On mercy & the heresy of feelings

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

I've been ranting for years now—in the confessional, the pulpit, in my office; probably even in my sleep—that one of the greatest modern heresies to infect the Church is the pernicious idea that all things spiritual must be felt in order to be true. For example, a woman comes to me in despair b/c God has abandoned her. I ask: what makes you think God has abandoned you? I just don't feel His presence anymore, she says. What am I supposed to say to this? What does it mean? If God—the source and summit of our being—abandons us, we won't be around anymore to feel anything! That she feels anything at all is proof positive that God has not abandoned her. Another example: a man tells me that he's forgiven his wife for cheating on him. Good, I say; so, what's the problem? I don't feel as though I've forgiven her. I ask, what does forgiveness feel like? I don't know, he says. Then how do you know that. . .oh, nevermind. . .you get the picture. Jesus says, “If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Where does he say that we are to be happy/sad/angry/anxious/giddy/calm about forgiving a sinner? Just forgive them, a deliberate act. Let feelings come what may. 

Just in case we didn't get it the first time, Jesus adds a little hyperbole: “And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive him.” If you're thinking in terms of the heresy of Feelingism, you're probably thinking that Jesus is setting us up for some serious emotional abuse. Seven times in one day I'm supposed to forgive this louse?! Yes. Even seventy-seven times, if necessary. This is a problem only if you think that you have to feel the forgiveness magically flowing out of you like a stream of warm regard. You don't. Because forgiveness isn't about feelings. It's about the intellect, how you choose to think. It's all about changing your mind not your passions. When someone sins against you, think first: that poor person is in a state of sin. Then, think: when one of my brothers or sisters is in a state of sin, the whole Body of Christ is weakened. When the one who sinned against you repents and asks for forgiveness, immediately forgive him so that the Body is strengthened. Can you be angry, sad, happy that you've forgiven them? Sure. So long as you forgive. Think: the measure I use to measure will be used to measure me. 

Now, just in case the first two times Jesus teaches us about the necessity to forgive sinners didn't take, we have the reaction of his disciples to reinforce the lesson. After he tells them to forgive the same sinner seven times in one day, how do the disciples react? You gotta be kidding! But, Lord, he'll just keep on sinning! What about my hurt feelings?! No, none of those. The disciple say, “Lord, increase our faith.” Strengthen our trust in you, Lord. Fortify our belief in this truth. Faith, trust, belief are all more or less synonyms, and all are made manifest by intellectual assent; that is, saying Yes to truth. No feelings here. No emotions. Just a plain, old-fashioned recognition that Jesus' teaching on forgiveness is true. “Lord, increase our faith” is a prayer for better understanding so that the Lord's teaching may become a virtue, a good habit. Think of it this way: forgiving a sinner isn't even really about you at all. The other guy is the sinner, so he/she is the one in trouble. Why wouldn't you help get them out of trouble? It's good moral exercise for you, and your persistence in mercy can only be an excellent example for them. Last question: does it matter that you don't feel like being merciful? No, it doesn't. Just be merciful. If for no other reason than that Jesus commands it. 

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Yawn

I've been saying this for years now. . .

Sin is boring.
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Audio file: 32nd Sunday OT

Give from your poverty:  audio file for 32nd Sunday OT homily.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing: The Return!

I Give You: the beautiful efficiencies of Big Gov't!  (applause)

2012 Abyss:  doubling down on incompetence and corruption

More Catholic software from LOGOS

On being promoted to Captain of the Titanic mid-voyage. . .with better lodging.

Blue State prosperity: slash public services, raise taxes, pay for sex-change operations.

Great. Syria and Israel get into a fire fight and we've got The Amateur in the W.H.

Media get mugged (literally). . .well, they've been mugging us for years now.

Let's get the Marriage Conversation right. . .I'm not sure that getting it right will change minds.

I understand why they want to do this, but it's gonna backfire.

