Scaring the wolves

14 Week OT (Fri): Gen 46.1-7, 28-30; Matt 10.16-23
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters of St Mary of Namur

As those who often have to tell people what they don't want to hear and risk being yelled at or rejected outright, we are not the ones you want on your marketing team. The whole point of marketing is to attract customers and keep them loyal. You have make sure your product is useful, attractive, affordable, and does what it promises to do. Telling customers the possible unhealthy consequences of using your product is something you will not do voluntarily. This is why we have laws that force you to be honest, if not exactly transparent. After reading the gospel this morning, we might want to suggest to Jesus that he take a few marketing classes, or at the very least, hire a PR firm. The promise of his product is anything but alluring. Persecution, scourging, betrayal, public scorn, and ultimate rejection, even death. With an ad campaign like that, there's lots of room for the new and improved. Fortunately, we Christians are geared to living on promises! Our hope in Christ is never a gamble.

Why would anyone listening to Jesus' sell his product run to the front of the line and plop down his/her life for a chance to be tortured and killed? There's a whole lot of crazy in that bet. Given the nature of the world and the gospel we preach, the chances of being ridiculed and rejected are high enough already. Throw in a little fundamentalist secularism and the need to design and rule social change and those who hate us feel entitled—even morally obligated—to shut us up, to push us toward the killing cliffs. We threaten the power of their narrow worldview. Knowing what we know about the gospel and Jesus' dire promises of betrayal and death, we have to be more than just a little crazy to listen to him. We must be suicidal!

Of course, we know that we aren't crazy or suicidal. We are something far more dangerous to the rulers of this world. We are hopeful, loving. And b/c we are ruled by hope and love, we are joyful. And b/c we are joyful, our faith is all the more attractive to those who have not yet tried our product. Our trust in the promises of God makes us less dependent on the nannies of the state for our basic needs, less likely to find our self-worth in achievement and wealth, more likely to cheer a virtuous peasant and boo a vicious king, and far less likely to offer sacrifice to the gods of war, vengeance, and material gain. The marketers for this world's messianic message fear the hope-filled possibilities we live and preach daily. We are a threat b/c we live and breath those virtues that look beyond their power, beyond their control and toward the One Who created us to love Him by loving one another.

Christ promises us that when the time comes to witness to his Father's plan for the cosmos and to endure persecution b/c we do so, His Spirit will give us the words to speak. These words will not be philosophically sophisticated, or theologically profound, or even all that persuasive to those who will not hear them. What these words will be is truthful—full of His truth b/c He is the Truth. When we speak the truth, we must do so in charity. Without charity, the truth is without passion. Without truth, charity becomes mere sentiment. Aquinas teaches us that “joy is caused by charity” (ST II-II. 28.1) and we know that God is love. Overwhelmed by the Spirit of Love and Truth, we can do nothing else but speak a word of contradiction to the world and suffer the consequences. So be it. It is better to be betrayed in hatred for his name than to betray in his name for the sake of applause. Wolves not only roam the wilderness in search of lost sheep to devour, they also roam the hearts of those same sheep, scaring them into silence and inaction. However, we know that they scatter at even the smallest word of witness.
So, speak the word of truth and watch the wolves turn tail and run!

Where to find me for confession and Mass!

While in and around DFW-Irving, I will be celebrating Mass at the Church of the Incarnation on the campus of the University of Dallas on the following days:

Saturday, July 18: Confession 4.00 & Mass 5.00pm

Sunday, August 2: 11 am Mass
Sunday, August 9: 9 am Mass
Sunday, August 16: 11 am Mass

If you are in the Fort Worth area: I am celebrating Mass for the Sisters of St Mary of Namur at their Our Lady of Victory Center on West Shaw. Mass starts at 8.00am weekdays with Lauds; at 11am on Saturdays* and 10.30am on Sundays.

*Tomorrow (11th) we have have Mass at 8am.

Pray: no visa problems!

Another pray request. . .

I found out yesterday that I may have really messed up my visa status in Italy.

There may be nothing wrong, but I will have to find out by driving to Houston soon.

Please pray that I can simply renew my student visa!

