St Philip Neri

 Happy Feast Day to all the Philip Neri's of the world! 

(I hope my beard will be that glorious one day. . .)

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In the face of Mystery, we wait. . .

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 2013 
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 
St. Dominic Church/Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA 

 If we were to wonder about the fundamental difference between scientists and believers, we could say that scientists work to expose the mysteries of the universe by use of reason alone, while believers—Christian believers—work along side mystery in reason and wonder to expose themselves to God and His handiwork. Scientists hope to learn more about the universe for the sheer delight of gaining practical knowledge. Believers hope to learn more about creation so that their joy may be complete by growing closer to their Creator. The fundamental difference btw science and faith hinges on mystery. For science, a mystery is a problem is to be solved. For faith, mystery is a truth not yet revealed. What we share with science is the alluring power of Not Yet, the seduction of knowing just enough to keep us motivated to learn more. When Jesus says, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now,” scientists hear a challenge but believers hear a promise. The promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit is fulfilled at Pentecost. And with the coming of the Holy Spirit, God reveals the central mystery of the faith: He is Three in One. 

How to describe this essential mystery? We could say that the Trinity is like a single drop of water in three forms: fluid, frozen, vaporous. But the Trinity is Three in One simultaneously, while a drop of water cannot be fluid, frozen, and vaporous all at the same time. We could say that the Trinity is like a woman who is simultaneously a mother, an aunt, and a sister. But the Trinity is Three in One absolutely, relative only to one another, while a woman is a mother, an aunt, and a sister only in relation to her children, her nieces, and her siblings. We could say that the Trinity is like a person with three jobs: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. The Father creates; the Son redeems; and the Spirit sanctifies. That's not wrong as such but if the Three are One then all Three must each be Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. You begin to see the problem, right? How do we describe what is essentially unsayable, indescribable? We know that God is Three Persons in One Divinity, but how do we make sense of this mystery? We wait. Jesus says, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. . .” He doesn't say that we can never bear all that he has to tell us; we just can't bear all the truth right now. So, we wait and trust and hold ourselves in hope that the fullness of this mystery will revealed when we are finally perfected. 

What do we do in the meantime? Between knowing the little that we know and knowing the whole truth, what do we do? Jesus reassures us, “. . .when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” If the Spirit of Truth comes to guides us, then we must make our ready to be guided. And how do we do that? Writing to the Romans, Paul, teaches: “. . .we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint. . .” As followers of Christ, we boast about both our blessings and our afflictions. We boast of our blessings to show the world the mercy of God. We boast of our afflictions to produce endurance, character, and hope. What we do btw imperfect and perfect knowing is live our lives in that sure knowledge that “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. . .” When our imperfect knowledge of God's mysteries fails us, love never will b/c God is love and He never fails. And that is the definition of hope: knowing that God never fails. He never fails to provide, to forgive, to honor His promises. We prepare ourselves to be guided by the Spirit by hoping, by accepting the truth that God will not/cannot fail us.

If we accept this truth and live this truth, then we are living with God who is Three in One. We are living trinitarian lives. Since the first century of the Church, our ancestors made a distinction btw the theological Trinity and the economic Trinity. The theological Trinity is the Trinity as He knows and understands Himself. Reason alone cannot help us know or understand God as He knows and understands Himself. So, how do we know anything at all about the Trinity? Since all of creation abides in God, and we live and move and have our being in God, we can look to creation and see the Trinity's presence there. The Trinity works in creation, works through His creatures to reveal His truest nature. This is the economic Trinity. When we love forgive, provide, bless, create, trust, sacrifice, and bear witness to Christ, we manifest—imperfectly, of course—we manifest the Blessed Trinity. Each one of us is a sliver of the mystery that is the Trinity working in creation. Each one of us reveals how we are the Father's favored child, the Son's brother or sister, the Spirit's student and servant. Each one of us is a piece of God's peace, His assurance that all is well, that everything will always be well with Him. 