Yet another hate crime hoax.  Maybe the Boy Who Cried Wolf should be required reading.
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Give from your poverty

32nd Sunday OT
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio File

Is it best to give much, to give often, or to give wholeheartedly? Perhaps it is best to give much, often, and wholeheartedly! This is certainly better than giving little, seldom, and miserly. A stingy heart pumps bile not blood and will dry quickly into a stone. The gospel question here is: from where do we give? Out of what do we give? Jesus praises the widow for her generosity. But her generosity is not a matter of amount, frequency, or attitude. Her generosity is measured by her poverty. While the rich people at the temple give from their surplus wealth—what was leftover—the widow gives from her destitution, her impoverishment. She contributes “all she had, her whole livelihood.” Now, this is not an exhortation from Jesus for rich people to give more, more often, and with a more gracious attitude. This is, in fact, a call for every generous heart—rich, poor, somewhere in between—to think carefully about what our Father has provided for us and how we spread His goodness around.

Christ wants more, better, and best from us always, but what he wants most is our contrite hearts and humble spirits. Out of these sacrifices he wants an outrageous generosity to pour out service, prayer, and abundant witness. So let me ask you another gospel question: what are you putting into the Lord’s treasury? Where does your generosity come from?

You might ask: “Why does it matter where my generosity comes from? Isn’t giving the point?” The short answer: No. Giving isn’t the point. Giving is the result, the conclusion. What must come before giving itself is a wide-open, bountiful, abundantly generous heart, a heart at the center of which is the living sacrifice of Christ himself on the cross. Christian generosity pours out from the heart's tabernacle, from the holy of holies where the Lord Himself rests in us—the hub of our friendship with God, the axis point at which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit meet to contain all that we are and all that we have. An abundantly generous heart is a bottomless covenant, an eternal promise of blessing and gift, of virtue and of holy consequence. If we will give as the widow does, we give a lot or often or graciously, we will give as God our Father gives: fully, freely, without price, expectation, or debt. We will give of ourselves, all of ourselves, everything we have and are, give all that we love, all that hold for security, all that we reserve just for us. We will give as Christ gave to us and for us on the altar of the cross and gives to us now on that altar of sacrifice. We must give our lives if we are to live.

Let’s see if we all understand the sacrifice of Calvary, the generous gift of Christ’s life for our sins. Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose from the tomb, ascended to the Father, and now we come together to sacrifice him again on that altar. We are here to beat and bruise his body again, here to lash him and crown him with thorns, here to pound those nails through his hands and feet, and lift him up over Golgotha so that we might benefit again from his death—a death that we repeat over and over again in the Mass. Right? NO! That is an anti-Catholic parody of our theology of redemption. The Catholic theology of redemption is the theology of redemption found in today’s reading from Hebrews. Christ does not offer himself repeatedly for our sins; he does not come before the holy of holies once a year like the levitical High Priest to expiate our sins; he does not enter a wooden temple for us. Instead, he enters for us the temple of the presence of God. He went before the holy holies once to expiate our sins. And he offered himself once for all on the cross. Hebrews reads, “…now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice…[and] will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.”

Surely this is the Christian exemplar for generosity! Christ doesn’t give much, often, or graciously. He give all, forever, and perfectly. He gives us all of his life—his time among us, his trial, his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. He gives us forever the benefits of his high priesthood, making us a royal, holy, and prophetic people. He gives perfectly the one sacrifice we need, the only sacrifice we need for new life, for life eternal. And to complete, right here in history, to complete the sacrifice of the cross, he will return in abundance, in glory, in awesome blessing and bring the fullness of divine healing to everyone who waits for him, everyone who waits with hearts opened, with tabernacle doors thrown wide.

