Mass on Sundays, Julie said. Lucas’ first sport was soccer, then came baseball, football and basketball, which became his favorite sport, she said. He played both basketball and football at Archbishop Murphy, where Lucas said he had “a great experience.”

“The good thing about Catholic schools is that they require you to do service,” he said, and while at first he “didn’t get it,” doing acts of service “was a big teaching point for me.”

The other was learning the what and why of church teaching on subjects such as abortion and capital punishment. He enjoyed history — his college major — and theology classes, especially the junior-year class that explored church history, and the senior-year class focused on discussion, “bringing different views to light and what does God say about these things,” he said.

Lucas also was an active participant in campus ministry. “Whenever I would do adoration or the rosary, he would be there,” Deacon Kelly said. And when he arrived to pray with the football team before their games, it was Lucas who settled the players “into a prayerful space.”

When time for confirmation rolled around, Lucas’ parents let him make the decision. “I remember my mom saying to me, ‘If you’re not going to take it serious, don’t do it.’ She actually said the church doesn’t need lukewarm Catholics, it needs people who are going to try as much as they can to keep the sacraments and commandments and such.”

Lucas was all in and he was confirmed at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church.

When his family dropped him off for his first year at WSU, Lucas realized that keeping his faith strong was now up to him.

It was something his parents had emphasized to their kids as they grew up: “When you get out into the real world, don’t lose (the faith) because there’s a lot of distractions,” Lucas said.

He finally understood what they were talking about as he dealt with all the distractions and temptations that come with college life. He decided to preserve his faith, picking up where he left off at home by going to Mass every weekend.

Sometimes things were going great with his faith life, but when they weren’t, Lucas said it was hard to admit he couldn’t handle it alone and needed to seek spiritual guidance. After Father Heric was assigned to the Newman Center, Lucas began spending more time there, going to adoration, confession and daily Mass, something Father Heric suggested.

In the busy, difficult months leading up to the 2022 NFL draft, Lucas experienced a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, but “attacked it relentlessly and got through it,” he said in a WSU Newman Center video with Father Heric. “It also was an opportunity for me to deepen my faith even more and to just trust in God.”

Lucas held his draft day party at the Newman Center; he was drafted 72nd overall — which happened to be his jersey number in high school and college (and is the one he now wears as a Seahawk).

Beyond faith, family and football, Lucas enjoys playing guitar and listening to all kinds of “complex” music, from heavy metal (favored for his pregame playlist) to jazz to classical.

And he’s finding ways to give back. In June, he hosted a youth football camp at Archbishop Murphy. In July, he traveled with some of the Seahawks staff to Anchorage, where he visited patients at a children’s hospital, gave donated shoes to kids and helped put on a flag football camp.

Living a Catholic life isn’t always easy, he said, and he may not always feel motivated or succeed in his efforts. But serving God by living his faith “is nothing more than my duty to God on this earth.”

“The beauty of it,” Lucas added, “is that I only get closer and closer to God and his heavenly kingdom when I live in the way I’ve been called.”

Cross on Mochalny Island     

There are many places in the world that are soaked in the blood of martyrs. As rivers flow, they reflect the Heavenly light of lakes, the water of which is stained with blood. Like the mythical Russian city of Kitezh, which plunged into the waters of Lake Svetloyar, the bottoms of these rivers and lakes hide the remains of the righteous people who suffered in the years of persecution. After the Revolution the clergy and laypeople who were unwanted by the authorities were often shot, and their bodies were dumped into the water or taken to unknown places and buried there. One of such sites of mass execution was Mochalny Island. It is called the “Nizhny Novgorod Golgotha” and the “island of death”. It is situated on the Bor [a town in the Nizhny Novgorod region.—Trans.] side of the Volga, opposite the Chkalov Stairs [the monumental flight of steps in the city of Nizhny Novgorod.—Trans.].

Every year many pilgrims flock here on the feast of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope and Love and Their Mother SophiaThe wise mother warned her daughters that the Emperor persecuted Christians and would tempt them to worship the pagan idols by promising them great gifts, riches and honor and all the things of beauty and pleasure in this vain world She begged them to choose rather their beloved Lord Jesus Christ and the heavenly beauty such as human eyes have never seen and which God has promised to those who love Him.

