Yes to Religious Liberty. . .

YES!!!

The Supreme Court sides with religious liberty against B.O.'s attempt to force his fellow citizens to violate their consciences!

The sad thing here is four of the justices sided with forcing people to choose btw their livelihood and their religious beliefs. 

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You Can't Lose an Already-Won-Fight

NB. We had internet service for about 1.5 hrs yesterday. . .off and on all day. And sloooooooooooow. Anyway, since it's working (for now) I thought I'd post this 2012 weekday Peter and Paul homily before things go all blooey again. Look for a Sunday homily after the 6pm Mass tonight. . .if this thing is still working.

Ss. Peter and Paul
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Peter has the keys and Paul has a sword. With these two devices, Peter and Paul preached the Gospel—the keys unlock the gates of heaven and the sword fights the good fight. Both these men were martyred for the faith by the Roman emperor, Nero. Peter was crucified and Paul beheaded. Though they share a martyr's death and a Christian's faith, Peter and Paul were startlingly different sorts of men. Peter was a fisherman, a working-class man with little or no education beyond what most Jewish men of his day received. Paul was a rabbi, a very well-educated Roman citizen with deep ties to the Gentile world. Peter spent his days with other fishermen, discussing tides, catches, and market prices. Paul likely spent his days teaching, public speaking, and rubbing elbows with the political and religious elite. Peter knew Christ personally as a teacher. Paul never met Jesus. Both were students of the Master, commissioned apostles, adventurous preachers, and, ultimately, martyrs for the teachings of Christ. With the keys to heaven and a sword for the fight, Peter and Paul founded an apostolic Church, a Church we have inherited as sons and daughters of the Father. How do we follow them in spreading the Good News? 

In his homily celebrating these two foundational saints, our Holy Father, Benedict, writes, “. . .Peter and Paul, much as they differ from one another in human terms and notwithstanding the conflicts that arose in their relationship, illustrate a new way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel. . .Only by following Jesus does one arrive at this new brotherhood.” By following Christ and his Gospel, we can arrive at a “new brotherhood.” Not a novel way of being friends, or a superficial means of claiming a “churchy” kinship. But a radically different way of understanding who and what we are to one another through our adoption by the Father in Christ. Because we have died and risen in the baptism of Christ, we are made to be the heirs of the Father's kingdom. As heirs, we inherit all that He has to give. To the Church, He has bequeathed His kingdom—the keys to open heaven's gates for all and the sword to fight against this world's errors and temptations. Our first step in spreading the Good News is make sure all God's creatures know that they are invited to the feast. The next step is to guard this invitation and those who have accepted it with all the strength of our faith and all the courage gifted to us by the Spirit.

After Christ gives the keys of heaven to Peter, he assures the disciples that “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against [the Church].” If this is true, why resist evil? Why fight against the powers and principalities of the world? The last victory has gone to Christ. He won the war against death on the Cross. That evil cannot prevail against the Church is not a promise or a prediction. It's an historical fact. When Christians believe and behave as if we might lose the war against evil, we reveal a dangerous lack of faith in the Church and not only the Church but in Christ himself. You and I might be defeated by evil, so we fight. But never believe that there is a chance the Body of Christ will fall. When we fight to promote the Gospel and protect those who follow on the Way, we fight to ensure that the Father's invitation to the feast continues to be heard. Peter and Paul died for the faith so that His offer of eternal life might live on to this day. Our witness might not be as violent as theirs, but it is no less effective. Who will see Christ through you today, tomorrow? Who will ask you for the keys to heaven?

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Surprise! Internet service!

A quick note. . .before the internet blinks out again.

Major storms rolling thru NOLA this week.  We had internet service on Thursday, but it was sporadic on Friday. 

Seems fine this morning.

We'll see. 

If all goes well, there will be a homily up on Sunday.

Jury duty on July 1st. Please pray that they either put me on a jury quickly or dismiss me outright. My guess is -- knowing my luck -- they'll make me return for a week or two and never pick me.  

Story of my life.

;-)

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Lightening!

BIG storm rolled through NOLA late yesterday afternoon.

Lightening struck the priory's server. . .

and nearly caused me to keel over with a heart attack!

So, no internet access for a couple of days.

