We are blessed right now

NB. The deacon is preaching this evening, but I thought I'd write a homily anyway. . .just to stay in shape. 

6^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Dominic Priory, NOLA

The promise of heaven for good behavior and the threat of hell for bad behavior is really all about social control. It's about using the promise/threat of an afterlife to keep us in line while we're still alive. Pie-in-the-sky, fire and brimstone – all that nonsense. I believed this lie when I was younger; that is, I believed the lie that heaven and hell were just fables told to keep us peasants under control. Back then, in my twenties, I thought everything was about power and control. Who has it? Who suffers b/c they don't? Who benefits from the system of religious myths and rituals? Now, have ecclesial and political authorities used religion as a means of social control? Sure. Anything humans touch can and will be twisted to an evil end. That a hammer can be used to murder doesn't mean that hammers are morally bad. That the Beatitudes can be used to pacify the angry masses into believing that things will be better in some fictitious heaven – well, that doesn't mean we are not blessed when we follow Christ and work toward being perfected in him. “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.” Better yet: rejoice and leap for joy for your reward is – right now – already great!

We make a big mistake when we assume that we must wait for heaven to receive our reward for being faithful followers of Christ. Sure, the fullness of our reward will be great then – no doubt! – but we start sharing in the Kingdom we've inherited even now. What is the Mass but a foretaste of the heavenly banquet? What is confession but a glimpse into the Father's mercy? What is baptism and confirmation but our first steps as heirs and members of the holy family? Marriage makes the married couple a sacrament of Christ's love for his Bride, the Church. And the sacrament of anointing brings us directly into the healing power of God. Jesus preaches the Beatitudes not to pacify us deprived peasants into a compliant citizenry but to show us that our suffering now shapes us into perfected vessels for his gifts. But. . .we must suffer well. We can suffer now with an eye on some distant reward. Or, we can suffer now, suffer well, and benefit immediately from how we choose to suffer. The sacraments help. Prayer certainly helps. Good works always increase merit. But nothing beats loving sacrifice in bringing us close and closer to our perfection in Christ.

There are two components of loving sacrifice: surrender and gratitude. Together these two result in obedience. Not mere compliance. But obedience – truly loving God, listening to His Word, and following His will. Surrender is about coming to know a simple truth: I am not in control. Never have been. Never will be. I was thrown into this world by my parents. I wasn't consulted. No one asked for my permission to be born. I didn't get a choice in my race or sex or anything else for that matter. Yet – here I am. At some point, I started making choices. And at that point, I started thinking (falsely) that I was in control. The sum total of my choices up until I surrendered proved to be...less than spectacular. MUCH less than spectacular, in fact. At death's door from an internal staph infection at 34yo, I chose surrender. I let go of the wheel. Did I occasionally snatch it back? Yes. Did I successfully drive my life toward Christ when I did? No. Ended up in a ditch every time. Age helps surrender b/c age helps you see the Real as it is...not as you want it to be. Think of surrender as your first sacrifice. Your intellect and will upon His altar, your contrite heart and mind raised up and given over to be made holy. A sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

Giving thanks is harder than we sometimes imagine. Saying “thank you” is an admission of dependence. It's a confession of needing help. Once you've surrendered, once you've offered your heart and mind in sacrifice, the help you need is abundant and freely given. Turning your prayer life toward gratitude deepens your humility, and you begin to understand what Jesus means when he preaches about being blessed. Blessed now, blessed then. Always blessed in thanksgiving. The deeper you grow in humility, the easier obedience becomes. You learn a new habit, or rather, you relearn an old habit in a new way: faith. It's not just trust anymore, or hope, but a still, grounded, rock-solid certainty that God's promises will not be fulfilled. BUT...they have already, always been fulfilled and you participate fully in them. That's blessedness this side of paradise. And with that blessedness comes the driving need to bear witness to the gift you have been given, the gift you have freely received. When you do, when you bear witness, you offer loving sacrifice. And you grow closer to Christ. Blessed are those who die to self in surrender and gratitude and become Christ for another. 

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Jesus goes hard

5^th Week OT (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Dominic Priory, NOLA

Instead of reading the Pharisees' questions to Jesus as a Gotcha Moment, we can choose to read them “against the grain,” as legitimate. That is, we can assume that they are genuinely curious about why Jesus and his disciples aren't performing basic purification rites. This makes Jesus' response sound a bit harsh. But he's in a teaching moment and sometimes harsh lessons stick better than subtle ones. The not so subtle lesson here is simple: God wants a contrite heart. Not religiousy pantomime. Religious theater is all well and good. . .if the heart and mind performing the script is sincerely contrite and ready for genuine sacrifice. Maybe the Pharisees see in Jesus and his followers something missing from their own spiritual practice. Maybe they see the spots in their lives where the missing pieces go and want to know how Jesus and his disciples fill them. A subtle lesson on integrating word and deed, heart and mind might not overcome centuries of religious vice. So, Jesus goes hard, calling them hypocrites and accusing them of replacing God's law with mere human tradition. To the publicly popular Pharisees this must've been a wet smack in the face. But a necessary one. At the root of tradition is a long forgotten response to God. Only a sincerely contrite and sacrificial heart can retrieve from history what God was asking of us back then. Such a heart would know that He is always asking of us the same thing: come to me and be at peace. Tradition is always our answer. But it is never the source of our peace.   