The Danger of the Daily Maybe

14th Week OT (Thurs): Gen 44.18-21; 45.1-5; Matt 10.7-15
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters of St Mary of Namur

Always the careful teacher, Jesus instructs his newly appointed apostles on how they are to do their jobs in his name. He instructs them on what to say: “As you go make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'” He tells them what they are to do: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.” He tells them what not to take with them and how to greet those to whom they will preach. Then he concludes this lesson in practical ministry with an ominous statement: “Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.” Among our Protestant brothers and sisters, this is what is called a “hard-saying of Jesus.” It's not hard b/c it is difficult to understand or carry out, but b/c it offers both the apostles and those who hear the gospel from them a hard choice between saying Yes or No to God's offer of salvation. This a hard choice b/c there are no soft options between receiving the Word and not receiving the Word. Is there any sandal dust outside your house?

First, let's think about what Jesus is telling the apostles to do here. Notice that all of his instructions in this gospel passage give his apostles practical ways of dealing with common human flaws. He tells them what to say, thus eliminating the temptation to preach falsehood. He tells them what to do, thus ruling out a long list of work not properly done for the gospel. He tells them what to take with them, thus limiting the Things in their lives, freeing them to travel more efficiently and to give witness to the ultimate value of Things. And finally, he tells them what to say and do when the Word is ignored or rejected, thus saving them from the temptation to hang around a stubborn household or town and waste what little time they have. Jesus' demand for either a Yes and a No to God's offer of His salvation puts one of our most obstinate habits into hard relief. We want what we want when we want it. We like options. Lots of them. And we like to change our minds when what we want turns out to be inconvenient, not what we thought it would be, or something better comes along. Jesus stakes this spiritual vampire squarely in the heart.

But why would he insist on such a black and white choice? Why stand so resolutely against the beauty of diversity and difference when choosing a spiritual path? His instruction to the apostles seems downright mean, even cruel and intolerant. Jesus is not only a careful teacher but an expert on the human soul as well, a divine psychologist, if you will. He understands the human heart and mind and knows that our love for vacillation and change is quite nearly hard-wired in us. The habit of loving and trusting our own preferences over and above what is true, good, and beautiful is too deeply settled in us to root it out with half-made choices and soft commitments. God knows that our answer must be Yes or No, or we will be tossed around with every storm that comes. We will be lost if we are not anchored. And our anchor must be unshakably caught in His Word, Christ Jesus, and our lives together in the Holy Spirit.

Let's not pretend that saying Yes to the gospel once is all it takes to make us perfect followers of Christ. We know better. We are offered the Word everyday and everyday we say Yes or No. We live out that choice in all we say and do or fail to say and do. Does this make the sum total of our lives a long, drawn out Maybe? No. What it means is that we committed to making the choice between Yes and No. We are refusing to settle for the lazy way of a Daily Maybe, a little life of soft compromises and easy choices. Say Yes or say No. There is no browsing in the marketplace of squeamish options. We are given the Word daily; there can be no muttered Maybe.

The Danger of the Daily Maybe

14th Week OT (Thurs): Gen 44.18-21; 45.1-5; Matt 10.7-15
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters of St Mary of Namur

Always the careful teacher, Jesus instructs his newly appointed apostles on how they are to do their jobs in his name. He instructs them on what to say: “As you go make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'” He tells them what they are to do: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.” He tells them what not to take with them and how to greet those to whom they will preach. Then he concludes this lesson in practical ministry with an ominous statement: “Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.” Among our Protestant brothers and sisters, this is what is called a “hard-saying of Jesus.” It's not hard b/c it is difficult to understand or carry out, but b/c it offers both the apostles and those who hear the gospel from them a hard choice between saying Yes or No to God's offer of salvation. This a hard choice b/c there are no soft options between receiving the Word and not receiving the Word. Is there any sandal dust outside your house?

First, let's think about what Jesus is telling the apostles to do here. Notice that all of his instructions in this gospel passage give his apostles practical ways of dealing with common human flaws. He tells them what to say, thus eliminating the temptation to preach falsehood. He tells them what to do, thus ruling out a long list of work not properly done for the gospel. He tells them what to take with them, thus limiting the Things in their lives, freeing them to travel more efficiently and to give witness to the ultimate value of Things. And finally, he tells them what to say and do when the Word is ignored or rejected, thus saving them from the temptation to hang around a stubborn household or town and waste what little time they have. Jesus' demand for either a Yes and a No to God's offer of His salvation puts one of our most obstinate habits into hard relief. We want what we want when we want it. We like options. Lots of them. And we like to change our minds when what we want turns out to be inconvenient, not what we thought it would be, or something better comes along. Jesus stakes this spiritual vampire squarely in the heart.

