The Domestic Church’s ‘Year of the Interior Life’

Even though Catholic life in the United States is gradually beginning to bloom again as we return to ‘normal’, the faithful will always treasure the spiritual pennies from heaven they received as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. For many Catholic families, private Catholic initiatives opened up opportunities to pause, pay attention, process, and pray. Families and individuals listened to, interacted, and prayed with the authentic voices from the ‘who’s who’ in the Catholic world.

Lay communities, prayer groups, Catholic speakers, and artists swiftly moved in to cushion the impact from the shutting down of churches across the world. While a confounded hierarchical Church was still preaching the ‘unprecedented’ gospel, these lay faithful took to Zoom video calls, and social media, determined, come hell or high water, to live and help others live their Christian calling to the hilt. Here, here and here are three outstanding examples. Several Catholics found more time to spend on regular Catholic television, podcasts, webinars, and other shows. Faithful local priests too launched initiatives on social media for spiritual enrichment, connection, and solidarity.

The Convergent Church: Catholic Families and Intellectuals

The shutdown made some of these otherwise expensive opportunities readily accessible to participants, for free. People found the space, and a sense of security to ask some of the questions which had nagged them about the future of their faith in the light of the overall less-than-desirable response of the Church hierarchy to the COVID-19 crisis.

The discovery that even well-known lay Catholic personalities were unable to access bishops and priests provided for the vulnerability which makes solidarity authentic. Left with little or no pastoral attention, often clueless and cold-shouldered, the Domestic Church (or the ‘home church’) found in this unexpected nurture, the blessing of hope beyond imagination.

The home turned into the Upper Room, with “all in one place together.” (Acts 2:1) The family discovered itself as the Marian countenance of the Church, even as her (the Church’s) Petrine face seemed eclipsed by the dark clouds of the secular powers that be. The Marian Church waits there in prayer and praising—men, women, and children; the sheep and the shepherds of tomorrow. Each heart is still fertile from the grace of His final Supper, and His promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. (Read these, if you will, as the last Mass you joined, and the hope that churches will reopen one day.)

In an immediate sense, the Holy Spirit filled these faithful families through the fellowship of these numerous Catholic authors, apologists, theologians, preachers, therapists, and artists. They spoke prophetically, and personally. They spoke for the many; they shared wisdom and reminded of the fortitude that would help the home church navigate the stormy waters of their faith journey. The mundane, the mystic, and the missionary, all came together in the virtual space.

 The Observant Domestic Church

The role of the laity in the saving mission of the Church now seemed to assume a more radical dimension. Families, the members of which were satisfied lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, greeters, or other parish volunteers were now able to evaluate their role in the Church beyond their parochial imagination. Here are some things they recognized:

1. The Church is essentially incarnational. Without that quality, it is easy to literally ‘lose touch’ with one’s faith. Their restlessness was on account of the obstacle to the Sacraments that the lockdown placed.
2. Parish life is more than just being around the assembly of fellow parishioners. It is about being incorporated into the Body of Christ. The universality of the Catholic Church came to the fore.
3. Parishes that focused energies on gathering the lost into the fold, and bringing back the Sacraments in a safe yet urgent manner were doing better to sustain their flock in the long-term. Some got innovative for the sake of their congregation-turned-virtual audience. Of these, while some attempted to salvage the Christian message from the secular, a few (with no pastoral annotation whatsoever) quietly turned the sacred space of the church into a live-performance stage, or a “hotel lobby”, as a good bishop once observed.
4. Parish priests who were hands-on and interfaced with the faithful (pastoral video messages, ‘Stump the Pastor’ Facebook sessions, joining small group prayer meetings on Zoom, weekly faith instruction sessions) did better than the ones that had just their pastoral staff to manage the frontlines.
5. The more traditional practices (Eucharistic procession, Benediction, praying the Holy Rosary, or the Liturgy of the Hours; the use of Holy Water, and other sacramentals) supported the faithful cut off from the regular Sacramental life, helping them remain otherwise tangibly connected with their parishes. Overall, regular ongoing faith instruction to the faithful seemed to stand parishes in good stead during tough times.
6. The ‘common priesthood’ gained substantively more by going virtual than did ministerial priesthood.
7. There were new lines drawn in the Catholic ‘culture war’ (both priests and the faithful)—Those who believed churches must remain open, and the rest who wanted them to remain closed. Those who dug deeper into their faith, and the others who researched the virus, its spread, the death toll, cures, conspiracies, etc. Pastors who seized the moment to evangelize and connect with their flock, and the rest who let the opportunity pass. Thrown into sharp relief from each other were the fancy and faithful, the trendy and the traditional; the ones who trusted God as the source of both faith and reason, and the rest who grasped at one or the other.

Finally, we all realized how powerless and Spirit-starved our pastors and bishops really are. Many of us recognized tough times called for the radical victimhood of the priest but was found miserably wanting.

There also was a palpable return of clericalism (although perhaps it does not receive attention except in conjunction with clergy sex abuse coverups), only this time in tandem with the ‘Governor’s episcopacy’.

