Sixth Conference

Entering the Promised Land

Re-insertion into Civil Society

Deut. 20:16-18, Joshua 1:1-6

My dear brothers and sisters,

Now that we are about to end our retreat, it seems fitting that we should talk about the very end of the Israelites journey and the event, which concluded it, their entrance into the Promised Land of Canaan. We have had time to speak of only a few episodes that occurred during that journey in an effort to learn from them something that might help us in our spiritual journey of faith. I am just going to mention a few more that we could have touched upon, and the corresponding event in our own life of Faith. There was the episode of the Water from the Rock, and that would have been an appropriate starting point for a conference on the Holy Spirit, since in St. John’s Gospel, he speaks of the Holy Spirit as the living water springing up from within those who would go to Jesus to quench their thirst. There was the episode of the battle with Amalec. As long as Moses had his hands raised up holding the staff of God in his hand, Israel was getting the better of the fight. When they were let down, Amalec would begin to prevail. Aaron and Hur had to support Moses’ hands high and steady until the battle was won. That would have been an ideal lead into a talk on prayer and those things, which support prayer.

There were the episodes of the sons of Aaron being struck dead for offering alien fire, and the command to use the purest oil for the lamp that burned in the presence of the Lord and of the recipe of the incense to be used by the priests, which was not to be put to profane use. All of them lend themselves to a meditation on Motivation, that is, purity of Intention, and so as not to bore you, I’ll mention just two more. The episode of the golden calf lends itself to the conference on idolatry, how it can creep into the lives of spiritual persons, and of the episode of the scouts, who after they reported to the people what they had learned about the Promised Land discouraged the people from going in, as a result of which they were banned by God from entering until all those who refused to enter, who had memories of Egypt, would have died out (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb). This would have been a good beginning for a conference on the purification needed before union with God in its fullness is possible.

In any event, in speaking about the entrance of the Chosen people into the Promised Land we must preface our remarks by asking what it was that God had in mind in choosing a people for Himself and establishing them as a Covenant people in that precise spot on the surface of the earth. The reason of course was, that, after the Fall, He was at work in the world to save it and recreate it, so that once again, all of creation would be able to reveal him, His existence and His attributes to the fullest possible extent. Nature and its wonders will always reveal that He exists, and as St. Paul says, “His invisible attributes – His everlasting power and divinity.” But because of the Fall, the moral attributes of God: justice, wisdom, love, were almost totally obscured, because these were to be revealed to be His human creatures, descendants of Adam and Eve. The choice of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, according to the flesh was an intermediate step (although we know that they are still His chosen people in some way, as St. Paul avers) to the full and complete recreation of humanity in Jesus and through His Church. A very important part of that plan, the unfolding of which Sacred Scripture is a record, was that His Chosen people be placed at the crossroads of the entire known world, so that all the nations reached by the caravans that passed through the land of Canaan would get to know of them, and know of the Law by which they lived, and thus get to know of the one true God, the God of the Israelites, and even to learn of the promises and prophecies concerning the Expected One, the Messiah. By the people’s fidelity to the Covenant, the glory of Yahweh would begin to shine through their community life and their social relationships. God’s face would be revealed, though still not in fullest glory.

