I'll be 57yo on May 26th, so. . .a birthday fundraiser for my province.
25 May 2021
23 May 2021
Live by the Spirit!
Pentecost Sunday 2021
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
OLR, NOLA
The disciples lock themselves away, terrified of being found by the Jewish and Roman authorities. They are heretics, rebels, outcasts. They have not only defied their religious leaders by following Christ, they have also conspired to subvert the political power of the Empire. In the eyes of the Temple and the Imperium they are criminals, deserving nothing less than execution. Their savior is dead, buried, and his body is missing from his tomb. Whatever courage they may have had when Jesus was with them is long gone. So is their trust, their strength, and their desire to carry on. And just as despair begins to eat its way through their final resolve, Jesus appears to them and says, “Peace be with you.” They rejoice when he shows them the wounds on his hands and feet. And he says again, “Peace be with you.” As his peace settles on the once-frightened disciples, Jesus gives them a new identity, a new mission: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The disciples become apostles, those sent to do his will: to preach his word; to teach his truth; and to accomplish good works that give all the glory to God. Jesus does all this through the breath of the Holy Spirit.
Some fifty days later, the Holy Spirit will descend again on the apostles and on those disciples gathered with them. We mark this day as the birth of the Church. Created by God the Father, Re-created by the sacrificial love of God the Son, and given new life by God the Holy Spirit, the Church bursts out onto the streets of Jerusalem, proclaiming the Good New of Jesus Christ in every tongue spoken by the pilgrims visiting the great city. The crowds were astonished and amazed. Some thought the Christians were drunk. Others thought them possessed. A few may have thought them insane. But none could deny that the Church spoke one Word in many languages, one clear message in a multitude of tongues. The Church proclaimed – so that all may know – the mighty works of God! The covenant is fulfilled. You are free. A slave to sin and death no more. Christ is risen and ascended. And the Holy Spirit is among us. The kingdom of God is here. Repent and believe the Gospel. Your inheritance as a child of God awaits you. Do not allow the Enemy to steal what the Christ died to give you. Take off the flesh and put on the armor of righteousness. Live by the Spirit. And obey the Law of Love.
How do we live by the Spirit? First, what is it to live w/o the Spirit? Paul tells us that the works of the flesh are obvious: “immorality, impurity, lust, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies,” basically, all the things we humans love to do. These works of the flesh have something in common: they are all selfish, self-centered; obsessed with I, me, mine. They are all perversions of the appetites, disordered hungers that take control of the person and drive him/her to sin. When we indulge these disordered hungers we usurp the Holy Spirit from the throne of our hearts and replace Him with the Self. We make the flesh our Savior. And the flesh is temporary, quickly passing away. What use is a Savior that passes away as quickly as it arrives? With a Savior made of flesh, we will inherit the world, which also quickly passes away. If we will live by the Spirit, then we will put away our disordered desires, our perverted appetites, and submit ourselves to the Law of Sacrificial Love. To live by the Spirit is to participate fully in the love that the Father has for the Son and the Son for the Father. IOW, we will produce the fruits of the Spirit.
Paul tells us opposed to the sins of the flesh are the fruits of the Spirit. And they are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Notice that each one of these fruits of the Spirit points away from Self and toward the Other. Love is sacrificial. Joy is what happens when we love. Patience defeats the need to control. Kindness always assumes the best. Generosity acknowledges that nothing is my own. Faithfulness submits doubt to trust. Gentleness subdues anger. And self-control proves reason over passion. Each of these fruits of the Spirit pulls us out of the Self and demands that we treat the Other as a person created in the image and likeness of God. And as such, offered the gift of eternal life through the repentance of sin and baptism by water and the Spirit. So, to live by the Holy Spirit, we put aside fear, anxiety, and despair. We take up sacrificial love, the works of mercy, the forgiveness of sins. We bear witness to the workings of the Spirit in our lives, and proclaim the Good News of Christ Jesus wherever we are. To live by the Spirit is to become Christ for Others. To live by the Spirit is live and die as Christ lived and died for us.