And we know that all will be well with Him b/c, as the Catechism teaches us, “The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity” (n. 260). The whole point of God's cosmic plan of salvation is to bring us to Him to live perfectly united in Him. Do we need a scientific understanding of the divine mysteries to be perfect? No. Besides, science cannot perfect us. Do we need to work along side the divine mysteries in wonder and reason in order to be made perfect? Yes. B/c we cannot be made perfect, we cannot be brought to God w/o our consent and help. Mysteries of the faith—like the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection—are all revealed truths that we do not yet fully understand. We know that God is Three Persons in One Divine Being. We know that Christ is fully human, fully divine. We know that Christ was raised from his tomb body and soul. And we even have some inkling of what these mysteries mean to our daily lives as followers of Christ. What we don't yet know, what we cannot yet bear, is the weight, the fullness of these truths completely revealed. For that we must wait to see God face-to-face. And to see Him face-to-face, we must submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit urges us to live trinitarian lives. We read in the Catechism: “Everyone who glorifies the Father does so through the Son in the Holy Spirit; everyone who follows Christ does so because the Father draws him and the Spirit moves him” (n. 259). Open yourself to being drawn by the Father to follow Christ. Open yourself to being moved by the Spirit to follow Christ. Follow Christ—wholly abandoned to him—and you will find yourself working along side the mysteries of faith in wonder and reason, opening your heart and mind to all that God has to show you. When Jesus says, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now,” scientists hear a daring challenge but believers hear a loving promise. Christ promises to make us strong enough, whole enough, beautiful enough to bear up under every truth, all truth, fully revealed and wondrously arrayed. And because of this promise “we boast in hope of the glory of God.” 

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Preaching & Poetry

My thanks to M.R. for the book on preaching. And B.M. for the Hirsch book of poetry.  

I plan on using both in my classes come the Fall semester.

I have a lot of reading to do before August. . .apparently, homiletics is a very productive field.
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"According to the whole"

Fr. Z. drew my attention to the Pastor's Page of Fr. George Welzbacher, wherein Father expounds:

The technical term Catholic, whose first known use occurs in the letters of the bishop and martyr Ignatius of Antioch, writing very early in the second century of the Christian era [. . .] is a term derived from the ancient Greek adverbial phrase kath holon, meaning "according to the WHOLE". This new adjective [. . .] was used by St. Ignatius to differentiate, on the one hand, the Church that preaches the whole revelation of Christ to the whole world to all generations to come until the end of time, in contrast with those transitory sects that, like bargain hunters at a rummage sale, pick and choose only such items as happen to have a passing appeal. The authentic Catholic is therefore one who accepts the whole doctrine of Christ, intact and untrimmed, and (with special relevance to our day) not revised with respect to the proper use of the sexual power. The authentic Catholic recognizes that Christ's teachings are eternal and absolute, not subject to revision, inasmuch as not even Christ Himself was at liberty to change them, since, as He explained: "The word that I have spoken to you is not mine; it is the word of Him Who sent Me" (John 14: 24).

[. . .]

Read the whole thing.  Well worth your time.

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The kingdom belongs to The Leapers

7th Week OT (S) 
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 
St. Dominic Church, NOLA 

 Jesus says, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them. . .” Why? “[Because] the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” We have to understand this scene on two levels. First, the literal sense: Jesus is addressing his disciples and indignantly rebuking them for trying to keep a bunch of children away from him. Apparently, it was considered undignified for a rabbi to be swamped by a gang of grubby kids! Second, the spiritual sense: though he doesn't say so explicitly, our Lord is teaching us that keeping our children from him is an injustice. If the kingdom belongs to them (and it does), then interfering with our children coming into the kingdom deprives them of what is rightly theirs. As ever, Jesus is being very practical here. It is well and good that adults come into the kingdom. But if the Good News of God's freely given mercy to sinners is to survive beyond one generation, the Church needs children. And not just persons who happen to be minors. Jesus adds, “. . .whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Being a child in the kingdom is both a matter of age and attitude. What does it mean to be child coming into the kingdom? 

