The Gospel: pungent & offensive

4th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St Joseph Church, Ponchatula

While thinking and praying about the Sermon on the Mount and what I would preach about this morning/evening, I read a review of the newly released movie, The Rite. Based on a book by an American priest who studies the art of exorcism in Rome, the movie takes some liberties with author's story and threatens to turn his spiritual battle into a demon-populated spring break flick. According to the all the reviews I've read, however, the movie does an excellent job of portraying the priest's battle with the Devil without becoming just another horror movie. One review in particular caught my attention. John Zmirak, who writes for the website, Inside Catholic, appreciates the movie b/c it goes a long way toward challenging the oftentimes Hallmark-like way that our faith is portrayed by Hollywood. He writes, “The Catholic faith is neither [simply bland nor inoffensive]. In fact, like really authentic Mexican food (think habeneros and fried crickets), it is at once both pungent and offensive. It offends me all the time, with the outrageous demands it makes of my fallen nature and the sheer weirdness of its claims. It asserts that, behind the veil of day-to-day schlepping, of work and laundry and television and microwaved burritos, we live on the front lines of a savage spiritual war. . .” If we need an example of the “sheer weirdness” of our faith, we couldn't ask for better than the Sermon on the Mount. Just about everything Jesus says in this sermon is “pungent and offensive” to just about everything our culture wants us to believe. Living as faithful Catholics in this world is often an exercise in contradiction and opposition.

Before we get to the Sermon itself, let's take a look at what Paul writes to the Corinthians. It's pretty clear that Paul understands just how weird our commitment to Christ can be. Consider, for example, who it is that God has called into His Church: “God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing. . .” This sounds to me like a recipe for disaster! Rather than picking the wise, the strong, the highly placed and well-loved of the world, God calls out the foolish, the weak, the lowly and the despised. Imagine if God had pitched His idea for establishing a Church to a group of American investors and told them, “Management and personnel will be recruited from the poorest of the poor; from the wretched, the broken and diseased; from the uneducated and poorly educated; from the mentally and emotionally crippled; basically, I want this new enterprise to be a place where all the rejects and throwaways of the world can come to find healing and peace.” Do you think the investors would jump at the chance to buy into this obviously doomed project? Or would they tell God that His plan was “sheer weirdness” and walk out? To the modern American sense of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, everything about the Church God has given us reeks of falsity, evil, and ugliness. 

Of course, we don't have to imagine that God planned a Church like the one presented to the investors. He, in fact, established just such a Church, and we are it. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out his business plan. Who will be among the blessed? The poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek; those who hunger for righteousness; the merciful and the clean of heart; the peacemakers and those persecuted for righteousness' sake. Find a wretched soul, broken and beaten by the world, persecuted for his or her trust in God, a soul steeped in mourning, yet thirsting for justice, and you have found the Church God established. Everything about this picture of our faith is just weird, simply bizarre. What could be more offensive and pungent to the world than an organization that prizes above all else the blessedness of mercy, forgiveness, meekness, poverty of spirit, self-sacrifice, obedience, moral restraint, charity, and life-long fidelity? That Christians are the single most persecuted group of religious believers on the planet tells us that there is little about our strange faith that pleases the powers of this world. That Christians—especially Catholics—are safely ridiculed, discriminated against, and openly slandered tells us that the Church sits in the midst of our culture like a pungent, offensive prophet—a living sign of contradiction, a witness against the vanities of the world and the futility of trying to be wise without God. 

The Sermon on the Mount is a prediction and a promise. Jesus predicts our persecution and promises us blessedness. He makes it perfectly clear that following him back to the Father will be not only difficult but dangerous as well, potentially deadly and most definitely discomforting. And even if we weren't persecuted for standing against the demands of a culture without God, the outrageous demands of the Church herself would be difficult enough. Think for a moment about what it is that we are asked to believe. We are asked to believe that there is an all-good, all-knowing, ever-present god who loves us. Yet, evil seems to flourish. Disease, violence, unimaginable suffering, natural and man-made disasters. We are asked to believe that this god took on human flesh and sacrificed himself for our benefit. We are asked to restrain perfectly naturally passions and desires so that we might imitate the goodness of this god. Perhaps the most outrageous demand for modern Americans is that we are asked to sacrifice in order that others might flourish, to set aside our own needs, our own wants and work diligently for the benefit of strangers and for our enemies. What sane person helps those who would see him dead? But therein lies blessedness. That's not just a promise made by a crackpot preacher 2,000 years ago. That's a promise made by the Word made flesh, God Himself, a promise already fulfilled and waiting for us to claim it.

