Prophets are annoying

2^nd Week of Advent (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

It would seem that “die violently” is just part of the prophet's job description. There are a few exceptions. Elijah is one of those. During his first go-round in the OT, Elijah is “taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses.” Setting aside the far-fetched notion that he was abducted by aliens, it seems that Elijah was assumed into heaven. He appears again on Mt. Tabor for the Transfiguration, and now he's the topic of conversation for Jesus and the disciples who went up that mountain with him. Jesus confirms the prophecy from Sirach that Elijah will “come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD...” In fact, he implies that Elijah has already come as the man John the Baptist. But no one recognized him and that he suffered the fate of most prophets – death. To make matters worse, Jesus prophesies that he too will suffer the fate of God's prophets. Why is it that God's prophets almost always end up dying violent deaths? From a merely natural standpoint, we can say, they are annoying. They pester, harangue, argue, and tell us things we don't want to hear. They are often disreputable, disheveled, and, if not actually diseased, dirty. They are not created by a Madison Ave PR firm to communicate a slick, compact message that's easily digested by the masses. God sends them to tell us the Truth and that more often than not means we have to change how we live. Ugh. So, death. Kill the messenger; kill the message. Of course, the truth doesn't die just b/c its bearer is killed. But what happens when we kill The Truth, the Way, and the Life? What happens when the prophet we kill is the Son of Man, the Son of God? His death is not just a death; it's a sacrifice. JB's death did not fulfill the covenant. His blood covered no one's sin. No other prophet – however powerful – could claim to be the Messiah, God Himself. All those other prophets preached the Truth. Christ is the Truth they preached. They showed us the Way. He is the Way. They urged us to choose Life. Christ is the Life we have chosen. Now, you and I are the prophets sent by God to bear witness – in our words and our deeds – to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. What difference does that (crucifix) make in your life? How will his violent death change you today? Even better, how will his coming again as a Child and as the Just Judge make you a better prophet, one sent to die to bear His truth to the world?      

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Her fiat is ours

Solemnity of the I.C.

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Why are we reading about the Baby Jesus' conception on the S.I.C.? And why aren't we reading about the BVM's I.C.? And what does it have to do with the forgiveness of sin and the salvation of souls? And how does the I.C. help the poor and oppressed? How does it help me grow in holiness??? I'm glad you asked! While the Church has always believed that the BVM was immaculately conceived, it wasn't until 1854 when Pope Pius IX infallibly defined the dogma that we could clearly lay out the full implications of Gabriel's prophetic visit to young Mary. Besides clarifying several important theological issues, the pope's definition allows us to begin thinking of ourselves as “bearers of the Word.” It took nearly a century for this idea to fully mature in the Church, but we can see how every baptized man, woman, and child can model their spiritual life on the motherhood of the BVM. Mary is “full of grace.” God is already with her when Gabriel appears. When charged with bearing and birthing the Word into the world, Mary says, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” How can she so easily submit her will to the will of the Father? B/c the Father is with her; she is filled with His grace. This profusion of God's presence expands to fill past, present, and future, and at every point in creation's history, the BVM is the Mother of God, the Bearer of the Word. Her fiat to Gabriel is my fiat and yours at our baptism; our confirmation, every time we confess our sins; every time we receive the Lord in the Eucharist. We say “amen” but “amen” means fiat – let it be done. If the BVM is capable of surrendering herself entirely to the Father's will b/c she is filled with His grace, then you and I are capable of doing the same. We were not conceived without sin, true; but we were re-conceived immaculately in the waters of baptism. And through our baptism, we are tasked with being “bearers of the Word” to the world. To be living tabernacles of his presence wherever we are and in whatever we do. Like the BVM we are – with His grace – capable of remaining sinless, free from the slavery of death. The BVM is the model of the Church, the Body of Christ, and our personal model for daily holiness. Her I.C. shows us how we too can surrender to God in His grace; conceive His word in our persons; and bear that Word into the world for its salvation. So, when you hear Gabriel speak to Mary, hear him speaking to you as well: “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God...The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” and you will bring Christ the Word to the world. 

