The original cell of social life

Solemnity of St. Joseph
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

If you ask a Catholic pastor how many members he has in his parish, he will say something like, “Oh, about 800 families.” Or 1,000 families, or 2,000 families. The number isn't as important here as the unit of measurement: families. Not individuals but families. Even if a household consists of one individual, it's counted as a family. This may seem odd until you read what the Catechism says about the family, “The family is the original cell of social life”(no. 2207). The most basic unit of our lives together as Christians is not the individual Christian but the Christian embedded in his/her family life. Given this, we can say that the parish then is a family of local families. The diocese is the family of all parochial families, and the Universal Church is the family of all the diocesan families. What is the Universal Church? The Church is the heir to God's promise made to “Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, [not through the law] but through the righteousness that comes from faith.” When we believe on the name of Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God, becoming brothers and sisters to Christ, and co-heirs to the Kingdom. This means that Joseph, husband to Mary and adopted father of Jesus, is the our father in the Church. He is the Pillar of the Family, the Christian model for honoring God as our heavenly Father.

What little we know about Joseph comes from the gospel accounts of his betrothal to the virgin, Mary. Matthew tells us that he was “a righteous man,” a man consistent in his duties to God, following the Law, and keeping closely to the covenant. His personal integrity is demonstrated by the fact that he was unwilling to expose his wife to shame when she became pregnant before their period of betrothal had ended. Having decided to divorce her quietly, an angel came to him in a dream and told him that Mary's child was a gift from the Holy Spirit and that he (Joseph) should take them in and name the child, Emmanuel, “God is with us.” Matthew reports, “. . .[Joseph] did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him. . .” It is precisely Joseph's obedience to the Lord, his unwavering faith in the promises of God that forms the foundation of the Christian family, the original living cell of the Church. Had Joseph stubbornly followed the letter of the Law, Mary might have been a single mother raising a son without a father in the home.*

A recent study in England revealed that 2/3 of failed families there were fatherless. Most households below the poverty line in the U.S. are headed by single mothers and most of the young men serving prison terms in the U.S. were raised w/o a father in their lives. Now, there's nothing magical about having a man living with the family. Fathers can be abusive; a drain on the family finances rather than a help; and a bad example of fidelity to the vows of marriage. But a father who is faithful to God, faithful to his vows, and faithful to his children is a blessing beyond measure. The Catechism notes that “authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society” (no. 2207). If the original cell of social life, the family, is infected with selfishness, infidelity, uncontrolled addictions, and violence, then society at large is in danger of dying. The cure for these infections is to be found in the holy example of St. Joseph. A selfless life lived with sacrificial love in the service of one's family motivated by an unwavering faith in God. Joseph obeyed the Lord and his family flourishes still 2,000 years later!

* It has become expedient in recent years for Catholics of a particular political bent to claim that Mary was an "unwed mother."  This is patently false.  Mary was betrothed to Joseph.  If this were not so, how could he consider divorcing her?  Another politically expedient myth about Joseph and Mary is that the members of the Holy Family were "illegal immigrants."  This is also patently false.  If they were "illegals," why were they traveling to Jerusalem to participate in the Roman census? 

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Another B.O. blow to our religious liberty

From the NYT:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration took another step on Friday to enforce a federal mandate for health insurance coverage of contraceptives, announcing how the new requirement would apply to the many Roman Catholic hospitals, universities and social service agencies that insure themselves [. . .]

Some otherwise solid Catholics are claiming that this mandate is not a violation of religious liberty.  I can't follow the logic of their twisted arguments.  If you pay for it, you're complicit. 

What I do know is that progressive social engineering by our Self Anointed Betters is indeed progressive, or rather it is incremental.  If the mandate stands, other mandates will follow until the only thing we're allowed to practice is our choir voices and maybe the occasional baptism. . .using FDA approved luke-warm, organic bottled water, of course.  

That's what B.O.'s whole freedom of worship rhetoric is about--the exclusion of religious voices from the public square. Keep your religion confined to the church. Our Constitution categorically restrains any governmental intrusion in our faith lives, guaranteeing our freedom of religion and not only our freedom to worship as we see fit.

STAND UP for our religious liberty on March 23rd!  And do not buy the lie that this battle is about women's health, contraception, or the right to privacy.  That's just faux political posturing to frighten women and shore up support among secularists.

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Return to Him all that is His. . .

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

Hosea prophesies to those who turn from God, "Come, let us return to the LORD, it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds. He will revive us . . . he will raise us up, to live in his presence. . .let us strive to know the Lord. . .” Let us strive to know the Lord! To know the Lord, to hear His Word and live according to His law, is the one sacrifice He will not refuse. To turn our heart and mind to His purpose and surrender our strength to His end is way back to His presence. But what turns us from the Lord in the first place? Hosea accuses God's people of practicing a piety “like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away.” Soft, thin, easily evaporated—a piety that collapses under the slightest pressure, that hides itself when threatened. Such a dainty love for God cannot stand along side the demands of righteousness. And it didn't. “For this reason I struck them through the prophets, I slew them by the words of my mouth. . .” If our Lord does want burnt offerings, if He rejects pietistic ritual and empty prayer, what does He want from us? “. . .it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” To be truly righteous, we must love God and come to know Him in that love.

Jesus preaches a parable: a Pharisee and a tax collector approach the temple to pray. The Pharisee is convinced of his own righteousness, while the tax collector is convicted in his sin. The Pharisee cries out, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous. . .I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.” The tax collector “would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'” The Pharisee believes that fasting twice a week and paying a tithe on his whole income makes him righteous, makes him unlike the rest of us. He believes that his own actions—in following the Law—are the source of his holiness. His prayer is a lie. The tax collector approaches the temple, freely confessing his sin, and throws himself headlong into God's mercy, placing himself squarely and fully into God's hands. He knows that any righteousness he might enjoy is solely the work of the Lord. His prayer is true. Which of these two offers an acceptable sacrifice? Jesus says, “I tell you, the [tax collector] went home justified, not the [Pharisee]. . .” 

