A few days ago I finished Fr. Carney's
chronicle of his street evangelization apostolate, Walking the Road to God. I didn't want
to finish the book because then the "friendship" between author and reader would end, or at least fade away. Kind of like
the bittersweet experience of dropping a friend off at the airport for their
long flight home.
One thing that struck me about Fr. Carney is that he is full of beautiful dreams about the future of his apostolate. Many of the best Christians I know are also dreamers. Chris dreams of becoming ordained to minister in Iraq (in the Chaldean rite) or in other Middle Eastern lands where Christians suffer violent persecution. The first Franciscans shared a similar dream, and some were even martyred. Meagan dreams of opening a home for women on the streets, perhaps because such a home was the means for her returning to life in God. And Felix is perhaps the greatest dreamer I have ever met!
It is appropriate that we should dream. First, because we are exiles, and exiles always dream in hope of their homeland. For us, our homeland is the Kingdom of Heaven, and our dreamed-for apostolates are would-be pillars in that kingdom. Let me insist on this point. Marino Restrepo once said that as he toured Catholic pilgrimage sites he had a mystical apprehension that each site was like a little piece of the City of God come down from Heaven. In other words, Heaven begins now, and places like Lourdes and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe are little pillars of the Heavenly Jerusalem that bridge Heaven and earth. So when we dream of our apostolates and the good they can do, we are praying in hope for the Kingdom of God to dwell on earth.
Here is Marino Restrepo's conversion testimony--the best on youtube!
The other reason we dream is because dreaming is the mark of children, and if we aren't spiritual children then we haven't gotten very far in the spiritual life! Children dream because they have innocence, hope, faith and wonder. St. Bernadette Soubirous used to dream through her needlework, fashioning fantastic animals and flowers that no one had ever imagined before. The sisters in her convent suspected that she was making things she had seen in the Kingdom of Heaven.
We know that the essence of our dreams will be fulfilled (and vastly surpassed!) when we reach the Kingdom of Heaven, but will our apostolates take on the form of our dreams? Blessed Charles de Foucauld dreamed of living as a hermit on The Mount of Olives, and tried to purchase the land (this was still possible 150 years ago), but he was swindled out of his money by a man who held a counterfeit deed. He also wrote a religious constitution and tried to form a new religious order, but no men came or at least stayed. His beloved Trappist abbot read his proposed constitutions and was "horrified" by their rigor. The rule was more exacting than even the first Franciscan constitution. So Blessed Charles's dreams were dashed, at least in his lifetime.
Fr. Carney has also written a rule or religious constitution. The rule envisions twenty-five or even fifty religious evangelizing from their monastery in the very heart of the city. He calls them “city monks”. They would evangelize, and then return “for Vespers, a meal with table reading, recreation with the monks and lay men, Compline and monastic silence.” He writes elsewhere, “We could be canons regular at home and apostles abroad…we could learn to chant the Divine Office Roman style in the morning and evenings, and walk around spreading devotion to the Rosary in the afternoons. We would need a monastery in the middle of the city where people could walk into church while the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated and Gregorian Chant is prayed from the Roman Breviary.”
It is a beautiful dream, and it might even convert a city. Much like today's saint (from the old pre-1969 calendar) St. John of St. Facondo once brought divine life back to Salamanca. There are many such examples since the time of Christ. Fr. Carney likes to use the example of St. Francise de Sales in Calvinist Savoy: after three years he had no converts, but twenty-five years later he had 70,000!
I share Fr. Carney's dream for my home of Portland, though my vision is one for laymen. When I was given this apostolate several years back, I sketched out my dream in the giddy hope of the Holy Spirit. I wrote about that here. I dreamed of full time evangelists spreading out in groups of two or threes, some would do it for a year (like the FOCUS missionaries) and other's would be hooked for life. Some would live with their families and other's would live in a Jesus Caritas ("Jesus Loves") House in a run-down part of the city. We would gather at the house for prayer, Bible and book study, and BBQs. Maybe it would have a food pantry stocked for the poor from the Oregon Food Bank (something I've been doing for 7-8 years with St. Vincent De Paul). Those we met on the streets would always be welcome to share a meal in good conversation. It would be a little structure of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. That's the dream anyway. Whatever happens, we have all been blessed beyond our hopes. We have had long, heartfelt conversations with so many of the unchurched, especially amongst the poor and addicted. We have done nothing to deserve such graces. Just today Meagan and I could see Christ hiding in the tiny person of Tiki, a mother of two who struggles with addiction. She felt remorseful, and that God must be far from her in displeasure, yet we could see the light of Christ in her eyes! It was remarkable, such a humble soul. Tiki could never dream that she might be favored in the eyes of Heaven, but some dreams come true.
