The deadliest traps have the sweetest bait. . .

1st Week of Lent (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

We've entered the Lenten desert with Christ and for forty days the Enemy will aggressively attack us, tempting us to betray our Lord and his Church. Like Christ in the desert, the Enemy will tempt us to turn away from God and embrace the kingdom of this world. In exchange for betraying the faith, we are promised the praise of our Social Betters; political influence and prestige; access to the public treasury and the use of public property; the approval of those who would otherwise cast stones and see us driven from the public square; and the promise to leave us alone to worship as we like within the walls of our churches. The deadliest traps must be set with the sweetest bait. What the Enemy knows and we ought to know is that so long as we agree that these grants of privilege are his to give, they are also his to revoke. The trap currently awaiting the Church has been set using the Lord's own words from today's gospel, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” To the Church in the Lenten desert circa 2012, the Enemy says, “If you would serve the least of His, you must serve me first.” 

For 20 centuries, Christians have embraced teaching of Matthew 25, building, staffing, and maintaining hospitals, orphanages, universities, hospices, travelers' way stations, national and international charitable institutions totaling billions of dollars annually in free food, medical care, housing, and education. The Catholic Church is the single largest private provider of relief from the ravages of poverty, disease, and ignorance in the world. In fact, without the Church's determination to follow the teachings of Christ, there would be no universities, no hospitals, no orphanages, no scientific institutions; there would no concept of universal human rights; no understanding of individual freedom; no articulation or defense of human dignity. Without the Church's determination to follow the teachings of Christ, the west would likely still practice slavery, infanticide, gladiatorial games, constant tribal warfare, and the subjugation of women and children under the absolute authority of their male relatives. It is because the Church has embraced the least of God's children that we as a culture are civilized at all. Without a grounding in the teachings of Christ, none of what we have achieved will stand against the temptations of the Enemy, and nothing he offers us is worth the damnation of a single soul.

What every Christian must keep in sharp focus during these tempting times is that we serve the least of God's children out of love and for the greater glory of God. The problems inherent in a fallen world are with us until Christ comes again. Nothing we do will ever end hunger or disease or poverty or ignorance. That's not our goal. Our goal is to love and serve God and one another: the poor, the oppressed, the sick, the dying, and the imprisoned, to love and serve them for no other reason than that God loves them. When we love and serve the least of His, we praise His glory and show the power of His mercy for sinners. We are not charged with the duty of building a just world. We are vowed to live in the world as a just people. We are not charged with the duty of bringing peace to the world. We are vowed to live in the world as a peaceable people. Our duty is to live now as we would live in heaven—loving, serving, praising God by loving and serving those most of need of His care. We cannot do our duty to God and serve the Enemy at the same time. When tempted to do both, we must always choose God.

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Turning the Crystal Cathedral into a real cathedral?  I say:  raze it and start over.  

No, you do not have to confess missing Mass on Ash Wednesday. 

Anti-Catholic bigotry in the MSM:  a roundup.

Is it permissible to remove holy water from the church's fonts and replace it with sand during Lent?  NO.

Say the Black, Do the Red:  priest fired for his obstinate clericalism.

Pelosi says that the Church wants the feds to enforce a contraception ban.  Where's Thomas a Becket when you need him?

An Irish Lenten tradition. . .as only the Irish can do it.
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Thanks!

Many thanks to Michael S. for the Kindle Book!

Be assured of my prayers for you and your family, Michael.

God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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Regs on Lenten Abstinence and Fasting

From the USCCB:

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of universal fast and abstinence. Fasting is obligatory for all who have completed their 18th year and have not yet reached their 60th year. Fasting allows a person to eat one full meal. Two smaller meals may be taken, not to equal one full meal. Abstinence (from meat) is obligatory for all who have reached their 14th year.

If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection. 

Fridays in Lent are obligatory days of complete abstinence (from meat) for all who have completed their 14th year.

More links on the USCCB website.

___________________

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You Have a Choice to Make

Thursday after Ash Wednesday 2012
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Americans love options. We love the fact that we can walk into just about any store and have our choice of products. Different sizes, flavors, shapes, and prices. Take milk as an example: whole milk, skim milk, buttermilk, low fat, fat-free, 1%, 2%, organic, soy, half/half, heavy cream, milk with acidophilus, and even lactose-free milk. As the world's leading consumers, we thrive on the illusion that having these options available somehow gives us control of our lives! Choosing from a menu of options is a very American way of expressing our individuality, of showing others that we are independent and discriminating consumers. What we really don't like is being told that there are only two choices. Black or white but no gray. Yes or no but no maybe. Moses, for example, would've made a terrible American salesman. Here's his pitch, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. . .obey the commandments of the Lord. . .loving him, and walking in his ways [and] you will live [and He] will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen. . .and adore and serve other gods. . .you will certainly perish. . .” What?! Only two choices? Where's the compromise? The dialogue? Moses answers, “Choose life. . .that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God.”

As a reformed secular humanist, I can tell you that this kind of Black/White thinking drives the enemies of the Church crazy! It drives them nuts when we say that abortion is always—under all circumstances—a moral evil. It drives them nuts when we say that women can never be ordained priests. They go bonkers when we claim that other faiths might teach religious truths but only the Church teaches the fullness of truth necessary for salvation. Those superlatives—always, never, only—send secularists into fits b/c they see themselves as the guardians of infinite options, the defenders of relative truth and value. Their Pick & Choose ideology demands that the we, the world, and even God Himself bow before their inalienable right to fashion for themselves a comfortable reality, a reality that somehow always manages to cater to every individual whim and “felt need.” For them, life is one long bargaining session, one long shopping spree.

For us Christians, reality is a little less confusing, a little less crowded with options. Moses says, “I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.” Now, choose. Love and obey God and you will prosper. Turn your backs on Him and worship false gods and you will surely perish. Jesus lays these choices out for us in slightly different terms, “I must suffer, be rejected, killed and on the third day be raised. . .If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” What?! That's it? Where's the compromise? The dialogue? Can I follow you w/o a cross? Can I take up my cross but not follow? How about denying myself, leaving out the cross, and just staying at home? What are my options here? Jesus answers, “Come after me or don't. Those are your choices.” Lent is an excellent season for contemplating this decision. And as the Church is pressed more and more in our consumer culture, making that decision becomes more and more imperative. Those who see our faith as an obstacle to their lifestyle options want to know if you are going to follow Christ or wait to defend their never ending shopping spree. Those are your options. Choose.

___________________

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Abstinence & Fasting: Just Do It!

Question:  "Father, what's the difference between abstinence and fasting?"

