This harmony between talking and listening, chatting and silence, is a topic that Pope Benedict XVI highlights for this year’s World Communication’s Day.  His unique perspective rings startling true to me: “the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved.”

When I think about communication, the first thing that comes to my mind is not silence. With an office phone and a cell phone, work email and personal email, Facebook, Twitter and Skype, communication can seem overwhelmingly noisy sometimes. And yet, I think we all have experiences where we know what the Holy Father means.

Sitting across from us at that same dinner was a couple. They weren’t looking at each other, weren’t talking, but were both busily “communicating” on their respective Smart Phones. I immediately reflected how communication tools can often get in the way of authentic communication with one another. Especially with all of these tools at our finger tips, too often I can be reticent to put my phone away, close my computer and simply enjoy another person’s company.

The Pope writes, “In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves.”

In other words, spending time in silence (disconnected from the many modes of communicating), whether with another or alone, enables us to communicate more deeply and more effectively.

How do you find time for a silence? Here are just a couple of ways I’ve been trying to increasingly integrate it into my life:

• Taking a walk around the block, without a cell phone or an Ipod, and using those moments to reflect
• Disconnecting from my computer while eating lunch at work, reading a book or article I’ve printed out
• Focusing on truly listening to those I’m talking to, not engaging in distracting thoughts about things I need to accomplish
• Putting my phone on silent and in my pocket for the duration of a visit with a friend
• Spending some time in silent prayer each week

During this first month of the year, many of us are prioritizing our goals for 2012. If one of your goals is finding time to help others in need (whether it be serving a meal, stocking a food kitchen, helping coordinate donations or helping to fund raise), I’d encourage you to read this great outline of all that volunteers at Catholic Charities do.

If you want to help, there is a place for you!

Christ reveals the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary

Several weeks ago, as a diocese and in individual parishes, we consecrated ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We said to the Lord “We give Your our actions, our desires, our troubles, our joys and our sufferings” and that “It will always be our heart’s desire to love You more and more.”

It was a beautiful prayer, but I have to admit that actually fulfilling these pledges is more difficult than it first appears. What is my heart’s desire? What does that really mean?

Saint Josemaria Escriva preached a homily which certainly cuts to the chase about what it means to devote our hearts to Christ’s Heart. He writes,

“When holy Scripture refers to the heart, it does not refer to some fleeting sentiment of joy or tears. By heart it means the personality which directs its whole being, soul and body, to what it considers its good, as Jesus himself indicated: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt 6:21)

So when we talk about the heart of Jesus, we stress the certainty of God’s love and the truth of his commitment to us. When we recommend devotion to the sacred heart, we are recommending that we should give our whole self to Jesus, to the whole Jesus — our soul, our feelings and thoughts, our words and actions, our joys.”

So if Christ is my heart’s desire, then I really should give Him everything…my struggles, my joys, the details of each day. According to Saint JoseMaria this devotion does not go unrewarded; after all God (the Author of love) loves us unreservedly, He is committed to us, we can trust Him.

Each day, then, through our consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I should strive to know myself and offer myself fully to the Lord. As Saint JoseMaria tells us:

“That is what true devotion to the heart of Jesus means. It is knowing God and ourselves. It is looking at Jesus and turning to him, letting him encourage and teach and guide us.”

While certainly many of us are decorating our homes and preparing gifts for family and friends, it is helpful for me to be reminded that it is still the season of Advent – a season of hopeful expectation. How blessed we are that the Church gives us these distinctive liturgical seasons – times to step aside and look at our spiritual lives, to rely more heavily on the Lord.

I am always particularly struck by the readings during Advent, which shed so much light on the path to which I am called. Today’s reading, from Isaiah says:

light on dark water

Thus says the LORD, your redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
I, the LORD, your God,
teach you what is for your good,
and lead you on the way you should go.

What a wonderful question for Advent: where are You leading me? How can I better listen to You? Why did You become Man for me?

This week, Bishop Loverde writes about the interior state of our hearts. He asks us:

“Are we losing our zeal, our willingness to stand out from the crowd, our ardor for the truth of the faith?” His column seeks to inspire us to examine our hearts, to truly embrace our faith once again this Advent season.

Consider taking a few moments to reflect on Advent and read the entirety of Bishop Loverde’s column here.

Frs. McGraw and Planty provide a thorough look at the debate over illegal immigration in our country and how we can begin to grapple with the ethical questions involved. The rest of their article may be found by following the link at the end.

