Author: Odon De Castro

Pope Benedict mentioned Agape; then Eros and there is Egoism. Agape is Love of God attained when the intellect climbs up from the knowledge of man within the family, then to knowledge of the Church as a family and finally up to God as a Trinity. Since in that climb by the intellect the will goes inseparably with it, the will falls in love with the beauty of God and with God. Then both the mind and the will go down to the knowledge and love of the Church as a family and further down to the family. The person, now, knows and loves the Church and knows and loves the family. Note that the rise to God is done by the intellect. When the intellect reaches God, it is joined by the will by loving God. Then the love of God spills down to the neighbors; first to the Church and then to the rests of men.

The second love is Eros. Eros is natural love. It is naturally good and usually exist in the love of parents for children and love between husband and wife. It is commonly found in friendship. Natural self-love is good. However the existence of Eros is short lived due to the fallen nature of man. Because of this Eros has to be elevated to Agape immediately, otherwise it deteriorates to egoism. So marital love immediately descends to treating each other as objects; and parents-children relationship deteriorates into using the children as entertainments. Even friendship between two persons begins as Eros. And it immediately turns into fornication even before they get married. It deteriorates that fast. Usually in one date.

Egoism is love of self in its most selfish and vicious kind. It is from this that all evils come out of the mouth; and makes a man unclean . For from this come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. All the evils in the world come from these.
Same sex-marriage, pedophile, abortion, euthanasia, family planning, etc. are all evils because they all came from here. The whole world is wallowing in egoism. It has taken away from the world the reason for its existence.

While it is easy for Eros to climb up to Agape, it is almost impossible for egoism to climb up to Eros or Agape. Violent procedures are needed. So the Gospels used violent words in presenting the cure: “To die to oneself,” “To hate oneself.” Egoism is a cruel prison that does not easily give up its prey. And yet our present way of life and ways of the world hurls all souls into this dungeon. This is the dungeon of one’s own free will that had closed itself to God and directed all its love to self.

Christian Asceticism or monasticism is the only known way to free oneself from the imprisonment of egoism. But sadly, most monasteries today, having toned down their way of life has been unable to do so. Only the truth of humility, working through renunciation to the point of self-contempt and hating one’s life can rid us of egoism. This is why St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Ignatius and most of the saints had given due attention to this virtue that accompanies Faith, Hope and Charity.

1. Charity is Christian Perfection. And to reach it we have to pass two stages; the beginner’s stage and the proficient’s stage.

2. Christ said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” The commands of Christ may be divided into two groups. One group that direct us towards Charity and the other which commands us to remove everything that are obstacles to Charity.

3. There are certain things in life that can hinder our growth towards Charity but are not really obstacles. Like properties, human affections and, sometimes, doing our own will. These should be governed by the so-called Evangelical Counsels. Otherwise, if misused, they can be detrimental. This is something we must all realize that all Christians are bound to observe the spirit of the Evangelical Counsels if we must remove those small hindrances to Charity. The Counsels are not exclusively for the use of religious. Without the aid of the Counsels it would be impossible for anyone to reach Charity.

4. The sign that one has reached the beginnings of Charity, thus the beginnings of Christian Perfection is the absence of mortal sin because Charity and mortal sin cannot exist together. They are contradictory.

5. But even within Charity, there are still three stages. The Charity of the beginners, the Charity of the Proficient and the Charity of the Perfect. The Charity of the beginners is when one is free from mortal sin; the Charity of the Proficient is when a soul is further purified from any defect in the senses (commonly called the dark night of the senses) and the last stage, the Charity of the Perfect wherewith the soul is further purified in spirit (commonly called the dark night of the spirit). A description of these last two may be seen in the life of St. Therese of Lisieux during her last years.

6. These stages on how to attain Charity might appear daunting at first sight. For those who have kept the innocence of childhood, like St. Therese, it would be easy. But for those who have “grown up” it would be a “narrow road” because they have to become children again and then, tread the path to Charity.

7. It is only when we reach Charity that we are united with God, and worthy to receive the Holy Spirit thus becoming the temple of the Holy Spirit.