When we think of children we likely think of the Ideal Child. Sweet, loving, innocent, obedient, curious, a walking-talking blank slate upon which parents impress their values. If you have children or spend much time with them you know all too well that children are perfectly capable of being angry, petty, rebellious, stubborn, and greedy. In other words, they can be just as vicious as any adult. Jesus must know this, so we have to wonder what he means by “accepting the kingdom as a child.” He can't mean “imitate the adult attitudes of children.” And he can't mean “think and act in a childish manner.” He must mean something like “run to me and embrace me like these children do.” What do children forget when they see someone they love? They forget manners, protocols; they focus on the loved one and demand attention; they simply assume that they must be the be-all and end-all of the loved one's life. . .at that moment. Nothing matters more right then and there than being close to the one they love. Rushing head-long, abandoning dignity and social grace, they leap; they cling, forgetting and forgiving, rejoicing simply in being with the one they love. Does this describe your attitude and behavior toward Christ and his Church? 

More than likely, you, like me, tend to stand off a bit from Christ and his Church—analyzing, debating, weighing options, waiting for the Right Moment to leap. Having been disappointed too often by the all too human foibles of the Church, we choose to gamble wisely when it comes to surrendering ourselves. We want to know if the Church is going to accept just as I am. Will I be welcomed? Will I be called upon to do something I don't want to do? Does leaping into Christ's arms mean that I have to change something I don't want to change? Will I have to face my fears and failures and try to make things right? The answer to all these questions is Yes. And that's frightening. So, we hang back, calculate the odds, map out an escape route, and slowly dip a toe into the water to make sure we're going to be comfortable. Here's the bad news: following Christ isn't about being comfortable. It isn't about being safe and security in our OK-ness. I'm not OK; you're not OK and that OK b/c we're heading toward being fully OK in Christ. That is, if we look our children and their freakish abandon when embracing the ones they love. Following Christ is first about leaping into his arms, into the lap of Mother Church, and surrendering everything, all of it to our wild desire to be loved forever. The kingdom does not belong to those who calculate the odds, weigh their options, and try to negotiate a better deal. There is no better deal than the mercy of God. So, leap!

My Big News

OK. . .here's my Big News. . .

Archbishop Gregory Aymond has approved the recommendation of the faculty of the Notre Dame Seminary to hire me on as Director and Professor of Homiletics and Formation Advisor effective July 1, 2013.

Basically, my duties include teaching homiletics to the seminarians and serving on the formation team of the seminary. 

I will remain in residence at St Dominic.
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The BIG News

The BIG Event of this last week?

The Solemn Profession of Vows by three men of the Southern Province: 

fra. Francis Orozco OP, Cristobal Torres OP, and Mariano Veliz OP.

 Congrats to our newly minted brothers!

(Yes, that's Yours Truly in the background. . .and No, I'm not asleep. . .

I'm fervently praying for our brothers!) 

 
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Made it Home. . .Thanks be to God!

After multiple weather delays, I've made it back to Nawlins'!

Had a very good time with the brothers at our new studium  in St. Louis.

I'm about ready to fall asleep in the keyboard.

Because I have a squirrel brain. . .I managed to leave my a.m. HBP meds here in NOLA.  So, I've been w/o them for about five days.  Not good. 

Tomorrow:  7am Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary, wedding rehearsal, and the 5.30pm Mass at St. Dominic.

Oh, and then there's that BIG Announcement I promised. . .well, my time at St Dominic is coming to an end. . .I'll be working full-time at. . .Zzzzzzzzz. . .   

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Update for Next Week

No blogging this next week. . .

Our provincial assembly starts in St Louis on Monday, May 20th and runs through Thursday, May 23rd. 

I'll be back in time for the 7.00am Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary on Friday the 24th.

Look for a big announcement on May 23rd.  Mum's the word for now.  Ssshhhhhh. . .

Wedding on the 25th.

And my 49th birthday on Sunday the 26th.  Oy.  I've asked for a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. . .of course.

Happy feast day to St. Philip Neri!

