Advice for discerning a vocation to religious life. . .

A couple of HA readers have written to ask about vocation discernment.  From 2009, here's my answer:

Q:  What basic questions should those discerning a religious vocation ask themselves?

I get a lot of questions from younger readers about vocation discernment. For the most part, they want to know how they know whether or not they have a religious vocation. I wish it were as easy as drawing blooding, testing it, and announcing the result. If horse had wings, etc. Here are three cautions and a few questions to ask yourself:

Three Cautions

Suspend any romantic or idealistic notions you might have about religious life. Religious orders are made up of sinful men and women. There is no perfect Order; no perfect monastery; no perfect charism. You WILL be disappointed at some point if you enter religious life. You are going to find folks in religious life who are angry, wounded, bitter, mean-spirited, disobedient, secretive, and just plain hateful. You will also find living saints.

Do your homework. There is no perfect Order, etc. but there is an Order out there that will best use your gifts, strengthen your weaknesses, and challenge you to grow in holiness. Learn everything you can about the Order or monastery you are considering. Use the internet, libraries, "people on the inside," and ask lots and lots of questions. Vocation directors are not salesmen. For the most part, they will not pressure you into a decision. They are looking at you as hard as you are looking them.

Be prepared to do some hard soul-searching. Before you apply to any Order or monastery, be ready to spend a great deal of time in prayer. You will have to go through interviews, psychological evaluations, physicals, credit checks, reference checks, transcript reviews, retreats, and just about anything else the vocations director can think of to make sure he/she knows as much about you as possible. Think of it as penance.

Practical Advice

If you are considering religious life right out of undergraduate school, consider again and again. Get a job. Spend two or three years doing some unpaid volunteer work for one of your favorite Orders. These help you to mature spiritually and will make you a better religious. Most communities these days need folks with practical life-skills like managing money, maintaining cars and equipment, etc.

If you have school loans, start paying them back ASAP! For men, this is not such a huge problem b/c most men's communities will assume loans on a case by case basis when you take solemn vows. For some reason, women's communities do not do this as much. Regardless, paying back your loans shows maturity. I was extremely fortunate and had my grad school loans cancelled after I was ordained! Long story. Don't ask.

Don't make any large, credit-based purchases before joining a community. Cars, houses, boats, etc. will have to be disposed of once you are in vows. Of course, if you are 22 and not thinking of joining an Order until you are 32, well, that's different story. But be aware that you cannot "take it with you" when you come into a community.

Tell family, friends, professors, employers that you thinking about religious life. It helps to hear from others what they think of you becoming a religious. Their perceptions cannot be determinative, but they can be insightful.

Be very open and honest with anyone you may become involve with romantically that you are thinking of religious life. One of the saddest things I have ever seen was a young woman in my office suffering because her fiance broke off their three year engagement to become a monk. She had no idea he was even thinking about it. There is no alternative here: you must tell. Hedging your bet with a boyfriend or girlfriend on the odds that you might not join up is fraudlent and shows a deep immaturity.

Be prepared for denial, scorn, ridicule, and outright opposition from family and friends. I can't tell you how many young men and women I have counseled who have decided not to follow their religious vocations b/c family and friends thought it was a waste of their lives. It's sad to say, but families are often the primary source of opposition. The potential loss of grandchildren is a deep sorrow for many moms and dads. Be ready to hear about it.

Questions to ask yourself

What is it precisely that makes me think I have a religious vocation?

What gifts do I have that point me to this end?

Can I live continent chaste celibacy for the rest of my life?

Can I be completely dependent on this group of men/women for all my physical needs? For most, if not all, of my emotional and spiritual needs?

Am I willing to work in order to provide resources for my Order/community? Even if my work seems to be more difficult, demanding, time-consuming, etc. than any other member of the community?

Am I willing to surrender my plans for my life and rely on my religious superiors to use my gifts for the mission of the Order? In other words, can I be obedient. . .even and especially when I think my superiors are cracked?

Am I willing to go where I am needed? Anywhere in the world?

Can I listen to those who disagree with me in the community and still live in fraternity? (A hard one!)

