"I am only a man: I need visible signs."

The Second Sunday of Advent is our time to acknowledge and celebrate the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. . .in that spirit, here's a poem by the Polish-Lithuanian Catholic poet, Czeslaw Milosz from 1961.

Veni Creator

Come, Holy Spirit,   

bending or not bending the grasses,   

appearing or not above our heads in a tongue of flame,   

at hay harvest or when they plough in the orchards or when snow   

covers crippled firs in the Sierra Nevada.   

I am only a man: I need visible signs.   

I tire easily, building the stairway of abstraction.   

Many a time I asked, you know it well, that the statue in church   

lifts its hand, only once, just once, for me.   

But I understand that signs must be human,   

therefore call one man, anywhere on earth,   

not me—after all I have some decency—   

and allow me, when I look at him, to marvel at you.   

 

(Translated By Czeslaw Milosz and Robert Pinsky)

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Miscellany. . .

First semester of NDS classes are over! 

Finals next week. . .for the seminarians. For me, a week of preaching tutorials and formation advisee meetings.

I was greatly relieved yesterday to discover that I do not have to trudge down to the Criminal Courthouse on Friday the 13th to serve on a jury. Turns out, all I needed to do was register on-line and wait on a summons to arrive at some future date.  

A particularly persuasive transitional deacon at NDS snookered me into serving as a chaperone for a busload of teenaged pilgrims to the March for Life in DC in Jan 2014. I'm thinking that should be worth several thousands of years off my purgatory debt, right?

Going downtown to the Roosevelt Hotel today for a silent auction/Christmas fundraising lunch for NDS. We'll celebrate Mass at the historic Immaculate Conception Church on Barrone. 

Headed to MS to celebrate Christmas with the Squirrels on the 19th. Oh, and I'll spend some time with the Parentals and the Extended Familials and well.  Since the advanced seminar didn't make for the Spring, I can spend all that reading time on historical novels and spiritual reading. . .instead of dreary books about nihilism.

Happy Advent everyone!
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Evangelii gaudium, or the morality of money

I've been contemplating the swirl of controversial issues raised by the Holy Father's exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, esp. the economic issues.

Setting aside problems with the Spanish-to-English translation and the hermeneutical lens of Francis' experience with Argentinian crony-capitalism (Peronism), the bottom-line for me is this: there is no such thing as an economic system that doesn't need a moral foundation to guarantee the dignity of the human person.  

The role of the Church is to evangelize the culture so that the economy respects human dignity, both the dignity of the individual and human dignity in general.

Dr. Jeff Mirus puts it well:

The Church has very little interest in questions of economic theory per se. She does not seek to explain how money works, but how morality works.

For example, insofar as socialism carries within it a denial of the freedom and dignity of the person, by completely subjecting ownership and economic activity to the control of the State, socialism comes in for criticism and even condemnation. And insofar as the theory of capitalism is used to render personal moral economic decisions irrelevant in the face of allegedly inexorable economic laws, then capitalism also comes in for criticism and even condemnation. In broader and far less purely theoretical strokes, we can paint socialism to include all systems of exploitative government intervention, and capitalism to include all exploitation of the mechanisms of markets and finance. Moreover, when the rich miraculously develop political power and the politicians miraculously grow rich (as seems to happen within all systems), then a predictable and self-serving theoretical posturing becomes even more poisonous.

Crony-capitalism or Wall Street socialism is perhaps the most insidious combination of our two most popular economic systems.
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Throw off the works of darkness!

1^st Sunday of Advent

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

It's that time of year where we are reminded over and over again that we must wait on the Lord. Wait for his coming among us as the Christ Child; wait for his return as our Just Judge. If our job is to wait, then we wait. But waiting doesn't mean Doing Nothing. What can we do—while we wait—to grow in holiness, to grow closer to God? The prophet Isaiah urges: “Walk in the light of the Lord!” Paul admonishes: “Throw off the works of darkness!” And Jesus warns: “Stay awake!” What's behind these admonishments and warnings? Isaiah prophesies: “[The Lord] shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples.” Paul also says in prophecy, “. . .our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.” Jesus, pointing us toward his return, says, “. . .you do not know on which day your Lord will come. . .you must be prepared.” What can we do during Advent? Throw off the works of darkness. Stay awake. And walk in the light of the Lord. In other words, we can prepare ourselves for judgment under Christ.