Living in this world as faithful Catholics is often an exercise contradiction and opposition. We stand against a culture that promotes death as a solution to unwanted pregnancies, terminal illnesses, and inconvenient suffering. We stand against a culture that promotes the goodness of satisfying every base desire regardless of the consequences. A culture that rewards lying, self-promotion, greed, the prestige of wealth and celebrity. But while standing against the tides of this world, we stand with the blessed: the poor, the diseased, the oppressed, those persecuted for the faith. We stand with self-sacrifice, unconditional mercy, boundless hope, and the promise of freedom from the slavery of sin. Most importantly: we do not stand alone, as individuals but together as one Body in Christ. With all of our weirdnesses, all of our outrageous demands, with all of our pungent and offensive beliefs, we are of one heart, one mind, and we give God thanks and praise with one voice. Our hope lies in a single truth. Though we are engaged on the frontlines of a spiritual battle, the war has already been won. God is victorious. Our work—as His faithful sons and daughters—is to make sure that His victory shines through everything we do, everything we think, everything we say. As living, breathing testimonies to His redeeming love, we stand—as weird and offensive as we can sometimes be—we stand always as witnesses for His will that all of creation return to Him, whole, pure, perfected in Christ.

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Faith calms the storm

3rd Week OT (Sat)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

You only need to read Mark's gospel once to realize that the disciples aren't among the Lord's brightest angels. They come around eventually, of course, but until then Mark portrays them in less than flattering terms. So, when someone tells you that Mark's gospel is their favorite of the four, you can bet that this person struggles mightily with being the Lord's faithful student. It might be that this gospel made it into the canon of authentic scripture precisely b/c the disciples are portrayed as men who often speak out in real confusion when Jesus starts teaching. Those of us who want to be good disciples but have problems “getting it” need role models too! Mark's gospel also gives us a chance to see and hear Jesus as a teacher thoroughly frustrated with his sometimes block-headed students. Just count the number of times Jesus says something like, “Don't you get it yet? Do you still not understand?” This morning, Mark tells us about the time Jesus and the disciples find themselves on a boat in the middle of a storm. The disciples cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” In my cranky, teacherly imagination I can hear Jesus grumbling, “How many times do I have to show them? Are they even paying attention?” Of course, what he actually says is, “Quiet! Be still!” And both the storm and the disciples are calmed.

The disciples are more than just calmed. Mark reports that they are “awed,” saying, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” Better question: who is this that the wind and sea obey but we do not? Keep in mind here the root meaning of “obey.” In Latin, “obediere” means “to listen to and comply with.” You cannot comply with a request or an order until you have listened. The disciples seem to hear Jesus, but do they listen? Truly hear and understand what he is trying to teach them. The wind and sea comply with Jesus' order to be calm without question or complaint b/c they have no choice in the matter, no decision to make about obedience. The disciples do have a choice. And so do we. This is why Jesus asks, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” To put this question another way: Why are you afraid? Why have you not chosen to trust me? 

In the life of Abraham, we have an ancient example of trust. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews recounts this faith. He writes, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out. . .to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. . . By faith he sojourned in the promised land. . .By faith he received power [to have children with Sarah in their old age]. . .By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up [his son] Isaac [as a sacrifice].” Abraham listened to God and complied. He didn't know where he was going; or what he was doing. Despite his ignorance, he chose to trust and flourished b/c he did. In choosing to trust in God, Abraham realized—made real—all that he hoped for. Yes, he anguished; yes, he hesitated at times. But without evidence, without any proof of divine good will, he welcomed God's will into his life and made it his own. What the disciples lack and what we might sometimes lack is the willingness to risk our ignorance, to put our need for control in danger of being taken away. 

Jesus calmed the storm, and he awed the disciples. They had good reasons to trust in Christ. So do we. Look around you. Here we are with all our faults, failures, anxieties, hopes, and our singular love for God. Here we all are giving Him our thanks for showing us the way out of the storm, for inviting us into his eternal life.

