One of the most popular expressions of Catholicism is the Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrimage trails that eventually lead to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain where the remains of Saint James are found. The Camino incorporates three elements that are deeply rooted in our faith: pilgrimage, procession, and veneration of relics. Pilgrimages allow us to orient our minds towards a holy place and direct our bodies towards those places where God has particularly revealed His presence. Processions are the physical practice of what our interior life is made for - to move towards holiness. The veneration of relics are a reminder that God works through something real, tangible, and even frail in the bodies of saints, sanctifying every part of them. The Camino reminds us that our faith is fundamentally physical; it is not relegated to merely an interior prayer life or a simple desire to know God. We actually get to orient our bodies and our souls together towards Him in faith.

The Camino allows us to venerate and appreciate the life of James the Apostle in a special way that unites the actions of our bodies to his. James is a monumentally important figure in the Church; depending on how the twelve Apostles are grouped, he is always considered one of the leaders, second only to Peter. James and his brother John were especially close to Jesus and may have even been related to him. Our familiarity with James in the Gospels is hardly ever positive, though. He, along with his brother John, misunderstand the mercy of Christ and the responsibility of discipleship, as they frequently ask him for special favors on earth and in heaven. It even seems that James does not understand the gravity of Jesus’ challenge to him and John when they agree to “drink the chalice that Christ is going to drink.” This is in reference to martyrdom, and in the Acts of the Apostles, James more than redeems himself as a character in the story of Christianity by going to his death for Christ. When we look at these stories of James in Scripture, we can see a theme that the Church has decided to attribute to him: the simplicity and frailty of the physical body can be transformed into a sacred vessel for the work of God. In this passage from his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul beautifully explains that we are earthen vessels that hold a priceless treasure. Our bodies may be broken down or torn apart, but the treasure remains.

While it is true that James is a relatively weak character in the Gospels, we see the seed of his greatness planted in the Gospel when he says yes to the challenge of martyrdom. He laid down his body for the sake of his spirit, as well as for the spirit of the Church. Each day, thousands of pilgrims will wear down their bodies as they trek along the Camino. The reward for such an arduous journey is simply to pray in front of the hidden, worn-down pieces of what remains of the body of a humble man who died thousands of years ago. It seems so strange until we reflect on the words of Paul: we are earthen vessels - afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. But God sanctifies these vessels by storing His greatest treasure within them. Our bodies matter, and how we orient our bodies reflects how we are orienting our souls. Remember Saint James as the one who can teach us this fundamental component of our Catholic faith.

When taken seriously, Lent is a profoundly solemn time of the year; it is not merely another period of time on the liturgical calendar, but one in which we actively change our lifestyles and intentionally work towards making ourselves better so that we may feel more worthy when Christ is revealed in his glory on Easter Sunday. As the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday is a perfect representation of the Catholic liturgical life as a whole. Our worship of God is not simply about coming together as a community and focusing on Christ in his words and teachings. Our liturgical life is physical and sacramental just as Christ was real and physical, and it is through our very physical approach to liturgy that we show the world our faith.

Surprisingly, studies conducted within recent years revealed that Ash Wednesday is the most popular day to attend Mass, beating out even Christmas and Easter. Considering that Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, it should make us wonder what the cause is for such a strange statistic. There could be two explanations for this being the case: either generally non-practicing Catholics also feel the strong urge of striving towards being a better practitioner of the faith during Lent and want to start off strong, or many people really value having the visible sign of ashes on their foreheads for others to see. If the reason for Ash Wednesday’s popularity is the former, then those of us who take the practice of our faith seriously throughout the year should rejoice for those who want to be better Catholics, and we should offer to walk with them through their journeys in Lent. If it is the latter, there is something to be both cautious and hopeful about. As we hear in the Gospel, we shouldn’t look at our physical practice of the faith as something to show off to others as if we are pious and holy - this endangers our soul. But in an age when it is becoming increasingly unpopular to be a Christian, showing the world that we are trying to be faithful followers of Christ might encourage onlookers to look past the possible judgment of others and follow Christ, as well.