20 May 2021
We are gifts
7th Week of Easter (R)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
St. Dominic Priory, NOLA
Jesus prays to the Father “not only for [the disciples], but also for those who will believe in [him] through their word.” He makes an extraordinary statement while praying, “Father, they are your gift to me.” A gift, properly understood, is freely given and freely received. A gift cannot be requested, earned, borrowed, coerced or stolen. A gift cannot create a debt or an obligation. Nor can something belonging to another be given as a gift. Likewise, receiving a gift cannot be forced or obliged. Giving and receiving a gift – for it to be truly free – must be entirely unattached from any and all conditions that muddle the exchange. When the Lord says that we are a gift to him from the Father, he is saying that we, His creatures, first belonged to the Father. Now, we belong to Christ. If we are now one with Christ in this free exchange, then we also belong to one another as gifts. Our growth in holiness depends in part on the difficult task of being gifts to each other, living daily as freely given and freely received subjects of charity and mercy. As the kids say these days, “The struggle is real.” But the struggle is more than worth the work.
19 May 2021
Who is truth?
7th Week of Easter (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
St. Dominic Priory, NOLA
Jesus prays to the Father, asking Him to consecrate the disciples in truth. To set them aside for the particular purpose of sending them out to be truth in the world. Pilate's question echoes here: what is truth? Even better: who is truth? Jesus says, “Your word is truth.” And we know that Christ is the Word – the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So, Jesus is praying to the Father to set us aside for the particular purpose of sending us out to be Christ in the world. To accomplish this mission we need to remain in the Father's name, I AM. Or rather, we need to be kept in the Father's name, protected. Why? Because we remain as Christ ascends. And the world is not our home. He will send the Holy Spirit to keep us in his Word, to keep us protected along the Way, in the Truth, for eternal Life. His protection is freely offered, so it must be freely received; and once received, freely given to anyone who asks. Paul warns that savage wolves will come among us, and they will not spare the flock. Neither will they spare the shepherds – as we know all too well! So, we remain in the Truth b/c Christ is Truth, and the Truth sets us free.
09 May 2021
Loving as Christ loves us
6th Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
OLR, NOLA
Every year on the 6th Sunday of Easter, I am tempted to put on my philosophy professor's hat and dive into making the proper distinctions among the various kinds of love – caritas, eros, philos, agape. But I remind myself that you did not come to Mass for a philosophy lecture. You came to Mass to hear the Word preached and to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar. But then it occurred to me that by coming to hear the Word preached and by participating in the Sacrifice of the Mass, you are here to more perfectly receive the Self-Gift of God, who is Love! No, don't worry. Despite this revelation, I'm not going to lecture you with philosophy. What I am going to do is attempt to show you Who God is as Love and how we imperfect receivers of His love often miss the mark when receiving Him. To understand Who God is as Love and how we often miss the mark receiving Him, we can start here: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.” Christ loves us with the love of his Father. If we will remain in his love, we will keep his commandments. God as Love is our end, our goal, our telos. We miss the mark when we fail to keep His commandments.
So, God is our end, our telos. Commenting on the reading from 1 John, the CCC teaches: “God's very being is love. . .God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange” (221). Who God is is Love. God doesn't love sometimes and not others. He is Love. God doesn't love this and hate that. He doesn't pick and choose who or what gets to participate in His Being as Love. All created things live and move and have their being in God by nature. As human persons – rational animals – we are given the chance by grace to participate here and now in the Divine Life, in the exchange of Divine Love that is the Blessed Trinity. God the Father created us for this. God the Son re-created us for this. And the Holy Spirit ensures that the invitation to share in the Divine Life is always fresh, always new. So, when we say that God is Love we are saying – in part – that God Himself is our ultimate Good. He perfects us. Makes us whole, gives us life eternal. God as Love is our target, our goal, our only objective. He alone is our final design and our perfect destination. Everything we say, do, and think is best done with hearts and minds intensely focused on this Good.
So, how do we get ourselves in trouble, knowing that Divine Love is our ultimate goal? The most common way we get lost along the Way is by confusing human love for Divine Love. Human love has come to be understood as little more than an emotion, a fleeting twinge in the gut, or an infatuation. A soup of neurotransmitters in the brain. We also use human love as a tool of manipulation, or a weapon against our enemies. How often are we told that if we truly loved sinners, we would approve of and applaud their sin? How often do we tell ourselves that if God really loves me, He would approve of and applaud my sin? Merely human love is all about unconditional acceptance and approval of whatever choices we make. Even if those choices are obviously harmful, maybe even deadly. Human love – to be truly loving – participates in Divine Love. God loved us into being. His love holds us in being. So, any real love we experience and share is an imperfect expression of His love. To remain in Christ, to remain in the Father's love, we must obey the Lord's commandments. These are the stones that line the Way and keep us from confusing human love with Divine Love.