8. In the light of Deus Caritas Est, we can find out how we stand before God and, as a consequence, find out our chances of salvation. (Painting is “The hospitality of Saint Julian” by Cristofano Allori.)

1. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” This is Charity, or the Love of God: to keep the commandments…. of Christ. To have Charity, we must find out those commandments and how exactly the Lord would want us to observe them; and then obey them as the Lord says in His Apostolic Commission. Learning what those commandments are and how to observe them …AND obeying them is a lifetime work.

2. While the first part of the Encyclical described how love for God is to be shown: “If you love Me keep My commandments,” the second part discussed how some of those commandments are to be observed. We are not at liberty to observe Christ’s commands in any way we want. We cannot feed the hungry in just any way. We have to feed them the way Christ fed them.

3. The second part of the Encyclical also explains how obedience to the commands of Christ shows one’s love of neighbor. The Apostles showed their love of neighbor when they taught the people the commandment to love God as the Lord has commanded them. Many acts or commands that prove one’s love of God are directed towards neighbor. Thus, love of neighbor is love of God

4. This is how the Church continues to exist in those who love God first and then love their neighbor. We are the neighbor of today who is tasked to love God now and hopefully spill that love of God to our neighbors.

5. But with the way our present time was described by the prophets, “their love will wax cold,” true lovers of God will be few, and also, as a consequence, lovers of neighbor. The world has forgotten its reason for existing. (Painting is “The Charity of St. Catherine of Sienna.”)

1. This is the essence of the Catholic Religion.
Pope Benedicts XVI’s encyclical is out. He goes into the basic and all-embracing topic of Charity. This is the very essence of Christianity and explains everything else therein. What is refreshing is that the Pope just confirmed that the Apostles, the Fathers of the Church, and St. Therese of the Child Jesus were right all the time. What is bewildering is that some have reacted in awe as if this was the first time they heard of it. G.K. Chesterton noted that Catholicism is a vibrant youth that is always new.

2. Pope Benedict did not write about other topics because this encyclical explains it all.
In the early pagan times slavery was the rule. Christianity told the masters and slaves to love one another and slavery was abolished. The employers and employees were told to love one another and the socio-economic system improved. Husbands and wives were exhorted to love one another and there was no divorce or separation. Parents and children were taught how to love one another and there was no abortion and children were raised up well. Civil leaders and citizens were told to love one another and there was civil peace and liberty. The rich and the poor were told to love one another and no one was hungry. Neighbors were told to love one another and there was no war. I can go on and on. Obviously love can solve all problems and could have turned earth into paradise. After this encyclical, if the world gets this right, the Pope does not have to write another encyclical.

Charity is the main topic. Everything else in Catholicism is sub or sub-sub topics that must be anchored on Charity otherwise they could get lost in the deeps. But seeing how some are already misinterpreting the Encyclical, the Pope might just have to write 20 more.

3. The Holy Father emphasized the need to obey the commands to love God and to love one’s neighbor, and these two can never be separated as Christ said the second is just like the first. The first must be love of God and the second is love of neighbor, which must be an overflowing of the first. Love of neighbor cannot exist alone. We must aim at love of God. Love of neighbor will be a natural off-shoot that the first love will overseer.

4. The Pope warned us of the disastrous effects of separating love of neighbor from love of God. Love of neighbor alone is disastrous and the Encyclical noted Julian the Apostate who tried to imitate the love of neighbor of the Christians but without the love for God. He tried to combine love of neighbor with paganism. Today, the world has set aside God — and we have returned to paganism…

5. When love of God and neighbor go hand in hand, those around experience the presence of God because they see the love of God in the love of neighbor. Errors are removed, truth becomes evident, and conversions take place in attraction to the God behind the love of neighbor.

6. How is it that with all the aids given by Europe and the US to nations in crisis and in the throes of tragedies, removal of errors and the discovery of truth do not happen? Because their act of helping one’s neighbor is not accompanied by love of God. This is a secret which only the Catholic Church has, but which even many Catholics do not know.
Absence of the love of God, instead, encourages abuse, ingratitude, corruption and hatred of donors. On the part of the donors it causes donors’ fatigue.

