Lying is never pastoral

St. Alphonsus Liguori

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Wheat and weeds. Sheep and goats. Good fish, bad fish. Parables like this one can make moderns – esp. Western moderns – squirm a bit. They just sound so primitive, so absolute and potentially dangerous. They require us to think about what makes weeds, goats, and bad fish bad. Who sets the standards for good and bad? Who makes the judgment between the two? Can we really say that the goats deserve to be thrown into the fiery pit and the weeds burned at the edge of the field? The bad fish are thrown away. Do they have no value at all? What about love and forgiveness? Surely, Jesus expects us to love and forgive those who are headed toward the flames! He does. He absolutely does. He also expects us to recognize and respect the principal property of love: freedom. He does. The Father does. The Spirit does. Love – true, liberating love – cannot be coerced. It cannot be imposed. It must be chosen. Freely given and freely received. So, when Jesus says that the weeds and goats are tossed into the fire and the bad fish are thrown away, he's saying that he loves them in their freedom to be what they've chosen to be.

Now, of course, real goats and weeds and bad fish don't choose to be what they are. But human beings – rational animals – do choose to turn themselves into those sorts of beings who resolutely reject divine love. IOW, they choose the fiery pit. And putting them there honors their choice. As wildly irrational as that choice seems to us, it is their choice. Our discomfort (?) with that choice in no way allows us to tell them that their choices have no consequences. Doing so may make us feel better about their choice and their destination, but we have to remember that lying is never pastoral. Telling the goats and weeds among us that no one ever goes into the fire, or that the fire is a primitive myth; or that b/c God loves everyone, He would never allow them to be burned – telling them any of this is lying. It's lying to soothe our discomfort with a truth Christ himself clearly teaches. Whatever squeamishness we may have about the reality of eternal damnation should be settled by the knowledge that such a fate is freely chosen. And freely honored. Our mission is live lives wholly given to Christ the Good Shepherd, bearing witness to his mercy and showing – in word and deed – that choosing divine love is the only sane choice. 

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Like produces like

St. Peter Chrysologus

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Squirrels never give birth to dolphins. Dolphins never give birth to possums. And humans never give birth to oak trees. Like produces and re-produces like. Old School Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy – the basic intellectual structure of Catholicism – teaches us that this is b/c squirrels, dolphins, possums, and oak trees have a nature. That which makes a thing the kind of thing it is. Knowing a thing's nature tells you what it is and its telos, its end, or why it is. The nature of the human person is rational animal. To be a thinking, deliberative, and therefore, moral animal. When our nature is perfected, we only make moral choices that advance us toward our end – God Himself. The fruit we bear is the fruit of righteousness made possible by the grace of God and our free cooperation. Without God's grace, our fruit is rotten. Without Him, we can do nothing good. Jesus says, “. . .every tree is known by its own fruit.” Fig trees produce figs. Oak trees produce acorns. By nature, rational animals produce other rational animals. But it is only by cooperating with God's grace that we as rational animals make the good choices that lead us back to God.

But why should we cooperate with God's grace? Paul writes to the Ephesians, telling them that God – “who created all things” – has a “plan of mystery,” one hidden from the past, a plan Jesus was sent to reveal in the light for all to see. Those who receive this revelation of God's mysterious plan are collected together and called “the Church.” And it is the telos of the Church to preach and teach God's plan to the world, so that the “the inscrutable riches of Christ” might be made known. The first of these riches is a “confidence of access [to the Father] through faith in [His Son].” We should cooperate with God's grace not only to have access to the Father but also b/c doing so repairs our fallen nature and makes it possible for us to make those choices that bring us closer to our end – eternal life in the Blessed Trinity. Like produces and re-produces like. Good works done in grace produces and re-produces good works done in grace. Good works done in grace give glory to God. Thus bearing witness to His help and further revealing His plan for mankind. This is how and why we preach and teach. This is according to the eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus. 

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Take and eat

17^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

We don't have to do a close reading of this Gospel miracle to figure out what's going on: God is providing for those who follow Him. This is the consistent story of salvation history since the Word was breathed into the void. Everything created – you, me, planets, atoms, everything created – is provided for and held in being by God Himself. From a story about feeding a mass of people from a child's meager offering of fish and bread, we get a much more profound story about how God the Father gives us what we need. We need food, shelter, and clothing to survive. But surviving isn't enough. We need to thrive. We need to be perfected. Made truly fully human and returned to the source of our being. The story we heard read this morning – John's version of the feeding of the 5,000 – retells a familiar story that's been told again and again through the centuries. When God's people need Him, when they recognize their need and turn to Him, He is always there, providing in abundance everything required for surviving and thriving in the created world. What we need most is God Himself. And we have Him in abundance right here and right now in the Eucharist.

That God provides for us is evident in the fact that we are here. We exist. That's basic. Beyond mere existence, we are in a chapel giving Him thanks and praise for His many gifts. Most especially His gift of sacrificial love in Christ Jesus. His gift of salvation. We will give Him praise and thanks for our families and friends; our vocations as husbands, wives, religious, and priests. For our careers and what wealth we may have. We could go on and on listing out all that we have to be thankful for. But what we can most thankful for is all that we have not yet received. All that has been given but not yet taken in and put to use. The people Jesus feeds with fish and bread are filled at that moment. But soon enough they will be hungry again. Will they follow him all over the countryside, hoping and waiting for another miracle? Maybe some will. If they are paying attention, they will understand that God's providence is not dependent on a single miracle or even a series of miracles. That He provides is His nature. He always provides. He always gives and gives and gives. He Himself is The Gift He gives. And we are His created gift-receivers. The question is: are we receiving His gifts as He gives them?

