Death. . .from whom no one can escape.

E.H. Funeral
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Lake Lawn Funeral Home, NOLA

Writing in the 15th century, Thomas a Kempis 13th century, St Francis pens a verse that is at once unsettling and comforting: “Praised are you, my Lord, for our sister, bodily Death,/from whom no one living can escape.” It is unsettling to praise death. Perhaps even more unsettling to call our death and dying, “sister.” Why bring the end of living into the family? Why commend her on a job well-done? If death is our sister, an everyday presence in the family, then, like any good sister, she is reassuring, certain, constant. There's comfort in knowing that there is nothing special about death, about my death or yours. No one escapes; we all die. In fact, we are born to die. As animals of flesh and blood, we wear out, fall to disease and injury, and eventually our allotted time is up. And if we were nothing more than flesh and blood animals, we'd mourn for a while, consign the dead to the immortality of memory, and live until we too become a thought for others to call to mind. However, Paul reminds the Romans of a great Christian truth, “No one lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.” In Christ, each life is extraordinary, every death sacrificial. 

We are here this morning to offer a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the long life and Christian death of Ms E. We could say that we are here to mourn her, or to remember her, or to send her on her way back to God. But none of these express the whole truth about what we are here to do. Paul teaches the Romans that no one lives for oneself or dies for oneself. He writes, “For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Ms E. belonged to the Christ and offered her life in service to her family, following the excellent example of Our Blessed Mother. If we are here this morning to pray for the repose of her immortal soul, then we are also here to be reminded that no one who lives with Christ as she did ever truly dies. Christ is lord of the living and the dead, those still serving him here and those who live on with him forever. With the whole Church, the whole Body of Christ, we commend to the Father, through our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, the life and death of our sister, Ms E. H. May she now continue to live on in the hope of the resurrection and life everlasting. 

Teaching the crowds, Jesus says the most outrageous thing. He says, “. . .my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . .Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” The Jews are scandalized. The Greeks think he's insane. But we know that the sacrifice we offer this morning, for Ms E. and all our dead, brings us to the foot of the cross and to the entrance of the empty tomb, brings us to his death and to his resurrection. As we offer ourselves on the altar, each of us becomes “an eternal offering” made acceptable to God by Christ. How many times did Ms E. die on the altar in her 101 yrs? How many times did she rise again to flourish for the good of her family and friends? She did not live for herself, nor did she die for herself. For ninety plus years she lived and died for others, and now we give her over to the One to whom she belonged all along. Her life among her brothers and sisters in Christ was extraordinary. And her death a quick passing to see our Lord face-to-face. Along with our brightest hopes and deepest love, she remains with Christ, waiting for the day of resurrection, waiting for a new heaven and new earth. 

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Thanks!

Another Big Dominican Mille Grazie to the anonymous Book Benefactor who sent me Sergius Bulgakov's Unfading Light.

This is the first English translation of this book by the great Russian Orthodox theologian and philosopher.

Fr. Philip, OP
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Are you worthy of persecution?

34th Week OT (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

We can tell from this evening's reading that Jesus doesn't go out of his way to make Christianity a real attractive option. Can you imagine trying to get him elected to public office? Imagine having to go on FOXNews and explain away this campaign promise: “Vote for me and they will seize and persecute you. . .You will even be handed over by . . .relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. . .” Guess whose bumper sticker isn't going on my car! What's not entirely clear here is why we—as followers of Christ—will be persecuted. All Jesus says is that we'll be persecuted because of his name. St. John helps us out here a bit. He writes, “All the nations will come and worship before you, [Lord], for your righteous acts have been revealed.” When we live as followers of Christ, doing all that we have been commanded to do, we do all that we have been commanded to do in his name. For his sake. In other words, we work to reveal God's righteous deeds so that He gets the glory. For a world ruled by the Enemy, this sort of thing is bound to draw some negative attention. So, are you in any danger of being persecuted for revealing God's righteous acts to the world? 

