WORTHY OF HUMANITY ^_[1]

"LITTLE BLIND WHITE THING"

1.  The city of New Orleans, Louisiana is renown for its lush, majestic oak trees, many of which are over 200 years old and legendary survivors of ferocious hurricanes. Whole sections of the city, such as the famous Garden District and its antique trolleys, are canopied by these large, seemingly indestructible trees.

2.  In recent years, however, residents have begun to doubt the oaks celebrated invincibility. Sidewalk strollers and drivers who park their cars at the curb avoid lingering under the trees for any length of time. Blue skies and gentle breezes give no warning, when on calm days, massive oak limbs garlanded in Spanish moss snap off and crash to the ground.

3.  In fact, whole trees topple over dead, cleaving sidewalks and streets. Outwardly, the oaks appear to be perfectly healthy, but they being hollowed out by the Formosan termite, a parasite which infested the cargoes of Louisiana bound freighters over fifty years ago. That it happens often now has not lessened the shock for homeowners whose houses and autos are crushed. One in seven trees is estimated to be bug-ridden. "We have some trees here 500-600 years old," laments a tree surgeon, "I'm not ready to admit that this little blind white thing has beaten us."^[2] 

TELL-TALE SIGNS 

4.  Oaks are beloved by southerners and figure prominently in history and literature. In the sense that human beings value strength and steadfastness, to liken a man to an oak tree is to compliment him highly. Our Lord, speaking in Nazareth's synagogue, used the oak tree (Heb. terebinth) as a metaphor of man's deliverance from adversity and new birth in the Holy Spirit: 

THE  SPIRIT of  the  Lord God is upon me,  because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.  [Isa 61:1-3] 

Though many families appear to be sturdy and successful, a closer examination reveals the tell-tale signs that they are hollowed out. Behind the appearance of solid, prosperous and balanced lives, countless families fall prey to shocking violence, betrayal, greed, promiscuity and despair. These are but a few of many factors devouring the dignity of human personhood and the institution of family.

5.  Whole families disintegrate with appalling frequency. They are more than familiar with crashing limbs: lost opportunities, loss of direction, persistent self-destructive relationships and spectacular failures. Much of this is due to personal sin; but adversity is not exclusive to the domain of one's personal sinfulness--he lives in a world broken by sin. To the consequences of one's own sins are added the cruel manifestations of sin for which he has no personal responsibility. Most tragically, the weaker members of society stagger under this latter burden. We have only to consider the devastation of parents who experience the violent death of a child. Or to consider the many elderly parents abandoned by their children to live as derelicts.

LIKE THE OAK 

 6.  How many marriages topple over dead? Friendships taken for granted and abruptly lost? Reputations destroyed? Unity fractured among family members who were so intimate and loving? Love consumed by voracious hatreds? Often we receive no warning when family members or friends are near collapse. Their hearts and souls are consumed by destructive elements, and we are blind to these things. Unaware of their interior emptiness, we are flabbergasted when they shatter and fall. No amount of consolation can reverse such grievous injury.

7.  No simple explanations will suffice. No one ever says, This is how I expected things to turn out.  Whereas wounded hearts may mend, a human person's trust and confidence in life itself may be damaged irreparably. The norms of family life have proven to be like the oak, possessing impressive stature and longevity. Regardless of the variant forms of civil, commercial, cultural or religious institutions punctuating the history of the past three millennia, civilized man has held consistently to universal norms with respect to the dignity of human personhood and the institution of the family.

TWIN ASHERIM 

8.  Yet in three short and brutal decades, policy makers and media celebrities of this nation have crippled the norms of marriage and family by proselytizing lifestyle as an institution and validating it with so-called new norms of openness, inclusiveness, tolerance and acceptance. With supreme irony, it can be said that the American variant of this ersatz institution was conceived by contraception and birthed by Roe vs. Wade. The effort to confer legal status and authority on the notion of lifestyle has centered on the radical defense of mass-marketed contraception and abortion.