As the Holy Father says in his encyclical, the gift should be a source of humility for the giver but not a source of humiliation for the receiver. This is done if the giver gives of himself in the gift — by loving his neighbor out of his love for God.

7. In the second part of the Encyclical the Pope enumerates some common works of charity, constantly reminding us that the soul of such works is the love of God. Catholics should cooperate with civil authorities and other groups to be able to instill in their works the true soul of charitable endeavors, the love of God.

The Pope emphasized how to do good works in detail. Many good works of Catholics are not done properly. Thus the receiver feels humiliated and insulted. And they do not feel the presence of God.

8. In his Encyclical, the Pope did not include “how to attain love of God.” This is a detail reserved to mystical theology. I wouldn’t want to go into detail and spoil the Pope’s encyclical by recalling that the way to reach love of God is through the purgative, illuminative and unitive way, a narrow road that few Catholics tread.

In Scriptures, some truths are known and some are hidden. The Encyclical is the same; it shows us, as it were, the address of where we should go, but not the way. The Pope leaves it to the true seeker to find this address by a certain way of life.

9. Then the Holy Father showed his traditional knowledge by reminding us that this was the way the first monastic communities did things. This is no secret. It was the way St. Benedict and his monks did it. The Encyclical mentions two great monastic figures, St. Martin of Tours and St. Anthony the Hermit. Charity was learned in monasteries that were referred to as “the school of the Lord’s service.”

The love of God always overflows into obedience to God’s will. Sometimes God’s will is for a saint to take care of the sick, the cripple, and the orphan like St. Vincent the Paul. At other times, according to the needs of the Church (and not necessarily the need of the age) God wants pure contemplatives, like St. Therese ……like the Blessed Virgin Mary.

1. The knowledge of religion is infused.
The Catholic Religion being a revealed religion cannot be learned in an ordinary way. It must be revealed to a soul through infused knowledge. It is no wonder that very few, indeed, have a knowledge of the Catholic Religion.

2. St.Benedict’s way.
St Benedict has laid down the steps necessary for one to receive this knowledge in a simple way in his monastic “school of the Lord’s service. ” The first is Fuga Mundo. The next is humility.
The first step is “Flee the world;” the next is growth in humility or poverty in spirit. That’s just about it. While growing in humility (St. Benedict enumerates 12 degrees while St. Gregory enumerates 7), God gives the soul Faith, Hope and Charity. Even in Faith God reveals certain supernatural truths and reveals more and deeper truths as a soul goes into Hope and Charity. Saints usually use Scriptures, the writings of the Fathers and doctors of the Church to check and verbalize the truths they have learned directly from God.

3. Another way.
Another way to attain this knowledge is by searching. Searching for what? Truth. One is confronted by a truth that he cannot understand. So he ponders upon it until such time that God reveals the truth to him. Mary pondered things in her heart. Though she had infused knowledge, (she knew many things not known by the rest of Israel,) like the Messiah was to be born of a virgin), she had to ponder things in her heart, faced by the prophecy of Simeon.

4. Therese received it the first way.
St. Therese, as a child, had this knowledge even while yet living in her father’s house. As a nun, she merely used Scriptures, the Following of Christ and John of the Cross to confirm and verbalize what she already knew ….by her humility: Hers was a continuous effort to do God’s will and deny her own will. This is the above mentioned monastic way of attaining infused knowledge. St. Therese received this knowledge as a child.

5. The second way is more difficult.
If I have not received these truths through revelation and I find myself faced with these truths that are beyond my natural comprehension what should I do? I must humbly accept that these are beyond my capability, pray humbly for understanding and patiently ponder them in my heart. Either way a soul may attain to supernatural truths.

6. Pride of life prevents learning.
The Church is faced today with Catholics who either cannot understand or cannot accept her truths. Why? Either because God has not yet revealed these to them or, faced with these truths beyond natural comprehension, they meet it with pride. The reason for both is pride.