We can narrow that question down a bit by focusing on just one of God's righteous acts: are you in any danger of persecuted for revealing God's righteous act of loving and forgiving His human children despite their obstinate rebelliousness and sin? You might think that our creation in love is the number one righteous act of God. But it is far more merciful to re-create than create, especially when your creatures fail so often in showing gratitude through humility. Our salvation through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is God's most righteous act b/c it involves our Creator in more than just bringing together dust and breath to create us. Once made by God in His image and likeness, and fallen into disobedience through pride, we are rescued by the flesh and blood of His Son. We are freely offered the chance to be re-made in the image and likeness of the Christ and to rise higher than the angels as His adopted heirs. It is the righteous act of our re-creation as Children of God in Christ that we are most obligated to reveal to the world. And it is evidence of this infinitely merciful act that the rulers of this world will kill to keep from being brought into the public square. 

So, let's change up the question: do you live in a such a way that your life would be recognized as evidence that God's infinite mercy is freely available to anyone who longs to be re-made in the image and likeness of Christ? If so, then Jesus' warning of persecution in tonight's gospel is for you. If not, why bother with this difficult path? What drew you to Christ in the first place? Did someone reveal a righteous act of God to you and entice you to follow along? It can't be the promise of eternal life b/c that promise is kept for those who are unashamed of Christ. Maybe you were responding to that gnawing emptiness that living without purpose feeds. Or maybe you recognized in yourself the capacity to love sacrificially and now find yourself struggling along with the rest of us to take baby steps along the Way. How about this: the further away from God you got, the harder you ran, the tighter He held on and you just decided that all those mushy ideas like love, mercy, forgiveness, hope, faith are all stronger than your desire to sin and so here you are? That too is a righteous act of God. Leave here tonight and reveal this deed to the world: here you are b/c God's love for you is always stronger than the Enemy's hatred of Him and of His. 

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Fond memories. . .

My thanks to the anonymous Book Benefactor who sent Cassier's Essay on Man my way.

This book brings back fond memories of a class I took as an undergrad with the venerable Prof. Thomas Flynn (formerly S.J.).  I remember gnawing through the text like a crazed rabbit through an alien landscape. It was tough, chewy, and tasted funny.

Fr. Philip, OP 

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Coffee Cup Browsing

A lesbian walks into a Muslim-owned barber shop in PC infested Canada. . .

Speaking of PC infestations: Muslim group to "mutilate and execute" a group of gay men. Any bets on whether or not we'll see a Hollywood/MSM protest?

Cutting adjunct hours to avoid paying for ObamaCare.

All the "smartest" people voted for B.O. . .um, then why are all the "smart" states in economic free-fall?

Catholic social teaching does not support a bloated bureaucratic welfare state.

A theory about the nature and purpose of the Book of Revelation. . .basically, this is my view of this complex and beautiful book.

A brief history of tobacco use among popes, saints, and saints-in-waiting.  I'd heard while in Rome that BXVI used to be a heavy smoker.

SCOTUS breathes new life into religious liberty challenge against HHS mandate.

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Making your sacrifice perfect

34th Week OT (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

We all know the lesson to be learned about stewardship from the story of the Widow's Mite: it's not the amount you give that matters but whether you are giving out of your surplus or your poverty. The wealthy give a larger amount than the widow, but they give out of their financial leftovers; in other words, they do not give their first fruits. Jesus praises the widow b/c she gives out of her poverty. Her two small coins amount to a much grander sacrifice than the rich folks' gold precisely b/c those two coins represent her entire livelihood, everything she has and everything she is. To the degree that the wealthy are set apart from the hardship of sacrifice, they are deprived of the opportunity to grow in holiness through sacrifice. To the degree that the poor are united to the poverty of their sacrifice—giving of themselves as well as their meager wealth—they are made holy. But this gospel story isn't about being rich or poor, generous or greedy. It's about how much of You do you sacrifice for the benefit of others. When you give, do you give your whole livelihood? Do you invest in your sacrificial act your whole person? 