The people who eat the fish and bread in John's story have in front of them real, tangible evidence of God's love. They have food to touch, to smell, to taste. Can they touch, smell, and taste their salvation? Can they handle, see their redemption from sin and death? Can we? We might say that we can feel forgiven, or that we can feel the burden of sin lifted. And that's a good thing. But do we live day to day, hour to hour in that freedom? Or do we permit the memory of sin to lock us down with imaginary chains? Maybe we give shame, anger, the need for vengeance permission to dominate, to suffocate our growth in holiness. Maybe we prefer to wallow a bit in past hurts, long ago slights, and a fear of the scarcity of grace. Are you receiving God's gifts as He gives them? Those hungry people took the fish and bread and ate their fill. They didn't hesitate. Their hunger to be fed overwhelmed whatever qualms they might have had and they ate. What qualms do you have about being fed with all that God has to give you? What's stopping you from being fully free in Christ Jesus? The Enemy will use whatever you have to keep you hungry, angry, vengeful, lost, and near death. Take and eat. God will that you thrive. And He gives you everything you need. 

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Don't be too quick to pull the weeds

16^th Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

I was once a weed in the wheat field of the Church. As a novice for the province back in 1999, I took the habit fully committed to the idea that the Church must be revolutionized to fit the modern world. I supported all the usual agenda items: women priests, non-sexist language in the liturgy; popularly elected bishops; getting rid of all the supernatural junk cluttering up our theology, etc., ad. nau. I remember telling a senior member of the community that I thought it was ridiculous that a local group of religious sisters had to depend on male priests to say Mass for them! Just ordain a few sisters and be done with it! I had a fever for change. Well, I got better. That's a long story for another time. My point here, and I think Jesus' point in the Gospel, is this: do not be too quick to pull the weeds. Why? Because doing so might damage the wheat. He's warning his disciples about the temptation to permanently exclude sinners from the Kingdom before the final judgment. Weeds cannot, of course, magically turn into wheat. But sinners most certainly can gracefully turn into saints.

Now, I'm not saying that I don't still have some weedy characteristics. I'm not yet a saint. Any of the brothers here can bear witness to my occasional lapses into weediness. Like any other follower of Christ, I have good days and bad. And that's the core of the parable. While we live, we can change. If you are uprooted on a bad day and thrown into the burn pile, who's to say tomorrow wouldn't see you permanently transformed into productive wheat? Only God knows. But what about the damage weeds do to the healthy crop in the meantime? True enough, weeds deplete the available food and water for the wheat. But God's grace is boundless and always available. Weeds can block the sunlight, overshadowing the wheat. True. But nothing can block the light of Christ from reaching the sinner...except the sinner himself. Weeds can give a false impression that the harvest will be abundant. Also, true. But, in the end, at harvest-time, the weeds will go into the burn pile and the harvest will be the harvest. That's God's business. Not something we need to worry about. What we need to worry about is making sure we're in the constant state of being transformed into the best wheat God made us to be. The weeds will take care of themselves. 

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Seeing ain't Seeing

Ss. Joachim and Anne

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

What are the necessary conditions for the possibility of sight? That is, what must be true of me if I am going to be able to see? First, I'll need eyes. Then, an optical nerve. Finally, an occipital lobe with the help of the parietal and temporal lobes in the brain. All of these need to be functional to one degree or another. Then, I'll need something in the world capable of radiating and/or reflecting photons. All of this combined gives me all I need to see. Now, what are the necessary conditions for the possibility of Seeing; that is, what must be true of me if I am going to See – to See in the way the prophets and the righteous long to See? Jesus doesn't give us a detailed explanation for this kind of Seeing. He doesn't lay out the necessary conditions, or list off any minimal criteria. But it's fairly obvious that being a prophet and a being righteous person isn't enough. Being able to glean the will of God in the present moment isn't enough. Being in right relationship with Him under the Law isn't enough. Something more is required. That something more is the reception of grace, taking into oneself the gift of God Himself. Knowing and loving God in the person of Christ Jesus surpasses knowing about Him like a prophet or loving Him like a follower of the Law.

Jesus says that seeing him is to See the Father. Physically seeing Jesus is spiritually Seeing the Father. This is the advantage the disciples have over the prophets and the righteous. Their “seeing” is mediated by either knowledge or the Law. Our “seeing” is mediated by the Incarnated Word, God the Son. They are counted righteous by doing their duty. We are made righteous by receiving the gift of God Himself. In the sacraments, in prayer, in doing righteous deeds; in acts of mercy, love, and forgiveness; in growing in holiness, we take into ourselves the One Who saves. And we become the One Who saves us. Then, we are those who radiate/reflect the light of Christ for others to See. It's not enough that we See. We must also be the condition for the possibility of others Seeing. We must be Seen.

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