You're a sinner? Welcome to the Church!

13th Week OT (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

I trace the call to priesthood back to 1981 during a high school trip to Mexico. The road I took to the Dominicans and ordination was long, pot-holed, twisted, and plagued by dangerous temptations and even more dangerous choices. Allowing the romance and idealism of youth to overwhelm good sense, I ran that road with my eyes closed and my mouth open. Though never doubting my vocation, I often and intensely resisted God's not-so-gentle prodding toward priesthood. Among the reasons for delaying the decision for 17 years was my obvious unworthiness for the office. There's no need for details, but let's just say that my life before the Dominicans would have made the young Augustine blush and the soldier Ignatius flinch. Very little about who I was back then indicated that God could use me to serve His people as a Dominican friar and priest. I imagine that the tax-collector, Matthew feels much the same way when Jesus comes along and says, “Follow me.” And I imagine that most of you jump a little when Jesus says, “Hey you, sinner! Come on, we've got work to do!” You want to resist. Rattle off your sins. Tell him how unworthy you are. How dumb or inarticulate or shy you are. He knows all that already. My advice: just go. He's not going to stop calling just b/c you won't answer. 

One way of looking at the Church is to see her as a collection of those who are called to serve in spite of their obvious unworthiness. The Church is a hospital for the sick not a spa for the healthy. In fact, we're Christians because we're also sinners. Coming to Mass is hardly scandalous behavior even though all you people are sinners! Jesus himself socializes with sinners and gets called out for doing so. What's the big deal? Sick people need healing, so Jesus is going where he's needed. But when Jesus eats with prostitutes and tax-collectors, he's doing more than just scandalizing the self-righteous scribes; he's making himself—a rabbi—ritually unclean. More to the point, Jesus is sacrificing his standing as a ritually clean teacher of the Law so that he might reach those who most need to hear word of his Father's mercy. When the scribes object to his ministry in the messy lives of these sinners, Jesus says, “Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” What God wants from us is for us to give His mercy the use of our bodies here on earth. Our words, deeds, thoughts—all from each of us. And that's our sacrifice: to set aside our doubts and worries about being worthy of Christ and just follow Christ! 

But, Father, I'm not very smart. I'm not in a state of grace. I'm not good with words. People don't like me. I'm too shy. And Jesus answers, using the favorite word of my teenage nieces, “Whatever.” OK. So, you're a dumb, shy, inarticulate and unlikeable sinner. Peter denied even knowing Jesus. Matthew was a traitor to his people by collecting taxes for the Romans. Paul killed Christians as heretics. Judas sold Christ to his enemies. And the whole lot of disciples ran like rabbits and hid when their beloved teacher was executed. So, whatever, dumb, shy, inarticulate, and unlikeable sinner. Welcome to the Church. Now, get to work! That's our sacrifice: give up sinning AND give up using our sins as an excuse not to do what we have been called to do. Jesus was willing to sacrifice his religious standing as a rabbi in order to bring God's word of mercy to the dredges of Judea. Can we find the courage to sacrifice our excuses for not being bodies for God's mercy? Forgiven sinners should be the first to shout to the rafters: we're forgiven, all of us are forgiven! 

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Nuns on a Bus received funding from atheist Soros.  Keep up the great P.R., sisters!

Another fake "hate crime."  It's time to repeal these laws against UnGood Think.

John XXIII was not the revolutionary that Cafeteria Catholics think he was.

Priorities: CA circles the economic bowl, SanFran Dem proposes law to further weaken the family.

What the Court decision on ObamaCare did and did not say is constitutional.  Excellent. 

Wait!  I thought the Catholic Church was the enemy of science and medicine?

To wit:  a report from the Modern Science/Ancient Faith Conference.

Some good news about priests:  The 10 Most Amazing Priests!

Nine recent violations of our religious liberties. Remember: even when they lose, they win. Making the faith seem "extreme" is a slow process.  Every attempt is a win for the Enemy.

Woman who thanked B.O. for ObamaCare was a plant.  Figures.

10 suggestions for Catholic evangelization via social media.

On the need for clear distinctions:  liberation theology and the newly appointed chief of the CDF.  

Man Candles: a review.  Having an uber-sensitive nose, I'm a fragrance freak.  Maybe I need to look into these candles.  Do they make them votive-sized?
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Smash the Scale!!!

I didn't weigh in yesterday.  Decided to suspend the Wednesday weigh-ins for a couple of weeks while I adjust to a lower carb diet.  Nothing drastic!  Just cutting a few servings of bread, pasta, etc.

