Vicki Burbach

A Faith Rooted in History

Through her living Tradition, the Church has preserved and handed down the Sacred Scriptures, the teachings of the Apostles, and the mode for celebrating the Sacraments.

by Fr. Jeff Loseke

As a seminarian in Rome, I used to lead English-speaking pilgrims on a faith-filled tour of St. Peter’s Basilica on a weekly basis. One of the highlights of the Vatican Basilica is the magnificent dome, which rises 448 ft above the floor. It is set directly over the main altar, which itself is set directly over altars from the 7^th to the 12^th centuries on the crypt level of the basilica. These altars themselves are situated directly above another monument from the first century that marks the gravesite of the Apostle Peter. The ancient Roman cemetery that lies beneath St. Peter’s Basilica was unwittingly preserved by Emperor Constantine, when he buried the cemetery in order to create the foundation for the first church built over the site of Peter’s tomb. Excavations carried out between 1939 and 1949 unearthed the ancient cemetery once again and confirmed the Church’s memory that the basilica was indeed built directly over the Apostle’s grave.

As we trace the history of the Church back through the centuries, we are reminded of the truth of St. Paul’s words in his first letter to the Corinthians that the Christian faith has been—and continues to be—passed on from one generation to the next through the lived Tradition: “For I handed on to you… what I also received” (15:3). Through her living Tradition, the Church has preserved and handed down the Sacred Scriptures, the teachings of the Apostles, and the mode for celebrating the Sacraments. In a word, the Church of today continues to do what the Church of the first century did: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts of the Apostles 2:42).

Because 2,000 years separate us from the days when Jesus Christ walked among us in the flesh, the Christian of today can be tempted to doubt the authenticity of what has been passed down through the centuries by the Church. In fact, this temptation formed, in part, the impetus for the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago—that the Church had fallen off the rails and was in need of a complete overhaul. This is why knowledge of history is so important if we hope to stand strong in the true faith! The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us as part of our human history (cf. John 1:14; Matthew 1:1-25). Even more, Jesus promised that He would remain with His Church until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), that the Holy Spirit would keep her always in the truth and free from error (John 16:13), and that the power of hell shall never prevail over the Church (Matthew 16:18). Now it is our turn. We must be open to receiving the deposit of faith as it has been passed down to us by the Church for centuries. In this way, we ourselves become a part of the living history of the Church. Then, and only then, do we participate in its authentic transmission to the next generation of believers. Truly, “we hold this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7) and so we must take great care with it.

The Reverend Jeffery S. Loseke is a Priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha and is currently the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Gretna, Nebraska. Ordained in 2000, Fr. Loseke holds a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome and is working to complete his doctoral degree (Ed.D.) in interdisciplinary leadership through Creighton University in Omaha. In addition to parish ministry, Fr. Loseke has served as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force, taught high school theology and college-level philosophy, and has been a presenter for various missions, retreats, and diocesan formation days across the country.

Photo: St. Peter’s Basilica, Dome, 2014 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Church’s Apostolic Charity

As agents of Christ in the world, our approach to the world around us ought to be different than that of an unbeliever.

by Fr. Jeff Loseke

When Jesus established the apostolic ministry among His own Apostles, He commanded them to continue His mission of reconciliation in the world. We see this most clearly expressed by Jesus in His appearances to the Apostles after the Resurrection (e.g., Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21-23). Not only did He command them to preach “repentance, for the forgiveness of sins” (cf. Luke 24:47) but also He gave them a share in His very power so as to effect it. The Apostles, once filled with the Holy Spirit, went out and began building up the Church, the Body of Christ on earth.

Saint Paul reminds us that, “It was he [Christ] who gave some to be apostles… to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God…” (Ephesians 4:11-13). As Jesus’ disciples today, we have benefited from the witness of the Apostles and have been gathered together in virtue of our common baptism. Our mandate is clear: we must be active in “works of service.” Anyone who has heard the Gospel and has been taught how to live as a disciple cannot ignore the prompting of the Spirit to put his or her faith into action. Through our works of charity, we participate with the Apostles in transforming the world and communicating Christ’s presence wherever we go. As agents of Christ in the world, our approach to the world around us ought to be different than that of an unbeliever. The way we conduct our business, participate in our communities, and raise our families ought to show others how Christ Himself would do such things. Living more like Christ will draw us more and more together and overcome the divisions our sins have caused.