Now when we consider the length of time the Israelites spent in the desert compared to the length of time they spent on the soil of Canaan, later renamed Palestine, forty years compared to 1,400 years, we can’t help concluding that the years in the desert were not nearly as important as those within the land of promise. It was a brief, preparatory phase. It was a time to prepare for the really significant part of God’s plan for them and the whole world. Now that the Second Vatican Council has recaptured the notion that the Church is the New Israel, the modern day People of God on Pilgrimage, we are likely to be a bit confused. How can the Church be compared to Israel already in possession of the land promised them by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? If the Church is still itself in need of being constantly purified and renewed, when is it going to be able to take possession of this world and breathe into it a new spirit, a good spirit that casts out all evil? Apparently the Council Fathers want us to be convinced that, if the world is now evil, it is because members of the Church have stood by watching while others who either do not know the living God, or who have rebelled against Him, have breathed an evil spirit into the world – civil society – and its structures and institutions. The Council seems to imply that though the Church, considered collectively as a People, is still on pilgrimage, its individual members, and particularly the Laity, who through Baptism have had their souls cleansed of the spirit of sin and to have had it replaced by the Spirit of the Living God, are the ones who must begin to breathe into those structures and institutions now under the influence of the evil one, the Spirit of Jesus so as to heal, elevate and renew all of human life here on earth. So since we have been interpreting certain events that occurred on the Journey of the Israelites in terms of our own personal individual growth in holiness, we must also, to be consistent, interpret the entrance of the chosen people into Canaan in terms of our reentry, once sanctified, into the world of human affairs in Civil Society. That is to say, we should not look upon our journey toward union with God to be one that ends with our entrance into eternity at death. We must believe that the fullness of Charity, the practice of heroic Charity lies within the reach of every baptized Christian, and not just within those relatively few whom the Church publicly and officially declares to be saints. Everything the saints had at their disposal is available readily to each and every one of us. So it is not completely true that a life of asceticism, a deeply spiritual life is preparation for heaven only. It is, in its entirely, a preparation for “heaven on earth.” We don’t die and go to heaven; we die and take our heaven with us.

Perhaps the idea that heaven is a place and time of rest from our labors is what keeps us from seeing that the attainment of holiness is a preparation for a mission on earth. Asceticism does lead to a kind of rest. A rest from the struggle to exclude and surmount all those obstacles that hinder our complete and total dedication of our talents and faculties to the living God: both to contemplate, love and worship Him as He is in Himself, a Trinity of Divine Persons, and to serve His interests in human society. Ascetic practices and spiritual exercises are supposed to put an end to the disorder and disharmony within us, so that our souls, our psyches are restored to original integrity or as St. John of the Cross says: in Darkness and security I went forth, “my home being now at rest.” It is particularly at the point in our spiritual development that we are ready and obliged to “enter the land of Canaan;” that is to be reintroduced into the mainstream of secular society, not as someone drifting with the current, but, as someone taking charge of that current to change its course and see to it that it becomes identified with that river spoken of in Scripture whose “runlets” gladden the City of God.

One of the purposes of asceticism, which is designed to help restore psychic wholeness and harmony, is to rob the very good things God has created and placed in this world of their power to lead our fallen nature astray, or rather, to keep Satan from using them to draw us away from God. That same program of asceticism also causes us to withdraw somewhat, at times completely, from participation in mundane affairs, lest the wounds inflicted upon human nature be aggravated or kept from being healed. But, when inner balance and harmony is restored and maintained through prayer and the practices of the Christian life, then one is able to be fully, in the world as a force for good and immune to the dangers inherent in active participation in civil and political affairs. There is an old Latin proverb: “omnia munda mundis.” “Everything is pure to one who is himself pure.”

It is very important that as Lay Carmelites, you all see “reentry into civil society” as an important aspect of your vocation. Even religious have to take this seriously insofar as religious have an extremely important role of bearing witness to the transcendence of the living God, and that all things must be rescued from sin and dedicated to the honor and glory of God. Religious can be compared to the bearers of the Ark who walked into the waters of the Jordan at the command of God. Their feet had scarcely gotten wet when the Jordan stopped flowing from above, the water in the path of Israel continued downstream, and so all the people got across safely – they walked across. Religious, by their vows willingly relinquish the goods of marriage, private ownership and personal autonomy. The laity does not relinquish these, but the example of the religion that God is above all of His gifts, helps the laity properly acknowledge him to be the author, bestower, and the good finally to be attained by and through the lawful use of these same goods. It is precisely in the use of these goods, and in the effort to make laws and create institutions that protect these goods, that the laity are to exert a transforming influence upon civil society.

