So, this is what 48 feels like. . .

Thanks to all who have sent greetings and good wishes on my feast day and birthday!

After Mass this morning, I was serenaded by a group of folks with "Happy Birthday."

Strange.  I don't feel 48 yrs. old.

God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP
___________________

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He ain't done yet. . .and neither are we!

St. Philip Neri
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

John tells us that if he were write down everything that Jesus said and did “the whole world would [not] contain the books that would be written.” Does it trouble you that Jesus said and did many things that are not written in the gospels? If it does, it shouldn't. The gospel accounts of Jesus' life and ministry convey to us the essentials of the New Covenant, everything necessary for the salvation of the world. We are given relevant historical facts (names, dates, places) so that we know that the events described happened in the real world and not the fabled world of “once upon a time.” Details of these events are meant to reveal God's grace working in the lives of the men and women who witnessed them. Testimony from witnesses tells us how God's grace transforms the fallen human heart and mind into a beacon of beckoning light. Jesus' words and deeds are living events, even now they are on-going, continuing to make known his saving presence among us. John cannot write down everything that Jesus says and does b/c our Lord is still speaking, still doing all that he has to say and do. And we—his brothers and sisters—are his tongue and his hands. 

Imagine that you have 60 or 70 containers of varying shapes and sizes—a small glass vase, a 64oz plastic cup, a three gallon clay flower pot, a 500 gallon steel drum, etc. You also have a pump submerged in Lake Pontchartrain attached to a hose. You fill each container to its capacity. You now have 60 or 70 containers of varying shapes and sizes filled with water. Since water is fluid, it takes on the shape and size of its container and though the water takes on the shape and size of its container, it is still water, still fluid. When Jesus spoke his Word 2,000 years ago, he began to pump out into the world the living water of his Holy Spirit, filling every human vessel willing to be container. His Word took on the shape and size of each person who opened himself to receive a drink from his fountain of truth. And though shaped and sized according to the receiver, the Word remained the Word—unchanging, perfect. Sitting at the right hand of the Father, the Son sent the Holy Spirit among us, to pour out the living water of truth, and he continues to pour, continues to fill every human heart willing to serve as a container. He acts and speaks in us and through us still. This is why John could not write down everything that Jesus said and did: Christ is not done speaking nor is he finished doing. 

Luke tells us in Acts that Paul remained a prisoner in Rome for two years, and “. . .with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” As a filled-to-the-brim vessel of the Lord's Holy Spirit, Paul, even from a prison cell, proclaimed the Kingdom and preached Christ crucified. Chains and iron bars cannot contain the Holy Spirit. Unjust laws and public ridicule cannot contain the Holy Spirit. Violence and death cannot contain the Holy Spirit. Only the human heart and mind, set free from the slavery of sin and urged on by the Church can hold the cleansing light, the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit. Regardless of shape or size or color or material construction, any human heart and mind willing to receive the living waters of the Holy Spirit can and will be filled to the brim and overflowing. What will you do today that can be written down in the book of Christ's deeds? What will you say that can be recorded in his book of wisdom? You contain the word of life. How will you speak it? You are an act of salvation. What redeeming deed will you accomplish? 

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Love, feed, tend. . .in that order.

7th Week of Easter 

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 

St. Dominic Church, NOLA 

With all these references to eating, we might suspect that Jesus is a secret Southerner, maybe even a true son of 'Yat Catholicism. Alas, we can end this speculation forthwith. John begins, “After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them. . .” No true Southerner—much less a native born 'Yat—would do any serious revealing of anything before breakfast! If there's anything at all serious to be discussed, it must be discussed after the second cup of coffee and the third beignet. Despite this appalling lack of good manners, Jesus manages to salvage a bit of his honor by redeeming Peter's betrayal in the Garden and working into his redemption several references to eating. Instinctively, Southerners and Catholic 'Yats understand the intimate relationship btw food and love. Apparently, so do Jewish carpenters. How best to show that you love someone? Feed them. And not only feed them, but tend to them as well. Jesus says to Peter (paraphrasing): if you love me, love my sheep; feed them and tend to them. As shepherds, how do we love and feed and tend to the Lord's sheep? 