“>holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia (September 30). People come to this tragic place to pray for the repose of the souls of modern martyrs and honor their memory. By tradition the priest celebrates a prayer service and a memorial service, and then walks in a cross procession together with the pilgrims. A memorial cross was set up on the island in memory of the innocent victims by the efforts of parishioners of one church.

It is a truly amazing place, watered by the tears and prayers of several generations of the faithful. Feeling the special significance of this place, even pagans come here, trying to catch and understand something inexplicable for them. God willing, He will one day reveal Himself to them, as He revealed Himself in ancient times to Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Holy Virgin Martyr JustinaOn this mountain Cyprian studied all manner of diabolical arts: he mastered various demonic transformations; learned how to change the nature of the air; to bring up winds; produce thunder and rain; disturb the waves of the sea; cause damage to gardens, vineyards, and fields; to send diseases and plagues upon people; and in general he learned a ruinous wisdom and diabolical activity filled with evil.

“>St. Cyprian, a former sorcerer and magician, and now a great saint, whose help we seek in difficult moments of life.

Mochalny Island     

Once upon a time, in the Russian Empire, Mochalny Island was called Rozhnov. Runaway convicts, vagabonds and thieves would hide on it—all those who were being searched for by the police. It was only in the second half of the nineteenth century that the island was renamed Mochalny [meaning “of bast” in Russian.—Trans.]. Bast washcloth and bast matting were prepared here for the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.

In 1918, clergy, military men and representatives of the nobility, who were sentenced by the Bolsheviks to death, were brought here by steamer. Among those shot on Mochalny Island were Archimandrite Augustine (Pyatnitsky), the abbot of the monastery in the village of Oranki, and Bishop Lavrenty (Knyazev) of Balakhna, the abbot of the Pechersky Ascension Monastery in Nizhny Novgorod, who temporarily ruled the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese. Together with the clergy the head of the Nizhny Novgorod nobility Alexei Neidgardt was killed as well.

Photo: Nds.nne.ru     

But Mochalny Island hides another terrible secret. On October 7, 1949, the Finlandets (“Finn”) passenger boat sank between the island and the Chkalov Stairs, with over 200 people on board. It was impossible to find out the exact number of passengers, since in that tragic day many students decided to travel across the river without tickets as stowaways. A self-propelled cargo ship crashed into this small passenger boat. The Finlander immediately overturned, and the passengers, many of whom were trapped inside, found themselves in icy water. The temperature did not rise above zero that day. Snow slush and sludge formed on the river. Almost all of those who had even managed to swim as far as the bank died of hypothermia. Only a few passengers survived. Not a word was mentioned in the press about the tragedy—the Soviet authorities decided to conceal this catastrophe. Eyewitnesses called that passenger boat the “Nizhny Novgorod Titanic”. The clergy and parishioners of the churches of Bor still offer up prayers for their dead relatives and acquaintances here and for all those for whom there is no one to pray.

Old-timers call this place the “Island of Death”. Only God knows how many are buried in this sand, in the river. But now the island can also be called the “island of life”. The priests who were sentenced to be shot sang prayers and celebrated memorial services for themselves, knowing that they would not leave the island alive. They understood that they were doomed, but they were not afraid of death at the hands of executioners. Now, many years later, prayers are sung here again and memorial services are held.

And once, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated here. How many tears of joy were shed there by those who attended that amazing open-air service! People felt such grace and peace! Many believers from different churches have petitioned for a chapel to be built at this holy place. And how wonderful it would be to stand at the service, to pray at the church set up in honor of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

“>New Martyrs of the Russian Church…

But even without a church, prayer does not cease, and prayer services are performed on Mochalny Island. And those who were slain on this site invisibly pray for all of us; may the Lord have mercy on us by their prayers!

Members of the Synod of Bishops will issue a “Letter to the People of God” at the close of the first session of the synod assembly, which ends Oct. 29, the Vatican said.

The letter, the drafting of which was approved by the synod assembly, will be discussed both during small group working sessions and among the entire assembly Oct. 23 after a Mass for synod participants in St. Peter’s Basilica, the synod general secretariat announced in a statement Oct. 19.