Answer:  Good question!  Since the Protestantizers squeezed an imaginary "spirit" out of Vatican Two and threw out many of our cherished Catholic traditions in the name of reform*, Catholics have been dazed and confused about abstinence and fasting. 

The two are easily distinguished:

Abstinence:  abstaining from eating X (usually meat).

Fasting:  eating less of everything.

On Friday's during Lent, Catholic abstain from meat and fast.  Fasting usually entails eating one small meal and two snacks.  Check your diocesan website for specific regulations.  

There are as many reasons for abstaining and fasting as there are Catholics.  Traditionally, the Lenten abstinence and fast is meant to rekindle in us a deep sense of humility, that is, a profound awareness that we are totally dependent on God for everything we have.  This evokes gratitude, which strengthens humility.

Most Catholics usually "give up" something for Lent as well; for example, coffee, smoking, chocolate, booze, etc.  I encourage Catholic to "take up" a devotional practice (rosary, Adoration, weekly confession) or focus on amending a habitual sin (gossip, missing Sunday Mass).  

Here's the thing:  being a faithful Catholic isn't supposed to be easy!  We've spent the last forty years trying to rub the hard edges off our faith in order to "fit in" with our Protestant Betters.  This has largely been a project of the Baby Boomers who find their grandparents' peasant Catholicism to be an embarrassment.  

The effort to Americanize the Church has led to numerous problems, including (but not limited to) a lazy attitude toward fulfilling the Sunday Mass obligation, frequent confession, the Lenten fast, and a general decline in the morality of Catholics across the board (use of contraception, abortion, co-habitation). Not to mention a dramatic decline in young men and women answering their call to serve the Church as priests and religious.

Nowhere in scripture, the Church Fathers, conciliar documents, or magisterial teaching will you read anything like the following, "Being Catholic is easy!  Just be nice to people and do what you can when you can!"  

Our faith demands perseverance, constant attention, and prayer.  Human beings are fundamentally good.  We are creatures of a loving God Who wants us to use His gifts to improve ourselves, to make ourselves holy for His greater glory!

Yes, God loves you just the way you are.  God is love, so loving is what He does by nature.  But He loves you SO THAT you will grow in righteousness.  One small way to jump start that process is to observe the Church's regulations on the Lenten fast. 

To borrow from the world of American commerce:  JUST DO IT!

*The actual documents of VC2 call for "renewal" and "repair."

___________________

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Still sick. . .

Apparently, I'm not over the flu.  Got really dizzy after imposing ashes at the 12.15 Mass and had to sit out communion.  

Cold sweat, dizziness, fever. . .   :-(

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Ash Wednesday: We're on a Deadline!

Ash Wednesday 2012
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Remember that you are dust! Remember that we are impermanent, transient, just passing through and passing away. From the moment we are conceived, we are dying. And the time in between is our time to receive the gift of eternal life—a permanent, imperishable life lived in the presence of God. Catholics have never shied away from the truth of mortality: we are here temporarily. But also know that dying is not our purpose, our reason for living. We are given breath so that we might give to God the praise and glory due His name; so that we might sow and harvest the fruits of His Word among His people. Our mortal task is to give our hearts, minds, and hands to the cultivation of our Lord's love. Remembering that we are dust, remembering that we are passing through and passing away is at once a call to pay attention to the work we've been given and a reminder that each of us works on a deadline. While you pray, fast and give alms during the next 40 days, rise and rest giving God thanks for everything He has given you, for everything that you are, and for everything you can become with His mercy.

___________________

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5 Things To Do With Your Ashes

Go git dem ashes!!!

And here's five things you can do once you Get Yours:

1).  Carefully cover your ashen cross with a big piece of clear packing tape so that it doesn't smear during the day.

2).  Use Elmer's Glue to outline your ashes and then sprinkle it liberally with glitter.

3).  Add two more ashen crosses on each side of the original and tell everyone you're fasting for the two pagans in your in family.

4).   Keep a small container of ashes in your pocket.  When someone says, "Hey, you got a little dirt on your forehead," whip out the ashes and Give Them Theirs before they can flee.

5).  Wash them off. . .you know, like Jesus tells us to do in today's gospel.  

Happy Fasting, folks!

___________________

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Fat Report Monday (Octave) +2

I completely forgot about Fat Report Monday!

+2 up to 327 lbs.  Not a great week.  Flu.  Not enough moving around.  Flopping around in bed coughing and sneezing doesn't count.

____________________

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Confession & Forgiveness: An Analogy

You and best friend have a fight.  You go to home and so does BF.

That night your BF prays and decides to forgive you.  BF sends you an email informing you of his/her forgiveness.

You read the email and decide to put off responding until tomorrow.  Tomorrow comes and goes.  The next day, the next week.  You get another email from BF.  You're still angry at BF and brooding over the fight.  Six months later you get another email from BF.   Before you know it, a year has passed and you still haven't responded to your BF's declarations of forgiveness.

You do a little checking with mutual friends and discover that BF has moved on in life and is apparently thriving in a new job and a new child.  BF asked around about you for a month or two and expressed regret about the fight but said that he/she was over it and just wanted to be friends again. 

While you've been wallowing in self-pity and anger, BF has forgiven you.  But the friendship cannot be re-established until you respond to BF's declarations of forgiveness.  BF can send you an email of forgiveness every minute of everyday until he/she dies, but there can be no friendship until you respond by receiving his/her forgiveness.  

Confession is about receiving the forgiveness that God has already given to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ!  All we have to do is go get it. Then your friendship with God is re-established. 

___________________

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Show us Godly wisdom!

7th Week OT (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Let's see: who among you is wise and understanding? Show your hand! Anyone? No takers, a few takers? OK. Who among you is wise and understanding? Show your works! Show us a good life lived in the humility that comes from wisdom. Let's see you live day to day immersed in the love of God and in the full knowledge that you are totally dependent on Him for everything you have and everything you are. What should we see if we were to observe a wise and understanding soul live day to day? According to James, such a soul would be “peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits,” constant and sincere. A foolish and ignorant soul, James writes, is infested with “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition,” plagued by a manner of thinking and living, a wisdom that is “earthly, unspiritual, [and] demonic.” What distinguishes the wise soul from the foolish soul is not wisdom per se but the source of one's wisdom. The wisdom that brings peace comes down from above and is “first of all pure.” It's that divine purity that gives one's wisdom fertility, the unfettered ability to cultivate peace.