But why would he insist on such a black and white choice? Why stand so resolutely against the beauty of diversity and difference when choosing a spiritual path? His instruction to the apostles seems downright mean, even cruel and intolerant. Jesus is not only a careful teacher but an expert on the human soul as well, a divine psychologist, if you will. He understands the human heart and mind and knows that our love for vacillation and change is quite nearly hard-wired in us. The habit of loving and trusting our own preferences over and above what is true, good, and beautiful is too deeply settled in us to root it out with half-made choices and soft commitments. He knows that our answer must be Yes or No, or we will be tossed around with every storm that comes. We will be lost if we are not anchored. And our anchor must be unshakably caught in His Word, Christ Jesus, and our lives together in the Holy Spirit.

Let's not pretend that saying Yes to the gospel once is all it takes to make us perfect followers of Christ. We know better. We are offered the Word everyday and everyday we say Yes or No. We live out that choice in all we say and do or fail to say and do. Does this make the sum total of our lives a long, drawn out Maybe? No. What it means is that we committed to making the choice between Yes and No. We are refusing to settle for the lazy way of a Daily Maybe, a little life of soft compromises and easy choices. Say Yes or say No. There is no browsing in the marketplace of squeamish options. We are given the Word daily; there can be no muttered Maybe.

Prayers for the Niece (Updated)

Please, dear readers, keep my 9 year old niece, Melanie, in your prayers. My mom told me yesterday that it is very likely that she has contracted viral meningitis. She is going in today for more tests.

God bless, Fr. Philip

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with mom. . .Melanie didn't have viral meningitis after all. She had all the symptoms, but nothing panned out at the doctor's office.

Deo gratis! And gratis to all of you who prayer for her.

Give Shea a Shave, . .Follow HancAquam!

That Red-Whiskered Were-Catholic, Mark Shea is gloating--GLOATING!--that he has more followers than HancAquam.

This cannot stand!

Become a Follower (right side bar ---------------------------->)

Don't let this Cyber Thug claim victory!!!

Feeling like a mooch

It never fails to amaze me. . .

. . .the generosity of Catholics in general and HancAquam readers in particular.

Recent activity on the WISH LIST reminds me that even in hard economic times, Catholics are willing to help those in need. . .even when those in need are over-educated Dominican friars writing a thesis and dissertation in the philosophy of science with a ridiculously limited book budget!

Those who have been reading this blog for some time know that I occasionally beg for books. This is humiliating for me. . .in the best sense of that word. Asking for help is not easy for me. I grew up self-reliant in a family of hard workers. I had a full-time job at 16. Worked my way through college and grad school. And to this day, I blush when I have to ask for money from my superiors. Not having a full-time job right now makes me feel like a mooch.

I will tell you a story from my novitiate some day. It involves a broken pair of glasses and my novice-master. Let's just say that as a 35 year old former college teacher who left a well-paying job at a large hospital, asking for what he needed was difficult. Obedience reared its ubiquitous head!

As always, thank you for your generosity. God bless!

How to proclaim the Kingdom?

14th Week OT (Wed): Gen 41.55-57, 42.5-7, 17-24; Matt 10.1-7
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters of St Mary of Namur

During my early grad school years, I once went with a couple of friends to Mobile, AL to celebrate Madri Gras. We stayed at a downtown bed and breakfast and even managed to make it to Sunday Mass at the cathedral even though none of us were Catholic. I remember walking with friends near one of the city's notorious bars. On the street, a preacher shouted at the revelers to repent of their on-going debauchery and come to Christ. He had signs with scripture verses neatly printed on them. A large, well-worn Bible. At the time, I watched this circus act with seething contempt. With every word the preacher spoke I chomped at the bit to refute him, to call him out as a bigot and an idiot. My friends, knowing my spiritual inclinations and my love of a good debate, steered me clear of this guy, hoping that I wouldn't ruin the fun by engaging a religious freak. Being a good friend, I allowed myself to be deflected back into the festival. But to this day, I remember. I remember his call to repentance; and most of all, his fervor. He was taking Christ's charge to the apostles very seriously, go out and make this proclamation, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” How seriously do we take this charge? And how do we follow his instruction?