It added that additional time will be made for synod participants to discuss the methodology and steps for the next phase of the synodal process to take place between the first session’s close Oct. 29 and the second session scheduled to take place at the Vatican in October 2024. The statement said the assembly’s synthesis document will not be presented to and discussed by synod participants in two parts — “A” and “B” — as originally indicated on the synod’s schedule.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the assembly, will present the outline for the synod’s synthesis document to participants Oct. 25, which will be read by each participant individually before being discussed both in small groups and at a general congregation the afternoon of Oct. 25 and the morning of Oct. 26.

The entire synod assembly will meet in a general congregation in the afternoon of Oct. 26 “to gather proposals on methods and stages for the months between the first and second sessions” of the synod assembly rather than hold small group working sessions to discuss the synthesis document, as was originally scheduled.

The synod general secretariat announced that working sessions originally scheduled for the afternoon of Oct. 23 and for the whole day Oct. 24 will not be held.

Participants were also encouraged to attend a prayer for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica Oct. 27, on which no sessions were scheduled.

Two days remind us this month of the Life Principles of Grand Duchess ElizabethThe letters of Grand Duchess Elizabeth reveal the principles which laid the foundation of her life and relationships with people around her. These letters help us understand the reasons why the high-society beauty became a saint in her lifetime.

“>Venerable Grand Duchess Elizabeth: October 11, the day of the finding of her relics, and November 1 (October 20, old calendar), her birthday. When I look at lifetime photos of the saint, not even icons, I admire how beautiful she looks, both in exquisite princely attire and in a modest monastic garment. This theme comes to my mind every time I attend a church service. Have you ever noticed what the people who pray there look like? More precisely, what are they wearing?

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna It would seem that for a believer the question, “What should I wear?” is so insignificant and non-essential compared with the problem of salvation of the soul that it isn’t even worth the discussion. But still… What would be truly pious: not to care at all about appearance for the sake of spiritual growth, or to glorify God with your inner and also outward beauty?

One of my grandmothers lived on a farm. She was busy all day doing household chores: tending the vegetable garden, livestock, and the house. But every Sunday, all she strove to do was to attend church, and for this she dutifully tried to wash herself (besides having neither a bathtub nor bath house). Instead of dirty work clothes, she would put on a festive dress and a headscarf. When she went to the House of God to meet the Lord and receive Communion, she was dressed in the best attire she had!

But in our days, the attitude of church-going women towards clothes they wear has oddly changed… I have often observed that people who have only recently become Christians develope gross disregard for their appearance. But it can also happen to those who have long been faithful believers. It seems that this is one of the manifestations of a unique perception of spirituality that has to do with the categorical rejection of everything worldly.

Faithful Christians often grossly disregard their appearance

Who will argue with this? Our world is infected with the spirit of vanity, and it is full to the brim with narcissists. But neophytes often come to learn Christianity not from its basics, but from say, from the Philokalia; that is, they read the writings of ascetics and desert-dwelling monks who reached such a degree of disregard not only for their clothes, but even for their bodies, that they did not need to wash themselves at all… Hence the logical conclusion: The more spirituality there is in a person, the less his attention to his mortal self (i.e. body and clothes). That said, we live in the world and we have relatives, acquaintances, and co-workers, so we have no opportunity, or we even shouldn’t, completely resemble hermits in the desert. We don’t live in the desert!

Sure, we should admire the deeds of great ascetics of faith who managed to give up not only all the benefits of this world, but even the basic comforts and clothing. But we are unlike them, and we are far from them! I think it is very important to realize that spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean asceticism. In general, the ascetic way of life is only a means to reach spiritual heights and obtain the grace of God. This is what the holy fathers wrote about. But, as spiritually inexperienced as we are, we are always attracted to extremes. Go and try to divide the concepts of “spirituality” and “asceticism”!

Is it really necessary to turn your life into a The Tedium of the Monastic Life, or Why it Makes Sense to Watch What You’re SayingWe had a visitor a couple of weeks ago: “Oh, it’s pure bliss here, can I spend a month or so with you? I’ll take any obedience, will do anything! At last, I can taste the life of a monastic.”

“>monastery and make a hermit out of yourself to achieve the salvation of your soul? Over many years of attending church services, I formed the opinion that a layperson who finds excuses for his neglect of personal appearance for the sake of achieving spirituality must be either deceitful or deluded….

