The tomb is empty!

NB. When I first preached this homily at the Univ of Dallas chapel in 2006, it was something of an experiment for me. Would the very traditional, very conservative U.D. community respond well to this type of preaching?  They did!  So, I thought I'd try it out on a regular parish. It worked quite well.

Easter Sunday 2013
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
Holy Ghost, Hammond, LA

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Are you here this morning, Church? [Yes] Royal Priests! [Yes] People of God! [Yes] Holy Nation! [Yes] Pilgrim Church! [Yes] Sons and Daughters of the Most High! [Yes], Brothers and Sisters [Yes], then you know what has happened! Christ Jesus the Lord is risen from the tomb! [Amen] He was sold in betrayal by a friend for the price of a murdered slave! He was denied by His best friends when He needed them most! He was falsely accused of blasphemy by His own people, found guilty on perjured testimony, and given to Pilate for judgment! He was bartered for a murderer with a riotous mob and given to Roman soldiers to be scourged! He was crowned with thorns, robed in purple, mocked and spat upon, and hailed as the King of the Jews! And, finally, in the place of Skulls, He was nailed hands and feet to the Cross to die forsaken! But you know what has happened! Christ Jesus the Lord is risen from the tomb! The stone is rolled away. His burial cloth thrown to the ground. The tomb is empty. 

You know what has happened! But do you know what it means? The disciples, seeing the rolled-away stone, the empty tomb and the burial cloth did not yet understand. And it is no simple matter to say “yes” when asked: do you believe in 2013 that a man who hung on a cross, who was dead and buried for three days, has somehow sprung to live and walked away from his grave? How do you say “yes” to that absurdity? How does anyone in their right mind say to “yes” to that!? I say, it is precisely b/c you are in your Right Mind, your righteous mind, that you say YES to the Rolled Away Stone [Yes], that you say YES to the Empty Tomb [Yes], and that you say AMEN to what you know has happened: Christ Jesus the Lord is risen from the dead! [Amen] 

We are not here this morning to celebrate a pagan regeneration myth. Jesus was not raised from the tomb b/c a god of a myth must rise from the dead so the flowers and grains of the Earth might rise in spring. No. We are not here this morning to celebrate the defeat of our subconscious’ death wish. Jesus was not raised from the tomb because our neuroses need fuel for another year. No. We are not here this morning to celebrate the triumph of an archetypal Hero over an archetypal Death. Jesus was not raised from the tomb because we need a Jungian happy-ending to our quest. No. We are not here this morning to celebrate the triumph of empowered self-esteem over the oppressive, patriarchal structures of organized religion. No. Jesus was not raised from the tomb because our pet-ideologies would be empty without some revolutionary symbol of victory. No. 

We are here this morning to celebrate the triumph of New Life over Death, Creation over Chaos, the Goodness of Being over the Evil of Nothingness, the triumph of Freedom over Sin. The tomb is empty because God raised His murdered Son from an ignoble death to New Life. The tomb is empty because the living do not live in the grave! The living have no need of burial clothes! The living say YES to the Father [Yes] and Amen to a glorious life lived in the sure faith of the Resurrection! [Amen] 

It is easy to say YES and AMEN on Easter Sunday.  The account of the Empty Tomb is still fresh in our hearts and minds. The courage of Mary Magdala’s witness to the cowardly disciples still stirs in us. But let’s be honest: the long 50 day march to Pentecost will see our fervor fade, our energy wane, and the alleluia’s of this Easter morning will droop with these lilies. We will find ourselves before long in the Upper Room cowering with the remnant of Jesus’ once mighty band, wondering what idiocy possessed us to witness to the ridiculous notion that a dead man rose to life and starting popping up all over the city and chatting with people. We hope for the coming of the Holy Spirit to put us back in our right mind, but we have fifty days of Easter to live faithfully. How? 

 If Palm Sunday is about welcoming the soon-to-be tortured and executed Lord into our lives and Good Friday is about witnessing His suffering for our sakes and Easter Sunday is about celebrating the New Life of the Empty Tomb, then our fifty days to the coming of the Holy Spirit needs to be about gratitude, about giving thanks. We have immediate access to the abundant blessings of the Father through gratitude. Gratitude does two things for us spiritually: first, gratitude is a confession that everything we are and everything we have comes from the Father—we are completely dependent on Him; and second, when we gratefully accept the gifts we are given by God, we become willing beneficiaries of His abundant goodness. 

We deny ourselves the benefits of the Resurrection by living lives of entitlement (I am deserving w/o costs!), by living lives of victimization (My problems are someone’s fault!), by living lives of denial (That’s not me!), and by living our lives wallowing in hurt (I will never forgive!). Do not deny yourselves the benefits of the Resurrection. 

Practice Easter Gratitude instead! Pray daily to the Father, our Abundant Provider and generous Lord: In You I live and move and have my being. Everything I am and everything I have is Your blessing. This day I offer it all to Your service. Thank you, Lord, for this season of my life, for the gifts You have given me, for those I love and who love me in return. Thank You, Lord, for Your creation, for Your revelation in scripture, for our salvation in Christ Jesus, for the holiness I await in the coming of the Holy Spirit, and for the Church that will rise from the tongues of fire. Make gratitude my constant prayer, Father, so that I may live as a Living Blessing for others. Pray for these in name of our Easter Lord, Jesus Christ! 

The tomb is empty, brothers and sisters! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Are you here this morning, Church? [Yes] Royal Priests! [Yes] People of God! [Yes] Holy Nation! [Yes] Pilgrim Church! [Yes] Sons and Daughters of the Most High! [Yes], Brothers and Sisters [Yes], then you know what has happened! Christ Jesus the Lord is risen from the tomb! [Amen]

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A Prayer for the Easter Season

An Easter Gratitude Prayer

(To be prayed especially btw now and Pentecost Sunday):

Father, our Abundant Provider and generous Lord: In You I live and move and have my being. Everything I am and everything I have is Your blessing. This day I offer it all to Your service. 