As Catholics, we recognize that the apostolic ministry itself has been shared with the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops today, through the laying on of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Timothy 1:1-2,6). We are confident that the Apostolic line has remained unbroken for 2,000 years and that Christ’s ministry remains present and active in His Church today. All of us who have benefited from the Apostolic ministry—especially through the preaching of the Word and the reception of the Sacraments—must take up our own part in the Church’s apostolate. Through our works of charity, we reveal to the world that Jesus Christ is indeed risen from the dead and that He desires to draw the whole world to Himself for salvation.

Art: Saint Luke Catholic Church (Danville, Ohio) – tympanum painting – Immaculate Heart, Charity, 2016 (Wikimedia Commons)

Can You Be “Spiritual but not Religious”?

In truth, the relationship between religion and spirituality is not unlike the relationship shared between body and soul. To posit, then, that one could be spiritual without being religious would be like saying that one could possess a soul and yet have no need for a body.

by Fr. Jeff Loseke

During a recent trip to a secular bookstore, I noticed that the section labeled “Religion” did not seem quite as expansive as I had remembered it once being. Exploring the situation further, I discovered that some of the very shelves that once held the tomes of Christianity and Judaism had given way to an increasing repertoire of books organized in categories such as “Magical Studies,” “Inspiration,” and “Spirituality”. This shift in the popular demand for these kind of books does not indicate necessarily that people are becoming less spiritual. Rather, it seems that our society today is becoming far less Christian or, at least, less religious than it used to be.

Human beings are by their very nature spiritual beings. Every one of us has probably encountered someone along the way who professes to be “spiritual but not religious.” Not only should we regard a statement like this as utter absurdity, but also we should reject it and even denounce it as a violence committed against the soul. In truth, the relationship between religion and spirituality is not unlike the relationship shared between body and soul. To posit, then, that one could be spiritual without being religious would be like saying that one could possess a soul and yet have no need for a body. The harsh reality, however, is that the separation of soul from body results always in death. A body without a soul is a lifeless cadaver. A soul without a body is a helpless ghost. Similarly, religion without spirituality is lifeless; spirituality without religion is fruitless. Rather than separate the two, we must strive to maintain their unity.

As Catholics, we embrace both religiosity and spirituality. Our faith and good works must truly harmonize the interior movements of spirituality with the exterior movements of religion. Religion is the body that gives expression to one’s spirituality, and spirituality is the soul that gives life to one’s religion. Certainly, just as we have met those who claim to be spiritual but not religious, so too have we have encountered those who are religious but possess no spirituality. These folks are like the Pharisees, going through all the motions of religion but lacking the charity that ought to motivate them. Saint Paul describes them as noisy gongs and clanging cymbals (cf. 1 Cor 13:1). Both soulless religiosity and spirituality-without-religion are destructive to the life of faith. The faithful of the Church are called, then, to give witness to the true religion that fulfills Christ’s command of worshiping in spirit and in truth (cf. Jn 4:24).

Art: Saint Peter’s Basilica at Night, 2007 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Terrible Beauty of God’s Love

Despite our complete inadequacy before God, we know that He desires that we open up ourselves in order to give ourselves to Him to the best of our abilities—even if it falls short. Love requires an openness that makes one vulnerable.

by Fr. Jeff Loseke

There is nothing more beautiful—and more terrifying—than to reflect upon the love of God. God’s love is so beautiful and so terrifying because God’s love is utterly real. It is not merely an emotion, a thought, or an ideal. Rather, the love of God is His very self. To stand before the love of God is to stand before Him who made us and who knows us better than we could ever know ourselves. Despite our complete inadequacy before God, we know that He desires that we open up ourselves in order to give ourselves to Him to the best of our abilities—even if it falls short. Love requires an openness that makes one vulnerable.

As human beings, we do such a good job covering up our weaknesses and donning various armors and defense mechanisms all for the sake of protecting our weak and vulnerable selves. On the one hand, we desire love and intimacy. On the other hand, we want to remain in control. We struggle with weakness—both in ourselves and in others. We are often perturbed by our own lack of strength and fortitude, and we are not always gentle and understanding with the weaknesses and shortcomings of others. And so, as an antidote, we must look to the Cross.

The Cross of Jesus Christ is God’s most perfect communication of His love for us. On the Cross, Jesus chose to become weak, broken, despised, and even forgotten. What an act of faith to look at Jesus’ Cross and see God there! To the nonbeliever, one would see only a criminal, beaten beyond recognition, guilty of treason, and left to die on an instrument of profound humiliation and torture. He is a loser, defeated… and yet, in that total emptying of self, He gives all, and He gains all. This is the truth about love, which makes little sense to our secular society that is driven primarily by feelings, emotions, and personal desires.

