Religious Freedom Rally in NOLA

RALLY FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!

From the New Orleans organizer:

Date: Friday, March 23rd

Time: Noon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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New Document from the ITC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He asked for it.

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

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What persuades you to follow Christ?

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

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

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

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

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Satan says, "Non serviam!"

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

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

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

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

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Thanks

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

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

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Monday Fat Report (Octave): UPDATED

Come Back Week, baby!  :-)

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

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

Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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

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Love + Truth = Holiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Love those who hate you. . .

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

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

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

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

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More thanks. . .

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

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

You guys made my otherwise mundane day!

God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A new Dominican preaching blog. . .

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

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

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

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No sign for you!

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

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

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

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

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