To be truly righteous, truly justified, we must love God and come to know Him in that love. And when we love God and come to know Him in that love, we are made righteous by Him whom we love. Hosea tells God's people that they have been humbled by the Lord b/c of their flimsy piety. Rather than humbling themselves like the tax collector, they choose instead to exalt themselves like the Pharisee; so now, they are urged to return to the Lord to be healed, to have their self-inflicted wounds bound by the very one they disobeyed. Hosea prophesies to God's fallen-away, “Let us strive to know the Lord!” And in knowing Him, love Him. He wants our contrite hearts, hearts well and truly turned to Him; He wants our strength, our courage turned to His purpose; He wants all of us, each of us; but He also wants all, everything from each of us. Not our pious gestures, nor our memorized and mumbled prayers. He wants from us all that He gives us: love, mercy, patience, and humility. Everything we have to give was first given. Before it all became ours, it was His. Return to Him all that is His; sacrifice your contrite heart. Know Him and love Him.

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Coffee Cup Browsing

No comment necessary:  local Planned Parenthood CEO arrested for indecent exposure.  

NAACP asks the UN to investigate state voter ID laws. . .in the US!  Given the UN's history as an overpriced but worthless collection of radical blowhards, I'm not worried.

The priest who fell for the Lesbian Buddhist set up finally speaks out. 

Canonist Ed Peters says that the Good Father does not understand the relevant canons.  I agree.

Fantastic vid from a Catholic woman challenging the B.O./MSM meme about the Church's "war on women." 

The woman who wants the Church to pay for her birth control pills vacations in Spain and Italy with her rich boyfriend. Apparently, $9/mo. for condoms will cramp her partying budget.

"You're more awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out of bacon. . ."  LOL!

Odd.  NYT won't publish "It's Time to Leave Islam" ad b/c it might endanger the troops. . .yet, they regularly argue that publishing leaked military info must be published despite any threat to the troops.
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Stand Up!

The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom is being held Friday, March 23 at noon, local time, outside federal buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites across the country. The theme for the Rally is “Stand Up for Religious Freedom—Stop the HHS Mandate!”

Will there be a rally near you?  Check it out.  If not, organize one!

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Can an acorn produce anything but an oak?

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

You've probably never thought of Moses as a salesman. But think about it. He sales thousands of Hebrew slaves on the idea of following him out of slavery. He sales them on a plan to follow him through the desert. . .for forty years! He sales them the truth of a number of improbable revelations from God. Perhaps his best sales pitch comes when he delivers the Lord's Ten Commandments. Note this sentence in particular: “Observe [these commandments] carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations who will hear of all these statutes and say, 'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'” That's brilliant! Moses knows that the commandments aren't going to be all that popular; they're going to be downright tough to swallow. That these commandments come from God should be enough for the fleeing Jews, but Moses knows his people. So, a little sugar is added to make any bitterness sweeter. Moses isn't fudging the truth. Following God's law is a sign of a wise and intelligent people. But a simple moral code like the Commandments needs to be practiced over time before it can develop into a proper ethical worldview. When Jesus announces that he has come to fulfill the law, he means that his arrival marks the full maturing of the Commandments' potential. At the deepest root of every oak tree is an acorn.

One of the many delusions of failed revolutions in the modern period is the idea that the traditions of a people must be destroyed before the revolution can succeed. The enlightened revolutionaries of 18th century France murdered priests and nuns. Destroyed churches. And set up a temple to reason. Bolivar, Castro, and Chavez all attacked the Church and their cultural heritages. It's no accident that both Stalin and Mao destroyed the religious and cultural heritages of their respective nations in the pursuit of secular, totalitarian utopias. They saw the past as the enemy of the future and (quite literally) bulldozed churches, temples, museums, and burned whole libraries of books. Their socialist utopias had to be built on a foundation of absolute dependence on the state and the party. Faith, tradition, family, individuality, and equality under the law were all named “enemies of the people” and destroyed. For these two murderous dictators, the past was an inconvenient truth, an obstacle to be eliminated. They came to destroy history not to fulfill it. And without a proper foundation, their revolutions collapsed.

The revolution that Christ brings is the fulfillment of his religious heritage, the full actualization of his tradition's potential. Moses handed down a moral code, a code of behavior designed to regulate how God's people behave toward Him and one another. Behind this code of behavior is an ethical imperative, a universal mandate that gives life to those words chiseled on cold stone, a living, breathing spirit that grows in us with time and practice. At the root of the Christian revolution is the Mosaic Law. Jesus says, “. . .until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law. . .” How can it? Our Lord's commandment to love God and one another rests on the historical foundation of his Father's commandments given to Moses. And Moses' law rests on the spiritual foundation of the Father's love. We cannot love and ignore the law nor can we follow the law without love. Can we grow an oak tree w/o an acorn? Can an acorn produce anything but an oak?

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Monday Fat Report (Dispensed)

I didn't weigh myself on Monday. . .after confessions and Mass, I collapsed into a glorious nap after getting only about one hour's sleep this night before.  

I'll catch up this coming Monday.
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Coffee Cup Browsing

Folks often ask me if God is going to punish America for allowing abortion.  I say, "No.  He's going to allow the natural consequences of this sin to punish us."  Ergo.

B.O.'s The Catholic Church Hates Women Because It Refuses to Subsidize Mortal Sin meme backfires.  Lies never win. . .in the end.

You must have valid I.D. to drive; open a bank account; buy beer, tobacco, Sudafed; but, not to vote.  Well past time for the SupCrt to gut Section Five of the Voting Rights Act. 

Speaking of. . .undercover vid of voter fraud in VT.

Heh.  Pew Poll:  self-described political liberals are the most intolerant of dissenting views.  Told ya.

Some advice from Fr. Z. to orthodox seminarians trying to navigate the death throes of Baby Boomer modernist-progressive "formation teams."  Remember, guys:  tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

No, Fr Marcel was not suspended for refusing communion to that lesbian Buddhist activist in MD.  He is on administrative leave. . .a very, very different sort of thing altogether.

We're not going to jail. . .yet.  

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Mea culpa, mea culpa, maxima ZZzzzzzzzzzz. . .

What?  No homily, Father?!

Yes, call me a slacker.  I got about one hour of sleep last night.  Not only am I cycling through my quarterly bout with insomnia. . .but we had a wall shaking thunderstorm come through NOLA sometime around 3am.  

I recycled an old homily and took off to hear confessions at St Mary's Academy.

Now.  Naptime!

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Never to be bought, sold, or traded. . .

