To live with charity: Pray for patience

		Notes from the  Vicar General  Msgr. Paul J. Swain

There is an American proverb: O Lord, grant me patience, but please hurry.

Patience is a virtue. We often say that to remind ourselves of our need for it, because so few of us seem to have it, myself included. This is reflected in so many ways large and small.

The swerving from lane to lane at forbidden speeds on the highways; the constant use of cell phones for instantaneous contact; the almost addictive use of the television remote control are only a few examples. We seek instant remedies for ailments, and quick fixes for losing weight or improving our looks. At elections, news people take "exit polls" so we can have the results before the votes are counted a few hours later.

Periods of silence try our patience. One of the most restive times at Mass is the few minutes between the end of communion and the closing prayer. Are we afraid to be alone with God, confused in our priorities, or simply not used to unadorned airtime?

As Pope John Paul II celebrates his 25th anniversary as pope, he moves more slowly and speaks less clearly than he did in his vibrant years. Some say he should retire so someone more vigorous can lead us. He leads us powerfully by bearing his burdens patiently and resolutely.

Bear wrongs patiently

Patience is a virtue because it is beneficial both to us and to our relationships with others. Impatience tends to be self-focused. "I know better, or I want it my way." Immediate gratification has its downside as many in marriages, business, and those disciplines that require regular practice can attest. Another proverb goes: One moment of impatience can ruin a whole life.

It is difficult to identify an instance when impatience changed a situation for the better. It usually makes matters worse. It can impose a burden on us by getting us worked up to the point of not being able to think clearly, and sometimes acting imprudently. It also imposes a barrier between us and those we must deal with, changing the subject from substance to response.

But most importantly, the lack of patience makes us unable to live out the call of Christ to charity. He urges us to love as he has loved us, sacrificially, to love our enemies, and to especially love the poor and vulnerable. Among the works of mercy are forgiveness and bearing wrongs patiently. To be patient does not endorse sin or wrong behavior.

Love is patient, kind

Impatience often leads to a lack of charity when we are unable to give another the benefit of the doubt or the time necessary for God's grace to bring them to a better way. It reduces our ability to let the Spirit move through human hearts by imposing our own timetables or approach.

When we are patient, the Spirit can also move through our hearts and we might discover a new insight or better way.

St. Paul wrote that only three things last: faith, hope, and love and that the greatest of these is love. He tells us that this love that we call charity is patient and kind, does not seek its own interests, is not quick-tempered, and bears all things. (1Cor. 13)

It is easy to caution against impatience; it is clearly difficult to overcome. We can begin by learning ourselves well enough so that when we feel the fire growing, we step back before it consumes us. Then we might pray an amended American proverb: O Lord, grant me patience, and a forgiving heart.

Reason for hope: In pro-life legislation vote

		Eye on the  Capitol  John Huebscher

Books and movies often depict progress as big steps taken in dramatic moments.

However, the actual story of our human journey forward is usually more mundane. Small steps, the importance of which is often overlooked, generally paint the more accurate picture of our moral growth and development.

The State Assembly took one such small step earlier this month with a 95-0 vote in favor of Assembly Bill 372 also known as the "Born Alive Infant Protection Act."

Equal treatment

This bill and its Senate "companion" measure SB 195 are designed to insure that all infants who are born alive, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, are treated equally and provided medical treatment. In cases where treatment is futile infants are still entitled to "comfort care."

The bill would clarify that those infants who are born alive as a result of an induced abortion retain the same rights as any other newborn to appropriate medical care.

While it is sad commentary on our society that the bill is necessary, the fact that it passed unanimously is also a sign of hope. For the passage of this legislation offers a small but important witness to the fact that persistent affirmation of the truth that all life is sacred can pay dividends.

Unanimous vote

As noted above, the vote for this bill was unanimous. At a time when the question of abortion remains hotly debated, it provides a litmus test for the confirmation of justices and the nomination of candidates, and defines by itself how many people vote in elections.

Partisans on both sides of the debate found a way to come together to say, in this situation at least, human life is sacred and worthy of legal protection.

Some may suggest this is a hollow victory, that the bill bans a practice that has not happened in Wisconsin and thus has no real effect. But this ignores the vital role of law as a teacher of that which is good, as well as an implement for punishing that which is evil.

Over time, the message taught by such laws can, if reinforced in other ways, help turn the tide of public opinion in a pro-life direction.

Sign of hope

Long ago our nation's founders took a small step toward the eradication of slavery by drafting a Constitution that banned the practice of importing slaves after the year 1808.

More recently, other Americans banned abusive child labor as a first step toward achieving broader economic justice. May we dare to hope that this effort to add a measure of legal protection to the lives of helpless infants may represent a similar step forward?

The end of slavery and the creation of a socially just workplace took time. So, too, will building a culture of life. But perhaps we can say we are one step closer because of what the Assembly did this fall.

As Associate Director Kathy Markeland argued in the Wisconsin Catholic Conference's testimony in support of AB 372, "We look to the day when all human life at all stages will be afforded the inherent rights granted by the Creator. This bill is one step to protect against the further erosion of our society's concern for our most vulnerable members."