7. Remaining children and becoming like children again.
Like St. Therese, it is easy to be a recipient of this infused knowledge if one remains as a child. If we have lost our childhood, then we should become like children again. To do so is to be humble in heart or poor in spirit. He is humble who looks at an awesome truth and remains silent, withholding judgment while pondering things in his heart. He is conscious in his heart that he does not possess all knowledge and is probably faced with a truth that is beyond his comprehension. He knows there is a limit to human or natural reasoning wherewith he cannot go beyond its limits. He knows there are truths that are within the realm of the supernatural, all beyond the limits of his mind. And there is nothing he can do except wait humbly for the mercy of God who in His own time may decide to reveal this knowledge or wisdom to him.

8. A proud man.
A proud man who stands before these truths will be annoyed by his inability to understand. And his impatience will be his biggest obstacle to understanding. God never reveals His truths to the proud and impatient. He gives this knowledge to the humble, especially to children. Proud and unable to understand, he will set the truth aside or misinterpret it. This is what is happens when a proud man reads the writings of Pope Benedict XVI. Unable to understand his mind they are in danger of misinterpreting his ideas.

9. Stand in Awe.
No, everyone must have a moment of silence before profound truths. Stand in awe and recognize your nothingness before the majesty of the Divine Truths. Ponder things in your heart humbly. And maybe He will have mercy on you and reveal the truth to you.

In fact, all the truths of the Catholic Religion must be handled this way. It needs abundant patience to stand in awe, to ponder and to understand.

1. Building the Church.
Let’s say I want to establish the Church somewhere. How do I go about it? It could be building the Church out of a community of unbelievers or re-evangelizing a flagging community of believers.

2. How listeners learn the Faith.
Let us keep in mind that a soul can only learn from the Catholic Church as its teacher, and as a learner who is a part of a community that makes up the Catholic Church. “Faith lives in the WE, (that is the Church) or else it is not alive,” Pope Benedict stated in “The Yes of Jesus Christ.” We cannot “build our personal faith in a private dialogue with Jesus.” For Faith to be alive it must live in the ‘we,’ the Christian community. This cannot be accomplished instantaneously in souls. It could take a life time.

3. What should they learn?
From the Apostolic Commission, they must learn all the commandments of Christ and how to obey them. The Church, as a community, teaches us those commandments and how to obey them and we must learn them within the community, the Church.

4. Another way of saying it.
Putting it another way: the Evangelical Life is the fulfillment of the Beatitudes. How long does it take to teach a soul to be “pure in heart?” Usually a life time. Then when will you teach the next Beatitude? When you teach the first Beatitude to the next soul, the first soul is beginning to forget it, in which case he must be reminded.

5. See how long it takes.
If this is done to an entire Diocese, considering what must be done and the time it takes to do it, there is no way of attaining this goal of establishing the Church anytime soon. I can almost imagine how St. Augustine did it in England and St. Boniface in Germany. They went as a community, teaching crowds as a community, and then teaching each soul who responds to the grace of conversion within the community, the Church.

Initially each member of the community must strive towards charity. It is only by doing so that they will receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit that will enable the community to reach charity. And only after that can the community, fortified with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, lead other souls towards Charity, thus uniting that soul to the same community, the Church. The community needs the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit to attain the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity that leads to salvation and a fortiori perfection. The same gifts are needed by the community to lead souls in the acquisition of the infused knowledge of the divine mysteries. This is what will enable them to explain the truths to their listeners and guide souls to the heights of charity.

Now, in most Catholic Church communities, whether laymen or religious these gifts are not evident. No wonder they cannot reach Christian perfection or charity. They have not reached a level of spirituality wherewith they become deserving to receive the gifts, thus unable to reach Christian perfection.

6. Too large to start with.
A Diocese is a crowd too large to handle. Just teaching the commands of Christ and how to obey them can take a lifetime. How much more to actually obey those commands. A Parish is, also, too large.