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The Secret to a Big Haul

5^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLW/OLR, NOLA

While Simon Peter grouses about his empty nets, Jesus just points to the water and says, “Try again.” When the nets come up bursting at the seams with fish, Peter and his helpers are astonished. Peter is so astonished that he falls to his knees and confesses his sinfulness! He doesn't praise Jesus or thank him or pepper him with questions about how he worked this miracle. He confesses. And what exactly is he confessing? Laziness? Pride? Anger? Matthew doesn't name Peter's sin, but we can work it out that Peter is confessing to the sin of anxiety, the sin of faithlessness. He complies with Jesus' command to throw his nets once more, but he doesn't truly obey; that is, he doesn't throw his nets b/c he deeply loves his teacher. He does it more like “sure, whatever you say.” Peter's disobedience isn't apparent to his helpers, but it's sounding like a fog horn in his own heart and mind. So, he drops to his knees and confesses. Christ reveals to Peter and to us that when we, as Christians, work w/o Christ, we fail. Even if the work gets done, we fail. With Christ, however, our work is always complete and fruitful. Even if at first it appears we have failed.

We know this gospel scene is about Christ making his apostles “fishers of men,” those sent out to catch and haul in the souls of men and women who have seen and heard the Word. But underneath this scene, animating it from behind-the-scenes is a larger, deeper theological revelation, one the story itself both reveals and occludes. The story tells us that when we obey Christ – truly obey, not merely comply with – our work is abundantly blessed. The evidence is right there on the shore of the sea – nets bursting with fish when earlier there were no fish to be found. The story also tells us that our failures – in ministry, in marriage, in family life, at work – are almost always rooted in some sin, some species of disobedience. In Peter's case, his sin is a failure to fully trust the Lord's word. He complies, but he does so with a kind of despair. Peter believes that his next attempt to catch some fish will be exactly like all of his previous attempts – empty. He discounts Christ's presence and his commanding word. Lastly, the story tells us that we belong to Christ. When we remember him, when we work along side him, in his name and for his glory, our work is abundantly fruitful. Why? B/c it is Christ who does the real work.

And this is the truth the story hides. Not hides per se but blurs. Jesus doesn't cast out or haul in the nets. He doesn't row the boat or mend the nets. Or, if he does, Matthew leaves that part out! Christ's work isn't hands-on. In this scene, Jesus is a presence, a teaching presence. He's there to reveal and instruct. He is a physical reminder to the fishermen, a prompt that nudges these men to ask: the Lord is always with me – there he is right now! – but am I always with the Lord? NB. Peter and his fellow fishermen catch nothing before the Lord arrives. After he arrives and commands another attempt, they catch more fish than they can handle. Peter is repentant b/c he doubted the Lord's word. But he is also aware that he had forgotten the Lord's promise that he would always be his brothers and sisters. Even in his absence, he is present. Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am with you always. True. But am I always with the Lord? As followers of Christ, heirs to the Kingdom, brothers and sisters in the Spirit, every word we speak, every thought we think, every deed we do, is abundantly blessed when we speak, think, and do, knowing he is with us and we with him.

So, how do we always stay with the Lord? How do we remain always in his presence? First, we make it a foundational act of faith that he is always with us. Not just here in church. Not just when we call his name. Not just when we might need him. Always. Second, remember Scripture: we live, move, and have our being in Him. We are b/c He is. Practice noticing your being; that is, make a habit of noting that you are alive. Driving, working, exercising, eating – give Him thanks and praise for your existence. Third, give Him thanks and praise for the existence of others in your life. Start a circle: immediate family, then friends, then co-workers, and so on. Name them and give God thanks for them. Fourth, no work you and I can do is done outside Christ. We belong to Christ, so everything we do belongs to Christ. Dedicate your work to his glory. File papers in his name. Grade exams in his name. Deliver packages in his name. Stock shelves, teach kids, count money, bag groceries, collect garbage, nurse the sick, change sheets, wash the dishes in his name and for his glory. Christ never forgets us. He is with us always. The secret to hauling in nets bursting with fish is to discipline ourselves in the art of keeping ourselves always with him.   

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Fear is Control losing its power

4^th Week OT (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Dominic Priory, NOLA

Fear can be constructive. It makes us cautious when there's a 2possibility of injury or death, nudging prudence when prudence needs nudging. Fear can also be destructive. Sometimes it can nudge prudence too aggressively and drive us into a panicked state of paranoia about our health and safety. An existential threat to our livelihood or social position can do this. So can being diagnosed with a fatal disease. Jesus offers a clear and simple choice here: fear or faith. “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” To 21^st c. over-educated, middle-class, professional religious ears this is neither clear nor simple. It's Black/White and simplistic. When my health and safety are on the line, I want more than bumper sticker slogans! But what is fear, and what is faith? Fear is Control losing its power. Panic and paranoia are its death-throes. Faith is Control being surrendered to God – an easy move since our Control is a illusion anyway. Fear is a tumor, a deadly lesion that can at once warn us that something is wrong, and kill us. But faith is always the proper cure. Trusting God to do the right thing for us is always the safest bet.    

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I'm no prophet!

4^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLR, NOLA

I've heard the following in one form or another a thousand times over the years: “But, Father, I'm just a housewife, a secretary, a teacher, a coach, a retired cop, etc. . .I'm not a priest or a prophet! I can't preach or teach the Good News!” This exclamation disavowing responsibility for being a priest and prophet usually comes after I've exhorted a congregation to go out into the world and be the priests and prophets they've promised to be. It boils down to saying that I can't be and do what I promised to be and do b/c I'm not who and what Christ says I am. What a strange thing for a Christian to say. I am not who and what Christ says I am. When someone says to me that he or she is “just a student or just a nurse or just a custodian,” I add, “You are not just anything. You are a priest, prophet, and king; dead, buried, and risen in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus; baptized into his mission and ministry, and charged with bearing witness to the coming of his Father's Kingdom! Now, go act like it.” Why the reluctance to be and do what we've promised to be and do in Christ? Jesus answers, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.”