Am I willing join the Order/community and learn what I need to learn to be a good friar, monk, or nun? Or, do I see my admission as an opportunity to "straighten these guys out"?

How do I understand "failure" in religious life? I mean, how do I see and cope with brothers/sisters who do not seem to be doing what they vowed to do as religious?

What would count as success for me as a religious? Failure?

How patient am I with others as they grow in holiness? With myself?

I can personally attest to having "failed" to answer just about every single one of these before I became a Dominican. I was extremely fortunate to fall in with a community that has a high tolerance for friars who need to fumble around and start over. In the four years before I took solemn vows, there were three times when I had decided to leave the Order and a few more times when the prospects of becoming an "OP" didn't look too good. I hung on. They hung on. And here I am. For better or worse. Here I am.

___________________

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See that Justice is done

22nd Sun OT 

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 

St. Dominic Church, NOLA

AUDIO file

When our power went out last Tuesday around five o'clock, I gave a mighty sigh and prepared myself for a day or two of no A/C, no hot water, no lights. Like any good Dominican would, I went to my bookshelf and asked, “What does one read while a hurricane rages outside?” I rejected poetry—too ethereal for a storm. I rejected current events—what can I do about Iran's nuclear build-up or the collapse of the Eurozone during a hurricane? I rejected theology—that's too much like work for a priest. That left philosophy. It took me about two minutes to find William Barrett's classic 1958 study of European existentialism. Given that Isaac was slowing reducing New Orleans to a Stone Age village, the title of his book seemed more than appropriate, Irrational Man. (After four days w/o A/C and a hot shower, “irrational man” pretty much describes me to a tee)! Barrett argues that as a philosophy outside the mainstream western obsession with science and technology, existentialism challenges the human soul to face the deeply abiding problems of what it means to exist, to simply Be. He writes, “A single atmosphere pervades [all truly human problems] like a chilly wind: the radical feeling of human finitude”(36). At the root of being human is the gnawing truth that we are limited, impermanent. The Psalmist rebuts, “One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” 

Living in the presence of the Lord is the Father's promise to His children; it is the one hope that keeps crippling despair at bay. If we cannot and do not live with one another in the hope of the resurrection, then the oppressive weight of our mortality, the various spiritual diseases of our finitude can and will crush us, leaving us broken and dying. Barrett notes that as modern men and women we are confronted by a curious problem: as citizens of an increasingly secular culture we have come face-to-face with this “radical feeling of human finitude” at a time when our science and technology promise us nearly limitless knowledge, nearly limitless control. IOW, as our culture abandons the possibility of life beyond death (abandons God) and falls into mortal despair, we find some glimmer of hope in the power we possess to manipulate our physical world through the tools of material science. Our hope is not in the name of the Lord; our hope is in the name of Genetics, Physics, Chemistry, Nanotechnology—a pantheon for 21st century man, these are the gods who will save our bodies but cannot save our souls. The Psalmist patiently reminds us, “One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” 

So, you must be wondering: what does the fragility of human life and our deeply seated fear of nothingness have to do with this morning's gospel? Where's the Good News among the bad? The Good News is that even as we lament the death of our innocence in the face of war, terrorism, and natural disaster; even as we mourn the loss of reason's rule in our politics, our universities, and our media; even as we cry over the impoverishment of our collective imagination to exclude God, the saints, angels, demons, miracles, and the promise of eternal life after death; even as we surrender—as a culture—to the idolatrous practice of depending on science and technology to grant us hope for the future, the Good News remains constant, steadfast: we are creatures, crafted beings, drawn from the dust of the earth and given life by a God Who loved us at our creation, loves us now, and will always love us. This truth is not “worn over” creation like a garment but woven into everything and everyone that exists. God spoke the Word “Love” and we are. And nothing—not economic crises, not princes nor presidents; not wars, terrorist bombs, plagues; not science, technology, genetics; not even hurricanes can change the fundamental constitution of God's creation: we live, move, and have our being in Love. 

