Every Day Catholic - Roman Catholic Saints, Christian Inspiration, Bible Lessons -©2004 December

Being Catholic is not something that happens to us overnight. It takes work and it takes practice—a lot more than just an hour a week, even an hour a week in church! It's really the task of a lifetime.

What makes one Catholic? In one sense, a person becomes Catholic by receiving the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist—just as a person becomes married by celebrating the Sacrament of Matrimony. But as any married person will tell you, the wedding ceremony itself doesn't make a marriage. To really become what one promised in the wedding vows takes time and lots of hard work.

Similarly, one doesn't take on Catholic identity merely by receiving the sacraments of Christian initiation. Like marriage, Catholic identity requires time and effort. Catholic identity, like marriage, is about love. And love is an art.

Years ago, when I was in music school, I would spend hour after hour at the piano learning the two pieces required for the end-of-semester recital. After weeks of practice I could play those two pieces rather well. But just because I could play two songs didn't mean that I was an artist at the piano! A real artist isn't limited to a couple of pieces. Artists can play all the pieces.

Similarly, to be good at the art of Catholic loving you have to be able to love "all the pieces." You have to be able to love everyone—even as God loves everyone and invites people of every race, language and way of life to the great Nuptial Banquet of the Kingdom.

Love everybody? While this may seem impossible—beyond our human capability—it is at the heart of Catholic identity. Our Catholic vocation is essentially a call to be a lover, a great lover, just as Jesus was. Following Jesus doesn't mean that we have to become carpenters or fishermen or charismatic preachers. Following Jesus means that we have to become great lovers!

Jesus was a real artist when it came to loving. He could play all the pieces: He could love the rich people and the poor people, the saints and the sinners. As a sign of that universal love he opened his arms on the cross and shed his covenant blood "for you and for all."

Clearly, we don't arrive at this Catholic, all-embracing level of artistry overnight. When learning to play the piano, one starts with easy pieces and gradually works up to the harder ones. The same is true with the art of loving: We start with the easier pieces (loving our parents, spouses, children, friends, neighbors, etc.) and gradually work up to the harder pieces (the people who "are not like us"—whether that means people who don't look like us or don't have the same values we have or do things we would never do).

And this loving is not just a "feeling good about" or a "wish you well." The loving that lies at the core of Catholic identity leads to concrete acts: embracing the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the prisoner. It requires working for peace. It involves concern for the earth. It demands justice for the poor.

And because the objects of our loving are human, limited and sinful, our loving will most certainly entail forgiveness: both forgiving and being forgiven. We who follow Jesus are called to announce the Kingdom of God by being ambassadors of reconciliation and instruments of peace.

The Eucharist is the marvelous sign of Catholic identity. The Eucharist takes us who eat and drink and embraces us into the Body of Christ. It fills us with the spirit of Christ so that we can truly become Catholic, universal, all-embracing lovers. It is in this Spirit that we come to know—really know and know deep within in that place where all decisions are formed—that we are our truest selves when we are living for others.

Father Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M., S.T.D., has a doctorate in liturgy and sacramental theology from the Institut Catholique of Paris. A popular writer and lecturer, Father Richstatter teaches courses on the sacraments at Saint Meinrad (Indiana) School of Theology. His latest book is The Sacraments: How Catholics Pray (St. Anthony Messenger Press).

This article ends Father Thomas Richstatter's yearlong series on Catholic identity. In 2005, Every Day Catholic will explore 12 key sayings of Jesus from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Writers for the series are Father William H. Shannon, Kathy Coffey and Bishop Robert Morneau.

Questions for Reflection:

• When are you most proud to be a Catholic?

• Loving everyone is at the core of what it means to be a Catholic. When have you found living out this love most difficult? Least difficult?

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FAMILY CORNER

Naming Our Values

By Judith Dunlap

I remember reading somewhere that unless a family consistently articulates its values, its members will assume the values of the culture around them. Perhaps there was a time (in TV's Ozzie and Harriet days) when that statement might not have been scary. But not now. Today if we want our children to grow up with Christian values we need to name those values as well as live them. If we want our youngsters to identify themselves as Catholics, we have to articulate that too.

One of our household rules was "no hats at the table." I remember hearing our middle son apologize to a friend by telling him that his dad had this "thing" about hats at the table. In truth, we had all sorts of "Dunlap do's and don'ts." Our rules and customs sometimes distinguished us from other families (TV families included), and gave us a reason to act out of sync with perhaps more prevalent, but not-so-Christian values.

We also need to name ourselves Catholic (not just Christian) and articulate what it means to be Catholic. For example, when you make the Sign of the Cross remind your children that this is often how Catholics begin and end their prayers. Celebrate your favorite saint's day and let your youngsters know that Catholics like to remember such feast days because saints are our heroes and heroines; they remind us of God's holiness. Help your children understand that they are Catholic just as they are a Smith or a Jones. Let them know Catholics have their own set of do's and don'ts.