Some might balk at being referred to as sheep. Sheep are stupid, dirty, and kinda loud. But what if we expanded the metaphor a bit and said that each of us—in relationship to one another—is called to be both shepherd and sheep? In other words, you are a sheep to the shepherding of your pastor but a shepherd in tending to your children. Your pastor is a sheep to the shepherding of his bishop and the bishop is a sheep to the shepherding of the Holy Father and so on. This means that all at once, each of us must cultivate the skills and attitudes that allow us to be the best possible shepherds and the best possible sheep. What are those skills and attitudes? More importantly, in what do we ground these skills and attitudes? What is it that—when properly employed—allows us to acquire and hone the skills and attitudes required to be simultaneously good shepherds and good sheep? Before Jesus tells Peter to tend his sheep, he tells him to feed his sheep. This implies that there is more to tending sheep and simply feeding them. Anyone can throw food at sheep; anyone can toss a burger at you or throw some cash your way for a po-boy. The difference that makes the difference btw feeding and tending is love. 

The order that Jesus asks his questions and gives his commands is no accident. First, love; next, feed; then, tend. (And then to make sure that we Southerners are paying attention, he adds a second feeding!) Jesus is speaking both literally and metaphorically here. He really does mean “love my people, give them food to eat, and take care of them.” He also means “love my people, give them spiritual food, and take care of their souls.” The two references to feeding the sheep mean “feed their bodies” and “feed their souls.” I assume that you all know to feed the body. How do you love, feed, and tend to the souls you shepherd? To love, you want the Good for others and you do the Good for others. To feed, you make yourself into a tasty example of holiness and do so abundantly, gladly, even extravagantly. To tend, you watch and listen for the wolves of this world and protect the souls in your care from the ravenous appetites of those who long to recruit comrades in their self-destruction. To be a good sheep? Receive the love you are freely given. Follow examples of holiness with the same zeal that they are made. And be ready to be taught right from wrong, good from evil. Whether you are the shepherd or the sheep at any given moment, love. All worthwhile food and all worthwhile care comes from the one source of Love: Love Himself. 

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We now resume our regularly scheduled programming. . .

Aaaaaannnnddddd. . .we're back! 

Arrived in Nawlins' last night.  All is well.  The assembly was a success.  Good company, good food, prayer, and naps!

I always grouch and whine about going to assembly, and I always come away glad that I went.  

This year we had a stellar retreat leader, Sr. Anne Willits, OP. 

The most important event of the assembly:  the solemn profession of fra. Peter Damien Harris, OP (below in cappa).  fra. Peter Damien is a subject of Her Britannic Majesty and a citizen of Jamaica.  He is a convert from Anglicanism.  Pray for him!

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Off to Texas!

See y'all on Friday morning. . .

Fr. Philip Neri, OP
___________________

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Road Trip!

So, here's the deal. . .

The deacons are preaching this weekend.

The province is having our annual assembly in Texas next week.

I'll be driving out of Nawlins' early Monday morning with two other friars along for company.

We'll be back on Friday, May 25th.

Upshot:  no homilies 'til next Friday.  This is a good thing since my homiletic efforts lately have been. . .shall we say. . .anemic (at best).  There is a solution to this specific problem, but it will take some movement of the Spirit to set things right.

Please, offer up some prayers for the safety of our journey to Texas and the success of our assembly.

Fr. Philip Neri, OP

___________________

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Eco-fascism's naked (and hairy) face. . .

Finally! 

Someone in the Church of Global Warming. . .errrrr. . .I mean, Climate Change preaches the real gospel of eco-fascism. . .

Ladies, Gentlemen, and Other Useless Mouths to Feed, I give you, in his own words, Pentti Linkola!

Any dictatorship would be better than modern democracy. There cannot be so incompetent a dictator that he would show more stupidity than a majority of the people. The best dictatorship would be one where lots of heads would roll and where government would prevent any economical growth.

We will have to learn from the history of revolutionary movements — the national socialists, the Finnish Stalinists, from the many stages of the Russian revolution, from the methods of the Red Brigades — and forget our narcissistic selves.

A fundamental, devastating error is to set up a political system based on desire. Society and life have been organized on the basis of what an individual wants, not on what is good for him or her.

I have absolutely no doubt that Comrade Linkola knows what's best for all of us and would himself instantly volunteer to be executed as a Useless Mouth.

