BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings )  One of the most beautiful texts in the whole Bible reads: “Wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Where you die I will die, and there be buried.” People are sometimes surprised to learn that these words are not spoken between two lovers. They are the words of Ruth, to her mother-in-law, and simply mean: I will never leave you. That hardly matters. The classical musical setting by Gounod is often heard at weddings. The Weston Priory version is sung by the monks to each other as a pledge of mutual fidelity in their monastic life. The text suits any commitment of persons to each other. The response of Simon, Andrew, James, and John to the call of Jesus seems to have been wordless. They just left their family and way of life, and followed him, presumably in the spirit of that passage from the book o...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings )  “What is the meaning of this?” That is, if I recall correctly, the last line of the strangest play I ever saw: Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung you in the Closet and I’m Feeling so Sad. It was definitely in the category of the Theater of the Absurd, which challenges our sense of the meaning of life. That question is open to at least two answers. 1.) Life has no meaning at all. (There are people who believe this sincerely.) Or 2. Life as most people live it has no meaning. We need to give it meaning. How? by creating something? helping people? leaving a legacy? As Christians we believe that the meaning of life comes not from ourselves alone, but also and especially from Jesus who restored to humanity what was lost by sin. In that sense the meaning of our life comes from the meaning of Christ’s life. The meaning of Isaiah’s life was that...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings )  In 2013 I read Bernard Lonergan’s Insight. It is a philosophical analysis focused on that instant that marks the transition from not understanding to understanding. “Epiphany” sometimes denotes that kind of “enlightenment,” a sudden grasp or revelation—an “Aha!” experience. The Magi somehow grasped the significance of the star. First they had some kind of insight. But this was deeper than an intellectual insight. It was a “Light,” reminiscent of phrases in the first reading: “Your light has come... Nations shall walk by your light.” Another aspect of insight is that it is usually a satisfying experience, and not just intellectually. It is a release of tension, when something finally makes sense. It is not just “Aha!” but also “Aah!” This experience is described when we are told that the Magi were “overjoyed,” and when the prophet says to Israel, “You shall ...