I can hear you grumbling already! Geez, Father. . .I give what I can. Things are tight these days. What more do you want? First, all I want for you is to grow in holiness, pray for me and the other friars, and get you and yours to heaven. Second, remember: we aren't talking about dropping cash in the collection plate, or writing a weekly check to the parish. Your sacrifice can certainly include a monetary donation of some sort but that's hardly the lesson Jesus is teaching. Notice that while praising the widow's poverty, he draws our attention to her depth of her sacrifice, “she. . .has offered her whole livelihood." Not just her cash on-hand, not just her meager savings but her WHOLE livelihood, everything she has to live on. Why is this such a grand sacrifice? More than anything else, the poor widow is casting away her future; she's giving away tomorrow's supper, and throwing herself fearlessly on the abundant providential care of God. She's not holding back “just in case.” Nor is she “saving for a rainy day.” Her sacrifice is before all else an audacious declaration that she trusts in God's promises to multiple her sacrifice with blessings, to give her a harvest one hundredfold. Jesus notes her charity, but he does so by praising her faith, her faith in God's loving-care. 

Here's the question: in making a sacrifice to God—whether it's time, talent, or treasure—do you give from everything you have and everything you are? Do you give of yourself and what you have in a way that clearly indicates to God and everyone else that you know you are totally dependent on God for everything you have and everything you are? That's the underlying truth of this gospel story: the widow isn't giving anything that she herself wasn't first given by God. Those two coins were gifts from God. And she gives them back to Him, trusting that He will keep His promise to multiply them. In a strange way, both poverty and wealth are extreme ends of the same spiritual temptation: I will keep what little I have to care for myself (a lack of faith) AND I will only give a little out of my surplus wealth (lack of charity). Both are tempted to deny the power of God's promise to care for those who love Him. Both are tempted to hoard what they have—one a little and one a lot—against a dangerous and unpredictable future. A soul moved to make the perfect sacrifice knows that all he/she has was first a gift from God, a gift to be given in turn so that more gifts might be given. Our livelihood as followers of Christ is always, always first and last the love of God and His boundless mercy. 

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Viva Christo Rey!

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King!

The origins of this solemnity are rooted in the Cristero War (1926-28), a war fought btw the socialist federal government of Mexico and faithful Catholics who opposed the gov't's attempt to suppress religious liberty.

The anti-clerical laws were passed by President Plutarco Elias Calles, a life-long atheist, fervent Free Mason, and Marxist.  Under the pretense of expelling "foreign influences," Calles murdered bishops, priests, religious men and women, and destroyed hundreds of churches.  Lay Catholics were not exempted from the butchery. . .thousands were martyred as well. 

The Catholic rebels took as their battle cry, "Viva Christo Rey!" In 1926, Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical, Quas primas, instituting the Solemnity of Christ the King.

The 2012 film Cristiada (For Greater Glory) depicts the Cristero War.

Today would be the perfect day to watch this film with family and pray in defense of our religious liberty!

(On a more personal note:  today is significant for me b/c I attribute my priestly vocation to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Cristeros.)

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Who sits on the throne of your heart?

NB.  The deacons are preaching this weekend.  Here's my Christ the King homily from 2006. . .written in a style very different from what I use these days. . .

Christ the King
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
Church of the Incarnation and St. Paul’s Hospital

Who or what sits on the throne of your heart? Who or what rules your mind, your body, your soul? Who are you as a subject of the Lord’s kingdom? Who are we together in his royal service?

The Solemnity of Christ the King celebrates the arrival and the coming of the Lord—his coming and going in disgrace in the beginning and his coming and staying in glory in the end. He has been given an everlasting dominion, eternal glory, and kingship in heaven and on earth. He is firstborn of the dead, ruler of the kings of earth, and he is the faithful witness to his Father’s accomplished promise: to us who love him, he has freed us from our sin by his blood, and made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father! He is prophet, priest, and king and we share in his prophetic ministry, his priestly duty, and his kingly rule. But we do not share these offices by right or reward; we share them by inheritance. In baptism we took on the mantle of the Anointed One and gave our lives to the work of giving the Living Word our hands and feet, our strong backs and big mouths, our determination and patience, and we gave all of our foreign allegiances to the sanctifying fire of Pentecost—no alien rulers, no sacrifices to false gods, no prayers to the elemental powers, no princes before The Prince, no king in our hearts but the King of kings, the Lord or lords.