Coffee Cup Browsing

The weakest part of presidential politics:  the party nominating process.  I agree.  The best candidates never seem to get very far.

Bishop Robert Vasa is sent to the diocese of Santa Rosa.  Only a couple of more retirements/appointments on the left coast and the episcopal bench will be revitalized completely.

I've often used "Father Hollywood" and "Father Oprah" to describe two kinds of pastors--the It's All About ME pastor and the It's All About How You Feel pastor.  Meet the real Fr. Oprah.

Tolerant Spanish progressives demonstrate their chief virtue.

On the restoration of Catholic identity and the new translation of the Missal. 

The march the MSM missed.  Of course, the MSM "missed" the march.  All those unaborted young people marching around, enjoying life.  Creepy.

Zimark on The Rite:  "Such movies, when they are done well, peel back the Norman Rockwell veil we'd all rather stayed in place and show us what lies behind it: Hieronymous Bosch."

Married priests are not the Magic Bullet we think we need.  The financial problems of maintaining a married priest and his family alone are enough to make a parish pale. 

Just say NO to an internet "kill switch" for the US.

Get the quarterback!

Cute pic of the week. . .warning:  potential sugar coma.

Things My Five-Year Has Said:  "This is not about tasting amazing. This is about fried chicken cake.”

If you "get" this pic, you probably watch Criminal Minds.

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Kindle Breviary?

Has anyone found a Kindle version of the Roman Breviary?  Anyone. . .anyone?

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Being weighed by your own measure

3rd Week OT (R)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

Hear once again Jesus preaching at the end of the Parable of the Sower: “. . .those [seed] sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” Think of yourselves as seeds of God's Word sown into the world. And think of this particular time and place as the rich soil when and where you have been planted. Are you bearing fruit thirty, sixty, one-hundredfold? If so, gives thanks to God for His abundance in your life and pray that both your charity and good works increase! If you are not bearing fruit, why not? Jesus hints at one possibility: “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?” This question challenges us to consider the possibility that despite having been sown on rich soil and despite having been given all the attention and care necessary for growth and abundance, we are not bearing fruit. Jesus hints that the key to becoming fruitful, the key to growing in holiness lies in making your life all about revealing God's living Word for all to see. He says, “For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light.” So, if you are not producing good fruit, ask yourself: how do I fail to bring God's love to light? How do I become a living revelation of God's loving-kindness?

Jesus gives us help with diagnosing the problem and solving it. He says, “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” If you are not producing the good fruit that you could be producing, it might be b/c you are not using the same standard to measure both your own life and the lives of others. Think in terms of forgiveness. Do you expect immediate and unconditional forgiveness from God and at the same time nurse grudges against those who have sinned against you? If so, the measure you use to weigh sins committed against you is the same measure God uses to weigh your own sins. The same balancing equation goes for weighing your generosity; how you forgive; and the quality of your daily witness. Dole out meager measures and not only will you receive less than what you give, what little you have will be taken from you. Mete out large measures of kindness, patience, and forgiveness, and receive from God even larger measures in return. 

Our lamps shine brightest when we receive from God and give to others; when we receive in gratitude and give generously. This is not as difficult as it might sound. The key piece to remember is humility—the virtue, that is, the good habit of knowing that everything you possess, everyone you love, all your gifts come from God, freely given to you to be freely given away in return. God doesn't love us, forgive us, and bless us because we deserve to be loved, forgiven, and blessed. We are loved, forgiven, and blessed so that we can love; so that we can forgive; so that we can bless. By what measure does the Father love, forgive, and bless us? That is His measure (pointing to the crucifix)! Sacrificial love. And if we will produce abundant good fruit, if we will shine His light into the world, that (pointing again) must be our measure. He died b/c he loves us. We can nothing less than follow him, dying to self and rising again to a new life as living measures of His Good News.