Ash Wednesday is the day in which we place upon ourselves the sign of our attitude during Lent. Lent is the time in which that attitude extends into our active lives in the forms of prayer, fasting, and charity. We should take Paul’s words in this passage as our motto whenever we enter into the Lenten season: we are ambassadors for Christ. Our ashes and our lenten observances reflect that. In how we reveal ourselves to the world outside of the walls of the church and in how we behave faithfully in our sacrifices during Lent, God is appealing to those around us to do the same. In order for His message to resonate, He speaks to others through us. We must express His message to the world in a clear, courageous, yet humble manner.

Our place in life directly affects how we treat our neighbor. Based on our socioeconomic status, the city or neighborhood in which we live, how good our personal relationships are, or anything else like this will determine how we are going to behave towards others. For many of us, we have been blessed with certain comforts in this life (whether it be through our own hard work or maybe even something we were born into) that not everyone has; for example, living in a safe and beautiful place like many of us do is a luxury that actually very few human beings have. Considering these gifts we’ve been given, we must constantly have at the forefront of our minds the contemplation of why we have these things and others don’t. Are we just luckier? Are we better? Does God look on us more favorably?

We already know the answer to an overabundance of blessings for some and a dearth for others; it cannot be attributed to luck, moral superiority, or divine favoritism. Rather, every single gift we are given in this life must be oriented toward the exact same thing: to love and serve the Lord, and to grow His kingdom on earth through those gifts. If you have an overabundance, you are meant to share it with those in need. If you are struggling, you are meant to understand the frailty of human life and the necessity of dependence and humility. Consider the story of Cain and Abel: both gave offerings to the Lord, but the Lord only accepted one. However, God did not ignore Cain because his offering was insufficient; rather, He rejected it for the reason of providing a loving lesson to Cain about dependence and humility. It was Cain who took it as rejection and acted accordingly. When life is filled with struggle and it feels like God is taking and taking and taking without any giving, we can easily fall into the temptation of lashing out like Cain; violence, depression, and hopelessness usually skyrocket in areas of poverty. So what can we do for those who may be in that situation if we are not? What are we to do if we are the ones in those situations? The human behaviors of anger, mistrust, or exploitation are almost always a sign of weakness and fear. They indicate something lacking rather than some power held over others. When Christ came into our world, he became the subject of abuse, anger, intimidation, and exploitation. He took it all without so much as a single complaint. He offered no resistance to those who were evil. He was struck on one cheek and turned the other. He gave everything he had and then some to those in need. When others pressed him into service for one mile, he went with them for two miles. 

Why did Christ allow himself to be seemingly manipulated like this? Doesn’t this sort of behavior perpetuate violence and anger in others? Most importantly, why does he ask us as Christians and as those who are blessed in life to emulate him in these ways? Christ promises us that our loving actions towards our enemy is the fullest expression of our overabundance of God’s love within our hearts. A good Christian is bursting at the seams with the greatest gift of God: His love for His Son spreads to us. God determined that it was an acceptable time for His Son to enter into this world, and to go to his death in the same manner that Christ outlines how we are also to take the abuse of this world. Paul tells us that in the age of the Resurrection, it is a very acceptable time to love our neighbors endlessly. Those who need this love the most are often the ones who act out in anger. Our words of love can only do so much; to live out the love of Christ speaks far louder.

Within the philosophy of the human person, we have been able to recognize that we have both an exterior life (which the outside world sees) and an interior life (which only we see). As Catholics, we know that the interior life is driven by our soul, and through this interior life, our spirituality and our consciences are formed. Our interior selves drive us to behave in the world as we are compelled, for better or worse. We also know that our lives are not our own; we are absolutely in need of a community to help guide us and form our interior selves just as much as we form our own. The Church community exists so that each one of us, if we are open, may have our interior lives conform to the exterior lives that are expected of each one of us. 

