Only a new creation

St. Francis of Assisi
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Paul prays that he may never boast except to boast in the cross of Christ Jesus, the cross through which, he writes, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The zealous former persecutor of the Church is placing his pride, his worldly dignity squarely on the cross to die along with Christ, and by doing so, he is forever renouncing the temporary glories and passing rewards that this world offers. In context, Paul is comparing his apostolic preaching ministry to those false teachers among the Galatians who are insisting that circumcision is necessary for salvation. He writes, “. . .they only want you to be circumcised so that they may boast of your flesh.” These false teachers are using the scars of circumcision—both physical and spiritual—to brag about their privileged relationship with Christ and to draw in more followers. In rebuttal, Paul figuratively drops his tunic to show his own scars, a multitude of scars earned through years of suffering for the Gospel. What do these scars mean? Ultimately, nothing, w/o Christ and him crucified. “For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation.” And it is to the new creature that God reveals His wisdom. 

In another letter to a troubled church, Paul writes that he is “being poured out like a libation,” emptied of all that he is and all that is his. To the Galatians he writes that he has been crucified to the world and the world to him. All that he knew, desired, needed, and sought after died on the cross with Christ. And all the wisdom, knowledge, social standing, and privilege that the world laid at his feet also died on the cross with Christ. All he has left is the cross; Christ crucified; and his living body, the Church. And it is in the living body of Christ, the Church, that Paul finds peace and wisdom. Despite all of her scars, warts, abrasions, and disabilities, the Church is where Paul thrives in God's wisdom and peace as a creature newly made. If we will find this same wisdom and peace, we too must become child-like, newly made creatures. 

Jesus sets the wise and learned of the world against the child-like and anoints the child-like with the true wisdom found only in God. If you think of yourself as the culmination of experiences, all the time you've spent on this earth, all that you've done, said, thought, and you pile it all up, you have who you are—not all that you are—but a good start on seeing a biggest picture of yourself as you are. All the warts and scars are there. All the failures and triumphs. All the times you've been helped and the times that you were the one helping. It all backs up into this moment, right now, as you sit here, and it gives who you are definition. Think about Paul again and all that he was bringing with him to Damascus. Roman citizenship, classical education, Jewish religious training, privileged social standing as a Pharisee, years and years of accumulated wisdom. And he meets Christ on the way and it is all gone. All crucified with Christ on the cross and now he can boast of none of it b/c none of it matters to who is as a follower of Christ. On that road that day he is made new, child-like and now he enjoys the peace and wisdom of God. We cannot wait for a Damascus Road lightening bolt to set us right. We don't have to. With our baptism we are already made new. What we might need is crucifixion; that is, a loud surrender to Christ that renders us poor in spirit and dead to the world. God's wisdom and peace doesn't come with age; it comes when we pour out of our lives all that which makes us foolish and restless. It comes when we arrive newly made in Christ. 

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Prayers for Missing Priest

Please prayer for Father Christiaan Kappes.  He's missing in Greece after calling his family in distress. 

I took several classes with Fr. Kappes in the philosophy school at the Angelicum.

He's a kind, generous priest and absolutely brilliant.

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8 Misc Questions

1. Q:  Are you going to post a pic of your new rosary?

A:  Yes.  My camera is charged up.  Just waiting for inspiration. 

2. Q:  Are priests allowed to have hobbies that aren't religious?  Do you have any hobbies?

A:  I'm not sure what a "religious hobby" would be. . .but, yes, priests can have hobbies and most do.  I know priests who: paint icons; crochet blankets, caps, etc.; collect DVD's of old movies; and most of the priests I know are sports fans.  My hobby (such as it is) is somewhat unusual for a priest. . .wanna guess what it is?  (Hint:  it's not collecting books despite all evidence to the contrary)

3. Q:  Afraid to ask but must, how's the weight loss coming along?

A:  What is this "weight loss" of which you speak?  'Nuff said.

4. Q:   Father, any chance you'll be made a bishop one day?

A:  Not if God loves me.  Meetings, paperwork, bureaucracy, politics, budgets. . .shudder. Religious priests are much less likely to be appointed to the purple. . .though we do have several rather prominent bishops right now from Orders (Chaput, O'Malley, George).

5. Q:  You're not discussing politics, I know.  But did you watch the debate last night?

No.  I've never watched a debate.  Principally b/c they aren't debates.  They are just scripted joint press conferences with the candidates.  I've read the aftermath reports and must say that I feel for B.O.  Some of us just do better with texts!