Thank you, Lord, for this season of my life, for the gifts You have given me, for those I love and who love me in return. 

Thank You, Lord, for Your creation, for Your revelation in scripture, for our salvation in Christ Jesus, for the holiness I await in the coming of the Holy Spirit, and for the Church that will rise from the tongues of fire. Make gratitude my constant prayer, Father, so that I may live as a Living Blessing for others. 

I ask all these in name of our Easter Lord, Jesus Christ! Amen. 

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Good Friday homily???

OK. . .curiousity is getting the better of me:

My Good Friday homily got no response at all from the congregation, from Facebook, or from HA readers.

Was it that bad?

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A little Holy Saturday docility seems to be in order

For all those freakin' out about Pope Francis and his rubric-breaking Holy Thursday liturgy, please take a moment. . .read, reflect, pray. . .

From St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologica II.II.49.3 ("Whether docility should be counted as a part of prudence":

I answer that. . .prudence is concerned with particular matters of action, and since such matters are of infinite variety, no one man can consider them all sufficiently; nor can this be done quickly, for it requires length of time. Hence in matters of prudence man stands in very great need of being taught by others, especially by old folk who have acquired a sane understanding of the ends in practical matters. Wherefore the Philosopher says (Ethic. vi, 11): "It is right to pay no less attention to the undemonstrated assertions and opinions of such persons as are experienced, older than we are, and prudent, than to their demonstrations, for their experience gives them an insight into principles." Thus it is written (Proverbs 3:5): "Lean not on thy own prudence," and (Sirach 6:35): "Stand in the multitude of the ancients" (i.e. the old men), "that are wise, and join thyself from thy heart to their wisdom." Now it is a mark of docility to be ready to be taught: and consequently docility is fittingly reckoned a part of prudence.

My point here is this: part of the ministry of Peter is to teach. We need to be good students and learn what the Holy Father is trying to teach us. Nothing says we have to like the lesson, agree with it, or even come to believe that the lesson is a good one. It might not be. But docility (as a part of prudence) requires that we at least take a deep breath, set aside our objections, and pay attention.

(Let me add here: anyone who knows me well will snort out loud to hear that I'm preaching docility.  Eight years in a secular humanities grad program does not prepare one for a life of docile learning. Yes, the irony of me posting on prudence and docility is rich.  Despite the irony, truth is truth.) 

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The Cross: do you understand?

One question: do you really, truly understand what Good Friday is all about?

"I do not wish to add too many words. One word should suffice this evening, that is the Cross itself. The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness. It is also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. In judging us, he loves us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves."

He only loves and saves b/c it is His nature to love and save. Whether we receive this love and salvation is up to us. . .choose.

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He's the Holy Father!

No one (in his right mind) would ever accuse me of being loosey-goosey with the rubrics.  I've been on the receiving end of more clerical dismissiveness about following the basic rules of liturgical prayer than any Poor Ole Friar should ever have to endure (poor me). 

So, when our Holy Father washed the feet of two women at that youth prison in Rome, I cringed slightly. . .and then I got over it.  Yes, the Liturgical Progs will use this violation of the rubrics as an excuse to violate their least favorite rubrics. . .but, come on, let's be candid here: they were going to do that anyway. All F1 did was make their excuses a tiny bit easier to invent.

From the Vatican:

That the Holy Father, Francis, washed the feet of young men and women on his first Holy Thursday as Pope, should call our minds and hearts to the simple and spontaneous gesture of love, affection, forgiveness and mercy of the Bishop of Rome, more than to legalistic, liturgical or canonical discussions.

If you find yourself thinking that this explanation is a bad thing, a wrong way of seeing our mission, or just plain dumb. . .well, you might need a refresher course in what we claim to be doing down here amongst our fellow sinners.

Pope Francis is our Holy Father. He's the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth, the Supreme Pontiff, etc., etc. Do not fall into the Prog Trap of picking and choosing which pope you will obey and which one you will ignore.

BXVI has pledged his obedience to F1.  Will you refuse to do the same?

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. . .to be buried with Christ

Good Friday 2013
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

His tomb is close by. Joseph of Arimathea, the one who first came to him at night, is coming now in the light of day to take his body down from the cross. Pilate has given him permission. In the light of day, Joseph is bringing with him a one hundred pound mixture of myrrh and aloes, reams of burial cloth, and. . .what else? Grief? Regret? Hope? What else will he bury in that garden tomb? In the light of day, how long can Joseph keep his love for Christ hidden? 'Til he rolls the stone across the grave? Whether we come to Christ under the cover of darkness or in the bright of day, can we keep our love for him a secret? The tomb is close by. The tomb is always close by. Death will have one victory, a passing victory: the grave. So, we must decide: what else will we bury with our passing? Grief? Regret? Hope? Christ went to the cross heavy-loaded with the sins of the world—having emptied himself to make room, he went burdened to the cross with the failures of fallen creation. For this and more, we love him. Can we keep our love hidden, a secret? Will we bury it with our passing, unspoken? In the light of day, what do you bring to be buried with Christ? 

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"Post birth abortion"

When we choose sin--especially the darkest of sins--over and over again, the Darkness starts to look like the Light, and we are capable of the most barbarous acts in the name of doing the Good.

For example: a Planned Parenthood official can't bring herself to say that a baby who survives a botched abortion should be treated as a patient and given medical care.  

"Post birth abortion" is the trendy new euphemism for what sane people call "murder."

Are we just pagans with better hygiene and technology?

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What Holy Thursday teaches us. . .