And the hope of doing so should strengthen our resolve in this Respect Life Month of 2003.

John Huebscher is executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.

Pope John Paul II:
Great Christian witness of our time

		The Catholic  Difference  George Weigel

My favorite memory of Pope John Paul II? I must have been asked that question dozens of times in recent weeks, as the 25th anniversary of the Pope's election approaches. The answer I invariably give often surprises my journalistic friends.

When I think back on the past quarter-century and ask myself what event or image or papal address best captures the meaning of John Paul II, I don't find the answer in some of the more dramatic moments in the pontificate: his papal installation of Oct. 22, 1978, with its clarion call, "Be not afraid! Open the doors to Christ!"

I could choose that epic first pilgrimage to Poland in June 1979, nine days in which the history of the 20th century turned in a different and better direction; the showdowns with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1983 and with Chilean rioters in 1987; the World Youth Days; the two great addresses to the United Nations; the opening of the Holy Door to begin the Great Jubilee of 2000.

Rather, I think of something that took place out of the public eye.

Holy Land pilgrimage

It was Sunday, March 26, 2000, the last day of John Paul's jubilee pilgrimage to the Holy Land. A week of televised drama on the Mount of Beatitudes and in Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem was drawing to a close. That morning, the pope had prayed at the Western Wall of Herod's Temple, Judaism's holiest site, and then celebrated Mass at the tomb of Christ in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher: two highly visible, very public expressions of his faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.

It seemed to both the trip planners and the press that the only thing left for John Paul to do was to complete the formal farewell ceremonies at Ben-Gurion Airport and return to Rome.

The Pope had other ideas.

Quietly, during lunch, he asked whether he might be permitted to return to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher privately, to pray as a pilgrim. The authorities were aghast; how could security be arranged so quickly?

But things were eventually worked out, and John Paul, who had a different sort of security in mind, returned to the Basilica. Then it became clear why he had wanted to return.

Self-emptying love

That morning, he hadn't been able to pray at the 11th and 12th Stations of the Cross, which are on an upper floor of the great church. So now, a man just short of his 80th birthday, who walked with difficulty and pain, climbed the steep, stone spiral steps up to Calvary.

Having challenged the world to fearlessness - and having embodied fearlessness himself for more than two decades - he now wanted to pray at the place where the Son of God, taking all the world's fear upon himself, had offered that fear, and himself, to the Father.

That self-emptying, and the divine answer given to it in the resurrection, had enabled all of us to live without fear. That was why John Paul II was determined to pray at Calvary. He wanted to pray at the place where fear had been conquered through radical obedience and self-emptying love.

A Christian disciple

The entire pontificate comes into focus here, I think. John Paul II has been many things for the Church and the world these past 25 years: a brilliant teacher, a compelling leader, a shining personal example.

He is all of those things, however, because he is first and foremost a Christian disciple. The exceptional talents and personal magnetism of Karol Wojtyla do not explain his accomplishments, nor do they get us to the core of his person. We have to look deeper for explanations and understanding.

We have to look to his faith. You cannot understand Karol Wojtyla, whom the world knows as Pope John Paul II, without confronting one, adamant fact: he truly believes, with every fiber of his being, that Jesus Christ is the answer to the question that is every human life.

That is the conviction that makes him who and what he is. That is the conviction that drives his teaching, that makes possible his accomplishments, and that focuses his talents and his personality.

He is the great Christian witness of our time.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Chicken soup for the soul:
Finding spiritual comfort

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

The Jewish Mother is credited for the advice, "Give 'em some chicken soup!" as a cure for anything that ails us. It can be a bad cold, a broken leg, or a broken heart.

It is Jack Canfield, however, that has made millions by publishing a series of Chicken Soup for the Soul books. They are a collection of well-written stories by a variety of people who have found inspiration from some spiritual experience.

Source of comfort

His gold mine has come to exist from two sources. The first is that he doesn't pay the writers for any of the stories; they do it out of a selfless devotion to moral satisfaction. The second, and more important, is that in every human being there is a need for finding a source of comfort and hope when life looks darkest.

One of my daughters, when feeling down or sick, will ask her family, "Who loves me enough to make me some mashed potatoes and gravy?"

Another daughter, whose income was unsteady, makes a deal with God. "Lord, show me a sign if I'm going to be all right. Am I on the right track?" More often than not she will get an unexpected check in the mail or find money on the sidewalk or in a public place. It is uncanny how often she has found cash just walking down the street!

Prayer of thanks

One of my students wrote about spending her first Thanksgiving in the old farmhouse they had bought. They were trying to remodel the kitchen, but the cupboards they had ordered didn't arrive, the workers didn't show up half the time, and everything was a mess. They ate, slept, and breathed plaster dust for months, and she had to cook everything on three separate single burner hot plates in three different rooms so that they didn't blow a fuse.

Thanksgiving dinner was hot dogs and baked beans. But something wonderful happened when her family sat down to the meal and followed the tradition of each person thanking God for what they most valued.