That sounds ominous. Judgment under Christ. Scary. We've been trained by decades of bad Catholic catechesis, by bad preaching, by Oprah and Dr. Phil to think of judgment as a bad thing, as that sort of thing that hateful people indulge in to make themselves feel superior. We've been trained to avoid judgment, avoid passing sentence, avoid drawing conclusions about the words and deeds of others. And there is some truth in this training. Who are we to judge? We're sinners too. None of us is worthy is bang the gavel and decide another's fate. Fortunately, none of us will sit in the Final Judgment Seat. None of us will weigh how ready anyone else is to live with God forever. It's not a matter of judgment being a Bad Thing; it's simply a matter of recognizing that the Just Judge isn't me. Or you. Or anyone else who might pop up to claim the job. Judgment under Christ is a daily event and a future event. Everyday someone dies and goes to their judgment. And everyday we come one day closer to the Final Judgment. Advent is set aside to give us some time to ponder the weight of our sins, to think on the truth and goodness of our words and deeds. Are you awake? Are you ready? Then throw off the works of darkness and walk in the light of the Lord!

As always, Paul is here to help us defy the Enemy and find the Lord. He writes to the Romans, “Brothers and sisters. . .put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day. . .” And what does “properly conducting ourselves in the light of the Lord” look like? Paul answers by telling us what ungodly conduct is. He says, “. . .not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy.” All of these are works done IN darkness b/c they are works OF darkness. Apparently, Christians in Rome at this time were having trouble distinguishing btw the Works of the Lord and Works of the Enemy. Like Christians everywhere and in every-time, the Church in Rome needed to be reminded that one day each of us and all of us will be presented to the Just Judge for judgment. If we have spent our redeemed lives avoiding the Light and wallowing in the Dark, then the Just Judge will honor our commitment to the Dark and allow us to dwell forever among our preferred company—those who chose to live outside the grace of his Father. Thus Paul admonishes us “put on the armor of light” so that the works of darkness can be clearly seen and defeated. 

But he goes even further, writing, “. . .put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” Put on Jesus Christ, which we did at baptism, and no make no provision for the flesh, which is what we do—or don't do—when we walk in the light; that is, we don't plan to sin, or we don't set things up just in case we decide to sin. We could think of this as “avoiding occasions of sin,” but that's too weak. What Paul is saying here is much stronger: get out of your life all provisions—all supplies, all plans, all contingencies—that allow you to fall back into indulging the flesh sinfully. Here's another way to think about this: if you decide to go on a diet, you don't stock up on Fritos and ice cream the day before you plan to begin. If you decide to stop smoking, you don't go out and buy a carton of cigarettes. . .just in case. Your intentions going in matter to your success. If you “make provision” for failure, then failure will follow you until it catches you. By “putting on Christ” you arm yourself with more than you own good intentions, you bring to the fight against sin the strongest ally you can possibly get. With the Final Judgment looming, who better to fight on your side than the Just Judge himself? The one who died for you in the first place!

As we start this Advent season, it's a good idea to remember the Good News Christ came to deliver, the Good News that Christ is coming to deliver: we are no longer slaves to sin. There was a time when we could not not sin. It was our nature to be disobedient. But b/c Christ died as one of us, rose again from the tomb, and ascended with our human nature to sit at the right hand of the Father, we are free from disobedience. Our way back to God is open, our path to Him is clear. There is nothing btw us and God but our own will to be free. The Final Judgment of Christ isn't a threat; it's not a scare tactic wielded by an angry god to frighten us into compliance. In fact, the Final Judgment is a promise of mercy. Who sits in judgment? The one who died for us on the cross. Knowing that Christ sits in the Judgment Seat, knowing that he is the one who will weigh our love against our apathy should thrill us! What might frighten us just a little is the hard truth that nothing is hidden from him, nothing is left in the darkness when his divine light is shone on the human soul. Thus we hear again and again in scripture: “Stay awake! Be on guard! Stand ready!” Any moment, every moment could be the moment when we are called to account for a lifetime. 