3rd Sunday of Lent (2012)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

How many here have been to a flea market? I went to one for the first time in the early 80's with my paternal grandmother. We drove to Belzoni, MS to the annual Catfish Festival. We had a carload of her crafts to sell—ceramics, painting, knitting. Every item had a small white price sticker. But I learned that that sticker was just a suggestion, the opening bid for the item. Through the day, I watched my grandmother dicker over the prices. Sometimes she came out on top and sometimes she didn't. When the catfish frying started, I wandered around the stalls to see what I could see. It didn't take me long to find the comic book booths. All those wadded up dollar bills in my pocket—all ten of them—started burning and itching to be spent. I returned to my grandmother's booth with a handful of comics and nothing left in my pocket. That day I learned two rules about bargaining for what you want: 1). always assume that the price is too high; 2). be prepared to walk away. Since then, I've learned another rule of the marketplace: some things are too valuable to negotiate over. Jesus clearly demonstrates that there is no place for the marketplace in the business of faith. Our faith is priceless and God never bargains. 

Jesus is angry, very angry. He's angry enough to take a whip to the moneychangers doing business in the temple courtyard. It might not be obvious why he's so angry, so let's look at that for a moment. The moneychangers have a job to do. They are the first century equivalent of our modern currency exchanges. They take a wide variety of currency and change it—for a fee—into currency acceptable to the temple. The faithful visiting the temple then use their new currency to buy sacrificial animals or donate their tithe to the temple coffers. Seems innocent enough, so why does this practical business upset Jesus? He shouts at the moneychangers, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” He's angry b/c these businessmen have turned his Father's house into a marketplace. OK. But why would that make him angry? The moneychangers are helping the faithful fulfill their legal and ritual obligations. . .for a modest profit, of course. Without the moneychangers, most probably wouldn't be able to offer the required sacrifices or make their tithe donations. They are providing an invaluable service. If CCN or the NYT had been around in those days, the headlines would've read: RELIGIOUS TERRORIST OBSTRUCTS FAITHFULS' WORSHIP! Or something equally inflammatory. Is Jesus just being unreasonable here? Is he pushing an extremist agenda? No. Jesus knows that what his Father truly wants, truly values is the sacrifice of a contrite heart. The moneychangers have turned a deeply religious duty into a flea market negotiation.

Taken on its own, there's nothing inherently wrong with the marketplace. We buy what we want and need; sell what we can no longer use; and trade one thing for another based on mutual agreement. Nothing could be more democratic or fair. No one is forced to buy, sell, or trade and prices are set only after both parties are satisfied. But there are some things so valuable that they cannot be priced, cannot be bought, sold, or traded. There are some things that have worth beyond our ability to negotiate them away. One of those things is our faith, the infused habit of trusting in the loving-care of our Father. How much is the freely given gift of faith worth? What would you trade it for? What amount of money could you spend to buy a gift given only by God? Jesus is angry at the moneychangers because they have turned the faithfuls' love for God, their worship, their adoration into a mercantile exchange, a mechanical transaction from which they benefit by charging a fee. Where is the faithfuls' contrite heart? Where is the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving? Where is repentance, mercy, and the longing for holiness? Do they believe that the their worship of the Most High is accomplished by jingling a few coins? That their duty to revere the Creator is discharged by slipping a quarter or two into a temple vending machine? Apparently, they do and that's why Jesus grabs a whip, flips over their booths, and drives them out of his Father's house.

Now, what does this raucous gospel episode have to do with us? While Jesus rested in Jerusalem, many came to believe in his name. However, John reports, “Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.” Jesus understands the human heart, its strengths, weaknesses, temptations, and failures. He understands that we are often all too ready, willing, and able to overthrow his Father as Lord of our lives and negotiate away the gift of faith. He understands that we are often tempted to allow the demons of fear and worry to set up shop among the better spirits of joy and trust. That we love a good deal and often fail to see beyond the next bargain, beyond the next chance to get something we want. Jesus hesitates to reveal himself to those who have come to believe on his name b/c he knows that it is our nature to take the easiest path, to lift the lightest burden, and to make the most popular choice. He will not give his revelation to a heart prepared to swap it for money, power, celebrity, or approval. He's waiting to reveal himself to those who will sacrifice a heart made contrite in repentance, a heart made pure by honestly discharging its duty to love. The freely given gift of faith cannot be bought, sold, or traded; it cannot be negotiated away or bargained for. It can only be nurtured and lived, or left to wither and die. 

In the next few months and years, the heart of the faithful in the U.S. will be tested by a variety of moneychangers seeking to buy the faith outright or to at least bargain over its price. We'll be tempted with promises of political influence, protection, increased funding, and all sorts of apparently approving cultural goodies. At the same time, from the other side of the bargaining table, we'll be threatened with political exile, cultural disapproval, de-funding, and even dire legal consequences up to and including jail time. These negotiations are already well underway in the U.K., Canada, and several states in our own country. Why? The well-lived life of faith is an irritating obstacle to those who imagine themselves freed from the slavery of sin. That anyone anywhere would cling to the idea that God's truth is knowable; His goodness obtainable; and His beauty enjoyable is. . .well, it's just ridiculous; or worse, it's oppressive, mean-spirited, hateful. That's what our faith is to some: an oppressive, mean-spirited, and hateful indictment of their rightful choices; thus, they must either negotiate the faith away or destroy it outright. But they cannot do that if we follow Jesus' example and keep the moneychangers out of his Father's house, keep our faith out of the flea market, away from the bargaining table and where it belongs: thriving in a contrite heart ready for loving sacrifice. Some things cannot be bought, sold, or traded. One of those things—the single most important thing—is the free given gift of our faith. Nothing this world's moneychangers have to offer is worth the price of abandoning our God.

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Time for the Liberal/Nominal Catholics to Get Out!!!

From The Gateway Pundit comes this lovely bit of anti-Catholic bigotry:

Of course, many Catholics would be more than happy to see our Lib/Prog/Lefty brothers and sisters hit the door and never look back.  But that bit of wishful-thinking falls right into the hands of those who are seeking to divide the Church against herself.  Let's hope and pray that any "liberal/nominal Catholic" soul who might read this propaganda will see it for what it is and choose instead to reject the discrimination, hatred, and bigotry that this ad represents in favor of tolerance and the right to one's religious liberty.

NB.  Click the Gateway Pundit link above to read the text of the ad. . .if you can stand it.

P.S.  I'm waiting breathlessly for the FFRF to publish a similar ad urging Muslims to leave Islam for all the same reasons that they are urging "liberal Catholics" to leave the Church.  I'm sure the text of that ad is just waiting at the printer's office even as we speak. . .