In fact, I will hold breath in anticipation of his immediate suicide. . . . .

P.S.  As Prof. Reynolds is fond of saying, "I'll start taking climate change seriously when its advocates start acting like it's a real threat."
___________________

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"Now is such a time": 3 Rules for Truth-telling

6th Week of Easter (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

While on mission in quite possibly the most morally corrupt city in ancient Greece, Corinth, Paul receives encouragement from the Lord, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.” Why does Paul need divine encouragement? After leaving Athens, the apostle takes the gospel to the Jews of Corinth. He was not well received, “When they opposed him and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be on your heads! I am clear of responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.'” Thus, the need for the Lord's protection. What's intriguing about this promise of protection is the implicit connection the Lord makes between fear and silence. Fear compels silence. Fear makes silence in the face of injustice seem prudent, seem reasonable and even necessary. Paul is reviled for his preaching. And his opponents in Corinth use very means but murder to silence him. When the Lord commands, “Do not be afraid. . .do not be silent,” He is telling Paul that courage in the face of opposition means telling the Truth. When we tell the Truth, the Lord is with us. Now is the time to tell the truth of the Good News. 

In response to recent attempts by the current federal administration to define religious liberty out of existence, the U.S. bishops issued a statement titled, Our First, Most Cherished Liberty. In this statement the bishops write, “We need. . .to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time. . .be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.” The bishops quote our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, for support: “. . .efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection. . .with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. . .[and] to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.” You know that the Church's defense of religious liberty has resulted in increased opposition, including public revilement from the media; belittling, defaming accusations from political and religious leaders and celebrities; traitorous behavior from a few of our fellow Catholics; and even vandalism against church property and violence against individuals. Those who oppose our right to preach and practice the Good News hope to intimidate us into silence. And if we allow fear to govern our hearts and minds, we will be silenced. However, if we tell the Truth, the Lord is with us. 

 How do we tell the Truth to a world rallied against the Truth? The first rule is absolute: we must never lie. Not in the service of a “greater good;” not to win a small victory or a large one; not even when lying would “save lives.” If we tell the Truth, the Lord is with us. The second rule: the world is our enemy, not those who serve the world. The men and women who serve the world—whether they do so out of ignorance or informed choice—are freely loved creatures of a loving God, and they will not be freed from the world by our hatred or scorn. They must see and hear from us the love that our Lord has for them. The third rule: we cannot be silent b/c silence means that we are afraid. How can we be afraid? If we walk with the Lord, seeking His righteousness, then we know that His victory is complete. The ruler of this world was defeated on Easter morning 2,000 years ago. Our Lord says to us, “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” There is no politician, no media personality, or prison guard who can steal our joy when we tell the truth, and the Lord is with us. 

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Before joy comes grief

6th Week of Easter (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Pius X Church, NOLA

They disciples are confused. . .as they often are. Jesus says something completely befuddling and his poor students are left muttering among themselves, trying to figure out what he's what he means. Since the disciples are often confused by Jesus' cryptic statements and non-answers to their questions, you'd think that they would eventually learn to just smile, nod, and pretend to understand when he comes out with one of his weird parables or mysterious revelations. But they persevere and soldier on toward learning whatever it is that Jesus is trying to teach them. One of the truths that Jesus has been trying (unsuccessfully) to teach his disciples is that all that they need to know to be preachers of the gospel won't be available to them until he has gone to the Father. Only after he has ascended to heaven can the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, descend upon them and give them the tongues of fire they will need to preach. So, Jesus prophesies, “. . . .you will weep and mourn [at my departure]. . .you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” Before joy comes grief. 

In his prophecy to the disciples Jesus notes that “while the world rejoices [at my departure]; you will grieve. . .” And it is not too difficult for us to imagine that the Jewish leaders and Roman officials are indeed very relieved to see Jesus die on the cross. First century Judea under Roman occupation was a seething hotbed of violent revolution, religious strife, and political corruption. The last thing any in charge wanted or needed was another messianic figure throwing bombs. However, when Jesus says that “the world” will rejoice at his departure, he isn't talking about the temple and empire only. “The world” is the term used in scripture to mean something like “all that is ruled by darkness,” the realm that has not yet surrendered to God. This darkened parcel of creation is under the influence of the Enemy, and plots behind the scenes to tempt, influence, and corrupt those creatures who have come into the Lord's holy family. If the world sees Jesus as just another prophet sent by God to corral His wayward people, then Jesus' death on the cross could easily be taken as a victory for the Enemy and as an occasion for rejoicing among the damned. While the Enemy rejoices over a temporary victory, the Lord's disciples grieve over an equally temporary defeat. 