Maybe in two weeks I can climb on The Scale and be surprised.

Fr. Philip, OP

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Are you an intercessor?

13th Week OT (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The folks in the crowd are struck with awe when Jesus says to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home," and he does! Matthew tells us that the crowd “glorified God who had given such authority to men.” As praiseworthy as this demonstration of divine authority is, there's something else going on in this story that deserves more attention than it usually gets, something that we might just breeze over in a hurry to get to Jesus' confrontation with the scandalized scribes. What moves Jesus to heal the paralyzed man? Is it the man's obvious faith? No. Is it Jesus' compassion for his disability? Nope. Matthew tells us that Jesus entered the town, “and there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.'” Our Lord is moved to heal the man's paralysis because the people who brought him to be healed believe in and trust in Jesus' authority to forgive the man's sins and restore him to wholeness. We aren't told whether or not the man himself is faithful. Whether he is or isn't doesn't seem to matter to his healing. Jesus forgives and heals the man because his friends have faith; and out of love for him, they ask that he be healed. Thus, we are shown the power of intercessory prayer and the need for God's faithful priests to be intercessors. 

As a faithful priest, do you intercede for those in need? When we are baptized into the Body of Christ, we are made priests, prophets, and kings to serve one another in love so that God's love in us might be made perfect. Only a tiny percentage of God's priests are ordained as servant-leaders. The overwhelming majority of Catholics serve God and His people through their baptism as members of the Body. As baptized priests, you share in the ministry of the ordained priesthood by mediating, sacrificing, and interceding. You mediate God's presence as a living sign of His love and mercy. You sacrifice yourself so that you might grow in holiness. And you intercede for those in need. The special ministry of the baptized priest is exercised not in what you do but in where you do it: in the world, wherever you find yourself at any given moment. You are an intercessor at Wal-Mart, at home, at work, in your car. Those faithful souls in the crowd lift the paralyzed man onto his stretcher and carry him to Christ, confident that the Lord will forgive him his sins and bring him to wholeness. They offer his sins to Christ in sacrifice, and Christ makes him holy. It is because they believe and trust in the authority given to Christ that the man is restored. 

So, how do you go about interceding for others? Is there a formula or a liturgy for interceding? Yes and no. Yes, there is a formula and a liturgy for intercession. We call it “the Mass.” We even have a rite within the Mass called “the Intercessions,” or the “Prayer of the Faithful.” This is your chance to turn your full, conscious, and active attention to those in need and to bring them into the sacramental presence of Christ for his forgiveness and healing. So, yes, there is a formula and a liturgy for intercession. And, no, there isn't. Anytime, anywhere you lift up a broken soul—using any words that move you—anytime, anywhere you offer in sacrifice the hurt, the despair, the wounds of another, you mediate (stand between) that person and God, interceding on their behalf as a priest of God. By offering them up, both you and the one you offer grow in holiness and God's love is made just that much more perfect in you. You are—we all are—members of One Body, the Church, and we all share in the intercessory priesthood of Christ. Your priesthood is strengthened here, and tested, tempered out there in the world when you intercede for those in need. Therefore, make your faith into a steel blade and keep it sharp on the whetstone of prayer.

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"We hold these truths. . ." (Updated)

A concise commentary on the Declaration of Independence. . .this well-worth the 10 mins or so it will take to read.  Excellent information and explication.

Excerpt:

What are “unalienable,” or more commonly, “inalienable rights”?  Inalienable rights are those you cannot give up even if you want to and consent.  Unlike other alienable rights that you can consent to transfer or waive.  Why inalienable rights?  The Founders want to counter England’s claim that by accepting the colonial governance, the colonists had alienated their rights.  The Framers claimed that with inalienable rights, you always retain the ability to take back any right that has been given up.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE:  This is why the internet was invented:  The Declaration of Independence, Fixed.

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Solution to all of our problems. . .

Making the rounds on the intertubes this morning. . .

Hee-lar-ious!
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Freedom from, freedom to. . .

NB.  I always get the Mass readings from the USCCB website. . .they didn't have the readings for today's votive Mass on the site, so I didn't know that there were any votive readings!  It's the bishops' fault!

