Go and sin no more. . .

NB. This is a new homily based on the Year C readings. I was informed yesterday that I shouldn't have preached on the readings for the Scrutinies b/c we didn't celebrate that rite at the Vigil Mass. This homily is for today's 10.30am Mass. 

5th Sunday of Lent 2013 (Year C readings)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Standing before him in the temple area is a woman accused of adultery. Standing behind her are her accusers, the scribes and Pharisees who hope to trip him up with a tricky legal question: should this woman be stoned to death according to the Law of Moses? The woman's accusers present their bear-trap case to him and then wait for his reply. What does he do? He bends down and writes in the dirt with his finger. Befuddled by this strange behavior, the woman's accusers continue to press their questions and demand answers. Finally, he straightens up and says to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then, he bends down to write again in the dirt with his finger. The woman's accusers drift away, leaving Jesus and the woman alone. This is what happens when the demands of justice collide with the need for mercy; or rather, what happens when our need for justice collides with God's demand that we freely grant mercy. Justice—to be truly just—must flow from righteousness, a righteousness that no man or woman possesses. The best we can do is imitate Christ and grant mercy. 

Jesus and the adulterous woman are left alone in the temple area. Her accusers have fled b/c they know the Law as well as Jesus does. They know that their accusations against her—though true—are also incomplete. According to her accusers, the woman was “caught in the very act of committing adultery.” Where is her accomplice? The Law requires that a man caught in adultery be stoned as well. Since the woman was “caught in the act,” why is she not being accused by those who caught her? The Law requires that the witness to a capital crime throw the first stone. When Jesus challenges the accusers to carry out the death sentence, “in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.” Pouring salt in their wounded pride, Jesus publicly accuses the accusers of being sinners themselves and forces them to acknowledge their sinfulness. He knows the Law as well as they do, so he publicly humiliates them all by exposing their hypocrisy under the Law. How can they accuse this woman of violating the Law when they themselves violate the Law by accusing her as they have? Justice—to be truly just—must flow from righteousness, a righteousness that no man or woman possesses. 

Jesus shows the accusers that they are unjust by challenging them to follow the Law. They can't. Doing so would condemn them under the Law. To underscore his own accusation, Jesus writes in the dirt, following the Sabbath Law that forbids the work of writing on paper on a holy day but allows writing in the dirt. Though John doesn't tell us what Jesus is writing in the dirt, tradition tells us that he is alluding to the prophet, Jeremiah. Jeremiah cries out, “O Lord, all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, because they have forsaken the fountain of living water. . .” Another translation reads, “The rebels shall be enrolled in the netherworld.” To have your name written in the dust is to be enrolled in the netherworld as a shameful rebel against God. The woman's accusers watch Jesus writing in the dirt; remember Jeremiah's righteousness cry to God; and then ask themselves: are we prepared to be consigned to the netherworld as rebels against God? “In response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.” Confronted—even subtly—by their own failures in holiness, the scribes and Pharisees simply fade away to plot another trap for the Lord. 

The story of the adulterous woman and Jesus' merciful response to her sin can be a trap for us. Has been a trap for us. When finally left alone with the woman, Jesus asks her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She answers, “No one, sir.” Jesus is the only one left to pass judgment, the only one truly qualified to condemn her for her sin. He says, instead, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” The trap for us here is to read Jesus' challenge to the accusers and this final act of mercy as a judgment against calling out sin. In other words, b/c Jesus shows the accusers to be sinful themselves and b/c he does not condemn the woman, we're to believe that no one should ever call a sin Sin. When the Pope or our bishops challenge abortion or same-sex marriage, how often do we hear the culture respond, “They shouldn't throw stones given their track record on sexual abuse”? Somehow Jesus' challenge to the righteousness of the woman's accusers has been perverted into a blanket denial that sin can be named Sin. What's missing here is Jesus final word to the woman, “Go and sin no more.” He grants mercy to the person while naming sin Sin. 

And that's the difference btw man's justice and God's mercy. Man's justice condemns both the crime and the criminal. God's mercy passes sentence on the sin and forgives the sinner. By forgiving the sinner, God does what God Is: Love. Forgiveness of sin, showing mercy to the sinner is in no way an admission that sin isn't sin. The righteous do not need mercy, therefore, only the unrighteous may receive it; that is, only those found guilty of sin require mercy in the first place. It's vital to our growth in holiness that we understand how God's mercy relieves us of the burden of sin. The weight of disobedience is crushing. Under the heavy load of sin, we cannot follow after Christ; we cannot complete our mission “to go and do likewise” if we are suffering in slavery to our disobedience. This is why the Father sent to Son to lift this burden off our backs. Christ has removed the yoke of sin and we are now free to follow him. When Jesus refuses to condemn the adulterous woman all he is doing is freeing her so that she might choose to take up his yoke and do the joyous work of witnessing to God's mercy. Adultery is still adultery. But no sin—not even adultery—can forever chain a soul in servitude when the Father's forgiveness is freely offered and freely received. 

Lent is our time to stare intently at the dirt to see if our names are written there. But the time for watching the dirt is almost over. We are rapidly approaching the empty tomb on Easter morning. Ahead of us, drawing us in, is the emptied cave where Jesus went to rest. But for our sakes, he didn't rest. Instead, he rose; he rose to the Father and sent his Holy Spirit to dwell among us, strengthening us along his Way, encouraging us in our temptation to despair for a lack of holiness. Lent is a time set aside for us to search the dirt for our names. It's that time in our lives when we set ourselves against ourselves to fast, pray, give alms; to acknowledge our total dependency on God; to give Him thanks and praise for His blessings; and to generously share those blessings. If it seems that we pay too much attention to sin during Lent, remember: God's mercy frees us; His forgiveness unburdens us. But without the confession of our sins, without acknowledging our sins, we cannot receive His mercy. No man or woman possesses the righteousness required to free themselves from sin, or to dispense others from the rot of their sins. Christ alone is able to say, “I do not condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” 

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From Pradas to Buster Browns

That wailing you hear is the MSM mourning the loss of one of their fav anti-Catholic memes.

Pic: Drudge
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Pope Francis: Old School Jesuit

An excellent assessment of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, from George Weigel:

[Excerpted. . .]

The first Jesuit pope? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. Bergoglio is an old-school Jesuit, formed by classic Ignatian spirituality and deeply committed to an intelligent, sophisticated appropriation and proclamation of the full symphony of Catholic truth — qualities not notable for their prevalence among members of the Society of Jesus in the early 21st century. I suspect there were not all that many champagne corks flying last night in those Jesuit residences throughout the world where the Catholic Revolution That Never Was is still regarded as the ecclesiastical holy grail. For the shrewder of the new pope’s Jesuit brothers know full well that that dream was just dealt another severe blow [And may it be dealt many, many more in the coming months!]. And they perhaps fear that this pope, knowing the Society of Jesus and its contemporary confusions and corruptions as he does, just might take in hand the reform of the Jesuits that was one of the signal failures of the pontificate of John Paul II. 

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Beware the Catholic Zombie Virus!

NB. Below you will find a homily from 2010. This is my back-up homily in case I'm unable to finish the new one.  The Spirit is having difficulty getting my cooperation for some reason.