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God keeps His promises: the Holy Spirit!

NB.  There's a 63.5% chance that I will revise this one in the morning.  Meh.

Pentecost Sunday (C) 
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 
St. Dominic Church, NOLA 

 The Lord our God keeps His word! Through His prophets He promised the gift of a Messiah who would suffer as a servant for sinners and die at the hands of his enemies for the sake of the world. The long-awaited Messiah came among us as a child: born of a virgin; raised on the Law; and anointed by the Holy Spirit at the River Jordan. During his three- year ministry, he reveals the power of God by healing the diseased and injured; raising the dead to new life; feeding thousands with food enough for only a few; liberating souls held captive by unclean spirits; and teaching the word of spirit and truth to anyone who would listen. He is opposed at every turn by jealousy, greed, ambition, and ignorance; and, finally, he is betrayed by one he calls a friend. Falsely accused, illegally tried, he is found guilty by a mob and executed by the Empire. But he makes a promise to his disciples: “. . .the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. . .” The Lord our God keeps His word! To his disciples he promises the gift of an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to renew the body and soul of his Church. 

The Lord our God kept His promise to send among us a Savior to suffer and die for our sins. That Savior, Jesus the Christ, promised that the Father would also send among us an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to teach us and to remind us of everything he had said and done. Gathered together in the Upper Room—terrified, despairing, anxious—the disciples wait to be discovered. Do they remember the Lord's promise? His warning? Do they have any idea what's about to happen to them? “Suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind. . .Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. . .” One Holy Spirit roars into the Upper Room. Divides. Then descends all at once upon each one of the disciples. Not a different spirit to each. But One Spirit to each, all at once. The same Holy Spirit given to every disciple. And though each disciple receives the same Spirit, each one manifests a different gift. When all of these different gifts are brought together with one heart and mind and the freely given in service to preaching and teaching of the Good News, the Church is born. The Lord our God keeps His promises; He keeps His word. 

Before he begins his Passion, Jesus says to the disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Whoever loves Christ will make good on his promises. And whoever makes good on Christ's promises will be loved by the Father. Jesus says “we will make our dwelling” with those who keep the Word. We. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Feast of Pentecost—the birth of the Church—celebrates the day, the moment when the Holy Spirit came to dwell with us and remain with us. With the Spirit among us we are not only capable of keeping Christ's word, we are do so with all the strength and integrity of the Blessed Trinity. Through our varied gifts we—each one of us—manifests the Spirit for the glory of God, drawing in and teaching anyone who longs for God's mercy. Our gifts are made purer, stronger, holier in their work for the kingdom, and we are made more perfect in love by sharing God's love. The Holy Spirit is sent to be our Advocate, the one who defends us against the dark accusations of the world. But we are not permitted to simply hide away in a room and shake ourselves silly in fear of the world. The Spirit enlivens, empowers, ignites, and He pushes us out in the world as witnesses to the freely given mercy of God.

Think about it. What do the disciples do the moment the Holy Spirit endows them with His gifts? “[They] began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” Different languages? Yes. Though all of the disciples were Galileans they were understood by Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, Asians, Egyptians, Libyans, Romans, Cretans, and Arabs. They were also understood by “both Jews and converts to Judaism.” In other words, not only were they speaking different languages, they were speaking in a way that anyone who heard them could understand what they were saying. How is this possible? They were given the gift of being able to speak to the deepest longing of every human creature, the desire of every man, woman, and child to love and be loved by their Creator. The gift of the Church—then and now—is to be the Body and Word of Christ, the living sacrament of God's mercy to all of creation. With the Holy Spirit, the Church—all of us—speaks the language of divine love when we are united in heart and mind in the service of the Gospel. We keep His word, and He dwells among us. His spiritual gifts are boundless. 