His dominion must skate through your veins, flex your muscles, and draw your breath. His rule will accomplish in you the perfection of every gift, polishing every talent and treasure, and he will bring your will to bear on the need for renunciation and sacrifice, the need for surrender to the commands of love, the righteous orders of mercy and faith. The rule of Christ the King in your heart opens your ears: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” That voice, his voice will not ask you, will not lead you to the worship of the idols of the market.

Who or what sits on the throne of your heart? Who or what rules your mind, your body, your soul? If you are not ruled from your heart by the Word Made Flesh, then you are ruled by some alien power, some foreign god. Let me name some them: there are spirits who would rule us—spirits of disobedience and arrogance; of narcissism and selfishness; of deceit and false witness; of judgment and self-righteousness; of confusion and syncreticism; of rage and violence. There are disordered passions that would rule us: lust posing as love; greed posing as desire; pride posing as self-esteem; envy posing as competition; gluttony posing as the entitlement; sloth posing as leisure; and anger posing as righteous indignation. There are fallen angels, counterfeit messengers, who would rule us with false information and corrupted wisdom: ancient seers, ascended masters, make-believe prophets, self-anointed messiahs, cults of personality, cults of scientism, cults of success w/no money down, churches of the Barbie Waistline and the Ken Pecs and Abs, and the demonic choirs of celebrities singing their own praises!

Who or what sits on the throne of your heart? Who or what rules your mind, your body, your soul?

Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you King of the Jews?” Jesus answers with a question, “Did you figure this out or did someone tell you?” Pilate says, “I’m not a Jew. Your own people gave me to you. What have you done?” Jesus responses to Pilate, but he doesn’t answer Pilate’s question. Instead he tells Pilate that he is a King, but not a king in this world or a king in the way the world thinks of kings. Jesus says, “My kingdom does not belong to this world[…]my kingdom is not here.” Frustrated, Pilate says, “So, you are a king then?!” Jesus simply says, “I was born and came into this world to testify to the truth.” And this is what he did from his debut at the Wedding at Cana up to and including this exchange with Pilate—Jesus has taught the truth of the faith, holding fast against expectation and convenience and popularity and betrayal and expediency; holding the truth of the Word so that that Word might be purely spread, pristinely heralded and heard.

There is no compromise here. No genteel dialogue btw individuals with competing but probably compatible interests. No exchange of heart-felt wishes and warm salutations. Jesus speaks the Word of Truth to Pilate. And says, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” What do those who belong to the truth hear? They hear: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.” They hear a proclamation of Christ’s rule, a declaration of his reign and sovereignty. Son of Man and Son of God. Faithful witness. Firstborn of the dead. Ruler of the kings of the earth. No election. No voting. No audience participation. No American Idol final four. Lord of lords, King of kings. Mighty God. That’s all! And that’s everything!

Who or what sits on the throne of your heart? Who or what rules your mind, your body, your soul?

The implication of these questions is naked: answer them honestly and know immediately the state of your spiritual life. I don’t mean to say here that you will get some sense of whether or not you are fulfilled or happy or content. Or that you will come to feel better about yourself or less stressed out or better able to cope. Jesus promised his disciples and us—all of his preachers and apostles—persecution, trial, betrayal, and death. He never promised us contentment or self-esteem in this life. This doesn’t mean that we won’t be happy here and now or that we can’t find some measure of peace. All it means is that being stressed out or unhappy or anxious or doubtful is not evidence that you are a bad Christian. All of those nagging spirits and draining demons are, however, a pretty good sign that something or someone else sits on the throne of your heart; something or someone else rules you—body, mind, spirit, all of you. What you feel is dis-ease, instability, the uneasiness that we all feel when we invite a foreign ruler, some alien king into our lives.