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Religious Freedom Rally in NOLA

RALLY FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!

From the New Orleans organizer:

Date: Friday, March 23rd

Time: Noon

Location: New Orleans, in the plaza at the corner of Poydras and Camp Streets, next to the US Courthouse and Hale Boggs Federal Building.

This will be a peaceful rally, held in 61 cities nationwide, solely concentrated on the issue of religious freedom - especially as regards the HHS Mandate, which violates our Constitutional right to the free exercise of religion. We are not supporting/endorsing any political candidate(s) or party and there should be no such signage; there should be no Tea Party signs because the media will try to make this into a TP event, which it is not.

The national organizers will send some signs for us to use. We also need to make our own. They should read as follows, or similar language:

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
1ST AMENDMENT
1ST AMENDMENT - FREEDOM OF RELIGION
CONSCIENCE CLAUSE
HHS MANDATE VIOLATES 1ST AMENDMENT
NO GOV'T MANDATES ON MY FAITH
GOV'T DISCRIMINATES AGAINST CATHOLICS [or insert other faith group]
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
DOWN WITH EXECUTIVE BRANCH POWER GRAB
OBAMA IS NOT MY PASTOR
OBAMA DISCRIMINATES AGAINST CATHOLICS [or insert Christians, Jews, etc.]

We will circulate a petition amongst ourselves and solicit signatures from pedestrians/passers-by. After the rally, we will deliver the petition to Sen. Mary Landrieu's office.

The national organizers have suggested that we sing, pray, and have speakers. I don't think speakers will work for us, because I may run into permitting/disturbing the peace problems. I think we will be more effective with signage, collecting signatures on the petitions, and educating passersby that no one is trying to deny access to birth control (as the media has framed it), we are merely seeking a conscious clause - as is our right under the 1st Amendment. We could sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, "We Shall Overcome," etc. and we can chant "Conscience Clause Now!" And because the media/Obama administration is trying to frame this as a women's health issue, we want as many women front and center!

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New Document from the ITC

The International Theological Commission has issued a new document titled, "Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles, and Criteria."  

Here are a few excepts from the Introduction and the first chapter:

2. To some extent, the Church clearly needs a common discourse if it is to communicate the one message of Christ to the world, both theologically and pastorally. It is therefore legitimate to speak of the need for a certain unity of theology. However, unity here needs to be carefully understood, so as not to be confused with uniformity or a single style. The unity of theology, like that of the Church, as professed in the Creed, must be closely correlated with the idea of catholicity, and also with those of holiness and apostolicity.

3. . .The present text accordingly consists of three chapters, setting out the following themes: in the rich plurality of its expressions, protagonists, ideas and contexts, theology is Catholic, and therefore fundamentally one, [1] if it arises from an attentive listening to the Word of God; [2] if it situates itself consciously and faithfully in the communion of the Church; [3] and if it is orientated to the service of God in the world, offering divine truth to the men and women of today in an intelligible form. 

5. Theology is scientific reflection on the divine revelation which the Church accepts by faith as universal saving truth. The sheer fulness and richness of that revelation is too great to be grasped by any one theology, and in fact gives rise to multiple theologies as it is received in diverse ways by human beings. In its diversity, nevertheless, theology is united in its service of the one truth of God. The unity of theology, therefore does not require uniformity, but rather a single focus on God’s Word and an explication of its innumerable riches by theologies able to dialogue and communicate with one another. Likewise, the plurality of theologies should not imply fragmentation or discord, but rather the exploration in myriad ways of God’s one saving truth. 

18. The intellectus fidei takes various forms in the life of the Church and in the community of believers in accordance with the different gifts of the faithful (lectio divina, meditation, preaching, theology as a science, etc.). It becomes theology in the strict sense when the believer undertakes to present the content of the Christian mystery in a rational and scientific way. Theology is therefore scientia Dei in as much as it is a rational participation in the knowledge that God has of himself and of all things. 

19. A criterion of Catholic theology is that, precisely as the science of faith, ‘faith seeking understanding [fides quaerens intellectum]’,  it has a rational dimension. Theology strives to understand what the Church believes, why it believes, and what can be known sub specie Dei. As scientia Dei, theology aims to understand in a rational and systematic manner the saving truth of God.

Grab a BIG mug of coffee and read the whole thing!
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I'm on the radio!

If you subscribe to Sirius Radio, tune in to the Catholic Channel on Friday (3/9) at Noon (Central) and listen to me ramble on about this Sunday's readings with Fr. Gabriel Gillen, OP!

Despite my warnings, the Good Friar has invited me on his show, Word of Life, to discuss the Mass readings for the 3rd Sunday of Lent. 

I warned him that I am an associative thinker with a keenly disorganized mind who usually stumbles onto something to preach about after hours of begging the Holy Spirit to throw me a scrap of something, anything to say.

He asked for it.

Oh, and I also promised him that I would cut back on the morning caffeine. . .yeah, right.

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What persuades you to follow Christ?

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

One says, Jesus tells us a story about the evils of wealth. No, insists another, it's a story about collective sin and the need for social justice. Still others shout out their opinions: it's about the existence of purgatory and hell; no, Jesus is teaching us about not ignoring charity. Well, any of these could be part of the purpose of the story. I want to add a spin of my own, one that gives the story something more than a moral lesson: the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man is a story about persuasion; that is, what does it take to convince an incredulous soul that he or she is created for a reason greater than eating, sleeping, reproducing, and dying? Though the story Jesus tells starts with Lazarus, I would start at the end. The Rich Man pleas with Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers to repent so that they might avoid hell. Abraham answers, “If [your brothers] will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” If they will not be persuaded by Moses, the prophets, or someone risen from the dead, what will persuade them? What persuaded you to follow Christ, to live a life beyond your basic biological urges?

Think for a moment about what it means to persuade. The word itself simply means to convince or to influence. We are persuaded by reason, emotion, force, authority, deception, and convention. Most of us would like to think we are persuaded by evidence reasonably evaluated. But few of us would radically alter the way we live our lives simply b/c someone gave us a good argument to do so. Emotion and social convention are likely the two most influential elements in our decision-making. For Christians, especially Catholics, authority plays a huge role in persuading us to accept or reject ideas about the faith. It's a bonus if authoritative persuasion is also rational, emotionally satisfying, and socially conventional, but authority alone is usually enough. And there's an excellent reason for saying that authority alone is usually enough to sway us. Simply put, we believe all that we believe b/c we accept the truthfulness of the biblical witnesses and the experiences of God handed on to us by the apostles, their successors, and our ancestors in the Church. Added to these witnesses is the testimony of our experiences with God within that long tradition. Other elements may contribute to the lasting power of our faith, but it is essentially our stubborn refusal to abandon apostolic authority that keeps us persuaded!

