How to Live Our Faith

Last fall I had the pleasure of attending a morning breakfast and talk hosted by Cardinal Stritch College with Bishop Donald Hying, the bishop of Gary, Indiana, as the speaker.  I took notes on his excellent talk and only now re-discovered them. What follows are the main points of his talk.

How to Live Our Faith a talk by Bishop Donald Hying

What does it mean to really live the Gospel and Catholic faith with authenticity?  The ideal seems so high.  How do I put that practice into my life?

The mission of the Church is found at the end of the Gospel when the disciples are told to make disciples of all nations.  There is no detailed plan, just a general instruction that we are called and sent.  In the words of Cardinal Dolan, Jesus says, "Come here" and then says "Go forth."  Jesus is calling us to him and then sending us out.  The Church is always on the move.  The Catechism tells us that the laity are called to sanctify the world, to make the world holy and to remind it of its fundamental purpose.

What does it mean for us to make the world holy?  This begs the question, what does holiness mean? The original Hebrew word for holy is "different'.  When we say "holy, holy, holy" at Mass we're really saying "different, different, different."  We are called to make and be that difference in the world.

Our whole identity is summed up in the great commandment, "Hear O Israel, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself."  We exist to fall head over heels in love with God because He is head over heels in love with us.

When two people are in love with each other it completely changes how they spend their time.  Think about the anointing at Bethany.  Mary spends three-hundred days wages to buy aromatic nard and she wastes it, breaks it open.  That's the extravagance of a soul that is head over heels in love with God.  Contrast that with Judas who was asking why that money was wasted.  Mary is a maximalist.  When we're in love we don't count the cost.  Judas is a minimalist.   If we practice of our faith as a romance between God and us then we are well on the way to living our faith in the world.

When I was first ordained a bishop I went to Rome for Baby Bishop School where the basic message was that as a bishop you're responsible for everything.  I met a new bishop from Europe who described a bleak situation in his country with a steep decline in Catholics, very few priests and no seminarians.  When I asked him what he was going to do about it he said that he was going to go back to Pentecost and drink deeply of the Holy Spirit and introduce people to Jesus as if they never met Him before.

I'm obsessed with Pentecost, the birth of the Church.  I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended.  What happened?  Did the apostles hair catch on fire?  Did they get thrown against the wall?  All we know is that the experience completely changed them.  Before they were frightened and now they are courageous.  Three-thousand people
 were baptized in a day!  When I think of that moment and compare it to this moment I know that we are called to reclaim the Church.

During the Protestant Reformation the Church built walls, retreated from the world, entrenched itself. In doing so we lost some of the urgency of the mission.  The Church is not a gas station where we service the people who show up.  There are one hundred people in Gary who are convinced that I'm going to be murdered at the Cathedral because it's in such a rough neighborhood.  But where else should I be?  Where else should the Church be?

We're all baptized into the priesthood of Jesus Christ.  How many realize that you are priests?  The ordained priesthood only exists to serve the laity who at baptism entered into the priesthood.  The ordained priest connects us to God and leads us to the love of the Lord.  The laity may be the only Christ that someone ever meets.

The spirituality of St. Francis de Sales tells us that by the virtue of our baptism every single person is called to holiness. It's absurd to think that the mother of five living in the world will practice the same spirituality as a cloistered nun.  There are unique distinctions between vocations.  Because we are who we are we will have a unique experience of God.  Our obligation is to share that unique facet, to add our piece of the mosaic to the picture of life.

There's nothing wrong with teaching people a method of prayer.  Prayer should be consistent and daily.  If we begin the day in silence with prayer and meditate deeply into the heart of the Lord, the rest of the day will unfold perfectly.  When we pray every day in silence we are so connected to the Lord that nothing can shake us.  Yet there are still days that I don't pray as I should.  We all struggle with prayer.  The point is to never give up, to ask ourselves how can I improve?

We're called to a radical generosity.  Everything we've been given is a gift from God.  During my time in the Dominican Republic I befriended a very poor family.  They had a small house with one chair and one chicken.  One night after visiting with them and watching the stars together they gave me their only chicken to take home with me.  I tried to refuse several times but then realized that if I didn't accept their gift of their only chicken I would be insulting them.  So there I was driving down a bumpy road with a chicken bouncing along next to me.  The Sacramental event is Christ giving us the chicken.  He gives Himself away in love, kenosis and self-giving.  God is more humble than we are.

There is an urgency to evangelization for us today.  Every active Catholic should be busy cultivating one or two people.  We can do this by turning ourselves inside out, letting people see our soul, not to say "look at me" but "look at Jesus."  We need disciples who realize that they are called as claiming their vocation in the Church, as being formed, realize that we are being sent.  Translate talk into action.  What we are doing is meaningful!