Jesus tells his disciples that he is revealing the truth to them so that their joy may be complete: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” In the same way that our Lord loves us, we must love one another. Our Lord loved us to the Cross. He died so that our suffering may be turned to joy as we live and die for one another. He died in the Father's love so that we may know the Way of perfection through the pursuit of holiness – living in the world w/o being consumed by the world. We remain in Christ by striving everyday to become more and more Christ-like. To love, sacrifice, and forgive as he loved, sacrificed, and forgave. Being Christ-like is not about dismissing sin as irrelevant to love. Being Christ-like is about recognizing that true love and disobedience cannot co-exist. We do not love ourselves or our neighbors when we pretend that sin is not sin. When we soothe a seared conscience by congratulating ourselves on being tolerant and accepting. We always, always love the person. That's a given. We can never love the lie that takes that person off the Way of Divine Love. Remain in Christ's love. Love as he loves you. And remember: his love found him on the Cross.
06 May 2021
Perfect Joy
5th Week of Easter (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
St. Dominic Priory, NOLA
We know that charity is the cause of joy and joy is opposed by sorrow (ST II-II.28.1). But what is it to experience “complete joy”? It would seem to follow that complete joy is an effect of complete or perfect charity. God, of course, is perfect charity. And we desire to participate in His charity as a matter of grace. To the degree that we are far from His perfection, our desire for Him is imperfect. “[Our] joy is full, when there remains nothing to be desired” (ST II-II.28.3). Our Lord tells us how we can come to complete joy: “Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. . .” What obstructs us from keeping his commandments? The demands of disordered desires, desires not properly ordered toward charity, i.e., we desire, we love that which cannot save us. To participate more perfectly in God's love, Jesus teaches us to desire, to love nothing and no one more than God Himself. Complete joy is possible for us only in the Beatific Vision. But while we are here, we can – with God's grace – approach perfection in joy through gratitude and surrender. Give thanks. And give up what cannot save.
03 May 2021
Please! Help!
If you read and enjoy the homilies I publish here, please consider giving to my Province.
The money goes toward the tuition, room and board for our student brothers (seminarians) in St. Louis.
They are skinny and malnourished. Also, their bookshelves are a disgrace.
Christ is the only way
Ss. Philip and James
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
St. Dominic Priory, NOLA
Can it be any clearer: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”? This truth is what we have given our lives to. There is no salvation through any other name except Christ Jesus. Not sociology, psychology, or philosophy. Not BLM or the Republican Party or the NRA or socialism or capitalism or the Democrats or the State or social justice or racial purity or feminism or holding and professing whatever the currently correct ideology happens to be. We hold and profess the Apostolic Faith, a faith that transcends politics and cultures and nations, leading us to our ultimate end – God in heaven and our place at His table. The pressure to worship the idols of this age is tremendous. We see it everyday. And this is nothing new. Our ancestors in faith were pressured to swear allegiance to race, to politics, to ethnicity, to gender, and a myriad of others gods that cannot save. The apostles were sent to proclaim a simple message: Christ Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Anything beyond this, anything other than this is a lie. We preach the truth. Jesus Christ and him alone is our salvation.
02 May 2021
Remain on the vine!
5th Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
OLR, NOLA
[After reading the archbishop's letter reinstating the Sunday Mass obligation June 6th. . .]
Hear again what the Lord teaches: “Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.” I'll put this in less-literary terms for you: you cannot “grow in holiness as a Catholic” on your own. Neither can I. To be Catholic is to be a member of the Body, attached to the vine of the Church, receiving nourishment and support from the source of our salvation – Christ Jesus. There is no such thing as a “personal Catholic,” or a “private Catholic,” or a “do-it-yourself Catholic.” You are a fruit-producing branch attached to the vine of Christ's Body, the Church; or, you are not. So, how do we remain “in Christ”? How do I stay attached to the vine and produce good fruit? Archbishop Aymond notes one way we have of staying attached to Christ – the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. This obligation has been dispensed for the last year b/c of COVID. Come June 6th – the Solemnity of Corpus Christi – that obligation will be re-instated. And thanks be to God that we are so obliged! If you, like me, struggle to grow in holiness, a firm rule always helps!