The Resurgent Domestic Church

Not every family under lockdown can be expected to have flourished in the spiritual life. More time on hand, or “close together at home” is not a blessing to every family. Yet, those having a faith life of any measure, whether active, dormant or under neglect, can hope to have a future. Here are some considerations for those who would like to pursue an interior life.

Jesus Himself establishes the superiority of interior life over the active life. When Martha hopes Jesus would admonish her sister Mary to help Martha in serving Jesus rather than sitting ‘idly’ listening to Jesus, He instead declares that Mary has the unum necessariam, the “one thing necessary”:

Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” – Cf. Luke 10:42

1. Intentionally devote more time to prayer—personal, family, and community. Increase the frequency of the Sacraments. Prayer is meant for everyone, not just for families in crisis, or the ones where everyone is cooperative. Hope for the unseen, and wait for it with endurance (Cf. Romans 8:25).
2. Be conscious of spiritual isolation. Seek out sincere and spiritual friendships, even though rare to find. “Love everyone with a strenuous love based on charity,” advises Saint Francis de Sales, “but form friendships only with those who can share virtuous things with you.” Sync up social media friendships, and real-life relationships. A friendship reliant only on electronic communication and interaction seldom lasts. Social media too is a place to practice one’s virtues, so hold on to them at all times.
3. Seek out a holy and reliable spiritual director, and a confessor. They can be the same or different persons. Keep a journal of your spiritual progress, and questions.
4. Invest time and resources in conscience formation. Develop the habit of spiritual reading. Spouses can read out to each other, grand/parents can read out to children, and vice versa. Develop a healthy diet of spiritual and value-based entertainment and media-based spiritual formation.
5. Make lifestyle changes that assist in your pursuit of the spiritual life. Are there hobbies or involvements that do not support or reflect your Catholic faith? Reject them ruthlessly.
6. Plan for a spiritual retreat in a good retreat center that suits your needs and state/stage of life. Avoid retreat centers and retreat directors that are New Age, syncretic, or merely tickle your senses. Is food the main attraction in a particular retreat? Perhaps that is the retreat to avoid if you are about purging your old lifestyle.
7. Consider belonging to a lay Catholic community/movement. There are plenty to choose from— Opus Dei, The Schoenstatt Movement, Couples for Christ, Emmanuel Community, Jesus Youth, Focolare Movement, Apostoli Viae, etc., or the Third Order of a religious order, or the lay apostolate of a congregation. Find one from around your area that is a good fit for your family’s spiritual needs. Attend community meetings regularly, focus on lifelong spiritual formation, and take forward the Gospel message in a manner your state of life allows.
8. Support faithful priests who, at all times, seek to lead people to the heart of Jesus through the Word and Sacrament. Examine whether your interactions with them aid or impede holy perseverance in their priesthood. Maintain a respectful distance from decidedly trendy and secularized priests. Respect and pray for them at all times. If faced with the choice of a new parish, look for one which is a ‘teaching parish’, with a focus on authentic Catholic catechesis and praxis.
9. Speak with your children about the various vocations. Support priestly vocations. Appropriately involve and educate your children (avoiding cynicism) in what they must know about the various ills that plague the Catholic Church. Otherwise, they may become disillusioned and disengaged once they step out into the world without your support.
10. Consciously support Catholic ministries in your parish. It is desirable for your ministry involvement to be an overflow of your Sacramental life. A Catholic parish and Catholic people do not necessarily mean the ministry is Catholic. Consciously balance between Spiritual Works of Mercy and Corporal Works of Mercy. What charities do you support? Are you sending out a Samaritan’s Purse shoebox to an unknown land, or are you giving drink to the thirsty in your own neighborhood? Does the charity operate with traditional values? Do they support abortion, contraception, LGBTQ?

The Domestic Church at My Address

The corruption around us leads us away from the heart of Jesus. It seems normal to add a drop of poison into what is pure food; a touch of secular culture into what is sacramental; a ‘one-night stand’ into a covenantal bond.

Perhaps my family and yours are helpless in stopping this decay. What, however, is within our control (if we give our reins over to Jesus) is our own personal conversion. Therefore, my family resolved to take a deep breath, and go deeper within.

On the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle (May 14^th), my family began our own ‘Year of the Interior Life’. This special Year will run through the Feast of the Pentecost (May 23, 2021).

Apostle Matthias was chosen to join The Eleven, replacing Judas, the betrayer of our Lord. Very little is known about Matthias. Yet there is a lot in the little. As the family embarks on this ‘Year of the Interior Life’, we hope this ‘lot’ falls in our favor.

The criteria identified by Peter in the choosing of the new twelfth apostle: Someone “who accompanied us the whole time” (Cf. Acts 1:21).

The idea of invoking the day of Saint Matthias to start this journey is so we choose to accompany Christ and His Apostles, not randomly, not just when convenient, not just during a shutdown, but “the whole time”, all the time, forever.