Before joy comes grief. “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” That “little while” is the time for grieving. Just a little while. Why so short a time for mourning? How long can you mourn the passing of someone who's coming back “in a little while”? Does it even make sense to mourn the loss of someone you know will return? Jesus knows that his passing, his ascension will be taken hard by the disciples. He also knows that every assurance he can give them that he will return to them won't lessen their grief. Even the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the joy of knowing the “truth of all things” will prevent their mourning. They must mourn b/c they will preach to those who mourn. And they must preach against death, permanent death and the grief that follows it like a vulture. And then they must experience the fiery joy of the Holy Spirit b/c they must preach against falsehood, confusion, despair, and dissension. The disciples are confused by Christ's teachings b/c they have yet to receive the Spirit of Truth. They will. And we already have. Our time for mourning is up; our grieving, our frustration and aggravation are done. It is time to preach the joy of the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ Jesus. 

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Wednesday Fat Report (Octave)

Yesterday's Fat Report today:  324lbs.

Also, please pray for me. . .discerning, contemplating, musing. . .and I need some guidance from the Holy Spirit!  

Fr. Philip Neri, OP

___________________

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Can we bear to hear the Truth?

6th Week of Easter (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Jesus covers a lot of theological ground in his farewell address to the disciples. There's lots of room in heaven, many permanent mansions. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Believe in me and the do the works that I do. Mine is the only name under heaven that can save you. Love me, one another, and keep my commandments. Remain in my word and ask for what you need. The world hates you b/c it hated me first. You are no longer slaves but friends. I am sending you the Advocate will who convict the world of its wickedness. That's a lot of very heavy information to take in at the dinner table! Then Jesus drops this little bomb on his friends, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” There's more?! Indeed. Much more. And you cannot bear the weight, the burden of knowing it all at once. How will the disciples learn what Jesus has yet to tell them? He says, “. . .the Spirit of truth [. . .] will guide you to all truth.” And when he speaks, “He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.” Can we—in 2012—bear to hear to what the Spirit of Truth has to teach us? 

 This is the point in the homily where I remind you—for the thousandth nagging time—that Jesus left behind a lot of promises. Not one of those promises included a vow to leave us with a comfortable, middle-class, suburban religion; or a complex, intellectually satisfying system of wisdom; or a workable economic/political agenda for fair wealth distribution. He promises those who follow him persecution, arrest, trial, torture, execution, and the world's unrelenting hatred. He also promises eternal life. . .but that comes after the persecution and death part. I'm reminding us of these unhappy truths b/c the Spirit of Truth, the Advocate, was sent to the apostles so that the Church could be born, born in fire and wind and speaking many tongues all at once. Many tongues, speaking the same truth: repent, turn to God, and receive His mercy. Preaching to the pagans in Athens, Paul, says, “God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will judge the world with justice. . .” Can we bear up under the promise that divine judgment is coming? Is this a truth we are ready to hear? 

We could spend the next decade dissecting scripture, magisterial documents, and papal teaching, searching for what “divine judgment” really means. Does it mean that each soul faces God's judgment after death? Does it mean the violent apocalypse that our evangelical brethren love to write novels about? But these are questions for leisure moments. Right now, the Spirit of Truth is revealing Christ's heart to his Church just as he revealed it Paul on the Areopagus: the era of ignorance has ended and the proclamation of the Father's mercy has been made. The worship of idols—money, power, prestige, celebrity, influence, intellect—these idols and our worship of them cannot bring us to God. The Spirit of Truth reveals even now that we live and move and have our being in God, and to offer our love—itself a gift from God—to the passing things of this world is like tossing an anchor in sand. Loving things feels weighty but there's nothing there to hold the anchor, to stop us from drifting with the deadly tides. Christ promises eternal life to those who love him and will follow him. To the cross, the grave, and on to feasting table in heaven. He bears our sins; therefore, listen to the Spirit of Truth: repent, receive his mercy, and return to righteousness. 

