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    From Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2003. 

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In the meantime, there are too many who remain silent to protect the clerical world which is crumbling before their eyes. They seek to protect their "place" like Caiphas wished to do when he said "it was better for one man to die than the entire nation perish." They have forgotten who God is and forgotten what the garment they wear signifies.

When the Pope makes a man a cardinal he clothes them in red, a sign of martyrdom. They are to witness the truth even to the point of shedding their blood for the truth. Unfortunately, sometime the red does not symbolize this willingness, in fact it becomes a sign of pride and vanity (the very antithesis of giving witness to Our Lord who was humility defined).

This reminds me of a recent song by Five for Fighting called "Superman (It's Not Easy)." Toward the end of the song there is the verse, "I’m only a man in a silly red sheet." Obviously, the line refers to Superman's cape, but it made me think of the Cardinal's who defy the truth and have turned the red cloth of martydom into a "silly red sheet."

Beheading of John the Baptist - August 29

   

From the Office of Readings:

"He preached the freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ. John was baptised in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptise the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.
Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ's name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ's gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us."

Homily of St. Bede
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Feast of St. Augustine August 28

    From The Confessions:

To Carthage I came, where there sang all around me in my ears a cauldron of unholy loves. I loved not yet, yet I loved to love, and out of a deep-seated want, I hated myself for wanting not. I sought what I might love, in love with loving, and safety I hated, and a way without snares. For within me was a famine of that inward food, Thyself, my God; yet, through that famine I was not hungered; but was without all longing for incorruptible sustenance, not because filled therewith, but the more empty, the more I loathed it. For this cause my soul was sickly and full of sores, it miserably cast itself forth, desiring to be scraped by the touch of objects of sense. Yet if these had not a soul, they would not be objects of love. To love then, and to be beloved, was sweet to me; but more, when I obtained to enjoy the person I loved, I defiled, therefore, the spring of friendship with the filth of concupiscence, and I beclouded its brightness with
the hell of lustfulness; and thus foul and unseemly, I would fain, through exceeding vanity, be fine and courtly. I fell headlong then into the love wherein I longed to be ensnared. My God, my Mercy, with how much gall didst Thou out of Thy great goodness besprinkle for
me that sweetness? For I was both beloved, and secretly arrived at the bond of enjoying; and was with joy fettered with sorrow-bringing bonds, that I might be scourged with the iron burning rods of jealousy, and suspicions, and fears, and angers, and quarrels.

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St. Monica's Tomb

    From Michael Dubruiel 2006

Next it was to the Church of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami (St. Joseph the Carpenter), our Joseph's patron and site of the Mamertine Prison. Joseph was a little too interested in the prison and the sewer but we did manage to spend some time in prayer here.
From here we traveled across the street toward the twin churches that are near the Piazza del Popolo, Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto.It was turning cooler by this time, so we took a taxi to Piazza Navona in hopes of seeing the inside of San Luigi dei Francesi "St. Louis of the French"...there was a porter at the door that was locked who informed us that it was closed on Thursdays (but open on Friday's...so we'll be back). We then went to the Church of Sant'Agostino, "St. Augustine", there was some restoration going on and St. Monica's tomb was blocked, but I noticed someone coming from there, so Michael (on my back) and I made our way to St.Monica's tomb to offer some prayers. Another spot of interest in this Church was the Caravaggio work "The Madonna Receiving Pilgrims" which Amy had told me before hand had been critized when it first appeared because the Virgin's feet were dirty, for the record I didn't think they did personally.
I found this church to be very peaceful, of course it was early evening and we hadn't been in our usual dose of Churches on this day, so this visit stood out a bit more in contrast to the afternoon of Roman ruins. It is amazing to think of the millions of lives that have been touched by Augustine's confessions and to be in the Church that contained his saintly mother's tomb gave some sense of being more connected.
Then emerging from the Church we set out on foot through the narrow streets that would take us back to St. Peter's in preparation for the evening gig that Amy had doing Theology on Tap in Rome. We found a vendor selling wool caps and bought one for Michael the baby (this day had been a typical Spring Roman day, warm one minute, very chilly the next), he happily wore his hat. We stopped in front of the statue of Saint Catherine where Katie posed next to her patron saint for a picture.And then just before we made our turn toward our apartment, Joseph posed for one of my favorite pictures of St. Peter's as the sun set painting a beautiful backdrop in the sky.

Michael Dubruiel

   From Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2003. 

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The second reading from the office today is from St. Cyprian to the people of Thibaris:

The blessed Apostle teaches us how to arm and prepare ourselves: "Put round you the belt of truth; put on the breastplate of righteousness; for shoes wear zeal for the Gospel of peace; take up the shield of faith to extinguish all the burning arrows of the evil one; take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."

