Just dirt on your face unless. . .

Ash Wednesday 2013
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA

We are reminded of our mortality, that we will all die one day: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Do we need this reminder? Not really. If you have ever been sick, hungry, thirsty, or sleepy, you know that you are mortal. We are reminded of our mortality so that our hearts and minds are drawn from mortality to immortality. There is no point in being reminded that we are going to die if we are not also reminded of the possibility of eternal life, a possibility threatened by persistent disobedience, by sin: our choice to step away from God. So, hear Him say to you, “Return to me with your whole heart with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.” Return to Him with almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. Practice generosity b/c nothing you have and nothing you are is truly yours. Practice surrendering b/c you are wholly dependent on His loving-care. And pray, always pray b/c nothing given to you in grace is a gift until you receive it with gratitude. Wear ashes today as a sign of your repentance. Or wash them off in humility as you fast. Whatever you chose to do with the ashes, repent and return to the Lord with a contrite and humble heart. Without true repentance and humility, without joy, these ashes are just dirt smeared on your forehead. 

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A Message from the Ash Wednesday Grinch. . .

Please Note:

Ash Wednesday is NOT a holy day of obligation.

If you can't make it to Mass. . .it's no big deal.  

You are NOT required to get ashes smeared on you. 

Yes, it is an excellent way to begin your Lenten penances. . .but it is NOT a holy day of obligation.

Ashes may be smeared by a bishop, priest, deacon, or lay person. You do NOT need Father to smear ashes on you.  

Also, Thursday is NOT Ash Wednesday, so please don't ask to be smeared with ashes on Thursday.

That is all.  Oh, I almost forgot:  "Humbug."

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Vid of me

Here's a video of me today. . .Grouchy then Whiney then Sleepy. . .


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As many as touched the tassels

5th Week OT (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

How many did Jesus heal that day by the sea? “. . .as many as touched [the tassel of his cloak] were healed.” Was that three or thirty or three thousand? We don't know; we can't know. It's really not important—the precise number. What's important is that as many as approached Jesus were healed. One or a million and one were restored to health. They touched the tassel of his cloak and found themselves renewed. No doubt they were thrilled to be healthy again, or maybe for the first time in their lives. We can imagine their gratitude, their joy. But how did they understand their newly restored health? Not just “what did they feel?” but what did they think had happened to them? When you are healed—by God, by medicine—what do you think has happened to you? Do you think that you are healthy again b/c your body has been repaired? Or do you think in terms of the spiritual health of your whole person? Body and soul. We don't know how many were healed that day, but as many as Jesus healed thought about their righteousness. How do we know? They reached for the tassels of his cloak, the sign of Christ's faithfulness to the Father. 

In the Book of Numbers, we read Moses' instructions to God's people, “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels for the corners of their garments. . .” Now, this isn't just a fashion statement. Moses has a particular use in mind for these tassels: “When you use these tassels, the sight of the cord will remind you of all the commandments of the Lord and you will do them, without prostituting yourself going after the desires of your hearts and your eyes.”* As visible signs of the Law, the tassels serve to keep God's people ever mindful of the covenant, ever mindful of the obligations and promises made btw God and Abraham. That covenant establishes the basis for a multi-generational relationship that directs divine favor to Israel, guaranteeing prosperity to Abraham and his descendents as long as the covenant is honored. Jesus wears the tassels—he's a rabbi, after all—to honor the covenant, to show his obedience to his Father's Word. As many as he healed that day were healed by their faith in the Word; for them, the Word made flesh, walking among them. 

As I was writing this homily, Fr. Marty knocked on my door to tell me that CNN was reporting that Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will resign at the end of this month. Citing his failing health and the demands of the papal office, he feels that the Church needs a younger, more energetic man to sit in the Chair of Peter. Papal resignations are not unprecedented, there have been several in 2,000 yrs. However, BXVI is the first pope to resign in 600 yrs, the most recent being Pope Gregory XII who resigned in 1415 to end the Western Schism. If you feel yourself growing anxious at this news, you are not alone. Every faithful Catholic in the world is a little bit jittery right now. Changes in the Church—especially with the papal office—always come with some degree of worry. Just remember: the pope—whoever he happens to be next month—guides the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. Our trust, our faith, and our hope rests with Christ, the eternal High Priest. He wore the Mosaic tassels to show his fidelity to the Father's covenant with Israel. He healed as many as touched those tassels. How much more are we renewed and restored by touching his body and blood? 