Have any of you ever compared your eyeglasses with somebody else’s? We do it, not only to compare the degree and extent that our vision is defective, but also to get an idea of what the world looks like to them without their glasses. Something like that is possible with regard to our inner visions: those attitudes and dispositions by means of which we view and interpret all events. We just said that all things are pure to him who is pure. Thus, it is our conduct that enables others to get an idea of how we view things. People can tell by observing how we relate to people and how we use things or treat them just how much value we place upon them. They can detect them when they see that we treat persons and things with reverence and deal with institutions with respect, and do so freely, spontaneously, without coercion. They can also tell when things and persons and institutions rather have a grip on us and hold us enslaved to some degree or other. They can tell that we are or are not in control of ourselves in all that pertains to the world of matter, whether or not we are serene and at peace within.

I remember how upset I became many, many years ago when I first heard the assertion that we are living in a “post-
Christian era”. I understood then the expression to mean that Christianity is no longer valid or useful or important. I interpreted it to mean that the writer was calling for the abandonment of all Jesus is and stands for. But of course, I was wrong again. What he meant was that we have gotten past the time when all the nations in the European community were at bottom, Christian in outlook and mentality. That is to say, we are beyond that time when Christian Faith and Gospel values were reflected in the laws of all European nations. In those days, any violation of the Ten Commandments was also a violation of the civil law.

At one time, as we said, civil authorities punished heretics and those who practiced any kind of witchcraft and black magic. Christian values also were embodied in all institutions of education and government. Nowadays, quite the contrary is true. Even in those countries that were most staunchly Catholic we have seen laws passed making divorce and abortion legal. Presently, in Massachusetts, the Governor, by decree, declared that two homosexuals, who had gotten “married”, constituted a family and enjoyed all the rights and privileges traditionally accorded to a true marriage between a man and a woman.

So now that civil laws and civil institutions no longer reflect Christian, Gospel values and morality, lay Christians and Catholics can no longer feel exempt from trying to turn the course of history all around. Lay Carmelites, in particular, cannot claim exemption from the slow hard task of arresting the progress of secular humanism, especially in regard to the very institutions that embrace their particular vocation in society: marriage and family, business, medicine, law, education and what have you. It is precisely these institutions where secular humanism has made the most headway and it is in these same fields of civil endeavor where a lay Christian, especially a lay Carmelite, must give loud and clear testimony to Christ, to God the Father and to the absolute rights God has over every human soul and over the rights he bestows upon every human agent as stewards and trustees of those gifts, not as their absolute owner. If the Lord God wanted to reveal His face, His moral attributes to the ancient world in and through the national life of Israel in the land of Canaan, how much more does He not desire to see holy Christians, especially lay Carmelites, seek access to pervade every fields of national life to reveal not only the glorious Face of the Father, but, also the Heart of Jesus beckoning every soul to come to Him for Mercy and salvation.

To be convinced of this we need only to read the Vatican Council’s decree on the Modern world. It directs the faithful to be in the center of all the activity, taking place at the cutting edge of human progress. The Church wants her children to be concerned not only about what is happening in the areas I mentioned above, but, also in art, politics, science, entertainment, literature, sociology and economics. But this is not something new with the Council. This ideal was introduced before the council and is called the Christopher Movement.

There are some elements associated with the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan that are worthy of note. We mentioned one already in connection with the role of religious. That was the fact that the bearers of the Ark walked into the waters of the Jordan and caused it to stop flowing from above. But, also it reveals the role of the Bishops and the Clergy. It is to them, in union with the Pope, that the laity must look for direction and guidance, but of course allowing the laity to exercise initiative, guidance and direction, that is, in matters of doctrine and morality.

The other element is that of their having a new leader to actually get the Israelites into the land of Canaan. Moses was not allowed to enter because he doubted that the water really would come from the Rock for that stiff-necked people when the Lord ordered him to strike it. He doubted the power of God to overcome the stubbornness of the people and make them instruments of His Will.

Something akin to that may be observed in the way the Hierarchy of the Church, prior to the Council, was unwilling to entrust any great degree of authority and initiative to the Laity. In all fairness, that was a hold over from the days when only the Clergy were educated, and perhaps too, to a tendency in years just preceding the Council, particularly in recent years, of well-educated Catholics, especially those teaching in universities, to begin to trust in their own reasoning in matters of Faith and Morals and to dissent from authentic Church teaching in those areas. But now the new “leader” is the “spirit” of Vatican Council II. But we must remember that Joshua was really a protégé of Moses. He followed Moses and served him as if he were his personal valet. So this new spirit needs to be as dependent upon Church authority in faith and Morals as the Laity was when only the Clergy were educated.

