While every year I tend to make spiritual resolutions, this year is particularly significant for me because, early in the year, I celebrate 20 years as a religious hermit.
The overarching goal is to become more faithful to my Catholic vocation. Any monastic type person who lives independently, without supervision or authority over them has to be exceedingly careful about this. It is SO easy to become slack in some areas and overly attentive to others. Avoiding the temptation of riding a hobby horse is as important as the virtues and practices we give short shrift. Balance is key.
For example, we currently have the case of Father Pavone, who became so enamored with the political push to criminalize abortion that he justified some terrible things, such as keeping the bodies of aborted infants for use in dramatizations of the Holy Mass, where he put the body of at least one infant on display, using that human person in a way directly opposed to the teachings of the Catholic Church about the proper respect to and care of the bodies of human persons.
That poor man rejected the instructions of his superiors, and his individualistic and renegade behavior, including "blasphemy" on social media posts, led to the Vatican finally defrocking him last November 9th, after many years of trying to coax him into obedience. Fr. Pavone refused to obey the orders of his superiors and slandered them on social media - many examples of which I was surprised to see on Facebook and elsewhere, that caused scandal to Holy Mother Church.
Excising one narrow aspect from an article of faith and pushing it into the political sphere is a perfect example of the tendency for independent religious to ride that hobby horse into the sunset. In Pavone's case, making abortion illegal is only one proposed method by which some people imagine that they will eliminate abortion, which is only a part of the pro-life orientation of The Church.
In addition, that method has never worked before. Abortions have always been available. Lately, they have been legal, but I remember the days of illegal abortions, and they were freely available. Anyone that imagines otherwise is fooling themselves. Making abortion illegal does not stop abortion. It stops safe abortions.
I notice many people celebrating the Supreme Court's recent actions to make abortion illegal again, but I believe this will backfire.
I am fairly sure that abortion will not disappear until we evangelize the culture - which is a lot more demanding and challenging a thing than making abortion illegal. But it is obvious that if Americans were to become evangelized to Christ and His Holy Mother Church, they would not WANT to have abortions. Abortions exist because people want them or feel they need them - not because they are legal.
In this point, we have an example of the violation of one of the tenets of classical logic. The cause of abortion has been wrongly attributed to it being legal. Correlation is not causality.
Pavone abandoned Christ's call to evangelize the faith and traded it in for the political path, with a side of illicit masses, and the body of a dead baby on top of the whole mess, like a cherry on top of a nightmare cake. It is tragic, really.
I bring him up as a cautionary tale for myself. I do not want to end up like him - so individualized and hyper-focused on a "holy cause" that I imagine that The Church has to follow me rather than the other way around. This is exactly how the Angel Satan fell.
So, this year, the first thing I will do is put some effort into finding a spiritual director who has more than my 20 years under his or her belt, so to speak. That's the first thing.
Secondly, I think it is time to return to the basics and do a major review. I am taking a "Bible in a Year" class, and a "Catechism in a Year" class. I have also begun the preparations for re-consecrating myself to Jesus through Mary. In addition, my ascetic practices have gotten flabby - along with my body. I will be tightening up my diet and simplifying it.
My customary daily prayer commitments have also suffered over the last 10 years or so. I've decided to program them into my telephone and get back onto a schedule. I am battling some awful insomnia and have to address that so that I can adhere to that schedule.
In case you have interest, my daily spiritual practices involve:
- At least one hour of meditation, in two 30-minute segments, morning and evening.
- Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- The Rosary
- The Angelus - 3X daily
- The Divine Mercy Chaplet
- The Holy Mass, streamed live from Santa Fe
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