5th Sunday of Lent 2013 (Year A Scrutinies)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Brothers and sisters, I bring you some dramatic news this morning! Reports have come in from all over the world that the dead walk among us. They've been sighted in all the world's major cities, shambling around dressed like the living, doing the ordinary things that the living do. They are difficult to spot since their demeanor is easily confused with those who still cling to life. They go to work, eat their family meals; go to school, church, the grocery store. The media have given these deceased mimics a group name. They are called simply, “The Dead.” But since that label is rather boring, I've decided to refer to them as Zombies. So, yes, Zombies walk among us, and more specifically, Catholic Zombies walk among us and pray among us and go to communion with us. In fact, there are probably several right here this morning! Otherwise normal looking, normal sounding Catholics who shamble around in their living bodies without a living spirit. What animates them, what gives them the appearance of being alive is uncertain. What is certain is that they are truly dead, and that their bodies are a walking grave. What can be done for these poor spiritless creatures? They must be freed from what binds them to the grave; freed from the walking death of sin. 

In the story of Lazarus' resurrection, we have an abridged version of the Dummies Guide to Catholic Zombies. This handy guide helps us to identify, diagnose, and treat those who appear to be alive in Christ but are actually long dead to his spirit. A warning page 23 of the Guide calls our attention to an uncomfortable truth: “The Catholic Zombie virus is virulent and unpredictable. It can infect anyone at anytime. It attacks the Catholic's sin-immunity response system, replicating its viral disobedience-DNA and leaves the Spirit of Christ Defense Network incapable of properly responding to temptation. No one is immune. Even the holiest Catholic is susceptible to infection and re-infection.” As a start to the recovery process, the Guide refers both the infected and their care-givers to the story of Lazarus' resurrection and to Paul's short treatise on the relationship between the spiritually dead and Christ. These two passages make it clear that the truly living—those who live in Christ, body and soul—live b/c they dwell in the Lord's righteousness, believing wholeheartedly in the Lord when He says to them, “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them. . .Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!” Working backwards from cure to disease, the Guide reports that those most susceptible to infection by the Catholic Zombie virus are those who allow their Christ Defense Network to become weakened through inattention to personal prayer, the sacraments, good works, and holy reading. Working from disease to cure, we can see that the best treatment for the Zombie Catholic is personal prayer, the sacraments, good works, and holy reading. In other words, the best treatment is prevention. 

To get a better grip on how we can prevent the spread of the Catholic Zombie virus more effectively, let's look at Lazarus' resurrection story and tease out exactly how prevention works. Probably the most obvious tact to take in preventing the spread of the virus is to ensure that everyone around you knows the basics of good spiritual hygiene. For example, when Lazarus' sister, Martha, asserts to her brother's physician, Jesus, that Lazarus would rise again on the last day, Dr. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” After this brief revelation, Jesus asks Martha, “Do you believe this?” She responds, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” So, the first step to prevention is a profession of faith in the Christ, the Son of God. By believing in the Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, we can bolster our resistance to the Catholic Zombie virus and ward off the onslaught of temptations that comes from doubt.  

Another step in good spiritual hygiene is obedience to the Christ. The Guide points out that obedience is not a matter of mindless compliance with rules and regulations. Obedience starts by trusting Christ's wisdom and believing in the promises of his Father. Listen first, then act. Lazarus emerges from his tomb after having been dead for four days. Martha, Mary, and the disciples all play essential roles in his resurrection by obeying Christ. Jesus says to the disciples, “Let us go to back to Judea.” And they do. He asks to see Mary. And she runs to him. He asks to see Lazarus. And they take him to the tomb. He orders the tombstone removed. They obey. He cries out, “Lazarus, come out!” And he does. Finally, with the newly resurrected Lazarus standing before him, Jesus says, “Untie him and let him go.” We know that Jesus' intervention here works as prevention b/c John reports, “Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.” Belief in the Christ is the first step in preventing the spread of the zombie virus! With belief comes repentance and with repentance comes the overwhelming mercy of God. Once we have come to depend absolutely on God's mercy, obedience to His Word is not only no longer a burden, it is a privilege—a privilege that inoculates believers against the weaknesses of doubt, anxiety, and pride.  

The final step in good spiritual hygiene is hope in the resurrection. The Lazarus story contains a very odd scene. Jesus is informed that Lazarus is sick and on the verge of death, John reports, “. . .when [Jesus] heard that [Lazarus] was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.” His friend is deathly ill and Jesus decides to hang around Bethany for two days. Hardly the reaction we would expect. Later on, Mary chastises Jesus for the delay, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” The Jews who went with Mary to visit Jesus, upon seeing Jesus weep for the grief of the sisters, say, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” Why did Jesus delay visiting his dying friend? To instill in his disciples the virtue of hope, to bolster in them an immunity to the despair that death often brings. When he first heard that Lazarus was dying, Jesus says, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Lazarus' resurrection from the tomb serves to show the disciples (and us) that death is not an end for the believing soul. The hope of life after death renders the Catholic Zombie virus inert. With a deeply held hope in Christ, we too will hear him order us out of the tomb and tell our family and friends, “Untie him and let him go.” 

The Catholic Zombie virus is deadly. It can kill the spirit of Christ in us and leave us to walk among the living and the dead. The best treatment is prevention. Personal prayer, the sacraments, good works, and holy reading. But none of these is effective without a firm belief in the Christ, a willingness to obey his commands, and the good habit of hoping upon the resurrection. If you are dead inside, take heart, b/c the Lord has promised, “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them. . . I will put my spirit in you that you may live. . .thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.” 

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The Church hates science

F1 holds a Masters in chemistry.
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Christ was sent and so are we. . .

4th Week of Lent (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The inhabitants of Jerusalem are sure that Jesus can't be the Christ b/c they know where he is from. Why would knowing this bit of information make them so sure? Floating around at the time were several odd interpretations of the Messianic tradition from Isaiah, Micah, and the Psalms. The most prevalent myth about the Christ is summarized in the Letter to the Hebrews: the Messiah will come to the nations “without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life”(7.3). The idea seemed to be that the Christ would be a divine being, and only a divine being; that is, there would be nothing at all human about the Son of God. But Jesus constantly refers to himself as both the Son of God and the Son of Man, human and divine. So, given their commitment to the odd-ball myths of who and what the Messiah would be, it's no wonder the inhabitants of Jerusalem dismissed Jesus out-of-hand. How did he respond to their dismissal? “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own. . .” Jesus the Christ didn't come among us on his own. He was sent. And so are we. 

Let's make all the connections clear. The Father sent the Son to us and the Son sends us to the rest of the world. Who is this “us” who are sent to the world? In his response to the unbelieving citizens of Jerusalem, Jesus notes that they do not know the one who sent him. Since they do not know God the Father, how can they possibly know the Son? But if they were to come to know the Son, then they would know the Father. The “us” sent by Christ to the world are those of us who have come to know the Father through Christ. Know the Son, know the Father. How does this work? The Father and Son are one. And we are sent by the Son with the Holy Spirit to introduce the rest of the world to God's freely given mercy to sinners. The Father sends the Son to tell His sinful creatures that all of their sins are forgiven. The Son not only tells us that our sins are forgiven, he dies on the Cross to show us that the last sacrifice for our sins has been accomplished—once for all. But before he dies, the Son sends his disciples out into the world to shout the Good News: you are all free from your sins! Repent and receive God's mercy! Those same disciples send out their disciples and then those disciples send out their disciples and so on until we reach 2013 and now we're the disciples who are charged with shouting to the world the Good News of God's freely given mercy. 