The ego, which can be best defined as a personal understanding of one’s self, can also become a source of pride. No one wants to be told what to do when they feel they understand themselves better than anyone else, and certainly no one wants to be critiqued. However, in a very simplified way, the Church does this: we are told what to do through the precepts of the Church for how we are to practice the faith, and we can take the fraternal correction that exists within a faith community as criticism if we let our egos get in the way. We must understand that there will be moments when we do need to be corrected, to be told what to do, to be humbled by others so that we may not develop a warped view of ourselves. In the Old Testament, God sends Ezekiel to be His voice to His rebellious people. God also warns that they may heed Ezekiel’s warnings or continue to rebel, but they will at least know that he is speaking on behalf of God. This tends to be the case when someone is in need of correction: they may listen to the correction or ignore it, but it’s most important that they at least be told that they are following the wrong path. Paul in this passage from his second letter to the Corinthians provides a wonderful example of humbling yourself when you are in need of correction. Though he doesn’t explain exactly what it is, he tells the Church in Corinth that a thorn in the flesh was given to him to keep him from “being too elated.” This seems unnecessary, but Paul understands that in his elated state, he found himself prone to ignore the sufficiency of God’s grace. If someone is correcting us from the community, we should see it as Paul does - difficulties and uncomfortable moments remind us that God’s grace is sufficient, and that the community plays a pivotal role in our inner formation.

All correction and direction offered by the Church is not offered out of a sense of control, but rather a sense of love, specifically the love of Christ. Christ became so hated by his own people because he offered this fraternal correction to those who needed to hear it most. He never shamed repentant sinners, but instead reminded those who should have known best that their interior lives were not in sync with their exterior lives. For those who would have known him best, like those who grew up with him, he had no right to do so. They knew his origin, they knew he was not some great king or prophet, but a humble son of a carpenter. How could someone with this background give advice on how others ought to live? While we know that Christ was so much more than his origin, there will still be people in our own Church community who we may not respect enough to listen to when they correct us or offer guidance. We must remind ourselves that we are a community responsible for forming each other, regardless of our roles. Do not attempt to form your own inner self by yourself; allow those within the community to help guide you and form you as it is meant to be. 

The Trinity is the single greatest Mystery of the Church. Every attempt to understand the Trinity through human reason and intellect will inevitably fall flat, simply because there are elements to this doctrine that should and always will remain unknown to us. That being said, the Trinity was also the fundamental doctrine of the early Christian Church that guided our evolution, rooted out heresies and those who espoused them, and proved the Roman Catholic Church as the guardian of sacred Tradition. Through our difficulties, our persecution, our flourishing, and our growth, the Trinity, both in the three persons and our doctrinal understanding, protected and guided the Church in its formation.

Our inability to fully comprehend the Trinity is appropriate to who we are in the ontological hierarchy. God has given us human reason, but that can only take us so far in our understanding of all things, especially when it relates to the one doctrine that encompasses the very nature of the Divine. We can compare our understanding (or lack thereof) of the Trinity to the way a child might understand their parents. In their infancy, the child will understand very little about who their parents are, but they will trust, obey, and follow them regardless. As the child grows and their reason begins to develop, they understand their parents a little more. They can begin to understand that their parents have emotions and thoughts in ways that they do, too. When the child is older and believes that their reason is fully formed, they will understand that their parents are not perfectly rational. This might give rise to disobedience, or it could give the child an understanding that all humans, even their parents, are constantly on a path towards refining their intellect. But it is only when a child becomes a parent when they fully understand who their parents were for them. In that moment, all the issues we might have once had with our own parents are contextualized and understood out of parental love. We are not meant to understand the Trinity yet because we have not perfected ourselves in the way that the Trinity desires for us. But we must remember that, like a child trusts their parents, we can trust that the Trinity has been guiding us in our formation, with each Divine Person having an intimate and special place in our lives.

Despite our inability to fully comprehend the Trinity, we can understand the relationship of the three Persons and how they manifested themselves to their creation. We can consider the concept of God as one who speaks. God the Father is the one who proclaims the Word, just as he did at the beginning of creation. God the Son is the Word itself, which is used to create the heavens and the earth, and who is attested to at the beginning of the Gospel of John. God the Holy Spirit, is the breath on which the Word of God comes out into the world. This Ruach (Hebrew for “breath, wind, and spirit”) is what comes down upon creation and inspires us to work according to the will of God. Say a prayer for each individual person of the Trinity. Express your gratitude for the perfection of God and the intricate way He interacts with His creation through all three Persons.