Christianity
**Faith & Culture**

Joseph Pearce, Editor of Faith & Culture magazine, has weekly interviews with well-known Catholic authors, speakers, and academics on a variety of topics related to Catholicism.

Latest Episodes:

Mark 8:34–35 with St. John Paul II Apr 24, 2020

Show notes

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.’”

In Mark 8, Jesus delivers the first of three predictions of his passion, death, and resurrection found in the Gospel (Mk. 8:31). Upon hearing this, Peter rebukes the Lord. Jesus immediately chastises Peter and commands him to “get behind” him. With these seemingly harsh words Jesus echoes his initial invitation for Simon Peter to follow him, to “get behind” him as his disciple (cf. Mk. 1:17). For the disciple is called to follow the Master closely; this is where one learns the Christian life. The Lord makes it clear that being his disciple entails doing what he does, not telling him what to do. Jesus tells those gathered around him—apostles, disciples, and the crowd—that each and every one of his followers is called to take up the cross and follow him. Pope St. John Paul II, in a Wednesday audience, acknowledges that with these words “Christ proposes a narrow way that demands sacrifice and total self-giving.” It remains clear as the gospel unfolds that the path of following Christ “includes the thorns of suffering and persecution.” John Paul II concludes, “discipleship, then, is not an easy journey on a level road.” It is the path of imitating Christ in all things, including the journey up the hill of Calvary.

From the gospel we know of Peter’s harsh reaction to hearing his friend predict his suffering and death. Imagine, for a moment, what everyone else thought when they heard the prophecy of what their own vocation would demand. These words are difficult for us to hear. In fact, they might be too much to bear if the Lord did not attach a promise of salvation to them. It is on that promise that John Paul II encourages us to fix our gaze, for the “ultimate goal of discipleship is glory.” This is the paradox of the personal cross that the Christian carries behind Christ. The Cross, an instrument of death, becomes a means of life because of Jesus’ own death and subsequent Resurrected glory. The suffering we experience in our lives, then, is an opportunity to bear our cross as the Lord commanded. We prove our fidelity to him by self-sacrificial acts of love. This is how we become more like him. Through faithfully and lovingly carrying our cross, we look forward to the reward he promised. St. Paul reinforces this logic stating, “for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom. 6:5). John Paul II reminds us to look to the “Cross, sign of love and of total self-giving” because it is “the emblem of the disciple called to be configured to the glorious Christ.”[1]

[1] Summary by Ben Akers with the use of Pope John Paul II, Wednesday Audience, 6 September 2000.

Luke 5:16 with St. Bonaventure Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

“But he would withdraw to desolate places to pray.”

This short verse only appears in the Gospel of Luke, but not in the other gospels. It gives us a profound insight into Jesus’ earthly life and his habit of solitary prayer in seclusion. So often we think of him as surrounded by lots of people, preaching to them and healing them, but his outward ministry was fueled by the inner life of prayer to His Father in secret.

St. Bonaventure notes that unlike most of us, Jesus “didn’t seek human glory or fame, but fled from these.” His habit of prayer “gave us the model of going away from the world and approaching close to God.” To be effective evangelists, we must be authentic witnesses in this regard. And what we do in secret reveals what we really care about. When we pray in secret, all alone with God, we do not gain the approval of other people, influence in the world, financial security or any other material gain. Instead, we prove our love for Him to be genuine.

Bonaventure says, “for prayer to be pleasing to God, it must not be public in the open market, but hidden in the desert.” While we might not be able to go to a literal desert for our prayer time, we can seek out a quiet corner, a hidden nook, a private place to spend time conversing with God alone. Jesus set the pattern for us by seeking out “desolate places” away from the crowds, away from his disciples, so he could be undistracted and fully engaged in prayer.

We can follow his example by setting aside quiet time in a quiet place on a daily basis just for Him. In addition, we can make our prayer “pleasing to God” by seeking out special opportunities for private prayer like weekend retreats, silent adoration and the occasional moment to step in the back of a dimly lit church when no one is around. If we find a way to do these things, we will taste the sweetness of communion, the joy of intimacy and the depth of His love.[1]

[1] Summary by Mark Giszczak with the use of Bonaventure, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke: Chapters 1–8, 411.