The Son was sent, and so are we. We're sent into our homes, our schools, our places of work, the streets, the alleys, the malls, everywhere and anywhere a sinner might be, we are sent to anyone who might hear: you are no longer a slave to sin. Repent and receive God's mercy. Will we be thanked for delivering this message? Probably not. There are few souls out there who want to hear that they need anyone's mercy much less God's mercy. Instead they will say, “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions. . .He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord. . .He judges us debased.” With that reaction waiting for us, is it any wonder that we might hesitate to proclaim God's forgiveness? Let's be reminded that Jesus suffered and died for doing and saying what he was sent to do and say. And b/c he suffered and died in obedience to the Father's will, we are free from sin. The least we can do in gratitude for eternal life is to give the Good News to the world and welcome any who would hear it and repent. 

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Sweep the stables, Holy Father!

from Andrea Tornielli:

"The new Pope, the 76-year old Argentinean Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was Ratzinger’s main contender in the last Conclave. He is unusual in that he has always rejected posts in the Roman Curia and only visited the Vatican when it was absolutely necessary. One thing he hates to see in the clergy is 'spiritual worldliness': ecclesiastical careerism disguised as clerical refinement."

Next to the sexual abuse scandals, ecclesiastical careerism is probably one of the most dangerous diseases infecting the Church. 

It gives birth to and nurtures secrets, lies, dysfunction, betrayal, wheeling-dealing, and factionalism.  When your heart and mind are focused on advancing your career, you aren't watching the ecclesial bottom-line: preaching the Gospel.

Of course, it's nothing new. 

It all started with James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and their ambitious mama. And there's really no way to cure this disease short of the Second Coming. 

However, a pope can certainly stem the tide against the infection by appointing people who are dedicated to serving the Church and not their own C.V.'s. 

The first step is sweep the stables! Send those who have been in power (directly or indirectly) away from Rome and appoint people who have no skin in the Vatican Game. In fact, appoint people who are ready, willing, and able to ask hard questions and demand answers.

When the same names keep popping up year after year on the same lists of Vatican dicasteries, you know that things are getting stale and stalled.  How can past mistakes be fixed if the people who made those mistakes won't admit that they made them b/c doing so would hurt their C.V.'s?

 
God bless Pope Francis. . .he's got his work cut out for him.
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Retreat: "Call no one teacher. . ."

I'm giving a retreat for the administrators of the archdiocese's schools.

Be back tomorrow (Fri) afternoon.

Please keep us in prayer as we retreat into how we deepen our humility in service to the Church.

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Well, there's that. . .

The one Jesuit who won't be lost during Holy Week!  

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Three thoughts on the Papal Election

Just saw this from Youtube. . .three thoughts:

1). The Protodeacon making the announcement needs to work on his timing/drama skills. He just blurted out the news!

2). Why wasn't the Holy Father wearing his papal stole?

3). Our Holy Father is a bit on the chunky side. . .Yea!



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JPII. . .BXVI. . .and now, F1. . .!

Habemus Papam!!!

But you probably know that already.  . 

I was across the Lake at a Benedictine retreat center, celebrating Mass for the 8th grade girls of Mt Carmel Academy.  I was vested and standing outside the chapel waiting for the girls to come over. . .when one of the bus drivers stated yelling: "White smoke! We have a Pope!" A second later, my cell beeped with a text msg from PopeAlarm. . .

The driver called me over to the bus and we watched a live feed of the balcony for about ten minutes. By that time, I had to go in for Mass.

After Mass, the driver called me over and said that they were just about to announce the new Pope.

We listened. . .cheered. . .and I ran back over to the chapel and announced the news to the girls before they loaded into their buses.  They clapped.  I said to them, "First Latin American pope; first Jesuit pope; and the first pope named Francis. . .a day of firsts, ladies!"

The driver asked me, "So, Father, are you happy with their choice?"  I said, "He's the Holy Father; of course, I'm happy!"  :-)

John Allen reports that Cardinal Bergoglio was second-runner up in the 2005 conclave. . .

Anyway. . .God Bless our Holy Father, Pope Francis I!  (Check the sidebar for the basic facts about F1).

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My Conclave Vote Goes To. . .(drumroll)

OK! OK! OK!

Everybody's buggin' me about my choice for Pope.

Well, if I were a cardinal in conclave, my first vote would go to:

His Eminence Philippe Xavier Christian Ignace Marie Barbarin, 

Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon, France.

 (I'll leave it to faithful HA readers to suss out my reasons. . .)

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Yet, he believes

4th Week of Lent (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The actual healing of the royal official's son isn't all that dramatic. The sick boy is fifteen miles away in Capernaum. Jesus never lays eyes on him. He doesn't pray for the boy, lay hands on him, command an unclean spirit to depart from him. In fact, there is only one indication that Jesus does anything at all. The official says to Jesus, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus says to him, “You may go; your son will live.” That's it. “Your son will live” and the boy is healed. Fifteen miles away. Now, the next part of the story is rather dramatic. John writes, “The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.” The man believes. On what evidence? For what reason? He believes that his sick child has been healed simply b/c Jesus tells him so. This is interesting b/c Jesus' response to the official's initial request is: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” Impatient with worry, the official then begs Jesus to hurry south. And then the long-distance healing is performed. The official neither sees nor hears a sign nor a wonder. Yet, he believes. He takes Jesus' word as true.

The royal official believes that his son has been healed even before he sets out for home in Capernaum. His faith in Christ's report is confirmed by his slaves who meet him on the road. They report that the boy's fever broke at 1pm the day before. The moment Jesus said, “You may go; your son will live.” The drama of this story multiplies when we learn that “he and his whole household came to believe.” This seems like an odd comment to make. Didn't we say that the official already believed? Yes, but he believed Jesus' report that his son was healed. Now, with the testimony of his slaves, the official believes in Christ himself. And when the official tells the story of his visit with Jesus, his whole household comes to believe in Christ as well. This is how the faith is spread. Believe on the word of Jesus. See his mighty deeds in your life. And then give witness to his words and deeds so that others might come to believe as well. Do we need to see signs and wonders in order to believe? Apparently not. The official's slaves knew that the boy was healed, but they didn't know that he had been healed by a word from Jesus. They believed on the testimony of their master. And b/c they believed, they too received a sign of eternal life through Christ. 

So, what are we to make of all this? One rather obvious point is that we do not need to run after signs and wonders to have our faith in Christ confirmed. Such unusual events may or may not happen from time to time, but one thing is clear: we don't need them in order to believe. We are called upon to believe the Gospel through the testimony of the apostles and by our innate desire to be perfected in God through Christ. When Christ speaks, his word either rings true or it doesn't. We are either transformed or we aren't. If his word rings true and we are transformed, then we are bound to give witness to his words and deeds and bring others into right relationship with God. In other words, we become the voices of Christ, speaking his word to the world. Just as the official gives witness to his slaves and brings his whole household to belief, so we too are compelled to testify to all that God has done for us. Speaking Christ's word into the headwinds of our culture is no casual task. But a raised voice won't drown out the white noise of ignorance and bigotry. What word speaks best of Christ? The Done Word. The Word as it is Done. If you live freely in mercy, then freely grant that same mercy to anyone in need. There is no better means to heal a soul than the judicious and lavish application of forgiveness. 