This new “spirit” must continue, however, to value the practice of asceticism and prayer, and must not abandon the ordinary means of Christian Holiness – Mass and the Sacraments, Spiritual Reading, nor certain devotional practices. These are the things that help the lay Christian, and especially the lay Carmelite keep his mind and heart centered on the living God, on Jesus, and on their concern for the salvation of souls. It is through these means that God Himself stirs into flame the Spirit given in Baptism, the Spirit which is augmented in Confirmation and which brings the seven-fold Holy Gifts: Counsel, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Piety, Fortitude and Fear of the Lord. While we are on the subject of Confirmation it is helpful to remember that this is one of several sacraments that is conferred more for the benefit of the entire Church than it is for one’s personal benefit. The other two I can think of are Holy Orders and Matrimony. These are all primarily to help build up the Church and only secondarily to help us to attain holiness.

As a matter of fact, if any of these three sacraments are not used in such a way to build up the Body of Christ, the Church, the one receiving them will never achieve personal holiness. In past centuries it was said that Confirmation made a Catholic a Soldier for Christ. That sounds different than building up the body of Christ, but the ideas concur in that the more a Soldier for Christ, as a Christian adult, struggles to overcome obstacles to the Faith, and to the Service of God’s interests that exist in the world, he helps to build up the Church. Conversely, if someone expects to rely on the graces of Confirmation to build up the Church, then he cannot fail to struggle, like a soldier against everything in civil society that is inimical to the good of souls. How important is it that all those preparing for Confirmation be well grounded in Christian doctrine and trained in the best practices of Christian piety, devotion to Our Lady and devotion to the Eucharist. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit have to draw on something already in the mind and soul of the confirmed Christian, especially in the actuation of Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom and Counsel. Indeed, we can never afford to abandon the quest for deeper knowledge of the truths and mysteries of our holy faith.

One other element of the story of the crossing remains, and that is the command of our Lord that Joshua wipe out completely all the pagan tribes whose lands the Lord had given them. As much as we are horrified by that command of God, called the ban, we do see the Wisdom of it, because in point of fact, the ban was not carried out. One tribe, the Gabaonites tricked Joshua into making an alliance with them so that he could not carry out the Lord’s command, and it was precisely those pagan tribes who were not put to the sword that were the ones who introduced child-sacrifice and idolatry into the lives of the people. It was these same practices, and also the worship of the fertility gods that led to the destruction of both the northern Kingdom and Juda and the 70 years exile in Babylon. Juda was restored, the northern Kingdom never was.

There are so many purveyors of ideas and attitudes that cannot be reconciled with official Church Doctrine (really it is Jesus’ doctrine, the Church only guards and preserves it) and who seem to be making serious attempts to introduce them into the Church, that is, into the lives of Catholics. These ideas and attitudes, take refuge under the umbrella of Secular Humanism or the New Age Movement. We cannot afford to compromise with these movements. They will lead to our downfall, that is, to the downfall of many Catholics. We have to cast them out and destroy them, the movements, all the while praying and suffering for the salvation of the souls of those who want to introduce them into the Catholic Church life.

We spoke earlier of the world of priests and religious symbolized by the Levites holding up the Ark in the bed of the Jordan River. Let us recall once more that the Ark represents Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament present in our midst. One of the lies of the Secular Humanists and New Agers is that Catholic Doctrine contradicts and violates human nature, human freedom and asks of human nature conduct that goes beyond human possibility. Or they deny that human nature is in need of redemption. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament by Lay Catholics and especially by Lay Carmelites is absolutely essential. In that Host, concealing Jesus, God Incarnate, given for us and Risen, we see that a humanity free of sin is perfectly compatible with Divinity, and we see what price Jesus paid to redeem fallen human nature and to confer upon it a share in the Divinity by Grace.

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