Issues

This is an another article by The Rev. Dr. Robert Rawson, Ph.D. in Clinical Christian Psychology, Lic. Clinical Pastoral Counselor - Adv. Cert. currently based in Wimberly, Texas

Think about it for a moment.  If you faced a situation----a disease, a house ablaze, a tornado----that created within you the fear that you were about to die, what would be your thoughts?  Your job?  Bank account?  Prestige?  Dirty dishes in the sink?  Your upcoming vacation? 

Probably not!  You would be like many others in concluding that, next to your relationship with God, the bottom line of life is family.  Our family is our most important responsibility, achievement, and legacy.  We are confronted daily with evidence that the quality of family life is crucial to our happiness, emotional well-being, and mental health.

Healthy, happy families have six common characteristics: 

            Commitment - This creates the warm, loving environment in which family members grow.  It offers a harbor that shelters family members from the destructive forces of fear, anxiety, and loneliness.  At the heart of commitment to the family unit is dedication to the marriage relationship.  God sees the commitment of husband and wife to each other as so crucial to families that He robustly condemns any violation of that marital commitment.  Commitment means to be there and not abandon each other.  But it goes further.  It says, “We will do whatever it takes to love each other as we should.” 

            Appreciation - Expressions of appreciation and affection permeate relationships in strong families.  God has made it known that He wants to be appreciated and told of that appreciation (Remember the story of Jesus and the ten lepers?).  Members of strong families express appreciation to each other by thanking each other for everyday things (as well as the big stuff), by seeing the good qualities in each other, by encouraging each other, and by sharing gentle humor and affection.  They are sincere and lavish in their affirmations of each other. 

            Communication - No one wants to feel all alone in the world.  Feeling all alone carries a mixture of terror and despair.  Elijah felt all alone but God assured him that he was not alone (1 King 19:10-18).  Every person needs to know that he or she is part of a whole.  Communication is the process through which this sense of belonging is related.  Communication helps us feel connected to other people through the exchange of information.  It also helps with solving problems and resolving conflicts in constructive ways. 

            Time Together - Chances are, our best memories are of simple times shared with our family and friends---times that probably did not require lots of money or elaborate preparations.  Read in Ecclesiastes and hear Solomon’s view that most of us waste time.  Solomon tried pleasure, riches, fame, sex, and all other pursuits common to mankind.  He finally concluded that we should live simply, concentrating on those things that are truly important.  Members of strong families spend much time together playing, working, talking, having fun, and just hanging out together.  They have resolved the current debate over quality time versus quantity of time.  Families need both: Families need large quantities of good quality time to flourish.  Many things demand our time, therefore, that time becomes a precious gift we give to our loved ones. 

            Ability To Cope With Stress And Crises - People in strong families still live in a real world.  They encounter the same daily strains and frustrations as everyone else; they also experience the major crises of life such as serious illness, loss of a job, death, or natural disaster.  They have an ability to deal with both stress and crises in ways that are effective.  They manage to make it through.  People in strong families call on their commitment to each other and their good communication skills to help them work out ways to get through their difficulties.  They pull together.  They manage to see some good in the situation---no matter how bleak it may be.  Sometimes, the only good in the situation is that they have each other to rely on.  They rely heavily on their faith in God in difficult times. 

            Spiritual Well-Being - The importance of a spiritual center can not be overstated when it comes to strong families.  Reliance upon a power above and beyond themselves is the glue that holds families together and makes them strong.  Jesus talked about the importance of building our “house” on the right foundation (Matt.    7:24, 25).  Spiritual foundations give meaning and purpose to life: freedom from anxiety, guilt, fear, and low self-esteem as well as a hopeful, confident outlook.  Connections with other people who share our religious beliefs give support and encouragement during difficult times.  Spiritual foundations offer many guidelines for daily living.  Forgiveness, patience, kindness, honesty, and helping others are all taught as virtues.  Families with strong spiritual well-being know that God is there watching, caring, loving, and guiding.  They know they can turn to God at any time for guidance (James 1:5).  When people believe in these basic truths and abide by them, their lives have direction and they can know what is right and what is wrong.  They have learned the value of putting God’s Word into practice.  As James said, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). 

Source:  The Soul Care Bible, Dr. Tim Clinton, Executive Editor, Thomas Nelson Publishers 

Father Robert Rawson, Ph.D., LCPC-AC

Benedictine Oblate Chaplain/Spiritual Director

Have you heard of the Syriac Catholic Church? Bishop Garner received an interesting question regarding the similarities between the HCCWR and the Syriac Catholic Church.