6. Q:  How's Fr. Aaron doing? [NB. Fr. Aaron Arce, OP is battling bone cancer.]

He's moved into hospice in St Louis.  I'm going to call him this weekend.

7. Q:  I heard you say that you're giving a day retreat for the Dominican laity this weekend.  What's the topic?

I'm going to present a very truncated philosophical history of how the Church found herself under attack in a largely Christian country.  We will start with Aquinas and end with Lady Gaga.

8. Q:  Do you actually read all the books you get?

Yes.  I may not read every book cover to cover, but I only ask for books that I'm pretty sure I will read and use.  Even the "fun books." Quite often I will use them for homily prep or in class.  It's vitally important for Catholic preachers to stay on top of what's going in the culture at large and be able to address it from a Catholic perspective.  For example, this Sunday's reading are about marriage and divorce. Here at St Dominic we will open the archdiocese's Rosary Eucharist Congress, and I'm the first preacher.  So, I need to be up on same-sex "marriage," contraception, etc. in order to address immediate spiritual concerns.  The message never changes. But the package it comes in sometimes does.
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When the law counts for nothing. . .

“The Roman Republic fell, not because of the ambition of Caesar or Augustus, but because it had already long ceased to be in any real sense a republic at all. When the sturdy Roman plebeian, who lived by his own labor, who voted without reward according to his own convictions, and who with his fellows formed in war the terrible Roman legion, had been changed into an idle creature who craved nothing in life save the gratification of a thirst for vapid excitement, who was fed by the state, and directly or indirectly sold his vote to the highest bidder, then the end of the republic was at hand, and nothing could save it. The laws were the same as they had been, but the people behind the laws had changed, and so the laws counted for nothing.”

- President Theodore Roosevelt

H/T:  The Anchoress
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Let the dead bury their dead

26th Week OT (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

That settles it. Jesus is a hippie. We have biblical proof. It's all there: wandering band of misfits; goo-goo eyed groupies; Jesus being all hip with his “no where to lay my head” schtick; birds, trees, sky, butterflies. All he needs is a Jerry Garcia tee-shirt and a pair of tie-dyed knee britches. And if we stopped reading half way through verse 59, we'd be right to think that maybe our Lord is giving us a little taste of 1st century Haight-Ashbury. However, if we keep reading, the “Jesus as Hippie” idea becomes a whole lot less convincing. Jesus says to a man in the crowd, “Follow me.” Before joining up, he wants to go bury his father. Jesus gives him a very un-hippieish answer, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Another invited groupie asks leave to go say farewell to his family. Jesus gives another answer that belies any attempt to picture him as a hippie, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” The ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of God is not a part-time job, a weekend adventure, a dilettante's hobby, or something to do when there's nothing better to do. The gospel must be preached first, always, now, and to the very end. 

We can probably sympathize with the disciple who says to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Who here wouldn't jump at the chance to wander around with Jesus? We can certainly understand wanting to go bury a parent or to say farewell to our family. Jesus' response to these last two requests seems not only grouchy but downright cruel. What will it hurt to let these two go take care of some family business before getting started on God's business? Ah, my business before God's business. The question answers itself, right? When reading the gospel it is always necessary to keep firmly in mind that Jesus understands us better than we will ever understand ourselves. Had he allowed these two to skip off to take care of their own business before vowing themselves to proclaim the kingdom, a precedent would've been set in scripture: sometimes it's OK for the followers of Christ to set aside their baptismal vows to get other stuff done. Are we ever permitted to pause our witness to God's mercy and get other stuff done? No. That other stuff can get done as a witness to God's mercy but never instead of it. Let those who are already dead worry about burying the dead. We're alive still, so our business is living everyday as witnesses to the Gospel. 

Jesus reinforces this when he says to the first disciples, “. . .the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Jesus isn't homeless b/c he's poor. He's homeless b/c he is sent to preach the Good News. He never rests in his divine mission to make sure that all receive the invitation to live with his Father eternally. He never stays put. Never lays down roots. Ours is a missionary faith by design—a way of living in right relationship with God through Christ that demands we go out there and show others what it's like to get, receive, and put into action God's mercy. Jesus insists that his disciples forgo performing two traditional religious obligations—burying the dead and saying farewell to family—b/c the proclaiming the Kingdom needs immediate attention and total commitment. Who will be lost while we attend to social customs, personal business? God's business comes first for those who follow Christ. That's the gold standard we have been baptized to follow. So long as you and I are alive, the standard we keep is clear: anyone who takes up his/her cross, follows Christ, and then stops to look back. . .well, Jesus says it himself, “is [not] fit for the Kingdom of God.” The gospel must be preached first, always, now, and to the very end. 