9.  The empowering of the cult of individualism and the swarm of so-called lifestyle laws has not been benign, nor has it developed as if in an emptiness of time and space or exempt from cause and consequence.  Both the cult of individualism and the obsession with lifestyle have emerged as mortal enemies of the traditional family. Both are parasitical on the fundamental resources of society. Both have failed to fulfill the effusive propaganda of their proselytizers. Neither possesses the qualities or merits inherent to an institution and neither has proven capable of ordering or conserving the vital health of any society. The claim that lifestyle and the cult of individualism are foundational structures of society is illegitimate;  to the contrary, these compulsions are pestiferous and feed on the damp and decaying structures of wealth. This nation has tithed dearly for its pervasive practice of contraception and abortion, the twin asherim  (Heb. idols; cf. Deu 7:5) of its worship of lifestyle, the abnormal and unrealistic pursuit of pleasure in the hope of effecting personal well-being.

APPALLING AND DELUSIVE EUPHORIA

10.  The devastation that each has wrought on the institution of the family is incalculable. The sanctity of marriage is degraded and abandoned as a norm. The solidarity of families is shattered. Children are handed over to violence, despair and death. Religion is free choice in the pursuit of pleasure. Drug and alcohol addiction is at an all-time high. The nation's correctional system is a seven-figure gulag of disordered men, women and children. Rather than honestly appraising the desolation that has occurred, lifestyle partisans celebrate an appalling and delusive euphoria: It's all water stirred in the same glass.  [cf. Jas 3]  For better or worse, social phenomena need not be subordinate to or reformed by norms arising from absolute truth. Social phenomena is truth itself. Pretending improvement makes improvement. Hence, the stomach-turning extreme of society's unexamined conscience:  Broken families, violence, addiction and illusion are accepted as normal and therefore appear to be new norms.

11.  It comes as no surprise in this turgid social climate that the devotees of individualism and lifestyle tolerate the emergence of all forms gross deviancy in the name of openness, inclusiveness, tolerance and diversity. It seems to be a law that societies surfeited by affluence and sophistication tend to embrace deviancy by appealing to progressiveness, a fluid apprehension that one is moving forward or onward as if he knew where he had come from and where he was going.  [cf. Jn 12:35]  As for its contrary, would it not be evident in developing societies which emphasize the dignity of the human person and the value of the family into which one is born? That poor nations tend not to embrace deviancy is not an argument to the privilege of wealth, as if veneration of personhood and family is apropos of cultural primitiveness or a peculiar and transitory stage in the gradual differentiation of developing nations.

LUXURIANT IN BEAUTY AND ROT

12.  Those who contend for deviancy as  the natural outgrowth of wealth are silenced before the nonsensical and grotesque conclusion that the eradication of poverty benefits society by its destruction of the special significance of personhood and family. Equally preposterous are those who aver that our founding fathers forged the Declaration of Independence and the federal Constitution with the specific intent of sacralizing lifestyle as the acme of America's philosophical contribution to civilization. The cult of lifestyle is the deadening effluvium of unchecked wealth and not the logical consequence of either virtue or history. Regardless of its complexity and entanglements, it presents the face of personal greed and not sacrifice, and like the impenetrable and uncultivated jungle--it is luxuriant both in beauty and rot. 

13.  What is the joyful message of hope offered by the Roman Catholic Church to all societies? As individuals, men are lead by the Spirit to Christ. Gathering all believers into one body, Christ leads them to his heavenly who welcomes the Son's gift of a royal priesthood and holy nation called to praise his mighty works.  [cf. 1Pet 2:9]  When a person responds to the Spirit's prompting, he sees God's marvelous light and pursues it:  "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  [Jn 12:36]  Not without irony, he learns that he must become that which he pursues. The man who expects to walk in God's light must absorb and reflect it. Herein is the challenge of the Christian way of life.