Let me ask you again: what are you putting into the Lord’s treasury? Where does your generosity come from? Think about what you take out of the treasury, what we all take from the treasury! My point here is not to shame anyone into being generous. My point is simply this: if we are withdrawing from the abundant treasury of God’s blessings—and we are—then surely we are filled with those blessings, surely we are stuffed like our uncles at Thanksgiving with the gifts and rewards of our Father’s goodness and beauty. Wonderful! Precisely as it should be. But if we are stuffed and continuing to stuff, then surely we are called to spread the goodies, to diffuse the blessings. You might say to me, “But Father, God gave me these blessings for my benefit. I prayed for them especially!” Yes, absolutely correct. He gave you that blessing so that you might use it to its fullest effect—by giving it away! By giving it away you will be truly blessed in your near reckless generosity. Hoarding blessings and gifts from God is a contradiction in terms. Let me suggest a radical notion to you: if you have a blessing or gift that you aren’t eager to give away, it is probably not a blessing or gift from God at all, but a bribe from the Devil. He is trying to buy you, an agent of Christ, off. He is trying to prevent you from delivering the Goods to those in need by making you think that the purpose of a blessing or gift is its immediate, personal use. The nature of blessing and gift is giving not hoarding.

What are you putting into the Lord’s treasury? Where does your generosity come from? Whatever abundance you have and whatever blessing you are, they and you come from God. It makes no sense to say that Christian generosity is obligatory; that it is stingy or mean; that it is frugal or sparing. Christian generosity comes from the welling up of love that is God Himself in us. Sitting at our center, the stillpoint of our body and soul, He dumps blessing after blessing after blessing into our lives and moves us to treat each blessing according to its nature: gift, giving, given. The widow does not give much or often or perhaps even graciously. She gives out of her poverty and her poverty is transformed into fertile wealth—the teaching of Christ that feeds the generations. Of course, put time, talent, and treasure in the basket. The parish has bills to pay like everyone else. But put yourself on the altar of gift and offer a contrite heart and a humbled spirit as a perfect sacrifice to the Lord.

He wants you wholly given, perfectly gifted, and beautifully graced. Once for all, give it all—everything, and enter the kingdom of God. 

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Bread & Circuses

from George Will:

[. . .]

Liberals have an inherent but not insuperable advantage: As enthusiasts of government, to which many of them are related as employees or clients, they are more motivated for political activity than are conservatives, who prefer private spaces. Never mind. Conservatives have a commensurate advantage: Americans still find congenial conservatism’s vocabulary of skepticism about statism. And events — ongoing economic anemia; the regulatory state’s metabolic urge to bully — will deepen this vocabulary’s resonance.

[. . .]

I hope Will is right about Americans being skeptical of statist bullying.  However, I worry that he's being entirely too optimistic. Which Americans are skeptical of statist bullying?  Not the 50% who voted for B.O.'s massive governmental take-over our health-care choices.  Not the 50% who voted for B.O.'s massive governmental violation of our constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty.  Not the 50% of who voted for B.O.'s massive expansion of Bush's secretive National Security State.  

It seems to me that at least 50% of Americans voted for four more years of statist bullying and the continuing devolution of our nation's free citizens into dependent wards.

In a world of Bread & Circuses, free stuff beats freedom every time.

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On serving two Masters

St. Leo the Great
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The multi-millenial history of God's relationship with His people can be reasonably described as a troubled marriage. All through the Old Testament the patriarchs and prophets of God use martial images and terms to approximate how the Creator chooses to relate to His human creatures. When things are going well, we hear all about the blessings of marital bliss: generations of fat, happy kids; lots of livestock, wine, oil, etc. But when things are not going so well, we hear all about the woes of marital distress: generations of barrenness; war, exile, slavery in foreign lands, etc. Unlike bad marriages between men and women, the marital problems btw God and His people are always the bride's fault; that is, God is never unfaithful to Israel, but Israel—the Bride—has both a wandering eye and tendency toward committing adultery with other gods. Baal, Moloch, the Ashtoreth. When the Bride strays from her marriage covenant, blessings turn to curses and the road back to fidelity is paved with years of penance. Thus, Jesus reminds us, his Bride, “No servant can serve two masters. . .You cannot serve God and mammon.” 