That's the Good News. Now that we know the Good News, what do we do about it? Barrett argues that modern man's confrontation with the “radical feeling of human finitude” has hobbled us with indecision and angst—a deadly moral impotence that allows violence and power to thrive in the vacuum abandoned by Christian virtue. Once upon a time, no one in the West denied the existence of God. They argued over His nature, His attributes, His will; but no one argued for atheism. Flowing naturally from a belief in the reality of God came a belief in the natural law—that all things were created to become perfect in themselves. From revelation and the natural law we derived the virtues, those good human habits that define us as loving creatures living in community. And from the virtues we derived natural human rights and legislated through our kings, parliaments, and congresses laws to uphold justice and peace. When a human law violated the natural law, we rebelled and overthrew the human law. There is no moral obligation to obey an unjust law. In fact, there is a moral obligation to disobey an unjust law. Justice always trumps the merely legal. 

What does the Good News tell us to do? Jesus shames the Pharisees for imposing unjust rules and regulations on their people. He quotes Isaiah, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.” Then he adds, “You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition.” Why is their worship vain? The honor they pay to God is from their lips not their hearts. The Pharisees have abandoned hope and embraced regulation; they've surrendered to the lazy spirituality of following rules, thus giving up on the hard work of actually loving one another. Jesus goes to the root of the problem, saying, “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” A hardened heart, a heart that has willed itself closed to love will produce “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” These are the sins that kill a soul, that murder charity and turn us away from God. James reminds us of our origins, “[The Father] willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” We are born of truth and from truth justice flows. We are the firstfruits, the first born from His justice. And it is God's justice that stands with us when human finitude threatens us with despair. 

The Psalmist sings, “One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” The Goods New of Jesus Christ does not urge us to do justice. We are not encouraged or hectored to do justice. We are given a simple, elegant choice: do justice and live in the presence of the Lord, or don't. If we love the Lord and love him in service to one another, then justice abides where love prevails. The despair that might dawn on us when we come to realize our mortality, our finitude is nothing when set side-by-side with the promise of eternal life. Barrett is right: modern western men and women are besieged by the problems of that arise when they rapidly and recklessly abandon of God. As lovers of God and followers of His Christ, we are gathered and sent to be missionaries, living reminders that though human beings are finite creatures, we are not yet perfect, not yet made perfect. When we love and act lovingly; when we hope and live hopefully; when we trust God and demonstrate that trust, our creaturely limits are defeated, and God receives the glory. So, “humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you,” and in justice, see God's will done. 

___________________

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We're alive and kicking, y'all. . .

Aight. . .

We're back.

Power went out Tuesday around 8.10pm and just popped back on at 5.30pm today.  That's four days without power (i.e., no A/C) in August in NOLA!  The digital thermometer on my wall reads 91. 

Let's just say that we had a lot of community time together and I got a lot of reading done.

There was no flooding in this part of the city.  No real wind damage either.  Apparently, the problem with this hurricane was its duration over the city. . .it hung around for almost 36 hrs.  Compare this to Katrina which blew through in about 6 hrs.  Oh, and Isaac was a direct hit on NOLA while Katrina hit east of us on the MS coast.

Anyway, all is well here at St Dominic's!  Many thanks for your prayers!

P.S.  More than anything else. . .I am just grateful not to be wet anymore.  I might have grown some mold.  

___________________

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Isaac, etc.

Latest bit of news. . .

No mandatory evac of NOLA.  Basically, we're bracing for a really Big Thunderstorm.

Seminary classes are cancelled today and tomorrow.  

All the Hurricane Vets here in the priory are predicting a power outrage lasting two to three days.  

So. . .unless they have generators: no A/C for the local nursing homes, hospices, etc.  Keep them in prayer!

Katrina taught some hard lessons about preparation. . .I'm hearing from parishioners that they are more than ready.  Of course, Lakeview is a moderately upper-scale ward, so we have resources to prepare.  It's the low-lying wards south of the river and closer to the Gulf that will suffer. 

May I suggest a prayer to St. Martin de Porres? 

___________________

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Update & Thanks

Still sunny and hot here in the Big Easy. . .no orders to evacuate yet.  Seems like most around here are hunkering down for a Cat 1 hurricane and not much more.  The city gov't is assuring everyone that the levees and canals have been sufficiently upgraded to deal with any serious flooding.  We'll see.