Abraham tells the Rich Man that his brothers will not be persuaded to repent even if someone rose from the dead and told them to repent. How does Abraham know this? Because thus far the brothers have refused to listen to the witness of Moses and the prophets; they have rejected the authority of their ancestors in the faith. If they will not leave their heart and mind open to being touched by God through His living Word, they cannot be persuaded in any meaningful way. Rational arguments do not produce faith. Emotion might produce faith but it just as easily destroys it. Social convention produces a trendy faith, one that changes as soon as the conventions do. A lasting faith is built on the solid foundation of the apostles' witness and the Church's Christ-given authority to define what is and is not necessary for salvation. Christ preached the Father's mercy to sinners. He rose from the dead and left us to persuade with our words and deeds that the Father is indeed merciful. So, the question isn't really, “What persuaded you to follow Christ?” but rather, “Are you—by your words and deeds—persuading others to follow him?”

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Slippery Slope:  contraception --> sterilization --> abortion --> infanticide --> euthanasia.  Next?  Reducing gov't health care costs through "selective elimination of nonproductive, high risk persons."  

This is for all my Lefty Catholics friends who voted for B.O. b/c W. was an Evil War Monger.

A vid of B.O. from his days at Harvard showing him praising race-baiting hack, Derrick Bell.  I'd rather see his transcripts.

The Church of Big Gov't. . .I've said it before:  it's gonna get Ugly, people.  Gird dem loins.

Speaking of "getting Ugly," it's looking more and more like that woman denied communion at her mother's funeral in MD pulled one over on the Good Father.  Brothers, note well: gentle as doves, wily as serpents. 

Here's a wily priest speaking gently about B.O.'s violation of our religious liberty.

Hacker group crashes Vatican website. . .here's an example where the Church's reliance on the latest tech from the 19th century is a good thing.

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Satan says, "Non serviam!"

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

Satan and his angels rebel against Heaven. For their punishment, the Lord casts them into Hell. There Satan languishes for nine days in the fiery lake. When he rouses himself, he speaks to his ally, Beelzebub, and the “lost Archangel” boasts of his prison, “Here at least/We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built/Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:/Here we may reign secure; and, in my choice,/To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:/Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Though sprung from the 17th century imagination of the English Protestant, John Milton, this crucial moment in Paradise Lost perfectly captures the voice to an ancient yet still breathing rebellion, the all-too-glib swagger of a sinner boasting aloud his own damnation, Non serviam. Where is this furnance-lake? Where does rebellion rule? In the heart and mind that brags about and revels in the demonic verse, “I will not serve.” Satan and his angels are driven from Heaven b/c they refuse to be great as our Lord is great. Jesus says, “. . .whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.” When we seek to be masters in this world, we are placed in worldly chains. To be great in the Lord, we must be servants in the world. 

In his self-serving speech to Beelzebub, Satan tells an astonishing lie, “Here [in Hell] at least/We shall be free. . .” Only the corrupted mind of a demon could look at the prison of Hell and call himself free. No state of being outranks Hell in the absence of true freedom. Hell is the “state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed. . .”(CCC 1033). When we definitively, finally exclude ourselves from communion with God, we are in Hell. Since God—Who is Love, Truth, Beauty, and Freedom—is our supernatural end, our ultimate goal in this life and the life to come, the choices we make are freest when they bring us closer to our goal. If we have already given up on our goal of being with God forever, then every decision we make thereafter is chained to some other goal, some other end. Lucifer abandons his supernatural goal—one that he has already achieved as an angel—and chains himself to pride, jealousy, and power. To soothe his deeply wounded sense of self-esteem, He boasts that he would rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven. The lie that he lives is this: even though he imagines himself to be the King of Hell, he is actually a slave to every sort of corruption. He serves while believing himself to be the master. 

All this talk about Lucifer's fall from heaven and his imaginary rise as Satan, King of Hell, serves to make a rather simple point: if we will to be free, we will serve. We will serve God, His creatures, His Church, and we will do so with the same love with which He loves us. This means setting aside willful pride, that entitled sense of self-sufficiency and independence; surrendering jealousy, the dangerous coveting of another's blessings and gifts; and the idolatrous worship of control, popularity, wealth, reputation, and the need to always be right. Loving and humble service given for the greater glory of God brings peace to a raucous mind and troubled heart. And the best way to set yourself on the road to destruction is to declare yourself independent from our only source of true freedom: service in love, service given for no other reason than because God loves you. Satan says it best, “I will not serve. For me, it is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Good luck with that.

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Thanks

My thanks to the HA reader who sent me the Denzinger book!

There was no invoice in the package, so I can't pray for you by name.  

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Monday Fat Report (Octave): UPDATED

Come Back Week, baby!  :-)

-3 to 323lbs.  I was afraid that I had plateaued.  

Keep those prayers going. . .they are probably the only thing keeping me from ravaging the local Chinese buffet like a diet-crazed Godzilla.

Fr. Philip Neri, OP

P.S.  I've been informed by some Know-It-All with a calculator that 327-3=324 not 323, meaning I've allegedly lost four lbs instead of three.   This is obviously an accounting trick borrowed from B.O.'s economic advisory council.  I'll stick with the facts, thank you very much.

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Love + Truth = Holiness

NB.  After the 5.30pm Mass yesterday, a parishioner said to me, "Father, you sounded like Savonarola up there!"  Me, "Oh, that didn't end well for him, did it?"  Him, "No.  At least they hung him before setting him on fire."  Me, "Somehow, that's not comforting."  :-)

2nd Sunday of Lent 2012
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Amen, I say to you, you have heard it said—by pastors, preachers, confessors, teachers, the Pope, every Hallmark card you have ever received, and your mama—you have heard it said that God loves you. And indeed He does. He can do nothing else for He is Love. Our heavenly Father is not a being that loves us most of the time, or on occasion, or only when we deserve it. Love is Who He is and What He does—eternally, without conditions, and for a single all-encompassing purpose: to change those who will receive His love into a holy people. The question—does God love me?—should never cross your mind. Why? Let's exercise our logic muscles: God is Love. You live and move and have you being in God. Only existing creatures are capable of asking questions. “Does God love me?” is a question, therefore you exist. Therefore, God loves you. To put that a bit more succinctly: that you (an existing creature) can ask the question at all means that God loves you. So, let's retire the question of whether or not God loves us. If He didn't, He would not exist and neither would any of us. There is a question about God and love that must be asked, and asked daily: do I love God? If so, what purpose does my love for God serve? On Mt. Tabor—in the presence of Peter, James, and John—the transfigured Christ gives us the answer. We love God for the same reason He loves us: so that we may be made holy.