Being a practical people and believers in the strength of our innate goodness, we are prone to wondering why we can't serve two masters. What exactly is the problem with giving ourselves to more than one god?Or, to put it in more modern terms, why can't we live by relying on both God's providence and our own native ingenuity? We all know the old saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” Like most old sayings, there's some truth here. If we just sit on the couch and wait for God to dump all that we need in our laps, we're likely to die and rot on that couch with empty laps. However, if we rely on ourselves to the exclusion of God's help, we risk becoming increasingly entangled in the world, a world ruled by those foreign gods who tempt us into spiritual adultery. The two unacceptable extremes seem to be: do nothing to help ourselves and wait for God to magically provide AND do everything ourselves and call on God's help only when we fail. Neither option places us at the service of God and both lead us away from the covenant. So, why can't we serve two masters? Serving two masters—God and mammon—causes us to reject God's help in favor of helping ourselves, leaving us closed to receiving His blessings and totally reliant on our limited natural gifts. 

Paul sheds some light in his letter to the Philippians, “I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry. . .I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.” The secret of maintaining a happy marriage with God—through the good, the bad, and the ugly—is to serve God first, last, and only. By serving God alone we are given the strength necessary to endure hardship and enjoy abundance. This makes perfect sense when you consider: God never changes; He is always faithful, yet each one of us will change over time; the world changes all the time; even the gods of this world—money, popularity, gov't—are constantly changing. How can you faithfully serve capricious and volatile gods? You end up confused, exhausted, anxious, and none the richer for your service. Therefore, ground your life in service to God. Remove from your living temple—your body and soul—all the idols of other gods. And call upon the strength that God alone can provide to endure scarcity and hardship, to celebrate abundance and good fortune. Our God will fully supply whatever we need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 

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Have you rented your temple?

Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

With an angel, Ezekiel watches a temple whose fountains water the desert land. Paul writes that we are temples of God's spirit built on the foundation of Christ. And Jesus visits the temple to flay the moneychangers who defile his Father's house. We have a spiritual temple; a living temple; and a temple made of stone. If what Paul writes is true—“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”—and his warning to us is prescient—you “must be careful how [you build]. . .” b/c there is no foundation other than Christ—then, we must all look long and hard in our spiritual mirror, and examine ever so carefully the conscience reflected there. If Ezekiel and his host-angel are watching the heavenly temple water the deserts of sin and death, bringing them to life; and if Paul is right about each one of us being a temple of God built on the foundation of Christ; then, we can be sure that Jesus is headed toward each one of us with a whip of cords to drive out whatever defiles each one of his Father's living temples. As a temple of God's Spirit, have you rented out the Lord's holy place? If so, who or what needs to be driven out? 

Jesus fashions a whip of cords. He marches into the temple courtyard and watches the merchants selling sacrificial animals, the bankers exchanging secular money for the temple tax. In a burst of righteous anger, he begins whipping the lot of them, yelling, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” His disciples watch him and recall a line from Psalm 69: “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” Christ is zealous in defending the dignity of his Father's stone temple. How much more zealous will he be then in defending the dignity of his Father's living temples—each one of us? If he's willing to breach the peace of his nation's temple with violence, how much more eager will he be then to whip the complacency out of our flesh and bone temples, all living temples for which he died on the Cross? Paul says it plainly, “If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.” As a living temple of God's Spirit, have you turned your heart and mind into a marketplace? Have you rented out the Lord's holy place? 

To answer this, we need to think long and hard about who the moneychangers are in our lives. Who are the merchants that buy and sell, exchange and borrow in the courtyards of our soul? There are, of course, the real world merchants who sell us ugliness so that we buy beauty; sell us fat so that we buy thin; sell us old so that we buy young. There are the political merchants who sell us illusions of fairness and work-free utopias; the religious merchants who sell us cheap grace*; the cultural merchants who sell us fleeting glamor and celebrity; and then there's the most seductive merchant of all: the spiritual merchant, who hopes to sell us a new foundation for our temples. This new foundation will be dug into the ground of this life, not the one that comes after; it will support all your choices, all your preferences; it's completely pliable, totally malleable; it will never resist your designs, never push back against whatever you think is right to build; it takes whatever spiritual shape you need it to take. Have you rented the Lord's holy place, His living temple, your body and soul, to this merchant, to any of these merchants? Now would be a good time to get your temple in order; now would be a very good time to reflect long and hard on Christ's zealous defense of his Father's living temples. 