In the context of the debate over illegal immigration, most of us are by now familiar with the query, “What is it about ‘illegal’ that you don’t understand?”  This saying may be said to betoken a fair point, inasmuch as it is an arresting way of exposing the tendency to disregard the rule of law, perhaps in favor of sentimentalism, in the context of illegal immigration.  But at the same time this saying, if the truth be told, betrays an oversimplification that begs the question:  Is there something about “illegal”—about law and the violation of law, about how and when and why law binds us—that needs to be better understood, and might such a better understanding be of help in resolving this issue?

From a Catholic perspective, grappling with the ethical questions raised by the current debate over illegal immigration requires an honest scrutiny of the Church’s social teaching on this issue, the main lines of which are traced out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:  on the one hand, “[t]he more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin”; on the other hand, “[p]olitical authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2241).  There is then a summons to us, as individuals and as a nation, to human and Christian solidarity towards immigrants to our country, although the Catechism significantly notes that this obligation of solidarity is limited according to the extent that a nation is “able”—that is, what a nation is not reasonably able to do, consistent with the common good it is charged with promoting, it is not morally obliged to do.  Moreover, in furtherance of the common good, the right to immigrate may justly be made subject to various laws, and to these laws there corresponds a moral obligation of respect and obedience.  But the duty to uphold the rule of law, to be properly understood, requires an adequate context and the making of some critical distinctions, if we are ever to arrive at a proper resolution of this tension.

This essay doesnot pretend to cover the many aspects—social, political, economic—relating to the question of illegal immigration.  Nor even, although it is concerned with ethics, does it claim to exhaust all the ethical dimensions that bear on this question.  There is no intention to formulate specific policy proposals.  The aim is to provide, in the area of law and ethics, of pastoral practice, and of public policy, some clear principles and a foundation, upon which a reasoned discourse on this issue can be solidly based.

Read more here.

Upon returning from my second visit to the diocesan sponsored missions in the Dominican Republic, I have been reflecting on what a mutual blessing these missions are for our diocese as well as for the people of the Banica and Pedro Santana parishes.

Bishop Loverde with diocesan priests and Dominicans

Banica and Pedro Santana are  rural communities located in the Dominican Republic on the border with Haiti. Fr. O’Hare, the current pastor of Banica and Pedro Santana, compared these extraordinary places to Nazareth, all three out of the way locations that people perhaps doubted would produce much fruit (recall the words of Nathaniel: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:43). Yet, Banica and Pedro Santana, like Nazareth where Christ was born, have produced a great many fruits.

My visit to both parishes last week was in recognition of the twenty year relationship between the Diocese of San Juan de la Manguana and the Diocese of Arlington. Accompanying me were three of the diocesan priests who had served there over the years (as well as Fr. Hanley and Mike Flach, the editor of the Arlington Catholic Herald). I was touched by the great love and admiration that the people had for their former priests. I was moved as well by the simple and profound faith of the people. They are impoverished materially, but have a rich spirit of inner joy and a communal spirit, ready always to assist one another.

Much has been accomplished through the rewarding relationship between our two dioceses. One physical manifestation of this is the new chapel at Sabana Cruz, which was a gift of donors from our diocese. Also, the Catholic community in each parish, with support from diocesan priests and volunteers, demonstrates its spiritual strength through its many altar servers as well as programs such as Bible studies for adults and young boys and girls. I had the opportunity to meet with college-aged men and women from these parishes who have chosen to serve the youth in their community, instructing them in the faith, while at the same time maintaining their studies and prayer lives.

I was inspired by the spirit of those living there as well as the challenges the priests and the missionaries (including three Brazilian sisters as well as lay people) encounter daily. For example, their outreach to those who lived out in the campos requires travels of up to five hours or more on a regular basis over rough roads, mainly unpaved with ruts. Yet, despite the difficulties, there is a joy that heartened me throughout my time there.

I certainly returned home exhausted by the rigors of the schedule, the unfamiliar and rustic setting and the effort it takes continually to speak a foreign language. Inwardly, however, I rejoice and am reinvigorated by the exhilarating growth in these people in the Dominican Republic. The people there remain in my heart and I urge each of you to continue to pray for our Dominican brothers and sisters as well as for the priests and missionaries present there.

Bishop Loverde leaves today to visit Banica in celebration of the twenty year anniversary of its relationship with the Diocese of Arlington. As we wait for him to return (no doubt with many travel stories!) I’ve been looking over photos taken last year when our Chancellor visited the Mission – see below. You can also find out more about the missions here.

Richard Dawkins’ famous book the God Delusion believes the question of God’s existence relies on scientific evidence and cannot be proven. He writes, “Either he exists or he doesn’t. It is a scientific question; one day we may know the answer, and meanwhile we can say something pretty strong about the probability.” Dawkin’s argument is faulty for a number of reasons, one of which is that if God is immaterial how can his existence be reduced to a matter of empirical science alone? Dawkins casually dismisses Aquinas’ five proofs for the existence of God, ridiculing what he deems to be the simplicity of the arguments. Yet, Dawkins himself does not engage his human reason – primarily he makes use of what he considers to be counter examples based on science, not on reason.

