17 May 2014
No troubled hearts. . .
NB. A homily I need right now. . .do not let your hearts be troubled.
5th Sunday of Easter (A)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
The king of Corinth was a clever
man. He was also prideful and lived to lie to friend and foe alike.
His pride and deceitfulness kept him in power and flush with gold. When
given the chance, he would divulge an ally's secrets to a mutual enemy
and reap the rewards of betrayal. It was only a matter of time before
his hubris compelled him to expose the follies of Zeus and gamble his
cleverness against the anger of a god. One day, believing himself equal
to the gods, the king told the river god, Asopus, one of Zeus' secrets
in exchange for a fresh water spring in his city. As punishment, Zeus
ordered Death to chain the king in the Abyss. The king, ever-clever,
tricked Death and escaped. When the king died, his wife did not observe
the proper burial rites, so he ended up in Hades only to escape and
return to his wife to scold her for being disrespectful. Fed up with
the king's impertinence, Zeus ordered his spirit to bear an eternal
burden. He was condemned to push a boulder up a hill. When he nearly
reached the top of the hill with the boulder, it would escape his grasp
and roll to the bottom. The king would have to begin again. . .for
eternity. The king's name was Sisyphus. To this day, we use his name
to describe an absurd task, or a futile burden that leads to despair.
For some, Sisyphus and his fate serve as a warning against pride and
deceit. To others, he's an absurd hero, a foolish solider in a war
against tyrants. Who is he for the followers of Christ? Jesus says,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” But how often do we lovers of
Christ wallow in our burdens and make our troubles badges of honor?
Because he was a fool to
challenge Zeus and because his punishment seems so familiar, so “right,”
Sisyphus is a popular subject in modern poetry. The American poet,
Stephen Dunn, in a series of poems starring our anti-hero, wonders what
Sisyphus would do if he were forgiven his sins, relieved of his
ridiculous task. In a poem titled, “Sisyphus and the Sudden Lightness,”
Dunn gives us the man mysteriously absolved of his debt to Zeus and
wandering the streets in search of a purpose. Dunn writes, Sisyphus,
of course, was worried;/ he'd come to depend on his burden,/wasn't sure
who he was without it. He peels an orange; pets a dog, keeps moving
forward b/c he is afraid/of the consequences of standing still.//He no
longer felt inclined to smile. Over time, Sisyphus realizes that he is
no longer being punished b/c the gods have disappeared. He hasn't been
forgiven; he's been abandoned. So, out of anger or frustration or
maybe defiance, He dared to raise his fist to the sky./Nothing,
gloriously, happened.//Then a different terror overtook him. Sisyphus
has been his punishment for centuries. Now that the boulder and the
hill no longer imprison him, who is he? The gods are gone and the
history of his punishment is more ridiculous, more meaningless than
ever.
Sisyphus' heart is troubled. He
has been abandoned by his gods, and he no longer knows who or what he
is. He was condemned to an eternity of futile labor. Had he come to
enjoy that boulder and the hill? Had he come to believe that his
punishment was not only well-deserved but actually beneficial to his
soul? As followers of Christ, what would we tell him about pride and
its punishment? About lying and the consequences of defying God? Would
we tell him that he got what he deserved and that he should shoulder
his burden w/o complaint? If so, then we have to ask ourselves: Do we
see ourselves in Sisyphus, wallowing in our burdens, making our troubled
hearts badges of honor? Are we freed men and women, liberated children
of a loving God; or, are we prisoners to our self-selected and
self-imposed punishments? It might not be polite to say or pleasant to
believe, but those of us who lay claim to the kingdom of God too often
see ourselves as lost, abandoned; forsaken and punished for our sins.
Sometimes we see this so intensely, believe it so fervently that we
become our burdens; we transform ourselves from forgiven souls with an
occasionally troubled heart into constantly troubled hearts with souls
we cannot trust are forgiven. After all, we deserve our burdens; we are
entitled to our troubles and we would not know who or what we are if,
suddenly, our sentences were commuted and we were set free. Who are you
once you are unchained and your prison is destroyed?