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How to get one priestly vocation in 18 yrs. . .

File this one under By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them. . .

The Holy Father forced the resignation of Bishop William Morris in the Diocese of Toowoomba, Australia last year.  

Why?  Well, His Excellency had become the Poster Bishop for all the usual agenda items of the Catholic Left's attempt to revolutionize the faith:  female/married priests, lay presiders at Mass, libertine sexual morality, etc., ad. nau.  

(Yawn) 

IOW, Bishop Morris had long ago ceased being a Catholic and the Holy Father felt that having a liberal Protestant running a Catholic diocese didn't make much sense.

How did the bishop's revolutionary agenda effect the Church in Toowoomba?

From the above linked article, "During his 18 years, the diocese had produced only one new priestly vocation."  That's right.  In 18 years. . .one vocation to the priesthood.  ONE.

By their fruits. . .indeed.

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Keep his commandments. . .

St. Matthias
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

It was time to choose a replacement for the traitor-apostle, Judas the Iscariot. Two candidates were put forward; the Holy Spirit invoked; and Matthias was chosen. Our psalm refrain this evening predicted events nicely, “The Lord will give him a seat with the leaders of his people.” Of course, had Joseph Barsabbas been chosen, we could say the same thing. But that's not the point. The point is: Matthais was chosen to serve among the Eleven, now Twelve, as one sent out to spread the Good News. Since none of the original Twelve are still among us, yet we still have their apostolic ministry in the Church, we can safely assume that all Twelve were replaced over time and their replacements were replaced and so on. The methods used to replace these apostolic replacements (and so on. . .) have varied widely through the centuries. Matthias was chosen by lots. Some were chosen as successors by their predecessors; some elected by apostolic colleagues, others by a popular vote of the local church; there were appointments, inheritances, purchases, and even a few assassinations. While the methods of ascension to the apostolic college differed over time, one element has always remained the same: the invocation of the Lord's presence through His Holy Spirit.  Keep his commandments and ask for what is needed.

In his final farewell to the disciples, Jesus reveals to his friends three truths, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” First, the disciples didn't choose to be disciples; the Lord chose them for discipleship. Second, once chosen as disciples, they were appointed apostles to go out and bear enduring fruit. And third, how would the apostolic fruit endure? Ask for what you need in my name and it will be given. Since Judas was replaced by Matthias, the Church has had a constant need for sound apostolic leadership. Not charismatic or pragmatic or popular leadership but apostolic leadership; that is, men to lead the Church who embody Christ's final command to the Eleven: “. . .love one another.” Apostolic leaders teach the faith once for all handed down to the saints; they sanctify the Church by exercising the fullness of Christ's priesthood in the sacraments; and they govern the Church so that the gifts bestowed on all of God's people might be used to spread the Good News of the Father's mercy. These three ministries of our bishops—teaching, sanctifying, and governing—can only be done well with the help of the whole Church and the life-giving power of the Lord's Holy Spirit. 

Let's do another bit of creative editing to get at a vital truth in Jesus' final farewell. Let's rewrite one sentence: “So that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.” The vital phrase “so that” gets a little lost in the original. The edited version makes it much clearer that Jesus chose, appointed, and sent out the Twelve so that they can call upon the Father's name and receive all that they need. In other words, the Twelve's commission from Christ to go out and bear fruit is empowered by a divine promise and sustained in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing that they and their successors will never lack for what they need. And since the Church is founded in the apostolic faith, a faith taught, blessed, and governed by the successors of the apostles, that same promise, those same gifts come down to us. Keep his commandants, ask for what you need. And above all: Love one another. 

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Love God, Know God

6th Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA

 Jesus says good-bye to his disciples with an order: “This I command you: love one another.” He calls his disciples friends and tells them everything that he has heard from His Father. He tells them that they are the chosen not the choosers. To bear fruit and ask of the Father whatever they need. They must be disappointed. Can’t you see the disciples sitting there with him, wide-eyed, expecting another astonishing revelation, some wondrous miracle. And what does he say? He commands them to love one another! Uh? Love one another? Sure. Says you. You’re God. You are Love. Loving is what You do b/c Love is Who You Are. Not so easy for us poor creatures. Have you met these people you want us to love? Have you talked to them?! Do you know what you’re asking? Ah. You see, there’s the problem: he isn’t asking us to love one another. He’s commanding us to love one another. And the difference between asking and commanding tells us all we need to know about the nature of Christian love, of charity in the Spirit. 