Aquinas’s proofs for the existence of God are indeed (as Dawkins claimed) simple. They are simple, but also difficult to refute reasonably. Aquinas writes that everything that moves (changes) must have a caused by a mover. This is not only true in the scientific world (though this is how we know it to be reasonable) it is true in the world of ideas as well. This is a distinction that Dawkins does not engage – he looks only at the material universe. For example, natural reason allows us to conclude that 1 plus 1 is 2 without actually seeing one apple and another apple equally two apples. Aquinas engages proofs that using logic and reason (for the world itself is structured and reasonable) human beings are capable of knowing we can ascertain the existence of God. Sadly, it seems that those who either emphasize science to the exclusion of reason or deny the existence of truth or reality itself, which obscures the affirmation of reason.

The First Vatican Council insists that not only are faith and reason compatible, they actually support one another. Part of the difficulty for those who reject that God can be known by natural reason, is that who God is in Himself is transcendent and other in a way that we can not ever completely understand. Vatican I says that he is “completely simple and unchangeable spiritual substance” – His nature makes God different from any created thing. Faith is a gift from God which allows us to know Him in Himself. However, knowing who God is is different than knowing that He exists. We are able to know that He exists from the structure of the created world, not merely looking at scientific evidence, but using our natural capacity for reason to look at the scientific world and what it points to – a first mover, a supreme being, a first cause.

It certainly is possible to know through reason that God exists, but still not believe in Him. A reasonable person, however, is a theist.

There was no response.

So he crept a bit closer and asked her again, “Darling, can you hear me?”

Still no response.  Very worried now, he moved up right next to her ear and said again in a loud voice, “Darling, can you hear me?!”

At which point she turned around and shouted “For the third time Henry, yes I can hear you!”

Like many jokes, this one hides a kernel of truth.  Like Henry, we often believe we have a clear picture of what’s going on in our lives, except for one flaw – we forget to factor ourselves into the equation.  Indeed, when talking about relationships and communication, many of us have been to enough talks on these subjects that we figure we could deliver an abridged version ourselves.  So why bother going to another one?  Yet like the plot twist in the joke, the answer to that question may seem obvious upon reflection – have we really applied what we’ve learned to our own lives?

I went to a conference six months ago, and one of the speakers recounted his conversion story from many years before.  For a year after his conversion, he felt the Holy Spirit in a tangible way every single day.  He felt righteous; he felt inspired; he felt holy.  In fact, he admitted to us, at that electrifying part of his faith life, he couldn’t imagine how he couldn’t be a saint right then and there, and he genuinely wondered what everyone else was doing wrong.  He went to see his spiritual advisor, and after telling him all the wonderful things he had been experiencing, the priest asked him “Well in that case, how have you been treating your wife?  Your children?  Your neighbor on the street?”  And without a drop of irony he resopnded “Father, what does that have to do with anything?”

Like this well-intentioned speaker, we can all fall victim to ‘holiness by osmosis’ – I understand the ideas, I’ve surrounded myself with like-minded folks, and I certainly feel great about where I’m at.  Yet if a quick examination of our relationships – and in particular, how well we relate to others – lends a less than perfect picture, it may be a good time to re-approach communication with open ears, with a mind toward adopting what we learn.

With that in mind, the Office for Family Life and the Alpha Omega clinic is once again offering its annual relationship series, this time as a three part workshop focused on communication skills.   Led by licensed social worker Carolyn Hansen, the workshop is open to all adults 21 and over, including married couples, engaged couples, dating and singles.  The workshop will be held at St. Agnes parish hall in Arlington from 6 – 9 pm on consecutive Wednesdays—November 2^nd, 9^th, and 16^th.  A wine and cheese reception will precede each presentation, and a $10 donation is suggested per person per night (or $25 for the series).

Register now!

• This past spring, he wrote about the gift that marriage is to so many of us. He writes: ”Matrimony is a natural reality for humanity, a good thing created by God for the mutual love and support of man and woman and the procreation and rearing of children. In marriage man and woman form a beautiful living image of the Triune God as they live in a bond of self-giving love and welcome new life into the world” Read more here.
• Several weeks ago, Bishop Loverde gave us four pillars on which to base our family life. He gives practical ways to integrate our faith into our lives – yes, even with our very busy schedules! Read more here.
• In this week’s Herald, the Bishop focuses on how we can integrate the liturgical year into our homes. Consider reading through his suggestions and seeing if you would like to adopt any of these traditions in your home. Read more here.