Strange miracles?

St. John Chrysostom

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Blackfriars, Oxford U.

A strange miracle. Is the phrase “strange miracle” redundant or oxymoronic? Are you repeating yourself when you label an event not only “miraculous” but “strangely miraculous”? Or are you contradicting yourself? Writing against the heresies of Marcion in the second century, Tertullian uses Jesus' miraculous resuscitation of the widow's son to a make a point about Christ's relationship with his Father. In the process of making his devastating point, Tertullian quickly summarizes the scene from Luke and notes, almost off-handedly, “This was not a strange miracle” (Against Marcion, IV.18). Not a strange miracle? Correct me if I've misunderstood something here but Luke is reporting that Jesus has just brought a dead man back to life? Out of compassion for a widow whose only son has died, Jesus tells the woman not to weep, and then touches the dead man's coffin, and says, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” And he does. Now, Tertullian is telling us that it is not strange that a dead man rose from his coffin and started talking? Nothing odd about that at all. Nothing unusual in the least. Well, I am most confident in declaring that Tertullian and I have very different definitions of the word “strange.” To be fair to Tertullian, he's making a fairly broad point by using this Lucan miracle. His broader point is that the revival of the widow's dead son is not at all strange when viewed in the longer history of prophetic miracles. He asks, if God's prophets can perform miracles of such magnitude, why not His Son? Especially when the miracle bears the burden of revelation: “. . .they glorified God, exclaiming. . .'God has visited his people.'” 

Just a day or two before reviving the widow's son, Jesus had healed the centurion's servant. In both cases, Jesus showed compassion and exercised great power. In both cases, his interventions gave witness to his ministry and glory to God. And in both cases, news of his words and deeds spread like wildfire over Judea. There is one interesting difference btw the two events. In the case of the sick servant, Jesus acts on a request for healing. No such request is made in the case of the widow's son. What's interesting is that the power and glory of God are revealed in both cases, whether those most directly involved in the miracle ask for God's help or not. Where Christ goes—preaching, teaching, healing—so goes the most exacting revelation of God possible. The truth of that revelation—God's Self-revelation—is not contingent upon the need, the desire, the faith, or the credulity of those to whom He reveals Himself. To those with eyes to see and ears to hear, He is uncovered, unveiled, and all there is to do is give thanks and praise! For others, strangeness abounds when a miracle occurs and there is nothing to do but seek an empirical explanation.

Let's ask a somewhat difficult question: do we need a strange miracle to occur before we can say with the utmost confidence: “God has visited His people!”? Do we need a man several days dead revived? Do we need a sick servant healed from a distance? If so, if we, if you need a strange miracle to believe, ask yourself why. Why do I need such thing? And consider: God visits His people daily in the Eucharist. In the breaking of the bread, a great prophet rises among the people. God's mercy; His healing touch; His cleansing spirit; all the gifts necessary to come to Him in the perfection of His Christ. . .all freely available right here in His Church. Think of them as miracles. . .strange little miracles, if you want. Regardless, strange or not, miracles or not, in the Eucharist, all of the sacraments, Christ touches you and says to you, “Arise!” Arise from death. Arise from sin. Arise from disease, doubt, distress, worry. Arise, speak, bear witness, and be yourself a revelation of God the Most High!

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Exaams

Received word about the comprehensive philosophy license (Ph.L.) exams. . .

The three hour written exam will take place on Oct. 7th.  The oral exams on the themes paper and the license thesis will take place either on the 6th or the 8th.  

Please pray for me and all those taking the exams!

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Records set on B.O.'s watch:  "It’s an unmitigated litany of failure, evidence of economic illiteracy, political incompetence, and ideological extremism."

A chronicle of how the "Religion of Peace" persecutes Christians.

The New Tone. . .now with 75% less civility!

Sigh. . .no disciplinary action against those Protestant ministers pretending to be Catholic priests in Austria.  Wish I could at least feign surprise.

