Just three words

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

Philip finds Nathanael and says to him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law. . .Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” Rather than leap for joy or ask for evidence, Nathanael asks a rather sarcastic question, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Rather than thump him upside the head or walk off mad, Philip answers Nathanael with an apostle's challenge, “Come and see.” Just three words. He doesn't waste time with a persuasive argument, or a professorial presentation of the evidence. He issues an invitation. With just three words, Philip answers—in a way only a believer can—every objection to the faith, every doubt, every question. Don't believe me? Come and see. Nathanael follows Philip to Jesus and he's rewarded with a greeting from Christ, “Here is a true child of Israel.” Nathanael is surprised that Jesus knows him, and Jesus reveals that he saw Nathanael long before Philip called him. With this revelation, Nathanael blurts out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God. . .” What persuades Nathanael that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus' greeting? Philip's faith? Some combination? Or is being the presence of the Christ persuasion enough? Come and see. 

With just three words, Philip answers—in a way only a believer can—every objection to the faith, every doubt, every question. While argument, evidence, and personal testimony will likely fail to persuade a truly reluctant soul, a direct experience of the Christ cannot fail. If the proliferation of the faith depended on intellectual gymnastics, or rhetorical eloquence, then we would all need to be philosophers and orators. But the gifts required to excel at these professions are uncommon, even specialized. Among the apostles, only Paul was specially trained in argument and rhetoric. Philip used just three words to convince Nathanael to visit Jesus. Three words that we practically minded Americans can appreciate: come and see. Don't believe me? Follow me and see for yourself. What's Philip's special training? What are his degrees? Who authorized him to convince Nathanael to visit Jesus? The challenge Philip issues is an apostolic challenge, a challenge issued by one who was sent out to bring others in. Sent by Christ, Philip goes out and bring Nathanael in. He sees for himself and believes. Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see more, much more. All b/c Philip said, “Come and see.” 

When did you last say to a reluctant soul, “Come and see the Christ”? Maybe you say it all the time. If you do, keep it up! If you don't, why not? I know, I know. . .Catholics don't care for all this evangelization stuff. Too Protestant. Too have-you-accepted-jesus-into-your-heart-as-your-personal-lord-and-savior. Or maybe you think you have to be one of those well-trained, professional apologists like Mark Shea or Patrick Madrid. A Catholic answer to every objection. A verse of scripture ready to slap on the table like an ace in poker. When these sorts of doubts arise, remember Nathanael's dismissive question and Philip's patient answer, “Come and see.” That's all you need to say. Invite. And let Christ do his work. Come and see the Lord's sacrifice. Come and see the sinners who gather together to receive his mercy. Come and see what praise and thanksgiving look like coming from the hearts and minds of ordinary men and women. Come and see that he is with us always, among us always. Come and see the goodness of the Lord, the One who died for us and lives with us still. Come and see, and you will see the repair of creation in love.

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From the archives: a few useful links

Preparing for a radio interview this morning, I browsed around the archives and found a few posts that might be of interest to recent readers of HancAquam. . .

Error, Heresy, & You

Praedicare! To Preach!

Making a Good Lenten Confession (even in Ordinary Time)

Guidelines for Faithful Catholic Reading

Answers to supporters of women's ordination

12 Reasons Why Faithful Citizenship Failed to Persuade
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Advice to preachers & their people

These are a few notes I jotted down for a radio interview this morning. . .

Some advice/notes for the preacher:

The preacher preaches to himself first. Preach “we” and “us” not “you people.” You struggle, fail, succeed, fall, get up, soar, wallow, succeed again. Use your struggles/successes.

Preach the gospel in front of you. What's the Good News in these readings? And what does it mean for us right now in these circumstances?

Avoid the temptation to scratch itchy ears. Preaching what you think we want to hear can be safe, popular, and ultimately damning. 

Challenge, provoke, encourage by preaching the truth. We are stronger than you think. We are also confused, worried, and tempted to despair.  Hold up the ideal.

Point out and celebrate in unambiguous terms our relationship with God. In every homily, tell us how being in love with God changes us. How failing to love hurts us.

Preach struggle and victory. Note the details of struggling to follow Christ but keep our eyes focused on Christ's victory (and ours in him).

Preach with passion. Let us know that you believe what you're preaching.

Stay fresh. Read good novels, good homilies; keep up with pop culture and the Church Fathers.

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Feedback to your pastor:

You don't have to Occupy the Pulpit to get good preaching!

Silence = Approval. If no one speaks up, then Father will think all is well.

Encourage your pastor by pointing out what you found helpful/useful in his homily. Let him know that you were listening. Send him a note.

Encourage him to publish his homilies in the bulletin.