One by one, each child mentioned the fun of being on the farm: running freely through the fields; reading by the side of the creek; being able to shout and sing out loud.

Her husband thanked God for a wife that allowed him to find his dream: a farm of his own. Those prayers truly were chicken soup for her soul!

Escape from chaos

Finding comfort in prayer is not new to most believers. When our children were small, I experienced the same thing most mothers of large families did. When the noise and chaos became too much, I found the best escape to be church.

That's how the habit of daily Mass was formed. That, however, only worked in the mornings. At other times I had to take refuge in the bathroom. But when someone kicked the bottom panel out of the bathroom door and no one was there to fix it, the youngest ones could still crawl through. Chicken soup was hard to come by in those days.

For my husband, I think our two little dogs are chicken soup. On days when sleep has escaped him and he is feeling glum and grumpy, Princess, our Sh'it szu, and Matty, our little white Maltese, can run up to him and stand before him, bouncing on their hind legs with delight at his very presence, and his frown turns into a broad smile.

Good deeds

Doing a kind deed such as volunteering to work for the poor, or visiting the sick, or comforting those who mourn (the corporal and spiritual works of mercy) can all be chicken soup for the soul.

Everyone needs some chicken soup. It's a good idea to recognize the source of our chicken soup, so we know where to look the next time we have a spiritual crisis.

So . . . What is your chicken soup?

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.

World Mission Sunday:
Learning from the Mysteries of Light

		Propagation  of the Faith  Msgr. Delbert  Schmelzer

In his World Mission Sunday message in this Year of the Rosary, Pope John Paul II repeats his wish for a "rediscovery" of the rosary.

In the rosary, we meditate on the unfolding of the mystery of salvation. The new Mysteries of Light, to which the Holy Father refers in his message, bring to mind special events in the life of Jesus, closely tied to "mission."

Baptism of Jesus

The first Mystery of Light, the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, recalls the very beginning of Jesus' ministry. The voice of God calls out from heaven that this newly baptized Jesus is his beloved Son.

Our baptism makes us sons and daughters of God; in baptism, we commence our journey of faith.

In a hospital in Hong Kong, a Chinese Sister spoke to a young cancer patient about God, our loving father, and about heaven, our eternal home. The boy took her words deeply to heart. He was an orphan, he told her: "I never had a father; I never had a home." Baptized, the boy made the now-very-short journey to God clothed in Christ because a Sister had shared with him the fruits of her own baptism.

Quiet miracles

The second Mystery of Light, the Self-Manifestation of Our Lord at the Wedding of Cana, calls to mind Jesus' first miracle, changing water into wine. At the urging of his mother, Jesus provided the best of wines for the wedding feast. The disciples who witnessed this sign began to believe in him. (It was a quiet miracle, for an ordinary need. What ordinary needs can we address?)

Mother Teresa tells of bringing rice to a hungry family. The next day she discovered what should have been a few days' food was gone. It seems that a neighboring family had no food either, so the first family shared what Mother had brought them. The neighbors, of a different faith, were witnesses to Christian love.

Proclaim the Kingdom

The third Mystery of Light, the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God with the Call to Conversion, sums up the missionary work of the church. All who are baptized have this vocation: to proclaim the Kingdom, to build the Kingdom, to call all people to "turn around" from walking their own way and walk with Christ to the Father.

In East Africa, a Catholic family heard of a village far from their own where the people had never heard of Christ. In prayer, and in love, they decided to move to the distant village so that day by day they could tell the people what it means to be a follower of Christ, and show them what it means.

Glimpse glory of Christ

The Fourth Mystery, the Transfiguration, speaks of Jesus' radiant appearance as he communed in prayer with his Father. The three apostles with him saw him in glory.

To catch even a glimpse of the glory that awaits us in Christ is a gift beyond compare for millions of people whose lives are a daily struggle. Such a glimpse was caught in Liberia, West Africa. When people by the hundreds fled from their homes in the midst of civil war, their pastor said, "They left all of their belongings behind, but they brought with them one valuable possession - their faith."

Continue his mission

The final Mystery of Light, the Institution of the Eucharist, is one with which we are very familiar. At the time of the Eucharistic Congress in 2000, Pope John Paul II termed the Eucharist a "missionary sacrament . . . the most effective missionary act that the church can perform . . ."

World Mission Sunday, celebrated each year in the context of the Mass, reminds us that we who eat Christ's Body and drink his Blood are sent to continue his mission to the world. "Holiness and mission are inseparable aspects of the vocation of every baptized person," Pope John Paul II says in his World Mission Sunday message. "Supported by Mary, we will not hesitate to devote ourselves generously to taking the proclamation of the Good News to the ends of the earth."

Prayer and offerings through the Propagation of the Faith on World Mission Sunday are more than words and gifts. They are changed into life and hope for millions of people we will never know. They are changed into more abundant life and hope and faith - for us as well.

Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer is director of the Propagation of the Faith for the Diocese of Madison. Contributions to the Propagation of the Faith may be made at the parish or may be sent to: P.O. Box 44983, Madison, WI 53744-4983.