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My political fast: a report

Q:  Father, please report on your fast from politics?  How's it all going?

A: HA! Never thought of it as a "political fast," but I suppose that's what it is.  To be more specific, I'm fasting from discussing politics, meaning I'm keeping up with what's going on but boycotting a scripted role in the faux drama.

Several noteworthy changes:

1). I feel much less aggravated, annoyed. . .much more at peace with the fact that God is in charge.

2). Boycotting the horse race elements of the campaign has freed me to pay more attention to substance.

3). The longer I'm in Script Detox, the sillier the whole political process appears.

4). Script Detox also makes the differences btw the candidates and parties seem easier to spot.

5). And at the same time, the embarrassing similarities are more obvious.

6).  None of my basic political views have changed, but my perspective on the process we use to select our leaders has become even more cynical.  Well, not the process itself but what we've allowed to happen to the process.

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Suffer with a divine purpose

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Job is much admired for his wealth and his piety. Most rightly assume that his wealth is largely a product of his piety. The angel, Satan, certainly sees the connection. When God points to Job and describes him as “blameless, upright, and fearing God,” Satan responses by saying, “It's not for nothing that Job is God-fearing. You've surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection.” In other words, the only reason that Job is God-fearing is b/c God is blessing the daylights out of him! Remove the blessing and even the Upright Job would curse God. We know the rest of the story and how it ends. Job is stripped of God's blessing and Satan is allowed to play havoc with his life. Despite the best efforts of the Enemy and Job's gaggle of earnest but clueless friends, he endures right to the end. And only the end does he break and question God directly, demanding an explanation for his suffering. This evening, we join Job at the beginning of his suffering, and at this point his attitude is admirable, almost heroic, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” Job can bless the Lord b/c he knows that all he has comes from the Lord. Knowing that all we have comes from the Lord, could we bless Him as we lose it all? 

Here's what the Enemy knows about God's human creatures: as long as we have what we need and most of what we want, we are perfectly content to flow along, living day to day in oblivious ingratitude and expecting to receive not only the same blessings we received the day before but more and better blessings tomorrow. The Enemy knows that if this divine gravy train of blessings is derailed, we freak out and start whining and crying and pitching fits, demanding to know why we are being made to suffer so. And on whom do we lay the blame for our horrible deprivations and destitution? God. All too ready and willing to blame Him for our suffering, we are unprepared and often unwilling to give Him thanks for our blessings. And why is this? Two reasons: 1) we aren't fully convinced that His blessings are truly gifts; and 2) being grateful for a gift requires a measure of humility that bruises our pride. Why should I be grateful for blessings I've earned? I went to Mass yesterday instead of the Saints' game. I'm not saying thanks to God for giving me what I deserve! Here's where Satan smiles and sidles up next to God and says, “Of course he's righteous. You give that miserable ingrate everything he needs. Take it all away and see how long he lasts.” 

Now, whole libraries of books have been written on the meaning and purpose of suffering with the Book of Job in a starring role. So, you're not going to hear the definitive answer in a five-minute homily! But here's the nitty-gritty of it. When we experience pain, loss, disaster, we have a choice, a deliberate decision to make: acknowledging the emotional turmoil I'm feeling, how do I respond to this loss in the long-run? How I respond to loss is called “suffering.” If I respond to my loss with gratitude to God for His many gifts, then I suffer redemptively; that is, my choice to suffer in thanksgiving redeems—saves, restores—the loss by drawing me closer to God. If I respond with petulance, self-pity, spite, then I suffer pridefully right along with the Enemy who lives eternally with the consequences of disordered pride and envy. Job cries out the one sentiment that Pride will never allow an unrepentant sinner to say: “Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I go back again.” We go naked into loss and pain. But we do not have to remain naked in how we suffer. Clothe yourself in thanksgiving and suffer well, suffer with a divine purpose. 