Tell him what sorts of things you need to hear. Can you address personal prayer and how to do it better? How do I love more and better? I'm confused about this teaching, can you explain it?

If his homilies seem ill-prepared, challenge him—charitably—to be better prepared.

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"Invite whomever you find. . ."

20th Week OT (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

All of Jesus' parables lead us deeper into the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. He uses parables precisely b/c the truth of the Kingdom has yet to be fully revealed much less understood, so the only fruitful way to talk about the features of the coming reign of God is parabolically, i.e. indirectly, using short allegorical stories to give us a peek at the bigger truth. The power of a parable lies in the use of the ordinary elements of daily life, the familiar people, places, and things that regular folks see and hear everyday. We're called upon to understand a parable by comparing the elements of the story to our own lives and draw out the truth. So, who are we in the parable of the wedding feast? We aren't the king, his son, or the soldiers. We could be the guests, though we've been at the party for a while now. We can't be the poor guy who gets bounced b/c he's improperly dressed. We're still at the party. That leaves the servants. We're the servants. The ones sent out by the king to summon his guests. The ones sent out to rouse the rabble and bring them as guests to the feast. That's what we do. As servants, we obey the king. 

What are His orders? “The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.” Note what's missing from these orders. We are not ordered to evaluate any potential guest's wardrobe. We are not ordered to assess their moral worthiness; their social standing, wealth, health, looks, or family ties. We are not ordered to invite only those who look like us, sound like us, think like us, or believe like us. The king's order are crystal clear, “Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.” Whomever we find might be poorly dressed or morally rotten; or high-born and ugly as sin; or low-born and beautiful; or just plain folks with nothing much to do that evening. “Whomever you find” is an all-encompassing category that makes it very difficult not to invite whomever we might find. That's our job. It's what we do. After those we have invited to the feast get here, then it's the king's job to sort them all out. Not ours. The guy who's bounced out into the darkness is bounced out into the darkness b/c he's not properly dressed. In parabolic terms, he's not properly disposed, not internally prepared to receive food and drink from the Lord's generous table. He's not wearing the heart and mind of one who's accepted an invitation to party eternally with the Father's Son. 

In case we're missing the point of the parable, Jesus sums it up for us, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” In fact, everyone is invited but not everyone will show up. And even some of us who show up will choose to turn away from the more difficult requirements of staying at the table. In our modernist rush to be politically correct and all-inclusive, we've mistakenly come to believe that b/c we were invited into the Church just as we are, there's no need for us to put on the mind of Christ, repent, and seek after righteousness. We're fine as is, thank you very much. This parable points out our error. Coming to Christ in his Church entails a willingness, an eagerness to receive the Father's freely offered mercy and to turn away from sin and death. Yes, absolutely, come as you are! But stay so that you might be remade into a more perfect you in him. Our job as servants is to invite whomever find. It is Christ's job to turn the filthy rags of sin into the proper wedding garment. 

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No comment

And from the "A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words" file we have. . .

Source:  Reuters

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The Divine Lagniappe

Queenship of Mary
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Show of hands: how many of us love to get free stuff? OK. Now, how many of us believe that nothing is ever really free? There's always a catch, right? “Free gift with purchase.” “Free newsletter. Just give us your email address.” Here in New Orleans we have the famous custom of the lagniappe (lan-yap) –a freebie, something extra in the bag just for being you. But you only get the lagniappe—that 13th doughnut—b/c you bought a dozen in the first place. Walk into the Cafe du Monde and ask for a beignet lagniappe w/o buying an espresso, and they'll bounce you out on your bon temps! It's this sort of deceptive advertising that's led us to want free stuff and at the same time believe that free stuff is never really free. Unfortunately, this all-too-American attitude infects our faith as well. How many times have you heard that we do not earn, borrow, beg, or steal our salvation? We are freely saved and do nothing whatsoever to earn our freedom. However, we still harbor the dark suspicion that we're being lied to, that God is just waiting for us to trip up so He can jump out from behind the door and shout, “GOTCHA! Now, go to Hell!” That suspicion is at the root of Jesus' parable of the disgruntled laborers. These hard working men begrudge the owner's generosity to the latecomers. And that's exactly what we do when we mistrust the gift of our freedom. 

The disgruntled workers begrudge the landowner’s generosity in paying full wages to the latecomer laborers. Why? For some reason they feel that their own labor and their own wages are diminished by the largess of the vineyard owner. Somehow their day’s labor is dirtied. Their dollar is devalued. They worked harder and longer under the fiery sun, so they deserve more than those who sauntered in at the last hour and barely broke a sweat! These guys are upset b/c they are working out of a very human notion of justice, a temptation, I think, to believe that compensation is earned; to get what is owed you, what you deserve. And that makes perfect sense if we are talking about just labor practices in the marketplace. But remember, this is a parable about salvation and holiness not a lesson on capitalist economics. Jesus isn't giving us a model of setting up a union or a business plan for earning a profit. 