*Num 15.38-40

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BXVI to resign the papal office

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will resign the papacy on Feb 28th.

"For this reason [failing health], and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is," he added. 

More here.

This is H.U.G.E., folks.
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Um, there may be a problem with our coffee. . .

No need to panic. . .breathe, breathe, breathe. . .don't panic, don't panic. . .

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's president declared a national emergency Friday over the spread of coffee rust, saying the fungus that has hit other Central American countries is affecting 70 percent of this nation's crop.

IT'S A COFFEE EMERGENCY!!!!

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Go out into the Deep!

5th Sunday OT 2013
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church/Our Lady of the Rosary

When it comes to doing His will, God pays careful attention to our faithfulness, our strength, our perseverance. He smiles on our hope, our humility, and our willingness to sacrifice for others in love. These He nurtures toward excellence and rewards with perfecting graces. When we fall short of being faithful, strong, hopeful, or humble, He hears our petitions for assistance and help will arrive. However, when we try to excuse our failures, or justify our unwillingness to serve, or claim some sort of debilitating brokenness, we get the booming chirping of celestial crickets. Nothing. Or, if we are being particularly stubborn, we get the kind of help that Isaiah, Paul, and Simon Peter get. We get all of our excuses handled by divine intervention, and our mission as apostles grows in proportion to the intervention required to fix us. Our Lord says to his Church, “Put out into the deep!” Do we obey and plead for his help? Or do we wail excuses? Are we fearful and plead helplessness? Or are we faithful? Jesus says to Simon Peter, and to us, “Do not be afraid.” Leave everything and follow him. 

Our readings this morning/evening bear witness to three biblical legends: Isaiah, Paul, and Simon Peter. All three find themselves confronted by the glory of the Lord; all three hear His call to service; and all three serve up pitiful excuses for their initial failure to receive God's commission. Isaiah, upon seeing the glory of God, wails and whines in fear of death b/c no sinful man may see God and live. Paul reminds the Corinthians that he was “born abnormally” as an apostle and is not fit to be an apostle b/c he persecuted the Church. And Simon Peter fails to believe that Jesus will be able to help him with the catch. When he pulls up his full-to-bursting nets, he falls at Christ's feet, wailing, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Each of these men starts out as a pitiful sinner—a coward, an enemy of the Church, and a weary unbeliever. However, having wailed their excuses, God takes all that they are and graces them with all that they need to become a prophet, a preacher, and an apostle. The Lord wills that they “put out into the deep” of this world and fish for souls. He fixes their brokenness and multiplies the gravity of their mission in proportion to the blessings they require. Each one is astonished by the Lord's generosity. And in gratitude receives his godly commission. 

Christ says to his Church, “Put out into the deep!” Do we obey and ask for his help? Or do we wail excuses? We could, like Isaiah, spend copious amounts of time and energy nursing our sins, crying over our failures, and raising these up to God as excuses for our inability to go out into the world as apostles for the Good News. How can we bear witness to God's mercy when we ourselves are so dirty with sin? Or, we could, like Paul, see ourselves as “abnormally born,” that is, brought into the family of God from another church or another faith, and then claim that our unusual entrance into Christ's body disqualifies us from being proper preachers of the Gospel. I wasn't raised in the Church, what can I do for the faith? Or, we could, like Simon Peter, live as weary unbelievers, ever doubtful of Christ's power, and then ashamed of our unbelief when he shows us what he can do. I denied Christ too many times, I'm unworthy of serving him as an apostle! We could refuse, deny, demur, disbelieve, and beat ourselves up. But Christ says, “Do not be afraid! Leave everything and follow me.” Leave doubt, leave self, leave sin, leave the past. Leave it all and follow me. 