Office of Readings: Holy Thursday
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

All that we read and hear read in these Holy Thursday liturgies teach us to how to see our Lord's death. If we were to watch him die on the cross as a criminal, we would have nothing to celebrate. He is dead. If we were see him die as just a man, as this morning's sin-offering, we would have to prepare another victim to sacrifice for tomorrow's sins. If we were to see him die as a god, then nothing human is healed by his dying. Holy Thursday teaches us to see our Lord's death in truth. He is a heretic to the Jews. A criminal to the Romans. Just a man to Jew and Gentile alike. But for us, he is the Son of God and the Son of Man, offered once for all on the altar of the Cross as a sin-offering for the whole world. “When perfected [through obedience], he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. . .” 

Holy Thursday teaches us how an execution became a sacrifice and how a sacrifice becomes a on-going feast for giving thanks. When Jesus and his disciples gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, they are doing more—much more—than honoring an ancient Jewish custom. For three years now, Jesus has reminded his disciples—in word and deed—that everything he says and does is moving them all toward a single goal: the fulfillment of the Covenant btw Abraham and God the Father. Every sermon, every hostile exchange with the Pharisees, every healing miracle, everything he has said and done fulfills scriptural prophecy and points to his birth as the coming of the Kingdom. This last celebration of Passover in Jerusalem is no different. It too is a prophetic sign of who and what he is for us. When Jesus and his friends recline at table to begin the feast, they know that what they are remembering is God's rescue of His people from centuries of Egyptian slavery. Bread for the feast is unleavened b/c there is no time to wait for it to rise. The wine is watered b/c they need to be clear-headed for their escape. They are girded for travel and lightly packed. Jesus lifts the bread and says, “This is my Body.” He lifts the cup of wine, “This is my Blood.” At that moment, what were the disciples thinking? Knowing full well what the Passover means—freedom from slavery—did they understand that the Lord was telling them that their ancestral meal of remembrance was now a feast of freedom? That eating his Body and Blood would free them from sin and death? Later, after Jesus' execution, did they make the connection btw ritually sacrificing a lamb in the temple with his sacrifice on the cross? 

Holy Thursday teaches us that the Roman execution of Jesus is a Jewish sacrifice that the Risen Christ transforms into a feast of thanksgiving—a New Covenant Passover celebration that celebrates our rescue from slavery to sin. How does a Roman execution become a Christian feast? When the one executed is the Son of God and Son of Man. When the one whose body and blood we eat and drink is presented to God as a sacrifice, a sin-offering made once for all. And when we are commanded to remember this sacrifice, to participate in it by taking into our own bodies the Body and Blood of the one sacrificed for us. Holy Thursday teaches us that Jesus the Christ has fulfilled the promises and obligations of the Covenant made btw Abraham and God the Father, establishing for us a New Covenant of grace, of freely offered forgiveness for all of our offenses. Knowing this, “. . .let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and favor and to find help in time of need.” 

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Keeping Scandals Quiet. . .for the children

Oh! If only women could be TV producers! If only married men could be TV hosts! None of this would've ever happened. . .yea, right.

This is bad enough on its own, but the scandals aren’t limited to Doctor Who. As the Daily Mail notes, this story is emerging shortly after accusations that longtime BBC television host Jimmy Savile molested as many as 450 people in his lifetime, making him one of the UK’s “most prolific sex offenders,” according to the NSPCC charity group.

The more we hear about what was going on in the era of sexual liberation, the more the Catholic  scandals look like a symptom of the times rather than a special pathology of the Church. The BBC was apparently a hotbed of abuse for underage female and male fans, and revelations about abuse in schools, the Boy Scouts, Jewish organizations and other institutions in which adults regularly interact with youth keep coming to light.

Expect round-the-clock media coverage of these scandals. Expect ringing calls for radical reform in the TV industry training programs. Expect righteous denunciations of hypocrisy  every time a TV talking head makes a moral judgment. . .

Or, expect pretty much what we heard and seen already about these scandals. . .not much.

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A new article from HPR

Check out the most issue of Homiletics and Pastoral Review. . .

My friend, Ann "Not a Mushroom" Morrill,* has published a wonderful article titled, "Darkness, the Theological Virtues, and Finding the Inflection Point."

An excerpt:

According to many Catholic theologians, there are two purifications in the spiritual life: a purification of the sense, and a purification of the spirit. The purification of the sense is brought on by loss of friends, fortune and the like.  In this, we are deprived of consolations in order to bring us to trust in God more than in our own resources. In this purification, temptations, which involve chastity and patience, are frequent.

The purification of the spirit involves the higher levels of the soul, so the temptation involved in it are against the theological virtues.  These temptations are, by their nature, greater than temptations involving patience, although patience is also involved in their resolution.

Go read the whole thing! And please leave Ann a comment. . .

* I misspelled Ann's last name in the original post.  Now corrected!
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Just let it go

NB. Didn't get to preach this one. . .today's Mass was for the schoolchildren of St. Dominic's. I didn't know this. . .so, I had to wing it.

Wednesday of Holy Week 2013
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Just two days ago, Jesus allowed Lazarus' sister, Mary, to anoint his feet with funereal oil. A prophetic sign that his last week among us had begun. Yesterday, he sat at table with his most trusted friends and watched as Satan took possession of Judas, his betrayer. He prophesied to Peter that he would deny him three times before dawn. Today, Judas, in a moment of panicked clarity, realizes that Jesus knows who will sell him to his enemies. . .for the price of a murdered slave. “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answers, “You have said so.” Was he disappointed by this betrayal? Angry? Resigned to its inevitability? Even his warning—“woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed”—sounds a little weak in the face of such a monumental backstabbing. What are we witnessing here? The Son of God emptied himself to become the Son of Man—the first kenosis. Like us in all things but sin. Now, the Son of Man is emptying himself to make room for the sins of the whole human race: every sin ever committed, that's being committed, that will ever be committed. The week before his death on the cross is the week Jesus spent pulling our sins from us. This is our week to let those sins go. 