For example, last Sunday, we heard Jesus announce to the synagogue that he is the Messiah. Everyone is amazed by his graciousness. That amazement lasts about ten seconds. Then the questions, suspicions, and accusations start to fly: “Hey, wait a minute, isn't he just a local boy? That's Joseph the carpenter's son. Someone from this podunk town can't possibly be the Messiah. Who's he think he's foolin'?” If they can say that about Jesus the Christ, what are they going to say about me when I try to preach or teach the Good News? I remember her from Cabrini/Mt. Carmel/Dominican. I remember him from Brother Martin/Jesuit/Rummel. And then the memories start to flow and whatever credibility you had is washed away in your dodgy past. I get it. I do. I'm right there with you. My own past is a huge stumbling block for friends and family who knew me before I became a Dominican friar and priest 23yrs ago. But here's the hard truth of who you are now: in Christ Jesus you are a new creation, a renewed creature of grace and mercy. And you have been given all that you need to be preacher and teacher of the Good News right where you are, whatever you are doing.

No, it's not an easy path to walk. No, it's not a simple thing to bear witness to Christ. And no, it's not just a matter of being kind to others and smiling a lot. Jesus stood up in a synagogue and claimed to be the Son of God, the Messiah. They literally ran him out of town and tried to kill him! If you follow Christ, then you can expect nothing less when you bear witness to him. You can expect ridicule, opposition, indifference, and maybe even some violence. You might be canceled, fired, silenced, or even jailed. Or. . .you might be ignored altogether. Doesn't matter. Our mission is not to drag dirty sinners into the confessional and browbeat them until they convert. Our mission is to show in word and deed how the mercy of God has transformed our lives and how that transformation is freely offered to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear. Our mission isn't about being right, or holier-than-them, or more socially respectable. It's about being as much like Christ as we possibly can so that his offer of mercy to sinners is heard and seen in us. And we cannot forget that we were once and probably still are sinners in need of his mercy. That's our motivation to preach and teach – we've been into the dark, and we've seen the light. This makes us humble and grateful. . .not self-righteous and prideful.

So, if you struggle to be a prophet at work or at school, why? What's stopping you? Are you afraid that your family and friends are going to remind you of your sins? If those sins are forgiven, who cares? That's the point! Your sins are forgiven. You are a new creation. Maybe you're reluctant to preach and teach the faith b/c it means living up to the standards you're preaching and teaching. Good! You should be reluctant. Following Christ is not an easy path to walk. But telling others about your life in Christ is a great way for you to hold yourself accountable. Maybe you're afraid that bearing witness will expose your faith to ridicule and opposition, and you're not sure you can fend off objections and answer hard questions. Fair enough. All you need to do is tell your story. If you can't answer objections and questions, fine. Don't. Just say, “I don't know. But here's what I do know. . .” And tell your story. Your story is Christ's story. Mercy, forgiveness; always doing the right thing; seeking the face of God in prayer; and being willing to sacrifice in love for another. That's what prophets do. That's what you've promised to do.

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The Word is alive!

3^rd Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLR, NOLA

I have been assured by more than one Baptist friend that Catholics do not “believe in the Bible.” We do not read the Bible nor do we teach the gospel as it's found in the Bible. Apparently, we believe in “the traditions of men” and just make stuff up as we go along. We believe all sorts of nonsense that's found nowhere in Scripture, like purgatory and worshiping Mary and that we can work our way into Heaven. Even former Catholics will tell me that they left the Church for a “Bible-believing” community, one where Scripture comes first and all the trappings of religiosity are set aside. At the root of this disastrous misunderstanding of the Church's relationship with Scripture is a modernist error, namely, nominalism. I'll spare you the philosophical lecture. Suffice it to say, that our Protestant brethren do not possess a sacramental imagination. They cannot think of their faith as anything other than the intellectual assent to a written text. We, on the other hand, understand that the Word of God – while expressed in Scripture – is not limited to Scripture. The Word of God is the living, breathing Holy Spirit of Love that exists between the Father and His Son. And that Holy Spirit of Love is the soul of the Church.

Now, when I say that the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, I mean it literally. Each one of us here is a body and a rational soul, making us each a human person. Through baptism we have been individually incorporated – embodied – into the Body of Christ, the Church. So, from the moment of Christ's baptism in the Jordan until this very second, the Body of Christ includes every human person who has ever been baptized with water in name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the HS. And we are all united in the Spirit of Love that the Father and Son share in the Trinity. All this means that while we read, revere, and obey Scripture, we also know that the Word of God is not merely history written with ink on paper. Just words to be agreed with. The Word of God is alive in us, working out our salvation with our cooperation; animating our mission and ministry; and giving us the life we need to be perfected in Christ Jesus. Scripture is a record of how our ancestors in faith encountered the Living God and struggled to be obedient to His Word. They succeed. They failed. They rejoiced. And sometimes they despaired. But they always knew: the Word is alive. And He is always with us. His Word is fulfilled in our hearing.

Jesus amazes the men of the synagogue that Sabbath morning. Here, he – to them a mere mortal – stands up, reads a passage from Isaiah – a passage prophesying the coming of the Messiah – and proclaims, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” He is saying to them, “I am the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah.” He is laying claim to the ancient title of Savior, claiming for himself the Sonship of the Father and the mantle of the Prince of Peace. Scripture tells us that they are amazed. I imagine that they are also shocked, dumbfounded, astonished, and maybe even scandalized. It's not an everyday thing to be a witness to the Word of God taking on human flesh! But this exactly what happens every time we hear the Word proclaimed. At Mass, the Word is given a human voice. We don't simply sit quietly in the pew and read the words on a page. We attend to the Word proclaimed. We incline our hearts and minds to the spoken Word. The Word comes alive through the air, and we receive it like the void received the first, creating Word. The Spirit of the Word speaks to the Spirit of the Church, the same Spirit speaking Himself to Himself.