Isaiah leaves his history of sin behind when the seraphim purges his mouth with the ember from God's altar. Paul leaves his history of vengeful persecution of the Church behind when Christ appears to him on the Damascus Road. Simon Peter leaves his long and stubborn history of faithlessness and betrayal behind when he is consumed in the fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Isaiah hears the Lord ask, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Purged of his sin, Isaiah shouts like a schoolboy, “Here I am, send me!” Paul sheds the scales from his eyes and receives his commission to bring the Good News to the Gentiles, confessing, “. . .by the grace of God I am what I am.” And Simon Peter, upon seeing the haul in his nets, confesses his unbelief, and receives from Christ himself an encouraged heart that will grow large enough to receive the love of the Holy Spirit. Each abandoned his history of disobedience; each leaves behind every obstacle, every trial, every excuse; and each follows the Lord in His will to become prophetic and preaching legends for God's people. They put out into the deep, and brought to the Lord a great haul of souls. 

Time and physical distance are no measures for Christ. His words to Peter on the boat are spoken directly to us, each one of us: “Put out into the deep. . .do not be afraid.” As this world grows older and its spiritual and moral foundations become more and more fragile, our hold on things true, good, and beautiful seems to grow more and more precarious. We don't need to recite the litany of sins our culture of death revels in. It's the same list Isaiah, Paul, and Peter knew so well. It's the same list that ancient Israel and Judah knew. It's the same list the serpent wrote in the Garden and the same list men have been carrying around for millennia. That list tells us how to degrade and destroy the dignity of the human person, the image and likeness of God that each one us shares in, the imago Dei that makes us perfectable in Christ. It is the mission of the Enemy to tempt us into racial suicide, to kill ourselves as the human race by separating ourselves—one soul at a time—from our inheritance in the Kingdom. The Deep that we are commanded to evangelize is at once both the individual human heart and the whole human community. And lurking in that Deepness is both Eden's serpent and Christ's cross, both the voice of rebellion against God and the instrument of sacrifice for God. Christ says, “Do not be afraid.” 

Whether we find the serpent or the cross or both dwelling in the Deep, we must not be afraid. The serpent was defeated the moment he chose to rebel. Sin and death were crushed from eternity before the first human walked upright. So, we can meet the serpent without fear. We can also meet the cross without fear b/c it is through the cross that the serpent is defeated. When we put out into the Deep of the human heart and the human community, there is nothing there for us to fear. Our job is a simple one: fish. Cast nets with service, humility, mercy, and joy. Bait our hooks with all the gifts we have been given to use for the greater glory of God. Leave behind bitterness, resentment, jealousy, and wrath. Follow Christ in strength, persistence, faithfulness, gladness, and sacrifice. Leave behind worry, doubt, fear, and hostility. Follow Christ in thanksgiving, rejoicing, praise, and courage. Now is not the time for cowardice. Now is not the time for waffling or compromise. We have our orders: put out into the deep! Risk, challenge, venture out. Hold fast to Peter's boat and cast your net wide and deep. Isaiah, Paul, and Peter made their excuses before God. He smiled and made them into prophets and preachers. So, go ahead: make your excuses. And watch God do His marvelous work through you. 

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Foolishness follows fear

4th Week OT (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Like any one of us who fall into sin, Herod's devolution into foolishness starts with pride. Salome the Dancer, and her mother, Herodias, take advantage of Herod's pride and lust and turn his generosity into murder. They succeed because Herod is ruled by anxiety and fear. Why else does a powerful king keep a holy and righteous man in prison? Fear makes us foolish, and foolishness is and always will be the enemy of God's wisdom. 

John persists in preaching against Herod's adultery. The king imprisons John, keeping him close but also preventing him from preaching against Herod publicly. We can almost hear Herod's internal conflict. God's wisdom and the king's conscience draw Herod to John's preaching, but power, lust, and misplaced generosity prevent him from choosing wisdom over foolishness. Having consistently chosen to accomplish apparently good ends by evil means, Herod reaches a point where Salome and Herodias tip the scale and the king murders John, becoming, in this deadly choice, a Royal Fool. 