 

For the next few weeks, we wait on the Lord. We will wait for his arrival as the Christ Child at Christmas. And we will wait for his coming again as the Just Judge. The mystery of faith reveals that the coming of Christ as a child and his coming again as a judge are the same event. Though separated in time, these two historical events are eternally identical; that is, from all eternity, outside history/outside time, our redemption through Christ and our final judgment by Christ are accomplished simultaneously. At the moment of his birth, we are judged forgiven. The question for us is: do I receive his mercy and live accordingly; or do I reject his mercy and live as if he were never born? Advent is our special chance to live according to the just judgment of the one who died to free us from sin. With his birth less than a month away, we have the chance to put his judgment ahead of us, to locate it on a particular day and live toward that day, knowing that it is coming soon. Between now and then, Christ urges us to remember the Good News he came to deliver. He urges us to recall again that we are the beloved children of his Father. We are forgiven. All is forgiven. What we must do is receive His mercy and live as children of the light.

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I need help. . .

Really, REALLY struggling with the evening's homily. . .1st Sunday of Advent.

Been pecking away since 5.30am. Nothing. Nothing good anyway.

Pray for me, please!

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Without God, there is only Nothing.

I was clicking around this morning, looking for an old poem I vaguely remember from my undergrad days. Something about the Last Judgment and the fall of human civilization. . .ya know, something cheery for a Sunday homily. I ran across the poem posted below. 

I'm sharing it b/c it perfectly captures the nihilism of our age. Maybe the poet believes that by denying the reality of a last judgment she is freeing humanity from the evils of transcendent ideals. In fact, she is describing exactly what Nietzsche argued the "death of God" portends: without God, everything is permitted. Without God, there is only Nothing.

Update on the Last Judgment, Ellen Hinsey


There will be no deafening noise. No hornblow of thunder.

The small plants of the earth will not tremble on the hillside as grace is prepared.

The sky will neither drown us in its plenty, nor the ground crack and consume feet in 
its hunger.

No, bodies will not, in their last rags of flesh, creep from under the earth, and
with breath once torn from them, choke and expel the old mud of the world.

Adam and Eve, incredulous, will not embrace again in their poverty, not knowing
whether to shield themselves, or to emerge shameless from the past's shadow,
astonished to again greet Terra Firma.

The book of the world, encrusted with deep-sea pearls and the blood of the lamb, 
will not open up its pages in which all deeds have been inscribed.

And the totality of history will not roll back together, all events fusing, once and for all, 
into the great blazing sphere of time.

None will sit on the right hand. There will be no right hand.

And the figure of sorrow and grace, with his staff upright, its purple pennant
caught in that final wind, will not be there to greet us, with the mercy of justice
in his eyes.

No, never judgment. Just the abyss into which all acts are thrown down, and the
terrible white silence in which judgment either endures or burns.

Source: Poetry, Sept 2002.
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Lukewarmness + doctrinal error + moral confusion

A Most Excellent Article on preaching over at the Homiletic and Pastoral Review by Fr. Gabriel de Chadarévian, O.P. of the Province of Canada

In my own teaching and pastoral experience, I have come to realize, more and more, that a great number of practising Catholics know little about the faith they profess, and whose Sunday Eucharist they more or less faithfully attend. Hence, the great responsibility for sound faith formation or catechesis (doctrinal and moral). I also quickly discovered that among practicing Catholics (including some clergy), few have developed a vital, intimate, and loving relationship with Jesus Christ; few have experienced a living and personal encounter with the Risen Lord in the Eucharist, in the sacraments, in their personal prayer, and their activities, choosing him as the true center, Saviour and Lord of their lives. The dearth and poverty of these two essential components in the life of many Catholics (knowledge of the faith and personal relationship with Christ) have led to a hemorrhaging out of the Church, especially in Europe and North America, and a lukewarmness combined with doctrinal and moral confusion in the lives of many practicing Catholics.