Since we've retired the question of whether or not God loves us (He does and can do nothing less), and we already know why He loves us (so that we may be made holy), and we've answered the question about why we love God in turn (so that we may help God make us holy), let's ask a more practical question: how do we help God make us holy? That is, what do we do/think/say/feel on a day to day basis that assists God's love for us so that we are actually growing in holiness? Loving God, yourself, your family and friends, your neighbors, and even loving your enemies is easy in the abstract. It's easy to sit back and radiate an aura of loving care; it's easy to say, “I love my neighbors and all my enemies;” it's easy to think sweet thoughts about the poor, the persecuted, and the sick. It is far more difficult to get out there and perform loving acts; to perform forgiveness; to show mercy; to treat everyone you meet—at WalMart, at the bank, at the office, in traffic—to treat everyone you meet as another soul deeply in love with God and eternally loved by God. This is why the Church has always bound faith and works together: our loving works demonstrate our trust in God and our trust in God is made real in our loving works. When we fail to love, we confess these failures as sins in thought, word, and deed. So, how do we help God make us holy? Well, first, we understand that loving God and those He loves is not simply an abstract, intellectual exercise; next, we understand that love is a behavior—like driving or walking or getting dressed. To love is to see, hear, think about, and treat yourself and everyone else the way God Himself treats us all. With kindness, compassion, dignity, patience, and forgiveness. Do this and you grow in holiness. You become more like Christ. You are transfigured.

Becoming more like Christ is we have vowed to do. But we need to hear this: loving God, self, and everyone else—becoming more like Christ—is dangerous. Dangerous how? Besides Jesus' promises of persecution, trial, and death for those who follow him, we can point to the forty days he spent in the desert being tempted by Satan. We too are tempted by Satan with the lures of popularity, prestige, worldly power, and personal satisfaction. The Devil always takes God's gifts and tweaks them ever-so-slightly and then presents them to us infected with his poison. God's love and His command to us to love is no different. With God's love and His command to love comes His truth and His command to obey the truth. Love and truth cannot be separated. When we love intensely, we dwell intensely in the truth. Note well that the Devil never lied when he tempted Christ in the desert. Everything he said to Jesus was true; however, he was motivated by a desire for worship and power not love. We find ourselves similarly tempted. The Devil plays on our desire to love by pointing out all the ways we appear to fail at love. He accuses the Church of not loving women b/c we truthfully name artificial contraception, abortion, and sterilization evil. He accuses us of hatred b/c we truthfully call sex outside of a sacramental marriage evil. He accuses us of not loving orphans b/c we cannot place them in homes with two fathers or two mothers. He accuses us of not loving non-Christians b/c we truthfully teach that Christ is the only name under heaven through which all are saved. What Satan is tempting us to do, want us to do, is sever truth from love and love without truth. This we cannot do b/c our Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. And we follow him so that we will be transfigured, made holy in love and truth.

Satan and the world he rules teaches that “Love” is to be practiced without Truth. Love w/o truth is nothing more than lukewarm tolerance or indifferent permissiveness, an emotion that feels good to emote but ultimately leaves those who live it living a lie. Godly love is always true. Never a lie. True love is always gives the glory to God. Never to man. Love always carries us to goodness; never to evil. Love always binds us in obedience; it never frees us to be disobedient. Godly love always heals, always cleans, sometimes hurts, sometimes cuts away. Love never winks at sin, shrugs at injustice, or ignores the poor. Love always looks to Christ, his church, and his Mother. Love never uses the bottom-line, the convenient, the practical, or the efficient to destroy God’s creatures, especially His unborn children. Love always encourages spiritual growth from faithful experience. Love never gives hope to novelty for novelty’s sake nor does love trust innovation for the sake of excitement. Love can be a terrible whirlwind, a stone-shattering blow, a heart-ripping loss. But love always builds up in perfection, grows in wisdom and kindness; love attracts questions about eternal things, discourages attachment to impermanent things; and, when necessary, love will kick your butt, take your name, and call your mama! The love that Satan and the world he rules wants to settle for is a passion for indifference, permissiveness, choice w/o consequence, and, ultimately, death.

Will you be made holy? Let's ask that differently: do you will to be made holy? If you will to become a well-oiled, surgical tool for God’s Word, you will love as He loves you. You will speak the truth and only the truth; you will spread goodness and only goodness; you will honor beauty and only beauty; you will correct error, confront sin, expose lies, forgive all offenses; and you will build up his Body with works of mercy and open the doors of your faith to the stranger. And you will remember—if you will to be made holy—that you are not alone. God is with us, who can stand against Him?

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Rally for Religious Freedom:  March 23rd!  Any plans in your area?  Will you attend? 

Massive lies about the HHS violation of our religious liberty.  NB:  do not surrender the terms of the argument by referring to this controversy as "a fight over contraception."  That's what B.O. wants you to do. 

Speaking of massive lies about the mandate, here's one of the biggest:  opponents of the mandate want to ban contraception.  Now, tell me this whole controversy wasn't staged for short-term political gain.

The Catholic Senators who voted against our religious liberty.  One of my Senators voted against the Blunt Amendment:  Mary Landrieu.

It's looking more and more like that Denial of Communion in Maryland was a set up.  At the very least, the woman involved is spinning the story to politically embarrass the priest and the Church. 

Documents show that Pope Pius XII was not Hitler's Pope. 

We used to have a dog that would ball up all of our area rugs when we left her alone.

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Love those who hate you. . .