If you had to name the one thing you are pursuing in this life, what would it be? I hope, I pray, most of us here tonight would say, “I'm pursuing holiness by following Christ!” If we were wade into the Madri Gras crowds down on St. Charles tomorrow and ask, “What are you pursing in this life?” we might get a few coherent answers. More than likely, we'd get a Hurricane thrown in our face! Whether we know it or not, we are all chasing after something; we are all following behind someone or some idea. . .even if that someone is a potential mate or that idea is “just make it one more day.” We were created to desire the Good and we are given the tools to sift through all the flotsam we encounter to find the Good. But how often do we choose the Good? We desire it and we have what it takes to recognize it, but do we deliberately select what is Good and reject what it evil? The selection process can be daunting, even overwhelming if you are relying on human knowledge and experience alone. Thus, James tells us that true wisdom is Godly wisdom, “first of all [it is] pure,” from above. When you place yourself at the disposal of Godly wisdom, you place yourself in the way of righteousness, which is guaranteed to bear abundant fruit. And the first fruit of righteousness is peace.

Wisdom is one of those tricky words that needs a little explanation. Think of human wisdom this way: take knowledge add experience, throw in some prudence and over time you get human wisdom. A very valuable resource. More valuable still is Godly wisdom. Take knowledge gained from revelation (scripture, Christ, and creation) add the experience of the whole Church (2,000 yrs. of sacred tradition), throw in some faith, some prudence, and lots of perseverance and you get about as close to Godly wisdom as you can get this side of heaven. The difference that makes the difference here when it comes to fruitfulness is the source of the wisdom at work. Human wisdom can never evolve faster than humanity itself. Godly wisdom is always several stages beyond where we absolutely need it to be. This is why we are constantly astonished by the works of faith. This is why we are amazed by the lives of the saints. This is why we keep coming back to God over and over again no matter how many times we've run the other way. Who among you is wise and understanding? Show your works! Show us a good life lived in the humility that comes from Godly wisdom.

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Just Name the Sin: No excuses, no explantions. . .

In the post below ("10 Random Thoughts on Confession") I urge penitents to avoid explaining their sins in favor of simply confessing them.  

Often, penitents feel the need to describe the circumstances of the sin or offer some sort of causal account of their sins.  Not necessary.  

Just. Name. The. Sin.  Easy, cheesy.  If your confessor needs more info, he will ask.  

Now, what do I mean by "explanation."  This definition is as good as any. . .from wiki:  An explanation is a set of statements constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts.

Your confessor needs to know the nature of your sin ("name") and how many times you've committed the sin ("number"). He does not need to know the cause, context, or consequences--unless he does, in which case, he will ask you for a description.  

Good Example:  "I lied four times this week to my wife."  

Bad Example:  "I found out that my wife lied to me last week about how much money she spent on shoes, so I told her that my fishing boat only cost half what it really costs and when she asked me about at dinner last night--no, wait--it was lunch. . .anyway, when she asked about it I told her another lie. . ."  

Your confessor does not need to know:  1) that you know that your wife lied to you; 2) that your wife lied; 3) that she lied to you last week; 4) that she lied about money; 5) that she bought shoes; 6) that you lied about a the cost of a fishing boat; 7) what meal you were eating when she asked you about the cost of the fishing boat; 8) that she asked you about the cost of the boat a second, third, fourth time. . .

Your confessor needs to know:  1) that you lied to your wife; 2) how many times you lied.  Yes, lying to your wife is different than lying to a stranger.  A lie is a lie.  Period.  But lying to your wife raises different sorts of flags.  If you were to confess, "I lied four times this week." your confessor rightly asks, "To whom did you lie?"  He will not--I hope--ask, "What were you eating when you lied?"

Basically, I'm urging penitents to get out of the habit of explaining their sins because: 

1). explanations almost inevitably end up sounding an awful lot like rationalizations/justifications;

2). confession-time is not story-time, "Just the facts, ma'am."

3). explaining your sins can lead to Vicarious Confession, i.e., in the process of explaining who, when, why, where of Your Sin X, you end up trying to confess someone else's sin.

4). explanations are often veiled attempts at provoking sympathy in the confessor. 

Strip that confession to the bare bones so that there is a white-hot laser focus on YOUR sins--no excuses, no explanations, no causal accounts, no nothing but the wrong you did!  That way, you can get on with enjoying God's love and loving others in kind.

___________________

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10 Random Thoughts on Confession

A post over at Fr. Z's place got me to thinking about confession.  Since we're heading into Lent, I though I type out some random thoughts on the subject. . .

1).  Confession is all about receiving the forgiveness we have all already been given.   We cannot earn forgiveness by works, attitude, or even confession itself; if we could, it would be a wage not a grace (i.e. a gift).

2).  Penance is not a punishment for sin.  Completing the penance you've been given is a sign that you have received God's forgiveness and resolved not to sin again.  This is why I always assign sin-appropriate psalms as penance.

3).  Priests rarely remember the sins of individual penitents.  Some believe that this is a grace from God given so that the confessor is spared the difficulty of carrying around the memories of sin.  Sounds good to me.  Frankly, I think the explanation is more mundane: priests have heard it all and sin is boring.

4).  Explaining your sins in the confessional is unnecessary and time-consuming.  Just say what you did and leave it at that.  If more info is needed, your confessor will ask.  Explanations generally come across as attempts to excuse the sin.

5).  Ask for counsel if you need it.  Most experienced confessors will know when counsel is needed, but it never hurts to ask.  Just keep in mind that there are others waiting to confess!

6).  This is your confession, so stick to your sins.  You cannot confess for your kids, your spouse, your neighbors, etc.  And please avoid using your confession time to complain about your kids, your spouse, your neighbors, etc.

7).  Faithfully assisting at Mass (actually participating) absolves venial sins.  Why else would we recite the Confiteor and the celebrant pray for our absolution?

8).  If you are unsure about whether or not X is a sin, ask.  Remember:  mortal sins are acts of disobedience that "kill charity" in your heart.  You cannot sin mortally through accident or ignorance. Don't turn a venial sin into a mortal "just in case."  

9).  Keep your eye on the clock and the line.  Make a thorough confession but balance your thoroughness with economy.  Others are waiting.  One way to do this (if there's a long line) is to stick to your mortal sins and save the venial sins for Mass.

10).  Tell your confessor that you will pray for him. . .and then go out there and pray for him! 

___________________

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Conspicuous Absence

No Sunday homily from me this weekend. . .we have a visiting preacher from Cross International.

Next weekend our deacons will be preaching.

Yes, I'm still a member of the Order of Preachers.  Ahem.

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Malice was their motive?

A must read!  Paul Rahe hits the anti-Catholic, un-American B.O. powergrab right between the eyes:

[. . .]

We know that the President did not act on impulse, that he took his time in making this decision, and that he sought advice from a range of individuals within the Democratic Party.  

[. . .]

On the face of it, President Obama would appear to be shooting himself in the foot. Why would he risk losing the Catholic vote? One could, of course, argue that his aim was to excite the feminists and give them a reason to turn out in November. As a rationale, however, even this seems a bit lame.