If you haven't found the courage yet to gather up all your sins and give them to Christ for disposal on the cross, let the events of this holy week harden your resolve to do so. Perhaps you think that confessing your sins is a sign of weakness? That receiving God's mercy and completing a penance is a waste of time? Christ spent his lifetime gathering up the diseases, broken bones, weeping lesions, and blackened hearts of men. He spent his thirty-odd years among us doing nothing else but going out and advertising his Father's freely offered mercy to sinners. Was he lying? Was he crazy? Even when his most trusted friends stabbed him in the back with their petty greed and fear, he kept on pulling in every dark moment of human loss, pain, madness, despair. Even when his own blood ran along the beams of the cross and his last few breaths escaped his lips, he took on the rebellion and thievery of Dismas. Perhaps your sins are greater than those committed by Judas, or Peter? Maybe your rebellions and denials are darker, deeper? If you haven't found the courage yet to gather up all your sins and give them to Christ, let the events of this holy week harden your resolve to do so. 

Reclining at table with the Twelve, Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Eleven of his disciples are shocked. One is not. That one says, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” Is Judas being genuine here? Maybe he thinks that his betrayal isn't really all that bad. He's a hero for bringing down a heretical rabbi! Or maybe he knows exactly what he's doing but somehow he manages to set aside this act of treachery and pretend that he hasn't already sold his soul for silver. Judas is the model human sinner. Rarely do we boldly sin; that is, rarely do we act against God's will and revel in the act, daring the consequences. We are more likely to sin shamefully, then make weak excuses for our failures. Like Judas, we can look Jesus in the eye and say with false innocence, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” If we sin like cowards, then we must confess like heroes! In the face of fear, rejection, injury to our pride, we must lay a daredevil's claim to our disobedience, and then hand it all over to Christ. We are not forgiven b/c we deserve to be. We're forgiven b/c we are loved. Despite it all, we are loved and there can be nothing weak or small or shameful about returning that love heavy-loaded with gratitude. Make this week, this Holy Week, all about releasing your grip on sin. Just open your fists and let it all go.

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Books!

Many mendicant thanks to the generous soul who sent me Diogenes Allen's Spiritual Theology.

FYI: someone bought two books from the Wish List that never arrived:

How to Make Homilies Better, Briefer, and Bolder: Tips from a Master Homilist 

and

Knowing The Love Of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas

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On the feminist use of the colon mark

Indeed! 

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Cheap-got Doubt

NB. Today is my "day off." No classes today at the seminary. Cleaning, laundry, errands, and an afternoon of catching up on reading that mountain of poetry that threatens to topple over and crush me!

Below, a taste of what I'm reading. . .

Private and Profane

By Marie Ponsot
 

From loss of the old and lack of the new

From failure to make the right thing do

Save us, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

     From words not the word, from a feckless voice

     From poetic distress and from careless choice

     Exclude our intellects, James Joyce.

From genteel angels and apostles unappalled

From hollywood visions as virgins shawled

Guard our seeing, Grünewald.

     From calling a kettle an existential pot,

     From bodying the ghost of whatever is not,

     John save us, 0 most subtle Scot.

From pace without cadence, from pleasures slip-shod

From eating the pease and rejecting the pod

Wolfgang keep us, lover of God.

     Couperin come with your duple measure

     Alter our minds against banal pleasure.

Dürer direct with strictness our vision

Steady this flesh toward your made precision.

     Mistress of accurate minor pain,

     Lend wit for forbearance, prideless Jane.

From pretending to own what we secretly seek,

From (untimely, discourteous) the turned other cheek,

Protect our honor, Demetrius the Greek.

     From ignorance of structural line and bone

     From passion not pointed on truth alone

     Attract us, painters on Egyptian stone.

     From despair keep us, Aquin’s dumb son;

     From despair keep us, Saint Welcome One;

     From lack of despair keep us, Djuna and John Donne.

That zeal for free will get us in deep,

That the chance to choose be the one we keep

That free will steel self in us against self-defense

That free will repeal in us our last pretense

That free will heal us

     Jeanne d’Arc, Job, Johnnie Skelton,

     Jehan de Beauce, composer Johann,

     Dark John Milton, Charter Oak John,

Strike deep, divide us from cheap-got doubt,

Leap, leap between us and the easy out;

Teach us to seize, to use, to sleep well, to let go;

Let our loves, freed in us, gaudy and graceful, grow.

 

". . .divide us from cheap-got doubt. . ." Excellent! If there's a phrase that aptly describes our corrupted postmodern reason-addled media culture, this is it. So certain are we of our doubt that doubt comes easily, cheaply. Such doubt is as useless as cheap grace.

I'm thinking of René Descartes and his hard-won doubt. And David Hume and all that he abandoned in an honest pursuit of knowing full and well. Even when they are wrong, they are honestly wrong. Their errors came with sacrifices, real oblations offered to Reason. Not the tacky trinkets postmodern minds throw at their ideological idols to assuage their fetish-guilt.

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Pope Francis isn't a garden statue

Fr. Longenecker has it exactly right about the media's obsession with F1's poverty and simplicity:

. . .the vast crowds (of mostly rich people) who profess to love [Pope Francis'] simplicity of life are responding sentimentally ['cause that's pretty much the only way they have left to respond, having surrendered their ability to think critically]. There is a syrupy idea that the poor are wonderful just because they’re poor. There is also a very warm hearted feeling toward St Francis, who preached to the birdies and hugged trees and kissed lepers. This sentimental approach to poverty and ministry to the poor is shallow and naive [and dangerous]. It’s the stuff of St Francis statues in the backyard, and the sickly sentimentality of that creepy sixties movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon in which a beautiful young Francis went tumbling through fields of flowers [you mean Franciscans don't spend their days tumbling through flowerbeds and chasing butterflies?!].