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Scenting the Zombie Apocalypse

What perfume goes best with the Zombie Apocalypse?

If you watch The Walking Dead--and I hope that you do--you know that one of the ways to walk among the Zombies w/o becoming lunch is to rub zombie guts all over you so that you smell like one of them.

Well, thanks to fragrance producer, Demeter, you can skip the icky gut-smearing and just spritz on the stench of rotting flesh!

Enjoy.
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What would you change?

NB. Every year the province sends out (via email) daily Lenten reflections written by lay Dominicans, friars, sisters.  Here's mine for today: 

SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2013
Friar Philip Powell, O.P.
Southern Dominican Province

Who doesn't like the idea of being a "new creation"? Just get rid of whatever's wrong-right-now and start over with everything-is-right. If you could be a new creation. . .say, you could plan this transformation, mark your calendar, and spend some leisure time contemplating the possibilities. . .what would you have changed? Of course, we're assuming here that there would be decisions to make. It's possible that the process of becoming wholly new would be completely out of our hands. But let's say that there are freely available options. What would you change? Would you go for the Aesthetics Package-buff bod, lithe grace, Olympian beauty? Maybe the Intellectual Package-genius IQ, quick wit, iron research discipline. Or perhaps the Holiness Package-true contrition, exemplary humility, perfect love. Can't decide? Well, we would probably have to spend some of our contemplation time figuring out what we need to change before deciding what we hope to become. 

The Prodigal Son contemplates his predicament in a foreign land and decides that home really is the best of all possible worlds. He decides to return to his family, repentant. Did his sins of dissipation get heavier as he approached the homestead? Did he even once think about being humiliated by a disgraceful return? What if his family sent him packing? If he held any doubts about going back to Dear Ole Dad, he didn't let them get in the way of his redemption. Imagine that as he approaches his father's farm, he becomes more beautiful, truer, better. With each step, he grows heavier in holiness. . .until his life of dissipation is itself dissipated by his humble desire for forgiveness. By the time he reaches the front door, all he needs is a word from his father. . .and he is a New Creation. 

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Evangelical Catholicism

From Ed Morrissey of HotAir:

Yesterday, I got an opportunity to meet one of the more public voices of Catholic intellectualism, George Weigel, whose new book Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church I’m presently reading. If John Thavis’ The Vatican Diaries is a must-read for journalists hoping to understand what they see at this conclave (and it is), Weigel’s book is key to understanding the long view of the crossroads at which the Catholic Church finds itself.  While most believe that the transformation of the church came during the Vatican II council in the 1960s, Weigel points back to more than 90 years before, when Pope Leo XIII brought a new vitality and relevance to Catholicism, of which Vatican II was another step.

Morrissey's post contains a video interview with Weigel. Highly recommended.  

I'm reading Evangelical Catholicism right now.  I strongly urge you to get a copy and read it. As a community here at St Dominic Priory, we read and discussed chapter four of the book and the friars were energized by Weigel's diagnosis of the Church's current ills.

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Is just being too much?

NB.  Deacons preaching this weekend.  Below is a Roman homily that I've never actually preached.  The readings are from Year B, I think (2009).

4th Sunday of Lent: 2 Chr 36.14-16, 19-23; Eph 2.4-10; Jn 3.14-21
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Convento SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Have you given much thought to the difference it would make in your self-understanding if you chose to believe that you are a cosmic accident rather than a created being? Assuming, of course, that you think of yourself as a creature—a wholly made person, made by a Maker—a creature gifted with not only biological life but an immortal soul made for life eternal; assuming you think of yourself in this way, how different would your life be if you decided this afternoon to believe that you are nothing more than the fortunate consequence of cosmic circumstance, an admittedly freakish development wrought from chance chemical reactions, advantageous climatic conditions, aggressive genetic survival, and the heir to all the fortunes an opposable thumb gives this world’s more advanced primates? Would you think, for instance, that this world, this universe needs you? Needs us? Would we have any reason at all to believe that we are any more necessary to the other biological accidents of this planet than if we believe ourselves to be creatures made for a purpose? I would say, we would have less reason to believe ourselves necessary, fewer good reasons for thinking ourselves particularly important. Accidents are accidents; by definition, random clashes of things tossed at one another by chance in circumstance. If you don’t think of yourself as an accident, what difference does it make to you then to read Paul writing to the Ephesians: “. . .we are [God’s] handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them”?

The great German poet, Rainer M. Rilke, in what is arguably the greatest modern elegy, the “Ninth Elegy” of his Dunio Elegies, asks my question this way: “Why, if this interval of being can be spent serenely/in the form of a laurel[…]: why then/have to be human—and, escaping from fate,/keeping longing for fate?...” His question is not an easy one; however, rather pointedly, Rilke is asking: since we have escaped fate by being human—our human choices design our futures not fate—, why continue to long for fate, for destiny? Why do we yearn for a purpose, a story already written out for us? He says, “Oh not because happiness exists,/[…]But because truly being here is so much; because everything here/apparently needs us, this fleeting world, which in some strange way/keeps calling to us. Us, the most fleeting of all.” Fleeting though we are, we are gifted with the use of words. Rilke argues that the ungifted things of this world need us to say the unsayable, to name those things that cannot name themselves, and not only name them but praise them as well, and in praising them, change them: “[…] transient,/they look to us for deliverance: us, the most transient of all./They want us to change them, utterly, in our invisible heart,/within—oh endlessly—within us! Whoever we may be at last.” Whoever we may be at last. . .

Who are we, at last? Paul says that we are God’s handiwork. This is who we are now and at last. Rilke tells us that “truly being here is so much.” And he is right. Truly being is so much. Too much, perhaps. Just being here is overwhelming—even as rational animals crafted to live immortally and knowing it to be so—simply being so, no more than being so, just this one thing right now, this can be too much. Forget doing. Forget thinking. Forget past and future. Just being exactly who and what we are—just being this here—can be too much. Being God’s handiwork, being made, created in Christ Jesus. . .each one of us composed, molded, drawn, built; from nothing, generated and blessed with breath and memory and intellect and will. And why? Why are we made? To name our inanimate cousins in creation? No. To take them into ourselves and change them? No. To propagate our DNA like herd animals, breeding like livestock? No. None of these is too much. None of these is truly being. Why, then?

Paul writes, “God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us [. . .] brought us to life with Christ [. . .] that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” We were brought to life in Christ so that our Father might show us His infinite kindness through Christ. We were created in love for no other reason than to be loved. And we know that are loved by Love Himself when He shows us “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness…” The oft-repeated and much-loved gospel reading says this perfectly: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” The ultimate demonstration of the Father’s infinite mercy, His immeasurable kindness. . .is His Son dying on a cross—a death that gave us birth to a new life in Christ. Prophecy and history meet to fulfill God’s will. That was no accident, no random clash of free-floating events!