Mark 16:14–15 with St. Gregory the Great Apr 17, 2020

Show notes

“Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.’”

St. Gregory the Great, in commenting on this passage from Mark, asks some important questions: why did some of the disciples at first deny the resurrection when they were told about it (by Mary Magdalene and others)? And, why does the command to preach the gospel to the whole creation come directly after Christ’s rebuke? The one (preaching the gospel) does not seem to follow from the other (unbelief). To the first question, Gregory answers that we should not criticize the weakness of the apostles too quickly, but realize that their doubts have yielded great benefits to us, because Christ “showed them in their doubt many proofs of his resurrection.” When we see these proofs and put ourselves in shoes of the apostles “we are strengthened as a result of their doubt,” says Gregory. In particular, of the story of St. Thomas, who asked to put his hand into the Lord’s side (cf. Jn. 20:25), St. Gregory comments “while doubting, he touched the scars of the wound, and cut out of our hearts the wound of doubt.”

But what of the second question? Why does Jesus rebuke his followers for hardness of heart, but then immediately afterwards commission them to preach? Jesus scolds them, Gregory explained, “in order to fix his parting words more firmly in the hearts of his hearers.” In other words, the disciples received the correction of Jesus so that he could strengthen them, not just in their own personal faith life, but for the proclamation of the gospel.

We might sometimes be tempted to think that we need to have everything figured out, that we need to be completely faithful and sure of ourselves before we can open our mouths and speak of Jesus to others. But Gregory reminds us that part of the process of healing our vision so that we can truly see the resurrection is to act: to share our faith and to preach it “to the whole creation,” as Mark says. Preaching to the whole creation does not mean that we preach to rocks and to trees, says Gregory, but to every single person everywhere, because on this universal preaching the meaning and beauty of the whole creation rests.

Summary by Elizabeth Klein with the use of Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 29, trans. David Hurst (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1990), 226–229.

John 1:1–3 with St. Augustine Apr 15, 2020

Show notes

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

St. Augustine cites John 1:1 more than any other gospel passage. This passage is fundamental for his understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity and the identity of Jesus Christ. The passage means that Jesus is God the Word–not identical with the Father (since the Word is with God) and yet at the same time fully God (since the Word is God). As God, the Word is also said to be the creator of all things.

Augustine reiterates these points not just in his theological writings, but frequently in his homilies, encouraging his audience to plumb the depths of this mystery even though they cannot fully understand it: “It says and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1). We are talking about God; so why be surprised if you cannot grasp it? I mean, if you can grasp it, it isn’t God.” Nevertheless, our eternal happiness is to be with God and to know him, since “we human beings are made blessed by our hearts just brushing against that which abides always blessed; and that is itself eternal blessedness.” Therefore, contemplating God and the Trinity is essential for every Christian. Augustine explains why: “God does not increase thanks to those who know him, but those who know him do, thanks to their knowledge of God.” To know God better is to grow in the spiritual life and finally to know God is blessedness, it is our destination in heaven.

Augustine gives an analogy to help us understand how important and beautiful it is to strive to know God. He says that John 1:1 tells us that the Word is above all created things, and thus the Word is what we should want to acquire above all created things. Normally, when we want to acquire something we have to give something else away. We have to give money to buy bread. We have to give time to earn money. But what could we give to gain the Word, which is above all? What could we possibly trade in hopes of gaining something of such great value? Augustine says that we can only give everything, that is, ourselves. However, unlike in the case of giving away money to buy goods, when we give away our whole selves to Christ we, in the end, find we have in fact lost nothing: “now if you want to buy this Word, if you want to have it, don’t look for something outside yourself you can give; give yourself. When you have done that, you don’t lose yourself as you lose the price when you buy something. So the Word of God is set before us all. Let those buy it who can; all those who devoutly wish to can do so.”

[1] Summary by Elizabeth Klein with the use of Augustine s. 117 in Essential Sermons, 195–203.