His gifts are boundless. But are we ready to receive them and put them to their proper use? Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit. . .To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” For some benefit—the benefit of the one who receives the gift and all those for whom the gift will be used. The Holy Spirit does not give private gifts, gifts to be used for one's personal benefit. All gifts of the Holy Spirit are given for the benefit of the whole Church and her mission. “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body. . .For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. . .we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” One Holy Spirit given to and received by many different parts to make up on Body in Christ. This means that whatever spiritual gifts I might possess, that you might possess, belong to the whole body not just me or you. And b/c our gifts belong to the whole body, our use of them influences the whole body. Good, evil, indifferent. How we use these gifts colors the Church, leaves a mark on the Body of Christ. How we use these gifts determines whether or not we are keeping Christ's word, fulfilling his promise. 

We sang along with the Psalmist, “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.” If we are to be servants of this renewal, we must also sing, “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the body and soul of your Church.” And if we are to be servants of this renewal, we must eagerly step forward and offer ourselves in service to the Gospel. Pope Francis urges us not to become a “baby-sitter” Church. We could add: do not become a museum, a social club, a something-to-do-before-the-Saints-game. If we truly believe that the Holy Spirit is among us, if we truly believe that Christ our Lord is here with us right now, how can we even think about not leaving this place and shouting about the mighty acts of God. How do I think of anything else if I truly believe that the Creator-God of the universe loves me? How do I wake up in the morning and not immediately give Him thanks for the gift of life and my freedom from sin? The renewal of the Church will not come from Rome or D.C. or the archbishop's office. It will come from the pews of St Dominic, Our Lady of the Rosary, from the parish; from your homes, your schools. But it must start with the family. With you. Use the gifts you have been given to renew the body and soul of the Church. Fidelity, strength, perseverance, humility, and above all: love, divine love. You have them all. Put them to work for Christ, keeping his word. Put them to work for the Church, and dwell forever as a mighty act of God. 

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How do you love the Shepherd?

7th Week of Easter (F) 

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 

St. Dominic Church, NOLA 

I always find this reading from John a little embarrassing to read aloud. It's like watching one of the detectives on Law & Order gently lead an otherwise sympathetic criminal to confess his crimes. I don't mean to say that Peter is confessing a crime; it's just that he denied Christ at a crucial moment and now Jesus is giving him a chance to make things right. The whole scene is at once intensely private and hard not to watch. Not only is our Lord gently teaching Peter the meaning of Christian leadership, he is also exercising Peter's heart so that he will be strong enough to endure what's coming. That we read this scene out loud at Mass tells us something about our witness to Christ and what he expects of us as his followers. Imagine you're sitting there with Jesus and Peter. Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” While Peter thinks about his answer, Jesus glances up at you with the same question in his eyes. He's wondering, do you love him? And if you do, how do you love him? As a legendary religious figure? An ancient super-hero? A much beloved uncle or favorite teacher? How we love one another is as important as whether or not we love we love one another. 

It should go without saying that Jesus already knows the answer to his questions. Being the Son of God, the Incarnate Word, etc. makes it hard to imagine that he doesn't. Asking Peter these very intimate questions isn't about getting til now unknown information. Peter needs to hear himself saying, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Peter needs to know that he loves the Lord and that he loves him as his Lord. Not as a friend or a teacher or a favorite uncle. But as the only one who owns his allegiance, the only one who possesses his heart and mind. Peter needs to know all this—and profess all this—b/c Jesus has handed him the keys to the kingdom; that is, Jesus has made Peter his steward on earth, given him the apostolic authority to shepherd God's family on pilgrimage. Tend my sheep; feed my sheep. Take care of these little ones given to me by my Father. And how should the sheep love the shepherd? Not as a friend or a teacher or a favorite uncle. But as one given the authority to keep them safe from the ravening wolves. Just as Peter loves Christ, so the sheep must love Peter. Otherwise, any one of us could find himself alone among those who would just as well see see us lost or even dead. 