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The Mystery of the Kingdom Solved

Ss. Titus and Timothy

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph's Church, Ponchatula

What do we need in order to understand the Good News? What is it—in addition to the message itself—that we must have to ensure that we see and hear the gospel as Jesus preached it? You might want to ask: why do you assume that we need something beyond the Word itself in order to understand? Good question. Think about it. If simply hearing the Word read and preached were enough to convert someone, then about 90% of the world would be Christian. We also have Jesus' strange admission to his disciples, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables. . .” Why use difficult-to-interpret parables when trying to explain the Kingdom-mystery? Basically, Jesus admits to using parables in his preaching in order to keep some from understanding his message! He intentionally hides the truth from some and reveals it to others. What is it that those ignorant of the mystery need in order to join the enlightened? Seeing and hearing the mystery preached is not enough for conversion. What's required is an act of faith, a commitment to trusting in God's promises, and a life lived in charity. These virtues reveal the mystery of the Kingdom.

It seems exceedingly odd to those of us living in the tolerant 21st century that Jesus would intentionally obscure the truth of the gospel in order to exclude anyone. His secrecy seems somehow unjust, or maybe a little paranoid. Maybe so, but we could take this secrecy to be a practical precaution. The Pharisees and the Roman collaborators among the Jews are plotting to have Jesus executed. They follow him around waiting for him to say something blasphemous or to do something that would betray him as seditious. Cloaking the gospel in the riddles of a parable seems prudent in light of the political situation Jesus finds himself in. But there's more here than just political expediency. The parable of the sower itself reveals a truth about the Gospel that we cannot ignore. When sown freely, the seed of God's Word falls on different sorts of ground, different sorts of hearts and minds. Some are fertile, some are barren; others are rocky or choked with thorns. The point here is that merely sowing the seeds of the Word is not enough to guarantee a harvest. More is required.

Understanding the Gospel is not simply a matter of comprehending doctrine or memorizing scripture. We aren't solving math problems, or reading a map, or carrying out a chemistry experiment. We aren't dealing with an engineering problem, or logically working out a philosophical argument. The mystery of the Kingdom must be lived to be understood. Faith is a daily commitment to trusting in God. Hope is not a gamble but the firm conviction that God's promises have already been fulfilled. Charity, loving-kindness is the way we express this hope. If we trust in God's providence and firmly believe that His promises have been fulfilled, then we must live now as if we already live with Him in heaven. When we do this, we ourselves become the seeds of the Word; seeds sown freely into the world to take root and produce an abundant harvest.

The question now is: where have you been sown? Are you living in such a way that God's kingdom is revealed to any and all who see and hear you? Are you growing his His holiness and sharing the fruits of your holiness? The Psalm we recited this morning says it all, “Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations!” Mystery solved.

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Superficiality of the hyper-focused undegrad major. . .yet more reasons to give serious thought and prayer to sending your kids to schools like the University of Dallas!

PA Abortionist might just be America's most prolific serial killer.  Here's a good question:  where were all those dozens of state agencies and throngs of bureaucrats that love to regulate our lives?  Why weren't they kicking in the doors of this butcher shop?  Hmmmmm. . .I wonder.

Lest we forget. . .this "doctor" used an abortion technique that the current occupant of the White House believes to be perfectly moral.  

Speaking of expensive and largely useless bureaucrats:  House Committee considers cutting the U.S. budget for the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission.

An E.T. Jesus?  If there are "people"  on other planets, was Christ's sacrifice on the cross efficacious for their salvation?   Did the Son incarnate on their world?

I believe they call this "Rubinesque"?

Um, if you're married to the Fire Chief. . .you prolly shouldn't divorce him.

Shanghai:  1990 vs. 2010.  I was in Shanghai in 1990.  Capitalism at work!

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Once for all. . .into the Kingdom

St Francis de Sales

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St Joseph's Church, Ponchatula

Jesus preaches the Gospel: “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For Catholics living in the American South, Jesus' urgent call for repentance might sound a little too Protestant, a little too evangelical. We've all seen the cartoon with the disreputable prophet on the street with a sign that reads, “REPENT!” Or, we've heard the TV preacher screaming about repentance and the fires of hell that await those of us who refuse to turn away from sin. We Catholics—no more or less than anyone else—are called to turn our hearts and minds away from disobedience and toward the obedience of the Cross—a life lived in sacrificial love and service to others all for Christ's sake. Perhaps the difference between Catholics and the TV preachers is one of style rather than substance. If the flavor of repentance is distasteful to you, maybe it's just the spice used rather than the meat of the dish that turns your tongue. Let's hope and pray that this is the case b/c refusing to repent of one's sins constitutes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and such a refusal will not be forgiven. In fact, refusing to repent cannot be forgiven. God will not save us against our will. He will love us right into hell.