One thing that struck me about Fr. Carney is that he is full of beautiful dreams about the future of his apostolate. Many of the best Christians I know are also dreamers. Chris dreams of becoming ordained to minister in Iraq (in the Chaldean rite) or in other Middle Eastern lands where Christians suffer violent persecution. The first Franciscans shared a similar dream, and some were even martyred. Meagan dreams of opening a home for women on the streets, perhaps because such a home was the means for her returning to life in God. And Felix is perhaps the greatest dreamer I have ever met!
It is appropriate that we should dream. First, because we are exiles, and exiles always dream in hope of their homeland. For us, our homeland is the Kingdom of Heaven, and our dreamed-for apostolates are would-be pillars in that kingdom. Let me insist on this point. Marino Restrepo once said that as he toured Catholic pilgrimage sites he had a mystical apprehension that each site was like a little piece of the City of God come down from Heaven. In other words, Heaven begins now, and places like Lourdes and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe are little pillars of the Heavenly Jerusalem that bridge Heaven and earth. So when we dream of our apostolates and the good they can do, we are praying in hope for the Kingdom of God to dwell on earth.
Here is Marino Restrepo's conversion testimony--the best on youtube!
The other reason we dream is because dreaming is the mark of children, and if we aren't spiritual children then we haven't gotten very far in the spiritual life! Children dream because they have innocence, hope, faith and wonder. St. Bernadette Soubirous used to dream through her needlework, fashioning fantastic animals and flowers that no one had ever imagined before. The sisters in her convent suspected that she was making things she had seen in the Kingdom of Heaven.
We know that the essence of our dreams will be fulfilled (and vastly surpassed!) when we reach the Kingdom of Heaven, but will our apostolates take on the form of our dreams? Blessed Charles de Foucauld dreamed of living as a hermit on The Mount of Olives, and tried to purchase the land (this was still possible 150 years ago), but he was swindled out of his money by a man who held a counterfeit deed. He also wrote a religious constitution and tried to form a new religious order, but no men came or at least stayed. His beloved Trappist abbot read his proposed constitutions and was "horrified" by their rigor. The rule was more exacting than even the first Franciscan constitution. So Blessed Charles's dreams were dashed, at least in his lifetime.
Fr. Carney's Dream: Canons Regular of St. Martin of Tours
Fr. Carney has also written a rule or religious constitution. The rule envisions twenty-five or even fifty religious evangelizing from their monastery in the very heart of the city. He calls them “city monks”. They would evangelize, and then return “for Vespers, a meal with table reading, recreation with the monks and lay men, Compline and monastic silence.” He writes elsewhere, “We could be canons regular at home and apostles abroad…we could learn to chant the Divine Office Roman style in the morning and evenings, and walk around spreading devotion to the Rosary in the afternoons. We would need a monastery in the middle of the city where people could walk into church while the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated and Gregorian Chant is prayed from the Roman Breviary.”
It is a beautiful dream, and it might even convert a city. Much like today's saint (from the old pre-1969 calendar) St. John of St. Facondo once brought divine life back to Salamanca. There are many such examples since the time of Christ. Fr. Carney likes to use the example of St. Francise de Sales in Calvinist Savoy: after three years he had no converts, but twenty-five years later he had 70,000!
 |
| Fr. Carney walking St Joseph. Photo by Dougal Brownlie |
Our Dream: A Jesus Caritas House, Evangelizing All Day
I share Fr. Carney's dream for my home of Portland, though my vision is one for laymen. When I was given this apostolate several years back, I sketched out my dream in the giddy hope of the Holy Spirit. I wrote about that here. I dreamed of full time evangelists spreading out in groups of two or threes, some would do it for a year (like the FOCUS missionaries) and other's would be hooked for life. Some would live with their families and other's would live in a Jesus Caritas ("Jesus Loves") House in a run-down part of the city. We would gather at the house for prayer, Bible and book study, and BBQs. Maybe it would have a food pantry stocked for the poor from the Oregon Food Bank (something I've been doing for 7-8 years with St. Vincent De Paul). Those we met on the streets would always be welcome to share a meal in good conversation. It would be a little structure of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. That's the dream anyway. Whatever happens, we have all been blessed beyond our hopes. We have had long, heartfelt conversations with so many of the unchurched, especially amongst the poor and addicted. We have done nothing to deserve such graces. Just today Meagan and I could see Christ hiding in the tiny person of Tiki, a mother of two who struggles with addiction. She felt remorseful, and that God must be far from her in displeasure, yet we could see the light of Christ in her eyes! It was remarkable, such a humble soul. Tiki could never dream that she might be favored in the eyes of Heaven, but some dreams come true.
No comments:
Post a Comment