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Are you lost?

2^nd Week of Advent (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Back in 2014, I went to the March for Life in DC. I was the chaperone for 36 Catholic high school students. Anytime we got back on the bus after an event, I counted my chickens. 36. Imagine if we returned to NOLA with only 35 students, and when confronted with the fact that one student was missing, I responded, “Hey! I got 35 of them back. What's one lost student out of 36?! 35 and 1 is a great record.” Well, you can just imagine the uproar. I'm using this analogy to explain Jesus' parable b/c it's likely we're thinking what the Pharisees and scribes were thinking: the 99 sheep are more important than one lost sheep. For the scribes and Pharisees, uncleanliness is infectious; cleanliness is not. IOW, the one lost sheep is lost b/c he is unclean, and it's better that he remain outside the flock. Rabbis like Jesus shouldn't be associating with the unclean. They will get dirty. Jesus is teaching his opponents that their beliefs about cleanliness and uncleanliness are exactly backwards. Sin is not infectious; grace is. Merely sitting in the presence of a prostitute doesn't make one a prostitute. However, when a person living in grace sits with a prostitute, the shepherd is finding his one lost sheep. The Enemy tempts us to think that associating with sinners is a sign of faithlessness, a sign that we are considering participating in their sin. This is a brilliant move on the Enemy's part b/c it keeps us away from those who most need to be found. We might get dirty. Well, finding and rescuing lost sheep is dirty work. It's hard work too b/c the Enemy also tempts us to rescue sinners by telling them that their sin isn't really a sin. We may think we're being loving here, but all we are really doing is enabling their sin and throwing ourselves into uncleanliness. Thus the shepherd needs to grasp two unshakable truths to do the his job in faith: 1). the lost sheep is priceless and worthy of rescue; and 2). the lost sheep is lost b/c he has chosen to get lost. If I can't or won't admit that I am lost and in trouble, then I cannot be found and rescued. If the shepherd is telling me that I'm not lost nor am I in trouble, then why is he bothering me about rejoining the flock? When we are shepherds, we love the sinner and admonish the sin. When we are lost, we confess that we are lost and desperately in need of rescue. And we always remember – whether we are the shepherd or the sinner – grace is infectious; sin is not.  

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Are you glorifying God?

2^nd Week of Advent (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Does the paralyzed man want to be healed? We don't know. Does he believe that Jesus is the Messiah? We don't know that either. In most of the healing stories from the NT, the person healed wants to be healed, or believes in Jesus, or both. But the paralyzed man is silent. We do know that his friends want him to be healed and that they believe Jesus can heal him. But they too are silent. For Jesus, that's enough. Their determination, ingenuity, and hard work are enough. Before and during his healing, the paralyzed man remains silent. But he receives his healing as a gift, and that's enough. After his healing, the words flow. Luke tells us, “...[he] picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God.” We are rational animals, body and soul. What hurts the body, hurts the soul and vice-versa. Jesus makes this clear when he says to the ever-vigilant Pharisees, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” IOW, to forgive sin is to heal the whole person, body and soul. And the healed man's response to his healing is gratitude, giving the glory to God so that others may come to know the power of God to forgive and heal. Jesus doesn't just return a man's physical mobility and spiritual purity, he creates an apostle, one sent out out to bear witness to God's power. Imagine: the soul you are is loaded down with failures, flaws, and sin, and the body you are is exhausted from carrying all that weight. You're tired, can't sleep, angry, depressed, anxious. You go to the Lord in confession for healing. You hand all that damaging weight to Christ through his priest, and the priest – acting in the person of Christ – says to you, “I absolve you...” You are healed. The burden is gone. You are no longer paralyzed. You can walk, run, dance, and you can give the glory to God. Here's the question: do you? Do you give God the glory? Do you tell others about your healing?In healing you, Christ makes an apostle, one sent out to proclaim the power of God so that others may come to know His mercy. You perfect your healing by bearing witness to the miracle of forgiveness. Are you astonished? Do your friends and family see you and say, “We have seen incredible things today.” No? Well, they can't see what you don't show them.