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

Two hundred and thirty-six years ago today, the Founders of our republic signed the Declaration of Independence, in which they invoke the “Laws of Nature and Nature's God,” “their Creator,” “the Supreme Judge of the world,” and “Divine Providence” in order to separate the British colonies of America from the rule of Britain's king, and to declare themselves a people thus freed from tyranny. Having declared that God created man with “certain unalienable Rights,” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” the signers catalogue the King's offenses against these natural rights, dissolve all political connections with Crown, and proclaim the colonies “Free and Independent States.” From this moment, the United States began as an civic experiment: a constitutional republic guided by a definition of freedom forged and tempered in 18th century Europe. To be free in America and to be free in Christ are not the same sort of freedom. However, the best possible way to be free in Christ is to be free in America. As Americans, we are “free from” any number of tyrannical restraints. As Christians, we are “free to” follow Christ along his path to holiness. 

The signers of the Declaration of Independence declared the colonies “free from” unjust laws, burdensome taxes, foreign military interventions, and the arbitrary will of a king so that the citizens of the colonies might be “free to” pursue the life, the liberties, and the happiness granted to them by their Creator. As a fundamental document of the American revolution, the Declaration continues to teach us what it means to be free citizens of a free nation. However, the rousing patriotic rhetoric of a political document cannot free a single human soul from the chains of sin. Take, for example, the gospel reading this morning. Matthew tells us that two demon possessed individuals haunted a cemetery, and that they “were so savage that no one could travel by that road.” The way was blocked by the Enemy, the adversary of freedom through Christ. No edict of the king, or imperial warrant from Rome would clear the way for travelers. Jesus removes the demons, freeing those souls from the burden of sin. The way is cleared by Christ so that we are free to follow him. And we are at our freest when we follow him in the pursuit of holiness. We are freest when we pursue that state of perfection in Christ that we were created to achieve. 

In the past few months we have heard a great deal about religious freedom, the right to practice our religion, and the continuing efforts of our government to restrict or abolish these rights and freedoms. You might think that this is a demonic plot against the Church, or a convenient political ploy to get votes, or a necessary limit on the exercise of citizens' rights. Whatever it truly is is ultimately irrelevant to the truth of the Gospel. If our political freedoms can be restricted by edict, our freedom in Christ can never be. If our rights as citizens can be violated by judicial fiat, our natural rights as children of God can never be. We are freed by Christ from the slavery to sin so that we might follow after him. And we can follow after him from home, from school, from church, from jail, or from the hospital. We can pursue holiness in the freedom of Christ despite the laws of men, despite the politicians, and despite the bureaucratic red-tape. Both our rights as citizens and our freedoms as men and women of Christ are unalienable, inseparable from who we are as creatures of a loving God. As Americans, today, we celebrate our “freedom from” secular tyranny. As Christians, always, we celebrate the “freedom to” live and preach the Good News of Christ Jesus! 

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Anniversary

Eight years ago today, four Dominican students were ordained deacons and three Dominican deacons were ordained priests at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford by Bishop Malcolm Mahon, OP.  I was one of those Dominican students to be made a deacon.

Our ordinations brought to conclusion the best year of my Dominican life to date:  study, prayer, and community among the Oxford friars of the English Province!

My one regret about leaving Rome:  I won't be able to spend my annual two months lazing about Blackfriars in the fall.  Sigh.

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Ask the Friar

Ive been teaching classes for the archdiocese's catechists' certification program these past two weeks.  

We're taking this week off for July 4th celebrations.

So. . .this is a good week to Ask the Friar Questions!

Go for it. . .

P.S.  Ask them soon b/c the Master of the Order is visiting the priory on Friday. . .

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An urgent message, patiently delivered

13th Week OT (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

When faced with the anxious problems of our panicky Western culture, the Church often seems less than eager to offer immediate solutions. While westerners run around like demented squirrels hopped up on triple shot espressos—causing chaos for themselves and the rest of the world—the Church plods along like a sleepy grandpa turtle, waiting for the rest of us to drop from exhaustion and hoping that the alleged crisis will pass. More often than not, that exactly what happens. Sleepy Grandpa Turtle smiles and continues along at his leisurely pace. Why does the Church seem so untroubled by the trendy pandemonium that we in the West feel is about to overwhelm us? Notice what Jesus does when the crowds threaten to overwhelm him: he flees across the sea. You can hear him saying to the disciples, “Aight, boys. Just get in the boat and row.” When a scribe—sounding a little desperate—says, “I'll follow you wherever you go,” Jesus gives us a hint about why his Church seems immune to cultural panic. He says, “. . .the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” The Body of Christ, the Church, exists everywhere and everywhen. There's no hurry in eternity. 

