Day 93. The Way of the Mystic; The Brother
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
Henry V, Shakespeare
A man cannot know himself fully without brotherhood. Close bonds call out the best in men – courage, loyalty, and the pursuit of excellence. Ask older men about the happiest days of their youth and you’ll hear tales of athletic teams, or fraternity life or the adventures of a military platoon. In short, you’ll hear about brotherhood.
Where is brotherhood? Wherever men are united in a common effort; wherever they become more as a unified whole than the sum of their individual selves; wherever a man forgets himself because he cares more about his brother’s success than his own: there is brotherhood. In every age and culture we see that men united for some great purpose find a satisfying joy in being together. When each gives everything he has for the cause, beyond all limits and endurance, there is no greater experience. Coaching legend Vince Lombardi observed, “I believe that man's greatest hour, in fact his finest fulfillment, is that moment when he has worked his heart out for a good cause and lies exhausted, but victorious, on the field of battle.” Only men united in brotherhood can know this fulfillment.
Brotherhood is a natural gift in men, but grace takes it higher. Looking at brotherhood with the eyes of faith, we find ourselves looking into the face of Jesus himself.
“Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (Jn. 20:17). On the day of his resurrection, when Jesus emerged from the tomb, he set forth the new relationship he shared with his disciples. He called them brothers. Pope Benedict XVI once wrote, “When Jesus calls his disciples ‘brothers’, then, it is something quite different from an ordinary rabbi speaking of his pupils. It is a decision for the future, for in these twelve the new People of God is being addressed; in them it is being designated as a people of brothers, a great new brotherhood” [1]. St. Paul tells us that this was the eternal plan of God: “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). We see then that Jesus, in the inaugural declaration of the New Covenant, invites us to enter his brotherhood. What is this new reality?
“…To my Father and your Father.” As his resurrection announcement makes clear, the brotherhood of Christ opens the way to the Fatherhood of God. Jesus who “fully reveals man to himself” (GS 22) opens the way to intimacy with the Father. Through our elder brother, we are heirs to the kingdom, no longer slaves. The sign of this honored status is the gift of the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:16).
We can speak of brotherhood in its broadest sense as this new identity Jesus offers to all who are baptized. But signs matter. In a particular way the sign and power of brotherhood is seen in communities of men who offer their lives fully, freely and forever to Christ. The religious brother is a man who understands and embraces his baptismal birthright as a son of God. Moreover he has been captured by Christ – called from among the faithful to follow Christ more closely, more radically, as a disciple. He takes on the character of Christ the brother – especially in his vows to the Lord lived out in the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. He joins himself with other men in bonds of fraternal unity and lives an austere life of prayer and self-denial in imitation of Jesus.
Why don’t you go all the way and become priests? This question is often heard by brothers. The reply goes to the heart of the mystery of vocation: God didn’t call us to be priests. The Church supports this conviction by stating that brotherhood: “…is a value in itself, apart from the sacred ministry” [2]. While priesthood reveals Christ as shepherd, teacher and healer, brotherhood reveals Christ’s kenosis as obedient and beloved son. In the person of the priest, Christ stands before humanity. In the person of the brother, humanity stands before Christ. Picture the Mass. While the priest brings Christ to the people, there remains an important question: what do the people bring to Christ? Brothers model the total self-emptying of the disciple who receives Christ joyfully from the hands of the priest. Signs matter. Today, perhaps, this sign matters most of all.
Religious brotherhood is a sign of contradiction. Many talk about brotherhood, but in our individualistic age not many can make it work. Instead we see splintered communities, divided governments and warring factions across the globe. How can our world be reconciled if there are not close-knit communities of brothers within the Church to show Christians and non-Christians that brotherhood is possible (John 17:20-23)? Once it was said of the Church that, “the community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:23). How can we reclaim this? When it comes to communion, we have to see it to be it. Again, signs matter.
Prayer is at the heart of Christian brotherhood. The brother is first and foremost a man of worship. He attends to the Lord night and day, in prayer and fasting and vigils. His life is a prayer, a fragrant offering pleasing to the Father. Further, the brother dedicates all his earthly resources – his strength, his gifts, his fruitfulness, his wealth – to the pursuit of heaven. Among others of like mind he is urged onward in faithfulness and holiness. He exhorts and is exhorted. He corrects and stands corrected. He encourages, challenges, and summons his brothers to live out the fullness of their baptismal grace, and he receives the same in turn (Heb. 10:24).