Also, I rec'd a book today from the Wish List, Pelikan's Credo.  No name on the invoice, so I don't know who to thank.  Anyway:  Thanks!

__________________

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Be worthy of your call from God

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

As we wait for Tropical Storm Isaac to become Hurricane Isaac and make landfall, we read this morning about another storm, an ancient storm, Hurricane Jesus, who plows through the arrogance and hypocrisy of an even older religious mindset. With a storm surge rating a Category Five, Jesus doesn't mince his words; he hits the Pharisees right in the face with all he's got. Three times he uses the phrase “woe to you,” a formula of judgment and condemnation. Three times he bitterly accuses the Pharisees of blindness and hypocrisy, revealing their love of power and prestige. Three times he calls them out for the sin of abandoning their people to the false idol of greed. In a devastating accusation, Jesus says, “You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.” In other words, he accuses the Pharisees of abandoning God's people—one by one—to the burning landfill of spiritual ruin. This is not our Sunday School Jesus. This is Hurricane Jesus set to make landfall, full force, right up the Pharisee's noses! Their most damaging spiritual fault? They are not worthy of their call from God. 

As men charged with leading God's people to righteousness through the Law, the scribes and Pharisees are set aside by God to provide instruction, direction, spiritual leadership. Their job is to help those who will to enter a covenant-relationship with God, give access to His wisdom and love. Instead, Jesus says, “You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.” Not only do they themselves refuse to enter the Kingdom, they prevent others from doing so as well. This is a failure in leadership, and more so a disastrous failure to be worthy of their calling from God. With their hearts set to love the power, riches, and celebrity that comes with their calling, the scribes and Pharisees become “blind guides” to a population of blind seekers. Lest we spend too much time and energy sneering at their many failures and forget our own, remember: we are no less vulnerable to this same failing, no less prone to holding onto our access to the Father through Christ, and becoming self-appointed Gatekeepers of the Kingdom rather than Missionaries of the Good News. 

 The scribes and Pharisees are unworthy of their divine calling b/c they have chosen to use the authority of their vocation as a tool to exalt themselves. Rather than exhaust themselves in making sure that every living soul in their charge knows and understands the Law as a means of growing in righteousness, they use the Law to set up more obstacles, higher hurdles, deeper moats. We too are guilty of this when choose to see the Church as a social club with strict membership rules; or as an exclusive retail boutique serving privileged clientele; or as a remnant of the last remaining faithful who must jealously protect God's precious gifts from those we find undesirable. Woe to us if we fail to recognize and give thanks for the inexhaustible gifts of our loving God. Woe to us if we set up social, political, cultural, racial obstacles to those gifts. Woe to us if we preach the Good News but dwell in the hypocrisy. Paul urges us to live lives worthy of our divine calling; to live the Gospel life with grace, reckless abandon; always throwing ourselves on the mercy of God, and forever depending entirely on His never-ending abundance. When we share His Good News without hesitation or worry, we offer Him thanks. Generosity multiplies generosity. Welcome and be welcomed. 

___________________

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Audio for 21stSunOT w/comments

Here's the audio file for my homily from the 21st Sunday OT, "Are you prepared for radical transfiguration?"

A couple of parishioners said things like, "Too intellectual for this parish, Father."

Others said things like, "Enjoyed it.  Didn't understand some of it."

A couple encouraged me to preach this way more often.

One faithful soul chastised me for "apologizing" for quoting difficult material from BXVI, "Don't ever apologize, Father, for making us grow!"  Yes, ma'am, said I.

No one dumped on it, but they probably wouldn't say anything too negative to me personally.  Too bad.

As a Dominican, I refuse to coddle Catholics when I preach. . .meaning, no New Age Oprah Pablum; no social-justicey cliches; no "Jesus Loves You" greeting card verse; no Boil It All Down junk.  

  

I want to challenge w/o alienating; dare without being needlessly aggressive.  Catholics are always smarter and tougher than priests think they are.  Give it to them, Fathers.  They can take it.