So, what does it mean for us to love Peter as Peter loved Christ? Obviously, we're not to love Peter as our lord and savior. Peter loved Christ with a sacrificial love (agape). With agape, we are called upon to love Peter as our shepherd, our protector. Practically speaking, this means that we look to Peter's successor, our Holy Father, Francis, to guide us, to show us the way through this world to Christ. We look to our bishops and their pastoral assistants. And, most immediately, we look to one another. When Jesus prompts Peter to profess his love, Jesus adds, “Tend my sheep. . .feed my sheep.” As Christ's steward, our Holy Father does exactly that when he teaches the apostolic faith and leads the Church in truth. Each one of us tends and feeds the flock when we strengthen one another in truth; build up the body with goodness; and encourage one another in holiness. But we can only tend and feed the flock if we follow the Good Shepherd and listen to his appointed stewards. If you love Christ as your lord and savior, love his flock. Tend and feed one another. We will need strong hearts and minds to endure what the world has in store for us.

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From terrorist to teen idol

The surviving Boston Marathon Terrorist has become a "teen idol." How?

Defiance of authority — adolescent rebellion against one’s parents — is an immature, selfish and anti-social tendency, and adults in a healthy social recognize it as such. For decades, however, our decadent cultural elite have justified teen rebellion as legitimate. The consequence of indulging defiant youth is a phenomenon Midge Decter analyzed in a 1975 book, Liberal Parents, Radical Children.

Nearly four decades later, many adults in America are so confused about their own values that teenage rebellion manifests itself in ways that are incomprehensible and nihilistic. This is what the 1999 Columbine massacre really should have taught us. If “authority” has nothing more hopeful to offer youth than pep rallies, “popularity,” and the prospect of still more schooling — all the cool kids must go to college — is it really so surprising that some kids become alienated, submerge themselves in violent fantasy and, occasionally, go on murderous rampages?

Say what you will about Jahar Tsarnaev, his motivation was not more irrational than that of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

The inchoate rage of alienated youth expresses itself politically in the perpetual adolescent rebellion of adults who refuse to grow up. What else can we conclude about the anarchistic impulses of the Anonymous hackers and Occupy protesters?

Progressives, willing to accept as legitimate the grievances of any potential allies in their war against The System, organized anti-banking mobs that attracted dangerously violent rapists and other criminals. Once a movement begins to demonize cops — and the Occupiers were as much anti-cop as they were anti-anything else — bad things predictably will happen, including women being raped in tents by smelly hippies.

Read the whole thing. . .but be aware: his language is less than polite at times.

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We've returned to the Golden Calf. . .

Addressing four new ambassadors to the Vatican, Pope Francis hits one out of the park!

Certain pathologies are increasing, with their psychological consequences; fear and desperation grip the hearts of many people, even in the so-called rich countries; the joy of life is diminishing; indecency and violence are on the rise; poverty is becoming more and more evident.

People have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way. One cause of this situation, in my opinion, is in the our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society. 

 Consequently the financial crisis which we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate origin is to be found in a profound human crisis. In the denial of the primacy of human beings! We have created new idols. 

The worship of the golden calf of old (cf. Ex 32:15-34) has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.

Read the whole thing. 
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We must be saints

NB.  Well, this one was a bust.  Normally, my daily homilies are exactly three pages long.  This one was three plus two lines on a fourth.  When I printed them out, the third page slipped off the printer w/o me seeing it.  Didn't notice until I got to the church. So. . .I had to ad lib the main part.  Oh well.

7th Week of Easter (Th) 
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 
St. Pius X Church, NOLA 

After praying to his Father for our unity, our witness, our perfection, and expressing his love for us, Jesus says the most incredible thing: “Father, they are your gift to me.” They—the disciples, us, those in the world who will bear witness, those who will see the witness and come to know and be with Christ. They—all of us—are gifts from the Father to His Son. How extraordinary! How extraordinary that Jesus would call us gifts from the Father, freely given creatures, treasured beyond price, loved as the Father loves His Son, freely given to be given freedom. 

It’s not all that unusual for us to think of Jesus as God’s gift to us. We say so at every Mass. He is a gift that we gladly receive, bless, give back to the Father in sacrifice, and receive again as food for holiness. But do you often think of yourself as a gift from God to Jesus? How would your interior life change, your pursuit of holiness be different, if you began each day by praying, “Thank you, Father, for giving me as a gift to Jesus, your Son.”