This suggests that there can be only one reason why Sebelius, Pelosi, and Obama decided to proceed. They wanted to show the bishops and the Catholic laity who is boss. They wanted to make those who think contraception wrong and abortion a species of murder complicit in both.  They wanted to rub the noses of their opponents in it. They wanted to marginalize them. Humiliation was, in fact, their only aim, and malice, their motive.

[. . .]

Last week, when, in response to the fierce resistance he had deliberately stirred up, the President offered the bishops what he called “an accommodation,” what he proffered was nothing more than a fig leaf. His maneuver was, in fact, a gesture of contempt, and I believe that it was Barack Obama’s final offer. From his perspective and from that of Sebelius and Pelosi, the genuine Catholics still within the Democratic coalition are no more than what Vladimir Lenin called “useful idiots,” and, now that the progressive project is near completion, they are expendable – for there is no longer any need to curry their favor.

[. . .]

In 2008, when he first ran for the Presidency, Barack Obama posed as a moderate most of the time. This time, he is openly running as a radical. His aim is to win a mandate for the fundamental transformation of the United States that he promised in passing on the eve of his election four years ago and that he promised again when he called his administration The New Foundation. In the process, he intends to reshape the Democratic coalition – to bring the old hypocrisy to an end, to eliminate those who stand in the way of the final consolidation of the administrative entitlements state, to drive out the faithful Catholics once and for all, to jettison the white working class, and to build a new American regime on a coalition of  highly educated upper-middle class whites, feminists, African-Americans, Hispanics, illegal immigrants, and those belonging to the public-sector unions. To Americans outside this coalition, he intends to show no mercy.

Mark my words. If Barack Obama wins in November, he will force the Catholic hospitals to perform abortions, and the bishops, priests, and nuns who fostered the steady growth of the administrative entitlements state, thinking that they were pursuing “the common good,” will reap what they have sown.

[. . .]

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Humanae Vitae: prophetic document

Pope Paul VI's prophetic document, Humanae Vitae (1968):

17. Upright men can even better convince themselves of the solid grounds on which the teaching of the Church in this field is based, if they care to reflect upon the consequences of methods of artificial birth control. Let them consider, first of all, how wide and easy a road would thus be opened up towards conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality. Not much experience is needed in order to know human weakness, and to understand that men -- especially the young, who are so vulnerable on this point -- have need of encouragement to be faithful to the moral law, so that they must not be offered some easy means of eluding its observance. It is also to be feared that the man, growing used to the employment of anti-conceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.

Let it be considered also that a dangerous weapon would thus be placed in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral exigencies. Who could blame a government for applying to the solution of the problems of the community those means acknowledged to be licit for married couples in the solution of a family problem? Who will stop rulers from favoring, from even imposing upon their peoples, if they were to consider it necessary, the method of contraception which they judge to be most efficacious? In such a way men, wishing to avoid individual, family, or social difficulties encountered in the observance of the divine law, would reach the point of placing at the mercy of the intervention of public authorities the most personal and most reserved sector of conjugal intimacy.

[. . .]

22. On this occasion, we wish to draw the attention of educators, and of all who perform duties of responsibility in regard to the common good of human society, to the need of creating an atmosphere favorable to education in chastity, that is, to the triumph of healthy liberty over license by means of respect for the moral order. 

Everything in the modern media of social communications which leads to sense excitation and unbridled customs, as well as every form of pornography and licentious performances, must arouse the frank and unanimous reaction of all those who are solicitous for the progress of civilization and the defense of the common good of the human spirit. Vainly would one seek to justify such depravation with the pretext of artistic or scientific exigencies, or to deduce an argument from the freedom allowed in this sector by the public authorities.

___________________

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Which cross will you carry?

NB.  Just as I finished this homily, Fr. Michael (our Pastor) knocked on my door and volunteered to take today's 5.30pm Mass b/c of my hacking, sneezing, etc.  So, here's the text of the Homily That Will Not Be Preached!  :-)

Seven Founders of the Servite Order
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

In the fall of 2000, I entered what we Dominicans call, the studium; basically, what everyone else calls seminary. My studium days were sometimes tough b/c I had spent a lot of years in a secular grad school, and I was used to aggressively challenging my professors and my fellow students. At some point in that first year, I began to realize that some of my profs were inclined to dissent from basic Church teachings and tended to present a critique of our tradition before presenting the tradition itself; or even worse, they presented their critique as the tradition. When I aggressively challenged this approach, and got a lame answer from the prof, I would go to the student master and rant for a while. He would patiently listen, nod appropriately, heave a big sigh, and ask, “Philip, is this the hill you wanna die on?” In other words, Philip, is this issue important enough to you to risk your vocation as a Dominican friar? I said NO every time. He could've asked me, “Philip, is this the cross you wanna be nailed to?” Is this the issue you want to carry to your death, the stand you want to make right before you die? As Lent approaches, here's our question: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” What good is it to you if you win the treasures of the world and die in the process of winning?

With anti-Catholic bigotry on the rise among our nation's political elites, we might have to answer that question much sooner than we ever thought we would. We might be forced sooner rather than later to answer the question, “Is this cross the one you wanna be nailed to?” There's no need to be dramatic here: the Men in Black aren't out rounding up Catholics for the re-education camps. None of us is headed to the firing squads. The erosion of our religious liberties as Catholics and Americans is subtle, piecemeal, but frighteningly obvious if you're paying attention. We are being inexorably corralled—court decision by court decision, agency regulation by agency regulation—forced into making some stark black and white choices about where we put our faith, our trust: in coercive governmental power, or ancient Church teaching? We can scream, whine, complain, sue, petition, and vote 'til our fingers and tongues are swollen and useless, but eventually, sooner rather than later, someone is going to ask you, “Is this the cross you wanna be nailed to?” You can say NO, NOT THAT ONE a lot of times but at some point you will have to say YES, THAT ONE, or you can wait until they run out of crosses, and then you will belong to the world. 

Jesus teaches us, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” St. Augustine writes that “deny himself” means, “Let him not trust in himself. . .Cursed is every one that puts his hope in man. . .Let him withdraw from himself, that he may cleave unto God.” What does “take up your cross” mean? He writes, “. . .let them in the world endure for Christ's sake whatever the world may bring upon them. . .Hold on, persevere, endure, bear delay and you have borne the cross.” Borne the cross, yes; but the world seeks to nail us to a cross b/c we choose to follow Christ. This should not surprise us b/c it is exactly what Christ promised would happen. That cross might be living as a Christian in a Muslim country or the atheist utopia of N. Korea; it might be the choice btw living the faith honestly, or having medical insurance; it might be the choice btw living your faith freely, or hiding your light in the darkness of political correctness and cultural oppression. Which among the alternatives “follows Christ”?  Which will be the cross you are nailed to?

cf. Augustine, Sermon 46 on the New Testament

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We will NOT comply!