You see, the Church is an expert in human nature, an ancient Mother who understands her children. Every child sees “the rules” as unjust, unfair, maybe even mean-spirited. Surely, true freedom comes from having no rules, no laws, no restrictions whatsoever! And that would be true if there were no natural or supernatural consequences to our behavior. But we know – our choices have consequences; our actions cause effects. So, Holy Mother Church, in all her ancient wisdom, lays down a few rules for us to follow. One of these rules is: “You must attend Mass every Sunday and all holy days of obligation.” Missing a holy day or Sunday Mass when you could've attended is a mortal sin. This is the minimum required to stay attached to the vine of Christ and produce good fruit. NB. you are not required to receive communion every time you attend Mass. In fact, if you are carrying a mortal sin, you should not receive communion! To help with this problem, Mother Church requires that we all go to confession at least once a year. The older Catholics among us will remember this rule as “the Easter Duty.” Why all these rules? Didn't we get rid of these after VC2? No, we didn't. What we got rid of (apparently) is the truth that these rules are in place not to control us but to help us remain in Christ.
The Easter season is quickly coming to a close. We are on the edge of the summer months and Ordinary Time, that time of year where we turn toward Everyday Holiness and the sometimes sweaty work of repairing and fortifying our relationship with Christ. Where to start? Easy! Go to confession. A broken vessel cannot hold water. A broken soul cannot receive grace. Going to confession can be scary. You're worried that Father will laugh at you, or yell at you, or maybe be shocked at your sins. I can guarantee you none of that will happen. Priests are sinners too. We go to confession. And we've heard it all before. I've been hearing confessions for 16yrs. There is no new sin under the sun. Whether it's been a week since your last confession or 30yrs. . .come in and repair your relationship with God so that you can receive the Body and Blood of Christ at Mass and produce excellent fruit. The Church's rules are given to us to strengthen us, to point us in the right direction, to guide us around obstacles to holiness. So, bend a little and grow a lot. Your immortal soul depends on it!
29 April 2021
Surrender! Do or Do Not
NB. this is from 2016. The readings are not from today's Mass.
St. Catherine of Siena
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Notre Dame Seminary, NOLA
Our Lord doesn't ask much of us. Love one another. Trust one another. Believe in one another. Correct one another. Remain in his love. Write our papers. Keep his commandments. Receive his peace. Take our final exams. Teach and preach all that he has taught us. Baptize in his name. Remember him. Forgive. Show mercy. Serve. Write evaluations. Keep his word. Feed the hungry. Visit the sick and imprisoned. Mourn the dead. Bless the poor. Grade exams and papers and turn in the grades. Drive out unclean spirits. Heal the blind and crippled. Complete faculty evaluations. Deny ourselves. Pick up our crosses. Finish up paperwork for accreditation. Compose syllabi and book orders for fall of 2016. Follow him. Oh, and, at last. . .die for the love we have for him.
O Lord! I am tired. My knees are swollen! My back aches! I have calluses on both my typing fingers! My eyes itch. I haven't slept well in four days. And I'm breaking out like a high school freshman. My room looks like a FEMA camp after Katrina. And I've not done laundry since the third Sunday of Lent. . .2014. I've forgotten how to read and I can no longer do basic addition or long division. I'm tired, Lord. I'm tired. What do you have to say, Lord? “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” Well, thank you, Lord. One thing: can you unchose me?
The answer, of course, is no. He can't. Or, he won't. He knows our limits. And the limits beyond those limits. And he knows all that we give and all that we hold back. When we've given everything we have, all that we've held back. . .he gives us a new limit and the strength to reach it. The strength he gives is not some sort of magical grace-dust or a boost of sanctifying merits. He gives us himself. He's the limit. Not as an example, or a model, or a roadmap. He is the Limit. The Omega of all our striving. Think about it. Our end, our goal – Christ himself – comes to us in our soreness and sleepiness and crabbiness and hands himself over to us so that we might be made perfect as he is perfect. The Perfection we seek surrenders himself to us, the Imperfect, and dares us to surrender ourselves to him in return. How do we accomplish this astonishing task of surrender? “This I command you: love one another.” And forgive, show mercy, preach and teach, deny yourself, and follow him.