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Audio File: Corpus Christi

Listen to my Corpus Christi homily. . .
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On becoming Corpus Christi

Solemnity of Corpus Christi (2014)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio File

All across the world, Dominican friars begin morning and evening prayer before the Blessed Sacrament: O sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur. . .” In our English translation, we pray: “O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ becomes our food. . .” Christ/becomes/our/ food. Our meat and daily bread, our salt and saving drink. For those of us who follow Christ, his body and blood is our daily nourishment, our minimum daily requirement w/o which we cannot survive on the path to holiness much less thrive as forgiven sinners. To take into our bodies his body and blood, to take him in worthily and whole, is to participate not only in his mission and ministry but to become part of/to share in his body and blood. Paul asks the Corinthians, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” Yes, it is. “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” Yes, it is. To take into our bodies his body and blood, to take him in worthily and whole, is to become Christ. Our Lord teaches us, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. . .” He lives among us, with us, and in us. And we are made Christs, sent into the world.

It may sound odd to say that “we are made Christs,” but that is exactly what happens when we step behind him to follow him on his Way. We are made into the image of Christ and sent out to be Christs for the world. Around 350 A.D., St. Cyril of Jerusalem*, teaching on the anointing of the Holy Spirit that follows baptism, notes that “having therefore become partakers of Christ you are properly called Christs. . . because you are images of Christ.” We are partakers of Christ in baptism, confirmation and, most especially, in the Eucharist. When we partake worthily of Christ in these sacraments, we are re-formed into the image of Christ. Now, what is an image? We might think of a snapshot or a painting, or even a statue. But the word “image” here is something more like “an imitation” or “a miniature.” Imitation could imply a fake, like an imitation Rolex watch, so let's go with miniature. When we partake worthily of Christ in the sacraments, we are re-formed into miniatures of Christ, little Christs – woefully imperfect for now but on the way to perfection in him. Cyril teaches us that we are therefore “properly called Christs.” All together, gathered as we are now, we constitute the Body of Christ, the Church. Millions of little Christs all over the world forming one body, Corpus Christi.

So far, we've covered two of the three Scriptural referents for the phrase “body of Christ.” Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Body of Christ as the Church. We also use “body of Christ” to refer to the historical, physical flesh and blood body of the incarnate Son – the body of the Christ Child born to Mary, the body of Jesus who hung on the cross. What's the connection among and between these three referents? What do they have to do with Christ's commandment to love and his commission to go out and preach the Gospel? Turn your attention to the crucifix above the altar. That is an image of the body of Christ, Jesus' body scourged and nailed to a cross. Is that an inspiring image? A depressing image? Does it prompt you toward joy or despair? Think for a moment: knowing that his torture and death leads to your freedom from sin and the offer of eternal life, are you moved to go out and tell others about the Father's mercy? How does that body, hanging on a cross, gives rise to the Body of the Church and the Body of the Eucharist? Can that body up there come down here and push us out those doors into a world that desperately needs a sign of hope?

It can and it does. The corpus Christi on the cross becomes the corpus Christi of the Eucharist and we – eating his body and drinking his blood – become the corpus Christi, the Church sent into the world to love, to forgive, to show mercy, and to preach and teach all that he preached and taught. Our eternal lives are at stake. Piety is necessary but not sufficient. Good works are necessary but not sufficient. Knowledge of Scripture, doctrine, the lives of the saints are all necessary, but they are not nearly sufficient. Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. . .” We can do nothing w/o him and the only way to be with him, to partake in his life, mission, and ministry is to eat his body and drink his blood. The only way is for us – each one of us – to become Christ in the living flesh. To make it our daily, hourly mission in life to be Corpus Christi wherever God has placed us. You may be teaching a class, or tending a family, or working 9-5 in an office, or haunting a library for a school project, wherever God has placed you, your mission is to be Corpus Christi right where you are. 

Dominicans all over the world pray twice a day, O sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur. . .” In our English translation, we pray: “O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ becomes our food. . .” Christ becomes our food. His body and blood are our meat and daily bread, our salt and saving drink. Without this feast, we cannot partake/share in his life. We cannot move beyond the words of his teachings and reach the deeds of his hands. We cannot begin to grow in holiness, or even hope for mercy. In this feast, the memory of his Passion is made new, our hearts and minds are filled with his gifts, and we receive his promise of eternal life. Taken worthily, the body of Christ gives us all that need to live and thrive along his way to perfection. “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . .whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

* Catechetical Lecture 21, On the Mysteries, 1.

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Apologies. . .

Apologies for the dearth in blogging this week. . .

I arrived back in NOLA to 300+ emails and Facebook msgs. 

There will be a homily for Corpus Christi on Sunday and then things should be back to normal after that.