Jesus tells his disciples that
he is preparing himself for death. He is leaving them. Confronted by
their overwhelming anxiety and fear, Jesus says to them, “Do not let
your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”
He tells them that he is going to prepare a place for them in his
Father's house. “I will come back again,” he assures them, “and take
you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you
know the way.” Most anxious and skeptical of them all, Thomas, blurts
out, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the
way?” Can you hear Thomas' real question? He's really asking, “How can
you abandon us? How can you just leave us here? Why are we being
punished? We don't know the way!” Jesus says to him, “I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.” You know the way.
You know me, and I am the way. You know the truth and you know the
life. I am the truth and the life. You have come to me, and in doing
so, you have come to the Father. When I return, you will all return
with me to the Father. Did his friends believe him? Do we believe him?
If we think Jesus is lying, then we will never surrender our burdens,
never give up the punishments for sin that we believe we deserve. If we
trust in his word, then we will crawl out from under the anxiety and
the despair; we will gladly, eagerly push aside all of our destructive
guilt and self-recrimination. Finally, we will come to accept that we
are not the sum total of our sins and the years we have spent in prison,
but that we are the freed children of a loving God who waits for us to
occupy the many rooms of His heavenly house. That's who and what we
are: not guests or visitors but children, beloved sons and daughters
come home, and come home for good.
Peter tells us more about who
and what we are in Christ: “You are 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises'
of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We
are a race—black, white, yellow, brown, red—a race of those chosen by
God. We are royal priests, offering sacrifices of praise and
thanksgiving on the altars of our daily lives. We are a holy
nation—Americans, Russians, Japanese, Mexicans—a nation set aside to be a
commonwealth of faith and reason in a world slowing going insane. And
we are a people, a tribe, citizens and subjects of a kingdom that will
never end. When we are who we were redeemed to be and when we do what
we were redeemed to do, there is no time for us nor energy left in us
for absurd burdens, futile punishments, or useless anxiety.
Sisyphus, upon realizing that
his punishment was at an end, and realizing that his gods had abandoned
him, shook his fist at heaven, and a different terror overtook him.
He was terrified of not knowing who or what we was without his burden,
without his petty gods. If you are afraid of surrendering your worries
and your labors b/c you believe that you deserve them, or b/c you fear
that you will become lost, let Christ's words bang around in your mind
for a while: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in
God; have faith also in me. . .I will come back again and take you to
myself. . .”
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16 May 2014
The absurd dichotomy of Jesus without the Church
A not-so-subtle message to the LCWR?
This is what Pope Francis asserted in his address to the participants in the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) whom he received in audience this morning. . .
“Your vocation is a fundamental charism for the Church's journey and it isn't possible that a consecrated woman or man might 'feel' themselves not to be with the Church. A 'feeling' with the Church that has generated us in Baptism; a 'feeling' with the Church that finds its filial expression in fidelity to the Magisterium, in communion with the Bishops and the Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a visible sign of that unity,” the pontiff added, citing Paul VI: “It is an absurd dichotomy to think of living with Jesus but without the Church, of following Jesus outside of the Church, of loving Jesus without loving the Church. Feel the responsibility that you have of caring for the formation of your Institutes in sound Church doctrine,* in love of the Church, and in an ecclesial spirit.”
Oh, yes. . .I think so!
* A good place to start: invite religious who support the "New Cosmology" to explore career opportunities outside the seminary/school of theology.
_______________________* A good place to start: invite religious who support the "New Cosmology" to explore career opportunities outside the seminary/school of theology.
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Coffee Cup Browsing
Stamp Your Feet: a "dialogue" btw the CDF and LCWR. . .yes, it's meant to be funny, but it really does capture the back and forth.
Well, no big surprise here. Boy Scouts being pressured to allow openly gay adult leaders. Progs are so predictable.
Pope Francis on "intellectuals" in the Church. Hear, hear! (Yes, the irony of a Dominican cheering this is palpable).