To understand and relish the truth about love requires one to spend time studying, digesting, and even entering into a relationship with the truth. I use the word relationship to highlight this reality because if God is truth, then to know and relish the truth is to know and relish one’s relationship with God. That relationship, however, ought not to collapse in on itself, however. Therefore, to translate the truth into the way one lives his or her life is necessary for love to be complete. Love must bear fruit, give life, and bring people together. It must be relational, fruitful, and affect the way we live our lives—for God and for others. This is the mystery of love, the mystery of God, and the mystery of the human person. To be open and vulnerable before another in total self-gift is to be real. This is what makes God’s love both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

Art: Christ, helped by angels, decorates the believer’s heart wit, 2014 (Wikimedia Commons)

Only the Sinless Enjoy True Freedom

As we approach our nation’s Independence Day, we have much for which to be grateful. Fundamentally, our gratitude stems from the recognition that the blessings we enjoy in this country do not come from ourselves.

by Fr. Jeff Loseke

Whenever we read or watch the world news, we are reminded just how uncommon the freedom is that we possess and celebrate here in the United States. There are countless many people across our globe who yearn to be able to live in peace and to pursue happiness in their own homelands, and there are countless others who would risk even their own lives to come to America to experience it. As we approach our nation’s Independence Day, we have much for which to be grateful. Fundamentally, our gratitude stems from the recognition that the blessings we enjoy in this country do not come from ourselves. It was someone else’s sacrifice, someone else’s struggle that won the independence we so cherish. As Christians, we can give thanks further for the ultimate gift of freedom that was purchased for us by Jesus’ one Sacrifice on the Cross. His Sacrifice fulfills all others, and, moreover, it infuses all other sacrifices with the power to defeat evil. Not only are we given the gift of freedom, but we are invested with its responsibility as well. All those who have been baptized are now sharers in the work of Christ in bringing this freedom of salvation to the whole world (cf. Col 1:24).

The idea of “freedom”, however, often gets muddled in our increasingly individualistic society, and many understand it to mean: the ability to do whatever one chooses. On the contrary, “freedom” is more precisely defined as: the ability to choose the good. As a people redeemed by Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross, we have been set free from the tyranny of sin and death… if only we cooperate with Him through the choices we make and the lives we live (cf. Gal 5:1). When we choose the good, we enjoy true freedom. When we give in to temptation and choose evil, we become slaves to sin and lose the freedom won for us by Jesus’ Precious Blood. The greater the freedom, the greater the responsibility. We must recognize in our Independence Day celebrations that not only do we enjoy many freedoms, but also we have many responsibilities. Liberty always comes at the price of someone’s blood: for our nation it was the blood of many brave soldiers, for humanity it was the Blood of the Son of God.

The picnics and parades and family gatherings around the barbecue this coming week help us to appreciate what we possess in freedom and also serve to draw us out of our individualism into the communion we have with one another. They also remind us of our responsibilities to each another. While no one of us may be able to bring about peace in the Middle East or resolve the problems of the whole world, we can make our little corners of the world better places to live. To that end, we must reflect upon our own areas of responsibility—home, community, workplace, etc.—and recommit to making those places free of sin and temptation. By extending the victory of the Cross, we extend boundaries of freedom itself.

Art: Flags by Childe Hassam, 1918 (Wikimedia Commons)

The “Jesus Fish”: It’s All Greek to Me

Since Greek was the unofficial language of the time, it, therefore, became the first language of Christianity—so much so that the entire New Testament was originally written in Greek.

by Fr. Jeff Loseke

Today, the most recognizable symbol of Christianity is a cross. This once-popular method of execution by the Romans was forever changed after Jesus conquered His own crucifixion by rising from the dead. Interestingly, the cross was not one of the principal symbols the first Christians used to identify themselves as followers of Jesus, however. Why not? Probably because it was far too obvious. To publicly declare oneself a Christian, especially during the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries, was a crime punishable by death. While many believers publicly professed their faith when pressed to do so, they were not necessarily in the habit of volunteering such information. This was by no means an act of cowardice, but rather an act of prudence.