All this has made me firmly believe that, in our present age of indifference, increasing hostility towards Christianity (especially Catholicism) and rampant secularization, the Church urgently needs to rediscover the primacy of Kerygma, the fundamental proclamation of the Paschal Mystery, ad intra and ad extra.

Read the whole thing. . .give your pastor and deacons a copy!

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Evangelii Gaudium translation problems

Serious English translation problem with the original Spanish version of Evangelii gaudium:

Spanish:

No. 54 En este contexto, algunos todavía defien den las teorías del «derrame», que suponen que todo crecimiento económico, favorecido por la libertad de mercado, logra provocar por sí mismo mayor equidad e inclusión social en el mundo.

English:

No. 54 In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.

The English translation renders "por si mismo" as "inevitably." It should read ". . .encouraged by a free market, will BY ITSELF succeed in bringing about greater justice. . ."

That's a HUGE change in meaning. 

Also, "mayor equidad" should be rendered "greater equity" NOT "greater justice." There's a huge difference in meaning btw "equity" and "justice" in the English.

As always, be very wary of official English translations of Vatican documents. They are almost always wrong. Whether this is an intentional mistranslation to push an agenda, or just a mistake, we may never know.

NB. The French, German, Italian, and Portuguese translations of the Spanish all get the phrase right. Now I'm wondering who was responsible for the English translation. . .

H/T: JMG

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The culture of prosperity deadens us. . .

"The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us" (Evangelii gaudium, no. 54).

 

And thus does a homiletic theme emerge for Advent. . .
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On resisting certain temptations while reading Evangelii Gaudium

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us and NDS out on break, I'm hoping to read the Holy Father's apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium.

More than just read it, I'm hoping to spend some time contemplating it!

So far, Ive done a fair job avoiding the temptation to scan the document for confirmation/refutation of my hobby horse concerns. Fallen human nature and my own particular fallenness make that temptation very, very, very difficult to resist.

For my own betterment and maybe yours as well, here's what I'm struggling to avoid:

1. Hobby Horse Issues: scanning for Culture War hot-button issues to sling at my ideological opponents, i.e., abortion, contraception, women's "ordination," etc. (Confession: I saw the quote about the Holy Father's confirmation of the impossibility of women's ordination before I saw the document itself.)

2. Minimizing the Pope's Expertise: dismissing the Holy Father's teaching on issues where he has little or no technical expertise, i.e., finance, economics, etc. His lack of expertise on these issues shouldn't prevent a fair reading of his moral teachings when those teachings touch these issues. 

3. A Hermeneutic of Rupture: reading EG as if it were a wholly novel, purely innovative document written in an ecclesial vacuum; that is, pretending that the Holy Father is somehow unaware that previous popes ever wrote anything about evangelization, preaching, economics, etc. 

4. Jesuitical Suspicion: not ignoring my natural Dominican suspicion of all things Jesuitical but making an effort to set aside those prejudices and not write in the margins, "Such a Jebbie!"

5. Let the MSM Define What's Important: reading media accounts of the document before reading the document itself. I've already seen two reports in the UK press that predictably applaud the Holy Father for his "anti-capitalist" rhetoric. . .as if the Pope's principal concern is the macro-economics of Western liberal democracies. 

So, lots of things to avoid; lots of things to look forward to. . .especially the longish section on homilies and preaching!