If all of this isn't just going to end up sounding like a lot of esoteric theologizing, we need to answer the question, “So what?” Our Catholic understanding of the Word of God is meant to foreclose the error of using Scripture like a spiritual first aid manual – flip to the index, find the problem, look up the solution, and all is well. Scripture is not a collection of spiritual recipes, or a legal document for living correctly. Scripture records the faith-lives of those who came before us. They were called into an intimate relationship with their Creator. Being imperfect (as we are) they floundered; they ran away; they exhibited tremendous courage and cowardice; they listened and obeyed, and they ignored God and did their own thing. What their stories tell us is that no matter how far we run or how deep we dig, God always remains faithful. He never abandons us. Our failures do not and cannot turn Him away. Our victories are His first, and we share in the spoils of obedience. Scripture is essential, indispensable. And the Word of God is the breath of the Church. We live and move and have our very being in His Word. We compose new books every time we surrender and give Him thanks.  

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What has been made known?

Epiphany of the Lord

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLR, NOLA

What has been made known? That's what an epiphany is – the event, the moment when the unknown is made known. When the obscured is clarified. The Magi find the Christ Child in Bethlehem; pay him homage as their King; and gift him with treasures proper to his station. What do their visit and their gifts make known to us? Paul shares the Magi's revelation with the Ephesians: “...the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” He adds, “[This mystery] was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed...” For centuries, the Jews waited for the arrival of the Messiah. He was their Savior, their long-promised salvation from sin and death. Even after Christ's birth and the start of his public ministry, even after his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead, some still held to the cherished belief that the Messiah came to save the Jews and them alone. The Magi – priests and astrologers from the East, Gentiles to their bones – reveal a different mission for the Christ Child: he comes to save us all. Gentiles and Jews alike.

The Magi – knowing who and what the Christ Child is – prostrate themselves and open their treasures to him. Having submitted themselves to his kingly rule, they depart, leaving Herod to wonder where his potential rival for royal authority rests. Now, with Baby Jesus napping in Bethlehem and Herod fuming in Jerusalem, all of humanity is thrown into the daily existential drama of choosing a King. To whom do we submit? A prince of this world? Or the Prince of Peace? A temporary king in a temporary kingdom? Or the eternal King of the whole universe? Herod will go on to reveal the corruption at the heart of his kingdom. He will order the slaughter of all male children two years old and younger. He will sacrifice the lives of babies for his power but move not one inch to sacrifice himself for the sake of another. Christ too will go on to reveal the majesty and power of his Father's Kingdom. He will sacrifice himself for our sake, giving his life – human and divine – on the Cross for the salvation of his people. The epiphany shows us that Gentile and Jew alike can be saved by the Christ. It also shows us how to live in a world ruled by Herods. What must we do?

Remember who you are! You are members of the Body of Christ. You are coheirs to the Father's Kingdom. You are partners in the mission and ministry of Christ Jesus. Two thousand years ago, the Word became flesh and lived and moved among us. At your baptism, you too became the Word made flesh. You live and move and have your being in the Word. Who you are is the Word. Incorporated into the Body, you inherit a kingdom and become a partner in that kingdom's rule. You have chosen Christ as your King. Yet! Herod rules the world. And we know that we cannot serve two Masters. So, we live in the rule of a Herod but under the rule of Christ. To accomplish this exhausting task, we are given – weekly, even daily – the Body and Blood of our King to sustain us. We are given him who saves us, strengthens us, blesses us, and brings us to our perfection in him. Remember who you are. And remember what you have vowed to do. The Magi revealed the Christ to us. Now it's our turn to reveal the Christ to the world. With every thought, word, and deed, wherever you happen to be, whatever you happen to be doing – reveal Christ as your King. Show his mercy. Show his love. Repeat his offer of salvation from sin and death. Make him known. You are given the strength and courage to accomplish this. Do it!

This Mass will end like every other Mass you've ever attended – with a final blessing and a dismissal. These two small bits of liturgical action signal to most that it's almost time to head home for lunch/dinner and catch a football game on TV. But if you pay attention, you'll hear and experience something more profound than an ending. You'll hear and experience a beginning. The final blessing grants you God's favor and lifts you up in your pursuit of holiness. It sets you apart from the world, consecrating you to a specific purpose: to be Christ in the world. So consecrated, you are dismissed, sent out. You are given a charge, an order for your work as a Christ. The last words you hear exhort you take what you have received in this Mass and share it with the world. We find comfort in the regularity of the liturgy – the predictability of the responses; the order of the rites. We find strength and courage in the readings and in knowing that Christ is truly present on the altar. We may even enjoy the fellowship we find here. But we were not saved from sin and death to live comfortable lives in a church building. We were saved to be sent out. We were saved to be bearers of the Good News. 

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Rejoice in the Lord always!

3^rd Sunday of Advent

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLR, NOLA

Brothers and sisters: shout for joy! Sing joyfully! Be glad and exult with all your heart! Cry out with joy and gladness! Give thanks to the Lord, acclaim his name! Sing praise to the Lord for his glorious achievement! Shout with exultation! Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! The Word of God proclaimed this evening could not be clearer. Despite our personal and communal troubles; despite the wounds of the world and the wounds to our Church; despite the scandals, the corruption, the deceit, and the betrayals; and to spite the Enemy who works day and night to tempt us away from the Christ – despite and to spite all the bad news: Rejoice in the Lord always! Why? Because the Good News is that our Christ comes as a Child at Christmas and as the Just Judge at the end of the age. Nothing this world can set against us will prevail. While we are here, while we remain members of the Body – priests, prophets, and kings in Christ – we are charged with bearing witness to the mercy of the Father. We are not doomsayers. We are not fanatics. We are men and women, boys and girls who have died with Christ and risen again with him. So, we give him praise; we offer thanksgiving; and we rejoice!