Look at the church calendar. Not only the hermits, fools-for-Christ, and monks are saints. There are also princes and princesses, kings and queens. They spent their entire lives in the luxury of royal chambers. But despite all this, they were able to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Church revers them as saints, suffice it to recall the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Helen.

There are also those who went to live in the monastery at the end of their lives, exchanging luxurious garments and vestments for modest monastic garb, like Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. However, having renounced the splendor of high society and becoming an ascetic of piety, she retained, and never got ashamed of displaying, a truly royal and exquisite sense of taste with which she shone in society. Anything that received her creative attention and everything she created for her convent of mercy was designed with impeccable aesthetics and beauty, beginning with the Church of Sts. Martha and Mary and ending with the vestments for the sisters there.

Poverty is the state of our wallets, while sloppiness in dress is sadly the state of our souls

Of course, the financial resources of many Orthodox women are not the same as those of the Grand Duchess. However, a wise woman in my parish has said it well: poverty is the state of our wallets, while sloppiness in dress is sadly the state of our souls. One can find a decent, good quality and, at the same time, inexpensive outfit at any salary level. It’s just that you will probably have to work, and spend some time looking for it. Nothing is done in this world without applying some work and patience. As for finding excuses for our laziness, we can find a ton of those “pious” reasons.

Certainly, monasticism always filled people with awe and the desire to imitate it. But the Lord predestined only a few chosen ones to follow the monastic path (that is, a path that differs from the worldly path) to the Kingdom of Heaven! So, if we live among people, and for them, as the proverb says, first impressions count, then we should rather not neglect it.

How do we testify about our Faith is the Most Practical Question in a Christian’s LifeIn this conversation, the abbess reminds us of how our faith should manifest in the simplest, ordinary circumstances, and in the trials sent to us by the Lord.

“>faith? Could it be purely by words? No, we do it with our appearance as a whole, and how we looked after we had encountered God! Looking at the sad and weary, even gloomy faces (joy didn’t shine upon them for some reason), their creepy scarves, and boring, gray clothing (worn based on the principle of, “Ah, this one will work just fine!”), no one in the wider public would want to follow such Orthodox people. Much less, to become one of them…

Sure, as Christian women, we should not be maniacally dependent on fashion and wear extravagant and provocative clothing to church. No one urges us to do so. It is always good to bring to mind the wondrous words of the Apostle Peter:

Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price (1 Peter 3: 3-4).

In the sight of God…

I think it is worth paying attention to the way we dress for the sake of love for our neighbor, out of respect for him, so that we don’t discourage from Orthodoxy the ones who have not yet learned the wisdom of the words of the Holy Apostle. We should also learn to fuse together modesty and propriety in dress with taste and neatness. It is true, but for some reason there is an unspoken rule in the church and parish communities that a carefully and tastefully dressed woman cannot be a good Christian. Why not? They say she does so “trying to attract attention, to “embarrass” etc. But is this really so? Is it just that?

Spiritual culture means physical culture as well

Archbishop Artemy (Kishchenko, †2023), who was able to wittily and accurately set the semantic accents in any conversation, once commented on my observations on the appearance of “particularly pious” parishioners:

“In general, spiritual culture means physical culture as well. A person negligent in his dress, unkempt and indifferent, cannot, I think, have an exalted soul. Inner harmony should show in everything. Everything in a human being should be beautiful.

“We see many examples in asceticism, when monks wore rags and never washed themselves. But, first of all, that was the East, and secondly, how many thousands of years ago was it? The level of culture they had, their worldviews, their desert dwelling, and after all, their living conditions…

“That people worship their bodies and spend more than half of their lives in front of a mirror is also quite an unhealthy fact. It in turn spawns another extreme, when all mirrors end up broken. You don’t need to break all the mirrors, just leave a couple, as you may need them. But you should avoid adding mirrors on every wall! Like Seraphim of Sarov said: Just follow the middle way.”

Kiev, October 20, 2023

Photo: currenttime.tv     

The deputies of Ukrainian Parliament Ukrainian Parliament votes for bill to ban UOC in first reading, second reading still to comeMany local administrations have declared bans on the Church, though at the same time, the Church’s activities have continued in those localities.

“>voted 267-5 yesterday in favor of a bill that calls for the banning of any religious organization that is connected to Russia.