"Barack Obama’s vanity is that he believes he is a world historical event." 

Lefty billionaire Soros claims that 9/11 memorials are really just monuments to anti-Muslim hatred.

Immigrants fleeing across the border to find jobs in a healthier economy. . .Americans moving to Canada.

Contraception --> Divorce --> Abortion --> Gay "Marriage" --> Polygamy --> Pedophilia?  Though Slippery Slopes arguments are logically fallacious, they are not necessarily historically false.

OMG!  I've seen the original at the Vatican Museum. . .wait. . .

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Repair, Ruin, or Re-run?

NB.  Slightly edited repost from 2005.  Sorry.  Had the 8am Mass, and the Holy Spirit just couldn't get my cooperation for a new homily. 

24th Sunday in OT

Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP

Blackfriars, Oxford

Let's see. In the last month or so, we've been exhorted to correct one another fraternally. To love one another. To spend more time looking in a mirror and less time looking through binoculars. To serve God by serving one another. To be fresh wineskins for the New Wine of the Lord. And on and on and on. It’s getting to where here lately that it is difficult to hold a decent grudge, to point fingers at other peoples’ sins, or to justify a little self-righteous anger. Or to just wallow in a little self-pity! Don’t be vengeful. Let go of rebukes. Do not hate your neighbor. Overlook faults. Be merciful. Do not cherish wrath. Perhaps we are right to complain that the Lord is too demanding, too demanding of our obedience. Surely, it is easier to find refuge in the ruins than it is to help build a new city.

Case in point. Here we are at Mass again and we hear again another string of demands, perhaps the most demanding of demands: Forgive seven times seventy those who sin against you. We must forgive. This is not merely encouragement. Jesus doesn’t say, “I urge you to consider forgiving them.” He doesn’t say, “Ya know, wouldn’t it be better if you just forgave them?” He, in fact, says, “You wicked servant! Unless you forgive your brothers from your heart your heavenly Father will give you over to the Torturers.” That’s not a suggestion or a hint. That’s a threat. Plain and simple.

We're accustomed to consumerist religious language, language designed to be inoffensive and persuasive, so we’re not used to hearing about threats from God. But there it is. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.” God “settles accounts”?! In this case, the account that needs settling involves forgiveness, or rather the failure to forgive. Jesus' demand that we forgive seems odd given that forgiveness is generally thought of as something that must be given freely, willingly. Isn’t forgiveness one of those religiously things that we’re told to do but often fail to do precisely b/c we know Other People are supposed to do it too. I mean, of course, I know I’m supposed to forgive, but aren’t you supposed to forgive my failure to forgive you? Well, yes, but you don’t b/c I won’t forgive you and on and on and on, round and round we go, spinning into Hell, clinging to one another, teeth embedded, claws deep in the flesh; we fall, forever, together. We can't say we weren't warned. 

Forgive one another. How easily said. Forgive one another. Not so easily done. I wonder why? Why is it so hard for us to forgive? What problems do we run into when struggling with forgiving those who have hurt us? No doubt these problems are Legion. There is fear. Are we condoning the sin if we forgive? Are we saying that the forgiven sin won’t be a sin in the future. THAT sin is OK now? Maybe we fear becoming prey to bullies, becoming a victim to others’ wrath. To deny forgiveness to the bully is a sure way to guard our dignity, to be diligent against abuse. Along with fear, there is also wrathful anger. Maybe we like being indignant, the feeling of resentment, the grudge, the rancor of spitefully stroking every slight, every wound, counting up the injustices and hurts. We become the Devil’s Accountant and our denial of forgiveness, our disobedience to Christ, becomes a way of playing a very perverse version of God—refusing forgiveness to feel superior, righteous, holier than the offender. Here we are tempted to imitate Satan, the angel who went from being the glorious Morning Star to the Lord of the Damned b/c his envy of God, his need to be God, killed his love for God. If the Morning Star can fall, we must ask with Ben Sira, son of Eleazar, who wrote the Book of Sirach: “If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?”