In the older history of the Catholic Church, we have numerous examples of preachers taking to the streets to exhort repentance by proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom. Dominic, Francis, Aquinas, Savonarola, Vincent Ferrer. But for most of us, this sort of loud and proud exhortation on the street is embarrassing. Why is that? What about proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom and the necessity of repentance embarrass us so? Christ clearly says that we must do it. If we don't do it, why not?

We could say that we shy away from this sort of preaching b/c it tends to put people off. Who wants to hear that they are sinners and need to repent? Maybe we blush b/c it just sounds so strident, so belligerent; we don't like public confrontation. Maybe we are afraid of being challenged in a way that we aren't prepared to answer. Do we want to be associated with what many see as brainless religious fundamentalism? Or maybe, just maybe, we don't really believe that the Kingdom is at hand or that there is any need for repentance. After all, God loves everybody just as they are. Why exhort people to change? It sounds so controlling, so much like we want to dominate those who disagree with us. OK. Fair enough. But what do we do with Christ's clear instruction to preach the arrival of the Kingdom?

The standard answer here is to say that there are many ways to announce the Kingdom. Street-preaching is one but not mine. Don't we announce the Kingdom at Mass? When we work at the homeless shelter? When we protest for just immigration policy? Yes, it's possible. But virtuous pagans can work for the poor and immigrants. They can even attend Mass! What makes what we do any different from what anyone conscious of social injustice would do? There's a philosophical difference at play. Certainly a religious difference. But the difference that matters is that we do what we do for the greater glory of God. We are sent to seduce the human heart back to God. We are sent to be the Face of Christ for all those who have not seen or heard the gospel. And to those who have seen and heard but turned away. If we preach for any other reason, we are being disobedient.

The bonus of our ministry is that in proclaiming the Kingdom and the necessity of repentance to others, we are forcefully preaching to ourselves that we too are in need of repentance, in need of being reminded that the Kingdom is at hand. We cannot lose this humility. And maybe that's why excited street preaching is so unappealing—it's looks and sounds prideful. I've got what you need. Where's the humility in that? The truth is: Christ and his Church have what we ALL need. Can we say that with love and not sound condescending? We can, if our deeds match our words. Proclaiming the Kingdom without doing kingdom-works is a waste of breath. Doing kingdom-works without proclaiming the kingdom is a waste of calories. Words and deeds reveal the Lord for all to see and all to hear. Most especially to those who would dare to preach his gospel.

Media Spinning the New Encyclical (surprise!)

With yesterday's release of Pope Benedict XVI's latest encyclical, Caritas in veritate, the left media are predictably playing up what they imagine to be the Holy Father's progressive socio-economic views on globalization, poverty, capitalism, etc. As usual, they are wrong.

The one element of the encyclical that has Catholics on the left and right all bound up in their twisted knickers--some delighted, some not so much--is the Holy Father's call for a "world political authority." When I read horrified/excited reactions to this proposal I have to wonder if folks are doing nothing more than reading the document with the "FIND" function, looking for hot-button words and phrases.

Catholicism is notoriously subtle and complex. No single element of our faith stands alone. No one thing dominates in such a way that it overwhelms all the other elements. Though I hate this hippie-ish metaphor, it is very descriptive. . .our faith is a tightly woven clothe that needs every strand, every stitch to maintain its strength. Every fiber of our faith depends on every other. Yes, some elements are more important in conveying the truth of divine revelation than others, but even these fundamental truths are inextricably tied to all the other truths and only half-understood without the proper background and context.

For example, do not read the Holy Father's call for a global political authority without also paying careful attention to his teaching on the necessity of subsidiarity (para 57). No internationalist who longs to eliminate national governments and turn real political power over to a U.N.-like body will be happy with the Pope's teaching on the proper scope of such a body:

Subsidiarity is first and foremost a form of assistance to the human person via the autonomy of intermediate bodies. Such assistance is offered when individuals or groups are unable to accomplish something on their own, and it is always designed to achieve their emancipation, because it fosters freedom and participation through assumption of responsibility. Subsidiarity respects personal dignity by recognizing in the person a subject who is always capable of giving something to others. By considering reciprocity as the heart of what it is to be a human being, subsidiarity is the most effective antidote against any form of all-encompassing welfare state. It is able to take account both of the manifold articulation of plans — and therefore of the plurality of subjects — as well as the coordination of those plans. Hence the principle of subsidiarity is particularly well-suited to managing globalization and directing it towards authentic human development. In order not to produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of globalization must be marked by subsidiarity, articulated into several layers and involving different levels that can work together. Globalization certainly requires authority, insofar as it poses the problem of a global common good that needs to be pursued. This authority, however, must be organized in a subsidiary and stratified way, if it is not to infringe upon freedom and if it is to yield effective results in practice (n. 57).