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Belonging to Christ first (Audio file link)

26th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio file

To whom or to what do you belong? Who or what has a claim on you? Keeps you as a possession? To put it another way: to whom or what do you owe fealty, allegiance? This question may strike most of you as a bit old-fashioned or even rude? We aren't serfs who swear fealty to a lord! We aren't owned like personal property! This is 21st century America. . .we're free men and women! All true. Regardless, we all belong to someone or something else; in fact, all of us belong to many someones and many somethings. We have broken free from the brutalities of serfdom, personal loyalty oaths, and chattel slavery and replaced them with kinder, gentler sorts of being owned: family, friends, athletic teams, political parties, financial obligations, religious vows—each one a kind of belonging, each one requiring a commitment to someone or something else. Even if you say, “I belong to no one and nothing but myself,” you still live with particular duties to yourself that must be honored. To whom or to what do you belong? Your answer accurately predicts your eternal destination. Jesus says to his jealous disciple, John, “. . .whoever is not against us is for us.” 

In the silly season of political campaigning the use of the prefixes “anti” and “pro” becomes truly absurd. All sides in the arena jostle to smear their opponents with insulting labels: “pro-death tax,” “anti-women,” “pro-big government,” “anti-American.” These labels are meant to summarize, demonize, and dismiss whole groups of people and ideas. If a demeaning label doesn't work, there's another tactic that surely will: guilt by association. Governor Jones dines with known socialists. Well, Senator Smith quotes a leading racist. Do you want a socialist in the governor's mansion? No? Then vote for the pro-capitalist! How about a racist in the Senate? No? Then vote for the anti-racist! Labeling and guilt by association are just two of the many ways that political campaigns distill and distort the fundamental human need to belong and thrive among one's own. In-groups and out-groups are the inevitable products of picking and choosing to whom and what we will belong. Christians are not immune to this disease. We never have been and never will be. Thus, both Moses and Jesus warn us of the spiritual dangers that will trap us if we indulge our instinct to selectively include some and recklessly exclude others. 

The spirit of the Lord appeared outside Moses' camp and came to rest on seventy elders who were gathered there. These men began to prophesy. Eldad and Medad were not among those gathered with Moses when the Lord rested his spirit on the seventy, yet they too prophesied. A young man hears them speaking in the spirit and reports this to Moses. Joshua hears the man's report and says, “Moses, my lord, stop them.” Despite the fact that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the spirit, the young man and Joshua want them excluded from those authorized to prophesy. What this man and Joshua didn't know is that both Eldad and Medad were on the list of those who were supposed to be gathered with Moses. In other words, their ignorance of the truth led them to indulge their instinct to protect their preferred in-group. Moses diagnoses the problem exactly when he asks, “Are you two jealous for my sake?” He goes on to give us a foretaste of the Church's fulfillment of the covenant, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” After the fiery arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, there can be no jealousy among Christ's disciples. The name of every man, woman, and child, living and deceased, is on the list to be invited to receive the Spirit of the Lord. 

John reports to Jesus that there is a man who doesn't belong to him casting out demons in his name. Jesus probably smiles a little, remembering Moses and his lesson to Joshua, a lesson John has obviously forgotten. Jesus says, “Do not prevent him. . .For whoever is not against us is for us.” We have to be very, very careful here. We might conclude from this statement that Jesus himself is encouraging the kind of in-group/out-group instinct that Moses condemned. Though it is certainly true that there are those who are for us and are against us, in no way is Jesus lending his support to including anyone against their will, or excluding anyone who chooses to follow him. He tells John that anyone who gives him cup of water “because [he] belong[s] to Christ” is choosing to be included in the kingdom. Note well: Jesus doesn't say that just giving his disciple a cup of water indicates a choice to be included but a cup of water given because they belong to Christ. In other words, if anyone performs an act of charity for you because—for the reason that—you belong to Christ, then that person also belongs to Christ, “Amen, I say to you, [he] will surely not lose his reward.” 

Now, I hope you see the importance of the question we started with: to whom or to what do you belong? Your answer to this question accurately predicts your eternal destination. Does that sound like an ominous threat? It's not a threat at all. Simply a report of what it means to choose to belong to someone or something before you choose to belong to Christ. For the follower of Christ, Christ comes first, always and everywhere, first. You can follow Christ and be a Democrat, a Republican; a LSU or Ole Miss fan; a mom, dad, student, even a criminal; but in all cases and under all circumstances, if you will to inherit the kingdom and live eternally with Christ, you will belong to Christ first. You cannot allow any other someones and somethings that you choose to belong to to endanger your primary relationship with Christ. Jesus says more than once, “You cannot serve two masters.” If being a Saints fan takes priority over Christ, then you belong to the Saints and not to Christ. If being a Democrat or a Republican takes priority over belonging to Christ, then you belong to them and not to Christ. If being a Cowboys fan or a libertarian or a member of a religious order leads you away from Christ, then cut them off. It is far, far better to go into eternity without a team, a club, or a party than it is to arrive at Gehenna belonging to someone or something that could not rescue you from sin and death. 