I have to report for jury duty on July 1st. NOLA doesn't excuse jury duty except under very specific criteria. I don't meet any those criterion. It's the criminal court in NOLA, so I'm expecting a murder case. And even if I plea opposition to the death penalty, they will simply move me to another case.

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Promoter of Preaching

The Chapter of the Dominican Province of St. Martin de Porres met last week. 

The brothers-in-chapter elected Fr. Thomas Condon, OP as the next prior provincial of the Southern Province. Fr. Condon appointed Fr. Jorge Rativa, OP as his socius.

The diffinitorium met this week and made several appointments. . .

Yours Truly was appointed to the office of Promoter of Preaching.

My first response, "Does this office come with a hat?"

The answer: "No." 

I say, "No. Not YET."

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Nuns, nuns, nuns!

Back from NJ. . .spent the last week with wonderful nuns of Summit and the novices from Menlo Park, Lufkin, and Farmington Hills. We had a blast!

I was teaching in the MTS program: Theology and Its Sources.

 

Click on the link for pics.

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Off to New Jersey!

I am off bright and early tomorrow to Summit, NJ where I will teach a series of classes to the Dominican novice nuns of the U.S.

We'll be studying fundamental theology -- revelation, method, etc. 

Be back in NOLA on June 15th.

Pray for us!

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How to get in trouble with Zeitgeist, Inc.

St. Boniface (Readings for the Memorial)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA 

From the Vesper’s petitions for the Commons for Martyr’s: “Lord, hold us fast to preaching the gospel even in the face of opposition, persecution, and scorn.” Christian preachers are often tempted to let go of the Gospel when confronted by entrenched opposition. Like water seeking the fastest and easiest route downhill, preachers are coaxed toward taking the most direct path to the dilution of Christ’s teaching and, ultimately, a betrayal of the Spirit that animates us. We see and hear this when preachers begin preaching a Prosperity Gospel—Jesus wants you to be rich!—; or when they begin preaching a Zeitgeist Gospel—Jesus wants us to “fit in” with our times so we can witness from within;—or when you hear the Gospel of Identity Politics—being American, Black, Gay, Male or Female, Left or Right is preached to be more important than being faithful to Christ. All of these, of course, are dodges, ways around the difficult demands of what Jesus teaches us to be and do. They allow us to sift out the hard stuff and celebrate that which most tickles our bored ears. True martyrs (not self-appointed martyrs) present us with an extraordinarily hard reality: they believe the Gospel and die proclaiming it. Could we do the same if called upon to do so? 

St. Boniface, an eighth-century English Benedictine bishop and martyr who served as a missionary to Germany, wrote to a friend, “Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent on-lookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf…Let us preach the whole of God’s plan…in season and out of season.”* Though this sounds benign enough, Boniface died doing it, or rather died because he did it—he barked and refused to be hired as a religious P.R. man for Zeitgeist, Inc. Paul found himself in a similar position. Paul reports in Acts that he was seized by the Jewish leaders in the temple and almost killed because “[he] preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance.” Should we be shocked that Paul would find himself the target of the powers-that-be? Not really. Jesus warned his disciples that they would follow him to the cross if they persisted in preaching his word. And it is persistence that most often gets the Gospel preacher and believer into trouble.

Jesus says, “A hired man, who is not a shepherd…sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away…” The wolf attacks the sheep, killing one or two and scattering the rest. Why does the hired man run? Jesus says, “This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.” A preacher hired by Zeitgeist, Inc. will do the same—cut and run when it looks as though the wolves of persecution, opposition, and scorn come bounding down the hill. The good shepherd will stay and fight. And though he will never lose, he may sometimes die.

There’s almost no chance that anyone here this evening will be called upon to die for preaching the Gospel. In the U.S. in the 21st century, the Zeitgeist has learned more subtle ways of tempting us away from the Good Shepherd. Perhaps the most powerful temptation comes from the devil of freedom, or more accurately named, the devil of choice. Dangling before us the illusion of unfettered choice in a marketplace of unlimited options, the devil of choice coaxes us with a powerful sense of entitlement, a sense of being owed our comfort, our liberty. And so, we stand dumbfounded in the Wal-Marts of religious goods and services, the Winn-Dixies of spiritual options, and we pick and choose. I will preach mercy but not justice; love but not responsibility; forgiveness but not sin. I will preach heaven but not hell; faith but not obedience. With a shopping cart full of our hodge-podge choices, we check-out and pay with our souls, and then go out preaching a gospel half-bought. If our souls must be the currency with which we purchase a spiritual good, let that purchase be our eternal lives with Christ. As the Dogs of God, we can do nothing less than die while ferociously barking the Gospel just as Jesus taught it.

