08 June 2012

Coffee Cup Browsing

Photographer forced by a court to take pics at a same-sex "wedding."  Just the beginning, folks. 



So, the LCWR-types are going to protest the CDF by doing more of what the CDF praised them for doing so well???  O. Kay.

B.O. admin "suddenly" looks like a house of cards. . .really, "suddenly"?  It's looked that way since Jan 2009.

Those Professionally Outraged by Anything at All are professionally outraged that a book that provides "a theological rationale for same-sex relationships, masturbation and remarriage after divorce" has been spanked by the CDF.  In other news, water is wet, declares the Pope.


Sister's congregation excuses her errors in the name of "ecumenism."  How can one be ecumenical and lie about one's faith?

Franciscan friars come to the LCWR's defense.  You will see no such statement from the Dominican friars.

Heh.  So much for the meme that striking down ObamaCare will tarnish the Court in the eyes of the public.
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans! ----->

Resist the deceivers!

9th Week OT (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Paul gives Timothy a warning and a bit of encouragement, “. . . wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed. . .” Paul warns his disciple against the deceptive machinations of those who would lead the faithful away from the truth. But he also praises Timothy for remaining faithful to all that Paul has taught him. How does Timothy remain so faithful to what he believes despite the efforts of the agents of deception? “Because [Paul writes] you know from whom you learned it.” Note well: “from WHOM you learned it.” Timothy learned the gospel truth from a person, from the personal witness and instruction of Paul himself. Paul notes that Timothy knows the scriptures well, a written witness “which [is] capable of giving you wisdom for salvation. . .” Paul adds, “. . .through faith in Christ Jesus.” Knowledge of scripture alone is not sufficient for salvation. It is “through faith in Christ Jesus” that the fullness of redemption is achieved. We need both the written witness of scripture and the living witness and instruction of the apostles in order to remain faithful against the deceivers and the deceived. 

Over the last couple of months, we've been treated to a media circus over the Vatican's assessment of the LCWR. Just this week, the CDF published a notification on a book written by an American sister that argues against the basic moral theology of the Church. The media circus swirls around what has become a predictable theme: Oppressive Vatican Patriarchs are trying to stomp out any opposition to their absolute power. Of course, this is utter nonsense. But the circus provides us with an interesting insight into the modernist mindset and how faithful Catholics are pressured by deceivers and the deceived to twist the apostolic faith into an ideology agreeable to the spirit of the age. Defenders of the LCWR and the American sister quote scripture and argue that the spirit of the age requires us to adapt the faith to modern times. Failure to do this risks making the faith “irrelevant.” What's left out of this response is the role of Peter, Paul, and the other apostles in handing on to us their personal witness through the teaching office of the Church. Scripture alone is not sufficient for salvation. We need the apostolic witness provided by our bishops. 

Early in Paul's second letter to Timothy, Paul reminds his disciple, “. . .to stir into flame the gift of God—that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord. . .” Timothy receives from Paul's hands a spirit of power, love, and self-control. And b/c Timothy possesses this spirit, he is not to be ashamed to witness to the Lord. Timothy did not receive additional knowledge of scripture; he did not receive any special sort of wisdom. He receives the Holy Spirit who seals his experience as one sent out to preach, to teach, and to lead. For all their very human flaws and all their many managerial mistakes, our bishops have received this same Spirit and teach with the authority of Christ. Do not be deceived by those who would have you twist the faith to please the fleeting spirit of the age. Do not be taken in by charlatans who would you the Snake's oil for the price of your soul. Remain faithful through the witness of scripture and obedience to the apostolic tradition, so that you “may be competent [and] equipped for every good work.”
_________________

Give me feedback, please!

07 June 2012

R.I.P.

At around 9.30am yesterday, Fr. John Dominic Logan, OP, 81, died of a massive heart attack while vesting for Mass.

He was priest-in-residence at St. Joseph's in Ponchatoula, LA.

I worked with J.D. in campus ministry at the University of Dallas.  

After we'd concelebrated my first Mass at U.D., we processed to the sacristy and I said, "Well, that went well."  J.D. harrumphed and said, "Your liturgical gestures look like you're swatting at flies."

That's our J.D.

R.I.P.
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans!  ------>

Back in the South

Back in Nawlins'!

I want to warn any OP friar who might be invited to the Summit monastery in the future:

The food was horrible.  The nuns were cranky.  And they have a big stinky dog.