Copy it, paste it, spread it ALL over!

H/T:  Mark "Bloody Shanks" Shea
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Coffee Cup Browsing

Believers are happier than non-believers.  Duh.

A must-see-for-me summer movie. . .Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.   I suggest for fall/winter release. . .Ronald Reagan:  Lefty Zombie Hunter!

It's OK to force a high school choir to sing Muslim worship song. . .imagine if that same high school forced the choir to sing, "Amazing Grace" or "Salve Regina."  How did we get here, people???

Poor Ole Jimmy Carter continues to embarrass himself and his Democrat friends.

White House lies about Catholic Charities' support for B.O. anti-Catholic powergrab.

Bishop thrown out of a bar after giving a Theology on Tap talk.  Note the hypocrisy mentioned in the post.

Planned Parenthood angry after local food pantry rejects their donations.  Expect more of this sort of thing.  Oh, and click the link in the post and send the pantry your support.

A kid with no sense of humor. . .he'll do well on the Internetz comboxes.

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Tracking Institutions Opposing B.O.'s Power Grab

The indefatigable Tom Peters is tracking institutions that have issued public statements against B.O.'s violation of religious liberty.  

If your institution (college, religious order, charitable organization, etc.) hasn't spoken out, it might be a good idea to drop them a note and encourage them to do so.

I will note that both Notre Dame and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities have issued statements praising B.O.'s use of coercive governmental power to force Christians to not only violate their conscience but to pay for the privilege as well.  Ahem.  It might be a good idea to wonder a bit about whether or not you want your donations to these institutions to be used to buy the faculty, the cafeteria staff, and the safety officers, etc. the Morning After Pill.

From Mr. Peters:

Here are Catholic institutions that have spoken out against the mandate:

• 1. EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) – filed lawsuit
• 2. Belmont Abbey College – filed lawsuit
• 3. University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN – issued statement to press
• 4. Christendom College in Front Royal, VA – issued statement
• 5. Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, FL – considering legal options, “will not comply”
• 6-9: Aquinas College in Nashville, TN (joined by three other Dominican schools)–issued statement
• 10. University of Dallas in Dallas, TX – issued statement
• 11. Priests for Life in Staten Island, NY – filed lawsuit
• 12. Nashville Dominican Sisters in Nashville, TN – issued statement
• 13. Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD – issued statement
• 14. Benedictine College in Atchison, KS – issued statement
• 15. The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC – issued statement to the press
• 16. Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities - issued statement
• 17. Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA - issued statement
• 18. Knights of Columbus - issued statement
• 19. Catholic Medical Association - issued statement
• 20. Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, NH - issued statement
• 21. Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio - issued statement
• 22. Holy Cross College in Indiana - issued statement to press
• 23. Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, WY - issued statement
• 24. Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist - issued statement
• 25. Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH – issued statement
• 26. New Hampshire Catholic Charities – issued statement
• 27. Saint Anselm College – issued statement
• 28. Catholic Charities USA – issued (clarifying) statement
• 29. Catholic Charities Denver – issued statement
• 30. Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration – issued statement

Good to see Catholic universities leading the charge on this!  Here are non-Catholic institutions that have spoken out against the mandate:

• 1. Colorado Christian University (nondenominational) - filed lawsuit
• 2. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod – issued statement
• 3. National Association of Evangelical Protestants – issued statement
• 4. Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America – issued statement
• 5. Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops – issued statement
• 6. Anglican Church in North America – issued statement
• 7. Reformed Theological Seminary – issued statement
• 8. American Life League – issued statement
• 9. Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission – issued statement
• 10. The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod – issued statement

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Peter freaks out!

A repost from 2006, using today's gospel reading:

18th Week OT (F)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Albert the Great Priory

Jesus has just finished telling his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem where he will suffer and die at the hands of his enemies. Peter, no doubt rocked to his core at this revelation, takes the Lord aside and rebukes him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." Being a deeply pastoral sort, Jesus turns to Peter and offers to listen to his concerns; gently leads the newly minted facilitator of the disciples through all of the available options, and helps him to express his concerns in a non-confrontational, non-threatening way. Once consoled, Peter smiles and Jesus continues, saying, “Whoever wishes to come after me is invited to explore a wide variety of possible means for doing so and choose the path that best suits his/her felt needs.” All the disciples smile and wander off in different directions in search of how best to actualize his/her individual human potential. We are happy to learn that no one suffered, no one died, and everyone eventually fulfilled all of his/her felt needs. Now, what does Jesus actually say in response to Peter's rebuke? “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. . . Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. . .” If you've never thought of Jesus as a major buzz-kill, now's the time to start!

We don't want to say that Peter is urging his Master to abandon his mission and create some sort of humanistic, therapy-ish program for achieving inner-peace and enlightenment. But we have to wonder what exactly Peter is thinking when he objects to God's plan for His Christ. Peter knows the Hebrew prophecies concerning the fate of the promised Messiah. He's witnessed the religious and political opposition to his Master's teachings. He's heard the dropped hints and subtle clues that indicate a less than glorious end for Jesus' public ministry. So, what exactly is his problem? Maybe it's just hearing it all said out loud. Maybe it's hearing Jesus himself reveal the ugly details. Or, maybe it's a combination of being handed the keys to the kingdom AND THEN told that his Master is to suffer and die at the hands of their enemies. The combination of authority, responsibility, and the lack of Messianic supervision is enough to rattle anyone! No doubt—Peter doesn't want his teacher to suffer and die, nor does he want the burdens of leading a Messianic movement w/o a Messiah. But it could be the caase that Peter is most afraid for his own skin. He knows that Christ's suffering and death means that his own suffering and death is not far behind. When he rebukes Jesus, what he's really saying is: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to ME!"

Let's ask a difficult question: how much of our daily lives as followers of Christ is spent avoiding the suffering Christ himself suffered? How often do we put down our cross and let it rest against convenient props—props like social justice politics, theological speculation, well-worn and comfortable devotions, intellectual gaming, therapeutic processes, or an old favorite: “just doing a job”? Following after Christ—that is, following him to the Cross in Jerusalem, following him to suffer and love for others—isn't a theory, a therapy, a game, a devotion, a process, or a job. Nor is it a lifestyle or a career. It's a commission, a ministry, a vocation; one that each of us has accepted freely, willingly, perhaps even eagerly. And even though each of us individually has set our feet on this path, we do not travel the path alone. Christ died so that he might be among us always. . .with each of us and with all of us together. With all the authority and responsibility of leading others behind our Christ, there is nothing we should fear and so we can say, “God forbid, Lord! That we should set down our cross.”