Pregnant Sudanese Christian is sentenced to death for. . .being a Christian.
Young Catholics drove the Harvard-MIT response to that Satanic PR stunt.
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15 May 2014
11 May 2014
"You are not owners of doctrine!"
Wise words from the Holy Father to newly ordained priests:
[AMEN! This has got to be one of the dumbest things a priest can do. Confession is hard enough w/o adding another dose of fear to the equation. Anyone who approaches The Box is there b/c the Holy Spirit sent them there. And they should be treated as co-operators with the Spirit's grace.]
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The Holy Father spoke to the men of his sadness at hearing of people who
had the experience of being “thrashed” or “yelled at” in the
confessional and never returned because they felt that “the doors of the
Church were closed in their face!”
“Please, don’t do this!” he exclaimed.
“Please, don’t do this!” he exclaimed.
[AMEN! This has got to be one of the dumbest things a priest can do. Confession is hard enough w/o adding another dose of fear to the equation. Anyone who approaches The Box is there b/c the Holy Spirit sent them there. And they should be treated as co-operators with the Spirit's grace.]
[. . .]
Pope Francis also reminded those seeking ordination to be faithful to the gospel they were taught rather than creating their own ideas.
“Teach that which you have learned in the faith, live that which you have taught. A nourishment to the people of God will therefore be your doctrine, which is not yours: you are not owners of doctrine! It is the doctrine of the Lord, and you must be faithful to the doctrine of the Lord!”
Pope Francis also reminded those seeking ordination to be faithful to the gospel they were taught rather than creating their own ideas.
“Teach that which you have learned in the faith, live that which you have taught. A nourishment to the people of God will therefore be your doctrine, which is not yours: you are not owners of doctrine! It is the doctrine of the Lord, and you must be faithful to the doctrine of the Lord!”
[AMEN! No one owns the doctrine of the faith. Not even the Pope. Clergy and religious who treat the faith like a personal possession need to find another line of work. All this nonsense about "creative dissent" is just cover for plain ole dissent. Father shouldn't be teaching and preaching his personal theology.]
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Audio for "Cutting to Your Heart"
Audio recording of my homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter (A)
Just weird.
And thanks to M.R. for sending me the recorder! :-)
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If my pronunciation seems odd, it's b/c the speaker system at the church was doing something weird to my voice, and I was hearing myself and trying to adjust my tone/volume/etc.
Just weird.
And thanks to M.R. for sending me the recorder! :-)
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Cutting to Your Heart
4th Sunday of Easter
(A)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA
Does
the Good News of Jesus Christ cut to your heart? Peter and the other
eleven apostles preach to the citizens of Jerusalem, saying, “Let
the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both
Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” This sentence
actually concludes a longer exhortation where Peter lays out for the
people the history and mission of the Son of God. He testifies as a
witness that the Lord is risen, and that he will return. When the
people hear all that Peter has to say, Luke reports in Acts
that “they were cut to the heart.” And some three thousand were
baptized that day. They
were cut to the heart.
Peter's testimony wounded each and every one of them to the core of
their being, piercing all the way to the center of their ignorance
and obstinance, convicting each and every one of them for their
disobedience in darkness, and bringing them – 3,000 of them – to
the light of Christ. Does the Good News of Jesus Christ cut to your
heart? Are you convicted and convinced by the apostolic witness that
our Lord is risen and that he rose from the tomb to accomplish your
salvation?
What
at first might seem like an easy question for a church-going
Christian to answer isn't all that easy. I mean, the answer is
obviously “yes” or you wouldn't be here. But as we know saying
“yes” in church and being “yes” out in the world are two
entirely different things. We are encouraged – if not quite yet
required – to keep our spiritual lives to ourselves. Part of this
encouragement comes from those who don't want to be bothered with
religion and part of it comes from within us. We don't want our
religion bothered, so we just pretend that being a Christian in the
21st century is an entirely private matter, no one elses
business. At this point in our decadent culture, the detente between
us believers and those who find our beliefs offensive is fast
dissolving. And it is fast becoming more than just a little difficult
to stay on the Narrow Way. Let's not blame anyone but ourselves for
that. This is why I asked: “Does the Good News of Jesus Christ cut
to your heart?” Are you convicted and convinced that Peter's
apostolic witness is true? That Christ died and rose for your
salvation? If you answer “yes” here inside the Church and out
there, then do the people who see you everyday know that you belong
to Christ?
