The Queen: Editorial: MONTFORT and the EASTER RENEWAL
Fr. J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
MONTFORT and the EASTER RENEWAL
During the Easter Season, we rejoice in the victory of the Risen Lord.
Through the resurrection liturgy, which includes the renewal of the baptismal vows, we too share in this new life. Easter is synonymous then with the rejuvenation of our Gospel living. Is this renewal actually taken place?
A Newsweek poll would, at first glance, incline us to answer with a firm yes. Many Americans are returning to Church because it fulfills their present needs, especially as parents of young children. And the war in various places in the world, including the Middle East, inspired droves of people to flock to churches to experience security in time of conflict. Does all this indicate that a renewal of faith is taking place? Not necessarily. For any renewal of the faith means that we are more intensely fulfilling the basic command of Our Lord, to love God and our neighbor.
Saint Louis de Montfort insists that love which is ultimately the fulfillment of a selfish need is not true love at all. This is evident in our relationship with each other. A “love” which is but an expression of a “need-friendship” is nothing more than a camouflage. We are literally using others to fulfill our own desires. Surely, that is not love. We degrade an individual from a human person to an “it” when we “love” because he/she fulfills our needs. Moreover, needs vary as the months move on. But love of its very nature is forever. If so called love is ultimately founded upon the need for “someone to come home to”, or for financial reasons, or because the other person makes me “feel good”, that “love” disappears when the need changes or vanishes. Love which is built on the craving for goosebumps quickly fades away.
Love is the Willing Sharing of Life With the Beloved
If the ultimate reason for what the pollsters sees as a renewal of the church is the fulfillment of the need to “fit in”, or to associate with good people, or to offer some sense of values to the children, or have our wishes granted, are we speaking about a renewal of our love for God? There is no doubt that rejoining the church because of a need can be the beginning of a true conversion. However, in itself, it is not the “change of heart” demanded by the Gospels. Whoever “returns to the church” because of “good vibes”, or because the music is stirring, or the sermon is satisfying, the fellowship supportive (or because the church has the best football teams in town) – is this what the Lord means by conversion? It may well be – at the very best – a start.
Love is not ultimately the fulfillment of a need. It is the willing sharing of life with the beloved. Love is a mutual “belonging-to”. It is not wiped away by a lingering illness or by the changes with aging ineluctably brings, or by the sharing in the cross which union with Christ necessarily entails.
When St. Louis de Montfort wants to express the depth of love between Jesus and Mary, he uses the expression “the heart of Jesus and Mary”. Not two hearts. One alone. Mary truly loves the Lord for she surrenders everything in order to be one with the heart of God – no matter the cost. That is love.
The Easter Renewal must be patterned after her total Yes to the Lord.
Editorial
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. . . for it demands total consecration to Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, or as Montfort expresses it, the perfect renewal of the vows of baptism. Perfect, for it demands a total surrender of all who we are, of all that we have. Perfect, for it is done the way that God willed to come to us, through the Yes of Mary.
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The Perfect Renewal of the Vows of Baptism
The heart and soul of a church is found not in the “services rendered” but in the continual conversion of the community into Christ Jesus through Divine Liturgy, the encounters with Christ through authentic preaching, instruction and in a special way, the sacraments.
The great Easter Renewal is not concerned with the sports program or the social services provided. It calls for a renewal of love and therefore of harmony with the will of the Lord and His Body the Church. A lived-out love of God and of neighbor are the core of the Easter Renewal.
The Spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort is essentially intertwined with the Paschal mystery, for it demands total consecration to Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, or as Montfort expresses it, the perfect renewal of the vows of baptism. Perfect, for it demands a total surrender of all who we are, of all that we have. Perfect, for it is done the way that God willed to come to us, through the Yes of Mary. Selfishness, “need-friendship”, a “what do I get out of it” attitude have no place in Montfort Spirituality.
His teachings dovetail with the Easter call for a sincere, on-going conversion, for the renewal of our baptismal life in Christ Jesus. Like Mary we are to be “one heart” with the victorious, crucified redeemer. Only then can we speak of a true Easter Renewal, or as the pollster frame it, of a return to the Church.