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No homily texts today. . .

Two Masses today--St Dominic School Mass and Mt. Carmel Academy Mass--but no homily texts.  I preach "textless" for the kids.  

The ladies of MCA have a very short period of time for lunch and they use part of that time to come to Mass, so I give them the One Minute Homily.   

Maybe I'll dip into the archives and post an older homily. . .

Still sick--coughing, snotting, headache, etc.  Back to bed when I'm done!

Fr. Philip, OP

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American Flu vs. Italian Vaccine

Apologies for the low-key blogging. . .I started getting sick yesterday.  The flu, I think.  I got a flu shot in Rome back in Dec., but it's possible that these American bugs aren't afraid of Italian anti-bugs.

I'm recycling a homily for the 5.30pm Mass. . .

Going back to bed.  Yughhhh. . .

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BXVI: When injustice becomes justice. . .

“When the murder of innocent life is called a right, then injustice has become justice. When the law can no longer protect human life, it is suspect as law. Saying this does not mean wanting to impose specifically Christian morality on all members of a pluralistic society. What is in question here is human nature, the humanity of a person who cannot make the trampling on a created being a means of self-liberation without profoundly deceiving himself. The vehemence of the dispute over this question is due to the profundity of the question that is being discussed. Do we become free only when we have cut ourselves loose from creation and have cast it off as an enslavement? Or have we, precisely in so doing, betrayed ourselves? In the last analysis, the battle being waged is about man as such, and from that we Christians cannot dispense ourselves. But another aspect of the question arises here that is significant for the situation of mankind today. In the anxious attempt to obstruct the path of new human life as silently and as surely as possible, can we not detect a deep anxiety about the future? Two answers seem to suggest themselves here. On the one hand, this anxiety emanates, no doubt, from the fact that the free gift of life does not seem meaningful to us because we have lost the free gift of its meaning; there is evident a despair about one’s own life that makes us unwilling to impose on others the dark way of humanity. On the other hand, we see exemplified here clearly and simply a fear of competition, a fear of the curtailment the other may invariably be for me. The other, he who is to come, becomes a threat. True love is death, an obliteration of oneself before and for the other. But we have no desire for death. We want only to be ourselves and to lead lives as free as possible from sharing and disturbance. We do not realize and we do not want to realize that, by our avidity for life, we are actually destroying our own future, that we risk having our own lives fall into the hands of death.” Der Gott Jesu Christi, pp. 38ff.

Joseph Ratzinger, Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year, ed. Irene Grassl, trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth, 60-61 (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992).

H/T: swilson18 from Fr. Z's combox

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Fat Monday Report -3

-3 this last week. . .not too bad at all.

Down to 325lbs.

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Live with Christ now and live with him forever

6th Week OT(M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

In 1626, Pope Urban VIII commissioned the construction of Santa Maria della Concezione near the Piazza Barberini in Rome. Five years later, the Capuchin friars of Rome moved the bones of their deceased brothers into the crypt underneath the church and continued to bury their dead in the crypt until around 1870. There are some 4,000 friars buried there. This is not all that unusual. What is unusual is that the bones of the friars were used to decorate the five chapels of the crypt. The walls and floors of the chapels are covered in elaborate mosaics made up entirely of bones. To the 21st century Christian, using the dead as decoration—especially in a chapel—is a little creepy if not outright scary and sacrilegious. For us, the dead are to be made to look as much alive as possible: carefully made up, dressed, coiffed, manicured, and then buried beneath the ground, out of sight, out of mind and their passing marked with a tasteful headstone. But for centuries, Christians were stoical about death, not at all squeamish about facing mortality. They understood that this world is passing away and set their hearts and minds on the world to come. They understood exactly what James means when he writes that the rich and poor alike will pass away "like the flower of the field." If you seek a sign that you will live forever, look to your death and where it will send you.

This morning we heard read the beginning of James' exhorting letter to the “twelve tribes in dispersion,” a letter to the Jewish Christians dispersed throughout the eastern portion of the Roman Empire. James encourages his brothers and sisters to endure trials as a means of achieving perfection in Christ. He exhorts them to pray for wisdom with a heart and mind steeped in faith b/c “a man of two minds [is] unstable in all his ways” and cannot presume to receive anything from God. Most importantly, James reminds us of our mortality, comparing us to grass in a field, thriving under a scorching sun. Eventually, the grass “dries up. . .its flower droops, and the beauty of its appearance vanishes.” We “fade away in the midst of [our] pursuits.” The Christians' focus, while living in the world, is on the world to come. Our goal, our end is to be completed in Christ, and death is just one more door we must open and step through. The friars underneath Santa Maria della Concezione do not merely decorate their crypt's chapels; they memorialize, bring to mind again through memory, the truth that we live and die in Christ now so that we might rise and live with him forever. 

If you seek a sign that you will live forever, look to your death and where it will send you. Signs show us the way by giving us direction. The Pharisees seek a sign in order to test Jesus. He refuses to show them a sign, refuses to give them their test. Like the rich man in James' letter, they are of two minds, unstable in all their ways; so, any sign he shows them will be wasted in more demands for more signs. The only sign they truly need is their own mortality. But what they need to survive their mortality is faith, a gift they cannot receive b/c their focus is on this world and the evidence they desire as proof of Jesus' power. Our faith in Christ Jesus is not a magical spell or a death-defying secret. To live with Christ forever, we must live with him now. Our mortality—that we will die—is all the sign we need to motivate us to live now as we would live forever. If you want to dwell eternally in love, dwell in love now. If you want to eat at God's table in heaven, eat at His table now. If you want to sing His praises before the throne, sing those praises before you die.

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The Way of Life, the Way of Death (2.0)

6th Sunday OT (Revamped)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The Way that leads to a peaceful soul is always the way of life. In the first century, an unnamed Christian wrote a small book called The Didache. The first sentence of this book reads, “There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.” What is the Way of Life? He writes, “First, you shall love God who made you; second, your neighbor as yourself; and all things whatsoever you would not have done to you, do not do to another.” What is the Way of Death? He writes in part, “First of all it is evil and full of curse. . .hating truth, loving a lie. . .not pitying a poor man, not laboring for the afflicted, not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children, destroyers of the handiwork of God. . .” The way to peace is the Way of Life—loving, forgiving, trusting in God that He will provide. The way to trouble and trial is the Way of Death, destroying the handiwork of God, destroying in the human person the image and likeness of our Creator.