FRUITFUL RELATIONSHIPS 

14.  The faithful disciple perfects himself to receive and reflect God's light--not for his own adornment and consolation, but to more perfectly fulfill the ministry of the praise of God. In short, the ministry of praise requires a Christian to submit his humanity to the surpassing grace of Christ for the perfecting of his spirit and body. Grace acts in the context of human personhood; it acts to free man from sin and defilement. As persons we bear the image and likeness of the personhood of God.  [cf. Gen 1:26]  God's gift of personhood, shared by all human beings yet nonetheless distinct and discrete, is embodied in ordered and fruitful relationships.

15.  The charism of personhood is human dignity. This dignity, arising from the plenitude or fullness of the Fathers divine attributes, finds its fullest expression in humanity in the virtues of love and holiness. Human dignity and relationships are the marks of personhood; these gifts, emphasizing as they do human uniqueness and community, impel man to seek God who created him in his image and likeness. Humanity, therefore, seeks fulfillment in a community of persons--the triune procession of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the one, true God. The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus best exemplify humanity's need to participate in the grace of sacred communion and procession.

ENRICHING ENVIRONMENT 

16.  The Holy Family is the eminent model of human dignity and fruitful relationships, an example appropriate for all Catholic families and our parish communities of faith. Comparatively little is written about Joseph. What the gospels do reveal about him is very important. He was a righteous man who feared God and proved his love through obedience to the divine will. Joseph's was not a blind obedience but an informed submission to God's plan of salvation. By divine election, Joseph was to wed the virgin Mary and become the father of the messiah.  (Heb. anointed one)  Neither original or imitative, the Holy Family is nevertheless the principle Christian archetype of the ordered and fruitful nuclear family whose eternal charism is holiness and temporal charism is trust.

17.  Like the oak tree, the human person is not invincible. Nevertheless we appreciate the oak tree for what the health and endurance it symbolizes. No man wants to be overtaken by adversity or personal failure; he prefers to be sound and resilient. To grow strong, man requires an enriching environment, robust nourishment, comprehensive schooling, and rigorous spiritual formation in the knowledge of immutable truth. The final test of formation, however, occurs outside the learning environment as the student of truth applies what he has learned with the intent of improving the society in which he lives. Not infrequently the compliment he's a solid guy is made with reference to a virtuous man known for his temporal and spiritual works of mercy.

VIRTUE OF TRUST 

18.  What is a virtue but the enduring excellence of character and intellect which enables a person to act in praiseworthy ways? Virtues make possible the morally good life oriented to the service of others. Virtues safeguard the dignity of human personhood; they provide the framework by which  the norms of family are conserved and communicated to succeeding generations. By acquiring virtues, man gains interior strength. The formal virtues are theological: faith, hope and love; and cardinal: prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice. The ethical virtue of trust, closely associated with hope and justice, is firmly wedded to the norms of personhood and family life.

19.  Though an oft-ignored and rarely discussed virtue, trust is a vital attribute of character and intellect. Trust is the embodiment of virtue, the flesh of faith, hope and love. The confidence which impels a man to entrust his safety and well-being to the care of another, trust is the embodied hope that he will not be betrayed. The currency of strong relationships and a robust society, trust is to be valued highly and carefully conserved. It must be granted freely but not  taken for granted. True to itself, the virtue of trust validates truth and exposes superficial plausibility as duplicity. Virtues possess an aesthetic of their own; they are sentinels which protect the integrity of beauty.

COMMUNITY OF PERSONS 

20.  Those who have proved themselves true to the virtue of trust will themselves be proven by more:  "And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master."  [Mt 25:20-21]  As Christians, we live in the certainty that the medicine of virtue perfects our wounded humanity and sustains the human journey to God. Trust, like all virtues, is ordered to a community of persons.