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

That we may be children of our heavenly Father, we must love our enemies, pray for them, especially those who persecute us. If there's a teaching in scripture that is more contrary to our animal instinct for self-preservation than this one, I'm not sure what it is. Loving family and friends comes easily. We can even manage to love God and ourselves without too much difficulty. But loving and praying for those who would see us destroyed is not only contrary to our survival it is downright suicidal. If our enemies defeat us b/c they are stronger, smarter, and more numerous, well, that's unfortunate for us but we can at least grasp the idea that we lost b/c our enemies were stronger, smarter, and more numerous. What is beyond comprehension is the idea that we would lose b/c we were too busy loving and praying to fight with all our strength, all our smarts, and all our numbers! That's not a battle, it's a retreat, a surrender. And it's suicide. Jesus must be winking at the disciples when he teaches them to love and pray for their enemies. He must've spoken this nonsense in a sarcastic tone. As strange as it might be to hear: no, he's deadly serious and there was no winking. We defeat our enemies by wielding a weapon called Truth. “[The Father] makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” God loves those who hate us. And we must be perfect as He is perfect. 

If we will be the children of our heavenly Father, we must be perfect as He is perfect. God is perfect in His love. He is Love. Love is Who He is and What He does. In every thought we think, every word we speak, and every deed we do, we too must be thinkers, speakers, and doers of love. If we pick and choose whom to love, sort through the options and select this one or that to love but not that one or this one, then we do not love as God loves. The sun shines on both the good and the bad; the rain falls on our friends and our enemies. Jesus asks us, “. . . if you love those who love you, what compensation will you have? Do not [traitors] do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that?” In other words, how does loving only those who love you make you a child of the Father? What truth are you living when you only pray for those who pray for you? “Do not the pagans do the same?” Why imitate those who would see us destroyed? Yes, we might die if we love them, but it would not be by suicide.

The key to understanding this difficult teaching is to understand that Jesus is pointing us to our lives beyond this one. Though our mortal lives are immensely important, they are not ultimately important; that is, in the Father's plan for our salvation, our immortal lives, it is more important that we practice love than it is to merely survive. It is essential to our eternal survival that we practice the love He gives us by loving those He Himself loves. Our enemies hate us. We can fight them with our own hatred, and we might even mortally defeat them. But in fighting them with hatred, we are immortally defeated. We become our own enemy, haters of self and God. Jesus understands our natural instinct for survival, but he pushes us to think and feel beyond the limits of this mortal life and live in the perfection of his Father's love right now. We trust in the loving-goodness of our God. And this is our fundamental strength, our deadliest weapon against the hatred of our enemies. If we bombard them with prayer, then both we and they win the battle against our mutual enemy—Sin and the death it brings.

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More thanks. . .

Wow!  Three books in two days. . .just like the Old Days!

Thanks to Tara G. and Lynn C. for the old school books and Greg F. for the Kindle Book.

You guys made my otherwise mundane day!

God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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On being denied communion at your mother's funeral Mass. . .

A couple of HA readers have written to ask me to comment on the recent controversy about the Maryland priest who denied communion to a self-identified lesbian at her mother's funeral. 

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo's superiors in the archdiocese have apologized to the woman, Barbara Johnson, and she's made a national media tour trashing the priest and demanding that he be suspended from ministry.  She fervently claims that she is not trying to make a political point or subject the Church to ridicule.  Given the media circus she's stirred up and her ridiculous demands, that's hard to believe.  She has also accused the priest of "bringing his politics" into the Church, an accusation that tells me she knows little about the faith she claims to profess.  And, of course, the media are playing this up from its usual left-liberal, anti-Catholic ideological biases. 

IF--and that's a huge IF--we have the whole story, then I would have to say that the woman should not have been denied communion.  I would never deny anyone communion w/o first talking to them privately.  And even then I would need to consult the bishop.  Though I often fail, I always try to presume the presence of grace.

Many supporting the priest's actions cite canon law and the obligation of priests to "protect the sacrament."  The requirements of canon law on this issue are hotly contested, but I do think it's clear that anyone denied communion must be obstinately, gravely sinful and their sin must create a public scandal.  Whether or not this woman fits the bill is doubtful.  And that's sufficient in my mind to err on the side of giving her communion.  If she were a parishioner, I'd ask to meet with her and discuss the Church's teaching on same-sex relationships and the necessity of being properly disposed to receive communion.  If she persisted in the relationship and still came forward for communion, a conversation with the bishop would follow.  

I think the Good Father made a snap decision in good conscience.  There's no reason to believe that he was being mean-spirited or uncharitable.  In fact, evidence demonstrates that he is anything but mean-spirited and uncharitable.   He's an excellent pastor by all accounts and his superiors in the archdiocese threw him under the bus in order to short-circuit any unpleasant controversy with the gay community.  The apology issued by the archdiocese makes no mention of the Church's teaching on same-sex relationships or the necessity of being properly disposed to receive communion. 

If anything good can come out of this mess, let it be this:  pastors DO NOT allow eulogies at funeral Masses.  The bishops have discouraged them precisely b/c individuals often use them to tell inappropriate stories about the deceased; take cheap pot shots at the Church; ridicule the faith in general; and to try and settle old family feuds.   I always tell the deceased's family that stories can be told at the grave site but not during the Mass.

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A new Dominican preaching blog. . .

The (In)famous Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP has started a homily blog, Releasing the Arrow!

You may be familiar with his work on Godzdogs or The New Liturgical Movement.

Fr. Lew is a Dominican friar of the English Province currently serving as campus minister at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

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No sign for you!

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

Recently, I wandered out of the priory to search for some summer clothes. With an address and a printed Google map in hand, I headed out west toward Clearview Parkway to a men's clothing store that caters to those of us who require a bit more yardage in our wardrobe; that's to say this particular store has what I call a “Deep and Wide” department. While trying to find this store, I discovered that following a Google map of New Orleans is a lot like looking for pirate treasure using map on the back of a Captain Crunch cereal box. Less than useless. For example, I passed the store and needed to turn around. Easy. Just make a left turn, right? Wrong. The road was being repaired and drivers we directed by a large sign to make a complicated detour. So, I made the detour. But I couldn't get back on the parkway b/c another sign prohibited left turns. So, I drove a little further to make the turn. No dice. Looming ahead was the Hughey Long Bridge. I had to turn left at the next opportunity or go over the bridge. This opportunity arrived and proved worthy of New Orleans traffic. Another large sign directed traffic to turn left for a detour and another smaller sign just underneath it read, “No left turns.” I can now say that I've driven over the Hughey Long Bridge! The lesson here is: roads signs are useful only if they make sense, and in making sense of them, it helps to know the history of the place.