Prayer leads to action. A brother is poor and always lives with the poor. He has neither silver or gold, but only the power of Jesus’ name (Acts 3:6) and the liberating force of the Gospel (Mt. 11:5). He is available to the confused, a friend to the marginalized and patient with the difficult personality. For the Church as a pilgrim people, the brother is a companion on the journey. While a priest leads the people toward heaven, brothers mingle among us as leaven. Priests preside, but brothers stand at our side.
“The world you are inheriting is a world which desperately needs a new sense of brotherhood,” St. John Paul II declared in 2002 to over 800,000 pilgrims at World Youth Day in Toronto, “It is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God’s love.” We need more brotherhood in the Church and in the world. We need the witness of religious brothers. It is sad there are so few. The sexual revolution has brought us an age of irresponsible, lust-driven men and absent, anonymous fathers. The hour has come for a counterinsurgency – a revolution led by warriors who are self-giving rather than self-seeking. God has always demanded chastity of his champions (Dt. 23:10, 1 Sam 21:6). Who will rally to the company of Christ? Who will love Jesus more than himself and sacrifice his own life in the vows of consecrated brotherhood, not as something required, but as a free gift in total, joyful self-dedication to God?
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” The quote above comes from Shakespeare’s Henry V and is excerpted from a longer monologue by King Henry. His small army prepares for a desperate battle against a vastly larger foe. The question is raised, should they send for reinforcements? No, says King Henry, in fact, let any man who wishes to leave be provided money for travel home. “We would not die in that man's company that fears his fellowship to die with us.” Can we hear our Lord’s words in this noble speech – calling together his small army; his band of brothers? King Henry rallies his troops to improbable victory with the charge to hold the day, the feast of St. Crispin, as a badge of honor and a special boast. That years later, anyone who survives the day, will remember it with pride and toast his brothers in arms.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And [the feast of] Crispin…shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Novena Prayer
Jesus says: Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
Pier Giorgio responds: We who by the grace of God are Catholics must steel ourselves for the battle we shall certainly have to fight to fulfill our program and to give our country, in the not too distant future, happier days and a morally healthy society. But to achieve this we need constant prayer to obtain from God that grace without which all our powers are useless.
Let us Pray: Blessed Pier Giorgio, show me how to bear all wrongs patiently. Help me to accept the sufferings which others inflict on me because of my desire to be faithful to Jesus.
Blessed Pier Giorgio, I ask for your intercession in obtaining from God, Who protects the innocent, all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I confidently turn to you for help in my present need:
(in your own words, ask for the Lord to grant you the grace of a priestly vocation. Also, pray for priestly vocations to increase in the Church).
A Book of Prayers in Honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, by Rev. Timothy E. Deeter
Make it My Own
Daily Discernment Workbook
A QUOTE TO NOTE
1. We Can’t Pray “Our Father” Without Brotherhood
The importance of brotherhood in the Body of Christ cannot be exaggerated. Our most familiar prayer teaches this as Benedict XVI, in his pre-papal days once wrote:
…when theologians today interpret the opening words of the Our Father, they usually restrict themselves to an analysis of the word “father,” and this is in tune with our contemporary religious awareness. But a theologian such as Cyprian, on the other hand, chose to give special attention to the word, “our”. In fact this word does have great importance, for only one man has the right to say “my Father” to God, and that is Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son. All other men must say “our Father”, for the Father is God for us only so long as we are part of the community of his children. For “me” he becomes a Father only through my being in the “we” of his children. The Christian prayer to the Father “is not the call of a soul that knows nothing outside God and itself”, but is bound to the community of brothers.
The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, San Francisco, Ignatius Press 1993
If brotherhood is essential to Christian life, where have I personally seen brotherhood evident in the Church?
BRAIN STORM
2. Bond of Brothers
Have I ever experienced brotherhood with a group of men who were close to each other (..or sisterhood with a group of women for any female discerners reading this)? If so, describe what it was like.
What do I think makes the experience of brotherhood so sweet?
Most men desire deep, lasting friendships within a close group of men. Yet, most men in discernment pass over the vocation of brother and consider only the priesthood. Why do I think this is?
In what ways is the religious brother living among brothers more likely to experience lifelong friendship in a community of men than a Diocesan priest will?
BREAK OPEN YOUR BIBLE
3. A Glad Inheritance
Like the Levites of old, brothers are men set apart for the worship of God. Levites were unique among the tribes of Israel because they received no hereditary share, no “property” to call their own, other than the Lord himself. The 16th Psalm is the prayer of a man rejoicing that the Lord is his portion and his cup. How might a man pray this psalm as he ponders the life of a religious brother?