This sounds harsh, I know. But this a truth of the Catholic faith that cannot be spiced up or sugar-coated or hidden away. The Catechism is starkly clear on the issue: “There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss” (n. 1864). Theologically, this makes perfect sense. We have two truths in balance here. First, God wills that all His people return to Him through Christ. Second, He wills that we do so freely. So that all may return to Him through Christ, the invitation to salvation is made unconditionally, without limits, to everyone. The effect of Christ's sacrifice is not limited to one tribe or people or region of the world. To demonstrate His love for us and to see us come to Him without coercion, God has willed that we must accept His invitation to salvation. If we accept, we are saved in love. If we refuse, God respects our decision to live eternally outside His love. The Church defines Hell as “state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God. . .” (n. 1033). In other words, we send ourselves to hell by stubbornly refusing to repent. Our final refusal, our last rejection of God's invitation to join Him in love is called “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” 

Fortunately, the Letter to the Hebrews lays out for us how our salvation is accomplished: “. . .once for all [Christ] has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once. . .so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.” Christ came to us first to take away our sins. He will come again to bring salvation for those who wait in his love. Whether you wait in love or not is a free choice. If you will wait, then follow Christ, live and die as he lived and died—a life and death of sacrificial love and service, a life of obedience and humility. Know that you are not alone. The whole body of Christ serves along side you. We are a single body on pilgrimage from here to the kingdom to come.

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A Semi-rant about cell phones, etc.

In her new book, Alone Together, MIT professor Sherry Turkle attacks the destructive potential in all the new technology floating around, especially Twitter, Facebook, and cell phones.

"Turkle's thesis is simple: technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human. Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world."

Like most ideas put out there for pushing sales of a book, this one is overstated.  However, there is a kernel of truth here.  As Catholics, we are naturally sacramental thinkers/doers; that is, we think and act in ways that reveal and enact God's grace to ourselves and others.  Technology can certainly be used to reveal God's grace, but it can be abused as well.

The distinction between the use and abuse of a good is as old as the Bible.  St. Augustine made it a central feature of his moral theology.  Aquinas followed his lead.  And the Church continues to teach that any Good Use can be turned to Abuse.  Think of food, alcohol, sex, money, relationships, etc.  

My biggest complaint with cell phones is that they tend to interrupt face-to-face contact by demanding immediate attention.  Like a small child who hasn't quite learned the social skills to politely excuse himself, cell phones ring/sing/squeal until they are attended to.  Of course, its the cell phone owner who abuses the personal contact by dropping the conversation and answering the phone.  

At the root of the Evil that is the Cell Phone is the notion that we must all be 100% available 100% of the time.  The lie told by the cell phone is that we are 100% available 100% of the time.  We aren't.  Sometimes we are at Mass or in the confessional or visiting with a friend or shopping for the family.  We are occupied and the squealing cell phone is a rude intrusion. 

Now, before the comboxes fill up with stories about how having a cell phone available helped to save a life, etc.  I know.  I know.  I really do.  They are more than just convenient sometimes.  But tell the truth:  how many times have you answered your cell since you've had one?  How many of those times have been calls that were truly urgent, meaning to have missed the call would  have meant injury or death to a loved one?  How many times do you hear people in the check out line or at the gym or even in church just shooting the breeze with someone on the cell instead of attending to the business and the people right in front of them?

A story:  I was looking for a book in a Borders one night.  The place was packed.  The guy standing next to me was on his cell.  He was telling the person on the other end of the line that he was bored and that he had no one to hang out with.  He's in a bookstore with literally thousands of books and he's bored.  He's in a bookstore with more than a hundred people and he's all alone.  Really? 

If there's a better scene for a play on the postmodern human condition than this one, please let me know.

P.S.  The irony of grousing on my blog about the alienating effects of technology has not escaped me. 