When we hate truth and love a lie, we walk the Way of Death and set up for ourselves an idol, a false image to worship. What idol tempts us most in 2012? The image of the human person as an animal w/o a soul, an animal that only needs to eat, drink, sleep, have sex, and get all that it can before it dies. When we reduce the human person to nothing more than an animal, we invite upon ourselves a darkness and despair that will not permit us to see or feel or think beyond our next meal, beyond our next bed partner. When we understand ourselves as nothing more than soulless animals, we begin to think that the destruction of God's handiwork—the destruction of our children—is a duty, a right, even a blessing. When we think of ourselves as nothing more than soulless animals, we begin to think of ourselves as gods, as masters of creation with the power to deal death at a whim. This is not who we were created to be or who we were created to become. He created us in His likeness and image and He loves us to make us better than we can be on our own. God gives us the joy of salvation in the time of trouble so that we might overcome death and not surrender to despair. And make no mistake: when we destroy the handiwork of God, when we kill our children, treat pregnancy as an injury and fertility as a disease, we are aiding and abetting despair, giving comfort to the Enemy, and setting ourselves on course for a fall into darkness. Therefore, as followers of Christ, we turn to the Lord and His Way of Life. We turn away from the Way of Death and rejoice that we are helped and protected in these times of trouble.

The Psalmist sings, “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation!” Turning to the Lord in times of trouble is an old, old tradition of the sinner. Lord, I made another dumb choice, so I'm turning to you! Lord, I didn't anticipate the consequences of my behavior, so I'm turning to you! Lord, I know we don't really talk all that often, but I'm in real trouble here, so I'm turning to you! We've all done it. When all else fails, turn to prayer; turn to the Lord. God as Last Resort is a constant in human history and it is far better that we see Him as the Last Resort than it is to see Him as No Resort At All. But the Psalmist isn't wagging a finger at us for our infidelity. Quite the opposite. What we hear reaffirmed in this verse is the constancy of God's help and protection, most especially in times of trouble, most especially when we are least able to help and protect ourselves. Of course, the Lord watches over us; of course, the Lord lends us the help we need. However, that help may not always come in the shape and substance we want. His protection may not always look and feel like the protection we ask for. Sometimes, more often than not, the help and protection He provides is the joy of salvation, the elation of knowing that whatever trouble plagues us now cannot follow us into a righteous life. Nothing can trouble a soul at peace with the Lord, a soul that walks the Way of Life, the way of love.

Remember: the purpose of God's love for us is to boot us into being better than we are. He will not overwhelm the freedom that He has given us nor will He punish us for making the wrong choices. We freely choose to love, to hate, to lie, to forgive, and then we live with the consequences of those choices—good or bad. God's love for us shows us the way to His peace, the way to His righteousness. We follow the Way, or we do not. Both those who follow and those who do not suffer disease and disaster, both grow and prosper. But those who struggle to follow the Way know the joy of salvation in their suffering, the delight of being wholly loved through their trials. We who struggle to follow the Way may experience a miraculous healing, a miraculous intervention that relieves our pain and distress, but all we are sure of is the company of a Father's love for His child. That surety alone brings us closer to being perfect as the Father is perfect. It brings us that much closer to the knowledge and peace that surpasses all understanding, that much closer to seeing our troubles as God Himself sees them: temporary, of a moment. He draws us into eternity, seduces us into living our lives as if we were already with Him face-to-face, doing nothing other than giving away everything we have always been given. To use a contemporary image: we are recycling machines for the love that gave us life. God's love goes in at our creation, and we live and grow by turning that love into righteous human thought, word, and deed. When we fail to function properly, when we turn divine love into spite, revenge, despair, selfishness, and death we turn to the Lord again and He fills us again with the joy of salvation!

The Psalmist sings, “Lord, I turn to you in time of trouble, and you fix everything to my liking!” That's not right. It's “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you rescue me from the bad consequences of all my dumb choices!” No, wait. That's not right either. That should be: “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you remove my free will so that I won't make those dumb choices ever again!” No. The solution of our troubles is not a magical fix, or a divine rescue, or the extinction of free will. The Psalmist sings that the solution to our troubles is to be filled with the joy of salvation! To be delighted with the fact that we are children of a loving God. To take pleasure in the knowledge that while this world passes away, we remain constant in His mercy. God doesn't erase our troubles like some sort of heavenly Mr. Clean. What we are given in tumultuous times is the joy, the delight, the pleasure of knowing, feeling, living His divine love and knowing, feeling, living the absolute hard fact that there is nothing—no trouble, no disaster—greater than His love for us. God cannot love us more than He already does. He cannot be greater than Himself. But we can always be more than we are. And that is the purpose of His love for us: to bring us out of the darkness, out of despair, and to heal us into an eternal life with Him.

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NARAL & Planned Parenthood LUV the accommodation!

Here's all you need to know about the B.O. birth control pill mandate "accommodation". . .

From the Wall Street Journal:

[. . .]

Insurance companies won't be making donations. Drug makers will still charge for the pill. Doctors will still bill for reproductive treatment. The reality, as with all mandated benefits, is that these costs will be borne eventually via higher premiums. The balloon may be squeezed differently over time, and insurers may amortize the cost differently over time, but eventually prices will find an equilibrium. Notre Dame will still pay for birth control, even if it is nominally carried by a third-party corporation.

This cut-out may appease a few of the Administration's critics, especially on the Catholic left—but only if they want to be deceived again, having lobbied for the Affordable Care Act that created the problem in the first place. The faithful for whom birth control is a matter of religious conviction haven't been accommodated at all. They'll merely have to keep two sets of accounting books.

[. . .]

As reporting by Bloomberg and ABC this week has made clear, the contraception mandate was fiercely opposed within the Administration, including by Vice President Joe Biden. The larger tragedy is that none of them objected to government health care, which will always take choices away from individuals and arrogate them to an infallible higher power in Washington. Who was it again who claimed that if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan?

And this Bitter Pill of a compromise is not made any easier to swallow by the endorsements of both NARAL and Planned Parenthood.  Sr. Keehan of the Catholic Health Association put her stamp of approval on this "accommodation."  All this means is that the Good Sister is being used a propaganda tool.

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A deep distrust of religious faith. . .

Archbishop Chaput nails it:

Despite all of its public apprehension about "culture warriors" on the political right in the past, the current administration has created an HHS mandate that is the embodiment of culture war. At its heart is a seemingly deep distrust of the formative role religious faith has on personal and social conduct, and a deep distaste for religion’s moral influence on public affairs. To say that this view is contrary to the Founders’ thinking and the record of American history would be an understatement.