So, if you don’t think of yourself as an accident, what difference does it make to you then that you are a creature created in love by Love? At the very least, you must think of yourself as the recipient of a divine gift; not only life itself, but every good thing that can given to one who lives faithfully in Christ. Read Paul again: “. . .we are [God’s] handiwork, created in Christ Jesus FOR the good works that God has prepared in advance, THAT we should live in them.” We are creatures created for the good works of Christ so that we should live in these good works. Do you live in the good works of Christ? If you do, then you do not live an accidental life, a life of chance, but rather a life of truth, as Jesus teaches us, “…whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” Live in the good works of Christ, do these same good works, and your good works are seen as holy works done by God’s will.

Notice, however, what happens when someone begins to think of himself as the product of random processes. Paul says that we are created in Christ Jesus to live in his good works. But if you hold that you are a product rather than a creature, then you will not acknowledge Christ or the good works you were created to use and imitate. Jesus says, “Whoever believes in [Christ] will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned…” Already been condemned. How so? Random products of natural processes have no purpose, no end. Random products are not good, true, or beautiful. They just are. They cannot truly be as beings loved by a Lover. For them, there is no Lover. No love. Random products can feel passion, think rational thoughts, enjoy art, literature, and music. But can they do truly Good Things if they will not acknowledge they are the handiwork of Goodness Himself? To what—beyond their chanced, mechanical lives—does the true, the good, and the beautiful refer? What can love be but the pre-determined firing of neurons in the proper sequence to produce the physiological effect most often labeled “love”? Is this condemnation? Yes, of a sort. Life in Christ is life lived knowing you are living out a divinely-gifted purpose. Life without Christ is life lived knowing you are living until your body parts fail you—a very limited warranty indeed.

We can end with Rilke. . .knowing that we are creatures who “live and move and have our being” in God Himself, our God “who is rich in mercy [and] brought us to life with Christ,” knowing we are not products but sons and daughters, we can shout with Rilke: “Look, I am living. On what? Neither childhood nor future/grows any smaller. . . .Superabundant being/wells up in my heart.”

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I will come to you like the rain. . .

3rd Week of Lent (S)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

A Pharisee and a tax collector go to the temple to pray. The Pharisee marches right into the temple courtyard to pray, but the tax collector stands off at a distance. The Pharisee prays aloud. The tax collector prays quietly. The Pharisee recounts his righteous deeds and gives God thanks that he is “not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous.” While the tax collector humbly beats his breast in contrition and prays, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Watching from the sidelines, anyone with eyes to see could tell the difference btw these two men. Their demeanor, dress, speech; the stance each takes before God. All different. But can we see how they are alike? Is there any reason to believe that either of two men is lying? Not that I can see. Both are telling the truth. That's how they are alike. The Pharisee is righteous. And the tax collector is a sinner. What justifies each man, for Jesus, is what they do with these truths. To what purpose do they put their spiritual condition? Both the righteous and the unrighteous will be exalted if they humble themselves before God. 

The key to understanding this deceptively simply parable is understanding the parable's audience. Luke writes, “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” This parable at fired at those of us who are certain that we are righteous AND b/c we are certain of our righteousness despise everyone else. For a Pharisee to be sure of his righteousness is hardly scandalous. Follow the Law and your rightness with God is certain. There's no spiritual ambiguity here, no anxious hand-wringing about being in a state of grace. Now that we are certain of our rightness with God, what do we do? Well, one thing we do not do is despise everyone else b/c we are righteous. Nor do we give God thanks for helping us stay clean w/o also asking Him to pour out His graces on others in need of His help. Rather than despising your fellow sinners, your security in righteousness should compel you to further acts of sacrificial love in order to bring as many as possible into right relationship with God. The Pharisee's problem is his lack of genuine humility before God and his lack of genuine gratitude to God for his hard-won holiness. Humility and gratitude will persist in the truly righteous soul. 

The Lord says to Hosea, regarding His chosen people, “Your piety [Judah] is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away.” In place of “piety,” other English translations use love, goodness, loyalty. The Latin Vulgate uses misericordia, which conveys the notion of a compassionate mercy, a sympathetic humanity towards others. Through the mouth of His prophet, Hosea, the Lord condemns Judah for its fleeting compassion, its fugitive goodness and stingy mercy. He says, “. . . it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Give Me your love, come to know Me in love. Keep your sacrifices, your burnt offerings. Dare to be genuinely righteous before Me; lay all your wounds before Me—your worry, your pride, your fear, all of your secret sins. Set these ablaze before My altar, come to know Me in love. And I will bind all your wounds. I will come to you like the rain, like spring rain watering the earth. Then, when you stand to pray, you can pray with genuine humility and give wholehearted thanks. True righteousness can abide only when humility and gratitude stand under you as your unbreakable foundation. 

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Conclave date is set!

PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE

The eighth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals has decided that the Conclave will begin on Tuesday, 12 March 2013. A Pro eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass will be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning. In the afternoon the cardinals will enter into the Conclave. 

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The Four First Things of Love

NB. Deacon John is preaching this morning.  Here's the conclusion of a Roman homily for the 30th Sunday OT (Oct 2008). The whole thing is titled, Reaching Down for Higher Things.

To love well we must first come to know and give thanks to Love Himself. He loved us first, so He must be our First Love. 

Second, we must hold as inviolable the truth that we cannot love Love Himself if we fail to love one another. 

Third, love must be the first filter through which we see, hear, think, feel, speak, and act. No other philosophy or ideology comes before Love Himself. This means obeying (listening to and complying with) His commandments and doing now all the things that Christ did then. 

Fourth, after placing God as our first filter, we must surrender to Love’s providential care, meaning we must sacrifice (make holy by giving over) our prideful need to control, direct, order our lives according to the world’s priorities. Wealth and power do not mark success. Celebrity does not mark prestige. “Having everything my way” does not mark freedom.

Last, we must grow in holiness by becoming Christ—frequent attention to the sacraments, private prayer and fasting, lectio divina, strengthening our hearts with charitable works, sharpening our minds with beauty and truth in art, music, poetry, and while being painfully, painfully aware of how far we can fall from the perfection of Christ, knowing that we are absolutely free to try again and again and again. . .

Though we often fail love, Love never fails us. Remember: who needs for love to never fail more than he for whom Love is God?

Question: Do you think that this piece on the "first four things of love" could be expanded into a short book? 

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Lenten Check Up

3rd Week of Lent (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

We're approaching the end of the third week of Lent. It's time to check in and see how we're doing. What better way to test our Lenten resolve to grow in holiness than to think hard about this ominous declaration from Jesus: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters”? Where are you right now on your Lenten trek to a cross in Jerusalem? Thinking about just the last three weeks, since Ash Wednesday. . .Are you with Christ? Or, are you against him? Have you gathered together with him? Or, have you scattered? Maybe you've gathered a few times and scattered a few times? If you are an “average Catholic,” you can probably lay claim to some victories and confess a few defeats. After all, we were never promised a short war against an unarmed enemy. In fact, we were told that our greatest enemy is our own reluctance to yield the battlefield to Christ and his victory on the Cross. So, in these last two weeks of Lent, how do we gather with Christ instead of scattering away from him? We begin by yielding the battle against sin and death to the one who has already defeated them both! 