Perhaps we can look at this another way. The contemporary American poet, Eric Pankey, in a poem titled, “Prayer,” asks this question: “What do you love better: the ruin or its repair/Desire’s affliction or fire’s harsh sacrament?” The question of whether or not to forgive can be about whether or not to relinquish hurt and reach for healing. It can be about forgetting. It can also be about obedience and meeting the demands of your faith. But finally, forgiveness is about figuring out what you love more: the ruin of sin or the repair of forgiveness, self-destructive suffering or the hard, hard choice of burning away the slights, the injuries in the “fire’s harsh sacrament”? 

Paul writes to the Romans: “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Surely this is what we love best: that we are the Lord’s, we belong wholly—body, soul, spirit—to a loving God who has saved us from the need to be spiteful in the face of hurts, from the need to hold grudges, from the need to wallow in pity, wrath, and self-righteous anger. We are freed from the slavery of enmity, vengeance, death, and decay. Put the chains back on if you will, but consider: what do you love better: sin’s ruin or Christ’s repair? Your freedom or a wound to nurse?

Don’t be vengeful. Let go of rebukes. Do not hate your neighbor. Overlook faults. Be merciful. Do not cherish wrath. It is too much. It is too much if we go alone into the wilderness of holiness. Though it is easier to find refuge in the ruins than it is to help build a new city, we are promised to a God Who makes demands, Who wants our obedience, and expects us to live up to our end of the Covenant. Building His kingdom, the holy city, one soul at a time begins with the movement of love toward forgiveness. We can survive in the ruins. But we will flourish in the work of repair. And we will flourish more beautifully together than alone.

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Nota Bene

That's it!  I'm dropping out of society to go live in the wilderness as a unicorn!

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Firm Foundation or Total Collapse?

NB.  I have a lot of really good reasons why this homily is so bad. . .unfortunately, none of those reasons rise to the level of a decent excuse.  Oh well. . .

23rd Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Blackfriars, Oxford U.

Just in case you aren't keeping up with the latest fashions from Paris and New York, I thought you should know that foundations are out. I'm not taking about undergarments here or makeup but rather the sorts of foundations that purport to “hold up” our humane efforts toward exploring, describing, and explaining our world—that is, foundations like reason, God, reality, language, that sort of thing. Somewhere along the way, back in the early 60's, someone—no doubt, someone French—decided that “founding” the truth of our various claims to know stuff about the world was just slightly less embarrassing than wearing white socks with sandals. Can anyone who claims that their knowledge of the world is based on a sound foundation be taken seriously? No. No more seriously than someone who rinses mushrooms before the saute or pairs a winter fruit with a summer cheese! Now, of course, the arguments against foundationalism are more complex and serious than I'm letting on. However, the essential attraction of anti-foundationalism is less about its rational appeal and more about the alleged liberty it confers on the hearts and minds of its followers and the stamp of trendy approval that that alleged liberty imparts. Without a foundation, without foundations of any kind, the human heart and mind is supposedly freed to create, re-create, adapt, evolve, transfigure; to do and to be anything that the imagination can conjure. Attractive idea? Oh, yes. But remember, “When the river burst against [the house built w/o a solid foundation], it collapses at once and is completely destroyed." 

While some have been busy these last few decades or so dismantling the literary, philosophical, and theological traditions of the West—all sturdy suppliers of foundational materials—, the destructive force of the flooding river has only increased in strength. That's right. The storm hit; the waters started to rise; the dams broke; and rather than turn to the time-tested solutions found in God, reason, and revelation, some of us belly-flopped on the first wave in and try to ride the tide, all the while claiming that there is no danger, no destruction, no imminent collapse of culture. There can't be any danger b/c there are no foundations upon which to make such outrageous claims about the “truth.” Just narratives, texts, perspectives, and feelings—all fleeting, always in flux, unstable by nature, and one no more true than any other. 