You
see, it's easy for me. I teach in a Catholic seminary. I wear a
Dominican habit, live in a Dominican priory. Say Mass, hear
confessions. You can't miss me walking around town looking like a
redneck sumo wrestler in a bed sheet! Part of my job description as a
religious is to be a very public sign of the Kingdom of God. For
better or worse, everything I do – whether I like it or not – is
a witness to the Gospel. And frankly, if I weren't a religious
priest, I'd be a horrible Catholic. Probably a Christmas & Easter
Catholic, if that. So, yea, it's relatively easy for people out there
to see me and know that I belong to Christ. But what about you? How
do you do it? What signs do you give? What do you say? You don't have
to a Catholic version of the Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on doors at
dinner time. You don't have to stand on the corner with a Bible and
rosary yelling at people, “Hey! Have you prayed the Luminous
Mysteries today?” Being a witness for Christ's death and
resurrection means living everyday as a sign of hope for those with
no hope, a sign of peace for those who know no peace. It means
suffering with others so that Christ's presence to them shines
through you. It means looking at everyone you meet as an addition to
your growing yet still imperfect image of God.
During
his first year as our Holy Father, Pope Francis has challenged us
over and over again to go out and be Christs for others. Not to allow
ourselves to become museum pieces. Not to allow the Holy Spirit
within to wither away from disuse. At one point, while speaking to
the clergy, he said that deacons, priests, religious, and bishops
should smell like their sheep! (Thanks be to God that New Orleans
Catholics tend to their hygiene!) So, if the clergy should smell like
their sheep, then what should the sheep smell like? Perhaps the sheep
should smell like their neighbors who are not yet sheep, like their
co-workers who are not yet part of the flock, maybe even like the
wolves who stalk the flock looking for a chance to pounce. But what
good is smelling like your neighbor, your co-workers, the wolves if
we don't fully grasp and live out everyday the mystery of the death
and resurrection of Christ? In other words, if our evangelization is
about putting kiesters in pews, and not bringing the Good News of
God's mercy to sinners, then it doesn't matter what we smell like. It
doesn't matter what we believe or who we believe in. Mega-churches
all over the nation draw thousands of kiesters to their pews. And for
what? Entertainment and psychobabble. Our 2,000 year old apostolic
faith is not entertaining nor is it psychobabble. We are the Body of
Christ on earth. And we bear witness to his death and resurrection!
When
Peter finished preaching, and the people there were cut to the heart
by his witness, they ask, “What do we do now?” He says, “Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.” Repent. Be baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit. And do all
these in the name of Jesus Christ. Why his name? He himself tells us,
“I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and
will come in and go out and find pasture.” Only through the Gate of
Christ can a wolves become sheep. Only through Christ can sinners
become saints. Only through Christ can any of us find hope for
resurrection and life eternal. Does this Good News cut to your heart?
Does it wound pride, greed, envy, anxiety, disappointment, despair?
Entertainment and psychobabble cannot cut into the darkness of
disobedience and death. Only the light of Christ can cut through the
darkness that binds us to sin. And you – as bearers of his light –
take that light out into the world and shine it everywhere you go.
Does
the Good News of Jesus Christ cut to your heart? If so, then let the
Holy Spirit take you out of here and into the world so that your life
might be for others their way to Christ.
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Why?! O, Why, Holy Spirit?!
Homily writing is hard!
I'm slogging through the third draft of a bad one.
Out of practice, uh?
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I'm slogging through the third draft of a bad one.
Out of practice, uh?
Looking more and more likely that I will be recycling an older effort, or maybe just winging it. . .sssshhhhhhh. . .don't tell my seminarians. I've told them that "winging it" is a mortal sin.