What say you?

___________________

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Hurricane, hurricane, go away!

Just finished watching an hour's worth of the Weather Channel and local weather. . .

Looks like Isaac is going to hit a little east of us, which is good for us here in Lakeview.

If he hits west of us, then that's bad.  Lower parishes (counties) of LA are being evacuated already.

I went out twice this afternoon and the gas stations in the immediate area are backed up with cars for blocks and blocks.  

Parishioners told me after the Masses this morning that it took between 12-18 hrs to get to Jackson, MS from here during evacuation.  YIKES!  That's normally a 3.5 hr drive.  

Pray for us.  We need it.

P.S.  If you are a Map Nerd (like me), St Dominic's neighborhood is located at the conjunction of the horizontal line marked 3ON and the vertical line marked 9ON.  IOW, right in the middle of the hurricane warning area. 

___________________

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Are you prepared for radical transfiguration?

 21st Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

AUDIO file

Before his disciples and a curious and quarrelsome crowd, our Lord teaches his most sensational lesson, saying, “. . .my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” There must've been a pause, a small moment of total silence for the import of this outrageous claim to sink in. His disciples, his best students and closest friends, start murmuring, perhaps trying to find some sense in his words, or perhaps they are questioning their decision to follow a mad man. They ask, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Is this a challenge, like a dare? I dare you to accept! Or is it a declaration of disbelief, an incredulous outcry? No one can believe this nonsense! Or is it something more subtle and strange, like a question that answers itself and in doing so blows away the closed doors and rusty locks of ignorance? Jesus knows their hearts and so he asks, “Does this shock you?” If the disciples answered him, we do not know what they said. What do you say? More importantly, if you eat his flesh and drink his blood, are you prepared to live in Christ and have him living in you? 

Many in that curious and quarrelsome crowd were shocked. Some who were shocked walk away from Christ and “return to their former way of life. . .” Watching them as they walk away, Jesus turns to his closest friends and students and asks, “Do you also want to leave?” Is he worried that they might leave him? Is he indifferent? Angry? He gives them a choice: stay and follow me to eternal life, or leave and follow death to eternal darkness. As usual, Simon Peter speaks for the disciples, “Master, to whom shall we go?” Who else teaches the Father's truth? Who else can show us the Way? Who else can feed us with the bread of heaven? Peter then explains his response, “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” Are the disciples shocked? Yes. Shocked into belief and conviction; shocked into the truth of Jesus' outrageous claims; shocked by the hard reality that standing with them is divine truth given flesh and blood. All that they have ever sought, all that they have ever truly needed. . .is with them: body, blood, soul, and divinity—the Holy One of God. Again, if you eat his flesh and drink his blood, are you prepared to live in Christ and have him living in you? Are you prepared? 

Before you answer, please bear with me as I read a longish passage from BXVI's 2007 exhortation, Sacramentum caritatis: “In the sacrament of the altar,. . .the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. Since only the truth can make us free, Christ becomes for us the food of truth. . .Each of us has an innate and irrepressible desire for ultimate and definitive truth. The Lord Jesus. . .speaks to our thirsting, pilgrim hearts. . .our hearts longing for truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing the world to himself. 'Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom: without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated and reduced to empty [whim]. With him, freedom finds itself '”(2). That's a lot to take in, I know. But here's what I hope you heard: as rational creatures created by a loving Creator, we are made to long for the Good and the Real; we desire Truth and Freedom; and we have come to believe and are convinced that Christ Jesus is our Truth, our Freedom, our Good, and our most basic Reality. “In the sacrament of the altar,” our Holy Father writes, “. . .the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom.” Are you prepared to receive the truth and freedom of the Lord? 