Some of our contemporaries in the Church have bought into an anti-foundationalist version of the faith. The historic Christian faith is just a set of stories we tell one another, a set of literary texts we use to motivate ourselves to be better people. But can a 21st century Christian navigate a healthy course to real holiness w/o a rock-solid foundation in Christ? Of course not! Listen again to Paul writing to Timothy: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” The Word becomes Flesh, a man like one of us. An historical event. An historical event with a divine purpose, to save sinners. Yes, there's a story to tell and a text to dissect and a couple of different perspectives involved in the retelling. . .but we are telling, retelling, and dissecting an event. An event that makes our salvation possible and establishes a large piece of the foundation for our faith. Without this piece, without the incarnation, there is no Christ for us to be perfected into. The river floods its banks, bursts the dams, and our houses collapse and are completely destroyed. And why? B/c we built them—and our faith—on ground w/o a firm foundation. We listen to Christ, but we do not obey. We hear and do not act. Why would we call Christ “Lord” and then refuse to obey him? How exactly is he our Lord if we cannot/will not obey his commands? The firm foundation of our holiness is obedience to Christ—that is, listening to his Word and acting on his Word. There's nothing trendy, fashionable, or even all that practical about this sort of obedience. Unless of course you consider life everlasting in the presence of the Most High practical.

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On not running on empty

23rd Week OT (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Blackfriars, Oxford U.

The artists, poets, musicians, novelists, and all the other demiurges of the 20th century culture-machine were deeply influenced by the “twin idols [of] humanism and nihilism. . .” So notes literary critic Joel Brouwer back in 2009. He goes on to observe that the simultaneous worship of the Human and Nothingness creates “an impossible religion. . .” When the reality of all things is measured by the human, and yet—at the same time—life is lived as if nothing is truly real, then what it means to be human is reduced to nothingness. Perhaps we should borrow an epitaph from the 5th century B.C. philosopher, Gorgias and use it for ourselves: "Nothing exists; and even if something does exist, nothing can be known about it; and even if something can be known about it, knowledge about it cannot be communicated to others." This is the sort of “seductive philosophy” that Paul warns the Colossians about in our reading today; this is the sort of empty thinking that left the Ephesians “without hope and without God. . .” until they encountered Christ. And—despite all of our advances as rational creatures in the 2,300 years since Gorgias' death—his is the sort of nihilistic thinking/believing that continues to poison our hearts and minds against the beauty of our redemption, against the truth and goodness of our renovated lives in Christ Jesus. What is the truth of our salvation? Paul writes, “For in [Christ] dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily, and you share in this fullness in him. . .” 

If this is true (and it is), then it is fairly easy to see how the Church—as she goes about proclaiming the Good News—sets herself against the spirit of this age, sets herself against the wisdom and traditions of men, the seductive philosophies and empty thinking of this world. Let's break it down. The whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily in Christ. You and I were buried with him in baptism, a baptism in which we were also raised with him through faith in the power of God. And b/c we were buried with him and raised with him, we share in the fullness of the divine that dwells in him. Now, excuse my Mississippi English. . .but that ain't NOTHING, folks! It's not Nothing. But it's more than just something. It's everything. Because even when we were dead in our transgressions and in the uncircumcision of our flesh, he forgave us all our transgressions and brought us to life along with him. He brought us along with him. To life everlasting. . .he brought us along with him.

Yes, Christ brings us along, but we must follow. And we cannot follow Christ if we worship the twin idols of humanism and nihilism, if we practice the impossible religion of making man the measure of all things and at the same time believing that there are no existing things out there to measure! Those who gather around Jesus and the newly appointed apostles know that they need to touch the Christ; they know that he is the source of healing and cure for their diseases. Luke reports, “Everyone in the crowd sought to touch Jesus because power came forth from him and healed them all.” Power came forth from him. Virtus. Strength. Excellence. Vigor. The crowd knew his strength. They sought it out. And when they were healed, they went out as witnesses testifying to his power. Jesus gathered followers because he always spoke the truth, always radiated goodness and strength, and pointed always back to his Father as the Source of all life. If we are follow him to where he would bring us, we must do the same, rejecting the emptiness of this age's thinking, walking in him, rooted in him, built upon him and established in the faith, abounding always in thanksgiving!