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10 May 2014
Coffee Cup Browsing
Archdiocese condemns Black Mass. . .Satanists wail about intolerance. Probably their plan all along.
LCWR responds to CDF. Summary: "Process. Dialogue. Procedure. Process. More process. More dialogue. We're right. You're wrong. We ain't changing nothing."
Quick answers from the CCC on false gods, divination, etc.
Time for Cardinal Kasper to head to a monastery for some prayer and fasting.
Harry Reid (D) is "deliver[ing] speeches that sound like they ought to be coming from a man wearing a bathrobe in front of a liquor store in Cleveland." LOL!
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09 May 2014
Music & Misspent Youth: 1982-1988
Something got me browsing Youtube this afternoon for music from my undergrad/grad school days (1982-1988).
Here's what I found:
New Order: Substance 1987
New Order: Substance 1987 (2)
ABC: The Look of Love (1987)
O.M.D. (1988)
Tears for Fears (1985)
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love (1985)
The Smiths: Rank (1986)
Simply Red: Picture Book (1985)
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08 May 2014
Coffee Cup Browsing
Hollywood's Sexual Predators. . .it's time to end mandatory celibacy for Hollywood producers and directors and admit women to their ranks!
Why the Left Hates Work. . .when you spend you entire adult life living in an academic/public sector bubble, the gov't is the Only Solution.
Satanic Black Mass at Harvard?
MSM got the White House memo on "inequality." And yes, that includes FOXNews.
Out of control student attacks Christian protester on university campus. (NB. strong language)
That woman who filmed her abortion to show how wonderful abortions can be. . .yea, maybe not so wonderful after all.
Parish school to celebrate "Year of Lady Gaga." And we all ask: where is the bishop?
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MSM got the White House memo on "inequality." And yes, that includes FOXNews.
Out of control student attacks Christian protester on university campus. (NB. strong language)
That woman who filmed her abortion to show how wonderful abortions can be. . .yea, maybe not so wonderful after all.
Parish school to celebrate "Year of Lady Gaga." And we all ask: where is the bishop?
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07 May 2014
Satanic Black Mass
Satanic Black Mass to be celebrated at Harvard??? The Anchoress is getting the details.
Apparently, they are claiming that they will use a consecrated host. Thus, settling once and for all that Satanism depends entirely on Christianity for its theological foundation.
Harvard's Puritan founders must be spinning in their graves.
Time to whip out the rosaries, folks, and get the BVM [corrected] to work on preventing these fools from doing something eternally dangerous.
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06 May 2014
Going Around the Sophists
Our cultural signs, symbols, and languages are dominated by bureaucratic and commercial ideologies. These ideologies push transcendental questions out of the public square, ruling them illegitimate b/c they do not serve a bureaucratic of commercial purpose. In other words, "They don't get us anywhere."
James Kalb tackles this problem and proposes a solution:
In
a world that tries to immunize itself against concerns other than
efficiency, equality, and preference satisfaction, Catholics need to
circumvent the public discussion and restart it on a different footing.
Saint Ambrose noted that God does not normally save his people through
rational argumentation(“non in dialectica complacuit Deo salvum facere populum suum”).
Man is nonetheless a creature of reason, at least in part, and if we
don’t deal with that side of him we’ll have problems. The obvious way to
start, since we live in a world in which well-paid sophists have
supplanted traditional authorities, is to do what Socrates did in a
similar setting: ask pointed questions that are hard to get rid of
because they go to the heart of how people live. For example. . .
Read the whole thing.
As an example of what Kalb is opposing, here's a bit from COSMOS host, Neil deGrasse Tyson: "[Tyson] proudly proclaims his irritation with 'asking deep questions' that
lead to a 'pointless delay in your progress' in tackling 'this whole big
world of unknowns out there.' When a scientist encounters someone
inclined to think philosophically, his response should be to say, 'I'm
moving on, I'm leaving you behind, and you can't even cross the street
because you're distracted by deep questions you've asked of yourself. I
don't have time for that.'"