[. . .]

The latte sipping crowd who think the Pope is “just marvelous” because he doesn’t go in for the limousine or the trappings of the office are strangely deaf if we suggest that they follow his example. They’re all quiet happy for the Pope to sell off the riches of the church, but they’re not about to have a garage sale [well sure, if he sells off the Church's property and gives that money to the poor, then they won't have to feel bad about not selling their stuff. . .not that they would anyway].

[. . .]

I predict that before too very long he’ll be under attack. The attacks will be vicious and cruel and unfair–like Christopher Hitchen’s famous attack on Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Pope Francis may continue to live in poverty and eschew the trappings of the papacy, but no one will notice. The “poverty effect” will be short lived. It will be played down, and if my hunch is right–it will even come under attack. The same members of the secular press who are now licking his hands will turn and bite him. They will say his “poverty” was a sham, a public relations stunt and that he is just another hypocritical Catholic prelate. [The first salvo from the lefty media will come when he says something publicly against their preferred political agenda. . .all this fawning over his poverty will be instantly forgotten.]

We'll see the similar reactions from the Peace and Justice Crowd in the Church when he speaks out against their political idols, especially the ordination of women, same-sex "marriage," and all the other pelvic issues that seem to exercise them beyond reason.

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Empty to be filled. . .

Monday of Holy Week 2013
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Yesterday, Palm Sunday, we read a portion of Paul's letter to the Philippians, “[Christ] emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness. . .he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The Son of God empties himself to become the Son of Man. As the Son of God and the Son of Man, the Christ is both human and divine. He poured out his divinity to come among us in flesh and bone; now, this holy week, he pours out his humanity to rejoin his Father, taking with him all who will follow. The first prophetic sign of this kenosis—this emptying out—occurs in Bethany at the beginning of Passover week during a feast thrown in Jesus' honor. Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anoints Jesus' feet with a pint of expensive spikenard, a funereal oil used to prepare corpses for burial. Though no one else at the feast seems to understand what Mary is doing, Jesus does. She is anointing his living body before he goes to die on the cross for the sins of the world. This week, he will go to the Place of Skulls, anointed with the stench of the grave.

From today until we shout our first alleluias on Easter morning, we will witness the second kenosis of our Savior, the second time that he freely empties himself out for us. When Mary anoints his feet with $10,000 worth of funeral oil, Judas insincerely objects to the extravagant waste, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” Jesus answers, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” We will not always have the Son of God and Son of Man with us; we will not always have the Christ, flesh and bone, among us. Thus Jesus begins his second kenosis, leaving behind body and blood, accepting the necessity of his death for the salvation of the world. Tomorrow, he will accept the necessity of a double betrayal. Judas will sell him to his enemies, and Peter the Rock will deny him three times. Each day this week, Jesus will accept another detachment from this world, another moment of “letting go,” and loss. By the time he reaches the Place of Skulls, nailed to the cross, he is emptied of life, friendship, loyalty, promise, hope, all that we ourselves—even in our sinfulness—receive as gifts from his Father. Good Friday is good b/c, come the day, we are no longer bound by sin. 

What does Jesus' second kenosis mean for us? How do we follow him in emptying ourselves of all that binds us to this world? First, we must ask: what binds us to this world? Family, friends, plans for the future, the stuff we have and want more of? All of these can and will be lost. None of these is eternal. Are we bound by promises, vows, a determination to live? Also, impermanent, all are fleeting. If you were to be anointed this morning with funeral oils, prepared for burial, what would you need to be freed from in order to enter your grave unattached? Possessions? Sure. Relationships? Yes. How about your sins, your transgressions against God, self, and neighbor? Definitely. How do you follow him in emptying yourself of all that binds you to this world? Surrender, as Christ did, to the inevitability of death, and pour out all that keeps you away from God. Pour out whatever lives on your heart and mind as a parasite. Scrape it off. Rid yourself of obstacles, distractions, accumulated junk, and make room—plenty of room—for the coming of God's Holy Spirit. Empty yourself out by dying to self and find yourself filled with life eternal. 

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Hosanna! Crucify!

Palm Sunday 2013
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
Holy Ghost, Hammond/Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Paul says that Jesus, emptying himself, took on the form of a slave and became one of us to die as one of us for all of us. We can cheer all we want. Wave palms all we want. No one here will ask Jesus to let his cup pass. No one here will volunteer to hang on that cross and let Jesus go free. Are we cowards? No. We know that Jesus must die so that we might live. The certainty of his death is the only possibility of our eternal life. Only he is Son of God, Son of Man; fully human, fully divine. His death pulls us down into the grave and his rising again draws us up with him. Everything that needs to be healed will be healed. All repairs will be made. Nothing will be left broken or hurt. 

But today, just today, knowing what we know about his journey from here to the tomb, even still we must cheer and whistle. And wave palms. And shout “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” And we want so much to grab the tail end of his departing scene and pull it back, just yank it back to the garden or the roaring sea or the mountaintop or the desert or to any of the dozens of place where we sat with him to listen to God’s wisdom, to see the radiant glory of his love for us. 

We want him anywhere but here in Jerusalem. He rides to the cross, ya know? And we must cheer. We must cheer because later we will shout, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” What did we forget between our cheering him into the city and our heckling him to the cross, between our exuberant welcome and our jeering blood lust? To be Christ we must follow Christ. Who wants to follow Christ to the cross? Who wants their flesh torn and bleeding? Who wants the thorns of a mocking crown piercing their scalp? I deny him. I do not know him. No, I’m not his disciple. Never heard of him, never met him. Who? Who? No, sorry, doesn’t ring a bell. 