When Moses corrects Joshua's error, he proclaims, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” This proclamation, this prayer is a foretaste of God's plan for His people at Pentecost. Because we belong to Christ through baptism, the spirit of the Lord has settled in us and among us to make each one of us His prophet, His preacher of the Good News. Whoever we choose to be right now—parent, partisan politico, sports fan, chess player, Dominican friar, whatever—we are first prophets of the Good News of Christ Jesus. Everything else we are, anyone else we may belong to by contract, covenant, or complicity is ordered to who we are first as the Lord's prophets. This must be so if we will to live in the hope of the resurrection and life eternal. As Christian prophets then, go out and welcome in everyone you meet. Jesus says, “. . .whoever is not against us is for us.” 

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Baby Jesus: Zombie Hunter!

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Fr. Aaron Arce (pic)

Fr. Aaron Arce, OP with several student brothers: fras. Vincent, Luke, 

Juan (standing), and Cristobol.

Please pray for fra. Aaron!

Angelic ministers

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

If you browse the “Spirituality” section of any Barnes&Noble bookstore, you'll soon discover that angels are popular subjects for occult speculation. All sorts of items—books, Tarot cards, runes—tout the power of angels and their willingness to initiate the curious into the mysteries of the supernatural world. That these items seem to sell quite well tells us that there is a hunger out there for a way to get in touch with something or someone willing and able to draw us into all that dwells behind and beyond our routine existence. As Christians, we know that this Someone is the one God of revelation and reason, revealed finally and uniquely in the divine person of Jesus Christ. With him and in him we are given all that we need to establish and maintain a kinship with our Creator. Though the focus of our adoration rests exclusively on the Blessed Trinity, there are many other important players in the drama of our spiritual lives—the Blessed Mother, the communion of saints, and the angels and archangels of the Lord. Who and what are angels? And how do they serve the glory of God when they minister to us? 

For all we need to know about angels there is no better person to turn to than the Angelic Doctor himself, St. Thomas Aquinas. Our brother Thomas devotes fourteen articles to the nature and activities of angels in the first part of his Summa.* He tells us that angels were made by God, creatures of pure intellectual substance; therefore, they are incorporeal, immortal, and limited in both their power and their location; some choose at the moment of their creation to be perfected in God's beauty, some did not; despite their choice not to be made perfect in beauty, God loves those angels who followed Lucifer into rebellion against Him, yet they remain eternally obstinate against Him; those angels who chose to be made perfect in beauty cannot sin and therefore do not progress in holiness nor fall from grace; they possess an intellect and a free will superior to ours; they love by nature and by choice, that is, it is their nature to love and they freely choose to love. Angels serve God by attending Him in heaven; by bringing His messages to mankind; as personal guardians appointed to every human person; and as agents of the divine in protecting and governing the whole world. Much like those of us who have chosen to follow Christ, angels work for God to carry out His providential will. 

Now, knowing all of this and assuming that all of it is true, where do we stand in kinship with the beatified angels; that is, what is our proper relationship to them? First, we must exclude absolutely any whiff, any hint that angels are worthy of our adoration and worship. Like God's human children, angels are creatures, made beings. No creature—regardless of its superior intelligence or purity of will—is worthy of the adoration that belongs to God alone. We honor the angels as messengers from heaven, but we do not worship them. Second, though angels function as divine messengers, they serve God alone; in other words, angels are not at our beck and call. We do not summon them; interrogate them; or manipulate them in any way. Third, when angels act as our personal guardians, they do so with respect to our free choices; that is, they do not and cannot possess us against our will, or force us to comply with their good advice. And lastly, when we pray to angels for guidance or assistance, they will always respond in the purest love, without guile or temptation to sin, and according to God's sovereign will. Honor God's messengers for their ministry to us and them them thanks for their work, but always remember that they—like us—serve the throne of heaven first to bring the Good News of God's mercy through Christ to the world.

*Thomas has much more to say about angels than I've covered in this homily:  ST I.50-64

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Prayer request

Please pray for Fr. Aaron Arce, OP.  