Think about this: Is it a human notion of justice you want applied to your eternal life? An economic balance? Do you truly want what you deserve? What you’ve earned in this life? Do you want the Father to give you a just compensation for your life’s work in His name? The whole point of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is that we won’t be given what we deserve (thank God!); we won’t receive from the Father what is owed to us (thank God!). He owes us nothing. All the work we do we do for His greater glory, and He still owes us nothing. Do we want justice from God? Or do we want mercy? We want mercy. And Christ has bought that mercy for us and given it to us freely. There's an eager little devil out there waiting to pounce on our witness to the Lord. He will offer us an opportunity to sin and delight the Liar. What is this temptation? It is the temptation to believe that we work for the Lord out of our own generosity, out of our own time, out of our own resources, and we are therefore entitled to a greater reward when we outwork our neighbors. My time, my resources, my talents belong to God. And so do yours. Our freedom is a gift. All that we do in God's name we do with His gifts for His glory. Because without Him we are nothing. 

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12 yrs ago today. . .

Today marks the 12th anniversary of my novitiate class' profession of simple vows. . .

Happy Anniversary to fras. Gerald, David, Roberto, Mauricio, and Minlib!

Remember the Alamo!!!  (Our novitiate year took place in San Antonio, TX).
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Another OP homily site

Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP of the English Province posts his homilies at Releasing the Arrow.

Fr. Lew is also an excellent photographer and posts his pics at R.A. as well.

Be sure to check out the impressive new altar at one of his ministry sites, The University of Edinburgh.

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Back in the (academic) saddle again. . .

Finally!

I'm back behind a desk, in front of a board, and yapping away at a Captive Audience, i.e. students.

Yes.  I'm teaching again.  

This morning, classes will begin at Notre Dame Seminary here in Nawlins'.  The Academic Dean has thrown all caution to the wind and hired me to teach Intro to the Old Testament.

Please pray for me and my students as we begin a study of God's Self-revelation to His people, Israel, through His Law, His Prophets, and His Wisdom.

NB.  Pray also that the Holy Spirit will untie my tongue so that my dyslexia will not obstruct the proper pronunciation of all those ancient Hebrew names!  Oy vey.

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Demand Better Preaching. . .some examples!

Catholic preaching will not improve until Catholics demand better preaching!

(Repeat three times. . .)

If you want to read some Good Preaching, visit these two Dominican sites:

In spiritu et veritate run by Fr. Gerald Mendoza, OP. . .one of my SDP novitiate classmates.

The Specious Pedestrian run by Fr. Dominic Holtz, OP. . .a Central Province friar living in Rome.

A call to all Dominicans with preaching blogs:  drop me a comment and I will link to you.

Catholic preaching will not improve until Catholics demand better preaching!
Catholic preaching will not improve until Catholics demand better preaching!
Catholic preaching will not improve until Catholics demand better preaching!

Check back for updated links. . .
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What to do with Jesus' crazy teachings?

St Bernard of Clairvaux
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA

Driving back from vacation in MS, I hit a Radio Dead Zone just south of Jackson. My choices: local farm report, community college jazz, or screaming Redneck Fundamentalist Preacher. I chose silence. After about two minutes of that, I turned the radio back on and found a station broadcasting a show about Evangelical missionaries in India. The host started by asking a good question, “What do Christians do with Jesus' more radical teachings?” He gave a few examples. One of these happens to be from today's gospel reading. What are we to make of Jesus' instructions to the Rich Guy who asks about gaining eternal life? The missionary told several harrowing stories about preaching in India. He fell into a sewage ditch. The platform he was preaching on collapsed. He and his interpreter got stuck on a mountain pass behind an old man and his bull. Between stories and commercials, the host took calls from listeners who tried to answer his original question about Jesus' radical teachings. They all suggested we do one of three things: 1) take them literally and follow them exactly; 2) put them in historical context and interpret them with a modern spin; or 3) give them a spiritual interpretation. What should we do with Jesus' instructions to the Rich Guy? 

