Bishop Blair Writes

“Back to the basics” is a cry often heard as a remedy to the ills that beset educational achievement among young people. Higher education and technological skills are not possible if a person cannot read, write or do simple arithmetic.

Many in the church too lament the fact that Catholics today no longer know the basics of their faith. It is my experience that even Catholics who are otherwise highly educated are all too often either ignorant or poorly informed about fundamental Catholic teaching and practice embodied in the four “pillars” of the catechism: the creed, sacraments, morality and prayer. As Jesus warns, when a house is not built on rock, as soon as a storm comes with strong wind and rain, that house collapses. There is no lack of non-practicing, alienated, dissenting and fallen-away Catholics, many of whom were not solidly grounded in the faith and were swept away at a moment of trial, doubt or temptation.

It is easy to assign blame for this situation. Suffice to say that the upheavals over the last 40 years, not just in the church but also in society at large, have certainly played their part. In a way particular to our times, God is permitting the church as a whole, and each one of us, to be put to a great test, exactly as the parables of Jesus describe. Think for a moment of the sower (Mt 13; Mk 4; Lk 8), the net (Mt 13), the wedding banquet (Mt 22; Lk 14), the talents (Mt 25; Lk 19), the ten virgins (Mt 25), the children who play (Mt 11; Lk 7), and the sterile fig tree (Lk 13).

As the Second Vatican Council teaches, “every person is bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and His church, and to embrace it and hold on to it as they come to know it.” (Dignitatis humanae 1) When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we cannot simply blame others for any ignorance that sidetracked or misled us in this life.

Whatever the failings of others — institutionally and individually — the fact is that resources abound as never before to help us fulfill our obligation to “seek, embrace and hold on to the truth about God and His church.” I am thinking of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium, as well as the recently published United States Catholic Catechism for Adults. All of these are widely available. Extensive resources are also available from the Internet, television and many Catholic publishing houses and catechetical centers, as well as from our parishes and from the diocese.

However, all these excellent resources are limited if they are not part of a lived experience. By that I mean that there is no replacement for family and home life, and parish life too, as cradles of knowledge and practice of the faith.

Recently a young mother asked me how parents should teach the faith to their children at home. My answer is devotional life, which can be defined as “that prayerful and affective dedication that makes believers deeply responsive to God and His will.” It is not a matter of knowledge alone, but “dedication” to God and His will, “embracing and holding on” to one’s Catholic Faith. It is a knowledge steeped in prayer and affection, touching the heart and soul as well as the mind, shaping one’s very identity and not just one’s intellect. True devotion bridges heaven and earth. It makes us realize that God is personally near to us in Christ, and that His church is not just an earthly institution but a spiritual communion that transcends time and space.

As a way of life, devotion can take many forms, as St. Francis de Sales explains in his great spiritual classic, the “Introduction to the Devout Life.” Then too, there are various devotional practices, which are meant to strengthen faith.

When I was pastor of a parish before coming to Toledo, I was impressed at the positive response of young parents to a devotion known as the “Enthronement of the Sacred Heart.” This involves the whole family gathering together to dedicate a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a prominent place in their home as an ongoing focus of daily life and prayer. I believe that every Catholic home should have a crucifix, religious statue or painting prominently displayed as a reminder and incentive to greater faith, hope and love on the part of all who live there.

Other devotions are well known; for example, to the Divine Mercy; to Our Lady under various titles, and especially by praying the Rosary; to St. Joseph and so many other saints; to the holy angels. Devotional life, as many of us know from experience, has a powerful effect on children, and on all those who have the heart of a child, as Jesus told us we must if we are to enter the kingdom of God.

Later this month we begin the season of Lent. As always, we need to discipline ourselves by self-denial and to be more self-sacrificing by sharing what we have. Lent also challenges us in other ways to raise our faith to a higher level of knowledge and devotion. In that spirit, I invite you to spend some significant time this Lent in learning more about your Catholic faith using the resources I mentioned above, and to rediscover or reinvigorate devotional life within your home, especially if you have children. Heaven is the “land of the living,” and if you invite Our Lord, His Mother and the saints and angels into your home, this cannot fail to have a blessed effect.

+MOST REVEREND LEONARD P. BLAIR
  BISHOP OF TOLEDO