I'll sacrifice myself and volunteer to fulfill all their retreat/continuing education needs from now on.

Don't worry:  I'll offer it up.  

Seriously, the food was great. . .the Fat Wednesday Report will be very disappointing.  The nuns were delightful--engaged, funny, lively.  And Sr. Sabina (a golden lab) was spotless.

Had a great time. . .as usual!
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans!  ----->

03 June 2012

Coffee Bowl Browsing (Pre-emptive Edition)

Did Crdl. Dolan "payoff" predators in WI?  No.  As usual, the NYT's anti-Catholic bigotry shines.

Nashville Dominican goes to the USCCB!  Congrats, sisters.

Heh.  Maybe Maureen Dowd isn't such a bubblehead after all. . .who knew?

Wow. . .even NPR whipping-boy, Juan Williams is regurgitating the B.O. Kool-Aid.

I toldya, I toldya, I toldya. . .it's coming.  No.  It's HERE!

LCWR responds to CDF with Random Sister-Speak Generator

Occupiers suffering from PTSD?  Sure.  Rape, murder, drug abuse, rioting.  Who wouldn't?
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans! ----->

Thanks!

My thanks to Lynn F. for the Kindle Book!

It's in my longish queue to be read sometime before Christmas. . .it's getting very good reviews.

Fr. Philip Neri, OP
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans!  ----->

Podcast Preaching

I recorded this morning's preaching of the Most Holy Trinity homily.

Check thee it out!

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans! ----->

A week with the Summit Nuns!

I'll be heading out bright and early tomorrow morning to spend the week with the OP nuns of Summit, NJ.

We're reading and discussing BXVI's Deus caritas est.

Please, pray for the Good Sisters and my safe travel!

Fr. Philip Neri, OP
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans!  ----->

02 June 2012

Most holy mystery, Most Holy Trinity (Audio added)

Most Holy Trinity
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio from the 8.00am Sunday Mass

 The Most Holy Trinity is a Mystery. . .Catholics of a certain age will recall hearing the term “mystery” used to describe many of our essential beliefs. If you pray the rosary, you will hear the word “mystery” used to describe the events of Jesus' life—sorrowful, joyous, glorious, and luminous. What does the word “mystery” mean? Mystery conveys the idea that what is usually hidden from us has been revealed; that which is usually unreachable by us is put within our grasp; and that which is usually unknowable to us is made knowable. There are two essential elements in the Christian idea of mystery: 1). the truth of the mystery is always revealed, never found; and 2). the fullest understanding of the mystery comes only when we stand before the Lord face-to-face. Of all the mysteries that define our relationship with God, the Holy Trinity serves as the central mystery. The Catechism teaches that “[the Most Holy Trinity] is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the 'hierarchy of the truths of faith. . .'” (CCC 234). By what means do we unlock this mystery? How do we participate in the life of the Holy Trinity? 

Without hesitation, the Church proclaims the Holy Trinity to be a mystery. Incomprehensible, baffling, and curious. And even as she declares the ineffable nature of the Trinity, the Church exhausts every resource—philosophical, theological, and magisterial—to unlock the puzzle of the Divine Persons and to describe the mystery of the Godhead as Three-in-One. One God, three Persons. Three distinct Persons with one divine nature, one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What is knowable and known about the Holy Trinity is knowable and known as a gift, freely revealed by God Himself. Whether we come to know what we know by reason or faith, we know it because God wills that it be known and to the degree that He wills us to know it. Both reason and faith are gifts. Both lead to His truth. Both operate by His grace. And because we are limited creatures and receive His gifts imperfectly, both reason and faith are misshapen keys that cannot fit the lock that keeps the fullness of His mystery away from us. For us to know His mystery perfectly we must be perfected in the mystery; essentially, we must become the mystery in order to see Him face-to-face. This perfection requires more than curiosity, more than intellectual prowess, and more than pious determination. It requires us to suffer. 