Herod's fall into darkness shows us that fools are made not born. In fact, fools are self-made, constructed, if you will, out of pride, and played by men and women who once listened to wisdom. If Herod's power and pride started his decline, then fear accelerated it, and lust and hard-heartedness sealed the deal. Like all of our moral choices, vice is a habit: we choose again and again to call evil Good. Over time, we are no longer capable of recognizing the Good and come to believe that in choosing Evil we are choosing Good. Herod believes that keeping John in prison prevents political unrest. Even though he is distressed by Salome's request for John's head on a platter, Herod justifies the prophet's execution as an act of fidelity to his oath, fearing embarrassment if he breaks it. The king is motivated at every decision-point by vicious habits and these habits take him—step by step—right into moral foolishness. 

Hearing, seeing, and doing God's wisdom are all habits: choices and actions we must take one at a time, step by step. Each decision we make brings us closer to foolishness or closer to wisdom. If living in God's wisdom is your goal, then let your prayer be: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?” Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 

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How must we be poor?

4th Week of OT (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Jesus spends a lot of his time with the disciples teaching them the basic truths of the Good News. None of what he teaches them could be called “systematic theology” or “philosophical theology.” If we just have to have a label to apply, we could use “biblical theology” or “biblical wisdom.” At his arrival among us as the Word made flesh, Jesus fulfills all of the Old Covenant's obligations and promises. So, the content of his teaching is basically The How of how he fulfills these obligations and promises. How does he teach this? Word and deed. He preaches and acts as the Messiah. Truly, all he needs to do is travel around letting folks know that his Father's kingdom is coming and that they all need to repent of their sins and receive His mercy. Jesus is ever the practical teacher, ever mindful of his students and how they learn. He preaches parables not lectures; he performs miracles not arguments; he lives the Good News. His instructions to the disciples in this evening's gospel reading bear all this out. He gives them practical wisdom for spreading the Good but-not-so-easily received News. 

When Jesus sends his disciples out into the world two by two to preach the Good News, he sends them out with next to nothing: “no food, no sack, no money in their belts.” They could take sandals, a walking stick, and one tunic. Nothing else. They were to follow local guest customs; cast out unclean spirits; anoint the sick; and preach repentance in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom. What's striking about these instructions is the paucity of possessions they are allow to take. Some have argued that apostolic poverty is a condition for preaching the Gospel. You must be truly materially poor—imitating our Lord—in order to preach with authority. Others have argued that apostolic poverty is simply a means to an end. Less stuff, fewer worries on the road; fewer worries, more time to preach and minister. Historically, the Franciscans see true poverty as an end in itself. Dominicans, however, see poverty as a means, a tool for evangelization. We could say that whether the poverty Jesus requires of his disciples is a means or an end, what counts is the result of the preaching. His practical wisdom is both practical and wise. Just as Jesus himself is the Good News, his apostles (then and now) share in his mission and ministry and embody the virtues of the biblical wisdom he teaches. 

How we present ourselves as apostles while preaching the Good News is vital to the message. Yes, less stuff on the road equals fewer worries and leaves more time to minister. And, yes, being truly poor can deepen one's humility, one's dependence on God's providence. But how does the practice of apostolic poverty among Christ's 21st century disciples help spread the Good News? Few of us practice the kind of apostolic poverty that Jesus requires of his 1st century disciples. That kind of poverty won't get us far in a capitalist culture dominated by a Protestant work ethic. A culture where “being poor” is thought to result from laziness. Our poverty will need to be a different sort. In order to successfully preach the Good News in postmodern America, we must be impoverished of despair and rich in hope; poor in apathy and rich in love; profoundly broke in mistrust, greed, anger and rich in faith, generosity, and hospitality. In other words, we must adopt and live-out the poverty of Self that Christ himself lived for others. We have nothing to be despairing about; nothing to be angry about; nothing that is our own to hoard; and we have everything we have from God to give and see multiplied in the giving. Like Christ, we give it all and receive it all back in ridiculous abundance! 