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Repent. . .and do not empty out the Cross

3rd Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph's Church, Ponchatula

We who live in darkness, all of us who dwell in a land overshadowed by death—for us, a great light has arisen, a light that shines through our darkness to prove that death is not our end, that death is not undefeated, that death is nothing for us to fear. Anguish has taken wing and darkness is dispelled. The light brings us abundant joy and even greater rejoicing. No longer slaves to the master of sin—his yoke and rod are broken—we are free to flourish as the children of God, to await the coming of His reign, and the beginning of our lives beyond the death of this world. The light that lights our way back to God shines from the Cross of Christ, and it shines without condition or prejudice, without preference or exclusion. All are invited to rejoice in the freedom of God; all are invited to participate in His divine life; no one is left to stand unwillingly in darkness. Open your eyes to see Christ's light and the darkness of sin and death vanish. Close your eyes to his light and division, dissension, gloom, and distress will overwhelm you. Therefore, in order to open the eyes and the hearts of God's people, Jesus goes out and preaches, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

We know that a heart turned away from the Cross of Christ empties both the heart and the cross. Paul warns the Corinthians that their factional divisions threaten more than just the social peace. The dissension among them tears at the foundation of their eternal peace—their lives in Christ as witnesses to God's mercy. Like all of us who have died and risen again with Christ in baptism, the Corinthians have vowed to serve in the world as living testimonies to the Father's love for His children. Once, the Corinthians saw the light of the Cross; they turned to the Lord, repenting of their sins, and flourished as a single witness to all that Christ's death and resurrection can do. Now, they are split into factions, each faction giving allegiance to one teacher or another. Appollos, Cephas, Christ, Paul. You can hear the distress in Paul's letter when he writes, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” Our Corinthian brothers and sisters—once bright with the light of the Cross of Christ—live again in darkness. Having turned away from Christ, eagerly putting themselves back into the sin-master's yoke, and submitting themselves once again to the devil's whip, the Church in Corinth foolishly empties out the meaning of the Cross. Therefore, Paul preaches as Jesus himself preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Why must the Corinthians repent? Why do we have to repent? The kingdom of heaven is at hand. So what? Why is repentance such an urgent need? First, let's look at what “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” means? When something is “at hand,” it is close by, coming near. A tool “at hand” is easy to reach, easy to grasp. An “at hand” exam is coming up soon, probably tomorrow or sooner. When Jesus preaches that the kingdom of heaven is “at hand,” he means that his Father's kingdom is nearby; it is coming and will arrive soon. But what exactly is it that will soon arrive? In Mark's gospel, we usually see the phrase “kingdom of God.” Matthew tends to prefer “kingdom of heaven.” Both of these mean “God's sovereign rule.” So, Jesus is preaching the imminent arrival of his Father's reign over His people. What's left to figure out is who will be among His people.

Who will live in heaven's kingdom depends entirely on who turns away from disobedience and embraces the obedience of the Cross. Remember: the light of the Cross shines without condition or prejudice, without preference or exclusion. All are invited to rejoice in the freedom of God; all are invited to participate in His divine life; no one is left to stand unwillingly in darkness. If no one is excluded from the light, then why should anyone bother with repentance? Look at the Corinthians. Once, they lived and flourished in the light of Christ. But they fell into division and dissension, emptying their witness of all meaning. Paul calls them back to Christ—not with the wisdom of human eloquence—but by asking a simple question: “Is Christ divided?” He smacks them with an image of a Christ himself, undivided, one body. Come back to the unity of God's singular love and bear witness to His mercy. If the Corinthians can live in the light and turn away from it, then it must be the case that the light of Christ can be lost through sin. All are invited. No one is excluded. But to receive an invitation is not the same as accepting it and then showing up at the party. Even those who are intentionally included can choose to exclude themselves. The light of Christ shines on us all. But not all of us open our eyes to see, open our hearts to receive. Therefore, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

If the Lord's rule over His people is coming soon and repentance from sin includes us under His rule, what should a life of repentance look like while we wait for the kingdom to arrive? Ideally, the life we live day-to-day should look as much as possible like the life we will live in the kingdom. No division among us. No dissension. No factions claiming different teachers, alien teachings. As a body, we would honor and encourage the variety of gifts given to our members, each member perfecting the love of God by loving others in turn. There would be one heart and mind, the heart and mind of Christ; that is, a devotion to sacrificial service, giving up self so that holiness might thrive. True obedience—faithfully listening—to God's Word would be our first instinct. There would be no jealousy, no rivalry, no gossip or lying. We would eagerly serve the poor; all those oppressed by disease or disability; we would seek out and live in peace with one another. 