It all comes down to falling in love with God and to realizing that God is in love with us.  When we make ourselves available, God is going to use us.  Realize the shortness and brevity of our lives. Death becomes a frame around our lives.  Compared to eternity life is a twinkling of the eye.  We're going to be alive forever in eternity with or without God.  The drama of our lives is in the short amount of time that we have to do what we are called to do.  In twelve minutes we will be standing at the judgement seat and God will ask us "What did you do with your life?"

Oremus MKE (Milwaukee)

"A Church which 'goes forth' is a Church whose doors are open...Often it is better simply to slow down, to put aside our eagerness in order to see and listen to others, to stop rushing from one thing to another and to remain with someone who has faltered along the way."   ~Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium

Fr. Tim Kitzke, the pastor of three East Side Milwaukee parishes that include seven churches, recently told a story about his high school seminary days.  He said that he used to ponder the idea of becoming a missionary in some exotic country, and now, here he is, a priest on Brady Street.  Brady Street, part of Milwaukee's "Fashionable East Side"or FES for short, is home to many bars, coffee shops, restaurants and tattoo shops.  The residents are known to be the most trendy young people around, and whenever I visit the area I marvel at the amount of people who sport tattoos, face piercings, gauge earrings and non-traditional hair styles and colors.  Brady Street is definitely exotic!

In an effort to evangelize the neighborhood, Fr. Tim, along with some young adult parishioners, have begun a wonderful new initiative called Oremus MKE (Milwaukee).  On a recent Saturday night, the busiest night of the week on Brady Street when the bars and restaurants are filled to capacity, Fr. Tim opened the doors to St. Hedwig's Church (part of Three Holy Women Parish) that sits in the midst of all of the life and activity on Brady Street, from 9 PM to Midnight for Eucharistic Adoration and confession.  He sent many young parishioners out into the neighborhood to invite passersby in for a few moments of prayer.

Two of my sons and I had the joy of attending for the first grace-filled hour.  The church was ablaze with candles, and local and extremely talented organist, Jake Heidel, and equally talented violinist, Brandon Rindfleish, set the prayerful mood with lovely strains of music such as the Salve Regina and God Beyond All Praising.  All evening long people steadily streamed into the church.  They were given candles to place at the foot of the altar near an icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and encouraged to spend a few minutes in prayer before the Eucharist.  Information sheets were placed in the pews explaining the Catholic belief in the Real Presence along with promotional materials for Theology on Tap.  Four priests awaited anyone who would be moved to confess their sins and then the evening closed with benediction at Midnight.  As we left we were told that Oremus Milwaukee would be offered again later this summer or in the early fall.  I highly encourage those in the Milwaukee area to attend and bring along a friend or two.

What exactly was it that the organizers hoped to achieve with Oremus MKE?  From the Mission Milwaukee website: 

 "We are doing it  because in Milwaukee we have a lot events (most of them are good events by the way) just for Catholics; there are service events, social events, liturgical events,  but there is no bridge for inviting people outside of the Catholic circle to come to Catholic events. And even though most events in the church are open to everyone, how do we go about inviting people? Most people (including myself) get nervous when talking with a non-Catholic about our faith.  We get so stuck in our little Catholic world that we don’t take the time to invest in people who are not part of the Catholic church. We only invest in people who are already Catholic but don’t take the time to invite other people who are outside of the faith. It forces us outside of our comfort zone. It's safer to talk to Catholics
.
But guess what; non Catholics find us intriguing. To a hipster a faithful Catholic might seem ‘anti-establishment’ or ‘going against the grain’ of culture. To a young person a faithful Catholic might look like someone who has a strong sense of identity, both personal and corporate. At the very least, an offer to come into a Catholic church to pray [for peace if that's what we ask for. its universal, its biblical, its something that people want] and feel like they are participating in something. Why into the church? Why not a prayer garden? Why can’t we just invite people into the prayer garden, or to the lakefront. Those places are good, but Catholics have something great we call ‘The Real Presence of Jesus Christ’ in every church. Perhaps nothing happens [to those who come into the church], but later on, when they are out at a ….bar…a party…they remember the moment of silence and peace and they realize for a just a moment that there is something more for them to do and…believe…but even if all they do is pray (unknowingly) before the Blessed Sacrament and the Sacrament (AKA Jesus, Real Presence) is present for them, is there for them, maybe this will prompt something for them. Maybe the Holy Spirit will work in their lives. What is the ultimate goal? To fill the pews; not really. To promote peace; maybe, to bring about peace; maybe. To bring people into union with Jesus, yes. To bring people before the Lord. Yes. It’s simple enough. Just open the door, and invite them in."  

Visit the Mission Milwaukee website here for more information.

photo credit:  Sam Vosters/Tom Klind

photo credit: Sam Vosters/Tom Klind