*Grace is freely given, not cheaply bought.

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Wincing at easy mercy

31st Week OT (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

We are all familiar with the Prodigal Son, the one lost sheep, that misplaced coin, and johnny-come-lately vineyard workers. They are the stars of Jesus' parables. The ones who got away but came back and found themselves joyfully received and forgiven! The gospel lesson being that no matter how lost, how gravely misplaced, or late to the party a sinner may be, Christ will welcome him back. Well, good for the sinner. What about the Good Son, the other 99 sheep, and the coins that stayed put? Julie Stoner wrote a poem about them: “We ninety-nine obedient sheep;/we workers hired at dawn’s first peep;/we faithful sons who strive to please,/forsaking prodigalities;/we virgins who take pains to keep/our lamps lit, even in our sleep;/we law-abiding Pharisees;//we wince at gospels such as these.” This makes me smile b/c I've seen the Good Son, the Everyready Virgins, the 99 Responsible Sheep wince when preachers ignore their obedience and lavish praise on the reckless sinners who taunt God and then come crawling back whining for a second chance. None of the Good Souls want God to refuse them His mercy, of course; but, you know, maybe He could make them suffer just a little more for being so presumptuous? 

Perhaps you've thought something like that yourselves at some point: why is repentance and forgiveness made easy for those who have spent their whole lives rebelling against God? Murderous Mafia dons who receive absolution on their deathbeds. Serial killers who discover Jesus before their executions. Given the severity of their sins, shouldn't something else be required? Something more substantial in terms of penance? Maybe a public flogging, or a chance for their victims' families to poke them with sharp sticks. I'm sure that none of us have ever even thought that God should withhold His forgiveness. But it seems only fair to those of us who've been Good Sons and Daughters all our lives that it should be more difficult for especially notorious sinners to repent and receive mercy. That would make them appreciate God's mercy more, right; and it would give us Good Folks reason to keep on being Good. As reasonable as this scenario might sound, there's a big problem with it. As sinners ourselves, we don't get to put obstacles in the way of God's mercy, nor do we get to decide who can repent and how. And for that, we should be thankful. 

It might sound strange to hear but the truth is: it's often easier for a notorious sinner to repent than it is for a casual sinner. The further away a soul gets from loving God, the more acutely it feels sin's emptiness. A sinner's soul can reach the point of despair, a point where there seems to be no way back. The next horrible sin seems easier than the last. The harder that soul pulls away from God's love, the harder God loves. This why when a truly notorious sinner comes back to God, he is usually a zealous witness for the Gospel. A casual sinner creeps away from God, little sin by little sin, never really feeling the distance. As things start to go wrong, it's resentment toward God rather than despair that flairs up. God still loves, always. But the casual sinner doesn't feel love as love, he feels it as an intrusion, suffocating his freedom. The more restricted he feels, the more he rebels until his sins are no longer minor. It's the casual sinner who often looks at the notorious sinner, and says, “He shouldn't be able to repent and receive mercy so easily!” What he's really thinking though is: “I wish I had his courage to repent.” This is why those 99 Sheep and the Good Son wince when they see their lost brothers repent. It hurts when your conscience give you a swift kick in the rear. 

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Discouragement is NOT an option

Between reading for class tomorrow, working on a homily, and napping, I've been browsing around the political blogs reading post-election commentary.  I've been delighted to discover that there seems to be very little anger or outrage at B.O.'s re-election.  Most of the posts I've read have been thoughtful, sober, and given to taking in the Big Picture.  

Here's an excerpt from Matthew Warner's piece on the NCRegister site that fits my own thoughts almost perfectly:

[. . .]

Real change starts in the home. Not in the Whitehouse. In *your* home and the homes around this great nation. That's where it begins. It ends in the election booth. If we're only showing up to fight in the election booth, we've already missed the battle.

And if you are discouraged after the election, Mother Teresa has something to say to you about that, too: “If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.”