Our Lord went into the desert for forty days to be tempted by Satan. Why? Well, there are probably hundreds of good reasons. We usually hear: he went into the desert to be tempted to show us that temptation can be resisted. Close. Jesus went into the desert to show Satan that his infernal influence on us is just that: influence and nothing more. Now, since this fallen angel is incapable of right reason and love, he can't listen (obey) to Jesus. So, the Devil learns nothing at all from his chat in the desert. Now, imagine Jesus talking to the Devil; listening to his blandishments; rejecting each one in turn; and then, after each rejection, turning to you with a wink and saying, “I hope you're seeing this. He's got nothing to give you in exchange for your worship.” After each temptation, Jesus says to Satan, in effect, “You can't give me that b/c it already belongs to the Father.” When Satan tempts us with—whatever we're tempted with—we're to recall this scene and say to him and to ourselves, “He can't give me that. You can't give me peace, wealth, vengeance, happiness, power. They all belong to the Father!” Bluff called. Checkmate. Game over. Jesus won. And we win b/c he won first. 

If all of this is true, then why do we still fail to grow in holiness by falling into sin? If Jesus has already won the battle, then why are we still fighting? Good question. Why are you still fighting? Better yet: who are you still fighting? The only fight to see here is the one between You and You as you struggle to yield to the truth of the Cross and the Empty Tomb. Jesus won, is winning, will win. . .always. Why is this truth causing you so much trouble? Maybe we like fighting temptation b/c there's always the chance that we'll lose. Maybe yielding to the truth of Christ's victory means saying goodbye to our favorite sins. Maybe we relish playing the role of the tortured wannabe saint who heroically defies the minions of Hell. . .most of the time. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, we don't really believe that Christ won our freedom on the Cross and it's our job to help him. Let's listen to that ominous declaration one more time: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Gather with Christ and his victory over sin and death. Our Lenten disciplines do not do battle with the Devil. They battle our reluctance to surrender ourselves to the truth that sin and death no longer divide us from our Father's kingdom. 

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Venezuela after Chavez

Excellent article on the Disaster That Is Venezuela post Chavez:

What has Chávez bequeathed his fellow Venezuelans? The hard facts are unmistakable: The oil-rich South American country is in shambles. It has one of the world’s highest rates of inflation, largest fiscal deficits, and fastest growing debts. Despite a boom in oil prices, the country’s infrastructure is in disrepair—power outages and rolling blackouts are common—and it is more dependent on crude exports than when Chávez arrived. Venezuela is the only member of OPEC that suffers from shortages of staples such as flour, milk, and sugar. Crime and violence skyrocketed during Chávez’s years. On an average weekend, more people are killed in Caracas than in Baghdad and Kabul combined. (In 2009, there were 19,133 murders in Venezuela, more than four times the number of a decade earlier.) When the grisly statistics failed to improve, the Venezuelan government simply stopped publishing the figures.     

[. . .]

The problem isn’t Election Day—It’s the other 364 days. Rather than stuffing ballot boxes, Chávez understood that he could tilt the playing field enough to make it nearly impossible to defeat him. Thus, the regime’s electoral wizards engineered gerrymandering schemes that made anything attempted in the American South look like child’s play. Chávez’s campaign coffers were fed by opaque slush funds holding billions in oil revenue. The government’s media dominance drowned out the opposition. Politicians who appeared formidable were simply banned from running for office. And the ruling party became expert in using fear and selective intimidation to tamp down the vote. Chávez took a populist message and married it to an autocratic scheme that allowed him to consolidate power. The net effect over Chávez’s years was a paradoxical one: With each election Venezuela lost more of its democracy.

Read the whole thing.  God bless Venezuela.  They need it.
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Knotty Brain

All day teaching. . .my brain is mushy. . .I think it might be a sprained or something.

Can gray matter get a charley-horse???

Time for some Introvert-Contemplation with 'Puter Solitaire!

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Obedience is a cure-all

3rd Week of Lent (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The King of Israel is angry. Naaman is angry. The people in the synagogue are angry. All of these biblical players are angry; for different reasons, each is upset, each feels put-upon, or disappointed; filled with fury and prepared for violence. The king rips his clothes in frustration. Naaman storms off, disillusioned. The synagogue congregation turns into a riotous mob. Everyone is stressed to their limits. The king is shown to be powerless over disease. Naaman is exhausted from traveling and dying of leprosy. And the mob is riled up by one man accusing it of spiritual infidelity. It seems as though peace has not only been forgotten but brutally beaten and left for dead. We begin this work week, the third week of Lent, plunged into the bitterness and bile of human weakness and failure. No one relishes the possibility of being exposed as a fraud, as an impotent actor in their own lives. But if Lent isn't the season for us to stare into a mirror and honestly calculate our place in God's holy family, then what are these 40 days for? Are you angry, disappointed, full of fury, exhausted, powerless, bitter? Now's the season to rend your garments and seek the cleanliness that obedience to God provides. 

Take Naaman, for example. He's a decorated military man. Highly honored by the King of Aram. He's a hero among his people, valient. Has everything a man of his day could want. He also has a disfiguring, incurable disease: leprosy. Naaman hears from his wife's Jewish slave-girl that there is a prophet in Samaria who can cure him. This prophet, Elisha, tells Naaman to bathe seven times in the River Jordan. Disappointed, he balks at this prescription, “Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” Is he wrong here? Did he travel so far only to be told to go wash in a river? Fortunately, his servants get it, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it?” He washes in the Jordan, and he is healed. What heals him? Not the magical-mystical waters of the Jordan. He is healed b/c he obeyed—heard and listened to—the word of God's prophet. Had he listened to his own disappointment and anger, he would've returned to Aram a leper. Naaman's pride, prestige, wealth, and his bitter disillusionment almost cost him his life. But he listens to God's servant and lived. 

Yesterday, we heard Jesus tell the parable of the fruitless fig tree. The little tree gets one more season to produce good fruit or be chopped down. Why couldn't the tree produce its fruit? Not enough cultivation or fertilizer? We can't know for sure. But we do know that the orchard owner has no use for fruitless fruit trees. What prevents you from producing good fruit? The King of Israel is a suspicious sort, shown to be powerless. Naaman is poisoned with pride and disappointment. The congregation that runs Jesus out of town is unfaithful, refusing to listen to his Word. All three of our biblical players fail to obey, fail to listen to what God has to say to them. Only Naaman manages to subdue his disobedience and find healing. If this third week of Lent is to be a time for contemplating your place in God's holy family, then spend some time contemplating how well you listen, how well you obey what God has to say to you. Anger, bitterness, disappointment—all these deafen your ears, darken your eyes. They poison your spirit and leave you unable and unwilling to be healed. Listen to God, not b/c it's convenient or logical or b/c it makes you feel good. Listen to God b/c obeying His Word is your truest path to holiness, your straightest approach to a glorious Easter morning. 

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Pregnant Cravings

How do I know it's Lent?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. . .Ordo, lectionary, violet vestments, blahblahblah. . .

Here's how I know it's Lent:

The Bacon Peanut Butter Onion Marmalade Burger!  Will I be making one of these during my next trip to visit the squirrels?  You betcha.

Why do I always get the culinary cravings of a pregnant woman during Lent?

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The pruning ax is always falling. . .

NB. This is a revision of the homily I preached yesterday at the vigil Mass. Feedback is always welcomed!

