Eyes to See

Another Padre Vaillant quote from Death Comes to the Archbishop: "One might almost say that an apparition is human vision corrected by divine love."

He was speaking about the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  But it would be true of anything.  The eyes of Faith have us see differently, especially people.  Ordinary people become special when see through the eyes of Faith.  In fact,  Bishop Latour explains

deeper, "I do not see you as you really are, Joseph (Padre Vaillant); I see you through my affection for you.  The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always."

Amen to that.

Doctrine versus Miracle

Padre Vaillant comes out with some good ones:

Doctrine is well enough for the wise, Jean; but the miracle is something we can hold in our hands and love.

Father Joseph Vaillant in Willa Cather's Death Comes to the Archbishop is talking about the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Jean is the bishop.  I think this quote is a meditation.  I changed it to suit my thoughts and feelings: "Doctrine is well enough for the scholarly, but the miracle is something to hold in your heart."  

Nothing is New

It's nothing new that we're all connected.  We drive cars and wear clothes made by people who live on the other side of the world.  Our food comes from all over.

But this is nothing new.  I'm reading Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather and it mentions that the Bishop woke to the sound of the Angelus bells.  These bells came from Spain. They were crafted by Spanish silversmiths who learned their trade from the Moors.  The bells were made to be sent to a church in Mexico and ended up in New Mexico.

The bell's inscription date was 1356!

A Priest's Day

Here is the book review I promised on Monday, for Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather.  She really gets into the nitty-gritty and better, the soul, of a priest.  It's hard to believe that she isn't Catholic.  How could she write so emphatically about the life of Jean Marie Latour, the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico?

Her story starts at the Bishops' arrival in America.  It ends at his deathbed.  In between, we meet all walks of life, all religions, all the blessings and hardships.  The physical landscape of the country is described to contrast and sometimes to explain the land's inhabitants.  The difficulties of a mission are insurmountable but a start has to begin.  Even the priest's innermost feelings of loneliness, despair, hopes, etc. are described.

I recommend this book to all.  Much of the duties and liturgical ceremonies are still in practice, so it's not outdated.   Good read.

It's the Culture

What's the difference between then and now?  Most think technological differences, but I contend it's cultural differences.  And there lies the devil.

I am reading or rereading (I can't believe I haven't read this before.) Willa Cather's Death Comes for The Archbishop.  I find the life of our early Catholic missionaries fascinating, heroic and inspiring.e

The Archbishop asks her friend, his classmate, his best priest, to be his vicar.  He wanted Father Vaillant to help him administer to the diocese.  Father Vaillant argued against this proposal, vehemently.  He wanted to "hunt for lost Catholics."

...I want to go from house to house...They are full of devotion and faith and it has nothing to feed upon but the most mistaken superstitions.  They remember their prayers wrong...They are like seeds, full of germination but with no moisture...

I am not writing a book review, now, because I'm only halfway through the book.  But how the character, Father Vaillant describes his people reminded me of people today.  They don't remember right.  They have nothing to feed upon BUT it's by choice, not circumstances.  Today's Catholics don't want devotions; they choice to distance itself from religion.  What's the difference?

Both people are starved for faith, but today's people choose not to partake of the feast set before them.