Before you answer, bear with me one more time as I read another passage from the Holy Father's work: “The substantial conversion of bread and wine into his body and blood introduces within creation the principle of a radical change, a sort of 'nuclear fission,'. . .which penetrates to the heart of all being, a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all”(11). When we celebrate the Mass, when we witness the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and when we commune on his sacrament, we begin a process that radically changes all that is real; reconfigures at the root of reality not only our individual lives but our communal life together so that God might work through His love in me, you, and all of us at once to bring His whole creation to redemption. Fission sparks out, dividing into smaller and smaller parts. When we eat his Body and drink his Blood, we are saying, “Yes, Lord, I will go out and be Your love in the world so that the world will see in me what You see in Your Son!” Are you prepared to be a spark for the radical transfiguration of the world in Christ? If not, walk away. “Does this shock you?. . .The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.” 

Our Holy Father, mediating on the Jewish origins of the Mass writes, “. . .[The] Eucharist demonstrates how Jesus' death. . .became in him a supreme act of love and mankind's definitive deliverance from evil.” The supreme act of love and our deliverance from evil. We are delivered from evil in this sacrament of love. But finding ourselves so delivered, what next? Freed from the Enemy and set loose to return to the world, what next? Here we are flush with the recreating love of God and wholly prepared to participate in the radical transfiguration of the world and. . .what? We go out and we keep on doing all that we have done here and will do here. Gather in his holy name with family and friends. Confess our faults and receive His mercy. Listen to His Word and give witness to His mighty deeds. Give thanks and praise for His abundant blessings. Sacrifice in love and offer one another to Him in prayer. Seek out all that is true, good, and beautiful, and exhaust ourselves in being true, good, beautiful for others. Invite the stranger. Fight against injustice. Visit the sick, the dying, the lonely. Take Christ's light anywhere and everywhere darkness hopes to rule. 

If there is one evil we must resist in 2012, it is the evil that tempts us to turn inward and away from the world; tempts us to hide the light of Christ for the sake of a worldly peace, a peace settled against the Church through fear and intimidation. This is why I have asked you if you are prepared to be a spark for the radical transfiguration of the world. Even as we move out of the sanctuary, suffused with the love of Christ, we are met with demands that we silence our praise and thanksgiving for the sake of propriety. That we continue our good works but cease offering them for the greater glory of God. Without Christ, we can do nothing good. Without Christ, we are nothing. Christ is who and what we are. And when we step outside these walls, if we are prepared, we take him—Body and Blood—into a world dying for its Creator. You—each of us—leaves here as a spark shot from the Sacramental Fission of the Eucharist. If Christ lives in you, bring him to another and another. Go out there and set fire to a world that's falling quickly into darkness. Make it a holy conflagration, a world set ablaze in the love of the Holy Spirit. 

___________________

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We call your hurricane and raise you one BVM. . .

Oh. . .just great!

If we have to evacuate. . .how am I going to squeeze my 500 + books into my little Toyota???

Mother Nature's got Hurricane Power. . .we've got Blessed Mother Power!

O, Mary, Mother of God, who, amidst the tribulations of the world, watches over us and over the Church of your Son, be to us and to the Church truly Our Lady of Prompt Succor, make haste to help us in all our necessities, that in this fleeting life you may be our succor, and obtain for us protection from Tropical Storm Issac. Help us to gain life everlasting through the merits of Jesus, your Son, our Lord and Redeemer. AMEN!

___________________

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On translations & paraphrases

As usual, Fr. Z. offers his invaluable services as a Slavish Translator of Liturgical Texts!

Here's the Latin text of the Opening Collect for the 21st Sunday OT:

Deus, qui fidelium mentes unius efficis voluntatis, da populis tuis id amare quod praecipis, id desiderare quod promittis, ut, inter mundanas varietates, ibi nostra fixa sint corda, ubi vera sunt gaudia.

Here's that same Collect in English from the 2011 Missal:

O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.

Here it is from the 1973 Sacramentary:

Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world. In our desire for what you promise make us one in mind and heart. 

Now.  Tell me the 1973 version is a translation and not a paraphrase. . .a bad paraphrase at that.

NB.  Catholics must eliminate the word "values" from their moral vocabulary.  It's a modernist weasel word that allows us to shift and shake ourselves away from Christ's teachings.  We do not vow ourselves to seeking Christ's values.  We vow ourselves to following Christ's teachings.

Check out Fr. Z.'s full post if you're interested in exactly why the 1973 version is dodgy.

___________________

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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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