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PoMo Christ & the Church

A few weeks back, I rec'd a request for a short reading list on postmodernist theory and its uses in Christian theology.  There are hundreds of books that tackle this subject.  Here are just a few in no particular order:

Myron Penner (ed.), Christianity and the Postmodern Turn:  Six Views.

Peter J. Leithart, Solomon Among the Postmoderns.

Millard J. Erickson,  Truth or Consequences:  The Promise and Perils of Postmodernism.

Graham Ward, The Postmodern God:  A Theological Reader.  (NB.  This is heavy-duty theology)

James A. K. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church.

Keep in mind that each book has its own bibliography. . .so, check these out as well. 



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Coffee Cup Browsing

Once again, the Inquisition of the Church of Global Warming gets its pound of flesh from a heretic. 

On how to deal with those Protestant ministers posing as Catholic priests in Austria. 

A good piece on the Polish Dominicans serving in Manhattan. 

It's hard to find Good Goons these days. 

More on that New Tone in American politics.  Did you hear that big yawn from the MSM?

What Do Philosophers Believe?  (Well, who counts as a "philosopher" and what do you mean by "believe"?)  :-)  Just practicing. . .

I laughed at this. . .then realized that it's pretty dumb. . .and laughed again.

Dad needs to refresh his parenting skills. . .

First World Riots vs. Third World Riots

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The New Translation on this Side of the Pond

Catholics all over England and Wales started using the new English translation of the Mass yesterday.  

We followed along here at Blackfriars.  

Besides the stack of new books to juggle in the choir stalls and the occasional slip up with "And also with you," everything went well.  

One thing I noticed. . .for most of the Mass I was lost; that is, I kept having to stop and think about where we were in the liturgy.  All the familiar verbal cues were gone, so keeping track of where we were was a matter of actually concentrating on the content of what we were praying and not just the Cue Words. 

Another American friar visiting the priory noted that the text of the new translation sounds better when prayed in a posh Brit accent. . .so, maybe Americans should start practicing their Received Pronunciation!

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Apologies for the lack of blogging lately.  I'll try to do better this week!

10 Things B.O. Should've Done Differently.  No. 11:  "Stayed in Chicago in 2008 and got a real job."

Vouchers free parents to abandon the union-infested classrooms of the public schools in IN.  Guess where they are going?  Catholic schools!

"Castle Doctrine" might be coming to a county in WI.  I agree with one commenter:  if you're in my house without permission, you're a threat.  This doesn't mean I would shoot you. . .it just means that I'm not legally obligated to run through a cost-benefit analysis of whether or not to shoot you.

Fascinating piece on the role of new social media in the Arab uprisings. . .

What will be "off the table" in the 2012 election? 

Wow. . .this captures my flying experiences perfectly!  The only thing I would add is a panel on sitting in the plane with no A/C for an hour in the Texas heat. 

Adding a little black & white fun to otherwise blah photos. . .I especially like the dinosaur one.

Dust Bunnies attack some poor guy's computer.  Evil, evil bunnies.

Hundreds of beautiful/disturbing/weird pics. . .some are R-rated. 


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New Angelicum video

A new promotional video about the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

Please link to the video here or on Youtube. . .get the word out!





The narrator is Fr. Dominic Holtz, OP a Central Province USA friar.

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Can you hear me now. . .?

Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Blackfriars, Oxford U.