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That no one may be deprived

St. Paul Miki & Companions
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Our Lord leaves his hometown amazed by the lack of faith among his neighbors. They doubt his claim to be the Messiah; they doubt his power to heal; they doubt his prophetic wisdom. Their doubt leaves Jesus amazed and their town bereft of miracles. When doubt amounts to nothing more than a willful refusal to believe for the sake of not believing, it amounts to a sin. Not all doubting is sinful; in fact, a healthy skepticism is often an excellent ally in our growth toward perfect holiness. What distinguishes Sinful Doubt from Healthy Doubt is the intent of the doubter; that is, how you answer the question “Why are you doubting?” is vital. The people of Nazareth doubt Jesus for no other reason than that he is a hometown boy. They know his mama and daddy. They remember him as a kid. And now here he is acting like a prophet sent from God Almighty! Their obstinate pride obstructs their belief, and they suffer for it. Had they set aside their contempt for familiarity and taken the time to listen and observe, they would've heard the Father's wisdom and witnessed His holy power. Had they disciplined their hearts and minds to seeking out the truth, they would've flourished in miracles. 

Nowadays, the practice of any sort of discipline would be miraculous in itself. We live a culture where opinion is fact; illusion is reality; and the news is stage-managed by partisan spin-doctors. Seeking out the truth among the ruins of our postmodern landscape takes more than just a steely discipline; it requires a willingness to be martyred for the sake of the search. It requires a heroic struggle against that most basic of human vices: pride. That dark, primal instinct to think of oneself as entirely self-sufficient, entirely autonomous, and liberated from both God and man. Searching for the truth—and its siblings, goodness and beauty—is a humble discipline; or more precisely, the discipline of humility. That bright, alien virtue of thinking of oneself as entirely dependent, wholly needful of divine assistance and the companionship of others. Being disciplined by humility in the search for truth is a dangerous adventure, especially when the truth one seeks points to Christ. Just ask any Christian martyr, any witness to the mercy of God who's bled as a testimony to that truth. As the ruins of our culture are ground to dust, who among us will embrace the discipline of humility and give witness to the truth that Christ died to reveal? 

The Nazarenes doubt their native son and fail to receive the revelation he came to give them. They defend their ignorance with pride, and so, their miracles are given to those who humble themselves and ask for the truth. Maybe they see the consequences of knowing Christ. Maybe they understand that humility in the service of divine love means committing oneself to the spread and nurturing of that love. And maybe they suspected that spreading and nurturing divine love among the prideful would result in violence and death. Hebrews admonishes them and us, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. . .Endure your trials as 'discipline'. . .” In our struggles against the sins of personal and cultural pride, have we resisted to the point of shedding blood, our blood? Have we stood up for truth, Christ's truth, and bled to share his revelation of God's mercy to sinners? Have we shed pride, arrogance, ignorance, and shame and testified to the truth of God's unconditional offer of forgiveness? Have we endured the trials that come with following Christ, gladly receiving his discipline and sharing the lesson? If not, hear again the admonishment from Hebrews, “See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God. . .” 

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Evangelical Catholicism

Kathryn Lopez of NRO interviews George Weigel about his new book, Evangelical Catholicism.

Here's one excerpt: 

LOPEZ: Why do “twenty-first century Christophobes” fear Christ? 

WEIGEL: The secular Christophobes of the West fear Christ because they imagine him to be an enemy of autonomy, which they define as the highest of human values. But this rather misses the point: autonomy for what? The sandbox of solipsism, the playpen of self-absorption, can get rather lonely after awhile. When honest secularists recognize that loneliness in themselves, the hand of Christ will be there to lift them out of the sandbox or playpen and into a maturity and happiness built, not from “autonomy,” but from living a commitment to truth and with compassion for others. And that hand of Christ will be extended by the people of the Church, who are, in Pius XII’s wonderful image, Christ’s “mystical body” in the world. 