But know that these spirits are temporary gods, paper doll deities folded together with Elmer’s and plastic glitter. They are houses of leaves, Styrofoam rocks and magic marker paint, a fleet of cardboard ships in icy water sinking. They are the Sons of Noise and the Daughters of Wisps, passing through, clouds and rank breezes; loud, dangerous, yes; but powerless before a true king.

Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice. Everyone who belongs to goodness sees his work. Everyone who belongs to beauty touches his face. Everyone who belongs to the Father welcomes his rule in their hearts. Everyone who belongs to the Son gives thanks for his sacrifice. Everyone who belongs to the Spirit rejoices in his gifts. And everyone, everyone who belongs to the kingdom serves One Faith, One Baptism, One Lord!

Is he lord of your heart? If not, who sits the throne and rules your life? He is the Faithful witness, the Firstborn of the dead, King of kings, Jesus Christ!

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They can no longer die. . .

St Andrew Düng-Lac & Companions
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Our gospel reading this morning is not about marriage and re-marriage. Let's set all that aside and go to the meat of the Sadducees' question to Jesus: isn't the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead inconsistent the Mosaic Law? Jesus answers emphatically, no. All that stuff about a woman and her dead husband's brothers is just a way of setting up a more basic challenge. To better understand this challenge, we need to know a little bit about the Sadducees. They were a religious faction among the Jews closely allied with the temple priesthood, the political aristocracy, and the Roman occupiers. As traditionalists, they accepted only the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures as authoritative. In practice, they were the ancient equivalent of modern naturalists: rejecting supernaturalism, they denied the existence of the soul, of angels, and heaven/hell. Their challenge to Jesus is an attempt to use scripture to embarrass him and discredit their theological opponents. Our Lord's response to their challenge impresses them b/c he cites Moses to support the reality of the resurrection, saying, “[God] is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” 

In his response to the Sadducees, Jesus defends three fundamental Christian doctrines: 1) the immortality of the human soul; 2) the resurrection of the body; 3) and the perfection of those raised from the dead. Together these three doctrines mean that those raised will have no need for the sacraments in heaven. Jesus defends these teachings by reminding the Sadducees of Moses' encounter with God in the Burning Bush recorded in Deuteronomy. Upon hearing God's voice calling him from the bush, Moses tries to run. But the voice calls him again, saying, “I am the God of your father. . .the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses accepts this truth and calls the God of his father, “Lord.” So, if God is the God of the long-dead patriarchs and Moses' Lord, then, Jesus reasons, He—God—is the Lord of the living; therefore, the patriarchs and Moses must still be alive in some sense. Using the scriptures, Jesus is able to rebut the Sadducees' objections to the resurrection and show that they do not truly understand the scriptures they claim to revere as holy. Luke reports them saying, “Teacher, you have answered well." And he adds, “. . .they no longer dared to ask him anything.” 

Now that we have a better sense of the argument, let's consider the relevance of Jesus' answer for us here in the 21st century. Jesus concludes his response to the Sadducees by saying, “[God] is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus is a living God for all that lives. Even after death, we are alive in the presence of the Living God. Jesus says, “[Those raised from the dead] can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God. . .” This announcement should have a singular effect on us: the dispelling of any fear of death we may have. What's to fear? We are not Sadducees who believe that death ends life. We are not modern naturalists who believe that humans are nothing more than really smart chimps. We call the God of the Patriarchs “Lord.” And as our Lord and God, He is the everlasting God of Life, this life we are living right now and the life we are hoping for after death. To fear death is to mistrust His promises of eternal life. Look to the martyrs. In the face of torture and death, they remained firm in calling Him Lord, and now they live forever in His presence. If we will be “like the angels” after death, we must work hard to live like angels before we die—striving for perfection with the help of His grace, and announcing His Good News to the four corners of the world. 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Open season on the Church in Ireland and Down Under. . .just the beginning.

And in the Country That Used to be England. . .

And in the E.U. among the Professional Nannies and Paper Pushers. . .

Imagine these wimmin protesting like this in a Muslim country. . .(Rated-R).