Jesus says to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” How does the Father love the Son? The Father and the Son love one another absolutely, without conditions. They are One in the love that we name “Holy Spirit.” Jesus loves us in exactly the same way: perfectly, categorically, without reservation or criticism. When we keep his commandments, we too remain in his love, and we too are One with Him in the love that is the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus commands us to love one another, commands us to live day-to-day in the love of the Blessed Trinity. Why? Why does Jesus command us to love one another? On the face of it, it is a ridiculous command. Love cannot be commanded. It can be encouraged or refused or reciprocated. But commanded? How can a passion be commanded? You either love or you don’t. Simply put: love can be commanded when we understand that love is an act, willing the good for others and doing the best for them. 

Love, charity happens when we move our whole person, body and soul, to do the Good for another, wanting truly and willing deeply what is best for our neighbors. If we limit love to the smallness of a tingling in our bellies, make it into little more than a physical reaction to physical attraction, we make it impossible to obey Christ; essentially, we make it impossible for us to know and live joy. Think about it: if love is only about the passion we have for those we find attractive, then we cannot love one another in the way that the Father loves the Son nor in the way that the Son loves us. We fail in joy. Jesus tells his disciples outright: if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. He explains: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” The commandment to love is a revelation, it reveals to us the way to perfected joy, our means of achieving complete delight, total peace. Joy is the proper act of charity—joy is what we do when we love God. To fail in joy, then, is spiritual suicide; it is the death of our peace, the impossibility of ever finding delight in the Lord—to fail in joy is to fail to love. 

Ask yourself: how do I fail to love? Do I simply refuse to will the best, refuse to move my body and soul in mercy? Do I limit my love to immediate family and friends? Do I love the unlovable in the way that the Father loves the Son? Who is it that I cannot love, will not love? Who is it that does not deserve my love? Who will I not love until he/she loves me first? Do I withhold my love in exchange for favors, good behavior, attention? Do I use my love as a weapon to hurt enemies and friends? Is my love a public costume or a mask? Ask yourself: did Jesus fail to love? Did he simply refuse to will the good, refuse to move his body and soul in mercy? Did he limit his love to just his immediate family, friends? Did he fail to imitate the Father’s love? Did he fail to love the unlovable? Who is it that Christ cannot love, will not love? Who is it that does not deserve Jesus’ love? Who will Christ not love until he/she loves him first? Does Jesus withhold his love in exchange for favors, good behavior, attention? Does Jesus use his love as a weapon to hurt enemies and friends? Is Christ’s love a public costume or a mask? 

We are commanded to love one another in the same way that the Father loves Jesus and in the same way that Jesus loves us. When we disobey this command, when we choose apathy, we choose the death of our joy; we deliberately kill our peace, our delight, and we rot the fruits of the Spirit. Rushing in to fill the vacuum left by dead and dying fruit: worry, wrath, irritation, a dangerous curiosity for spiritual novelty, despair, melancholy, loneliness, mistrust, pain, and a life lived in constant emergency, constant distress. If love brings perfect joy and you are not joyful in the Lord, then perhaps you need to think seriously about how you love or about how you fail to love. It is not too bold to claim that most, if not all, of our spiritual diseases can be diagnosed as failures to obey our Lord’s commandment to love one another. John writes to us in his letter this morning: “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” No love, no God; no joy, no peace. 

The disease of spiritual apathy, to be without a passion for joy, to be willfully despairing, this is the greatest gift we can give the Devil. He thrives on our disobedience, on our rebellion against the Father’s love. But what he wants more than disobedience is for us to believe that our Father will not forgive us our failures to love. The Devil yearns for us to believe that this or that sin is too big, too deep, too horrible, too frequent to be forgiven. Reach this point in your spiritual life and you have delighted the Devil; his joy, perverse and twisted though it is, is complete when you fail to love, and when you come to believe that God is capable of failing in love. God is love, so believing that God will not, cannot forgive you is atheism. Love one another because you are commanded to love. Love one another because you are made to love. Love one another because you are no longer slaves but friends. Love one another because Christ loved us in his suffering, his death, and his rising again. Love one another because to do anything less, anything smaller or meaner is to delight the Devil and forsake your soul. “The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.” His justice is that we love one another. 