3rd Sunday of Lent 2013
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic/Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

There's a hard challenge in The Parable of the Fig Tree that needs a response from each one of us. When the orchard owner orders his gardener to cut down the unproductive tree, he asks (what at first sounds like) a rhetorical question: “Why should [this tree] exhaust the soil?” Why should we allow a barren fruit tree to live in an orchard full of flourishing trees, when all it does is exhaust the nutrients in the soil? The gardener hears the challenge and takes it up immediately, “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it.” Give me a year to work with the tree. I'll do everything I can to help it along. Then he adds, “It may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.” A reprieve not a pardon for the barren little tree. What's the hard challenge for each one of us? Our first answer might be: produce good fruit in the time we have left or face the pruning ax. But we all know that the pruning ax is going to fall on each one of us regardless of how much good fruit we produce. We will all die one day. So, the challenge here isn't Produce or Else! The challenge laid down in this parable is: produce good fruit every day, hour, and minute you have left b/c the Gardener has already begun to swing his ax. The first fruit we must produce is the good fruit of repentance. 

Why? Why should repentance be the first fruit we produce? Jesus tells the parable of the barren fig tree after he is confronted by some local folks with a theological problem. Two recent disasters have left them doubting their faith in God's justice. Pilate slaughters a group of Galileans at prayer and mixes their blood with the blood of the temple sacrifices. An abhorrent sacrilege. The locals wants to know how God can allow His faithful followers to be butchered by an unclean pagan like Pilate. Jesus answers them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means!” In other words, those killed by Pilate were no more sinful than anyone else. Their deaths were no accident but neither were they killed as a punishment for sin. And neither were those killed by the collapsed tower at Siloam. Jesus asks, “Do you think [that those killed] were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!” Accidents happen; Roman governors slaughter people. And the Gardener's ax has already started its swing towards each one of us. Therefore, Jesus says, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” 

Jesus' call to immediate repentance sounds like a threat: failure to repent right now will result in death. That's not what he is saying here. He's saying that if you do not want to perish in the same spiritual condition that these folks did, then you need to repent. How did they perish? Unrepentantly. What was their spiritual condition? Unclean. Our Lord's warning is not a threat, or a prediction that being unclean will cause a fatal accident, or give you cancer, or attract a serial killer with a thing for Catholics. In fact, his point is exactly the opposite. The Galileans Pilate murdered and the eighteen people killed in the tower accident were no more sinful than anyone else; yet, they died anyway. And they died unrepentant sinners. “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” If we do not want to die “as they did,” then we must produce the first good fruit required for holiness: repentance. Again, Jesus is not impersonating a televangelist trying to scare you, nor is he one of those guys down on Bourbon St. at Mardi Gras with a sign that reads, “REPENT! THE END IS NEAR!” Jesus is teaching us a simple but challenging truth: death comes for us all. . .best be ready. 

So, let's make the connection btw the two disasters and the fig tree parable a little more explicit. Like the fig tree, we have one more season, one more week, or maybe the rest of today to produce the good fruits of repentance; to turn ourselves around and run to God's mercy. Therefore, our focus needs to be on repentance not running after esoteric philosophical explanations for random events, or psychological analyses of a petty dictator's motives for violence. Why should our focus be on repentance and not asking why bad things happen to good people? Because random accidents can kill you. . .randomly, and sometimes petty dictators will decide that mass murder is a permanent solution for a temporary problem. Our time in the garden is ebbing away. The ax has begun to swing. So, Jesus is pleading with us; saying, in effect, “You're worrying about the wrong thing. You are all going to die one day. Get right with God before it's too late!” Our capacity for worrying over the wrong things is nearly limitless; however, our time on this earth is not. Therefore, repent and bear good fruit. . .before the season ends. 

Paul's letter to the Corinthians develops Jesus' call to repentance with a little reminder about Moses and those freed from slavery in Egypt. Recalling that their ancestors in faith suffered and died in the wilderness with Moses, and noting that many were struck down b/c God was displeased with them, he writes, “These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us. . . Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” Those struck down in the wilderness with Moses are examples for us, and we read about them as warnings. Our immediate impulse here is to ask, “So, does God really strike people dead for displeasing Him?” And then we should immediately hear Jesus say, “Were those struck down any more sinful than all the others? By no means! Repent, so that you do not die as they did.” Paul develops admonition teaching us that a large part of producing the good fruits of repentance is standing firm on our Rock, Christ Jesus. He notes that our ancestors in faith ate and drank in the wilderness “from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.” They survived b/c God was with them always, especially in times of trial and disaster. And when they were faithful to their covenant with Him, He lavishly blesses them, eventually bringing them to their promised land. 

We begin the third week of our trek through the Lenten desert, eating and drinking from Christ, our Rock. If you have been attentive to your fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, then you know what it means to find humility, to be fully aware of your dependence on God for your life and all that you have. Think carefully and pray urgently about what your friendship with God, about your place in His holy family, and what sort of person you are called to be in the world for the His greater glory. What is preventing you from receiving in full all the gifts that He has to give you? Is it some vice? A history of unconfessed sins? A stale prayer life? Whatever it is, turn away from it and run to God's mercy. Just walk away from whatever it is that stands btw you and the perfect love of God. And most of all, kill your worry. It will never bear good fruit. Our capacity for worrying is nearly limitless; however, our time on this earth is not. Therefore, repent and bear the good fruit of that repentance. . . before the season ends and the Gardener comes to prune his orchard. 

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Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. . .

NB.  Preached this one at the vigil Mass this evening. I thought it bombed. . .big time. By the time I finished, I'd already decided to start over for tomorrow's Masses.  However, after Mass I got a lot of good feedback.  When I mentioned totally revising it, one of my "on-site" reviewers here in the parish said, "Nope. Don't do it. One of your best."  So, now I'm conflicted. Maybe it needs tightening up?  I dunno. . .

3rd Sunday of Lent 2013
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church/Our Lady of the Rosary

“If you do not repent, you will all perish!” We might expect to hear a warning like this from a televangelist, or read it on a sign down on Bourbon St. during Mardi Gras. That it comes from our Lord is a bit unsettling. . .but not entirely unexpected. The Jews of Jesus' day we used to hearing prophets shout warnings of impending doom and admonitions to repent lest the Divine Wrath smite them dead. It must've seemed like God's balled-up fist was always just hovering over Jerusalem ready to crush the whole sinful lot of them at any moment. Given our Lord's mission to preach the Good News of God's mercy to sinners, it's unlikely that he's shouting doomsday warnings just to scare folks into repentance. In fact, his call to repentance is an answer to an implied question. Some locals report to Jesus the details of two recent disasters—one an accident and the other a slaughter. The implied question is: if sin leads to judgment and death, why were only some of those involved in these incidents killed? Jesus answers, in effect, “You're worrying about the wrong thing. You are all going to die one day. Get right with God before it's too late!” Our capacity for worrying over the wrong things is nearly limitless; however, our time on this earth is not. Therefore, repent and bear good fruit. . .before the season ends. 

No one will ever accuse Pontus Pilate of being friendly to the people he ruled. The locals report to Jesus that Pilate slaughtered a group of Galileans at worship and mixed their blood with the blood of the ritual sacrifice. A horrific desecration. Luke is our only historical source for this incident; however, the great Jewish historian, Josephus,* tells us that a group of Samaritans were summoned to Mt. Gerizzim—their holiest site—to worship at a shrine of relics placed there by Moses himself. When the well-armed Samaritans approach the mountain through a town called Tirathaba, they find Pontus Pilate waiting for them. Battle ensues. Most of the Samaritans are killed, some flee, and some captured. Pilate orders the captives executed. Once again, Pilate desecrates a holy sacrifice with human blood. The locals want to know from Jesus, “How can God allow an unclean pagan to kill His faithful people while they offer Him worship?” Jesus' answer: “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means!” In other words, if you think that you will be spared death b/c you are a lesser sinner than these Galileans, you're wrong. Forget the why's and focus on what's important: repent! 