Gullible Media gets duped by propaganda pics. . .

Dissident priest booted from the Maryknolls. . .and laicized. Why does the phrase "bout time" come to mind?

What is Remnant Theology?  Pruning is necessary for flourishing.

Heh. Pretty much like everything else he's touched.

Private property rights saved the Pilgrims from starvation.
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Giving Happy Thanks (Updated)

Happy Thanksgiving to all HancAquam readers!

For me today: Mass at 8.30am and then a day of reading, napping, and Glorious Solitude.

Since I can't be with my Family today and since my Religious Family celebrated Thanksgiving Tues night. . .I've decided that today will be a Desert Day for me.

God bless, Fr. Philip

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A Parable for the Meantime

Presentation of the BVM
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

What is the Church to do with herself after Jesus is gone and before he returns? No one knows exactly how long he'll be gone, and it seems that his long-term plans for the Church are a bit murky. As he gets closer to Jerusalem, many begin to believe that he intends to establish his reign as a Davidic king upon arrival in the holy city. They expect him to declare his kingship, call for popular support, raise an army, and expel their foreign enemies. This is why he's hailed with cheers and palm branches when he finally enters Jerusalem. . .just one week before his execution in the city's garbage dump. Our Lord knows full well that most of those following him around do not understand his divine mission. They've failed again and again to grasp the purpose of his ministry and the consequences of following his teachings. So, he tells them a parable, a parable intended to accomplish two related tasks: 1) to clarify the nature of his inheritance as an heir to David's kingdom; and 2) to shape the nature and mission of his Church while he's gone, until his return. We might call this the Meantime Parable. What are we to do in the meantime? Invest the gold of the faith and grow our Lord's kingdom. 

The Meantime Parable is pretty straightforward; basically, Jesus is putting into parable terms what he wants his disciples to do while he is with the Father, what he wants them to accomplish before his return. Jesus gives his disciples the wisdom of his teachings (the gold coins) and instructs them to spread these teachings for the profit of souls. Some of their fellow Jews object to the Lord's future reign as king and try to undermine their efforts. Upon his return, the Lord calls his disciples and asks for an accounting of their ministry. The first two disciples have had great success and are rewarded with more responsibilities. The third disciple, however, did not invest the Lord's teachings b/c he felt that Jesus had not earned his kingship. He accuses Jesus of profiting from the hard work of generations of God-fearing believers. Our Lord calls this man “wicked servant.” Why? Because as a disciple he took God's gifts and then refused to live as a disciple. Our Lord takes back this man's gold and gives it to another disciple, saying, “. . .to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” At the Final Accounting, which disciple will you be? 

How are you tempted by the Enemy to be the Wicked Servant? Let's first remember why the Lord calls the unsuccessful disciple “wicked.” Note well: it's not b/c the man is a horrible, unrepentant sinner. He's “wicked” b/c he knows that living as a disciple means growing the wealth of the kingdom, investing all that he's been given by God. It's the only task the Lord gives his servants while he's gone. Despite knowing the Lord's will, the Wicked Servant hides his faith b/c he doubts its value in the marketplace. Are you tempted to hide your faith, to squander Christ's investment in you? The Enemy will whisper to you: All that faith stuff is just primitive superstition. It makes people uncomfortable. Sounds weird to modern ears. You're going to look like an idiot and people will think you're hateful. Wrap it up and keep it behind the walls of the chapel. Live like a normal person when folks are watching. Besides, everyone has their own equally valuable ideas about God so why is yours special? The Wicked Servant listens to the Enemy and all he has is given to another. Christ invested his life for ours. When he comes again to account for his investments, we will be given more or what we have will be taken away. What kind of servant are you? 

