Tag Archives: Trent Beattie

“Charitably and Cheerfully Challenging the Cheap Chapel Change” by Trent Beattie

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Lafayette, LA – Conrad Schmitt

After encountering some severely simple convent and monastery chapels, I asked friends in the architecture world to suggest material that would contradict the cheap chapel change mindset. Two of the books suggested were Stones Laid Before the Lord: Architecture and Monastic Life, by Anselme Dimier, and Religious Poverty, Visual Riches by Joanna Cannon.

One of the architect-friends, however, summed it up in two paragraphs. I had been expecting a book with quotes from artistic and saintly souls (such as Catherine of Bologna, a Poor Clare, as well as Fra Angelico and Venerable Samuel Mazzuchelli, both Dominicans) who, despite their own freely-chosen personal poverty, enthusiastically emphasized the eternal value of sacred art. What I got was this eagle-eyed observation that may help to qualify my friend for the artist-saint category:

Cathedral of Christ the king – Atlanta, GA – Daprato Rigali

The history of the architecture of religious orders until the emergence of modernism is replete with counter-examples to this [cheap chapel] attitude, whether for mendicant orders or otherwise. What examples we have of stark religious architecture are often the result of being unfinished or a prior finish later destroyed.

Even where noble simplicity was the stated aim of a religious community, the minimalism extolled today as its purported heir stands as much in contrast to that humble aesthetic as the machine does to nature. Even “Cistercian simplicity” before modernism ranges from the dressed and hand-carved stone of the Romanesque to the ecstatic flights of the Rococo in ways that render the term “simple” anachronistic when used today to refer to those earlier eras as somehow identical or even analogous to the “simplicity” now championed.

Some communities appear to be laboring under the assumption that, not only personal property, but even sacred art is an impediment to union with God. This might seem like a supremely noble pursuit of perfection, but it is actually an anti-Incarnational misconception. Even one of the top mystics of the Church fell prey to it before being set free.

 How Great Thy Art

In The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, Saint Alphonsus Liguori recounts a story about Saint Teresa of Avila, saying that she “complained of certain books which had taught her to leave off meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ, because this might be an impediment to the contemplation of his divinity.” He continued, writing that Saint Teresa exclaimed:

O Lord of my soul! O my Jesus crucified, my treasure! I never remember this [iconoclastic] opinion without thinking that I have been guilty of great treachery. And is it possible that You, my Lord, could be an obstacle to me in the way of a greater good? Whence, then, do all good things come to me, but from You?

San Joselito Chapel – Before & After – Norwalk, CT – Canning Liturgical Arts

How can this be remembered and lived out when Crucifixes or the Stations of the Cross are so small, colorless, or vague that they are nearly or totally unidentifiable? The purpose of sacred art is not to satisfy a bare-minimum church checklist, but to help us enter into the reality of the Incarnation via the Sacred Humanity of the Lord.

 Beauty Embarkment

There are many resources explaining why chapels should be beautiful—including the Bible (such as Jacob’s exclamation about the majesty of the temple Genesis 28), Saint John Damascene (a monk who strongly defended the value of sacred art), the Second Council of Nicaea (which repudiated the heresy of iconoclasm), and the Catechism of the Catholic (which stated in the explanation of the Commandment about not bearing false witness, that genuine sacred art draws us to the adoration and love of God).

These resources, along with images showing how magnificently chapels can glorify the Lord and sanctify worshipers, should be enough to ignite the spirit of the Transfiguration within religious communities. A charitable and cheerful challenge is hereby extended to our cheap chapel chums to add identifiable and colorful stations, statues, mosaics, paintings, and other decor as part of their sacred art.

St. Paul Center- University of Wisconsin – Ever Greene

Because real artists are needed for this beautification, it is worth mentioning that Daprato Rigali Studios (whose work can be seen in the image of the Ann Arbor chapel of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist), Conrad Schmitt Studios, Ever Greene Architectural Arts, and John Canning Company are four of the best-known groups that can help chapels change back to the glorious ways of the Church.

St. Catherine of Bologna, Bl. Fra Angelico, Ven. Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP,  and all artistic-saintly souls, pray for us to better understand how to employ material means to attain greater union with the goodness, truth and beauty found in the Almighty God who became a man in the Incarnation, whose beginning is celebrated on the Annunciation (March 25).

Trent Beattie has written or edited books on topics such as sports and spirituality, scrupulosity, and St. Alphonsus Liguori. He has written numerous articles for publications such as the National Catholic Register, Catholic Digest, The Latin Mass, Columbia, Sacred Music, and Religious Life.

“Taking the ‘Sin’ Out of Sincerity: Overcoming Scrupulosity in Religious Life” by Trent Beattie

If there is one thing aspirants to religious life are today, it is sincere. Gone are the days of “automatic vocations” that every large Catholic family was expected to provide. Now we have young people who want to live totally for Christ and give up things commonly seen as necessities, oftentimes despite confusion or even derision from family.

This desire for Christian perfection is obviously a good thing. If only more people had it, the world would be a much better place. Yet this desire, in itself very laudable, can be turned into something it was not intended to be.

Martin Luther did just that with his Augustinian Rule, seeing in it traps where others saw supports. He piled up imaginary obligations that left him agitatedly wondering whether he had offended God. This is scrupulosity, or the overestimation of evil and the underestimation of grace. Put another way, it is seeing sin where there is no sin, and where there may in fact be virtue.

