Ryan ("Bud") Marr Associate Provost at Mercy College of Health Sciences. He has served as the Director of NINS and Associate Editor of the Newman Studies Journal from 2017-2020. He is the author of To Be Perfect Is to Have Changed Often: The Development of John Henry Newman's Ecclesiological Outlook, 1845–1877 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), and has also contributed essays to Newman and Life in the Spirit (Fortress Press, 2014), Learning from All the Faithful (Pickwick, 2016), and The Oxford Handbook of John Henry Newman (Oxford University Press, 2018). His research interests include the life and writings of John Henry Newman, ecclesiology, and the reception of Vatican II.
The news finally arrived today. Ever since it was announced in February that Newman would be canonized, we've been waiting eagerly to learn the details of when and how the ceremony would take place.
It's easy to read this account from Scripture and to cast aspersions on Esau. "How could he have been so foolish?" we wonder. "I'd never act that rashly," we tell ourselves. Yet how often in our own lives do we make a similar, yet graver mistake by squandering the gifts of God—in our case, the graces that we receive through the sacraments—in exchange for some lesser good?
For Newman, the disciplines of Lent—in this case, fasting—are a way for the Christian to participate mystically in the life of Christ. By intensifying our self-denial for these forty days of Lent, we come to know, in part, what Christ experienced in full measure:
In reading Newman's letters and diaries, it's clear that he knew of divine mercy not as an abstract theological idea, but at a deeply personal level as a core part of his spiritual journey. Because he himself had experienced the grace of God in many profound ways, Newman was eager to encourage others to cast themselves before the mercy seat.
A bit of a confession: there may have been some dancing in the offices of the National Institute for Newman Studies (NINS) this morning. This is not a common occurrence at the Institute, but today was a special day, as news reached us from Rome that Pope Francis has approved the canonization of John Henry Newman.
There is something stirring about seeing two greats from different generations together in the same place. In the world of sports, for instance, some memorable photo-ops have come about this way—say, with a young Lebron James standing next to Bill Russell or with Derek Jeter warming up on the same baseball diamond as Cal Ripken Jr.
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