When Jesus tells the crowd that no other sign than the sign of Jonah will be given them, they know which sign he's talking about even if they're bit confused about how to read it. What the crowd would prefer is an unambiguous sign of Jesus' divine power. Call down some angels. Turn a big rock into gold. Change the desert into an oasis. A bold, dramatic sign; something obviously and undeniably divine. Jesus refuses to do this b/c he sees their clamoring for divine signs as a sign of their evil intent, a sign that they are not yet ready to trust in the Word of their Father. What good is a sign if the one reading it doesn't understand its meaning? What good is a sign if the one reading it isn't ready to follow its direction? Jesus knows that a heart needing proof is not a heart eager to trust. Rather than give the crowd a useless sign, he tells them—in effect—to wait and watch. Their much-requested sign was on its way: he would be killed and three days later he would rise from his tomb. Only those eager to trust in his Word would correctly read this sign of Jonah.

We know Jonah's story and we know that Jesus was killed and rose from his tomb. Still, like the evil generation that Jesus' refuses to coddle, we too clamor for signs. Living in this world of trials and temptations will send even the most faithful among us to our knees begging God for a clearer sign of His presence, a more tangible hint of His loving-care. We could see this as a weakness, a moment of betrayal; or, we could see it for what it really is: a chance to learn how to read the signs of His love a little more clearly. Faith is a powerful clarifying agent, a mighty force that draws sharp distinctions and provides trustworthy direction. Signs of God's love flood our daily lives, overwhelming any and all attempts by the Enemy to confuse and discourage us. The Lenten desert is the perfect time and place for us to beg God to strengthen our faith so that His signs become glaring neon and unmistakable. Start by giving Him thanks for His signs, especially when you don't see them clearly. Gratitude magnifies the smallest blessing into the brightest sign.

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Democrat Rep booed by her bosses after she mouths W.H. talking points defending the HHS violation of our religious liberties.   This scene needs to be repeated nationwide.

Lefty Sisters pat B.O. and B.O.Care on the back.  Too bad the apostolic visitation was total bust. . .Naming Names: the signatories of the Court brief.

Interesting. . .self-insuring unions have been exempted from ObamaCare mandates.  But self-insuring religious institutions have not.  I guess those religious nuts haven't paid up their protection money. 

Young woman apologizes to the Religion of Peace in Afghanistan for those American soldiers who threw themselves in front of terrorist bullets. (Language warning)

Too bad Christians can't get someone in the W.H. to apologize to us for violating our God-given religious liberties. 

Walker Percy:  a candidate for suicide?  Fr. Robert Barron. . .

The Curt Jester has links to lots of BXVI ebooks.   Great Lenten reading!

Liberal Catholic Elite betray their tradition of supporting religious liberty.

Quick look at some basic logical fallacies in philosophy and theology.  These are the most common fallacies we all make all the time.

BBC boss confesses that programming critical of Islam is a No-No.  Anti-Christian programming is OK.

"I'd rather go to heaven with the androids."  Heh.

This is me today. . .sans the cool hat.

Nutella. . .it does a body good.

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Thanks!

A Thank You Shout Out to Brad and Adrienne P. from OR for the two BXVI books!

I've added these two to my Lenten List. . .God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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Will the Church have to give up hospitals for Lent?

Cardinal George of Chicago asks whether or not the Church will be forced to sacrifice her charitable institutions in the next few years.  I believe that this is the ultimate goal of the B.O. administration.  Mammon doesn't like competition. . .and right now, the Church is the only force standing in the way of Mammon's near total control of our lives. 

Why does a governmental administrative decision now mean the end of institutions that have been built up over several generations from small donations, often from immigrants, and through the services of religious women and men and others who wanted to be part of the church’s mission in healing and education? Catholic hospitals, universities and social services have an institutional conscience, a conscience shaped by Catholic moral and social teaching. The HHS regulations now before our society will make it impossible for Catholic institutions to follow their conscience.

[. . .]

What will happen if the HHS regulations are not rescinded? A Catholic institution, so far as I can see right now, will have one of four choices: 1) secularize itself, breaking its connection to the church, her moral and social teachings and the oversight of its ministry by the local bishop. This is a form of theft. It means the church will not be permitted to have an institutional voice in public life. 2) Pay exorbitant annual fines to avoid paying for insurance policies that cover abortifacient drugs, artificial contraception and sterilization. This is not economically sustainable. 3) Sell the institution to a non-Catholic group or to a local government. 4) Close down.

[. . .]

Practically, we’re told that the majority of Catholics use artificial contraception. There are properly medical reasons, in some circumstances, for the use of contraceptive pills, as everyone knows. But even if contraceptives were used by a majority of couples only and exclusively to suppress a possible pregnancy, behavior doesn’t determine morality. If it can be shown that a majority of Catholic students cheat on their exams, it is still wrong to cheat on exams. Trimming morality to how we behave guts the Gospel call to conversion of life and rejection of sin.

[. . .]

The provision of health care should not demand “giving up” religious liberty. Liberty of religion is more than freedom of worship. Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the Constitution of the former Soviet Union. You could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship-no schools, religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity, ministry for justice and the works of mercy that flow naturally from a living faith. All of these were co-opted by the government. We fought a long cold war to defeat that vision of society.

[. . .]

Kudos to the Good Cardinal for this article! 

The most distressing part of this scandal is speed and eagerness with which some Catholics--including whole institutions and religious orders--have raced to the emperor's temples to toss their handful of incense on the altars' braziers.  

In the name of serving the poor (with tax dollars), these Catholics have sacrificed (quite literally) the lives of the children they claim to serve.  In their utilitarian moral calculus, the loss of our religious liberty and the funding of mortal sin are acceptable prices for us to pay for universal health care (assuming that's what ObamaCare is giving us). 

This will be a long Lent, folks.

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Fat Monday Report: 0

Nothing lost, nothing gained.

327 lbs.

Gonna do better this week!
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Thanks!

My thanks to Jason S. for the Kindle Book!  

Lots of activity on the regular Wish List too. . .hmmmm. . .I wonder if some HA readers decided to buy me some books for Lent.

God bless, Fr. Philip, OP

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The deadliest traps have the sweetest bait. . .

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

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

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

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

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Coffee Cup Browsing

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

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

Anti-Catholic bigotry in the MSM:  a roundup.

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

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

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

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

Many thanks to Michael S. for the Kindle Book!

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

God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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Regs on Lenten Abstinence and Fasting

From the USCCB:

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

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

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

More links on the USCCB website.

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