Paul writes to Christ’s Church in Rome, no doubt telling them what all Christians at the time already knew by long experience. He writes that if we will become the children of God, co-heirs of His kingdom with Christ, “we [must] suffer with [Christ] so that we may also be glorified with him.” To look forward to glory with Christ in heaven, we must look no further than how we suffer with Christ right now. If we foolishly believe that heavenly glory comes without earthly suffering, we foolishly believe that we can go to the Father without Christ. We go to the Father with Christ by becoming Christ and to become Christ we must follow him along his suffering way. We bear a cross. We walk the way of sorrow. We are crucified in the flesh. And we cry out in despair even as we are given up for the love of our friends. If we want to know mystery, we must become mystery. When we stand away from Christ’s suffering, avoiding at any cost the troubles that come with dying and rising again with him, we return his gift unopened; and not only do we remain in ignorance of the mystery, we tempt spending our life eternal apart from his glory. 

But why believe the promise of eternal life in the first place? Why trust a promise made by an unseen god? Why should we come to understand our pain, our loss, and our mourning as necessary parts of God’s plan to make us His heirs? Moses challenges God’s people, saying: “Ask now of the days of old, […] Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?” Even as they suffer in the desert on the way to the Promised Land, God speaks in fire and smoke to His people, showing them the way to their salvation. Even as they suffer, God is with them. Even as they suffer, God chooses them to be His people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. As a nation, they are His prophets and kings and for this they suffer. He takes them out of slavery and into the desert on a promise, on a covenant-oath never to abandon them, never to forsake them to final godlessness. In response to this gift, Moses acclaims, “This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.” If this piece of the puzzle, this truth of the mystery is fixed in our hearts, a truth we now know, why do we shrink from suffering? 

Look at the disciples. Jesus orders them to a high mountain in Galilee. Matthew reports in his gospel that “when they all saw [Christ], they worshiped, but they doubted.” What did they doubt? Do they doubt the veracity of his teachings? Do they doubt their own strength? Their piety, their determination, their intellectual prowess? No! They doubt the true nature of the one who stands before them, freely offering them the Kingdom of his Father. Knowing the reason for their doubtful hearts, Jesus says, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” With all the power of heaven and earth, Jesus fulfills the covenant as his Father promised He would. With all the power of heaven and earth, Jesus reveals the Father and His Son and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit. With the power of heaven and earth, Jesus sends his disciples out as apostles to baptize, to teach and preach, and to make disciples of the whole world. And these newly anointed apostles are to do all this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Triune Mystery; and as they preach and teach and baptize, they become more and more fully sons of God. They doubt no longer. 

When their Lord is arrested and convicted, scourged, crucified, and raised from the dead, the apostles testify their way to heaven: to glory through suffering, to the fullness of the mystery through earthly trial and persecution. And so they walked behind him with their crosses all the way to heaven. Each one teaches, preaches, makes disciples, and spends his life doing what Christ did so to become like Christ for those who would follow after them. We are those who follow after. And whether we suffer in small ways or grand, in jail or exile, at home or far away, so long as we do all things for the greater glory of God, Christ says to us, “[…]behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Therefore, our suffering can never be useless misery; it brings us nearer to the Triune Mystery we were made to adore, that we were made to become according to His will for us. 

Words and images, concepts and logic, ancient wisdoms and new, none approach the unapproachable light that blinds the holiest human eye. The glory of God at once seduces and repels, draws in and pushes out. And whether you are reeled in or run away reeling hangs on the clearest of Christian truths, one key truth: have you suffered as Christ suffered—for the love of your friends in name of the One Who made you? This key fits any lock, opens every door, lifts any lid. This key, the Key of David, the only Son of God, opens the treasure house of the Father’s Kingdom and makes us heirs to the fortunes of heaven. The Good News of salvation is that there is no chain so tight, no cell so strong, no sin so enslaving that the key of the cross cannot free us. Yes, we must suffer to follow Christ, to grow in mystery, to join him in his glory. But this no burden. It is a blessing. “[We] did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but [we] received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, "Abba, Father!’”
____________________

Give me feedback, please!

01 June 2012

A wee bit of beggin'

Aight. . .I haven't begged for books in a while. . .mostly b/c I'm not in school anymore (Deo gratias!) and b/c I've not been teaching.  

Starting June 11th and going 'til Aug 2nd I'll be teaching in the archdiocese's catechists' certification program.  The texts for the classes I'm teaching are provided by the program. . .however, Teacher always needs a few extra volumes to stay ahead.

Sooooooo. . .check out the Wish List and see if the Spirit moves you to shoot a couple my way!  (Granted, not all of them are faith-related.  Ahem.)

My Book Benefactors have saved my meager library budget a lot of money and made it possible for me to complete my studies in Rome.  

Now, you can help me teach the teachers of Nawlins' so they can go out and teach our kids.