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Questions for the Friar: I respond. . .

Q 1: We all know that Christ was fully Man and fully God. Does this mean that while he was walking around Galilee he was able to see behind his own head?

A: If by “see” you mean “properly use his eyes,” then no. His eyes were perfectly human and one's perfectly human eyes cannot—unaided—see behind one's own head. However, if by “see” you mean “understand” and if by “behind his own head” you mean “his past,” then yes. In his divinity, Christ understood his own history. Of course, he could've picked up a pair of those nifty mirror sunglasses in Jerusalem!

Q 2: When are you coming for steak, twice baked potato, grilled onions, and pecan pie?

A: If my Double Secret Nefarious Plan comes to fruition, soon, my dear. . .very, very soon. I understand that the post office will deliver pecan pies for a nominal fee.

Q 3: Father, what is the life and role of a Dominican helper brother?

A: Right now the Order is exploring this very question. By our constitutions, we are a clerical order, meaning, our principal purpose can only be carried out by ordained friars—preaching and hearing confessions. So, historically, lay brothers or cooperator brothers were charged with taking care of the “worldly things” of the Order. For example, keeping the priory grounds, cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc. The idea was that the brothers made it possible for the priests to focus on study and preaching. More recently, brothers have expanded their ministry within the Order and to the world by taking up teaching and academic work, nursing, school and hospital administration; really, almost anything that can and needs to be done can be done by a brother! These days, brothers usually receive the same seminary education as a clerical student, so they also preach whenever possible, give retreats, missions, etc. One of our cooperator brothers tells people that he is a “boy nun.” I cringe a little at that, but in terms of active ministry, the lay brothers and sisters of the Order take on many of the same sorts of ministries. Because of the clerical nature of the Order and the emphasis the Church put on sacramental ministry, the number of brothers has dropped in modern times. Some brothers were encouraged to petition for ordination b/c of the priest “shortage.” Many European provinces have no cooperator brothers at all. In the US, we are a little better at helping men explore this vocation and encouraging its growth. We still have a lot of learn and a long way to go before we get to where we need to be in promoting the lay brother vocation. The danger, of course, is defining the lay brother vocation in negative terms, that is, “He's a Dominican friar but he's not a priest.” Their vocation is NOT a deprivation of priestly ordination but a positive service to the Order and the Church in it own right. When you meet a lay brother, please don't ask him, “Why didn't you go all the way?” He did go all the way. . .all the way to solemn vows!

Q 4: While the doctrine of Original Sin is an excellent description of how mankind is, I believe it has big problems as an explanation to educated 21st century people of how we got to be this way.

A: It's helpful here to distinguish between the reality and consequences of original sin and the historical origins of original sin. We need to remember that not all truths are facts; that is, all facts are true but not all truths are factual. The Adam and Eve story tells an enduring truth about the human race. At some point in our evolution, we came to realize that there is a difference between Good and Evil, that our thoughts, words, deeds have consequences that endure and that we are capable of choosing to commit both good and evil acts. The CCC teaches, “The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents” (n. 390). One way of understanding the Genesis story is to read the Fall as that moment in our racial evolution when we became of aware—existentially conscious—of death; that is, we began to experience death as Evil and the need arose to explain the origins of this newly acquired awareness. Unfortunately, this explanation of the Genesis story leaves out a key element for the Christian, namely, God. However, we could hold this explanation and note that part of the acquired existential consciousness of death also necessarily involved an evolution in our awareness of God as God. In other words, becoming aware of God as Something Other (something Good) is also a consequence of the Fall. This is not to say that Adam and Eve didn't know God before the Fall; it's to say that they didn't know Him as Something Other, something distinguishable and different from Evil. Remember the whole point of keeping those two away from the Tree was to prevent them from acquiring the knowledge of Good and Evil. The CCC notes, “The 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' symbolically evokes the insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator, and subject to the laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom” (n. 396). 