Psalm 16:5-11
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.
Why would a man choose the Lord as his only treasure in this world? Why wouldn’t he try to have both God and all the good things this world has to offer?
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
If he has no heritage but God, a celibate man’s family line will not endure. The radical gift of celibacy is also a sacrifice of the legacy a man would pass on to his own sons and daughters. To whom, besides God, does the benefit of this sacrifice go?
7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
Possessing nothing other than God, the gifts a man receives are many: wisdom, insight, even visions and dreams. What examples of this do I see in the lives of my favorite saints?
8 I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
How does a closer following of Christ make a man more secure in his identity, vision and life’s purpose?
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.
The world says celibacy is repressive and unhealthy. Yet, consecrated women and men live longer than any other group of people. Why do I think this is so?
10 For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.
Traditionally, men entered the vowed life to avoid going to hell. There is some sense to this. Spiritually speaking, what is the single most important thing to attain in life? What am I willing to do to make sure I accomplish this? Have I ever seriously considered the possibility of failing?
11 Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fullness of joy,
in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.
Who is happier? The man who pleases himself and seeks his own way or the man who pleases God and seeks to follow God’s way?
Do I believe this is true? Then why do I continue to try to convince myself that living as I please pleases God also?
4. To Inspire
Two novices in a community of brothers lay in a room sick with the flu. Together they agreed to resist the gloom that had settled on them by writing poems challenging each other to live the consecrated life. This is one of them. Today the author is a brother in perpetual vows. Read this prayerfully to conclude today’s reflections.
Arise My Soul
By Br. John McCabe
Arise my soul, rejoice
How great is the One who loves you so greatly
For He who created all, poured out His life for you
while you were still His enemy
It pleases him to pour out his love upon you.
He has adopted you as His son.
Arise my soul, rebel
Rebel against the cowardice of this age,
Against this age of comfort and pleasure,
of self-seeking and security.
Life is too short to waste it trying to make the time easier.
To live for this age is a waste.
Arise my soul, give all
Give all you have to Him, lay all before His throne.
There is none other worthy of all your life,
your love, your strength.
Don’t let your life make sense apart from the Lord.
Who else is going to do it?
Arise my soul, press on,
What else is worth fighting for?
What else really matters?
Arise my soul, go forth
Follow your captain who will always lead you on
the road to life and victory
Trust in Him
He will never let you down.
Arise my soul, fly
Fly unto the courts of your King
He is your refuge in time of trouble
Worship before Him forever.
STORIES OF FAITH
5. St. Francis of Assisi: God’s Fool
Julien Green’s compelling portrait of St. Francis of Assisi acquaints us with one of the most inspiring and beloved saints in history. Though ordained a deacon, St. Francis’ spirituality is best understood by the name he gave his community: little brothers. Francis sought no church authority, but rather delighted in total dependence on God’s goodness. His spirit is shared by every man who seeks to own nothing in this world to gain the greatest treasure of all: Jesus Christ.
THE BROTHER
We have a hard time imagining the enthusiasm Francis stirred up in a country as spiritually weakened as Italy was in those days. Sensibility was paralyzing the flow of grace. People were often misled by a purely formal, ostentatious piety. The period also felt - thereby resembling our own era - a void that pleasure couldn't fill, a hunger for something different, a restlessness of the heart. The Church had forgotten how to speak to the soul, because it was bogged down in the material world.
Then in the piazza or at a turn in the road, there appeared a man with bare feet; dressed like a beggar and crying in a joyful voice, "Pace e bene!" One listened to him despite oneself. The fellow knew how to talk, and what he said was so simple that everything seemed new in his language, which had no hard words, those words that make thinking a muddle. No need to have studied to follow him - and they did follow him, first of all because he spoke as he went along, and especially because he believed everything he said. He believed it so strongly that they believed as he did and along with him. They felt that all the things they had learned as children and almost forgotten were now beginning to come true in a terrifying fashion.
You had to save your soul at all costs, you had to go to paradise. They knew that already, but they had never known it the way they did now as they dogged the footsteps of that little man.
Excerpt from: God’s Fool, the Life and Times of Francis of Assisi
by Julien Green
Want to Read More?
See separate document: Day 93: Way of Brother, Green, Excerpt
Conclude with
“Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be.
World without end, Amen.”
[1] The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, San Francisco, Ignatius Press 1993
[2] St. John Paul II, Vita Consecrata #60