Question: I came across an interesting conversation about the differences between various Christian churches.  One of your members gave me a very interesting statement about his Church that sounded very much like the Syriac Catholic Church that was just activated in Jacksonville. Is that true? 

Jim Z

Answer: The Holy Catholic Church - Western Rite is identical in doctrine to the Syriac Catholic Church, and indeed to all Eastern Churches, since we, like them, adhere to the Holy Tradition of the Undivided Church. This means that we maintain the teachings of the Church established during the first thousand years of its existence, with nothing added or taken away. 

How does somebody become a Saint? 

“I see they are digging up Cardinal Newman”,  someone remarked to me. This was intriguing enough to investigate further, and I discovered that the remains of John Henry Newman are indeed going to be disinterred as part of his progress towards sainthood. So how exactly does this business of making someone a Saint actually work? 

It seems that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox have different procedures.  In the Roman Catholic Church the person is 'canonized'. Only the Pope can authorize this, and it is usually the conclusion of a long process that starts with a group of people (or even an individual) petitioning a bishop to open an investigation into the virtues of the candidate. (The Vatican never begins the process itself.)  The bishop is usually the Diocesan of the place where the candidate died. This investigation may normally start no sooner than five years after the death of the person being investigated, although the pope has the authority to waive this five year waiting period, as was done for Mother Teresa by Pope John Paul II. 

If the bishop gives permission, a guild or organization to promote the 'Cause' of the candidate's sainthood is created. In effect this is a campaigning group who will 'push' the process as effectively as it can.  There will be a rigorous search of the candidate's writings, speeches and sermons (if any),  a detailed biography will be written, and any eyewitness accounts will be recorded. When sufficient preliminary information has been gathered (and this can take a long time), the investigation of the candidate, who is now called "Servant of God", is presented by the local bishop to the Vatican – or specifically to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. If they are sufficiently impressed the Congregation will then appoint a 'Postulator', whose task is to gather further evidence about the life of the Servant of God. 

At some point, permission will be granted for the body of the Servant of God to be exhumed and examined, and relics are taken. When the Congregation is satisfied that enough evidence has been gathered, it will recommend to the Pope that he make a proclamation of the Candidate's 'heroic virtue' (that is, that the Servant displayed the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, to an extraordinary degree). 

If the process is successful the candidate is now referred to by the title "Venerable". At this stage the church has made no statement on the candidate's probable or certain presence in heaven, but the faithful may pray  for a miracle wrought by his or her intercession as a sign of God's will that the person be canonized. 

The next stage is 'beatification', which is a statement by the Church that it is "worthy of belief" that the person is in heaven, having come to salvation. How beatification takes place depends on whether or not the Venerable is a martyr. For a martyr, the pope has only to make a declaration of martyrdom, a certification that the venerable gave his or her life voluntarily as a witness for the faith and/or in an act of heroic charity for others.  This gives the Venerable the new title "Blessed". 

If the Venerable was not a martyr it must be proved that a miracle has taken place by his or her intercession - that is, that God has performed a miracle in response to the candidate's prayers. Today, these are almost always  miraculous cures, as these are the easiest to establish based on the Catholic Church's requirements for a "miracle." (The patient was sick, there was no known cure for the ailment, prayers were directed to the Venerable, the  patient was cured, the cure was spontaneous, instantaneous, complete and  lasting, and doctors cannot find any natural explanation.) 

For the final stage – Canonization - one more miracle is necessary. If this is proved a Papal declaration is made, and the new saint is assigned a feast day. 

The Orthodox Church has a different process. The 'Glorification' of saints is considered to be an act of God, not a declaration by the Church. The official recognition of saints grows from the consensus of the church. The belief is that when an individual who has been sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit dies God may choose to glorify the individual through the manifestation of miracles. If so, the devotion to the saint will normally grow from the grass roots level. Eventually, miracles will have grown to such a degree that a formal Service of Glorification will take place. A Glorification may be performed by any Bishop within his Diocese. Usually there will be a formal investigation to be sure that the individual is Orthodox in his or her faith, has led a life worthy of emulation, and that the reports of miracles attributed to their intercessions can be verified. 

The Glorification service does not "make" the individual a saint; rather, the Church is simply making a formal acknowledgment of what God has already manifested. Martyrs in the Orthodox Church need no formal Glorification; the witness of their self-sacrifice is sufficient. 

Incidentally, the Anglican Church has added only one Saint to the Calendar – the martyr King Charles 1.  Anglicans do, however, recognize several 'Servants of God', including such figures as Alfred the Great, Archbishop Laud, George Herbert and John Keble.