* from the Office of Readings, St. Boniface

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St Martin de Porres Province on Youtube!

The Youtube page of the Dominian Province of St. Martin de Porres

Lots of vids of our Student Brothers preaching in the studium.

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Are you consecrated in Truth?

7th Week of Easter (W)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Dominic Church, NOLA

If Truth were a commodity—like oil or pork bellies—its stock value would be very low these days. With the exception of the Church, no one seems to care much about what's true or false anymore. We are far more likely to hear that truth is a tool in the oppressor's arsenal; or that truth is just a traditional fiction dreamed up by neurotics; or that truth, at best, depends on one's perspective. You have your truth. I have my truth. Who's to say what's true or false? It just depends. Rather than ask if a bit of information is true or false, we're told to ask, “Who benefits from this information? Who's harmed?” Rather than seek the truth, we are urged to “create a narrative,” or “build a perception.” When did this sort of deception creep into our world? Sometime right after God told Adam and Eve to avoid eating the fruit of one particular tree, the world's first salesman convinced them that God was lying to them. Several centuries later, that salesman's political ally asks Jesus, “What is Truth?” And then washes his hands of Jesus' death. But before he is arrested and executed, Jesus prays to the Father, “Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.” Assuming the Father answered this prayer by fulfilling Jesus' petition, what changed? How are we different?

When something is consecrated it is set apart for some special use and only that use. Chalices are consecrated for use at Mass. Churches are consecrated for public worship. We don't use a chalice to swig beer nor do we use a church to host a crawfish boil. When a person is consecrated something similar happens. That person is set apart for some special task and only for that task. Monks and nuns come to mind. They are consecrated to a life of prayer. Dominican friars are consecrated to a life of preaching. And all baptized Christians are set apart to give public witness to the Gospel. So when Jesus asks the Father to consecrate us in the truth, what is he asking? It seems that he's asking God to set us aside in the truth; that is, to move us over into the truth in some special way, to preserve us for some special task that requires that we be in the truth. Now that awful question rises again, “What is the Truth?” Jesus answers, “Your word is truth.” God's word is truth. God's promises are truth itself. All that God has spoken through the Law, the Prophets, and through the Word made flesh is truth. All that God has revealed to us through scripture, creation, and His Christ is truth. Jesus is asking his Father to set us apart to live in His truth while we reside in the world.

Jesus' petition for our consecration is bracketed by two statements: “They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world” and “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” Because we belong to Christ, we cannot belong to the world. However, Jesus says that he sends us into the world as he himself was sent. Therefore, we must be consecrated in the truth, set apart in God's word so that we can bear witness to His mercy in a world that we don't belong to. Jesus says, “I gave them your word, and the world hates them. . .” Of course it does! The world loves violence, spite, revenge, falsehood, and death. God's word shines the glaring light of truth on the world's most fundamental spiritual darkness: the pride of a creature who has rejected the rule of its Creator. We are set apart in God's word to announce the Good News of His mercy. We are not set apart so that we can pretend to be politically infallible, or economically incorruptible, or scientifically inerrant. We are set apart in the death and resurrection of Christ as that we might be witnesses, givers of testimony to the word we have received: this world will pass, God's truth will not. His truth endures forever, and so do all those who receive His truth and announce His Good News.

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Listen to Ascension Sunday homily!

Audio file for Ascension Sunday homily

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Are we standing around looking at the sky?

Ascension of the Lord

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Dominic/Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio File

Right there in front of them. . .right before their eyes. . .“as they were looking on, [Jesus] was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” Place yourself in this scene. You're just standing there with your friends, listening to your teacher lecture. He's repeating some of the same stuff he's said a thousand times before. You have absolutely no idea what he's talking about. One of your more impatient classmates asks Jesus if and when he plans on restoring the kingdom of Israel. Ah! Finally, a real question! Let's get this revolution started! Then Jesus starts taking about times and seasons and the Holy Spirit and Jerusalem and being his witnesses all over the world. And just as your eyes are about to glaze over. . .WHOOSH!. . .he flies up into the sky in a cloud, disappearing from sight. Like everyone else who sees this, you're standing there stunned, looking up into the sky, shocked, amazed, wondering what just happened. Then two guys dressed in white show up and ask, “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” Why are we standing here looking at the sky!? Um, b/c our teacher just got kidnapped by a cloud? Here's another question just for us: why do the guys in white ask the stunned disciples why they are looking up at the sky?