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The cross is his throne

Christ the King

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Take a moment to consider the crucifix—a cross made of wood with a dead body nailed to it. What's so special about Jesus' crucifixion? In the world ruled by the Roman Empire, slaves, pirates, and rebels against the empire were routinely crucified. It was considered a dishonorable way to die. In 71 B.C., the Roman general, Marcus Licinius Crassus, finally defeated the gladiator army of Spartacus the Thracian, crucifying 6,000 rebellious slaves along the Appian Way. Just 17 years before this, the King of Judea, Alexander Jannaeus, crucified 88 Pharisees who opposed his rule, and five hundred years before this, King Darius I of Babylon crucified 3,000 of his political opponents. So, Babylonians, Jews, Romans all nailed or tied men and women to wooden crosses as a form of torture and execution. Why then do we make such a fuss about Jesus' execution? What's so special about a cross with the body of Christ hanging on it? Ask yourself on this Solemnity of Christ the King: how does Christ rule as a king while hanging dead on a cross? How does he rule in your life, your heart and mind?

We can start an answer to the first question—how does Christ rule as a king while hanging dead on a cross? —by turning to Paul and his letter to the Colossians. Paul tells us that God delivers us from the power of darkness—from ignorance, sin, and death—and then transfers us from this world's domination over to the kingdom—to the rule, the governance—of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in whom and through whom we have redemption. And what is this redemption? The forgiveness of our sins. So, by forgiving our sins—apart from our good works, apart from our good intentions—God grants us absolute amnesty, free reign to abide in His kingdom as citizens and not only as citizens but as heirs as well! If we accept, if we receive his freely offered amnesty, we are “transferred” to another jurisdiction, to another governing power: the rule of Christ the King. And under his rule, we are brothers and sisters in the Holy Family of God. We live under a new dispensation, a new and eternal law of charity in hope with an abiding faith. Paul says, “. . .the Father who has made [us] fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.” And that is what we are here to do: share in the inheritance granted us by the death of Christ on the cross and by his resurrection from the tomb.

But this is only a partial answer to our first question. Christ rules a kingdom from his cross and an empty tomb, a kingdom to which we are heirs. But how does he rule? Who is he that he can do such a bizarre thing? We turn to Paul again. He writes, “[Christ] is the image of the invisible God. . .in [Christ] were created all things in heaven and on earth. . .all things were created through [Christ] and for [Christ]. He is before all things, and in [Christ] all things hold together. . .” Through Christ, for Christ, and in Christ “all things hold together.” All things. Including me and you. If “all things” hold together in Christ, then it follows that Christ serves as the organizing principle, the center, the underlying structure for all of creation. He was “at the beginning” with the Father; he is with us now, and he will be with us always. All of this tells us that Christ is God, so when we look at the crucifix, we see God hanging there. Dead. For us. And b/c Christ was both human and divine, we see humanity hanging there as well. Human nature. What you and I are are most fundamentally. Our natura, our essentia. But you and I aren't dead. We're alive. How does Christ rule from the cross? He rules through the redeemed human nature that you and I share. He rules—at least for now—through our free reception of his sacrificial love. We are his body and blood, his hands and feet, moving through creation.

That's who are we: the body and blood of Christ, his hands and feet, moving through creation. That is, that's who we are if and when we freely receive his sacrificial love and make that love manifest. Look at the criminal on a cross next to Jesus. The sign above Jesus' bloody head reads, “This is the King of the Jews.” Luke tells us, “Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.'” In other words, prove your worth, King of the Jews! Prove that you are who you say you are! He almost dares Jesus to rescue them from their fate. The other criminal, traditionally named Dismas, somehow understanding who hangs next to him, rebukes the first, saying, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation?. . .we have been condemned justly. . .but this man has done nothing criminal.” Seeing the scandal of Jesus' unjust execution, Dismas freely receives Christ's sacrificial love: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” In these two condemned men, we see all of humanity: those who dare Christ to save them from death and those who receive his salvation into eternal life. To the latter, Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Earlier, I asked you: how does Christ rule in your life, your heart and mind? One way to answer this is to think of yourself as Dismas, hanging next to Christ on your own cross. You have accepted death as punishment for your sins, and yet, seeing Christ dying unjustly, innocent of any sin, you call out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He turns to you and says, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” From that moment, you are “transferred” to another kingdom to live under another law, the law of charity in hope with an abiding faith. You are pardoned, freed from the sentence of death, and let loose to thrive as an heir to the heavenly kingdom. Christ rules in your heart and mind as the sovereign of your every thought, word, and deed; as the sole ruler of everything you are and everything you do. In you, we see the hands and feet, the body and blood, the face of Christ. Through you, we witness the reign of Christ the King on earth. And with you, we live to bring to the fallen world the Good News of God's freely offered mercy to sinners through His Christ. How does Christ rule in our lives, our hearts and minds? If we receive him, he rules by teaching us to be servants, serving in sacrifice. 