21.  Before one can trust, he must acknowledge the existence of someone or something other than himself. We give, we risk, we share, we depend upon others. Mgsr. Luigi Giusanni, speaking to his university students in Milan, recalled a personal experience which profoundly affected him: 

(When I was a boy), I got lost in the great forest of Tradate and, seized with panic, I cried out for all of three hours as the sun went down. That experience showed me afterwards that man means 'seeking': man becomes 'seeking' if he cries out, but he only cries out is there is something other. His cry implies the existence of something other. If not, why would he cry out at all?^[3]

EACH ANIMATES THE OTHER 

22.  Hence, man confesses the impossibility of being the instrument of his own well-being or destiny. Learning gradually and purposefully to entrust himself to others as he would members of his own family, he is led eventually to pursue the principles which authenticate this ethical virtue, and ultimately to seek the absolute origin of all virtues, who is God. The Holy Father, in his encyclical Fides et Ratio, identifies the decisive encounter for which all human beings long: "...it emerges that men and women are on a journey of discovery which is humanly unstoppable--a search for the truth and a search for a person to whom they might entrust themselves. Christian faith comes to meet them, offering the concrete possibility of reaching the goal which they seek."^[4]   

23.  Each animates the other, and what is natural in man becomes supernatural according to the Spirit of Truth. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments", says the Lord, "and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you."  [Jn 14:15-17]  Nevertheless, few men learn to love a virtue or principle for the sake of itself. Man's creatureliness impels him to embody virtue and principle in his own personhood and causes him to be attracted to others in whom righteousness is being made perfect.

GRACED BY VIRTUOUS PERSONS

24.  Hence, as our Holy Father remarks in Fides et Ratio,  "This is why the Church has always considered the act of entrusting oneself to God to be a moment of fundamental decision which engages the whole person. In that act, the intellect and the will display their spiritual nature, enabling the subject to act in a way which realizes personal freedom to the full."^[5] It is man's nature to conform himself to that which he seeks. The human person who acknowledges God is morally bound to submit to his divine authority, the schema of which the divine Groom entrusted to his Bride as the deposit of faith. By entrusting ourselves fully to the person of Our Lord, we advance confidently in the light of his Word, his teachings, and his Church.

25.  We entrust ourselves to the community of faith "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father".  [Phi 2:10-11]  A virtuous life is "like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither".  [Psa 1:3]   When we are graced by the company of virtuous persons, we are attracted to them. Virtues bring out mans inner beauty, contributing to firmness of soul, and adding value to ones existence. Essential to mans spiritual architecture, they are an authentic expression of personhood. Virtuous persons enrich their immediate families and communities by the hard work of self-less service.

PRAY FOR COURAGE 

26.  In a manner of speaking, virtues reduce the fever of social stress and anxiety; they make the heat of life bearable. Virtues keep man solid in the center of his being:  "But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."  [Jude 20-21]  Graced with the Father's love, may we nourish trust as one would dress the olive shoot. May it be strengthened, built up, and cared for. May we assist the Father to regenerate it hearts where it has languished. Beneath the olive tree in Gethsemane's garden, Our Lord looked across the Kidron Valley to Golgotha's hill and cried out, "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."  [Lk 22:42] 

27.  Through Christ Jesus who trusted his Father, we pray for courage to submit ourselves completely to God. We pray that we will not be overcome by the futility of destructive behaviors, nor allow illicit and worthless activities to hollow us out. On the cross, Christ cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"  [Mk 15:34]  Having proved that divinity would not betray mankind's trust, he enjoins man to prove worthy of his humanity. May the Holy Spirit give us zeal to follow the example of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who trusted God when she prayed, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."  [Lk 1:38] 

^[1]  Cycle B   /Holy Family   /Sunday in the Octave of Christmas   /Sir 3:2-6, 12-14   /Col 3:12-21   /Lk 2:22-40.  

^[2]  Rick Bragg, "Termites Haunt, and Topple, Mighty Oaks in Leafy New Orleans",  New York Times  30 June 1996:  A10. 

^[3]  Msgr. Luigi Giussani,  "By Grace, Always",  Thirty Days  3  (1993):  66-71.   

^[4]  John Paul II,  Fides et Ratio,  no. 33  (1998). 

^[5]  Ibid.,  13.