While we wait for the coming of the kingdom, we can live lives of repentance, lives lived constantly aware of both our gifts and our failures. Constantly aware of both what we have to give and what we need to receive. Most of all, a life of repentance is a life of humility, believing/feeling/acting fully aware that everything we have and everything we are is a gift, a freely given boon from God. We are wholly dependent on God. For this life here and now and for our lives to come. 

If we will serve in His kingdom, we must turn in obedience to the Cross. Open our eyes. Open our hearts. And receive the gifts He has given us. Therefore, repent. . .for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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Bring on the crazzy!

NB:  This homily had a much better ending, but as I went to "save as" Open Office crashed and I lost it.  The Devil really is after me these days!

2nd Week OT (Sat)

Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

Jesus' family thinks he's nuts. They've heard about him roaming around the country healing and preaching, arguing with the Pharisees and challenging the scribes. They've heard that the crowds are so thick sometimes that he and the disciples couldn't even eat. Hearing all of this, his family sets out to seize him, saying, “He's out of his mind!” Knowing what we know about Jesus, we can sympathize with his poor family. Think about the claims Jesus makes. He can forgive sins, heal the sick, cast out demons. He claims to be the promised Messiah, the Son of God. This hometown boy from Nazareth is running around telling folks that he is the Anointed One whose coming is prophesied by Isaiah. His poor mama and daddy might worried sick! The Pharisees are worried too. . .for very different reasons. They too want to seize him. . .also for very different reasons. We know that Jesus isn't crazy. We know that we aren't crazy b/c we believe his Good News. But let's admit the truth about our faith: living in this world as followers of Christ can make us a little crazy. Trying to be Christ for others is not only difficult, it is dangerous to our mental health. And this is a risk well worth taking. Being sane in this world is its own kind of crazy.

You don't have to spend much time with the biographies of some our greatest saints to realize that there is a fine line between being holy and being nuts. St. Rose of Lima rubbed lye into her beautiful face so that her beauty wouldn't be a temptation for others. St. Catherine of Siena ate nothing but consecrated communion wafers for weeks on end. Other holy men and women lived in caves; sat on top of pillars; walled themselves up into houses. Some voluntarily moved into leper colonies or violent slums. St. Maximilian Kolbe volunteered himself to be starved to death by the Nazis in order to save a fellow prisoner who had a family. Are these men and women insane or holy? By the world's standards, they are surely as crazy as belfry bats. Following along behind Christ is dangerous; following him can put your sanity at risk. But if being sane in the world means rejecting the promises made by divine love, I say, “Bring on the crazy!”

On its own terms, our world offers us everything a self-aware animal wants and needs. Food, shelter, clothing, work, status, relationships, intellectual and emotional development. Given the right circumstances, a little hard work, and some luck, we can be comfortable and look forward to staying that way. But there's a price for this comfort. To get all we want and need in this world, we have to surrender any hope for living beyond the world. If we spend our time and energy trying to live here and now as if there were something, somewhere more than what we see and hear, we forfeit the riches of the here and now; we sacrifice comfort, security, maybe even family and friends. When we make decisions as if heaven and hell really exists, as if God is real and the gospel were true, everything we have becomes a chance to show this world that the world itself is a divine gift. 

Take a risk today. Live dangerously. Pray fervently, “Lord, bring on your crazy and give me what I need to be crazy for you!”

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Gruesome report on the "doctor" who murdered the children who survived his botched attempts at aborting them.

What happened to the anti-war movement?  The movement seemed nearly ubiquitous between 2000-2008.  Haven't heard much from them since, say, Jan. 20th 2009. 

Fantastic article on a NJ lawyer who's fighting the Good Fight against abortion.  (H/T:  M. Shea)

Bishops and college presidents will discuss the Catholic identity of U.S. Catholic higher education. 

A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged.  Pro-union publisher fights his employee union.  Why?  He seems to understand that there's no point in his magazine having an employee union if there's no magazine to employ them. 

One of the settings for the "Gloria" in the corrected translation of the Roman Missal.  I like it.  The music seems just a tad somber for the text of the "Gloria". . .but it is a thousand times better than 90% of the settings we use now.