The Left sees itself as the only true advocate for and protector of the poor and oppressed.  For decades, they were content to leave the Church to do her charitable work in peace.  But now that the Left has become radicalized by a militant strain of purist secularism, it is no longer acceptable to have Religious Neanderthals getting the credit for feeding the hungry and healing the sick.  We must be prevented from offering free healthcare to millions every year b/c we refuse to bow to the Sublime Truth that pregnancy is an injury and fertility a disease.  We must be prevented from helping victims of modern day slavery b/c we will not send these people to be victimized again at Planned Parenthood abortion mills.  We must be prevented from placing orphaned children with intact families b/c we will not give moral credibility to same sex "marriage." And most importantly, we must be made to bend the neck and confess our sins against the great revelations of feminist "tolerance." 

As Archbishop Chaput notes in his takedown of B.O.'s mandate, this latest episode in the culture war was not a bone-headed mistake made by a political amateur. . .it was just the next step.

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The Way of Life, the Way of Death

NB.  I'm seriously considering revamping this homily.  It started in one place and ends in a completely different place.  It's almost three daily homilies just stuck together.  Feedback, please.

6th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The Psalmist sings, “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation!” Turning to the Lord in times of trouble is an old, old tradition of the sinner. Lord, I made another dumb choice, so I'm turning to you! Lord, I didn't anticipate the consequences of my behavior, so I'm turning to you! Lord, I know we don't really talk all that often, but I'm in real trouble here, so I'm turning to you! We've all done it. When all else fails, turn to prayer; turn to the Lord. God as Last Resort is a constant in human history and it is far better that we see Him as the Last Resort than it is to see Him as No Resort At All. But the Psalmist isn't wagging a finger at us for our infidelity. Quite the opposite. What we hear reaffirmed in this verse is the constancy of God's help and protection, most especially in times of trouble, most especially when we are least able to help and protect ourselves. Of course, the Lord watches over us; of course, the Lord lends us the help we need. However, that help may not always come in the shape and substance we want. His protection may not always look and feel like the protection we ask for. Sometimes, more often than not, the help and protection He provides is the joy of salvation, the elation of knowing that whatever trouble plagues us now cannot follow us into a righteous life. Nothing can trouble a soul at peace with the Lord, a soul that walks the Way of Life.

The Psalmist sings, “Lord, I turn to you in time of trouble, and you fix everything to my liking!” That's not right. It's “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you rescue me from the bad consequences of all my dumb choices!” No, wait. That's not right either. That should be: “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you remove my free will so that I won't make those dumb choices ever again!” No. The solution of our troubles is not a magical fix, or a divine rescue, or the extinction of free will. The Psalmist sings that the solution to our troubles is to be filled with the joy of salvation! To be delighted with the fact that we are children of a loving God. To take pleasure in the knowledge that while this world passes away, we remain constant in His mercy. God doesn't erase our troubles like some sort of heavenly Mr. Clean. What we are given in tumultuous times is the joy, the delight, the pleasure of knowing, feeling, living His divine love and knowing, feeling, living the absolute hard fact that there is nothing—no trouble, no disaster—greater than His love for us. God cannot love us more than He already does. He cannot be greater than Himself. But we can always be more than we are. And that is the purpose of His love for us. 

A man suffering from leprosy begs Jesus to make him clean. Jesus says to the man, “Be made clean.” And he is. Jesus tells the man to be quiet about his healing. Completely ignoring this order, the man runs around town shouting with joy, spreading the good news of his miraculous healing. Can we blame him? Leprosy is a rotting skin disease that can take years to kill. Not only is it a terminal illness, in those days, it turned the sufferer into a social pariah, someone to be exiled, avoided. Moses ordered that all lepers were to tear their garments, keep their heads bares, cover their mouths, and shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” everywhere they went. They were exiled to live outside the camp, outside the protection of the tribe. When Jesus heals the leper, he not only cures his disease, he lifts a social death sentence. No wonder the grateful man ignores Jesus' order to remain silent and runs the streets shouting the joy of his salvation. 

The purpose of God's love for us is to boot us into being better than we are. He will not overwhelm the freedom that He has given us nor will He punish us for making the wrong choices. We freely choose to love, to hate, to lie, to forgive, and then we live with the consequences of those choices—good or bad. God's love for us shows us the way to His peace, the way to His righteousness. We follow the Way, or we do not. Both those who follow and those who choose another way suffer disease and disaster. But those who follow the Way know the joy of salvation in their suffering, the delight of being wholly loved through their trials. We who follow the Way may experience a miraculous healing, a miraculous intervention that relieves our pain and distress, but all we are sure of is the company of a Father's love for His child. That surety alone brings us closer to being perfect as the Father is perfect. It brings us that much closer to the knowledge and peace that surpasses all understanding, that much closer to seeing our troubles as God Himself sees them: temporary, of a moment. He draws us into eternity, seduces us into living our lives as if we were already with Him face-to-face, doing nothing other than giving away everything we have always been given. To use a contemporary image: we are recycling machines for the love that gave us life. God's love goes in at our creation, and we live and grow by turning that love into righteous human thought, word, and deed. When we fail to function properly, when we turn divine love into spite, revenge, despair, selfishness, we turn to the Lord and He fills us again with the joy of salvation!

The Way that leads to a peaceful soul is always the way of life. In the first century, an unnamed Christian wrote a small book called The Didache. The first sentence of this book reads, “There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.” What is the Way of Life? He writes, “First, you shall love God who made you; second, your neighbor as yourself; and all things whatsoever you would not have done to you, do not do to another.” What is the Way of Death? He writes in part, “First of all it is evil and full of curse. . .hating truth, loving a lie. . .not pitying a poor man, not laboring for the afflicted, not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children, destroyers of the handiwork of God. . .” The way to peace is the Way of Life—loving, forgiving, trusting in God. The way to trouble and trial is the Way of Death—destroying the handiwork of God. 

When we hate truth and love a lie, we walk the Way of Death and set up for ourselves an idol, an image to worship. What idol tempts us in 2012? The image of the human person as an animal w/o a soul, an animal that only needs to eat, drink, sleep, have sex, and get all that it can before it dies. When we reduce the human person to nothing more than an animal, we invite upon ourselves a darkness and despair that will not permit us to see or feel or think beyond our next meal, beyond our next bed partner. When we understand ourselves as nothing more than soulless animals, we begin to think that the destruction of God's handiwork—the destruction of our children—is a duty, a right, even a blessing. When we think of ourselves as nothing more than soulless animals, we begin to think of ourselves as gods, as masters of creation with the power to deal death at a whim. This is not who we were created to be. God loves us to make us better than we can be on our own. He gives us the joy of salvation in the time of trouble so that we might overcome death and despair. We turn to the Lord and His Way of Life. We turn away from the Way of Death and rejoice that we are healed!

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