Rather than openly advertise their Christian beliefs with a cross, they utilized less obvious, though deeply meaningful symbols to identify themselves to one another. For example, they would impose the Greek letters Chi (X) and Rho (P) atop one another in the now familiar traditional symbol for Christ. They did so because these are the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ. Incidentally, this is why the letter Chi (X) is used even today as an abbreviation for Christ (e.g., Xmas for Christmas, Xianity for Christianity, etc.). Another common ancient Christian symbol—often seen today on the backs of vehicles—is the fish. This clever innovation, used by our Christian ancestors, makes an acronym out of the first letters of the phrase, “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior,” which spell “ichthus,” the Greek word for “fish”. Thus, the symbol came to represent Christians in the first centuries.

So why all this Greek in early Christianity? Under the Roman Empire, while Latin was spoken as the official language, Greek was more commonly spoken among its subjects. Indeed, many of the Jews of the Diaspora spoke Greek better than they did Hebrew. These Greek-speaking Jews, along with Greek-speaking pagans, became the more likely candidates for conversion to Christianity than many of the Hebrew-speaking Jews of Israel. Since Greek was the unofficial language of the time, it, therefore, became the first language of Christianity—so much so that the entire New Testament was originally written in Greek. This is why we hear Jesus describe Himself in Revelation as “the Alpha and the Omega,” the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Furthermore, even the liturgy pays homage to our Greek-speaking roots by retaining one of the oldest titles for Jesus in its original Greek: Kurios, which means “Lord”. Remember, in order to avoid uttering the Holy Name of God unnecessarily, faithful Jews would substitute the title “Lord” for God’s Name. By using this same title, the first Christians were professing that Jesus Christ is the same Lord, the same God of Israel. It is Greek we speak, not Latin, when we say, “Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.”

Art: Hörnse kyrka auf Gotland. Chorportal: Fische by Wolfgang Sauber, 2007 (Wikimedia Commons)

Making an Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart

by Fr. Jeff Loseke

This Friday, June 23^rd, is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the one hand, it is a feast day that reminds us of God’s great love for His people; at the same time, it is a feast that acknowledges humanity’s failure to love God fully in return. Without the Savior loving both us and the Father to the end, we would not be redeemed. Not only did Jesus willingly lay down His life for our salvation, but also He allowed His very heart to be pierced by a lance. With that final act of man’s rejection of the Father’s love, God could have poured out judgment upon the centurion and upon the whole world for the death of His Son. Instead, God willed that blood and water—symbols of the Eucharist and Baptism—should flow from Christ’s wounded Heart to bring healing and conversion to sinful humanity. No matter how many times humanity has offended and rejected God, He has always been ready to meet us with mercy and forgiveness.

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart, then, is a fitting day for the whole Church to offer an Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart for the many sins committed against the love of God. Certainly, upon the Cross, Christ the Head has offered the one Sacrifice that redeems humanity. Nevertheless, as members of His Body, we recognize that each of us is called to make atonement for sin so that the whole Christ—Head and members—are united in the work of salvation. With St. Paul, we ought to be able to say: “In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His Body, which is the Church” (Col 1:24). The Blessed Virgin Mary already shows us how to do this. She is the type and model of the Church’s participation in the work of salvation, for she stands beneath the Cross of her Son and unites her Immaculate Heart to His Sacred Heart.

In this week between the Solemnities of Corpus Christi and the Most Sacred Heart, every Catholic ought to be especially aware of his or her participation in the work of salvation and, in communion with Jesus Christ and the whole Church, strive to offer oneself to the Father in reparation for sin. I encourage each member of the Body of Christ to offer the Act of Reparation (see below) in these days leading up to the feast of the Sacred Heart. Hopefully, on the day itself, pastors will lead their people in a public recitation of this Act of Reparation. Indeed, the Church grants a plenary indulgence to the Christian faithful who publicly recite the “Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart” on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. (In all other cases and at all other times, the indulgence is partial.) In order to merit a plenary indulgence—either for oneself or for one who has died—the following conditions must be met: (1) Be free of all attachment to sin, even venial sin; (2) Perform the indulgenced work; and (3) Receive sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, and pray for the Pope’s intentions (e.g., by reciting an Our Father and a Hail Mary) within several days (about 20) before or after carrying out the indulgenced work. (Only one plenary indulgence may be merited per day. One sacramental Confession will suffice for several plenary indulgences; however, a separate Communion and separate prayers for the Holy Father’s intentions are required for each plenary indulgence.)

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart (from The Handbook of Indulgences)

Most loving Jesus, how great is the love which You have poured out upon the world. How casual and careless is our response! Kneeling before You, we wish to atone for the indifference and the slights which pierce You to the heart.