Nothing in this encyclical should give an internationalist with collectivist dreams of a secular utopia much comfort. The Holy Father is clearly opposed to any sort of Global Nanny State modeled on the E.U., or a U.N.-like body with law-enforcement and taxation powers. All through the letter, Benedict emphasizes over and over again the necessity of respecting the dignity of the human person, personal and communal freedom to associate and flourish, and the need for all socio-economic policies to be based on the unbreakable bond between charity and objective truth. There is an entire chapter on the absolute right to religious freedom. This is not something a globalist with secular messianic tendencies will applaud.

I found this brief fisking of media attempts to spin this encyclical leftward very helpful.

Also keep in mind, the Catholic Church transcends trite American political labels. As intellectual shortcuts, "liberal," "conservative," etc. make a lot of sense in the U.S. They make absolutely no sense when applied to the Church. Are you a liberal or a conservative when you insist that all people are created in the image and likeness of God and justly deserve the permanent protection of their dignity as such over and against something as temporary as a national government?

Let let the media spin you. The Holy Father's encyclical is Catholic. Not Republican. Not Democrat. Or socialist or capitalist or anything else but the orthodox teaching of the Body of Christ.

The just face of God

14th Week OT (Tues): Gen 32.22-33; Ps 17.1-15; Matt 9.32-38
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters of St Mary of Namur

A child of the Lord has been silenced by a demon. Jesus heals this man's tongue and he speaks. Those in the crowd are amazed. The Pharisees are scandalized and accuse Jesus of cavorting with the demons themselves. We might ask ourselves, why does Jesus take the time to heal a man whose voice has been silenced by a demon? As interesting as this question is, there is one even more interesting for those of us vowed to preach the gospel: given all of the evil things a demon could do to this man, why would it silence a child of the Lord?

To answer this question we must remember a fundamental teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the nature of God's Self-revelation. From Dei verbum: “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will...This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words...God, who through the Word creates all things and keeps them in existence, gives men an enduring witness to Himself in created realities”(DV 2, 3). God wills to reveal Himself to His people. Through Christ and in the Holy Spirit we have access to the Father, so that we might “come to share in the divine nature”(2). The enduring witness, that is, the accessible historical testimony to the power and glory of God, is given in His “created realities,” most especially in that creation that is His image and likeness: the human person. If God's “plan of revelation is realized by [His] deeds and words” in history, and the enduring witness to His revelation is carried by the created reality of the human person, then it follows that the words and deeds of the human person may share in the divine nature and mission and serve to proclaim His gospel. When our words and deed properly align with the just will of the Father, we advance His plan of salvation; we reveal Who He is and what He does. No wonder then the demon muted this man's tongue! No words, no deeds: no witness; no witness to God: no gospel, no truth, no justice or peace.

At 5am CDT, the Holy Father's long-awaited encyclical on socio-economic justice arrived. Entitling his letter “Caritas in veritate,” (Charity in Truth), Pope Benedict shows all those with opened eyes to see and ears to hear that the words and deeds that accomplish God's plan for salvation are done and spoken only when the human work of charity is done in the light of truth. How providential is it that our psalm refrain this morning echoes this fundamental truth: “In justice, I shall behold your face, O Lord”? This is not the justice we sometimes hope to find in legal procedure, or the redistribution of wealth, or the social engineering of utopian ideology. All of these human works can be done without God's love. All of these can be done in ways that violate human dignity, that further degrade and destroy God's creation. The peace and justice we long for, the peace and justice we were created and re-created to enjoy and share is found in the our created purpose: “From you, O Lord, let my judgment come; your eyes behold what is right.” From scripture, from God's created realities, from the unique and final revelation of the divine nature, Christ Jesus, from these must we take our judgments and behold what is right.