 

By a show of hands, how many of you have a crucifix? At home? On you? A rosary, a necklace? Good! When you look at that crucifix, you see Jesus hanging dead on a cross. From now on, see a king on his throne, ruling your world, ruling you. See the prince of peace, dying to bring his Father's peace to your world, to you. See your Savior throwing open his arms to show you the vistas of Paradise, to guide you through to your inheritance. See the Judge of the Last Judgment showing you his Father's justice and then granting you His mercy. Imagine yourself on a cross next to him. And imagine all the steps you followed to get there. Look down, to the foot of your cross, and take every step back to the beginning, back to the very first time you said to Christ, “Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom.” From that moment on, Christ has ruled you and through you. He has served you and through you he still serves. “Amen, I say to you, today you [are] with me in Paradise.”

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Postmodern Christianity: the flight from being

If you're a regular reader of HA, you've probably heard/read me blabbing on about postmodern-this and postmodern-that. Trying to define postmodernism is a lot like trying to nail Jell-O to a raging waterfall -- only more difficult.

Below is the first paragraph of an excellent article by Fr. Joseph R. Laracy from the Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 

Give it a read. . .it sorta proves that I'm not just making all this postmodernism stuff up.

The salient characteristics of postmodern philosophy can be seen in many aspects of contemporary culture. In particular, the “flight from being (or truth)” is particularly evident in the areas of politics, ethics, and religion and is not constrained by the principle of non-contradiction. The rejection of grand narratives, fragmentation of knowledge, loss of the human subject, and so-called “death of man,” have had particularly devastating consequences on both the academic study of theology, and the practice of religion. Philosophers, theologians, and indeed entire ecclesial communities have attempted to adapt the Christian faith to this new perspective.

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Go out to the existential peripheries!

Before the 2013 Papal Conclave that elected him to the Chair of Peter, Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio, S.J. offered his thoughts on the New Evangelization: 

Evangelizing Implies Apostolic Zeal 

1. Evangelizing pre-supposes a desire in the Church to come out of herself. The Church is called to go to the peripheries, not only geographically, but also the existential peripheries: the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, of intellectual currents, and of all misery. 

2. When the Church does not come out of herself to evangelize, she becomes self-referential and then gets sick. . .living within herself, of herself, for herself. This should shed light on the possible changes and reforms which must be done for the salvation of souls. 

3. Thinking of the next Pope: He must be a man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the Church to go out to the existential peripheries, that helps her to be the fruitful mother, who gains life from “the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.”

Given our relatively affluent, comfortable middle-class lifestyle, I wonder how many American Catholic preachers understand those who struggle at the existential peripheries of our culture?

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Missing Books

A couple of months ago a kind and generous HA reader purchased two books for me from the Wish List.

They never arrived.

Sometimes used bookstores or individual sellers lose orders, or the orders get lost in the mail.

I'm reporting this b/c I don't want my Book Benefactor to think that I'm ungrateful due to the fact that they haven't seen a Mille Grazie!

The two books are:

Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture: Reading the Bible Critically in Faith

Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching

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After a long day, three pleasant surprises. . .

An Ample Mendicant Thanks to the kind and generous soul(s) who sent three books my way from the Wish List:

The Four Codes of Preaching
Dear Life
The Experience of God

All of my Book Benefactors are in my daily prayers!
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