God bless, Fr. Philip Neri, OP



31 May 2012

Milestone, or millstone?

I hit a milestone today. . .an embarrassing one. . .

For the first time in seven years of being a priest, I forgot to celebrate a Mass.

I was supposed to celebrate an afternoon Mass at the Women's New Life Center in Metairie at 3.00pm.  

I blame the Devil, my entrance into dotage, and my over-caffeinated squirrel brain.

Mea culpa!

Fr. Philip Neri, OP
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans!

Visit upon the world the Lord's blessing!

Feast of the Visitation
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Elizabeth greets Mary in her home, blessing both the expectant virgin and her unborn child, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. . .Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled!” Of course, she believed. Mary had been supernaturally prepared by the Holy Spirit to hear, receive, and assent to the Word. She was spared the ravages of original sin in her immaculate conception and given an audience with one of the Father's mightiest messengers, the archangel Gabriel. With all the humility and obedience proper to one whose soul is freed from sin, she stood in the reflected glory of the Lord's angel and said Yes to becoming the Mother of God. If the virgin girl, Mary, is blessed for believing that the Lord's word to her would be fulfilled, how blessed are we when we believe that the Lord's word to us will be fulfilled? With none of her spiritual advantages and without the benefit of an angelic announcement, how blessed are we when we believe that the Lord always makes good on His promises? 

Indeed, simply believing that the Lord will always fulfill His promises is a blessing in itself. But this blessing, as welcomed as it is, is given to us so that it might be worked into a grace capable of transforming not only a single soul but the spirit of a couple, a family, a parish, a nation, an entire people. The blessing of believing on the Lord's promises can bring about the conversion of the world only when those who have received it use it to help the world visit with the Lord. In other words, if we believe that the Lord makes good on His promises, then we must take this blessing out into the world—where we live, work, play—and put it to work for the salvation of souls. Mary—pregnant with the Word—visits Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John. This is the first time in history that a human person has brought the living God to visit another person. The two women visit in the presence of the Word becoming flesh. Elizabeth praises Mary for her faithfulness. John leaps for joy in his mother's womb. And Mary sings her servant-cantical, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” The Feast of the Visitation is the Church's annual reminder that we are flesh becoming the Word and we are vowed to visit the world with the blessings of the Father's promise. 

How do we do this? Paul gives us some solid spiritual advise in his letter to the Romans, “Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another. . .Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. . .Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. . .do not be haughty.” Love, serve, rejoice, endure, persevere, and bless. Be: zealous, fervent, hospitable, generous, sincere, and humble. This is how we take a blessing into the world and visit upon the world the blessings of the Lord. If we cannot or will not sing out with Mary, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,” then why should anyone in the world want to hear about the Lord's blessings? If our rejoicing is indistinguishable from despairing, and if our believing is no different from the world's, then why would anyone in the world leap for joy upon hearing about the Lord's blessing? We are blessed to believe in the Lord's promises. How much more blessed are we to visit His blessings upon a world starving for His saving Word?
___________________

Give me feedback in the combox, please!

30 May 2012

Fisking the Vatican vs. Nuns Narrative

The following is an article posted on the Chicago Sun-Times site titled, "Priests come to nun's defense."  It's another hackjob along the Evil Vatican Bullies vs. Poor Helpless Nuns meme that the MSM is pushing.  My comments/questions are in red.
___________________________

Father Leonard Dubi, a priest of 44 years, was one of two dozen men in Roman collars at St. Barbara’s Catholic Church on Sunday night. (Fr. Dubi was ordained in 1968.  There are about 1,530 priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago.  They rounded up all of 24.  That's fewer than 1%)

They were there to honor and support the embattled nuns of this country. (What embattled nuns?  I've heard that the CDF is trying to persuade the LCWR to return to the Catholic faith, but I'm not aware of any nuns being "embattled" by anyone.)

Even though it was Memorial Day weekend, even though plenty of people had been to church once already, and even though it was hot and steamy inside that old, beautiful, non-air conditioned church, about 150 came that night.  (There are 2,300,000 Catholics in the archdiocese.  They rounded up all of 150).

Nuns. Priests. Lay people.  (NB.  "Nuns" not "sisters."  Every sister I know will tell you right fast that she's not a nun.)

“We ran out of programs,” said Fr. Dubi by phone on Tuesday.  (How many did you print?)