How to explain all of this to modernists? Explaining the origins of original sin to modernists may not be possible in terms consistent with divine revelation. . .we can throw in the Incarnation, the Resurrection, heaven, hell, and any number of other events revealed by God to believers. Using the Genesis story as a way of explaining death, violence, crime, etc. to modernists requires that the modernists first accept that God exists and has revealed Himself to us. Also, an essential element of the Genesis story that must be argued for and accepted before the story makes sense is the creaturely status of Man. Until then, all we can do is point to the reality and consequences of original sin and argue that the figurative language of Genesis gives us the truth of an event that happened at the beginning of the evolution of human consciousness and provides us with an existential explanation (not a scientific one) for why we are the way we are. 

Q 5: Before an home altar can be used does it need to be blessed by an ordained minister? If so, would the average pastor know the blessing?

A: I don't think that a blessing is required, but it is a good idea. It is also a good idea to have your whole house blessed. There are a number of approved blessings for houses, cars, boats, etc. and any parish priest would know about these blessings. Blessing houses is a common pastoral activity for pastors and parochial vicars!

Q 6: Do Dominicans have a special dispensation to wear their habits in place of an alb while celebrating Mass or is it just a handy custom? Have they always done that? Do they all do it?

A: Oy! I did ask for questions, didn't I? This is a sticky questions among Dominicans. There is no dispensation for Dominicans to forgo the alb. For all religious, “ordinary dress” is the habit approved by their constitutions. Liturgical law requires that all priests celebrating Mass wear an alb over their ordinary dress and under a chasuble (even con-celebrating priests); therefore, albs are required to be worn over a habit. When a Dominican priest doesn't wear an alb to celebrate Mass, he gets away with it b/c his habit tunic is almost identical to an alb. In fact, many Dominicans argue that the habit tunic is an alb and conclude that they are not required to wear two albs. Religious priests with brown or black habits have a more difficult time skirting this requirement. Some argue that the requirement is meant to prevent priests from slipping a stole over their jeans and tee-shirt, or over a black clerical suit to celebrate Mass. Because I am a Human Furnace, I usually strip down to my tunic and then put on a stole and chasuble. The thought of an extra layer of clothing makes me sweat. 

Q 7: How does a Catholic respond to the philosophy of Monism coming out of new age gurus like Eckhart Tolle?

A: If the person reading and following these New Age gurus is Catholic, I would point them to the most recent document from the Vatican warning Catholics away from quacks like Tolle, Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life. Like all heresies, monism contains just enough truth to lure you in and get you to swallow the bigger lie. New Age gurus prey on the distance that many people feel with God. God is remote. God is uncaring. God doesn't answer my prays. They take this feeling of abandonment and place the blame for it on a flawed concept of the divine. They say, “The problem here is that your God-concept is from the Dark Ages; it's a child's unenlightened understanding of who you are in relation to the divine. You are divine! God is in you! Accept that and all will be well.” The truth that lures you in here is that God is in the human person. 

Catholics will know or vaguely remember some priest telling them that we all live and move and have our being in God. True. They will recall a retreat conference where a sister told them that seeing God as a big man with a white beard sitting on a throne scowling at us is something from the Dark Ages. True. They will know from EWTN that when we take communion we are taking in the whole Christ and becoming more like Christ. Also, true. All these truths, however, get twisted by the lie that God is not transcendent; that is, that God is not more than His creation. The idea that God is identical to creation is called pantheism. The New Age gurus play on the false notion that a transcendent God is a distant God. “He's transcendent! So, he must be far away. But we know that God is within us.” Transcendence is not quantifiable by distance. God isn't some few million miles away. Transcendence names a quality of the divine. The Catholic Encyclopedia says that transcendence means “that God is one simple and infinitely perfect personal Being whose nature and action in their proper character as Divine infinitely transcend all possible modes of the finite, and cannot, without contradiction, be formally identified with these.” What this means is that in no way can God be identical to His creation. God is immanent in His creation insofar as He is Being Itself and holds all of creation in existence, but all that creation is can never be all that God is. 

The New Age gurus love pantheism because it allows them to dupe people into believing that they gods. Sound familiar? It should. This is exactly the lie with which the serpent tempted Adam and Eve. So, the New Age lie is really the Oldest Lie: “You can be a god without God.”

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