Denver Catholic

22 NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 8, 2017 | DENVER CATHOLIC A museum for which to be thankful O n September 29, 1952, the publication of the complete Revised Standard Version of the Bible was celebrated at the National Guard Armory in Washing- ton, D.C., and the principal speaker was the U.S. Secretary of State, Dean Acheson. The son of the Episco- pal bishop of Connecticut, Acheson movingly described the ways in which the King James Bible, which the new RSV was to supplant, had once shaped American culture and our national life: "In the earliest days in the Northeast, the Book was All. The settlers came here to live their own reading of it. It was the spiritual guide, the moral and legal code, the political system, the sustenance of life, whether that meant endurance of hardship, the endless struggle against nature, battle with enemies, or the inev- itable processes of life and death. And it meant to those who cast the mold of this country something very specifi c and very clear. It meant that the purpose of man's journey through this life was to learn and identify his life and eŽ ort with the purpose and will of God…" That biblical vision helped form the bedrock convictions of the American idea: That government stood under the judgment of divine and natural law; that government was limited in its reach into human aŽ airs, especially the realm of conscience; that national greatness was measured by fi delity to the moral truths taught by revela- tion and inscribed in the world by a demanding yet merciful God; that only a virtuous people could be truly free. "But this… did not exhaust the teachings of this Bible," Secretary Acheson continued. "For it taught also that the fear of God was the love of God and that the love of God was the love of man and the service of man." At this perilous moment in our national history, when contempt and hatred seem far more characteristic of our civic life than charity and sol- idarity, it's worth pondering how far we have come, and why. To claim that "the Book is All" today would be risible. On the contrary: As Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, remarked at a pre-opening celebration of the splendid new Museum of the Bible in the nation's capital, the Bible has been systematically "bleached out" of our national life over the past several decades. And that bleaching has not produced a more tolerant people, but a far more intolerant civic life, of which the recent awfulness in Charlottesville, Virginia, may stand as a vile symbol. At Thanksgiving-2017, too many voices in America seem to suggest that some of us must hate others of us if America is to fl ourish, even survive. But the great Dean Acheson had an answer for that essentially totalitar- ian claim, too: "In order to love our country we do not have to hate anyone. There is enough to inspire love here… Out of many, [Americans] are one. [Ours] is a unity [amidst a] great and vigorous diversity based on respect for man, the individual…And this, indeed, is the source of our strength, and of the lasting power of our society. For the solidarity which is built, not upon ser- vility, but upon the common loyalty of free men, is resilient and enduring." We may, and should hope, that Sec- retary Acheson's confi dence in the resil- ience of America has not been falsifi ed by the secularist "bleaching" of which Cardinal Wuerl spoke. That hope has been strengthened by the opening of the Museum of the Bible on Nov. 17. Three blocks from the U.S. Capitol, we now have a striking witness, in architecture, art, and artifact, to the enduring power of the Word of God. The museum is thoroughly ecumenical and interreli- gious; all of the people of the Book, be they Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, or Jewish, will fi nd much to learn there, in a series of both classic and interactive displays that nourish the mind and soul. Anyone who cares about the Bible owes the donors who made this striking facil- ity possible, and the men and women who designed it with evident care, an enormous vote of thanks. For if it succeeds in its mission, the Museum of the Bible will help reverse the bleaching out from our culture of what is arguably its deepest, noblest, and most important wellspring:The Word of God, molding the lives of the readers of the Book. Perspectives When Heaven prays back B y the time you read this, All Saints Day will have come and gone. But, just to extend the feast a few more days, I want to share the story of something that happened to me recently — some- thing that helped give me a fuller understand- ing of what we're cele- brating, and what we as Catholics believe about the Commu- nion of Saints. A few weeks ago, I was working on a talk that I was scheduled to give the following week at a women's confer- ence in Arlington, Virginia. I remem- bered a quote from Father Michael Scanlan that I wanted to incorporate into my remarks. Father Mike, who passed away earlier this year, was the President of Franciscan University of Steubenville. He was also a good friend to me and to my ministry. I pulled my copy of his (excellent) autobiography, Let the Fire Fall, from the bookshelf, and began thumbing through it, look- ing for the quote. As I read, it occurred to me that, since Father Mike's passing, I had never asked him to pray for me. Of course I have prayed regularly for the repose of his soul. But, as holy a man as Father Mike was, I fi gured it might be a good idea to add a request for his intercession. So I simply said, "Father Mike, please pray for me." And, because he is not (yet) a canonized saint, I added "May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen." And then I went back to work. The next week, I gave the talk. I didn't use the Father Mike quote, or talk about him at all, because I had a lot more material than time. But it was a successful talk nonetheless. After it was over, I returned to my table. There, I had a brief conversation with a religious sister who was attend- ing the conference. The conversation ended when we were interrupted by others. A few minutes later, she got up and walked around the table to me. She said somewhat hesitantly, "I hate to bother you, and I'm not stalking you or anything. But I was praying for you during your talk. And I felt the Lord asking me to deliver a message to you. Here it is." She handed me her busi- ness card, on the back of which she had written the message. It said: I immediately burst into tears. I hadn't mentioned Father Mike to her. Nor Steubenville. Nor anything else related. I had given no further thought to my brief prayer since I made it. And I certainly hadn't told anyone about it. What an incredible gift! Like many people, I frequently struggle with the thought that my prayers aren't heard; that in order to be eŽ ective I need to say them a special way, or drag them out for a prolonged period of time, or say them with an air of piety that I can never get right. But, sitting here at my desk, almost as an aside, I asked for his prayers. And the Lord let me know know that my prayer was heard, and that I indeed have at least one friend praying for me in the very presence of God. You prayers — even the brief ones — are heard by the God who loves you. And your requests for prayers are heard by the saints in Heaven, who do intercede for you. Notice that the message said that Father Mike is praying for me. It didn't say that Father Mike is fi xing things for me, or making my life better. This is a common misconception — that we Catholics believe that the saints are some kind of minor deities who scurry around organizing our lives and making good things happen. This is not what we believe. The saints aren't gods. They're people like us. But they're people who have run the race successfully, and now enjoy the Beatifi c Vision. And they pray. And their prayers, being the prayers of pure, sanc- tifi ed souls, are powerful before God. Ask them to pray for you. The Catholic Di§ erence George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. GEORGE WEIGEL Guest Column Bonacci is a syndicated columnist based in Denver and the author of We're On a Mission from God and Real Love. MARY BETH BONACCI

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