John 19:26–27 with St. John Paul II Apr 10, 2020

Show notes

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”

With these words we find ourselves at the foot of the Cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus and John, the beloved disciple of Christ. We also discover that we are at the center of a profound mystery of our faith. The exchange between these three comprise an important “message of the cross,” according to Pope St. John Paul II, for they are “supreme words of love.” Mary’s presence at the cross is more than just the natural love and affection a mother has for her suffering child, although it does involve that. John Paul II observes that “Mary’s presence at the cross shows her commitment to total participation in her Son’s redemptive sacrifice.” Mary freely and fully accepts, “with Christ, the mysterious plan of the Father.” Her position indicates that the mother of Jesus “forever remains the perfect model of all who would accept to associate without reserve with the redemptive offer.” Christ’s mother, then, teaches us the art of uniting our minds and hearts with the will of God especially in times of suffering.

The suffering of Christ in which we have a share is often not what we would choose for ourselves. Mary would never have wanted her Son to suffer and to die in this way; yet, she trusts in God’s plan. This offers us a chance to reflect on crosses in our own life. When suffering enters our life, as it does in every person’s life, what is our response towards it? Jesus’ entrusting of his mother to the disciple’s care illustrates his “testament of love” for all his followers throughout the ages. The experience of having received Mary’s “motherly love” in his own life is something Jesus “wanted his disciples to also enjoy … as part of the relationship with him throughout the development of their spiritual life.” As we grow in our life of discipleship to Christ we should also nurture a relationship with his mother. Having Mary as a mother is something Jesus wants for us as well. As we consider our Christian lives, Pope John Paul II invites us to have affection for the Blessed Mother and to allow “her to form us in true docility towards God, in true union with Christ, in true charity towards neighbor.” Pope John Paull II asks each disciple to “welcome Mary into his home, in his life” and to strive to “appreciate more and more the gift that the crucified Christ has given us, leaving us his own mother as our mother.” ³⁰

[30] Summary by Ben Akers with the use of Pope John Paul II, Wednesday Audience, 23 November 1988.

John 6:53–57 with St. Cyril of Alexandria Apr 09, 2020

Show notes

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.”

The Fathers of the Church bear powerful witness to early Christian belief in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. Perhaps less often appreciated is their rich teaching about why Jesus would give himself to us in this way. In his commentary on this passage, St. Cyril of Alexandria largely takes the fact of Christ’s Real Presence for granted. He focuses instead on our reception of the gift of divine life through the Eucharist. This gift turns on the mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of God becoming man in Jesus Christ. Cyril explains that, since he is the divine Word, Jesus is “life by nature, inasmuch as he was begotten of the living Father. And his holy body too is no less life-giving, since it is in some way brought together and ineffably united with the Word who gives life to all.” Because Christ’s flesh is perfectly united to his divinity, “when we taste of it” in the Eucharist, “then we have life in ourselves, since we too are united to that flesh just as it is united to the Word who indwells it.”

Cyril is also anxious to guard against a possible misunderstanding of the last sentence of this passage, which could be taken to mean that the Son receives life from the Father in the same way as we do, that is, by grace rather than by nature. There are several good reasons why this question is important. Let us consider just one. Cyril points out that Jesus says that he is “the life” (Jn. 11:25). The “life” we receive from Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, then, is the very life that he is by nature as the Father’s only-begotten. This means, in turn, that our share in the eternal Father’s life is not given to us at one remove. As the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5), Jesus does not stand between us and the Father as a barrier as well as a bridge. Rather, he mediates by sharing with us his very own relationship of eternal life and love with the Father. That relationship is his by nature, ours by participation through the grace of adoption. But it is the very same relationship. And we receive it, astonishingly, under the form of bread and wine. ²⁶

[26] Summary by John Sehorn with the use of Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John 4.2-3 in Commentary on John, vol. 1, trans. David R. Maxwell, Ancient Christian Texts (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 236–243.

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[1] Summary by Ben Akers with the use of Pope John Paul II, Wednesday Audience, 6 September 2000.

[1] Summary by Mark Giszczak with the use of Bonaventure, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke: Chapters 1–8, 411.

Summary by Elizabeth Klein with the use of Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 29, trans. David Hurst (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1990), 226–229.

[1] Summary by Elizabeth Klein with the use of Augustine s. 117 in Essential Sermons, 195–203.

A Conversation with Mark Giszczak

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[30] Summary by Ben Akers with the use of Pope John Paul II, Wednesday Audience, 23 November 1988.

[26] Summary by John Sehorn with the use of Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John 4.2-3 in Commentary on John, vol. 1, trans. David R. Maxwell, Ancient Christian Texts (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 236–243.

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