Just after Jesus orders his disciples across the sea, a scribe and a disciple proclaim an urgent need to stay with the Master. Jesus tells the scribe that the Son of Man has no place to rest. When the disciple asks Jesus to wait for him to bury his dead, Jesus says—rather enigmatically—“Let the dead bury the dead.” The scribe is declaring his desire to follow Christ regardless of his destination. The disciple wants Jesus to linger a bit longer so he can run off and to perform his familial duties. Two different responses to Jesus' order to depart and two different answers from Jesus. Both men want to stay with the Master, but neither seem to understand anything that Jesus has taught them. Had the scribe understood Jesus, he would know that the Son of Man is present wherever two or more gather in his name. Had the disciple understood Jesus, he would know that the Son of Man is present whenever anyone heeds his invitation to “follow me.” Proclaiming the Good News is both an urgent task and a patient process. We are given an imperative to complete and then told to persevere. The world's salvation is an emergency, and the Church's mature response to this crisis is diligence. 

What does all this mean for us, the Boots on the Ground? Unsurprisingly, it means that our most potent tools in building up the Church are faith and obedience—absolute trust in God's promises and hearts and minds radically attuned to His will. If we fall in with the world, we too become over-caffeinated squirrels scurrying around like we're being chased by terriers. Panic is not a form of Christian witness. On the other hand, we can't just sit back on the world's veranda, sipping Mint Juleps and watching creation go to hell. Laziness and indifference aren't good witnesses either. So, we follow Christ wherever he goes, and we “let the dead bury the dead.” In other words, we diligently plod along, spreading the truth of the Gospel despite the demands of the world, despite the frenzied squirrely scrambling-around that the crowds seem to love. Our eyes are squarely focused on eternity, the long-game. Christ is always with us—everywhere, every-when. And because he is always with us, we are urgently compelled to preach his Good News and, at the same time, diligently, patiently wait for the seeds we plant at his command to germinate, sprout, and blossom. There is no hurry in eternity. But for now, we've got an urgent message for the world. 

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No Sunday Homily, Father?

This is the deacons' weekend to preach. . .so, no homily from yours truly!
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Why we fight. . .

Ss. Peter and Paul
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Peter has the keys and Paul has a sword. With these two devices, Peter and Paul preached the Gospel—the keys unlock the gates of heaven and the sword fights the good fight. Both these men were martyred for the faith by the Roman emperor, Nero. Peter was crucified and Paul beheaded. Though they share a martyr's death and a Christian's faith, Peter and Paul were startlingly different sorts of men. Peter was a fisherman, a working-class man with little or no education beyond what most Jewish men of his day received. Paul was a rabbi, a very well-educated Roman citizen with deep ties to the Gentile world. Peter spent his days with other fishermen, discussing tides, catches, and market prices. Paul likely spent his days teaching, public speaking, and rubbing elbows with the political and religious elite. Peter knew Christ personally as a teacher. Paul never met Jesus. Both were students of the Master, commissioned apostles, adventurous preachers, and, ultimately, martyrs for the teachings of Christ. With the keys to heaven and a sword for the fight, Peter and Paul founded an apostolic Church, a Church we have inherited as sons and daughters of the Father. How do we follow them in spreading the Good News? 

In his homily celebrating these two foundational saints, our Holy Father, Benedict, writes, “. . .Peter and Paul, much as they differ from one another in human terms and notwithstanding the conflicts that arose in their relationship, illustrate a new way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel. . .Only by following Jesus does one arrive at this new brotherhood.” By following Christ and his Gospel, we can arrive at a “new brotherhood.” Not a novel way of being friends, or a superficial means of claiming a “churchy” kinship. But a radically different way of understanding who and what we are to one another through our adoption by the Father in Christ. Because we have died and risen in the baptism of Christ, we are made to be the heirs of the Father's kingdom. As heirs, we inherit all that He has to give. To the Church, He has bequeathed His kingdom—the keys to open heaven's gates for all and the sword to fight against this world's errors and temptations. Our first step in spreading the Good News is make sure all God's creatures know that they are invited to the feast. The next step is to guard this invitation and those who have accepted it with all the strength of our faith and all the courage gifted to us by the Spirit.

After Christ gives the keys of heaven to Peter, he assures the disciples that “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against [the Church].” If this is true, why resist evil? Why fight against the powers and principalities of the world? The last victory has gone to Christ. He won the war against death on the Cross. That evil cannot prevail against the Church is not a promise or a prediction. It's an historical fact. When Christians believe and behave as if we might lose the war against evil, we reveal a dangerous lack of faith in the Church and not only the Church but in Christ himself. You and I might be defeated by evil, so we fight. But never believe that there is a chance the Body of Christ will fall. When we fight to promote the Gospel and protect those who follow on the Way, we fight to ensure that the Father's invitation to the feast continues to be heard. Peter and Paul died for the faith so that His offer of eternal life might live on to this day. Our witness might not be as violent as theirs, but it is no less effective. Who will see Christ through you today, tomorrow? Who will ask you for the keys to heaven? 