7. One by one.
After talking to a crowd, Christ had to attend to His followers one by one. To build the mystical body of Christ, we have to attend to each soul and guide it to union with Christ as a branch is united to the vine. Usually you cannot get a group and unite them to Christ instantly. It is often a singular and personal effort: one by one. This is difficult even within a family. It is evident among converts, evidently a one to one relationship.

It is only possible in a family or group that has become one heart and one mind moved by God and has responded to the first call of conversion (commonly referred to as the purgative state.) A small community, bent on living the fullness of the Gospel freely, without pressure or threat. A group that is serious in following Christ.

Only within such communities can Christ teach us and within where we can learn the ways of God. And it is only in this community can a soul come in contact with Christ. It is only here where the Church can be experienced and thus a place of access to fellowship with Jesus. Outside such communities the Church becomes abstract and unreal, Pope Benedict XVI wrote.

The Oneness, Holiness, Catholicity and Apostolicity of the Church can be viewed only in such small communities. Then they become fruitful having become the Church, the place where faith is born and the place of rebirth into the truth. ( Painting is “Saint Benedict and community” by Luis Morales, 1509-1586)

1. Strong rumors have it that the first encyclical of Pope Benedict is on Charity. Well, what else should we expect? Charity is the ultimate goal of the Catholic Religion. Christ summarized His teachings simply into Love of God and Love of neighbor. It is why Christ came and died for us. It is what makes up the Mystical Body of Christ. It is the heart of Theology. It is the only Way, Truth and Life. It is the goal of Christian perfection. It is the only thing Jesus requires of us.

2. Charity, unlike other subjects, is not learned from lectures, books, theology, and seminars. Charity, like everything else in the Catholic Religion is learned in a very unique way. All other ways of learning charity leads to confusion if not heresies.

3. The apostles and the early Christians knew this way of learning. In our days, St. Therese reminds us how. “Not a single book and no theology guided me.” The knowledge of Charity is an infused knowledge. It is a vision. It is a mystical experience of the face of Christ. It is a knowledge kept from the worldly wise and given to mere children. To Children! Yes, that’s why Christ required that we become like little children. There is no other way. Christian Spirituality is nothing else but a process of becoming children again. Whether it is Benedictine, Dominican or Carmelite spirituality, the goal is to become like children again; to be more precise, to regain the humility of children.

4. This is primitive Christian spirituality of denying oneself: taking up one’s cross and dying with Christ in order to resurrect with Him into a new birth. It is the traditional teaching on mortifications, daily dying to oneself, little by little, by giving up one’s will.

5. Since the entire Catholic religion is an integral part of Charity, no part of this religion can be understood apart from this vision seen from the eyes of a humble child.

6. Study our religion with the slightest pride and you’ll understand nothing. Depending on the degree of your humility, you will understand accordingly. In fact, if one reaches the perfection of humility, which is described by St. Benedict and St. Bernard as the 12th degree of humility or the 7th degree as enumerated by St. Gregory, you will find yourself face to face with Christ in Charity.

7. Pride! What a word. It brings up the image of Satan himself. And the world today is ruled with the pride of life. How can they learn the truths of our religion? Impossible! This is the reason why so many cannot understand the simpler teachings of Pope Benedict XVI. A recent example is the clarification that unbaptized babies go straight to Heaven. Nothing could be simpler and clearer and yet I am amazed at the contrary reaction. How can they expect to understand Charity which is the perfection of Christian Life?

8. Pope Benedict goes directly to Charity because he wants to demolish all religious pretenses. Love, Himself, has said: “I came to divide…. I came to bring fire….to burn away all stubbles….” And the Pope intends to fan this fire into a conflagration. He plans to whip the undeserving out of God’s Church. He is aggressive. He loves war. (Painting is “St. Frances of Rome giving alms,” by Baciccio, 1675.)

Much has been written on Liturgical abuses. Some were small things that could make the Mass illicit but not invalid. Some are serious enough to invalidate the Mass. I would like to put my attention on one serious neglect that could invalidate the Mass. This is the Intention.