Obviously, we can't just ignore them. Taking them literally and following them exactly is certainly a legit option. Difficult but doable. The other options are OK too, if a bit wimpy. Here's a fourth option, a Dominican option: read the text carefully and make the right distinctions. Note well: the Rich Guy already knows how to gain eternal life. Jesus tests him and his passes. He follows the Commandments already. Then Jesus adds another dimension to the original question, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor. . .Then come, follow me.” So, there's eternal life and there's being perfect. Eternal life comes after death. Being perfect in this life requires something more than following the Commandments. The genius of Catholic moral teaching is our tradition of upholding impossibly high ideals and at the same time freely confessing our failure to live up to those ideals. We absolutely, resolutely refuse to compromise our principles simply b/c we can't or won't succeed each time we're tempted to violate them. The point is not to win each and every moral battle. The point is to celebrate the victory Christ has already won for us by keeping ourselves sharply focused on where he's taking us: perfection in this life (if we will follow) and our eternal lives to come. 

The Rich Guy is a moral coward b/c he settles for eternal life. Sure, he follows the Commandments, and that's no easy thing, but he doesn't even attempt to live perfectly in this life. Instead, he walks away sad b/c he owns too many things. Or, rather, too many things own him! Who's he going to disappoint by attempting to live perfectly by following Christ? His cattle? His jugs of olive oil? His sacks of gold? Had he ears to hear and eyes to see, he would've heard and seen that Jesus' radical, far-fetched instructions were really an invitation to live for an ideal, an incorrigible principle rather than a set of rules. The one Commandment the Rich Guy could not live perfectly is the First Commandment: love God first and always b/c He loves you first and always. Cattle, jugs of oil, cars, houses, IRA's—none of these loves you, none of these can love you. And b/c they cannot love, they cannot save you or perfect you. Love the One you want to become. Perfection follows. 

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2012 Novices

Novice Class of 2012 for the Province St Martin de Porres:

(L to R) Br Julian, Br Brian Joseph, Br Gabriel Marie, 

Br Augustine Xavier, Br Elias, Br Nicholas

Pray for our novice brothers. . .and the Novice Master, Fr. Scott O'Brien. . .and the novitiate community at St. Albert the Great Priory, Irving, TX.

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Back in Big Easy

Made it back to Nawlins'!

The Redneck Squirrels chased me 'til we got to the 305 cutoff to 4 near Senatobia. . .guess they'd heard that the Redneck Humans in that part of MS actually eat squirrels!

Two points of interest:  1). I managed to spend 14 days in MS w/o eating fried chicken once; 2) the new trendy buzzphrase for interior designers on HGTV is "open concept."

Arrived back in NOLA to discover four books awaiting me!  Always a pleasure.  My thanks to Jenny K. and Shelly.   Since you two are already on my Book Benefactor Prayer List, I will have to add you to the Prayer List With Golden Lace Curlycues.  :-)

Now!  I must immediately drive into unpacking my things and opening two weeks of mail. . .right after tonight's episode of Cajun Justice. . .and a peek at Drudge. . .and a little Facebook browsing. ___________________

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Coffee Cup Browsing

NB.  Headed back to Nawlins' this afternoon!  The Redneck Squirrels have done their best to reform me. . .alas, we shall see if their tireless efforts have proven successful.

Mark Steyn:  "Our elites have sunk into a boutique decadence of moral preening entirely disconnected from reality. . ."  This goes for our Ecclesial Elites as well. . .and I think he's being too kind.

A brief history of phony Eco-apocalypticalism. . .'cause we all know that the Only True Apocalypse is the Zombie Apocalypse!

Racial Diversity Apparatchiks bullying high school choirs. . .the ASO musicians aren't gonna be bullied quite so easily.

Please!  Don't give the DHS or the HHS any ideas!  I hear they are stockpiling 12x16 glossies of Dear Leader.

Burning the village to spare it from imaginary enemies. . .the scorched earth strategy of the same-sex "marriage" bullies.

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Coffee Cup Browsing

A two-step program to help "consensus-chic, testosterone-free liberals" overcome their disillusionment with B.O.  Of course, the first step is to admit that you have a problem.

Gunman at conservative Christian lobbying group was a "gay activist."  Do the Switcheroo-Tango with ideological labels and wonder how this story would've been reported differently.

If you support marriage, you could be a member of a Hate Group.  This is how it all ends, folks.

Also. . .praying for Mom and Dad in France outrages outrageous Outrage Professionals.

Dems won't even acknowledge their Pro-Life colleagues. . .no "differing positions" allowed when it comes to the Most Unholy Sacrament of Child Killing.

God's Wrath vs. God's Love.  No, God is not moody; it's all about what we are prepared to experience.

"Nuanced Plagiarism"?  No.  Stealing is stealing.  Identifying plagiarism isn't difficult.

I don't think that word means what you think it means:  finding non-existent "violence" in the CDF assessment of the LCWR.  "Violence" now means "disagreeing with me."
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