Fra. Aaron has been battling bone cancer for the last two years.  Just recently, we discovered that the cancer has spread well beyond the ability of his doctors to treat him.

And we received word this evening that he will be entering hospice care very soon.  

Fra. Aaron was the prior of my novice community in San Antonio.  He moved with our class to St Louis as serve as assistant student master.  When I arrived in Irving as a newly ordained priest, fra. Aaron was the prior of our new novitiate community for three years and returned to STL in 2008 to live with our student brothers.  He's been ministering to St Andrew's parish in STL.

Fra. Aaron has a bizarre sense of humor.  He regularly regaled us in the studium with stories of his first few years as a priest in the late 70's and early 80's.  He is renowned in the province for his hilarious (though never irreverent) parodies of traditional Latin hymns.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Fr. Z. posts the first address of the newly ordained bishop of Portsmouth, England, Most Rev. Philip Egan.  Good stuff!

Open letter to priests from a Young Catholic.

A Ouija board horror story.  STAY AWAY from those things.

John C. Wright to an atheist: "You are a disgrace to the powers of evil."  We need better atheists.

Had the subway ad been anti-Christian, MTA would've spent millions defending it.

Vatican II says it's OK for Catholics to use artificial contraceptives, right?  Wrong.

Speaking as a Licensed Philosopher (ahem), I approve this list.  (NB. Some of these will be tough for beginners).
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Blessing Rosaries Dominican Style

My swanky new Dominican rosary needs to be blessed. . .

So, I will bless it using the traditional Dominican Blessing for Rosaries after the homily at Mass tomorrow (8.30) , Sat., Sept 29th. . .the Feast of the Archangels.

If you would like, I'll bless your rosary too!  Bring it to Mass.

P.S.  The pic on the left is not my new rosary.

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A time to measure. . .

25th Week OT (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio file

We've heard it said—many times—that we live and move and have our being in God. Without God, we are nothing, literally, not a thing at all. So, one of the most humble services that we perform for ourselves is to measure, to take account of, where we stand in the creating and re-creating kinship that gave us life and sustains us in love. When we perform this humble service, what are we measuring? What sort of scale do we use? Since our relationship with God is familial, that is, we think and act along with God as a family, and since a family is bound together by blood and nourished in love, we could describe our relationship to the Father as holy—a relationship set apart from the world, consecrated to a divine purpose. How then do we measure holiness—our nearness to the Father, our distance from Him? Sin measures our distance from God; obedience measures our nearness. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us that all things under heaven have their appointed time, a time to arrive and unfold, a time to depart and decay. As we live and move and have our being in God, it is always time to measure our kinship with Him. Now and always is the right moment to ask yourself, “Who is Jesus for me and mine?” Your answer measures your holiness. 

When Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter answers, “The Christ of God,” Jesus rebukes them all and orders them to keep this answer a secret. Having taken the measure of his disciples and heard their confession of faith, our Lord not only silences them, he also reveals to them his immediate future: suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. Does he silence them b/c he fears too many will suffer and die along with him? Or does he demand they keep this secret so that his ministry might not be impeded by his enemies? Our Lord knows that to follow him is invites persecution. But following him also guarantees rescue. Following him guarantees death, but it also promises resurrection. Maybe he demands silence about his true identity b/c he knows that too many will too quickly chase after him and fail to soberly measure the consequences, fail to honestly take account of the sacrifices required to live the radical love that the Father demands of His children. If there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to sow and a time to harvest, then there is a time to soberly, honestly measure who Christ is and who you are as his student in the school of charity. 

Friday is the traditional day in the Church calendar when we remember the crucifixion and examine our relationship in holiness with God. If sin measures our distance from God and obedience our nearness, then there is no better day to take account our of disobedience and give thanks for the nearness of His mercy. And there is no better way to accomplish this work of humility than to spend some time seriously contemplating our answer to the question, “Who do you say Jesus is?” For there to be any chance at all that he is the rock of your holiness, he must be—minimally—the one, the only one who suffered on the cross for you; died for you; and rose on the third day for you. Whatever else and whoever else he might be for you—enlightened master, social justice icon, moral exemplar—he must be the Crucified Christ, the long-promised Messiah. Your faith in this truth is the unique measure of your holiness. Not the only measure to be sure but the one that gives all other measures their scale. I dare you: examine your day—your thoughts, words, deeds—and ask yourself before you fall asleep: seeing and hearing me today, is there anyone out there b/c of me who loves God more now than they did when they woke up this morning? 

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