We know almost nothing at all about Pilate's slaughter of the Galileans, and we know only a little more than that about the tower collapsing at Siloam. Only Luke mentions it. We know eighteen people were killed. That's about it. Jesus uses the accident to ask the same question he asked before, “Do you think [that those killed] were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!” Again, those killed were no more sinful than anyone else. They were killed b/c a tower fell on them. There is no “why” to this accident. Stop navel-gazing and focus on what's important, “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” Jesus is not saying here that the failure to repent causes death. He's saying that if you do not want to perish in the spiritual condition that they did, then repent. How did they perish? Unrepentantly. What was their spiritual condition? Unclean. Our Lord's warning is not a threat or a prediction that being unclean will causes a fatal accident, or give you cancer, or attract a serial killer with a thing for Catholics. In fact, his point is exactly the opposite. The Galileans and those eighteen people killed in the tower accident were no more sinful than anyone else. Their spiritual flaw? They were unrepentant sinners. 

As he is prone to doing, Jesus uses a parable to drive his teaching home. The owner of an orchard is upset that his fig tree hasn't produced any figs in three years. He orders his gardener to cut it down, “Why should it exhaust the soil?” The gardener—an unrepentant tree-hugger—talks the owner into giving the little tree one more year to produce. Good news for the tree; however, the gardener adds, “. . .it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.” The fig tree gets a reprieve not a pardon. This parable's connection to Jesus' call for repentance isn't made explicit, so we have to do the leg work here. Jesus asks the locals if the Galileans and the tower victims were any more sinful than any other sinner in town. The answer is no. Accidents happen; Roman governors slaughter people. Like the fig tree, we have one more season, one more week, or the rest of today to produce the good fruits of repentance; to turn ourselves around and run to God's mercy. Therefore, our focus needs to be on repentance not running after esoteric philosophical explanations for random events, or psychological analyses of a petty dictator's motives for violence. Why should our focus be on repentance and not asking why? Because random accidents can kill you. . .randomly, and sometimes petty dictators will decide that mass murder is a great cure for his social problems. In other words, because time is ebbing away and death comes for us all. Best be ready! 

Now, Paul—never one to be left out of a good discussion on repentance—adds his two cents in his first letter to the Corinthians. Recalling that their ancestors in faith suffered and died in the wilderness with Moses, and noting that many were struck down b/c God was displeased with them, he writes, “These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us. . . Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” Those struck down in the wilderness with Moses are examples for us, and we read about them as warnings. Our immediate impulse here is to ask, “So, does God really strike people dead for displeasing Him?” And then we should immediately hear Jesus say, “Were they any more sinful than all the others? By no means! Repent, so that you do not die as they did.” Part of producing the good fruits of repentance is standing firm on our Rock, Christ Jesus. Paul notes that our ancestors in faith ate and drank in the wilderness “from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.” They survived b/c God was with them always, and when they were faithful to the covenant, He blessed them abundantly. 

We begin the third week of our trek through the Lenten desert, eating and drinking from Christ, our Rock. If you have been attentive to your fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, then you know what it means to find humility, to be fully aware of your dependence on God for your life and all that you have. Think carefully and pray urgently about what your friendship with God, about your place in His holy family, and what sort of person you are called to be in the world for the His greater glory. What is preventing you from receiving in full all the gifts that He has to give you? Is it some vice? A history of unconfessed sins? A stale prayer life? Whatever it is, turn away from it and run to God's mercy. Just walk away from whatever it is that stands btw you and the perfect love of God. And most of all, kill your worry. It will never bear good fruit. Our capacity for worrying is nearly limitless; however, our time on this earth is not. Therefore, repent and bear good fruit. . .before the season ends and the Gardener comes to prune his orchard.

 *Antiquities 18, 4, 1 #86–87

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Everyday warrants a fattened calf!

NB. For a "Vintage Fr. Philip" version of this homily, check out "Wasting Love on Sinners" from 2008

2nd Week of Lent (S)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Sinners are drawn to Jesus. Tax collectors, prostitutes, all sorts of unclean souls are pulled into his presence, seduced—if you will—by. . .what exactly? What is there about Christ that attracts those who have put themselves outside of God's good graces? You would think that sinners would run and hide when he shows up to preach. But the only creatures who cringe at his approach are the unclean spirits, the demons. The gospels report that when our Lord walks into town, a crowd gathers. Some are there in hopes of seeing a magic trick. Others out of curiosity to hear what this guy has to say. Sprinkled throughout the crowd though are men and women whose deeply seeded desire for holiness is struck like a bell when Jesus comes near. There's just something about who and what Jesus is that makes these sinners drop whatever they are doing and run to be with him. What is this “something”? Whatever it is, the Pharisees and scribes are unhappy with the fact that a rabbi is eating and drinking with sinners. When they complain, Jesus tells them a parable about a long-lost son and his welcomed return home. This prodigal son leaves his life of sinful dissipation and starts a life of grateful celebration. Can we describe our lives as “grateful celebrations”? 

The standard way of reading the Parable of the Prodigal Son goes like this. . .the son is the sinner; the father is God; and the good son is the Pharisee. When the sinner-son returns home after wasting his inheritance on wine, women, and song, his father throws a party to welcome him back. The good son-Pharisee angrily objects to the party b/c his sinner-brother hasn't earned their father's forgiveness. The father responds “My son, you are here with me always. . .But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Here's my question: what draws the sinner-son back to his father to live his life in grateful celebration? What is it about the father that attracts his son home? The sinner-son and the father share a habit of the heart: both are prone to prodigality, dissipation. For the son, this habit is a vice; for the father, it is a virtue. The father's welcome home feast is no less extravagant, no less excessive than the son's squandering of his inheritance. Both lavishly spend, both are reckless in their indulgence. However, while son viciously spends money to sin, the father virtuously spends mercy to love. The son is drawn home to his father by a deeply seeded desire to have his ability love perfected. In his father's mercy, the son's love is made perfect. 

A sin is always an act of imperfect love. And imperfections always seek their perfection. Sinners are drawn to Jesus like magnets, pulled toward his perfect love for them. His loving presence—extravagant, abundant, indulgent, perfect—seduces sinners, reels them in. We see in him and hear from him the holiness we long for, the righteousness we were made for. His fullness shames our emptiness and so we draw close so that we might be filled. Our Lord too is a prodigal child, a son of excessive love, abundant mercy, indulgent forgiveness, and perfect hope. He spent his life for us on the Cross, an act of holy abandon, a complete surrender to death so that we might live. If we draw near to him and confess our imperfections, we too are welcomed home to the Father. Made perfect by Love Himself. Thus, there is nothing else for us to do than to spend our lives in grateful celebration, giving thanks and praise, lifting up our burdens and seeing them taken away. Long or short, dull or exciting, the life of a faithful follower of Christ is a life lived in grateful celebration. For us, if we turn to God for mercy, everyday warrants a fattened calf! 

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