Finally, make sure one of your family don'ts is having to be perfect. We don't want youngsters ever to think that mishaps or even big mistakes can separate them permanently from their family, including their Catholic family.

Do you want to put Christ back into your family's Christmas TV viewing but find yourself coming up dry with commercial TV and Blockbuster? Here are a couple of lesser-known but rewarding options. They come from The Adelante Project in New York. It uses the art of animated storytelling to share values with children.

Michael the Visitor is a timeless story by Leo Tolstoy retold in wonderful clay animation. In old Russia, a humble cobbler struggles to clothe and feed his wife and two children in the cold of winter, but he has run out of money and of animal hides to turn into boots that he might sell. The cobbler takes the last few rubles the family has and sets out to buy some hides.

He tries without success to collect money that is owed him by past customers, and the merchant who sells hides will not yield to giving credit. Trudging home in the freezing cold, the cobbler notices a naked man huddled by the side of the road. He passes him by before his conscience forces him to go back. He wraps the mystery man in his coat and brings him home (much to the dismay of his wife).

Soon the wife's anger melts, however, and she welcomes the stranger in. Michael, the stranger, becomes a part of the household, learning the trade of shoemaker and becoming expert at it.

When a rich and arrogant nobleman arrives to order special boots to be made of very special leather, the task is entrusted to Michael. What happens next eventually leads him to reveal that he is in fact an angel whom God has sent to earth to learn three lessons. Through the cobbler's family he learns those lessons: That love dwells in people, that it's not given to us to know our own needs and that true living is realized through love for one another.

Another clay animation video from the folks at Adelante tells a Charles Dickens story, The Chimes. Set in Victorian London on New Year's Eve, it is reminiscent of The Christmas Carol. A poor and humble mail carrier, used to being told in words and action, "Tony Veck, you had no business being born," is taught the meaning of hope through the bells that save his life. Other videos include the original story of Jesus' birth, The First Christmas, sensitively retold without being cloying.

Clay animation is a painstaking art form, and the resulting simplicity in the look of the characters in these videos and the roughness of their movement give the feeling that we are seeing a unique hand-made gift, not something off the shelf. The simplicity of the clay animation style allows for more reflective storytelling appropriate to the spiritual uplift of these minor literary classics.

There's a price to be paid, in inconvenience as well as cash, to rise above the limits of standard television fare. You'll have to order these videos directly by calling Karol Media, 1-800-884-0555, or by writing to The Adelante Project, 235 East 57th Street, NY, NY 10022.

Children of all ages can easily identify St. Nicholas�the man with the twinkling eyes, the smiling face and the ample body in the pillowed red suit. What he actually looked like is another matter, as are the many stories about him. In any case, his popularity prevails.

Probably born in southwestern Turkey, Nicholas became bishop of Myra in the fourth century. He was known as a man of charity with special love for the poor; a man devoted to serving the people, particularly children and families; a man committed to justice, prayer and fasting.

A well-known legend about him concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man�s window on three separate occasions so all the daughters could be married.

This legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint�s feast. In English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus.

Though St. Nicholas is associated with warmth and generosity and special affection for children, he lived during a dark period of history. In the third century the Church suffered great persecution at the hands of the Roman emperors. Nicholas was imprisoned and tortured, but survived. Decades later he attended the Council of Nicaea, where he voted with others to condemn the powerful heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Jesus.

Nicholas died and was probably buried at Myra; his remains were later moved to Bari. It has been said that he is one of the saints most depicted by Christian artists. His feast day is December 6.

Talk about typecasting! Bill Dickson was born to play St. Nicholas�or Santa Claus�or both. Not only because of his height, his beard and, he offers, "a potbelly too." And not just because he was ordained a permanent deacon (1980) on the feast of St. Nicholas.

Bill, a father, grandfather and great-grandfather, was spotted as perfect Santa Claus material 11 years ago while at the local YMCA in Nashville. A fellow swimmer asked if he could play Santa at a day-care center for needy children. He didn't need persuading.

But Deacon Dickson is no stereotypical department store Santa. He may resemble one in his costume, but for him it's a serious ministry. His appearances�most often before youngsters�always begin with a prayer in which he invites the children to join him in thanking God for the blessings in their lives and in finding ways to "help boys and girls all over the world."

Then, still dressed as Santa, he tells them a true story of a holy man named Nicholas who was known for his generosity. Well aware that he is speaking to children of many religious backgrounds or none at all, Deacon Dickson gently and simply introduces youngsters to a man who "had qualities we all should have." As Deacon Dickson told Every Day Catholic, "I'm trying, in Santa Claus form, to bring back St. Nicholas."

His ministry also involves visiting homes for seniors and making house calls for the sick. His favorite annual visit is to the preemie ward at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for poignant family photos.

Deacon Dickson and his beard are ready for the busy season. And again this year, God willing, he will "be a channel of God's grace."