Methinks someone made a C- in undergrad philosophy class. . .
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Never be hungry again
3rd Week of Easter (T)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Notre Dame Seminary, NOLA
Stephen stands accused of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin, facing conviction and execution. Rather than backtracking on his earlier remarks, Stephen goes for broke and tells the truth: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit [. . .] You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.” Like most people who are told an uncomfortable truth, the crowd is none too happy; “they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him.” At this point in the confrontation, Stephen's lawyer could've called for a recess. His publicist could've released a statement clarifying his remarks and calling for calm. Then Stephen could appear on Oprah, apologize for his intolerance, and announce that he was checking into into rehab for treatment. All would have been forgiven. But b/c Stephen is filled with Holy Spirit and unable to lie, he says, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” And b/c the crowd hates the truth and will not hear it, “they cry out in a loud voice, cover their ears, and rush upon him together.” Stephen is stoned to death, dying with the name of Christ on his lips, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. . .do not hold this sin against them.” Had his executioners been paying attention, they would have understood Stephen's death as a sign of God's presence; they would have received his dying words as a gift freely given.
Stephen stands accused of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin, facing conviction and execution. Rather than backtracking on his earlier remarks, Stephen goes for broke and tells the truth: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit [. . .] You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.” Like most people who are told an uncomfortable truth, the crowd is none too happy; “they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him.” At this point in the confrontation, Stephen's lawyer could've called for a recess. His publicist could've released a statement clarifying his remarks and calling for calm. Then Stephen could appear on Oprah, apologize for his intolerance, and announce that he was checking into into rehab for treatment. All would have been forgiven. But b/c Stephen is filled with Holy Spirit and unable to lie, he says, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” And b/c the crowd hates the truth and will not hear it, “they cry out in a loud voice, cover their ears, and rush upon him together.” Stephen is stoned to death, dying with the name of Christ on his lips, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. . .do not hold this sin against them.” Had his executioners been paying attention, they would have understood Stephen's death as a sign of God's presence; they would have received his dying words as a gift freely given.
On
a day sometime before Stephen faces his own hostile crowd, another
like-minded crowd confronts Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we
may see and believe in you? What can you do?” It's important to
understand what they are asking for here. They aren't interested in
words of wisdom, or profound teaching. They don't want a clever
exegesis of the Law. The crowd is demanding a miracle, a performance
that can only be explained as an act of God. And not just any old
miracle but one that benefits them immediately. They note that God
gave them manna in the desert. So, they want Jesus to do the same.
They want concrete, irrefutable—and dare I say it, edible—proof
that Jesus is who he says he is. Rather than promising them
additional tax breaks, or a new government food program, Jesus says,
“I am the bread of life.” Eat this bread and never hunger;
believe in me and never thirst. This is not the miracle they were
hoping for.
Stephen,
somewhere along the way, heard and believed upon the Christ. He ate
the bread of life and drank from the chalice of salvation. He was
filled with the Holy Spirit and went out to preach the Good News. The
crowd clamoring for his blood didn't see Stephen as a miracle, as a
sign of God's presence. They saw a blasphemer quoting Samaritan
heresy. They wanted humble contrition from him, but they got the
truth. Like the crowd that demanded a concrete sign from Jesus, they
wanted a sign from Stephen that their lives were not about to be
turned upside down. They wanted consolation, assurance, a guarantee
that they everything they thought they knew about God was just right.
Stephen disappointed them, and so did Jesus. They got the truth, and
it set their teeth on edge.
The
crowds that gather before the Church now haven't changed in 2,000
years. Neither has the truth. Stephen didn't apologize nor did he
clarify his remarks. Jesus didn't do any magic tricks nor did he
argue a thesis. Confronted by demanding mobs, Jesus and Stephen do
exactly what they were sent to do: they spoke the word of truth for
all to hear. Stephen forgave his killers even as he died, revealing
the way of mercy. Jesus reveals the way to salvation, “I am the
bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever
believes in me will never thirst.”
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