The feasts and memorials of John the Baptist always rile me up for some reason. Maybe it's my Southern Baptist's root reasserting themselves. Whatever it is that winds me up about John, one question swims through the murk of my agitation and demands a response: Can we hear the voice of a prophet anymore? Over and through our texting, IM's, cell-phones, iPod earbuds, and the constant hum of civilization's commercial white noise, could we recognize a prophet's voice if we heard it? And if we could hear such a voice and recognize it as a prophet's voice, would we understand the message? Can we even speak Prophetese anymore? These questions were provoked by Mark's account of John's beheading. Nota bene: Herod fears John. Despite this fear, the king keeps the prophet out of hands of a wrathful queen by putting him in prison. And even though John greatly perplexes the king by preaching against his royal marriage, Herod listens to him gladly b/c he considers John to be a righteous and holy man. Thus, when the king is compelled by the terms of a hastily taken oath to have John executed, he is exceedingly sorry. Now, what blows me away about this account of John's execution is that Herod knows John is a genuine prophet. The king can hear John speaking God's Word to him. He understands what John is saying. He even seems to enjoy listening to John berate him for his adultery! Sure, he's perplexed by John's admonitions, but he listens. 

Do we? Listen, that is. Can we listen to a prophet? Will we listen to a prophet? It is standard procedure these days to describe our hyperactive culture as “addicted to crisis,” or “exhausted by emergencies,” or “numb to catastrophe.” A daily news cycle in the U.S. isn't complete unless a talking-media-head solemnly announces that something/someone is verging on collapse, teetering on the brink of extinction, just moments from annihilation. When every moment of your life is a crisis, every second of your day an emergency. . .well, it's going to become very easy to grow immune to prophetic voices, even when those voices belong to genuine God-sent prophets. Can we filter out the white noise, all the clamoring, and listen for voices raised in the name of God, listen for words spoken in hope to show us our way back to God? And that's the key, isn't it? Hope. What CNN, the BBC, the NYT, and all the rest lack in their frantic, doomsday reporting is the virtue of Hope. Prophets hope. And prophets manifest that Hope in their words and deeds before God's people. This is what Herod saw in John. The prophet's complete reliance on the truth; his complete trust in the hope that Christ made flesh. John didn't prophesy to Herod for money or fame. He didn't speak the truth to Herod to score political points or get a boost in his poll numbers. He spoke the truth to Herod b/c Herod needed—more than anything at that moment—to hear the voice of his father urging him back onto the righteous path. IOW, Herod needed to know that his salvation was not lost; he was not lost. . .there is always hope. 

So, can we hear, recognize, and understand a prophet's voice if we happen to hear one over the banging, clanging, booping and beeping of our hyperactive lives? We can, of course, if we will. Silence is helpful. But even more helpful is your absolute commitment to the virtue of hope. Without it, a genuine prophetic message is going to sound like just another siren, just another alert, just another doomsday prediction. Hope is your white noise filter; hope filters the pollution of despair.

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Coffee Cup Browsing (Better Late Than Never Edition)

Frugality during a recession is for the Little People, i.e. NOT for Michelle and B.O.   Note well:  we have to get this info from a Brit newspaper.

This is what the U.K. has come to. . .according to the moonbats in the U.K., if you join a group of neighbors to help clean up the streets after a riot, you're "scum."  What's moonbattier than a moonbat?

"Tattooed gargoyles raised on antisocial entertainment, instant gratification, socialist dogma and empty materialism."  OUCH!

Italy getting her financial house in order?  I predict more riots/strikes.  Maybe I should just stay in the U.S.  Of course, I've always wanted to witness a riot first hand.

Heh.  The Dems have chosen to hold their 2012 convention in a Right to Work state, S. Carolina.  National unions are balking.  Of course, the unions have no where else to go politically, so let them whine.

Actual political violence vs. the Imaginary Violence of Lefty's Getting Their Feelings Hurt.

Earthquake rattles D.C.  Is Jesus trying to tell us something? 

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Shout out

Mama Becky told me that HancAquam has a fan working with her at the local bank and that I should say hello to her next time I am blogging. . .so, here's a HA Shout Out to:

Bubba Sue!

Is that a Mississippi name or what?  :-)   It just sounds like fried catfish and pecan pie. . .

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