I have said to you many times over the last nine years that to follow Christ is to strive for holiness – to be in the world w/o being of the world. Like everyone else in the world we are affected by unemployment, inflation, political and social unrest, crime, disease and disaster, failed relationships, pot holes, bad knees, and hangovers. Being followers of Christ does not exempt us from the experiencing the fallenness of the world. Katrina and Ida destroyed the homes of Christians and non-Christians alike. Christians get carjacked and non-Christians get into car accidents. And vice-versa. We are not spared b/c we live in the world. What we are spared – if we chose to be spared – is the anguish and fear that goes along with living in the world. Whether it's a cancer diagnosis, or a failed marriage, or a child leaving the Church, or financial loss – we are spared the despair of ruin when we turn to Christ, put yourselves at his disposal, and carry out the mission we have been given: to proclaim the Good New, to bear witness in word and deed, and to rejoice always. God will do great things through us – if we let Him.

How do we allow God to do great things through us? First, we have to get out of our own way. My plans, my goals, my needs, my wants – all of these put Me first in my life. Me, Myself, and I can easily become an Unholy Trinity, building up of a Self-satisfied and Self-righteous ego. Such an ego sees the world as little more than a supermarket for my appetites. You people are employees in this marketplace, here to serve me. I can't cooperate with God b/c I've come to think of myself as a god. Second, we need to be genuinely humble. To combat the temptation to think of myself as a god, I've adopted a false sense of humility. I'm worthless. I'm not gifted. I'm nobody. Everyone else is better than me b/c I am a terrible sinner. Such a disordered understanding of humility will not allow me to receive God's gifts and use them to fulfill His ends. Third, we have to give up the lie that we are in control. Desperate to alleviate my anxiety about the swirling mess of my life, I've grabbed hold of the reins and will not let go. What I cannot and will not see is that my control is what's causing my life to swirl into a mess. How can I allow God to do great things through me when I can't trust that He will do what I want Him to?

Ego, false humility, anxiety and control. How do we remedy these spiritual diseases? Go back to the Word of God. “Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” Why rejoicing? To rejoice is to express our gladness. To give word to the effects of Divine Love. To rejoice to sing out, to shout out our glee. We know the Christ Child is coming. We know that Christ the Just Judge is coming. What's disease, disaster, or even death in the face of our beatific end? The Father's creation isn't about Me. I depend on Him entirely for everything I have and everything I am. And I have no control over disease, disaster, or death. I am freest when I surrender myself to His will with praise and thanksgiving and then do all that I've promised to do: bear witness in word and deed, proclaim the Gospel, and rejoice always! John the Baptist prophesies: “. . .one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Christ has come. Christ is here. Christ will come again. “Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!”     

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They had nothing to lose. . .do you?

2^nd Week of Advent (Th)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Dominic Priory, NOLA

The Kingdom of Heaven is so great that those eager to enter do so violently. John's baptism of repentance and his preaching of the advent of the Kingdom stirs in some a passion to receive all the Father promises. This passion for entering the Kingdom is matched by those who oppose the Kingdom, those who see the advent of the Christ as a threat to their position and power in the world. Theirs too is a violent reaction. Rome fears a king who will oppose the Empire. The Temple fears a Messiah who will challenge its religious monopoly. The Pharisees fear a Preacher who will rival their popularity. Only those with nothing to lose and nothing to hide storm the Kingdom's gate, clamoring for admission. Christ is that gate. Leaving all their sins behind in the waters of baptism, these little ones walk freely into the Kingdom. Their ears heard; their eyes saw. And they were saved. How did they come to hear and see? They had nothing. They were nothing. Nothing in the world, no attachments; nothing to bind them to power, money, or ideology. Once their sins were washed away, they were left with nothing more than a fulfilled desire to be with Christ. If you and I cannot see or hear, who or what blinds us, deafens us? Who or what do we need to lose so to long for the Kingdom of God? 

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Our Yes gives birth to Christ

I.C.

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Dominic Priory, NOLA

To be holy is to be in the world but not of it. To live and thrive among the worldly people, places, things, and ideas but to never be possessed by them. The BVM's IC is our model for holiness. Necessary Fitting for the Incarnation of the Word, Christ Jesus, the IC teaches us to better understand how a human person can be both merely human and fully human. What distinguishes the two is the capacity to sin. Without the capacity to sin, we can become fully human in the world, holy like the BVM. There is a temptation to think that this inability to sin is achieved by hard charitable work, perseverance in prayer, and moral purity. It is not. It's a gift. Freely given and freely received. As a developing zygote/fetus in Ann's womb, Mary did nothing to earn her own sinlessness. After her birth, the BVM remained sinless by grace. Here's where we merely humans differ from the fully human Mary: by baptism we are freed from the need to sin. We are freed in our own immaculate reconception. Once freed, once reconceived, we can begin our progress in holiness through hard charitable work, perseverance in prayer, and the pursuit of moral purity. All this work is necessary b/c we remain tempted to give ourselves to the world as a possession. As preachers of the Word, we rely entirely on His grace to live, to move, and to be in the world. We also depend entirely on Him to remain entirely His and His alone. Like the BVM, our Yes gives birth to Christ.

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Smoothing your heart and mind

NB. Deacon preaching tonight at OLR, so here's a homily from 2012:

2nd Sunday of Advent
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

The Word of God speaks to John—as it had spoken to Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah—calling him out of his desert exile to preach the advent of Jerusalem's salvation, the imminent arrival of the Messiah. John, both a prophet and a herald, travels the whole region of the Jordan, “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Our gospel writer, Luke, quotes the prophet Isaiah, “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'” This is the charge given to John: ready the nation, prepare God's people; straighten their minds; soothe their defeats; temper their victories; and smooth the rough roads of their stony hearts to receive the consummation of all prophecy by baptizing with water all those who repent of their disobedience, so that their sins may be forgiven. Are you ready? Is your heart and mind straightened and smoothed? Have you prepared yourself for the coming of the Christ? 