Let us take this armour and defend ourselves with these spiritual defences from heaven, so that when the evil day comes we may be able to resist the threats of the devil, and fight back against him.

Let us put on the breastplate of righteousness so that our breasts may be protected and kept safe from the arrows of the enemy. Let our feet be shod in the teaching of the Gospel, and armored so that when we begin to trample on the serpent and crush it, it will not be able to bite us or trip us up.

Let us with fortitude bear the shield of faith to protect us by extinguishing all the burning arrows that the enemy may launch against us.

Let us wear on our head the helmet of the spirit, to defend our ears against the proclamations of death, to defend our eyes against the sight of accursed idols, to defend our foreheads so that God’s sign may be kept intact, and to defend our mouths so that our tongues may proclaim victoriously the name of Christ their Lord.

And let us arm our right hand with the sword of the spirit so that it may courageously refuse the daily sacrifices, and, remembering the Eucharist, let the hand that took hold of the body of the Lord embrace the Lord himself, and so gain from the Lord the future prize of a heavenly crown.

Dear brethren, have all this firmly fixed in your hearts. If the day of persecution finds us thinking on these things and meditating upon them, the soldier of Christ, trained by Christ’s commands and instructions, will not tremble at the thought of battle, but will be ready to receive the crown of victory.

This second reading deals with how we should be clothed, with an armor of Faith. We should pray like we are alive be willing to stand for the truth. This is not a time to attack the messengers of truth like our faith depends upon it. It is not a time to remain silent if we have something to speak.

There are those who have called this a time of "purification" and so it is. Cyprian's letter to the Thibaritans was an encouragement to them to meet the "persecution" by giving witness (martyrdom). Those who have tales to tell should now telling them so that the purification of the church might be complete.

There are those whose garments are clean, and there are those who have the armor of their faith in tact. Hopefully they will emerge from the ruins left behind when this crisis is over and take their place as leaders of the Church. We can look forward to such a day; when again the true faith will be proclaimed, the forgiveness of sins will be preached, our hunger to receive the Lord in the Eucharist will be stirred and the TRUTH will set us free.

Michael Dubruiel's Books

   From Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2003. 

 .....

Our faith is what really matters. Are we alive? Priests and bishops are not god. St. Thomas long ago argued that their moral life did not affect the power of God to work in spite of them. Even when we suffer at the hands of those who have evil intents, if we are alive in Christ we not fear that they have the power to destroy us. Remember Joseph's brothers who sold him into slavery…in the end Joseph was where God wanted him to be and the good work that he accomplished in Egypt was done in spite of the evil intent of his brothers.

The second part of the passage deals with garments. Since the second Vatican Council much has been made about the garments that priest and religious wear or choose not to wear. What interests here is how those garments are a sign that a person is in the Lord, and when bad things are done by those who wear the garments it is the name of the Lord that suffers. It is for this reason that those who find themselves incapable of speaking or living the truth that those garments proclaim should leave their ministry. They should exchange their soiled garments for penitential robes and retire to monasteries where they can pray for their own salvation that they may yet conquer, leaving the work of shepherding the flock to those who have "not soiled" their garments.

Michael Dubruiel's Books

   From Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2003. 

 Today, both readings taken from the Church's Liturgy of the Hours for today's Office of Readings have selections that deal with clothing. First from the Book of Revelation:

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ’The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “’I know your works; you have the name of being alive, and you are dead. Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments. I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

There are two aspects about this reading that I find striking; the first is that "you have the name of being alive, and you are dead", and the second, "Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments."

What bothers me about the present crisis is something that I have already been through myself, a revelation of what the church is like from the inside. It has taken me years to recover from this and I fear that when others encounter the elements of the structures of the church that are corrupt they too will suffer a crisis of faith. So this reading seems very relevant to the present crisis. Here we find Our Lord addressing the Church and telling this particular church that they are a "fraud". They have the name of being alive (sharing in his resurrection) but they are dead, i.e. they do not act as though they believe in the resurrection for their actions bespeak more of an Epicurean philosophy of "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die."

There have always been elements within the church that are dead. Some of them have died the slow death by being caught up in their position of authority (forgetting that it is from the Lord), others caught up in the adulation of the moment and wishing to remain there forget that the Lord's Palm Sunday is only a stop on the journey to Calvary. Whatever the reasons, it is a fact that good people can lose sight of God and it is also a fact that bad people have often found refuge in the Church and benefited from the good will of believers. It is not for us to figure out who is the wheat or tares, which are the sheep and which the goats.