Demons silence us everyday, every hour. We sell our witness to compromise. We borrow against the value of our witness in order to buy political favor. We pawn our words and deeds in the false hope that one day soon the “signs of the times” will make our witness fashionable. Compromise, political favor, and trendy causes nail the just tongue to a stubborn jaw. It is truth that sets the just tongue free. No truth: no justice, no peace.

I will let the Holy Father end this homily. He writes that each man and woman “finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free. To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, 'rejoices in the truth'. . .In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth” (CV 1).

Are you a memorial stone?

14th Week OT (Mon): Gen 28.10-22; Matt 9-18-26
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, Ft. Worth, TX


Let no one say I am easily persuaded. It took the Holy Spirit seventeen years to track me down, show me my priestly vocation, listen to all of lame my excuses, and then beat me into submission. Don't get me wrong: I'm delighted the Lord won that fight, painful and protracted as it was—for me, that is. What's that line from the Psalms, “Do not be a stubborn mule, needing bridle and bit...”? Looking back to 1981, standing in the central plaza of the National Cathedral of Mexico, just a few feet from the newly-opened Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Jacob's wondrous outburst from Genesis this morning makes a whole lotta sense to me now: "Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it!" Looking back, when was the Lord with you without you knowing it? How did you come to recognize his presence? And did you follow Jacob's example and leave a “memorial stone”?

When I begin a theology class I always quiz the students to find out just how much Platonism they have absorbed from our popular culture. The surest way to figure this out is to ask them about how they understand the relationship between the body and the soul. Almost without exception they see themselves as struggling souls trapped in treacherous bodies. The soul yearns to be free but the ugly needs of the flesh anchor them to a world of temptation and vice. These same students carry rosaries and prayer cards, have statues of saints in their dorm rooms, pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and argue that churches are holier places than gyms, cafeterias, and pubs. Despite this easy acceptance of the basic Catholic notion that God uses His creation to reveal Himself to us, these students resist the obvious next step: their bodies too are part of God's Self-revelation, and as such, they themselves are “memorial stones” marking the presence of the Lord!

Let's ask ourselves again: Looking back, when was the Lord with me without me knowing it? How did I come to recognize his presence? And did I follow Jacob's example and leave a “memorial stone”? From Matthew's gospel we are hear that a woman suffering from hemorrhages touches the tassels of Jesus' cloak. She is healed. The recently deceased daughter of an official is returned to life. How? Her loving father simply asserts that Jesus' touch will revive her. Jesus does nothing. The woman's faith saves her. The father's faith saves his daughter. Jesus comes to each of them as a touchstone, a living revelation and a memory. Just “being there with them” is enough. If we are to be Christs for others, this is our work as well: to be walking, talking revelations of God; memorial stones of His presence. Just as we are and wherever we are, we are living signs of the way, the truth, and the life. But because not one of us is yet perfected in Christ, we come together in the Church to be a collective sign on the Way—a body of believers who despite our warts and scars nonetheless serve anyone who will follow.

Jacob set a memorial stone in the ground and poured oil over it, renaming the stone and founding a new city. When we were baptized and confirmed—washed in water and anointed with oil—we too were renamed and set as stones in the foundations of the Church. Look in the mirror, look into the eyes of a sister here, or a student, or even a stranger, and say with Jacob in his wonder: “This...memorial stone [is] God's abode." And know that Lord is with us. . .always with us.

Thus says the Lord God. . .

14th Sunday OT: Ez 2.2-5; 2 Cor 12.7-10; Mark 6.1-6
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters of St Mary of Namur, Forth Worth, TX

Prophets are a cheap and abundant source of nonsense these days. Every sort of weirdo has a theory, a revelation, a scheme, or a vision from Beyond. No wonder, really. Can we say that the fabric of our faith is as tightly knitted as it needs to be to keep us cozy in this winter of spiritual chaos? When the foundations of all that we believe start to throw us about, most any voice in the racket sounds like a voice of authority. Persistent sexual scandals, financial malfeasance, abuse of power, dissent and rebellion—and all of these just within the Church!—all of these potholes on the Way jolt our certainties and sometimes they even bump us into despair. In these moments of upheaval there always seems to be a guru, a savior, or a prophet just outside our purview who's all too willing to speak up and promise to lead us back to whatever it is we think we need to be safe—health, wealth, sanity, wholeness, or holiness. Usually, if we succumb to fear or anger or the need for a show of defiance, and we buy the snake-oil, usually we end up defeated and more beat-up than when we begin. Beware self-anointed prophets bearing pricey prophecy! Being “hard of face and obstinate of heart” is easy. Humility, right reason, and holy obedience is difficult—not impossible!—just very, very difficult.

