The sun refuses to shine on our nation and our Church. 

Were you there when the sun refused to shine?  Were you there when the sun refused to shine? Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

A dark cloud hangs over the Catholic Church and the United States of America. Our leaders have betrayed us and the atmosphere has been poisoned by anger, hatred and the most vile and vicious name-calling and character assasination. God forgive us. We are in a bad way. 

In such an atmosphere, the sun refuses to shine, and our only recourse is to tremble with shame, tremble with sadness and tremble with fear for the future our our nation and our Church. 

Angels serve as God’s messengers, protectors

The feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, who were God’s messengers as recorded in sacred scripture, reminds us that we are never alone. We have advocates (guardian angels) who stand with us and bring healing, reconciliation and the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ. (Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin)

Saturday, September 29, we celebrate the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, three angels named in Sacred Scripture and associated with important moments in the history of our salvation. At this time in the Church’s life, when there is so much confusion, anger, anxiety and doubt, it’s good to step back a little and reflect on some of the more mysterious—and comforting—elements of our Catholic belief and practice. Church teaching on angels certainly fits in this category.

Reruns of the popular television program, Life is Worth Living, which featured Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, the first and some would say greatest Catholic television evangelist, often addressed the topic of angels. Bishop Sheen did this with humor. (He said it was an angel who erased his blackboard when it was off camera.) But he was also deadly serious in the way he discussed the existence of angels and their influence on our daily lives. 

Noting that the word “angel” comes from the Greek word for messenger, Bishop Sheen explained the angels are God’s emissaries and that they exercise two fundamental responsibilities in their interaction with us human beings: First, as messengers they help to illuminate our understanding of God’s will for us. Certainly that was the role played by the angel Gabriel in his appearances to Mary and Joseph. Following Gabriel’s disclosures, Mary understood (and accepted) her unique role in God’s plan for our redemption and Joseph assumed his rightful place as the guardian and protector of Mary and her divine son.

The second role that angels play in human affairs is that of protection and healing. St. Michael the Archangel and St. Raphael stand for the advocacy and the healing power of God’s grace. They testify to the fact that, when necessary, angels can be warlike in their defense of God’s truth and justice, but they are often equally kind and merciful in their dealings with those who are suffering any kind of hardship or abuse.

Everyone of us has a guardian angel. We don’t hear nearly enough about them these days. Even in the 1950s, when Life is Worth Living, was at the peak of its popularity on American television, Bishop Sheen had a hard time convincing his audiences that the doctrine of angels was more than just a pious, sentimental teaching. Why? Bishop Sheen’s explanation was the influence of materialism and secularism. After all, if you only believe what you can see and touch or place under a microscope, there’s not much room for beings who have a mind and will but no body.

And yet, Christians have always believed that what is invisible is in some ways more real than what is visible. When God took on human flesh, he forever united the spiritual world with the material world. He showed us the true miracle of human life is that we are much more than we appear to be. We are each made in the image and likeness of God which means that we are spirit and flesh incarnate.

Bishop Sheen speculated that the reason some angels turned away from God is because they could not abide the scandal of the Incarnation. It was too much for them to accept that God’s only son would so humiliate himself as to take on human flesh—not just the holographic appearance of humanity but the actual, messy, bloody reality. Certainly, it’s quite possible that the reason Lucifer and his companions fell from grace was because they were too proud to pay homage to one who was beneath them in the order of being, a man like us human beings in all things but sin. 

Pope Francis has repeatedly called our attention to the role played by the Evil One, a fallen angel, in the scandals that are shaking the foundations of our Church today. The sins of some priests and bishops and their further degradation by “hypocrites” who use the media (especially social media) to destroy reputations and enflame the legitimate hurt and anger of others.

Saints Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, and all holy angels, pray for us. We need your inspiration, healing and protection now more than ever! May your ministry as angels of mercy and guardian angels guide us, protect us and keep us from all evil. Now and forever. Amen.

Silence can speak louder than words

Express how you feel and then be quiet. Because the truth is humble, the truth is silent, the truth isn't noisy. It's not easy, what Jesus did; but the dignity of the Christian is anchored in the power of God. With people lacking good will, with people who only seek scandal, who seek only division, who seek only destruction, even within the family: silence, prayer. (Pope Francis, homily, September 3, 2018)

Pope Francis surprised many people when he refused to discuss allegations that he knowingly ignored—even covered up—abusive behavior by resigned cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick. When journalists asked him to comment on the allegations made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, the Holy Father said, “I will not say a single word on this.” He then invited journalists to use their investigative skills to determine for themselves whether or not the allegations are truthful.

We are so accustomed to public figures giving strong and often detailed statements in responses to allegations of every kind, that it’s jarring to have someone refuse to say a single word in his own defense. Why has Pope Francis chosen this approach? What does he hope to communicate with his silence?

It’s clear from remarks during a homily by the pope at his Santa Marta residence on September 3, that Pope Francis believes that the former nuncio’s allegations are intended to cause grave harm to the Church. “With people lacking good will,” the pope said, “with people who only seek scandal, who seek only division, who seek only destruction, even within the family: silence, prayer” are the only appropriate responses.

Is Archbishop Viganò someone who only seeks scandal or division? Without more information it’s impossible to know for sure. And, yet, Pope Francis prefers to treat what are grave charges against the pope and many other Church officials both in the U. S. and in the Vatican as the worst kind of scandal-mongering and, therefore, unworthy of comment.

To gain an insight into the pope’s thinking here, it’s helpful to read his public statement for the 2018 World Day of Communications. In it, the Holy Father said:

To discern the truth, we need to discern everything that encourages communion and promotes goodness from whatever instead tends to isolate, divide, and oppose. Truth, therefore, is not really grasped when it is imposed from without as something impersonal, but only when it flows from free relationships between persons, from listening to one another. Nor can we ever stop seeking the truth, because falsehood can always creep in, even when we state things that are true. An impeccable argument can indeed rest on undeniable facts, but if it is used to hurt another and to discredit that person in the eyes of others, however correct it may appear, it is not truthful. We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits: whether they provoke quarrels, foment division, encourage resignation; or, on the other hand, they promote informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialogue and fruitful results.

In other words, Pope Francis believes that intentions or motivation play an important role in determining the truth or falsehood of an accusation made against someone.

What Pope Francis is telling journalists (and all of us) in his 2018 World Day of Communications message is that both the intentions and the effects of our messaging can help us discern whether or not we are transmitting or receiving the truth. “Falsehood can always creep in,” the Holy Father says, “even when we state things that are true.” So, if our communication is factually accurate but intended to discredit another or cause harm to individuals or communities, we may well be guilty of spreading fake news. This is doubly true when the information being shared is not accurate or when it is a distortion of the truth.

Time will tell whether Pope Francis has made the right decision here—responding to serious charges of cover-up with silence and prayer. In the same homily, the pope prayed:

May the Lord give us the grace to discern when we should speak and when we should stay silent. This applies to every part of life: to work, at home, in society…. Thus we will be closer imitators of Jesus.”

May the Lord also give Pope Francis the grace to confront the scandals that are doing so much damage to our Church and lead us all to a renewed sense of what it truly means to be the one, holy and apostolic Church.