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Mandate for Dummies

 That $2.35 will be $23.50 in about five years.

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Faith + Works = Holiness

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

Not everyone who says, “'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven.” Not everyone who attends daily Mass, recites the rosary, belongs to the altar guild, or serves as a communion minister will enter the Kingdom. Not everyone who wears a scapular, prays the Daily Office, gives lots of money to the Church, or wears a religious habit will enter the Kingdom. But Lord, didn't we follow the rules, keep our noses more or less clean, vote for the right politicians, and stayed awake during the Sunday homilies? But Lord, didn't we help out at the homeless shelter, pray in front of the abortion clinic, report liturgical abuses, and wash the altar linens? I solemnly declare to you, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.” Evildoers?! OK, maybe we weren't the holiest Catholics in the parish. . .but we never did evil! How can you call us “evildoers”? Your good works were built on the sands of publicity not on the rock solid foundation of conversion, repentance, fraternal love, and a commitment to the pursuit of holiness. Even an evildoer will perform good works if he thinks that doing so will make him look good. What an evildoer will not do is turn to the Lord in love and beg to be transformed! 

What we have in our gospel reading this evening is the classic problem of figuring out how to balance Works with Faith. Historically, Catholics have favored good works over faith, believing that good works can only come from a faithful soul. Protestants have tended to favor faith over good works, believing that a faithful soul will perform good works. Catholics want to see faith working in the world. Protestants want to see works grounded in faith. We know—as do our Protestant brothers and sisters—that ultimately both faith and works are required for holiness. Where we place the emphasis, however, very often determines how fervently we believe and how hard we work. What does Jesus want from us as his disciples? He wants both fervent faith and hard work. He wants it all; or rather, he wants all of us. All of each one of us. He wants us to cry out, “Lord, Lord!” and he wants us to care for the least of his among us. He wants us to love deeply, passionately, and without limits. And he wants that love to manifest in the world through our words, thought, deeds, and emotions. In other words, he wants us to come to him with a whole heart and a whole mind, undivided, and sharply focused on both speaking his Word and doing his Word. Faith without works is useless. Works without faith is empty

Our rock solid foundation for balancing faith and works is the prophetic witness of Christ himself, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” We know the importance of a solid foundation! And maybe a few feet of elevation as well. When the hurricanes come, we want our homes to stand up to the might of the storm. Likewise with our pursuit of holiness. The stronger our foundation in faith, the tougher our witness will be when the storm hits. Good works performed for show are easily washed away. Faith kept hidden away will not be missed. So, the question is: why do we perform the good works we do? How do we show our faith? If we are working in the world for the greater glory of God, then our works naturally demonstrate a profound faith. However, a profound faith kept private can never be a proper witness. If you will give the Lord all that he wants, you will give him all you have and are—heart, mind, body, soul, everything that was first given to you. 

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ObamaCare ruling no favor to B.O.

Everyone else is blathering on about today's Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare, so I might as well blather some too. . .

The Court majority has done B.O. no favors with this ruling.

First, the individual mandate was upheld as constitutionally valid under Congress' power to impose taxes. Romeny and the GOP can now enter the 2012 campaign season with a potent weapon:  B.O. has set yet another precedent--the largest tax hike on the middle-class in U.S. history.  

Second, the majority opinion explicitly rejects the administration's claim that the mandate is valid under the Commerce Clause.  This means that the Court has said that the Commerce Clause is not infinitely malleable. . .something the Left has long believed and hoped to have validated in this decision.  They didn't get their wish.

Third, the Court severely limits the ability of the Feds to punish states financially for refusing to participate in the B.O. Medicaid shell-game.  IOW, states that do not want to help finance ObamaCare by taking on more of the costs of Medicaid don't have to.  This means that the cost of ObamaCare just skyrocketed.

Fourth, by leaving most of the law intact and labeling its funding mechanism a tax, the Court has returned the ultimate fate of ObamaCare back to the political arena.  Romney's and the GOP's new campaign slogan:  Repeal ObamaCare & Obama 2012.

Now, the 2012 presidential election is a referendum on both B.O.'s handling of the economy AND his signature piece of legislation.  

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