The prophets that speak to us this morning are well-known and reliable: Ezekiel, Paul, and Christ himself. No doubt they look the part of a prophet, like men who have spent too much time in the deserts of foreign lands. They certainly sound like the prophets we are used to hearing. The self-anointed prophets of postmodern Western culture could be wearing lab coats, three-piece suits, habits or clerics, or even casual sportswear; they could be sporting advanced degrees in physics, medicine, genetics, or theology; they could sound like gurus, even reasonable scientists, hawking new cosmologies, novel technologies, fresh political solutions, or global spiritualities. They can all name our worst fears, our deepest angers, our most pressing anxieties. They can speak a word to calm our stormed tossed spirits. What they cannot and will not name is the Love in our souls. What they do not speak is the Word. They do not and will not say, “Thus says the Lord God...” And these differences make a great deal of difference.

Ezekiel is consumed in the voice of God. Paul is struck blind and pierced by a thorn in his flesh. Jesus is spurned in his own hometown, ridiculed as no one other than “the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon.” Ezekiel is sent to the rebellious Israelites to reteach the Good News of an ancient love. Paul is sent to the Gentiles with the Good News of the Father's mercy. Jesus is sent to the whole of creation as the Good News himself, the very Incarnate Word of divine love and mercy. All three prophets are sent to accomplish one mission: to speak the Word to God's people, and in so doing, bringing them all back into a covenant; reminding, renewing, and revealing the foundational promises of the Creator.

Look closely at what the prophets in scripture actually do and do not do. They do not create. They point to the Creator. They do not invent or innovate. They point to the Inventor, the Innovator Himself. They do not preach revolution and rebellion for the sake of novelty. They call us to revolutionize our hard faces and cold hearts. They rouse us to rebel against the slavery of alien philosophies and foreign gods. They do not urge God's people to abandon His promises of liberation in favor of worldly guarantees, the empty pledges that prop us up with domination, wealth, prestige, violence, and oppression. God's anointed prophets give voice to and work for the least against the most, for the worst against the best, for the lowest against the highest. When the most, the best, and the highest are where they are b/c they have stepped on and broken the least, the worst, and the lowest, God's anointed prophet will speak His Word of justice and demand a righteous revolution. Not something as mundane and temporary as a government program or a social action agency. Not something as ultimately useless as a financial entitlement or a paper-weight patch on the justice system. God's anointed prophet will first demand that the hard face and cold heart of injustice be melted in the overwhelming Love that gave His creation life! Then this prophet will say, “Thus says the Lord God: you will not treat my beloved children as things, as slaves; you will not use my children as disposable means to your selfish ends; you will not love simply for worldly gain, pretend faith for public praise, nor spread hope to hide your oppression. You love b/c I loved you first!”

As men and women baptized into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, we have vowed to be faithful to God, just to our neighbors, hopeful in crisis, loving to all, joyful even as we weep, and as eager to show mercy as we are to seek mercy. The key to our lives as prophets is not scientific novelty, theological innovation, philosophical nuance, or even spiritual practice. Our prophetic key is humility—the certain and daily-lived knowledge that we are creatures of a loving God, wholly dependent, utterly reliant on the Love that gave us and gives us life. There is no other source of identity for us. No other means of doing what we have vowed our lives to do. Ezekiel is consumed in the voice of God. Paul is plagued by a thorn in his flesh. Jesus himself is rejected by his hometown folks. Their humility fuels a righteous fire for God's justice not a self-righteous grudge against the status-quo. Self-anointed prophets in lab coats, suits, or vestments might tempt us with a genetic or economic or religious utopia, but we know that any prophet who will not and cannot say, “Thus says the Lord God...,” we know that they are false prophets.

Our Father's gifts are sufficient for us, for our power as His prophets is made perfect in humility.

Book Beggin'

I am finally settled in one place for a while! Woo-hoo!

Now, to get back to work.

I haven't begged for books in a long time. . .and despite this lapse in mendicancy on my part, several of you generous folks continue to fire books my way. As always: you don't know how much your generosity helps to keep my student budget in line. . .especially given the uncertainties in the costs of travel these days.