You all know that Advent is meant to prepare us for the coming of the Christ Child. This is that time of the liturgical year when we read and hear all about the preaching ministry of John the Baptist. What you might not know is why Luke quotes Isaiah's ancient prophecy and connects it with John's contemporary ministry of baptism? In other words, why—in the middle of telling us about the start of John's mission—does Luke bring in Isaiah's description of the Jews' return from their Babylonian exile? The two events don't seem to have much in common. Historically speaking, they don't; however, prophetically speaking, the two are directly connected. In the 15 yrs. btw 597-582 BC, some 18,000 Jews were deported from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. In 538 BC, the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, defeated Babylon and gave the Jews permission to return to their homeland, the kingdom of Judea. Isaiah's prophecy, quoted by Luke, is part of a much larger prophecy called the Book of Consolation (Isa 40-55). This is Isaiah's description of his people's homecoming procession, their triumphant parade back to the land promised to them by God. Who leads this procession? God Himself. So, He makes the path home straight, smooth; filling the valleys and leveling the hills. After 60 yrs of hardship in exile, the Lord brings His people home in style! John's mission is to bring God's people to Christ, to make our way to salvation a smooth, non-stop flight to the heavenly Jerusalem. 

Earlier, I asked you if you were ready for the coming of the Christ. Are you prepared to receive him? Writing to the Philippians, Paul prays, “. . .that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness.” Paul is praying that the Christians in Philippi will continue to grow in that kind of love that brings them closer and closer to knowing intimately God's will for them, so that they will be able to distinguish good from evil, and remain wholly innocent until Christ's return. How do the Philippians remain in God's will until the Last Day? They work to produce “the fruits of righteousness,” that is, they bring about, make manifest words and deeds that demonstrate their right relationship with God. It's not enough for them to think good thoughts about Jesus. They are exhorted to produce outwardly, publicly evidence of their spiritual excellence by imitating Christ in the world. And these superior words and works will be spoken and done “for the glory and praise of God” and for no other reason. Paul writes, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it. . .” 

God has begun a good work in you, in all of us, and He intends to complete it. But His good work in each one of us cannot be completed unless we do our share of the heavy-lifting. He will not save us without our help. Over and over again, His people, Israel and Judea, committed adultery with the neighboring gods, sacrificing their righteousness on the foreign altars of oppression and injustice. By falling to their knees before idols, they fell in their holy duties to protect the innocent, the widowed, the orphaned, and the stranger. By worshiping things of their own making, they degraded themselves as things and sought to lift themselves up by pushing down those already pushed out by poverty, disease, and ignorance. Our Lord began a good work in His covenant with Abraham, but Abraham's children failed again and again to take up that good work and work with God's grace to make themselves into a blessed nation. For these failures, God allowed them to be defeated, exiled, and lost among the pagans. Some few remained faithful, and these He brought home. Because they worked with the good work He started in them, these few He returned to their promised land. 

God has begun a good work in you, in all of us, and He intends to complete it. So, how can we use this Advent to prepare for His good work to be completed? First, what good work He has started? For the whole Church, this good work is the work of being Christ in flesh and bone for the world. In other words, the Body of Christ must be the BODY of Christ—the hands, feet, eyes, ears of the Lord, speaking the Word, doing his will among the peoples and nations. For each one of us, this good work is defined by our individual gifts used in the service of the Body. What gifts has God given you? Has He given you a talent? Use it for the gospel. Has He given you time? Spend it on the gospel. Has He given you treasure? Invest it in the gospel. Next, we need to discern what it is that stands in the way of our good work. For Israel and Judea, it was their adultery with neighboring gods. They learned that we all become what we love most. So, what do you love among the idols of our perverse consumerist culture? Violence, death, promiscuity, the financial bottom-line; self-gratification before selfless service; untamed passions; or, do you claim to be a god yourself? In your pride, do you long to become a god w/o God and worship your own ego and id? God will allow it. He will also allow the consequences of our idolatry. 

Are you ready? Are you helping John the Baptist in straightening out your heart and smoothing down your mind? Christ comes to complete in you the good work his Father started. Are you listening to his herald and answering his cry for repentance? Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, they all warned God's people that their disobedience, their spiritual adultery would lead them into the wilderness of exile and defeat. And so it did. God brought them back to their promised land after two generations of living among their enemies, after more than 60 yrs. of purification and penance. Christ's Body, the Church—you, me, all of us together—must be the voice crying out in the desert, calling the world to repentance, calling it away from the edge of self-destruction. But our call is hollow and weak if we ourselves teeter on that same edge. A prophet must prophesy to himself first, and so the Church must preach to herself first. The Advent of the Christ Child is our time to get right with God, to get ourselves realigned with His perfect will, to be filled again with the love that created and re-created us in Christ. Look forward to his birth at Christmas, but look inward as well, look inward toward his birth in you, and love that child like he is your own, then, “all flesh shall see the salvation of God!” 

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Word and deed, word and deed

1^st Week of Advent (Th)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Dominic Priory, NOLA

Christ reveals the Father finally and uniquely in word and deed. He teaches us to pursue his mission and ministry in word and deed. Words alone may satisfy the intellect but leave the will with nothing to do. Deeds give the will plenty to do but can leave the intellect idle. If we will build our spiritual house on solid rock, we will pursue holiness in word and deed, revealing the Christ to the world in every word we speak and every deed we do. IOW, we will bring our whole person – body and soul, intellect and will – to task of growing in holiness. To do the will of the Father, we have to hear and listen to the will of the Father. This means cultivating an intellectual life finely tuned to the Real. Not just the really real of the physical world but the really real of the whole of Creation as created. Here we see the wisdom of the prophets naming God our Father. How else can we receive ourselves as hearers and doers of the Word except as creatures? We are wholly dependent on the Father for our very existence. Our growth in holiness is founded on the solid rock of humility. This is the truth we bear witness to in word and deed. 