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Do the works you did at first

33rd Week OT (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Something is wrong with the church in Ephesus. And many things are nearly perfect. John is given a message to deliver to the Ephesians. What's nearly perfect? “I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked. . .” And what's wrong? “Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first.” The Church in Ephesus—probably the most important local church at the time, certainly the largest—was nurtured by Paul for three years and bequeathed to Timothy. When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he found a group of believers there who had been baptized by John the Baptist but had not yet received the Holy Spirit. So, he made Ephesus his headquarters while he evangelized the region. The Lord, recognizing a zealous faith among the Ephesians, instructs John to say to them, “. . . you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary.” They are hard-workers, determined believers. But they've lost something vital. They've lost compassion. “Realize how far you have fallen,” the Lord warns, “Repent, and do the works you did at first.” 

Though you may be a parishioner in NOLA, are you also a member of the Church of Ephesus? Chances are we all know a Christian like the ones in Ephesus. Hard-worker for the Church, a real work horse when there are things that need to be done. A solid soul who brooks no-nonsense or monkey-business with the faith. Fearless in defending the Church; fierce when presented by lay or clerical corruption; able to sniff out a religious phoney in seconds and is not shy about saying so. This Christian's diligence, industry, and zealous determination make him/her a target for the less rigorous souls in the family and a real pain-in-the-rear for anyone outside the family who dares speaks against us. We can all see that he/she frequently suffers for the sake of Christ. But there may be a problem. The Lord sends this message: “You have lost the love you had at first.” Diligence in defending the orthodox faith; zeal in confronting sin; hard-work, rigorous moral standards. . .all of these are worthless unless they are done with the “love you had at first.” The love that first seduced you into repentance and keeps you enthralled to follow the Narrow Way. All of the virtues of the Ephesians are one step away from becoming damning vices. The wall btw saving virtue and damning vice is compassion. 

Twice the blind man cries out to Jesus for compassion, “Son of David, have pity on me!” Jesus calls to the man, “What would you have me do for you?” The man pleads, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus not only heals his blindness, he also confirms the man's faith and his salvation, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” To understand this miraculous event, we have to hear it on two levels simultaneously: the physical and the spiritual. The man's dead eyes are renewed so that they function as they ought. And his spiritual ignorance—his darkness in sin and death—is enlightened by his faith in Christ. This is his first encounter with God's loving-kindness, His compassion. If the newly healed man hopes to continue along the Narrow Way to eternal life, he will place this first encounter with the Christ at the center of his being, making it the source and summit of everything word and deed he says and does for the rest of his life. If he will avoid the fault of the Ephesians, he will make all his works until his last exactly like his first: love God, cry out for His compassion, and receive it with thanksgiving! 

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Audio File for 33rd Sunday OT

Audio File for "Tribulation & the Second Advent"


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Tribulation & the Second Advent

33rd Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio File

Watching the news these past few weeks, I can't help but hear, whispering behind reports of war, riots, famine, economic collapse, the dooming rhythm of Yeats, reading his visionary poem, “The Second Coming”: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/The ceremony of innocence is drowned;/The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.” This is 1919. Just one year after 16 million soldiers are killed in WWI. Just one year after Europe ends its suicidal slaughter for the glory of kings and parliaments. And just 13 years before a former corporal in the Austrian army is appointed Chancellor in Germany. His reign will end in 1945 with the deaths of more than 70 million. Yeats: “Surely some revelation is at hand;/Surely the Second Coming is at hand./The Second Coming!” Jesus assures his disciples that he will come again. He came to us first as a Child and next as Judge and King. When? “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” So, as we prepare to wait for his birth in Bethlehem, we wait for his coming again in glory. 

Though it is not yet Advent, that time when we wait in anticipation for the birth of Christ, we celebrate another sort of Advent this evening, a Second Advent, celebrated everyday, every hour since Christ's resurrection from the tomb. Jesus warns his disciples that after his death, “False messiahs and false prophets will arise and will perform signs and wonders in order to mislead. . .the elect. Be watchful!” And despite this warning, many of his disciples through the centuries have been misled. Some by a Roman emperor. Others by Greek heresies. Many by charismatic monks and holy women. Millions were led astray by clever theological argument. And millions more by atheistic science, utopian fantasy, secular political ideology, and the temporary treasures of Mammon. How many have been duped by New Age gibberish, or the slick sales pitch of 21st century humanists? Jesus calls this long, painful falling away from the apostolic faith, a tribulation; that is, the threshing of a harvest to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