Though I make good use of any library I can, the amount of travel I have to do this summer to fulfill my commitments makes it hard to use local libraries. Also, to be honest, most public libraries don't exactly stock my kinda books. TCU is right down the street, so I may give them a visit.

Anyway, if you are willing and able, please visit the WISH LIST and consider sending a book my way. The first six or seven on the list are the most directly relevant to my reading this summer and the least likely to be found in the Angelicum's limited philosophy of science holdings. Don't be shy about buying USED books. . .if it's legible, it ain't gotta be pretty.

God bless you all! (Sunday homily is in the works)

P.S. I completely forgot to mention this on Friday. . .July 3rd was the 5th anniversary of my ordination as a deacon. I assisted at a first Mass on the 4th of July. . .in England!

4th of July 2007 Homily (re=post)

Reviewed this homily from the 4th of July 2007. . .in light of the upcoming socio-economic encyclical from the Holy Father, I thought it might make a moderately interesting re-read:

Independence Day USA (4^th of July): Isa 32.15-18 and Luke 12.15-21
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St. Albert the Great Priory, Irving, TX

If we were to look to our country for signs of the Lord’s favor, what would we find? First, would we even recognize signs of the Lord’s favor? Can we tell the difference between what the Lord has given us all as a gift and what we have earned by our ingenuity and hard work? It’s a trick question, of course. For us, that is, for Christians, there is no difference really between what we work to earn and what the Lord gives us. Those skills, those attitudes of industry and creativity, all of those spirits of innovation, commerce, longing for growth, all of it, everything we use to work for our prosperity is first given to us by God. Whatever abundance, whatever excess, whatever generous plenty that we enjoy as a result of sweat, bent backs, calloused hands, or talented minds hurting at the edges of possibility; whatever good or truth or beauty we build; all bounty, all harvest, all of our riches as individuals, as a nation of citizens and immigrants, and as a tribe of priests and prophets baptized in the death and resurrection of Christ, all we call mine, ours, and theirs is first and always the treasure of our God; His abundance first, then His gift to us in grace, and only then do we rightly call this nation’s material and spiritual flourishing “a blessing.”

Isaiah reminds us because we forget: “In those days: the spirit from on high will be poured out on us”. . .then the desert becomes an orchard and the orchard a forest; right and justice will live in the desert and orchard and God’s “people will live in peaceful country…” God says to Isaiah, “My people will live in peaceful country, in secure dwellings and quiet resting places.” When do we forget this peace? When do we forget that our wealth is a gift and not a right?

There is a forgetfulness in wealth that poverty holds at bay. The prophetic witness of scripture testifies to the inherent dangers of possessing too much. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that scripture warns against the dangers of believing that and behaving as if we possess anything at all. The greater the imaginary treasury, the more tightly the acquisitive imagination binds the greedy dreamer to things and their accumulation and security. Bigger barns! More treasure! Bigger barns! More and more treasure…! Better locks, tighter control, limited access. Mine, mine, mine. And the narcotic stupor of acquiring without giving thanks, of possessing without surrendering to generosity, of storing up without abandoning to divine providence, that sedating haze of entitlement clouds the presence of the Spirit and we fail in our avarice—just me, just you, and all of us as one in a nation—we fail in greed to look back at the font of our blessing, to remember, and to put our faith in the only place where it cannot be exhausted: the heart of Christ Jesus!

We can celebrate our independence from the British Empire today. (I have it one good authority that they were more than happy to cut us loose!) We can celebrate political and economic freedom, religious and press freedom; we can even celebrate a certain material prosperity that comes from our long and assertive history as entrepreneurial capitalists and proponents of enlightenment democracy. But if these are godly treasures, harvests gleaned from a divine bounty, then they cannot be stored, cannot be hoarded in barns of privilege, heredity, merit, or in anything as flimsy and accidental as nationality or race. Some will argue that as Americans our claim to be heroes of a progressive manifest destiny ended in Vietnam. That’s a question for historians. Here’s a question for us Christians who would be heroes (American or not!): will you surrender—in absolute trust—all that you have, all that you are; abandon entirely your life and your things, hiding nothing, holding nothing back; sacrificing for the good of others your bountiful harvest to the Source of your life and all your wealth?

If so, you are free already. And today is truly a day to rejoice in the independence of the Lord!