Ukraine takes another step towards banning the Church—declares UOC is still part of Moscow PatriarchateThe Ukrainian state has taken another serious step towards banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“>In January of this year, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience declared that although the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is legally administered entirely in Kiev, and although it amended its statutes in May 2022 to remove all connection to the Moscow Patriarchate, it remains part of the Moscow Patriarchate according to Russian Orthodox Church documents.

Thus, although the UOC’s Legal Department emphasizes that yesterday was the first reading of the bill, and that procedure calls for a second reading before the relevant bill comes into force as law, it is clear that the Verkhovna Rada deputies have every intention of banning the Church of their fellow Ukrainians.

Given the dire situation, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill again appealed to the heads of the Local Orthodox Churches and of other churches and international organizations to defend the rights of the Church. And His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolas, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, sent a letter of support to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

In his message to the primates of the Local Orthodox Churches and religious figures, Pat Kirill noted:

Without clearly defining the concept of this “affiliation,” the mentioned bill empowers the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, led by a person who is hostile towards the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to judge in each particular case. This body, guided by criteria unknown to anyone, will conduct a so-called religious study, based on the conclusion of which a judicial decision will be made. One doesn’t need to be a lawyer to understand that the proposed scheme opens the door to all sorts of abuses…

Initiators and supporters of the adoption of this bill in Ukraine—senior government officials, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, radical politicians, and public figures—do not hide that the bill is directed against the largest religious community in Ukraine and aims to eliminate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a centralized structure, as well as all its dioceses, parishes, and monasteries individually…

The adoption of this bill was preceded by a whole set of measures directed against the canonical Church in Ukraine: a slanderous anti-Church campaign in the national media, seizures of churches with the use of gross violence against clergy and believers, initiation of numerous fictitious criminal cases, pressure on the episcopate by special services, attempts to seize the cradle of Russian monasticism—the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra, and other major monasteries with the forced eviction of their residents, as well as a wave of forced closures by local authorities of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a ban on its services, the seizure of land plots occupied by its monasteries, churches, and shrines.

According to His Holiness, declaring a religious organization, which unites many millions of followers, thousands of communities, and hundreds of monasteries across the country, as illegal, “puts the Ukrainian state on par with the most sinister anti-religious regimes of the past.”

The Russian primate sent a similar letter to various leaders and representatives at the UN and OSCE, urging them to “take all possible measures to prevent the continuation of mass violations of the religious rights of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, including in the form of discussing the current situation within the agenda of the organization you lead, preparing specialized reports, and sending special missions to establish facts.”

Russian Patriarch appeals to Local Churches and religious leaders about fate of Kiev Caves LavraThe monastery has suffered numerous invasions and cases of persecution throughout its history, but it was only under the militantly atheistic government of the 20th century that the monks were driven out of the monastery, the Patriarch emphasizes.

“>Pat. Kirill and other hierarchs from a number of Local Churches have issued a number of such appeals, but thus far to no avail. See, for example, the Patriarch of Georgia appeals to Patriarch Bartholomew on behalf of persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox ChurchAs the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the brotherhood of the Kiev Caves Lavra continues to intensify, hierarchs, clergy, and international organizations from around the world have begun speaking out in defense of the Church.”>appeal of His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia of Georgia to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to raise his voice in defense of the persecuted UOC.

***

And Met. Nicholas assured the Ukrainian primate of the fervent prayers of the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia:

Your Beatitude, Vladyka!

Having learned about the adoption in the first reading of bill No. 8371, which provides for a ban on the ministry of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the territory of Ukraine, I hasten to express to you our love, support and sympathy. This bill demonstrates the lack of religious freedom in a country known for its piety and targets the majority of its religious citizens and defenders.

Standing before the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign,” the relics of St John (Maximovich) the Wonderworker, and other holy sites, we fervently pray in these days of sorrow for strength for you, your brother archpastors, pastors, monastics and faithful flock of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

We also pray for the enlightenment of the persecutors who have lost their sobriety. For the current situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reminds us of the events of a hundred years ago, when some in the Orthodox world, turning away from the legitimate hierarchy of the persecuted Church, supported the so-called “Living Church” together with the atheists.

We pray, hope and believe that the memory of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th century will be immersed in the souls of each of us Orthodox Christians, helping us in these difficult times to follow the example of the faith and faithfulness of the victims and not to be on the side of the persecutors.