Had the disciples been paying attention to Jesus' answer to the question about restoring the kingdom of Israel. . .had they been paying attention for the three years they were with him. . .they would not have been at all shocked by his ascension into the clouds. Not only would they not have been shocked, they would've been expecting it. And they would've watched his rise for a second or two and then waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit so that their work could begin. Before he disappeared into the sky, Jesus had instructed his students, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” That's pretty clear. Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them my commandments. Not all that complicated really. So, why the hesitation? Notice how the disciples approached Jesus that day on the mountain in Galilee, “When they saw [Jesus], they worshiped, but they doubted.” They offer him due praise and adoration, but they also doubt him. How do they both worship Jesus and doubt him at the same time? The answer to that question tells us why they are standing there looking at the sky.

Seeing your teacher and friend kidnapped by a cloud is pretty amazing. It's worth a gawk or two. But when you think back to the work he's given you to do – make disciples, baptize them, teach them his commandments – his sudden disappearance is a little traumatic. He's leaving us with all this work! All that doubt that you felt comes roaring back and you start to wonder if you can really finish all that he's given you to finish. Even before he charged you with making disciples and teaching them his commandments, you knew that he would going away. Not how exactly but that he would be. So, you do what comes naturally: you worship the Son of God as you should but you also feel the pressure of uncertainty, the heavy burden of not-knowing whether or not you can do all that he asks of you. In the drama of his ascension, you forget that he said, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Then two guys dressed in white show up and ask you why you're standing there looking at the sky. You answer, “I'm mourning. I'm wondering where to go from here, how to get started on all I have to do.” And there's another week to wait before the Answer comes in fire and wind.

Right before Jesus gives them the Great Commission, the disciples worship their teacher. They give him thanks and praise for his presence among them. But under their adoration is a shadow of doubt, just a hint of uncertainty and fear. Can we go on without him? How do we follow him if he's gone? What's happens to us once he leaves? All of them are disciples. All of them are baptized. All of them are well-educated in his commandments. Yet, they doubt. These men and women are not fairy tale heroes. They are not mythical figures that embody archetypal truths. They are men and women. Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Real flesh and blood folks. Jesus doesn't teach them fables to guide them through life's hard choices. He doesn't offer them sage advice or moral lessons. In word and deed, he reveals to them the purpose and plan of his Father. He brings them into the history of salvation and makes them participants, players in his Father's program of redemption. Of course they doubt! What ordinary person wouldn't doubt, knowing that he or she is cast as an agent in the rescue of Creation from sin and death? The Holy Spirit has not yet come to them, so their worship and doubt is perfectly ordinary. 

 

Let's ask ourselves a question: are we standing around looking at the sky? Do we understand our commission from Christ solely in terms of waiting and watching for his return? If so, then our doubt has won out over our zeal for witness; that is, if we still think of our faith as a life lived watching the sky instead of as a means of bringing others to Christ, then we are failing to carry out Our Lord's commission. Jesus says, “Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them my commandments.” That's our fundamental task. Whatever else we may be doing as his followers, whatever else we may think is necessary for our growth in holiness, our job description as Christians is crystal clear. And yes, even as we carry out Christ's commission, we will doubt. We will be afraid. We'll fall and get back up. We'll fuss and fight with one another over big questions and small. But when our lives together as brothers and sisters in Christ become an elaborate picnic of standing around looking up into the sky, we must immediately remember Christ's words to his friends, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Why are we staring at the sky looking for Christ? He is with us always.

Jesus' ascension directly challenges the disciples and us to think hard about how we are spending our time and energy as followers of Christ. There is a heaven. And we are made and remade to spend eternity there. There is a time and place to build an interior castle, to wander around in our own souls, seeking the presence of God. We should ponder the divine mysteries, explore our vocations – run after all the things of heaven! But none of these is an end in itself, none of these is our charge. We are disciples. Baptized and well-educated in the commandments of Christ. We are still here b/c there are still some out there who have not heard God's freely offered mercy to sinners. There are still some out there who have not seen God's love at work in the world. They've not seen me or you following Christ. Do they see us standing around looking up at the sky? Wondering what could possibly be so fascinating about a cloud? Make sure they see you and hear you doing Christ's work and speaking his word. That's the only reason any of us are still here.

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