Read the whole thing. . .it is WELL worth your time!

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Coffee Cup Browsing

A headline to give an OP friar a fright! (clutching chest/wiping brow)

Wow.  Something goes right in P.C. infested Canada

Good news! Nobel Peace Prize winner says killing Americans with drones is just dandy!

Note to Cardinal Mahony: Bishops are shepherds of souls, not therapists.

Psychoanalyzing the Left. . .fascinating article.

Mass delayed for 2hrs. . .laity refuse to bring up the gifts!
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Chained among the dead no longer

4th Week OT (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Jesus exorcises a man possessed by demons, sending the unclean spirits into a herd of swine. For your growth in holiness, it makes no real difference how you choose to think about that Legion of unclean spirits. You can think of them in 1st century terms: they are fallen angels sent to rule the earth and tempt men and women away from righteousness. Or 21th century terms: they are manifestations of our animal impulses toward violence, passion, and the survival instinct, lingering in the unconscious to keep us uncivilized. It doesn't really matter how we think about the unclean spirits b/c whether we see them as fallen angels or animal impulses, their influence on our growth in holiness is always the same. Like the man possessed by Legion, these unclean spirits, if allowed free reign in our hearts and minds, keep us living among the tombs, dwelling among the corpses, and rotting right along side them. God did not create us to die and rot. He created us and holds us in being so that we might live an eternal life with him. His only Son comes to wash us clean of our unclean spirits so that all righteousness with Him is fulfilled. What unclean spirits—fallen angels or animal impulses—chain you among the dead? 

For reasons both sociological and ideological, it has been theologically unfashionable for the last 50 yrs or so to talk much about unclean spirits, demons, angels, and most especially, sin. But it's more than a little difficult to preach the Good News of God's freely given mercy to sinners if we can't talk about sin. And to talk about sin we need to be able to talk about temptation, disobedience, and what it means to participate in the New Covenant with Christ. One reason that sin has fallen out of fashion is that too often in the past we failed to make the proper distinction btw The Sin and The Sinner, leading some to judge and condemn the sinner along with the sin. Making the distinction btw Sin and Sinner is not an excuse to be “holier than thou” w/o appearing to be—it's a real distinction made to mark a real difference. Sinners are always persons first and last. Sin attaches to the person through the deliberate choice to be disobedient. A person can become deformed spiritually through sin but only a person—created in the image and likeness of God—can sin in the first place. IOW, before a sin can stain the person, there must be a human person to stain. And the human person is sacred regardless of his/her spiritual condition. 

This brings us back to my original question: What unclean spirits—fallen angels or animal impulses—chain us among the dead? We could list them: pride, anger, vengeance, lust, greed—all the classics. We could add a few more contemporary demons: porn, drugs, artificial contraception, entitlement, co-habitation. The names of the unclean spirits that make up Legion may change over time but their purpose never does. They are charged with the nefarious task of tempting God's children to degrade, demean, and destroy the one divine gift that makes us perfectible in Christ: the imago Dei, the image and likeness of God that we all share with Him. Every sin we commit is a deliberate strike against the imago Dei of the human person. And since each one of us is a member of the Body of Christ, each sin is a strike against the imago Christi of the Church. Legion's mission never changes. Neither does the Good News. All of our obligations under the Old Covenant have been fulfilled in Christ, so we are no longer chained to sin, bound among the tombs. We are free. Freed to pursue holiness using all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, freed to live abundantly, cleanly, in love, and without fear. 

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So God made a farmer. . .

Not a community organizer, or an activist, or a politician, or a union worker. . .but a FARMER!
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BXVI bustin' out The Truth

BXVI's Sunday Angelus:

“Let us ask the Lord to give each of us a spirit of courage and wisdom, so that in our words and actions, we may proclaim the saving truth of God’s love with boldness, humility and coherence. . .” 

“Jesus did not come to seek the consent of men, but to give testimony to the truth. . .” 

“The true prophet does not obey anyone other than God and places himself at the service of truth, ready to pay in person. . .”

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