We’ve come too far for that now, brothers and sisters! That desert was forty days long. Along the way we dropped coffee and tea, booze and cigarettes, TV and shopping, email and chocolate. We dropped gossiping, nagging, sex, meat, cussing. We picked up extra hours of prayer, daily Mass, weekly confession, spiritual reading, volunteer hours, being nice to little brother and sister, obeying mom and dad, obeying husband or wife, extra money in the plate on Sunday. The devil bought out his best temptations to show us our weaknesses and sometimes he won and sometimes we won. But he knows and you need to know if you don’t already: God wins all the time, every time, for all time! And He has given us Easter to prove it. But now…if you will be Christ you must follow Christ. Walk right behind him. Feel the stones. Wipe the spit. Hear the curses and jeers. Taste the salty iron of blood. See the cross on his shoulder. And know that he carries for you the only means of your salvation. The sacrificial victim carries his own altar to the church of the skulls. 

How far will you follow?
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Holy Ghost! Here I come!

I'll be in Hammond, LA tonight and tomorrow (Palm Sunday) helping my classmate, Fr. Roberto Merced, OP, pastor of Holy Ghost.

I'll also be at Holy Ghost Easter morning.

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Caiaphas plots, God plans

5th Week of Lent (S)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Raising Lazarus from the dead is the last straw for the Pharisees. Since the miracle at the wedding in Cana some three years earlier, Jesus has been busy fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament. By word and deed, he's revealed himself to be the long-promised Messiah, the Suffering Servant given by God to His people for their salvation. Our Lord's enemies have repeatedly challenged his claims to be the Christ, and each time he's shown them that their animosity towards him is rooted in ugly political calculation and hypocrisy and not a genuine concern for the honor of God. Despite their many public humiliations, the Pharisees calculate the risks of arresting Jesus and decide each time to let him go. He's too popular with the people. However, when reports about Lazarus reach the Pharisees, the point is tipped and they act. Worried about what their Roman masters might do to the Jewish people and nation, Caiaphas, the high priest, unwittingly prophesies, “. . .it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” This is how the Good Shepherd guards his flock. Will we stay with him or will we scatter? 

Caiaphas' plot to murder Jesus is motivated by a utilitarian, political calculation: it is better for one to suffer rather than many. It is better that Jesus die rather than the whole nation of Israel. That Jesus is truly innocent of any crime leads us to believe that Caiaphas is plotting evil. However, isn't Caiaphas' justification for murdering Jesus exactly God's plan for His people? I mean, hasn't it been God's plan all along to sacrifice one man for the salvation of the world? It would seem that Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin are doing for their people what God plans for all of creation. The Sanhedrin “passes a resolution” to execute Jesus in response to his miraculous revival of Lazarus after death. So, Jesus, in one fateful act, gives life to one man and signs his own death warrant in the doing. This is our salvation history writ small, our redemption from sin and death in one act. John notes that Caiaphas unwittingly prophesies the consequences of Jesus' death, “He did not say this on his own. . . he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation. . .but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.” We have been gathered into one by the death and resurrection of the Christ. Do we remain one or do we scatter? 

Addressing the diplomatic corps assigned to the Vatican yesterday, our Holy Father, Francis, pointed to a serious disease infecting first world nations: spiritual poverty. He said, “[this poverty]. . .is what Benedict XVI, called the 'tyranny of relativism', which makes everyone his own criterion and endangers the coexistence of peoples. . .there is no true peace without truth!. . .” If we take refuge in our privilege, our wealth, our education, rather than under the lordship of Christ, we deny the fruit of his resurrection, and we find ourselves scattered, lost one-by-one to the wolves. The Good Shepherd gathers us to him so that we may know the Truth and so that Truth may set us free. The truth is: we are redeemed by Christ for Christ to become Christs for the whole world. We are not set free by Christ to make ourselves into little gods governed by our own passions and preferences. Caiaphas plotted to kill Jesus to save his people. God planned to sacrifice Christ to redeem the world. Both plot and plan succeeded. We come to Christ lost and remain with him free. In Christ, no man or woman is his/her own. We belong to Christ—one Lord, one people, one nation under his protection for the salvation of the world and the greater glory of God. 

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No truth, no peace

The Holy Father recently met with and addressed the assembled diplomatic corps in Vatican City.  

After reaffirming the Church's unwavering commitment to the poor--as evidenced by his chosen regnal name--the Holy Father had this to say about another kind of poverty:

But there is another form of poverty! It is the spiritual poverty of our time, which afflicts the so-called richer countries particularly seriously. It is what my much-loved predecessor, Benedict XVI, called the “tyranny of relativism”, which makes everyone his own criterion and endangers the coexistence of peoples. And that brings me to a second reason for my name. Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build peace. But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth. 

Can I get an AMEN! 

Pope Francis 1) affirms the pernicious existence of relativism; 2) refers to BXVI's now-famous homily delivered before he was elected to the Chair of Peter; 3) links true peace with Truth; and 4) undermines individualism by citing charity!

That loud BOOM! you heard last week was Richard McBrien's head exploding.

John Allen notes, "Based on Friday's speech, at least, anyone who saw his election as a repudiation of the broad philosophical and theological outlook of Benedict XVI probably has another think coming."

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You are gods

After Mass this morning at Our Lady of the Rosary, a parishioner asked me what Jesus means when he says to the mob, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, "You are gods"'?"

I was tempted for all of three seconds to make this allusion the focus of my homily. But then I took another sip of coffee and woke up. Explaining the context of this quote in a daily homily would've taken too long.

So, I'll try to explain it here.