Satan’s best-known temptations are to make evil appear good in order to entice souls to commit acts (sins) for the sake of the apparent good. A lesser-known temptation is to frame good as evil, or something to be avoided.

This temptation is especially acute for souls striving for perfection. Instead of trying to convince them directly that they should do what is actually wrong, Satan attempts to convince them that they have already done wrong or that the good they plan on doing is wrong. Discouragement can ensue, and, if not remedied, wholesale abandonment of the hunt for holiness might take happen.

Luther became so distraught that he left his community and the Church. He went from scrupulosity to Lutherosity, making his own quirks and anxieties the foundation of a novel code of conduct that even he lamented later because of its destructive effect on cultural cohesion.

This underscores the importance of not inventing obligations or holding oneself to an impossible standard. Doing so will cause distress, resentment, and even despair. Instead of giving up on holiness due to unmet imaginary claims on behavior, the better route is that of humble adherence to Church teachings, the (real) rule of one’s community, and the decision of superiors and directors.

Access or Excess?

Without even realizing it, personal obligations that are found nowhere in Scripture, Tradition, or even the rule of an order, can be held onto as being highly important. Even though this can be done in a sincere effort to please God, it actually pushes the soul from the path of holiness and happiness. In order to gain greater access to God, unreasonable expectations must be released.

Benedictine Father Hubert van Zeller wrote this simple and profound reflection in How to Find God: “Although the desire for God can never be excessive, the desire for the realization of this desire, can be.” On a theoretical level, the soul can never get enough of God, but on a practical level, there must be n acceptance of the soul’s capacity for God.

A peaceful and even amused dissatisfaction with what we’ve done for God, all the while trusting in His constant help for us to do better, is a good thing. However, an agitated dissatisfaction with what we’ve done, based on the implicit demand of being immediately free from any faults, is a bad thing.

This is what Saint Alphonsus Liguori taught in his masterpiece, The True Spouse of Jesus Christ. He first states that “An ardent desire of perfection is the first means that a religious should adopt in order to acquire sanctity and to consecrate her whole being to God.” The founder of the Redemptorists then adds that “in the way of God, a Christian must either go forward and advance in virtue, or go backward and rush headlong into vice.”

To those intimidated by such a challenge, Saint Alphonsus later states the following: “To be discouraged by the imperfections which you desire to correct, would be to yield to a great illusion of the devil.” He then asserts that “though, on our part, we ought to aspire to the highest sanctity that we can attain, we should be content with that degree of perfection which God gives us.”

It’s a matter of balance. Diligently striving for perfection is the mainstay of religious life, but inevitable challenges and setbacks should not be the occasion of discouragement. In fact, Saint Therese of Lisieux even said that the closer the soul gets to perfection, the further away it seems to be.

This might seem strange, but it makes sense. A proud man, because of his distance from God, thinks he has no need of improvement, while a humble man, because of his nearness to God, sees how imperfect he is compared to Absolute Perfection.

Booking a Flight to Clarity

Maintaining reasonable expectations of self is key to overcoming scrupulosity. Despite grand designs and goals that might be entertained, there is only so much that one can actually do. Theoretically, life’s possibilities are endless, but in reality, every person has limitations.

Limited people with limited resources and limited opportunities should be able to take their own active sincerity and be at peace with it. Achieving Peace of Heart by Father Narciso Irala, S.J., is a great help for making this happen. Other helpful books include The True Spouse of Jesus Christ by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Story of a Soul by Saint Therese, Introduction to the Devout Life by Saint Francis de Sales, and volume 2 of Ven. Louis of Granada’s Summa of the Christian Life.

While these books include sections directed toward the scrupulous, there are not many entire books on the topic. My own Scruples and Sainthood is a more recent installment meant to fill this void.

Like people’s achievements in life, there is only so much a book can do, but this limited good should not be overlooked for the sake of impossible perfection. Real perfection in a soul is comprised of continual efforts for perfection, despite glitches and miscues that take place.

The biggest aid to real perfection is the guidance, not of a book, but of a director. Following the advice of another is prescribed as the great remedy for overcoming nagging doubts about one’s soul. An outside assessment of the situation by someone familiar with scrupulosity should yield a more accurate, purposeful, and joyful state of mind.

It is even possible that one’s director will assign the enjoyment of life as a penance. Along those lines, here’s a short list that can be preceded by the words “You might be scrupulous if…”

You’ve been told the “sins” you confessed were actually virtues.

You’ve uttered these words: “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It’s been twenty minutes since my last confession.”

You’ve been so concerned about taking the Lord’s name in vain that all the references to God in your prayer books have been scratched out and “Gosh” has been written in.

Humor is a great aid to holiness, and can even be an indication of it. Someone who has a sense of humor is not caught up in unreasonable expectations, but is able to see how things really are. He recognizes the contrast between how things ought to be and how they have actually played out.

Let us, by all means, be sincere, but not so sincere that we see sin in our sincerity. Simple sincerity is brought about by obedience to Church teaching, the rule and one’s director, while “sinful sincerity” is brought about by overestimating the negatives, underestimating the positives, and trying to improve the situation alone.
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Trent Beattie is the author of Scruples and Sainthood: Accepting and Overcoming Scrupulosity with the Help of the Saints, from Loreto Publications (LoretoPubs.org).