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Waking a drowsy heart

1^st Sunday of Advent

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLR, NOLA

I don't have to tell you that the world is out of whack. Has been for a while now. But have you noticed that we seem to be swirling 'round the bowl faster than ever? Maybe it's just me, but my brakes aren't working and the ditches seem to be a lot wider than they used to be. I keep getting the urge to yell, “Let me off this thing!” There's a monastery in Wyoming that needs the services of a gently used Dominican friar, I'm sure of it. Unfortunately, fleeing to a cozy monastic cell isn't really an option. And I doubt any of you have that option either. We're in the world as it spirals out of control. We have two sources of solace while we spin: 1). the world has been out of control since the Fall in the Garden, so nothing new, really; and 2). Christ is coming back for us. What counts right now is what we do in the Meantime. Jesus warns us, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life.” Drowsy. Complacent. Self-satisfied. In the Meantime, we are to remain vigilant, on-guard, ever ready. Advent is our time to practice being prepared for the coming of Christ.

Now, you may be thinking, “Well, I'm not much of a drinker or a carouser, so I'm good. I'm ready.” And that's great! Two fewer obstacles for you to tackle. But how are you with the anxieties of daily life? Are you worrying yourself sick about the kids, the grand kids, the job, the mortgage, the economy, crime, politics, race relations, the Saints' less than stellar win-lose ratio? IOW, are you allowing – yes, allowing – the people and events you have no control over occupy your heart and mind with fantasies of control? That's anxiety. Anxiety is the body and soul's reaction when it becomes clear to you that you have no control, yet you continue to believe and behave as if you do. You can let the illusion go and be free, or you can continue being a slave to magical thinking. Anxiety works well for the Enemy b/c it keeps you preoccupied in pride. While you spend your time and energy proudly attempting to will reality in a different direction through worrying, you neglect your duty to grow in holiness. The more you worry, the more you open yourself to the world, seeking solutions in passing things. The more you worry, the less you trust in God's promise to provide. The less you trust God, the further you fall into the world. The less prepared you are for Christ's return.

How do we prepare? Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says, to love boundlessly so as “to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus.” Loving without limit puts us squarely in the world while leaving us uninfluenced by the world. That's holiness. If we love to be seen loving, then we are not loving as Christ loves us. We're loving to make ourselves into saviors: “Look at me! Look at how loving I am! I'm saving all these poor wretches from hungry and disease!” That's not being blameless in holiness but rather being blameworthy in worldliness. Our works of mercy must be done for the greater glory of God and no other reason. Otherwise, we are not preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ Jesus as the Just Judge but rather condemning ourselves with self-glorification. In fact, this is one of the ways that you can allow your heart to become drowsy – you come believe that your mercy is yours to bestow. To give or withhold mercy is mine to decide. A heart and mind given to this lie is more than just drowsy; it's drunk with power. And in need an awakening.

“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy...” What can we do to keep our hearts alert? First, let go of anxiety, let go of worry. It's distracting and pointless. Advent is about waiting in joyful anticipation for two events we know are coming: the arrival of the Christ Child at Christmas and the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the age. We are to be prepared for both. Ready to welcome him, the Infant Jesus, and ready to be judged by the Just Judge. Worry does nothing to prepare us. Second, go to confession! Water cannot flow through a clogged pipe. You can't chew if your jaws are wired shut. Sin prevents us from receiving God's gifts. Sin clogs our pipes and wires our jaws. Go to confession and be ready for your judgment. Third, be generous. Generosity is one of the many surefire ways of growing in humility. Nothing you have or are is yours. All of it – me, you, all the things of man and nature – belong to God first. We are given these things as gifts to use while we're here. When you are generous with what you have and are, you acknowledge to God and others that you depend on Him alone. Take these weeks of Advent to practice being prepared for your final judgment. Jesus exhorts us: “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength...to stand before the Son of Man.” 

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He is the King b/c he is the Son

Christus Rex

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLR, NOLA

Pontius Pilate – desperate to avoid getting bogged down in a local religious feud – questions Jesus, hoping he will confess to being a political subversive, a charge Pilate can understand and deal with. If Jesus were to confess to being a self-anointed “king,” Pilate could easily declare him guilty and crucify him. No muss, no fuss. The Romans do not tolerate upstart political revolutionaries. Unfortunately, for Pilate, Jesus deftly parries Pilate's questions, forcing him to wade into philosophy – not an area the Romans navigate well. Jesus says, “For this I was born...to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” You can almost feel Pilate rolling his eyes as he impatiently asks his famous question: Quid est veritas? What is truth? Jesus reveals – in word and deed – that he is indeed a king. Not a revolutionary or insurrectionist or even a claimant to the worldly throne of Israel. What baffled Pilate and may still baffle some of us is that Christ is King of the Universe, a title, a reality that flows naturally from his Sonship. He is the King of the Universe b/c he is first the Son of the Father.

Christ's Kingship is something of an embarrassment among some in the Church. Some would prefer that we forget both his Kingship and his Sonship. All this talk of Christ being a Son and a King sounds patriarchal and militaristic, so old-fashioned and unnecessarily hostile. The Jewish leaders certainly didn't like it. Nor did the Roman occupiers. Some, even now, would dethrone Christ and replace him with a Committee or a Parliament! But denying the truth is a sure path to confusion and death. In his 1925 encyclical, Quas primas, Pope Pius XI lays out why this feast is necessary: “...[the] manifold evils in the world [are] due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: [...]that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations. Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ[...]”(1). Without the Kingdom and Kingship of Christ there can be no Peace of Christ. And w/o the Son of the Father, none of us can reach the Kingdom. So, we celebrate this morning our liberation from sin and our elevation as Sons of God.