First, Jesus is referring to Psalm 82.6:

5  The gods neither know nor understand,

wandering about in darkness,

and all the world’s foundations shake.

6  I declare: “Gods though you be,

offspring of the Most High all of you,

7  Yet like any mortal you shall die;

like any prince you shall fall.

Here God is addressing the "gods" in heaven and rebuking them for their failure to rule the earth with justice. He passes judgment on them and makes them mortal.

Now, recall the scene described in this morning's gospel passage. . .Jesus is confronted by a mob that wants to stone him for blasphemy. An unjust verdict and sentence given that he is God.  The description of the "gods" in Psalms perfectly describes the mob as well--ignorant, wandering in darkness, unjust, etc.

So, the quote--"You are gods"--is actually an accusation against the mob! But it does double-duty as a reminder that "gods" can be made mortal; thus, showing that Jesus' claim isn't as outrageous as the mob thinks it is.

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Words & Deeds Reveal the Truth

5th Week of Lent (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary

Confronted by a lynch mob and its demand that he defend his claim to be the Son of God, Jesus calmly lays out the options for those with stones in hand: “If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works. . .” Whether or not you believe me when I say that I am doing the work of my Father, believe in the works themselves, “so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Jesus recognizes here that the mob doubts his claim to be “from the Father,” so simply reasserting his claim isn't going to convince them. They've witnessed his works, or heard first hand accounts of those works, so he challenges them to accept the truth of what he has done as a first step toward coming into the larger truth of who he is. Coming to know Christ can be instantaneous or gradual; it can be a flash of recognition (cf. Paul), or a slow evolution over time. Taken together, Christ's words and deeds reveal his true identity and purpose. Can we say the same for ourselves? 

As followers of Christ, we are given a mission in the world: to spread the Good News that God freely offers His boundless mercy to all sinners through His son, Jesus Christ. Our words and deeds in the world either accomplish this mission, or they betray it. When Jesus is confronted by the lynch mob, he challenges his accusers to either believe his words or his works. It might appear that he's trying to save his own life with a desperate appeal. But what he's actually doing is trying desperately to save the eternal lives of those who threaten to kill him. Jesus knows that his hour has not yet come, so there's no real danger for him. The real danger lurks for those whose hour has come but do not yet know that he is the Son of God sent to offer them the Father's mercy for their sins. While out on mission in the world, we are constantly being challenged by one sort of mob or another. If our words and deeds do not bring them to know Christ instantly, can the memory of what we have said and done push them slowly toward Christ? Or do we give them even more reasons to believe that God holds a grudge and that His mercy has a price? If you lay claim to an inheritance from the Father through Christ, then you must—w/o hesitation or reservation—speak and act in the world as an heir to the Kingdom. We're not here to save our own lives—Christ did that for us. We're here to proclaim the Good News and to do the good works that bring sinners to eternal life. 

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Francis and civil unions

Jimmy Akin unspins the media spin on F1's "support" for same-sex civil unions. . .

Now that he’s been elected pope, some are trying to spin this as evidence of him being “flexible” on the issue and open to “dialogue” on the subject and as “seeking compromise” and “reach[ing] out across the ideological spectrum”–all ostensibly being signs that he may propose the same thing as pope, presumably on a global scale. 

[Of course, "open to dialogue," "flexible on the issue," etc. just means, "The failure to abandon your principles and embrace our leftist social engineering agenda means that you are closed to dialogue and inflexible, etc."  This is a rhetorical move that plants support for marriage on the fringes of polite society.  F1 is too smart to fall for that slimy move.]

The same voices have also been contrasting this approach with the inflexible approach of Pope Benedict.

[Another slimy, perfidious rhetorical move designed to pressure F1 into cashing in on the "reformist spirit" currently possessing the Church in order to radically upend the natural law.  IOW, the message is: "Pope Francis, use the excitement behind the push for curial reform to bring about some doctrinal reform as well!  If you don't, we will portray you as a right-wing nut the way we did BXVI."

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The Pope and the Devil

Prof. Robert Royal has posted a helpful article:

[. . .]

Besides, most of what we know about Francis for certain is this: a holy and intelligent man is leading the Church, who fully supports Catholic teaching – even on neuralgic points like contraception, abortion, and gay marriage. At the same time, he has been close to the poor and supports efforts to help them – but decidedly not every half-baked social “program,” let alone the wilder reaches of Marxist liberation theologies [or what passes for "peace and social justice" ideologies in the US Church].

In short, we have a pope that doesn’t fit partisan categories [precisely as it should be], but has found a way to think and act in full harmony with the Church in his Argentinean circumstances [also, precisely as it should be].

[. . .]

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Kreeft & Knox

My Mendicant Thanks to Jenny K for the Kreeft and Knox books.  

I will definitely have something to read while sitting alone for two hrs. in the confessional tonight!  (Hint, hint, New Orleans Catholics. . .)

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Pope Francis and the Dirty War

Truly, wonders never cease. . .

We have a Jesuit Pope. . .named Francis. . .from Latin America.

And I, Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP. . .am linking to the NCR and commending an article written by Fr. Tom Reese, SJ.

Next, pigs will begin to fly. Trees will sprout gold coins. And B.O. will use the word "God" when quoting the Declaration of Independence.

But none of that is especially important.  What IS important is the media's current attempt to smear our new Holy Father with false accusations that he helped the right-wing military dictatorship in Argentina during the Dirty War.

Fr. Reese parses the media disinformation and gets at the truth.

Read it carefully. You will undoubtedly hear more about this fantasy as F1's ministry as Peter begins to bear fruit.

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OP Sisters react to Habemus Papam!

The Ann Arbor Dominican sisters hear "Habemus Papam" while recording an album. . .