 

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Hark, the Heralds Angel sing: Repent!

2^nd Sunday of Advent

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Here we are on the second Sunday of Advent, talking about deserts, locusts, wild honey, camel's hair, and vagrant prophet named John. We're only 21 days from Christmas. Shouldn't we be talking about Santa Claus and reindeer and elves and presents under the tree? We're hearing hymns like the “Dies Iræ,” – “Days of Wrath” – and “Go Labor On.” When we should be listening to “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman.” The Gospel is all broods of vipers and repentance from sin and divine anger and winnowing chafe and unquenchable fire! We could be forgiven for thinking that the Church is being a Grinch or a Scrooge for throwing cold water on our Christmas Spirit. AND. . .we'd be right for thinking so if we were in the Christmas season. But we're not. We're in the season of waiting for Christmas, waiting for the birth of Christ and his second coming at the end of the age. The locusts and vipers and deserts and days of wrath are here to prod us into being ready for the Just Judge and the trial we all face after death. So, John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness, preaches: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Just yesterday, a UD student asked me what “repentance” means. I said, “It means to turn around, to return to God.” The Greek word in the NT is metanoia, meaning “to change one's mind,” to alter one's plans or purpose. When we put ourselves on a path, believing we are taking the best route to our goal, and it becomes clear that that path is taking us into darkness, we are urged to metanoia, to turn around, to repent. There's a time limit on our ability to repent. We call that limit “my life time.” Each one of us has exactly as long as we will live to turn around. At death, an eternally binding decision is made: to live with God, or without Him. He will honor our decision either way. Of course, He wills that we return to Him in love. However, love requires that we return to Him freely. John the Baptist is sent to sound the alarm: time is running out; the Kingdom is at hand; repent! Leave the path toward darkness and death and return to the Father. That's what Advent is all about – getting ourselves ready for the coming of the Just Judge, the One who will listen to our eternal choice and honor it. Santa Claus, reindeer, elves, and Christmas trees are wonderful signs for the proper season. Right now, however, we are in a season of repentance and anticipation.

Thus, the violet vestments and alarming hymns. And I know it all sounds so old-fashioned – repentance and judgment and days of wrath. But “old-fashioned” cannot be applied to the Gospel. The Word is eternal, so it is true now, back then, and tomorrow. It has always been true and will always be true. Pretending that we're too mature or sophisticated or modern to worry about sin and salvation is Pride writ large. Calling our sins “mistakes” or “struggles” doesn't dilute their affect on our immortal souls. Our moment before the Just Judge will not a “check in” with our Cosmic Therapist. He's not there to affirm our OK-ness, or hand us a salvation participation trophy. He'll be there to hear our choice. What do you choose? Eternal life or eternal death? And we need to be clear here: we don't make this choice after death; we make it everyday, every hour, every minute. Any time we think, speak, or act, we are making that eternal choice. We are saying to God: I want to be with You, or I can get along w/o You. Spend these next 21 days examining your choices. Spend them pondering how you have loved; how you have shown mercy; how you have been generous with everything God has given you. And if you start to think you're a hopeless sinner. . .well, repent! God always, always welcomes a sinner.

And if all this contemplation of your sin depresses your Christmas Spirit. . .good. It should. It's not Christmas yet. It will be. But not yet. Paul calls us to a life of hope, a life of endurance and encouragement. We've been given a spirit of courage not cowardice. So, we are more than able to be honest with both our sin and God's mercy. And we don't have to wear animal skins or eat bugs in the desert to find our peace. All we have to do is bring ourselves to God in confession and ask Him to show us our sins. In the presence of His perfect love, the marks of our disobedience, the times we have chosen not to love, will glow like fire. And all we have to do is take responsibility for our failures. We will receive His eternally-given forgiveness and turn again toward our perfecting end. Then we go back out with the words of John the Baptist ringing in our ears, “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.” Now, we start again as imperfect Christs showing the world what the mercy of God can do with sinners like us. 

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