A quick reminder: at baptism each one of us is added to the Body of Christ as sons, as heirs to the Kingdom. Yes, even the women are sons b/c they are heirs as well! We become partakers in the divine nature, participants in the divine life. That divine life – the Holy Trinity – created, recreates, and holds in being all that is. You, me, planets, squirrels, bacteria, distant stars, whole galaxies. Everything created was created with Christ, through Christ, in Christ, and for Christ. He is the Living Word that animates – gives life – to every created thing. If you need your faith revived, remember this: you are a living, breathing player in the drama of creation; a rational animal made into a partaker of the divine! You and I aren't just heirs to the Kingdom. We are also growing in the Kingship of Christ as we grow in holiness. We are becoming Christs. Each one of us is Christ, imperfect now but growing in perfection as we practice loving sacrificially. What sustains us in this world as we grow is prayer. Both private prayer and public prayer. What prayer does is perfect the pray-er, the one praying. And with perfecting prayer comes Christ's peace.

We will pray the Our Father this morning. At every Mass. And we will exchange the Peace. Both the prayer and the peace give us a chance to publicly proclaim our allegiance to the King and prepare us for the sacrifice. The Our Father instructs us to surrender ourselves completely to God, holding nothing back, giving all we have and are. We ask that His Kingdom come among us and that His will be done on earth just as it is done in Heaven. Are we prepared for that? Are we prepared for the Father's will to be done on earth as it is done in Heaven? By turning to one another and forgiving one another at the peace, we signal our eagerness, our willingness to be subject to His will. We forgive and love before the sacrifice on the altar, leaving aside all grudges, all hurts, all offenses, all debts. We come forward to take and eat and drink having said, “I am prepared to receive Christ's peace!” Then we receive our daily bread, the bread of life that makes us alive in Christ, perfecting us to be Christs. I ask this every year: who rules your heart? Who or what sits on the throne of your life? Are you ruled by Christ? Or sin and death? Christ the King made you, remade you, and keeps you in being. Hold tight to your inheritance. Come, Lord Jesus, King of the Universe!       

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Do not fear death

33^rd Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

OLR, NOLA

Life inevitably comes to an end. Your life, my life will end. What happens next depends entirely on how we've chosen to live the life we were given. Scripture says we're given 70 years, 80 with good health, to grow into a holiness worthy of heaven. If we were left to struggle with our own strength, we'd probably never make it. A tiny few might muscle through, those few who practice spiritual athleticism and win the godly equivalent of Olympic Gold. The rest us would shuffle along, falling, failing, tripping over our own feet and eventually finding ourselves locked out of the Wedding Feast, wailing and gnashing our teeth in eternal darkness. That is, if we were left to compete with nothing more than our acquired skills and innate talents. Thanks be to God! We are not left alone with what were born with. God created each one of us with an embedded and near insatiable desire for union with Him. Imagine if He threw us into this world with such a deep longing and provided no way for us satisfy it! That would be both unjust and cruel. But our Father is neither unjust nor cruel. He gave us His only Son to be our Christ, our Redeemer. And so, the day and hour of your death is nothing to fear.

When our lives will end is not for us to know. Why? Because knowing this should change nothing about the way we choose to live our lives. As members of the Body, the Church, we have taken on the longish task of growing in holiness – day by day, hour by hour. Whether our death and judgment comes tomorrow, next week, or 50yrs from now is irrelevant. The task is the same: be in the world but not of it. How we negotiate this distinction is helped along with the abundant and freely given graces of Love Himself. All we need do is receive all that He gives us and put these gifts to work in proclaiming the Good News – through word, deed, thought, and feeling, we bear witness to the mercy our Father shows us so that anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear might see and hear for themselves that the Christ is Lord. Knowing that I am to drop dead tomorrow afternoon, or a month from Tuesday, or not until my 93^rd birthday changes nothing about what I have vowed to do and be in the world. So long as I remain finely tuned to the Father and receive His generous gifts, I have a mission and a ministry. Let death come. I am supremely confident in the Father's mercy, even as I am not so confident in my holiness.

Life inevitably comes to an end. My life, your life will end. What happens next depends entirely on how we've chosen to live the life we were given. If we choose to live lives of disobedience, rebelling against the truths the Father has revealed, He will honor our choices at death and allow us to continue to rebel for all eternity. We call this life of eternal rebellion, hell. How is this choice made? Through sin, obviously. But not so obvious is why choosing sin puts us on the path to hell. When you sin, you choose to be of the world while being in the world, that is, you choose to serve the powers and principalities that hold sway outside the Body, the Church. In choosing sin, you align our heart and mind with the virtues of the fallen: pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth. Each of these sets up an idol on the throne of your heart. You are ruled – body and soul – by an act of disobedience. In effect, you tie yourself to this world, you bind yourself to a temporary kingdom, a passing prince who cannot and will not satisfy your deepest longing. When death inevitably comes for you, your choices become eternal and like the kingdom and prince you've chosen to serve, you will suffer the consequences of rebellion. The most painful element of hell is knowing you are there voluntarily.

Thanks be to God, hell is not inevitable. Jesus tells the disciples “to learn a lesson from the fig tree.” What is this lesson? Essentially, the lesson is that like the sprouting fig tree signals the arrival of summer, so the signs he mentions signal the arrival of death and judgment. . .“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky. . .” Eclipses and shooting stars. All of these occur pretty much regularly. And so does death. And judgment follows. So, be prepared. Be prepared to account for the life the Father has given you. Be prepared to show Him a life of bearing witness to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Be prepared to show Him your good works. Be prepared to show him the souls you've brought to the light. Be prepared to stand before Him and let Him see Christ's face in yours. Count for Him the countless times you have forgiven others; shown mercy; loved generously; and stood in the breach, giving your all in defense of the Gospel. Show Him you took His gift of Life and lived in the world but never did you abandon the path of holiness.   

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