Prayerfully uniting with you, I cordially wish Your Beatitude and the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by you, the all-powerful strength of God and all the best!

Asking for Your holy prayers, I remain Your Beatitude’s faithful brother and concelebrant,

+ NICHOLAS
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

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The online Catholic journal One Peter Five recently ran a 1966 essay by Catholic writer Ida Friederike Görres (1901-1971), translated and with an introduction by Jennifer S. Bryson.

When does a person have a capacity for liturgy? Görres asked: a question at least as relevant today as it was 60 years ago.

She responded, in part:

• When he considers the worship of God to be an essential, necessary, irreplaceable, and central component of his faith and his religious existence: at least as important as serving others.
• When he regards the worship of God not strictly as a private need but rather as a duty of the fellowship of believers; so, not out of mere conviction and interiority, rather translatable into words, gestures, and symbols.
• When he has a religious relationship to holy Scripture as a relationship to the word of God and to the accumulated interpretations and explanations of Scripture over the course of the life of the Church, as a spiritual treasure that he measures in relation to the whole and wants to nourish from the whole.

A person does not have a capacity for liturgy, Görres continued:

• When he regards the worship of God as a relic of religious history that has been overcome, at best as a peripheral ornament of the true life of faith, which consists solely and essentially in serving others.
• When he himself practices the worship of God only occasionally, at his own discretion, according to his subjective mood and motive at the time, and he advocates this freedom for all other people as well.
• When it seems impossible and basically unacceptable for him to join with others except with small groups of people who are completely like-minded and have a similar temperament.

The belief that the true life of faith consists “solely and essentially in serving others” may be fine — I wouldn’t know — for those who are naturally drawn to and skilled at serving others.

But I, for one, need the whole one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church to work up the desire to serve anybody. I’m too incompetent, and way too selfish, to serve in any way without a massive amount of interior work and supernatural help.

Moreover, any service I might otherwise perform tends to be so overlain with the desire to be noticed, thanked, and affirmed — and for the service to be in some way reciprocated — that my motives tend to be highly suspect.

The good news is that, as Christ said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do.” Another cheering thought: “I came not to call not the righteous, but sinners. “

To have a capacity for liturgy is to acknowledge that I’m as mediocre, flawed, fallen, hypocritical, inconsistent, lukewarm, and capable of evil as the worst member of the Mystical Body.

But it’s also to acknowledge that I desire to follow in the footsteps of the “best” members of the Mystical Body: the martyrs and saints; the vast army of unheralded faithful who through the ages have laid down their lives in love for their friends.

I want to pass that desire on to others — which brings me to another reason I need the liturgy of the Church. When I come across someone who is also hungry, searching, and soul-sick, and who also desperately wants to order his or her life to the highest possible plane, I need something way more solid than my own self-styled “spiritual” frolic.

Don’t look to me, or to any human being or institution, no matter how well-intentioned.

Look to Christ, and to the Church he built upon Peter, against which the gates of hell will not prevail. The gates of hell would and have prevailed against me, lay movements, and even religious orders in five seconds flat: against the Church itself — the Mystical Body with Christ at its head — never.

I keep thinking of a trip I recently took to Detroit. I stayed with dear, generous friends. I saw some of the city’s art, parks, gardens, and neighborhoods.

But the center of my visit was a walk I took one sweltering weekday to an inner-city church that was a couple of miles away. The streets were deserted, the houses were abandoned, there was no store even to buy a bottle of water. I’d hoped to attend a noon Mass, but when I arrived the doors of the crumbling church were locked.

None of that mattered.

What mattered was my desire to be near the tabernacle. What mattered was that I was able to touch the door of the church, to genuflect, to whisper, Thank you, Lord, please keep me safe, please help me to be cheerful and kind.

Somewhere in the world, that very moment, a priest in direct apostolic succession from Christ was saying, “On the night he was betrayed and entered willingly into his Passion”; somewhere in the world the consecrated Host was being elevated; somewhere in the world a priest was saying, “Thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and minister to you.”

The worshippers at those Masses were there for me. I had walked through the heat for them. We were all there, by extension, for the whole world.

If I have a capacity for liturgy, Görres’ piece reminds me, it emerged from no virtue of my own. The fact is: Who but the Church would have me?