It's as simple as that, folks. Transform discouragement into the motivation that moves you to change things. (And for more inspiration from Mother Teresa, read her 7 steps to a holier life.)

What we need right now is leadership. And if you're waiting for a politician, you're going to be waiting a long time. We need leadership 1) in your home and 2) in the culture. We need cultural leaders. We need individuals and organizations to rise up and provide inspiring, convincing leadership that will lead to conversions of mind and heart.

[. . .]

This makes perfect sense to me and I commend it to you.
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All Dominican Saints

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers!

The universal Church celebrates her feast of all the pure of heart, all those who see God – All Saints Day – on November 1.  Likewise, many of the great religious Orders celebrate a feast for their own saints.  The Dominican Order happens to be one of them (feast day – Nov. 7).  The Dominicans were the second Order (after the Benedictines) to receive this privilege from the Holy See.  In response to the request of Cardinal Vincent Maria Orsini, OP, in 1674, Pope Clement X wrote:

Rightly, my Lord Cardinal, ought your Order to celebrate the solemnity of all its Saints on one appointed day; for, if we wished to assign to each of its holy sons his own special feast, we should have to form a new calendar, and they alone would suffice to fill it.

[. . .]
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Gawker or disciple?

31st Week OT (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

It looks like Jesus wants to thin the crowd that's following him around. Surely, only a small portion of that large herd is genuinely attracted by the possibility of becoming a true disciple. Most of them are probably just gawkers or thrill-seekers. If nothing Jesus has said up to this point about the risks of following him has sunk in, this might: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children. . .even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Now that statement gives them something to think about. What's Jesus got to offer that's worth hating your family for? It must be something truly worthwhile. Perhaps sensing that his warning is only causing some in the crowd to become even more curious, Jesus adds, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Now that bit of warning must've given the crowd pause b/c they all know that their Roman masters use crosses to execute criminals. “Carrying your own cross” means “helping in your own brutal, bloody death at the hands of the enemy.” I'm guessing at this point that many of the gawkers wander away from Jesus, and the true disciples love him all the more. 

So, here we are, another crowd, and we hear Jesus say, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Do you want to wander away? Even if you stay in your seat, do you want to wander off? Or, upon hearing that you must assist in your own execution, do you love Christ all the more? Are you a gawker or a disciple? Well, isn't it obvious that we are all disciples? We're at morning Mass everyday. We never miss a Sunday. We give to the parish; pray everyday; participate in church groups. All true. And all of that makes us good Catholics. But the question is: are we disciples? A disciple is a kind of student, a learner; someone under the instruction of a master-teacher. While a student learns an academic subject, a disciple masters a way of life, a way of living. More than learning the content of a subject, the disciple learns both content and method; that is, she takes in and makes her own what is being taught and makes it the means by which she survives as a follower of Christ in the world. A student memorizes the Our Father. A disciple actually lives the Our Father. A student goes to Mass, while a disciple lives the Mass. A student learns the definition of sacrificial love. A disciple loves sacrificially. 

Are you a gawker or a disciple? Here's one way to tell: when Jesus says, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple,” do you think, “Whoa. I'm just here for Mass,” or do you think, “Which of my crosses will I joyfully carry today?” Here's another way: when Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children. . .even his own life, he cannot be my disciple,” do you think, “Whoa. Mom, dad, the kids are more important to me than being a disciple,” or do you think, “I can only love mom, dad, and the kids if I love Christ first”? Loving Christ first is the first step in becoming a disciple. Making that love your means for surviving in the world is the next step. The third step is lifting that love up and carrying it day-by-day until you are called upon to die for it. And the final step comes when you joyfully assist in your own execution for the sake of Christ's love. A gawker will not die for love. A student might die for a cause or an idea. A disciple will die for Christ in love b/c she knows that such a death is last step along the Narrow Way, following behind Christ in sacrifice for the salvation of the world. 

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Four more years. . .

Congrats to B.O. for pulling out a victory. . .

To me this means one thing: the U.S. has reached a tipping point in her decline toward  irreversible Nanny Statism and the social disease of government dependency.  A Romney victory last night would have only stalled the decline.  