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No freedom w/o Truth

5th Week of Lent (W)
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Years ago, I worked with recovering addicts in a rehab hospital. The vets of these programs would confront stubborn new members of the program by saying: “The truth will set you free…and sometimes really tick you off!” They knew first hand the empty promises, the false joys of slavery to sin. Not that their addictions per se were sinful, of course, but the lives they were required to invent in support their addictions were always just on the verge of total collapse. More than anything their addictions chained them to lying, to illusion, and dumped them all alone in a dark world to recycle hopelessness and despair. When they would tell the newbie in the group that the truth would set him free, they meant that his life had to change radically. When they told him that the truth would tick him off, they meant that it would REALLY tick him off. Our chosen illusions can comfort us while keeping us chained to the darkness of sin. Do we prefer the security of slavery over the frightening possibilities of freedom? Jesus says, “. . .the truth will set you free.” 

Who are Jesus' students in this lesson? Not the crowds. Not the scribes and Pharisees. But “those Jews who believed in him.” He’s teaching those who already confess his lordship, those who already know who he is and bend themselves to his word. Beyond this initial profession of faith, Jesus is telling them that there is a state of true discipleship, an enduring friendship of obedience and love that rests on a simple progression of knowledge: remain in my word—know the truth—the truth will set you free. He says, “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin.” Each act of disobedience then, each willful failure to hear and heed the Word is a link in the chains around our necks. This is not punishment for a crime but the consequences of pride. We choose to depend on our own will rather than the will of the Father for us. Sin is surrender: to our passions, our prejudices, and our chosen illusions; giving in and giving up to our delusions of grandeur, the lie that we can be God w/o God.

When Jesus tells the believing Jews to remain in his word, to know the truth, and that this truth will set them free, what exactly is he teaching them? Benedict XVI answers in his exhortation, Sacramentum caritatis: “In the sacrament of the altar[…]the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. Since only the truth can make us free, Christ becomes for us the food of truth[…]Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing the world to himself” (SC 2). To remain in Christ’s word then is to meet him daily. To know his truth is to know him intimately as Lord. To be set free by truth is to be enslaved to Christ…daily. Benedict goes on to teach: “Jesus is the [magnet] of human freedom: without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated and reduced to empty [whim]. With him, freedom finds itself” (SC 2). There is no freedom without truth. We cannot act freely as creatures without the foundation and goal of truth. Without truth we merely act, creating illusions, building up our resistance to obedience, and preparing ourselves for the final scene of a terrible drama: slavery to our smallish passions, our unbending preferences. 

Do you prefer the security of slavery over the frightening possibilities of freedom? Does the idea that you cannot act freely without acting truthfully scare you? Christ is our freedom. He is our truth. If you remain in his word, you will truly be his disciple, and you will know the truth, and the truth has already set you free. 

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Women & Forgiveness

How many times have I told folks in confession that forgiveness is an act of the will and not a feeling?

4,897, 234, 003 times.  That's how many.

My good friend and Catholic Mom and former seminary classmate, Deidre Darr (Divinity Diva) reviews a book on women and forgiveness.  

Ladies, read the review.  Read the book.

Really. Do you want to be 4,897, 234, 004?

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Mind & Cosmos

My thanks to the anonymous HA reader who sent me Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False by Thomas Nagel, one of my fav atheist philosophers. 

Nagel is being stretched on the rack of the Academic Inquisition b/c he's dared to question the Unholy Dogma of the materialist faith.  I get all tingly inside when the intellectual left shows its true colors. Oil up the thumbscrews, boys, we got another heretic!

A recent review of this new book from Alvin Plantinga, one of my fav theist philosophers.

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Shine for the salvation of the world

5th Week of Lent (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Jesus makes an astonishing claim, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Not only is he the light of the world, but he is also the source of salvation from those who choose to follow after him. If you think about how the darkness of sin and death obstructs your growth in holiness, you might discover that it is unbelievably difficult to pray, fast, do good works, even to forgive and love in the total darkness of sin. Unless you are capable of generating your own spiritual light, you will fail again and again to progress along the way. Since we are—by our fallen nature—incapable of saving ourselves, we must look to a savior, someone else to bring a light to bear on our path. If Jesus is telling the truth, then he is that someone else. But is he telling the truth? The Pharisees challenge his claim. They demand two witnesses to verify his testimony. Jesus says to them, “I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me.” We are left with a simple choice: we either believe the testimony of these witnesses, or we do not. Do you hope to grow in holiness? If so, follow the light shone by Christ. 

Before Christ came among us, our guiding lights were the Law and the Prophets. These two divinely inspired sources of light showed God's children a way through the muck and mire of disobedience, leading them back to righteousness through an obstacle course of ritual sacrifice, dietary restrictions, and purity codes. Running this course demonstrated their allegiance to the covenant God made with Abraham. Failure to follow the Law or obey the Prophets meant a failure to honor the covenant, a spiritual form of adultery. When Christ came among us, he announced that he had fulfilled the Law and the prophecies; he had taken upon himself all of our failures, all of our flaws, everything that causes us to trip and fall while growing toward holiness. Our purpose is not absolute moral purity or ritual perfection, our purpose is to follow Christ so closely and with such zeal that we become Christ for the world where we are. We're to be transfigured so that the glory of God and the light of Christ shine out from us, and then lead all others out of the darkness that blinds them. You can't accomplish this alone, nor can I. So, we have the communion of saints, the Church; we have the apostolic witness and the Holy Spirit. If you will grow in holiness, do so. . .but do so so that the Christ-light that shines from you shines with the whole Body of Christ for the salvation of the world. 

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Go and sin no more. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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From Pradas to Buster Browns

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

Pic: Drudge
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Pope Francis: Old School Jesuit

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

[Excerpted. . .]

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

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Beware the Catholic Zombie Virus!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Church hates science

F1 holds a Masters in chemistry.
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