Advice to Young Conservatives.  Best advice:  "Don't become infatuated with politicians — Save the crushes for actors, rock stars, and the cute blonde in your U.S. History class. . ." 

Physics Nerd cartoon

Why the pool was closed. . .

Post-It Note art. . .some of these are amazing.

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Kindle Weirdness (um, nevermind. . .)

Ignore the question below.  I figured it out.  Amazon sends an email notice that a Kindle Book has been purchased and I have to "accept" the gift.   How VERY Catholic!  

Thanks to HancAquam readers:  Will, Tanya, and Katie!  I will pray for you guys every time I click my little reader on.  You help keep me sane.

Oh, I should also report that that problem I was having with the Kindle randomly restarting has been resolved.  I was turning it off with the novel still open.  I tried returning to the Home Page before turning it off and that seems to have fixed the problem.

Here's a question for the HancAquam Techie Geeks. . .

My Kindle Wish List indicates that kind, generous, much prayed-for HancAquam readers have purchased three "books" from the K.W.L.  Mille grazie!

However, the "books" do not show up for download on my Kindle account.  Nor do they download when I connect wirelessly.

Any ideas out there, Beloved Geeks?

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Kindle Wish List. . .

FINALLY!

I figured out how to set up a Kindle Wish List.

You will note that all of the books listed are historical fiction. . .no serious academic books, no poetry, no nothing I need for school.

Just books to keep me sane when Contemplating the One becomes too much to bear. . .

:-)

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No demonic witnesses

3rd Week OT (R)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

We never really want to say that Jesus behaved strangely while he preached and taught, but doesn't it seem odd that he would go around publicly performing healing miracles and at the same time order the unclean spirits who recognize him as the Son of God to be silent about his identity? I mean, if Jesus didn't want his sonship widely known, why cure diseases, expel demons, and claim to have the Father's authority to forgive sins? Mark reports that the crowds were so large and so eager to touch him that he had a hop on a boat in order to avoid being crushed! His message was getting out, so why silence the unclean spirits? Maybe we didn't want to risk being discredited by his religious enemies. They could accuse him of being an agent of the Devil if unclean spirits started witnessing to his identity. Maybe he didn't want his enemies to know too much about him before the proper time. There are a lot of maybe's. But one thing is clear: the demons know him as the Son of God. And though they know who and what he is, they do not believe in him; they do not share in nor benefit from the faith, hope, and charity of those whose eyes and ears are opened upon seeing Jesus and hearing his Word. Demons are not atheists. They believe in God's existence; however, unlike those who are healed by his touch come to trust in him, resting assured in his promises and loving as he loves them, demons do not trust, love, or live in hope. Therefore, there's a difference between knowing who the Son of God is and living in faith with him.

Jesus' public ministry of healing and preaching is something more than just an introduction to his identity. The author of the Letter of the Hebrews writes, “. . .[Christ] has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.” The author here says that Christ's ministry is “more excellent.” More excellent than what? In context, he is referring to the ministry of the High Priest of the Jewish temple; he is comparing the priestly work in the temple with Christ's priestly work in heaven. Christ's priesthood is more excellent b/c his work is one and done, b/c Christ himself is both the sacrificial victim and the sacrificing priest. The covenant established by the cross and resurrection are “better” than the covenant with Moses b/c who Christ is and what he does is the fulfillment, the perfection of God's covenant with Moses. Where before the coming of the Messiah God's people received forgiveness in an earthly copy of the heavenly sanctuary, now we receive His mercy in a living sanctuary, the body and blood of the risen Christ—a better covenant, a more perfect promise of eternal life.

In the same way that Christ's covenant is a perfection of God's covenant with Moses, our faith in Christ is the perfection of simply knowing who he is. In other words, if merely knowing who Jesus is is a good thing, trusting in him is all the better. Even the unclean spirits know who he is; they know that Jesus is the Son of God. But they do not and cannot trust, hope, love. We can. Living in the hope that Christ reveals and loving as we are loved—these are what distinguish us from the unclean spirits. Perhaps Jesus silences the demons b/c he wants God's people to do more than simply come to know who he is. He wants us to trust him, to rest assured in his promises, to love. This cannot be the testimony of an unclean spirit. Only those with eyes and ears opened by his merciful Word can speak truthfully in faith.

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