Looking for answers, or maybe just some small consolation, I've searched the ancient libraries of the world – Oxford, Cambridge, Rome, London, Beijing, Ole Miss. . .and I've read hundreds of books and manuscripts. Talked to masters, professors, mystics, seers, soon-to-be saints, and quite a few sinners. How do I surrender? How do I hand over my life, everything that I am to God? I found the answer. My guide: a diminutive mystic of the Thomistic kind, a fellow renowned for his wisdom, patience, and kindness. I asked him my desperate question. He hefted his walking stick. Climbed a chair. And locked his eyes with mine and said, “Do, or do not. There is no try.” Expecting further distinctions or a citation from the Summa, I hesitated for a moment before breaking into tears. Love, or do not love. Forgive, or do not forgive. Believe, or do not believe. There is no try. Surrender, or do not. There is no try. There is no limit to surrender in love. Love one another as Christ loves you. He will not unchose you to complete the work he has given you to do. Therefore, with sore knees, cramping fingers, grouchy disposition, blurry eyes charge head long and recklessly into the work you have to do. . .knowing, knowing that Christ is your end, and he is always with you.
25 April 2021
The wolves know our faith. . .do you?
4th Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
OLR, NOLA
What makes a shepherd a “good shepherd”? First, and most importantly, a good shepherd protects the flock from predators. He watches for wolves and does what's necessary to either drive the beasts away or get his flock to safety. A good shepherd makes sure the flock is properly fed, sheltered, and given medical care when needed. He also guides them into green pastures and rescues them when they get lost. It should be obvious why we call the priest in charge of a parish “a pastor.” Now, it might not be entirely flattering to think of yourselves as sheep, but the point of the comparison is to highlight the relationship between the parishioner and the pastor. Your pastor is your spiritual father, your shepherd in the faith. He does for you spiritually what the sheep herd does for his sheep materially. I'm not your pastor. But. . .Msgr. Hedrick once designated me as The Pastor of the 6pm Mass, so I'm going to take advantage of that entitlement and do some pastoring this evening! As the wolves of the world gather in the forest around our green pasture, I remind you of this truth: “There is no salvation through anyone else [but Christ], nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
Each generation of wolves invents a trap for the Lord's sheep, or reuses an old one. The simple strategy of these traps is to lure a wandering sheep away from the flock and slaughter it for a quick meal. Each trap follows a basic pattern: take a teaching of the faith, exaggerate just one element of that teaching, and call the exaggeration the whole truth. For example, the human person is composed of a body and a rational soul. The wily wolf will approach a wandering sheep and convince the poor thing that the human person is nothing more than a body, purely physical. If that's the case then the whole of the Christian life can be reduced to working selflessly for social justice in the political realm, improving living conditions for the poor and needy here on earth. That's all that it takes to be a good Christian. The truth is that our faith is both physical and spiritual – body and soul, heaven and earth. How does the wandering sheep counter the wily wolf? By knowing the faith intimately. By staying close to the flock and the flock's shepherd. By recognizing a wolf on sight and getting a whiff of its stench. So, do you know your faith well enough to battle a sheep-hungry wolf?
We could spend the rest of this year going through the thousands of lies the wolves have told about the faith over the generations. But there is one lie that stands above all the others for its effectiveness in capturing and killing the Lord's sheep. There are many paths to the mountaintop, little lamb. All those paths lead to the same place. IOW, Christ Jesus is not the only way to salvation. He is one of many possible options we can choose. This is an ancient trap that the wolves use generation after generation. It's appeal is obvious. If Jesus is just one of the many possible gates to heaven, then I needn't worry about being virtuous, charitable, forgiving, or holy. I can invent my own path – mix and match traditions from different religious sources and make-up my own moral system. My sins aren't really sins. My choices are automatically right and holy simply b/c I say they are. And best of all, I get to feel powerful when others applaud my inclusivity and open-mindedness. Heck! Even the wily wolves are clapping! And yet, and yet, “There is no salvation through anyone else [but Christ], nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
Here and now, the wolves aren't likely to tell the sheep that there are other, equally powerful religious saviors. They are more likely to ply the sheep with the lie that political ideologies will save them and create paradise on earth. These ideologies run the gamut from the extreme left to extreme right. The State is God. Race is God. Wealth is God. Politics is God. Self-Identity is God. Sex is God. Party is God. The Markets are God. Being a Victim is God. Diversity is God. Inclusion is God. Equity is God. What all of these boil down to is Power is God. Political, cultural, social, economic, medical power is God. Any one of these or all of them together – used aggressively against the right groups of people – will save you and establish heaven on earth. And yet, and yet, “There is no salvation through anyone else [but Christ], nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” Why is it so easy for the wolves to corner and kill good Catholics? Because we believe that economic, political, cultural, social power can and should be used in ways that bring true justice to the least among us. And the wolves know this. So, they do what they do best. They take part of the truth, exaggerate that part, and call it the whole truth. And b/c many do not know their faith as well as they should. . .they swallow the lie and find themselves a meal for wolves.
Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know mine and mine know me; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.” And he did. On the cross. And he rose on the third day. Just as he said he would. He is our Savior. Not the State. Not our race. Not our money or our politics or our gender. Christ Jesus alone died for his sheep. To save us from sin and death. Not a politician or an actor or an athlete or an activist. Christ Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Not a president or a SC justice or a governor or a talk-radio host. We are enlightened and brought to holiness by the Word of God. Not the words of self-promoting academics. Not the words of HR bureaucrats in mandatory training sessions. Not the words of gov't rent-seekers and career functionaries. We work for God's Justice and Peace. Not the justice and peace that comes with slavery to a worldly ideology or violent revolution. Our revolution begins with conversion from sin and a return to God through confession and contrition. There is one faith, one baptism, one Church, and one Shepherd. The wolves, they know your faith, and they know it well. Do you?
22 April 2021
On being taught
3rd Week of Easter (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
St. Dominic Priory, NOLA
What is it to teach? What is it to be taught? The Spirit teaches Philip, and Philip teaches the eunuch. It's a safe bet that the eunuch, returning to his queen's court, teaches a few of his friends. The secret of being taught is found in the eunuch's admission of ignorance – how can I understand unless someone teaches me? The eunuch knows that he can have an opinion of the reading from Isaiah. He can speculate. But to understand God's revelation in scripture – he must be shown the way by someone who has walked the way. The resurrected Christ shows the disciples the way to understand the scriptures. He opens their minds to understand. Being taught then is something like being led along a path. Like following. And teaching is leading the way. Philip leads the eunuch to read the passage from Isaiah as having been fulfilled in the divine person of Christ Jesus. When he sees this truth – the Way – he understands. Now, he is prepared to lead others. The best teachers and the best students both lead and follow. The Spirit is ever-ready to show us the way. Our task is to follow and be ready to lead when He calls.
18 April 2021
Touch him and see
3rd Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
OLR, NOLA
Imagine for a moment that the Risen Christ appears to you and asks, “Why are you troubled?” Once you've gotten over the shock of seeing and hearing Jesus, you get down to business, cataloging all of your questions and wondering which one to ask first. Do you ask about heaven? Hell? The communion of saints? Do you ask about the state of your holiness? The eternal whereabouts of deceased friends and family? Maybe you want to some answers to the controversies that plague the Church, or the secret to settling our nation's political problems. As your mind whirls with questions, Jesus waits patiently for you to figure out what you think you need to know. After awhile he says gently, “Peace be with you. Why do so many questions arise in your heart?” This question brings your spinning heart and mind to a full stop. Jesus waits. You stare at him, gasping like a landed catfish. He holds out his hand and says, “Touch me and see.” Whatever questions, problems, anxieties, fears, or complaints you had lined up to air – they all vanish. Now, you're incredulous for joy, amazed that the Risen Christ is with you. Imagine how amazed and joyful you will be when you come to understand that he has always been with you. He never left your side.
OK. If he never left my side, then why do I have all of these questions, problems, anxieties, fears, and complaints that demand answers and solutions? John gives us part of the answer: “Those who say, 'I know him,' but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them.” Harsh but true. Sin makes us stupid. Sin twists the intellect and will over time, teaching us to call Evil good and Good evil. Choose this error consistently and before long you become a slave to the vice of folly. You become a fool. Harsh but true. A fool cannot tell the difference between Truth and lies, Beauty and ugliness, Goodness and evil. Consistently choosing lies, ugliness, and evil reshapes the body and soul into a vessel of irrational doubts, nagging worries, insolvable problems, and angry fears. The intellect is ruled by the passions and the will is let loose to pick and choose its own twisted idea of what's good. So, why do I have all of these questions, problems, anxieties, fears, and complaints that demand answers and solutions? Because I am a sinner who chooses to wallow in disobedience and disbelief. Instead, I choose to believe that I am alone, abandoned by God and His Christ. I refuse to hear Christ say to me, “Peace be with you.”