The Sacraments are the Church’s main instruments in the sanctification of souls. For them to benefit all concerned, the Sacraments must be administered properly: Matter and Form must be strictly observed; and … THE MINISTER MUST HAVE THE RIGHT INTENTION. Since seldom is there problem with regard to Matter and Form I will forego discussing these. The problem often lies in the intention.

In Theology, we were taught that if someone asks for Baptism with the wrong intention, say, to be baptized a Catholic in order to win a nice girl in marriage, that wrong intention could invalidate the Sacrament. We must have the right intention — to have faith, for we are asked: “What do you ask of the Church?” And we answer: “Faith.”

The Priest must also have the right intention when it comes to celebrating the Sacrifice of the Mass. Just as in Baptism, the great spiritual effects take place in the soul because of the power given by Christ to the Matter, Form and Intention. If one does not conform to Christ’s instruction there will be no sacrament.

In the Sacrifice of the Mass, there is usually little problem with the Matter and Form, being wheat bread and grape wine. The problem is usually in the Intention.

The Sacrifice of the Mass is first and foremost an act of Sacrifice. It is supposed to commemorate the Sacrifice of Christ, “Do this in commemoration of Me.” And the sacrifice of Christ took place at the moment when He died on the Cross.

We can say that the life of Christ may be divided into three stages. The first is when His Body and Blood were united when He was alive. That would be from the time He was born of the Blessed Virgin until His death on the cross. The second is when He died described as when there was a separation between His Body and Blood. This was just for a moment. And the third is when He resurrected from the dead. Here His Body and Blood were united to each other, glorified and united to His Divinity. This is from His Resurrection to all eternity.

The Sacrifice is not commemorating His life from His birth to His Passion. The Sacrifice of the Mass, specially the Consecration, is commemorating that brief moment in Christ’s life when His Body was separated from His Blood; the time He was dead. Of course, His Body was always united to His Divinity, just as with His Blood. But the Sacramental commemoration is that moment the Blood was separated from his Body. When the priest reaches the consecration, his intention must be to commemorate that brief moment. It is the Matter, Form and this Intention which Christ empowered to transform the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. If one element, like the Intention, is defective, then Transubstantiation does not take place; there is no Consecration, no Mass. A defective Intention is when the priest is recalling or commemorating the Nativity or Easter during Consecration. That would be a defective Intention. At the moment of Consecration, he must know that he is commemorating that brief moment in the life of Christ when His Blood was separated from His Body, when He was dead. He is commemorating the incident in a sacramental manner; it is the Intention through which the power comes to transform the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

There is a rule that says that virtual intention is sufficient; meaning to say, from the time the priest is ordained he may say, this is my intention every time I say Mass in the future. And that would be enough. But a priest could make a thousand intentions before he says mass. Would that not interfere and nullify his virtual intention? What if he says tomorrow I will not say mass? Then he changes his mind and says Mass. Does that not nullify his previous virtual intention? So many things could happen, which theologians are uncertain that could invalidate the mass. Why not play safe? Whenever a priest says Mass he must make the proper intention, to commemorate that brief moment in the life of Christ, as he goes into the consecration. A lot of parts in the mass and the prayers while vesting in the Sacristy should remind him of this. But with the countless stimuli that bombard him before consecration, there is still the possibility that he might forget to make the proper intention before the consecration…. in which case, we have no Mass.

“In Mary…we meet the essence of the Church.” Mary is the mother of the Church and the first daughter of the Church — the mother and the virgin daughter.

The Immaculate Conception is a type of the Church, for to be truly “Church” it must be immaculate and conceived “not by the will of man but by the will of God.”

The Immaculate Conception gives birth to Christ. Immediately we are reminded that the motherhood of Mary is the motherhood of the Church: that Christ may be born in souls that make up the mystical Body of Christ.

Indeed, Mary and the mystery of the Church are inseparable just as she and Christ are.

We see it clearly that when the Apostles were alive the Church was apostolic, besides being One, Holy and Catholic. But after Pentecost, the Church, remaining One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, became Marian.

