{"id":34846,"date":"2016-11-15T13:57:09","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T19:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=34846"},"modified":"2016-11-15T13:57:09","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T19:57:09","slug":"liturgy-and-fortitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/15\/liturgy-and-fortitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Liturgy and Fortitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides this definition of fortitude in no. 1808: \u201cFortitude <\/em>is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.\u201d In post-election America\u2014a time of fear for many\u2014I offer some reflections on liturgy and fortitude.<\/p>\n

Fear is often fear of the other.\u00a0 This \u201cother\u201d may speak a language different from mine.\u00a0 His skin complexion might be different.\u00a0 She might come from another country.\u00a0 The feast celebrated this coming Sunday, however, is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.\u00a0 It is not the Solemnity of My Lord Jesus Christ, King of Me and Mine.\u00a0 The day\u2019s second reading declares: \u201cFor in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile *all things* for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.\u201d\u00a0 When we gather this Sunday, or any Sunday, or on any occasion to praise God in word and ritual, we manifest this reconciliation\u2014incompletely and imperfectly, to be sure, but also truly.<\/p>\n

Mark Searle put it this way:<\/p>\n

This \u2018company of strangers\u2019 will often have little in common beyond our common humanity and the Spirit poured into our hearts in baptism.\u00a0 This Body of Christ, in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave nor free (Gal 3:28), cannot be true to itself if its unity is predicated on ethnic heritage, male bonding, socio-economic status, or the intimacy of first-name friendships.\u00a0 Indeed, the Body is most clearly visible for what it is when its members are most aware of their social divisions (male vs. female, rich vs. poor, black vs. white), and at the same time committed to not letting those divisions stand between them and not letting the solidarity within those divisions supplant the primary unity created by baptism.*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In other words, Christians are invited (indeed, summoned!) to acknowledge difference without fearing difference.\u00a0 Gathering for worship summons us not to fear the other.<\/p>\n

We can ask ourselves about the ways in which our worship space is indeed hospitable to all, whether this means accommodations for those with mobility impairments, the deaf, the blind, or hospitality regardless of race and ethnic background.\u00a0 We can also use times of worship to ask for the fortitude of the Crucified One\u2014the Son of God who loved the Other who was not God\u2014as we confront hostility (our own or that of friends, neighbors and strangers) to the racial, cultural, religious, and sexual other.\u00a0 Do we experience our liturgies as (re)empowering our fortitude to resist the temptation of hating the other and \/ or of responding to hate with hate?\u00a0 Or do our liturgies mask the ways in which we are complicit in generating and maintaining fear and hate in our world?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Mark Searle, Called to Participate: Theological, Ritual, and Social Perspectives<\/em>, eds. Barbara Searle and Anne Koester (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2006), 75.\u00a0 Searle is borrowing the phrase \u2018company of strangers\u2019 from Parker Palmer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do we experience our liturgies as (re)empowering our fortitude to resist the temptation of hating the other and \/ or of responding to hate with hate? Or do our liturgies mask the ways in which we are complicit in generating and maintaining fear and hate in our world?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3053,187],"tags":[3049],"class_list":["post-34846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgy-and-virtue","category-social-justice","tag-gathering"],"yoast_head":"\nLiturgy and Fortitude - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/15\/liturgy-and-fortitude\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liturgy and Fortitude - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do we experience our liturgies as (re)empowering our fortitude to resist the temptation of hating the other and \/ or of responding to hate with hate? 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