But John gives us just part of the answer to the question of why we have so many problems, anxieties, and fears plaguing our hearts and minds. When sin is my default choice and foolishness my preferred mindset, then I shouldn't wonder why even ordinary challenges to My Self become extraordinary. Extraordinarily unsettling. But these questions, problems, and fears – even though they are fashioned out of freely chosen sin – they are real. Jesus does not say “Peace be with you” to the disciples because he thinks their fears are imaginary. He doesn't reassure them of his real presence among because he believes the trauma of his execution is a group delusion. They are afraid. They are traumatized. The very real, real-world force of his death and resurrection hits them all square in the gut. And their reaction is shock, terror, fear. What the disciples need – what we need – is not only rock-solid faith and obedience to his commandments but Real World reassurance as well. Abstract principles, psychological props, symbolic gestures all have their uses in helping us cope when things fall apart. But nothing comes close to knowing – truly knowing – that Christ is with us. “Touch me and see.”
Touch him and see. Touch him in the Eucharist. He is truly present – body, blood, soul, and divinity – really present in the consecrated bread and wine. Touch him and see him in the Church and his saints. We are his Body. We are his hands and feet and arms and legs. We speak his Word and accomplish great things in his name. Touch him and see him in your personal prayer. In the silence of our heart and mind as you quiet yourself to listen. Touch him and see him in the public prayer of the Church. This Mass. “When two or more are gathered in my name, I am with you.” Touch him and see him in the poor – the materially poor and the spiritually poor. Those who have little in the way of material wealth and those who do not believe. Touch him and see him in the sick and dying; those who mourn; those who spend their lives in prison; the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the ignorant, the foreigner. Touch him and see him among the least of those who belong to him. Why do so many questions, fears, worries, problems arise in your heart and mind? Peace be with you. Touch him and see.
15 April 2021
No miserly gift
2nd Week of Easter (Thurs)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
St. Dominic Priory, NOLA
The Father does not ration His Spirit. He doesn't measure or portion out the gift of His Spirit. Rather than imagining the Father scooping up bits and dribbles of the Spirit and carefully dripping them on us. . .we would do better to imagine the Father wielding a Spiritual Flamethrower or a Fire Hose of the Holy Spirit! If there's a limiting factor to the Father's gift of the Spirit, it's us, the recipients of the gift. We are limited by our nature. By our desire for the Spirit. And most of all by our sin, our disobedience. If the limitless gift of the Spirit feeds our testimony, and our sin limits our receipt of the Spirit, then our testimony is limited by our sin. Christ, of course, had no such limitations. And our goal is to become Christ – perfected witnesses to the Father's freely offered mercy. We are sent as imperfect Christs into an imperfect world to be the signs and wonders, the showcases of what the Father can do when one receives His gift of the Spirit. The graced task set before us – daily, hourly – is to push against whatever it is that limits our reception of the Spirit. And show the world the Father's love.
08 April 2021
Incredulous for joy
Thursday of the Easter Octave
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
St. Dominic Priory, NOLA
The disciples move from being startled, troubled, and terrified to being incredulous, joyful, and amazed. What moves them such a long emotional distance in so short a time? Jesus answers their fear with an imperative, “Touch me and see.” We might say that this is the sacramental, the incarnational response to human fear and doubt. We might say that Jesus – knowing human nature so intimately – knows that his frightened, dispirited friends need something more than an argument, a mystical vision, or a visit from an angel – they need him. Up close and personal, viscerally real – they need him. And they get him. Flesh, bones, wounds, and appetite. Fears allayed, they are ready. Christ opens their minds to show them how he has fulfilled Scripture and how they are witnesses to his fulfillment. While not yet set on fire by the H.S., they are nonetheless fortified in their mission with two truths: first, Christ Jesus was and is who he claimed and claims to be; and, second, they are the living, breathing recorders of how he revealed himself to the world. We are heirs to these truths and instruments of their proclamation. What fears and doubts we might have are defeated sacramentally and incarnationally: “Touch me and see.” What lingering hesitation we might have in preaching and teaching the fullness of his Good News is burned away by the H.S. Are we, are you, am I – like the disciples – living our lives “incredulous for joy”?
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