Jesus’ priestly prayer offers us up to the Father as holy sacrifices, blessed gifts once given to him by the Father. He prays from his sacred heart for our unity in him, for our constant love for one another, and for our growing perfection. Jesus, the High Priest, has told us about the Father, about his love for us, and offered to the Father his prayer that we will love Him as He loves us. Jesus prays for us in this way b/c he knew then that our witness to his life, his teachings, his sufferings, his death, all of it will die if we fail to live abundantly in the Holy Spirit, in the unity that is the love of the Father for His Son. 

Unity in the body of Christ is not the kind of unity that rises out of cultural uniformity or racial/ethnic identity. Our Christian unity is not about political convenience, good P.R., or power. The unity of heart and mind that Christ prays for is an imitation of the relationship that Christ has with His Father. Jesus prays that we will be one together in him in the same way that he and his Father are one. And why could this unity matter at all? Is this is a quaint sentimental moment where Jesus prays a Care Bear poem for his buddies, or a moment of weakness where he opens his heart and shares his feelings? No. The unity of the Body of Christ that imitates the unity of the Father and the Son in the Trinity is the heart of the evangelical project given to us at our baptism. Jesus prays that this unity may be given to us by the Father so “that the world may believe that [the Father] sent me.” Our unity in Christ as believers is proof to the world that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah. Our divisions, then, can only be arguments against this revelation, proofs that deny—despite our words to the contrary—proofs that deny Jesus is Lord. 

So, how do we begin to bring the unity Christ prays for into being? We look to the one thing we know—w/o a doubt—that we all share, all of us, that is, all human persons not just Christians: we are given to Christ as a gift from the Father. Obviously, non-Christians aren't going to think this way. If they did, they would be Christians! However, this is no reason for the followers of Christ to ignore this extraordinary revelation. In fact, that all of God's human children are gifts to His Son should be one of the foundation stones of the New Evangelization. Imagine living your life as a gift to Christ. If you are a gift to Christ, then everything you say and do is also a gift. What would it look like to live everyday knowing that everything you say and do is laid before the Son in heaven as a gift? With that kind of evidence, 1.2 billion Catholics could build a good case for following Christ in no time! Here's the good news and the bad news: as gifts given to the Son by the Father, everything we say and do is laid before the Christ in heaven. Do our words and deeds bear witness to God's mercy? Are our lives a credible testimony to the sacrifice Christ made for us? 

We must be saints. Not extraordinary Christians. Just ordinary men and women who love Christ.

Papal Catholicity Update

Is the Pope still Catholic?

Let's see. . .

Liberation theologians extol him, but between him and them there is a chasm. The progressives enlist him, but he keeps himself far from them. The true Francis is very different from the one that some imagine.

[. . .]

In reality, there is a chasm between the vision of the Latin American liberation theologians and the vision of this Argentine pope.

[. . .]

He knows liberation theology well, he saw it emerge and spread among his Jesuit confrères as well, but he always registered his disagreement with it, even at the cost of finding himself isolated. 

[. . .]

In Bergoglio's judgment, the Latin American continent has already won a “middle-class” spot in the world order, and is destined to have an even greater influence in future scenarios, but is being undermined in that which is most his own, the faith and “Catholic wisdom” of its people.

He sees the most terrible threat in what he calls “adolescent progressivism,” an enthusiasm for progress that in reality backfires - he says - against peoples and nations, against their Catholic identity, “in close relationship with a conception of the state that is to a large extent a militant secularism.”

Last Sunday he broke a lance for the legal protection of the embryo in Europe. In Buenos Aires his tenacious opposition against the laws for free abortion and “gay” marriage is not forgotten. In the spread of similar laws all over the world, he sees the offensive of “an imperialist conception of globalization,” which “constitutes the most dangerous totalitarianism of postmodernity.”

[. . .]

Yup. The Pope is still Catholic.

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