After this tribulation, he says, “. . .the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky. . .” And as nature convulses in its announcement, we “will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory. . .” His angels will “gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” Seeing on the faces of his disciples the same expression that most of you have now, Jesus answers the unspoken question: “When [the fig tree's] branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that [the Son of Man] is near, at the gates.” When is the Christ coming again? When will the Son of Man be near the gates? When we see the sun and moon eclipsed and stars shooting through the sky. When, as regularly as the changing of the seasons, the blooming of the fig trees, we see men and women misled by false prophets and fake Messiahs. He will come again when “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/The ceremony of innocence is drowned.” In other words, he is always prepared to come again, so we must always be ready to receive him. When “the best lack all conviction,” and “the worst/Are full of passionate intensity,” his Church must be passionately convicted in her faith, waiting for his arrival with an intense hope. 

Obscure apocalyptic passages like this one from Mark serve a specific purpose in the life of the Church. Rather than tempting us with the useless task of figuring out the hour and day of Christ's return, these passages urge us to hold firm in the faith and live with the hope that Christ's resurrection promises. Rather than scaring us silly with tales of the imminent destruction of the world and threats of eternal damnation, these passages report events that have already taken place in history; or events that are occurring at the time the passage was written; or events that recur in history over and over again. Their purpose is to reassure us that there is nothing particularly poignant about the social, economic, religious convulsions that we are living through. Has there been a century in 5,000 yrs of human history w/o a solar or lunar eclipse, a meteor shower? A decade unscathed by war, plague, poverty, or natural disaster? We don't need to know when Christ will return. All we need to know is that he will, and that our task is to be ready: free from all anxiety, utterly at peace. We wait. But are we ready? 

We might wonder: what’s Jesus waiting for? Surely the world cannot be a bigger mess; surely we cannot become more self-destructive, angrier, greedier, more hostile to peace and the poor! Israel and Syria are firing rockets at each other. Iran is on the verge of building a nuclear bomb. Europe is teetering on another Great Depression. The U.S. is hellbent on defying both divine and natural law in a headlong rush to top Sodom and Gomorrah's last big party.* What's he waiting on? He’s waiting on you. On me. On all of us. He waiting for us and our repentance. Peter asks an excellent question: “Since all [of creation is] thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. . .?” While we wait on the destruction of the world, what sort of persons should we be? What kind of person should you be, if you want to hasten the Christ's second coming? If his coming again seems to be taking too long, Peter reminds us: “The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” The day and hour of the Second Coming matches perfectly the day and hour of our repentance, our return to righteousness in Christ. 

Have you been through the tribulation long enough? Have you been thoroughly threshed? If not, think about your tipping point. What will it take to turn you around, back to God? You see, the threshing process we all go through can take days or decades; it can be a slow, agonizing process, resulting in cuts and bruises; or a quick, painless beating with a feather. It all depends on how eager we are to be threshed; that is, it all depends on what sort of persons we want to be while the world circles the bowl. Peter's question—“what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness”—answers itself. Living a life of holiness and godliness makes you a holy and godly person. While the world self-destructs, a godly and holy people will hear and see the Word at work in the world; preach and teach the Good News of repentance and forgiveness; do good works for the glory of God; grow and grow in holiness not just by avoiding sin but by embracing grace as well. So, while we wait for the Second Coming, let's hasten Christ's arrival by making our every word, our every move shout joy to the world so that no one is left behind, so that every eye can see and every ear hear that God freely offers His mercy to sinners through the once-for-all sacrifice of His Son on the Cross.

* The sin of S&G is much debated.  The text can be read a number of different ways.  One view holds that homosexual rape is the cause of S&G's destruction.  Another view holds that it is the violation of the law of hospitality.  My view is that rape (of any sort) is a pretty much always a violation of the law of hospitality.  My reference here is meant to invoke an image of general moral degeneration and a turn toward godlessness.

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