These gatherings are happening all over the country (evidence?) as Catholics react to Rome’s attempt to reel in (snort) the Leadership Council of Women Religious, the umbrella organization that represents most religious sisters in this country. (By "represent" here she means something very different than what most of us think of when we use the word.  The LCWR is not representative of the rank and file sisters in the U.S.  What you do wanna bet that most U.S. sisters do not believe that they must "move beyond Christ" in order to be good Christians?)

The Vatican, in a scathing rebuke in April, appointed three bishops to “oversee” the women of LCWR. The sisters, in the view of the men who run the church, are too concerned about the poor and disenfranchised.  (She hasn't read the document.  There's nothing "scathing" about it. . .unless you consider truth-telling to be scathing.  The document explicitly lauds the ministries of sisters among the poor and disenfranchised, quoting JPII's praise of their efforts among the poor.) 

Not concerned enough about birth control, abortion and gay marriage. The orthodoxies that absorb the Curia.  (No.  The LCWR seems to be very concerned about contraception, abortion, and gay "marrriage."  They seem to be willing and able--even eager--to side with those who see these mortal sins are morally acceptable and even desirable.  The Curia is doing its job in making sure that Catholics tend to the proper formation of a good conscience.)

Many of the people in the pews see this as the last straw. (How many?) And are saying so. (Links?  Quotes?) And priests are giving voice to their own deep concerns. (Indeed, we are, but you aren't reporting them, choosing instead to echo B.O. administration talking-points and giving voice to the dissent of the Dinosaur Left.)

Fr. Dubi is the Chairman of the Association of Chicago Priests (ACP), which wrote a letter to the sisters. In it, the priests praise LCWR for being the living embodiment of the reforms of Vatican II. (No. They are the living embodiment of a ruptured interpretation of VC2, one that has exhausted its project and is now flailing about desperately seeking attention and relevance). And commend the sisters for being fearless in service “to the poor, the powerless, the marginalized, the forgotten, the rejected . . . the sick, the abandoned. . . .(Also noted and praised in the CDF document. . .and you'd know that if you had read it!) Perhaps (your mission) is too frightening to people and institutions accustomed to moving more slowly.”  (And what exactly is the LCWR and your association moving toward so quickly, Father?  It's not 1968 anymore.  You and the LCWR are moving backwards.)

Like Rome? Which was egregiously slow to outrage as wave after wave of priest-predator scandals broke but quick to reproach the women who have not brought scandal upon the Church. Does the Vatican truly believe this nun-offensive will fly? (Insert irrelevant and utterly gratuitous poke at the bishops over the abuse scandal.  So, b/c the bishops failed miserably in their duty to police their clergy, the LCWR is granted a free pass on promoting dangerous heresy and misleading Catholics about the faith?  What about the LCWR's refusal to address victims abused by sisters?  Why are they excused from exercising the virtue of transparency?)

Apparently so.

But reaction is building. (Where? Links? Quotes? Names? Numbers?) And it is helping the Association of Chicago Priests to re-discover itself. (Aaaahhhhh, so now I understand the real motivation for the ACP's support of the poor helpless nuns).  And its once-strong voice.  (Loud is not the same as strong).

The ACP was born out of conflict during the era of Cardinal John Cody, who didn’t value dialogue with the women and men religious who worked in the Archdiocese. (Meaning, he didn't look forward to being lectured to and screamed at by dissidents.) But then came Cardinal Joseph Bernadin, who valued collegiality. (Meaning, he sat quietly while the dissidents lectured and screamed).  And there wasn’t much need for the organization any more. (And there's no "need" for it now. . .except, of course, that all special interest political groups "need" themselves and so invent their own relevance.)

Now Fr. Dubi and the ACP are joining a national movement, forming the Association of U.S. Catholic priests. (Which will no doubt be jammed packed with fresh young faces eager to Fight the Man, or something!) Its first meeting will be in St. Leo, Fla., on June 11-14.

“If we can get 10 percent of priests who are ordained (as opposed to those priests who aren't ordained?), who would come together, who would have a part of this collective voice, we can begin to speak with authority,” said the 69-year-old Fr. Dubi.  (You can speak with your own authority. . .whatever that might be.  The only real authority in the Church to speak authentically on issues of morals and faith is the magisterium and that authority is exercised by the bishops in communion with the Holy Father.  And, if I'm not mistaken, he thinks you're wrong).