Batten down, faithful Catholics!  It's going to be a long four years. 

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An Election Prediction

Anyone wanna make an election prediction?

Might as well. . .everyone else is doing it, right. . .

Here's the thing for me:  I hope Obama loses.  Unfortunately, that means that Romney must win.

The polls have been too heavily weighed with Dems.  The media have stayed away from B.O.'s Libyan disaster, protecting him from tough questions about his incompetence.  Or, if the conspiracy theorists are right, protecting him from his complicity.  Unfortunately, for B.O. and the media, the story is out.

B.O. has no record to run on. His "successes" are almost universally unpopular.

His attacks on the Church have backfired with just about everyone but his most ardent acolytes.

The economy is a wreck. The government response to Hurricane Sandy is a tragic embarrassment to anyone who thinks Big Gov't Solves All Problems. 

His campaign has been a study in petulant entitlement--how dare you peons make me go this election-thing again?  Do you know who I am?!  The 2012 campaign has been a narcissistic wound for B.O. and just about every campaign stop has been a tantrum.

My prediction:  Mitt Romney by a very comfortable margin.  

Caveat:  ultimately, it doesn't matter to me who wins.  My first allegiance is to Christ and his Church. I put no trust in princes except the Prince of Peace.

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An Election Day Prophecy

Thank God this horrible presidential campaign season is almost over.  

Literally, thank you, God.

I've been paying attention to national elections since I was 16 in 1980. 

I was horrified when Ronald Reagan trounced my beloved Jimmy Carter.

I cast my first ballot in 1984 for Walter Mondale.  There were three of us in the whole state of Mississippi who did.

I spent two years of my undergrad career at the VERY Republican Ole Miss writing a weekly column for the school newspaper. . .wherein, I regularly berated Ronnie Raygun and dodged frat boy insults.

In 1988, I was house-sitting for my thesis director and planted Michael Dukakis signs in the yard of the house .

In 1992, I pasted my beat up old car with Bill Clinton stickers and did everything I could in my literature classes to indoctrinate my students into the joys of socialist utopia.

In 1996, I did it again.

Come 2000, I was a Dominican student brother and thought the election had been stolen from Al Gore.

Becoming Catholic and having the time and resources to study the tradition led me away from my fanatical Yellow Dog Democrat tendencies.  It also helped that the Dems had become increasingly fanatical about abortion and were sounding more and more like the Marxists I'd studied in grad school, i.e. totalitarian bigots.

By 2004, I was a weak Republican-leaning classical liberal. So, I held my nose, dosed up on Dramamine, and pulled the lever for a second-term for George W. Bush.

The election of 2008 proved too easy to even think about much. Barak Obama was an over-hyped, empty suit Nanny Statist with the thinnest resume of any candidate we'd seen in decades. John McCain was only slightly more palatable than Obama.

Now, here we are.  Empty Suit Statist vs. Empty Suit Corporatist.  To my mind, the Corporatist is slightly less odious simply b/c he's less likely to be as virulently anti-Catholic as the Statist.

We're discussing the Book of Amos for my OT class this morning. The prophetic history of Israel is replete with warnings about the nation's worship of foreign gods and its love of injustice. These two national sins--idolatry and oppression of the poor--bring Israel under judgment over and over again.

Here's my prophecy for today:  no matter who wins this election, we are a nation teetering on the edge of divine judgment.  I don't mean hellfire, brimstone, earthquakes, and swarms of locusts.  I mean, as we allow ourselves to slide deeper and deeper into worshiping the secular gods of Violence, Money, Prestige, and Power, and the longer we cast aside those who need our help n favor of entitlements, the colder and harder our hearts become.  Cold, hard hearts cannot receive the blessings God sends our way.  

When we can no longer receive God's blessings, we begin to think that we rule the universe and God serves us.

If the Church is to play her proper role as Prophet, we must untangle ourselves from our cultural alliance with the Nanny Statists in the Democrat Party, and we must resist allying ourselves with the National Security Corporatists in the Republican Party.  

Court prophets did not fare well in Israel.   

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