This is not a new mark or new characteristic of the Church. It is just a summary of the four traditional marks of the Church. It is just a new type prophesied at the beginning of Genesis, with reference to the eternal battle that will exist between the devil and his cohorts and the woman and her offsprings. This also will be prophesied later on in the Apocalypse by St. John, when he presented this type of the Church as “the woman clothed with the sun.”

Mary, as the type of the Church, represents this. She is mother of Christ. But Christ, today, exists in His mystical Body the Church and, therefore, she is mother of the Church. But the Church, the future bride of Christ, the Bridegroom, must be a virgin. And Who is the worthiest of virgins in Christ’s Mystical Body, but Mary? Here is where Mary becomes Mother and Virgin daughter at the same time. As mother of the Mystical Body, Mary’s role in heaven is to help form the mystical Body of Christ, the Church, seeing to it that the members of the Mystical Body are, primarily, spiritual virgins and if possible also, though not necessarily, physical virgins.

With Mary representing both the Mother of the Church and the worthiest virgin member of the Church, it would be just right for us to describe the Church of the Apocalyptic times as Marian. And St. John did not hesitate to describe the Church as “The Woman.”

For each individual, the message is clear. To belong to this Church, your life must be like Mary. Your life must be withdrawn from the world, silent, working on what is essential for existence, mindful of God and being His handmaid. Of course, the Gospels had already described this life and further explained by the Fathers of the Church. But how many Catholics can envision this way of life in an entire and unified way? Much more put it into practice?

Doesn’t that life bear the description of monastic life, a life primarily meant for lay people?
(Painting above is “Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari,” by Titian, 1490-1576.)

When we celebrate Christmas we are commemorating the three nativities of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason for the three Masses celebrated on this day. The first is the eternal begetting of God the Son from all eternity within the mystery of the Blessed Trinity by the Father, “You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.” This first nativity was before the seven days of Creation, when everything was darkness. This is why the first mass is at midnight to recall the darkness that prevailed during that first eternal birth of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

The second nativity, or birth, of the Second Person of the Trinity is commemorated on Christmas day when He became man, born of the Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem. For the world, the darkness was beginning to be dispelled. This is why the second mass is celebrated at dawn when the dawn is beginning to dispel the darkness.

The third nativity of Christ is when He is born in our souls, through His in-dwelling, when man, through grace, becomes enlightened. Thus the third Mass is celebrated during the day when the sun is bright. For man is truly enlightened when He has Christ in his soul.

The first nativity reminds us of the Spirit of poverty, the Spirit that tells us that all the things God created is His, to be used for His glory and not for man’s enjoyment. Even man was to use himself for the glory of God. This represents the six days of creation. If Adam, being the head of creation, had observed the spirit of poverty and used all of creation for the glory of God, then he would have entered into the Sabbath, God’s rest… i.e. eternal happiness. But Adam messed up everything. And the consequence: the whole of mankind could not enter God’s rest.

The second nativity reminds us of the Spirit of chastity. That Spirit reminds us to give up all physical comforts, pleasure and conveniences. And Christ in the manger is a clear example of this. It is a continuous reminder that true happiness can only be found in God and that we are on earth to seek God. All the rest will come with that find. True rest can only be found in God.

The third nativity reminds us of the Spirit of obedience. It is only when we can say, “Not my will but Your will be done,” can Christ be born in our souls. The apostolic commission at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel reiterates this, reminding us of the role of the Church and the men of the Church : “… teach all My commands and how to observe them.”

Christmas reminds us of one lesson. Christ was born to die. For us the message is clear. We are born to die to oneself. And to die to oneself means reaching a point in our lives when we no longer do our own will but the will of the Father in heaven. This is to lose one’s life in order to find it. If we have learned the lessons of the first nativity, if we have learned the lesson of the second nativity, our reward is the third nativity, when Christ is born in our souls….indeed our eternal Christmas. This is truly a Merry Christmas. (Painting is “Adoration of the Child,” Ales Gallery, Hluboka Castle, Czech Republic.)