What will they say?  (Not much that we haven't heard a billion times already:  ordain women, drop celibacy, elect bishops, blah-blah-blah.  IOW, they will say, "We demand that the Catholic Church become Protestant!)

“We love the Church,” (No.  You love that portion of the Church that does your will), he told me in a previous conversation. “But in the modern church, in the current ‘reform of the reform’, we don’t have real discussion of things. It’s all top down. There are no interdependent voices.”  (You're right.  We should use the model your generation used when discussing the removal of altar rails; the implementation of the '73 missal translation; the modernist destruction of our immigrant Catholic heritage in architecture; the destruction of our Catholic tradition of sacred music; the overthrow of our Catholic theological tradition in exchange for goofy pop-psychology, trendy sociology, and New Age junk spirituality; and the model you guys used for emptying the seminaries and convents worked wonders!)

But that, it seems, is changing.  (Oh, it's changing alright. . .just not in the direction you are hoping for. . .)
___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans!  ----->

The blood, sweat, and tears of divine love. . .

8th Week OT (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Brothers and sisters, this is the Word that has been proclaimed to you: “All flesh is like grass, and all the glory of the flesh is like the flowers in the field; grass withers and flowers wilt; but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Peter quotes Isiah, highlighting the difference between the perishable things that cannot save us and the imperishable Word who has already saved us. We were not ransomed from our slavery to sin by money, food, medicine, or temple sacrifices but by the precious blood of Christ, freely given on the altar of the Cross. By listening to that Word, by obeying his Word of truth, we are cleansed of sin and made ready to love one another intensely. Peter writes, “You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed through the living and abiding word of God. . .” Our chance at a new birth arrived in blood, sweat, and tears. As a person born again, born anew, do you live your days and nights intensely loving, sincerely in love with, God and His family of adopted children? 

Jesus admonishes James and John for seeking after prestige as his disciples. He tells them that those who want to come first must come last in his kingdom. Why? Because, he says, “. . .the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Christ completed his mission among us when he ransomed our lives with his on the Cross, the imperishable Word in exchange for perishable man. What does this exchange accomplish? What does it make possible? Christ sacrifice extends “once for all,” once to all, an invitation to participate in the divine life, to take part in the adventure of holiness. He makes it possible for anyone, once again to approach the glory of the Father freed from sin, made just in the mercy of God. He gives every opened eye and ear a Way out of darkness, a Way out of useless pain and anxiety. He takes into the Holy Family any man, woman, or child of any race, any tribe, any people, and makes them children of His Father, co-heirs to eternal life. When Christ dies on the Cross and rises from the tomb, he shows all of the creation exactly what divine love looks like. And he makes it possible for his brothers and sisters—in his name and for his sake—to love one another so the world might see that he abides among us still. 

As a person born again, born anew, do you live your days and nights intensely loving, sincerely in love with, God and His family of adopted children? Our chance at a new birth did not arrive without blood, sweat, and tears, so why should living as a newly born child of God not require a little blood, a few drops of sweat, and lots of tears? Think of those you have the most difficulty loving. What prevents you from loving them as Christ loves them? Why won't you serve them as Christ serves you? Are they less deserving of his mercy than you? Are their sins greater than yours? We have been cleansed from our sin by obedience to the truth; therefore, love intensely, sincerely, with great abandon, and without price. Our pride, our anger, our jealousy can never outweigh the feather-light mercy that Christ won for us. So why load ourselves up with the burden of perishable junk like prejudice, revenge, hurt feelings? Here's a secret: all that rotting trash you love to carry around. . .it isn't yours! It belongs to the Enemy, but he is more than happy to let you carry it right to his front door. Don't do it. You don't have to. The Word has been proclaimed to you: “You have been born anew from imperishable seed, the living word of God.” 
_______________

Give me feedback in the combox, please!  Good, bad, ugly.

Coffee Cup Browsing

Fisking the media narrative:  Evil Vatican Bullies vs. Poor Helpless Nuns.

Two views on The Sisters.  The MSM is living in the 1950's on this issue.

He didn't have an argument for a first term. . .why should he have one for a second?

Catholic Democrat defects to the GOP. . .not that the GOP fully embraces Catholic social teaching.

The empty spiritual calories of modern heresies.  There is no new heresy under the sun.

The Tiresomeness of Maureen Dowd.  M.D. is what happens when reason is clouded by passion.

___________________

Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List

Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans! ----->