Why be generous?

31^st Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Why are we called to be generous to those who cannot or will not return our generosity? Why – for example – go out of your way to help a neighbor who's lost everything in a house fire? Or help a family in another state who's never had much of anything to begin with? Right at the very bottom of the virtue of generosity is a simple truth that is too easily ignored: nothing belongs to you, nothing belongs to me. WE BELONG TO CHRIST! If you and I have taken on the mind of Christ; died and rose again in his death and resurrection; and now we lay claim to our inheritance to the Kingdom, then everything we are and everything we have belongs to God. Everything we have and are is for our use, sure. But it all belongs to God first. He gives it all to us, and we receive it all as a gift. This includes material stuff, talents, challenges, and even life itself. Christian generosity then, properly understood, is best practiced as a radical detachment from the things we use. In religious life, we call this poverty. And poverty, like generosity, is a spiritual exercise that develops our awareness of how deeply and permanently we are dependent on God. So, why are we called to be generous to those who cannot or will not return our generosity? Because doing so is evidence that we know and understand that we are who we are and that we have what we have only b/c God has chosen to love us into existence and to bring us back to Him when this pilgrimage is done.   

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Details matter: so repent!

31^st Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

I spent most of my early adult years teaching literature to college students. When it came to teaching them how to read poetry, esp. modern and contemporary poetry, I usually failed miserably. Eliot, Stevens, Lowell, and Levertov are acquired tastes, admittedly. But teaching short stories was always a hit. Plot, characters, action, dialogue. These the students understood and loved. A good story does a lot of work. And when read in full, so does the reader. But when the reader reads a story with a lesson already in mind, or reads the story in order to prove a point . . .well, then the story is no longer doing its work. This is why I told my students back in the day: details matter. Pay attention to the details not just the broad strokes of the narrative. Case in point, the Story of Zacchaeus. The broad stroke here is that Jesus invites himself to stay at the house of a wealthy tax collector, a traitorous sinner. The finger-wagging moralists in the crowd condemn Jesus for staying with a sinner. The moral of the story is: Jesus ate with a sinner, therefore, the sinner's sin is not really a sin and moralists are horrible people for noting that sin is sin. Not quite. Remember: details matter. And the missing detail here is that Zacchaeus repents and does penance.

Not only does Zacchaeus repent and do penance, he actively, eagerly seeks the Lord out, going so far as to climb a tree to see him. (More on that tree later. Details matter.). Jesus sees Zacchaeus in the tree. What causes the Lord to notice him? The story doesn't say. Zacchaeus doesn't shout or wave. Luke write, “When he reached the place, Jesus looked up. . .” Maybe Jesus felt Zacchaeus' eagerness to see him. Maybe he just spotted a grown man sitting in a tree and thought, “I need to meet that guy.” But notice – details matter – Jesus calls him by name. Jesus already knows who and what Zacchaeus is. And calls him down from the tree by name. Knowing himself that he's a sinner and knowing now that Jesus knows he's a sinner, we might expect Zacchaeus to reluctantly climb down and slink over to Jesus dejectedly. Instead, “[Zacchaeus] came down quickly and received [Jesus] with joy.” Why is Zacchaeus joyful? Does he think Jesus is going to affirm him in his sin, giving him a thumbs-up b/c he steals from his own people? Tell him to keep on stealing b/c stealing is a legitimate lifestyle choice? No. Zacchaeus is joyful b/c joy is an effect of love. And Christ is the embodiment of divine love.

This is the detail the finger-wagging moralists in the crowd misses. They are scandalized b/c they see a rabbi polluting himself by visiting with a sinner. What they don't yet get is that Jesus is no ordinary rabbi. He cannot be made unclean by associating with sinners. In fact, he makes the unclean clean again. All he needs is for the unclean to want to be clean. And Zacchaeus radiates the desire to be made clean again. His desire to be made clean is so intense that he pledges to donate half his wealth to the poor and repay any extorted taxes four-times over! How does Jesus respond to this act of contrition? Details matter! He says, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.” IOW, Z. has shown himself to be a true son of the Covenant through repentance and sacrifice. Jesus continues, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” Jesus seeks out the lost and saves those who want to be saved. If no one is lost, then no one needs to be found. Zacchaeus is lost in his sin; he seeks out the Lord; the Lord sees a sinner and calls him to himself. Zacchaeus repents and now he is saved.

Details matter. So, we need to talk about that tree. This is perhaps the only gospel story where a plant aids in the salvation of a sinner. Zacchaeus climbs the sycamore to escape the crushing crowd and watch Jesus pass by. But this is no ordinary tree. The sycamore is a species of fig. It has heart-shaped leaves; grows only in rich soil; and produces fruit year-round. The ancient Egyptians called it the “Tree of Life” and used its timber for royal coffins. It was a measure of wealth and prestige. Ancient readers of this gospel story would know all this, so they would smile and nod knowingly at the symbolism. Zacchaeus climbs the Tree of Life to seek out the Son of God. The sycamore points us to the tree in the Garden of Eden; the building of the ark; the wood of the Cross; and the timber to be used in the making our own coffins. Zacchaeus wants to live in Christ, to be redeemed in the Covenant, so he takes refuge in the Tree of Life, and is found there by his Savior. Details matter. First, he saw Jesus. Then Jesus saw him and called to him. Then came joy from love, repentance of sin, and recompense for sin. The details of characters, setting, etc. might change, but the plot of our salvation story never changes.   

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Competing for glory

30^th Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Competing for the highest seat of honor at the table is evidence that you may be entertaining the sin of vainglory. Now, contemporary American dining etiquette doesn't recognize “seats of honor” at the table. So, we might think about this parable in terms of competing for unmerited attention in class, or showing off in an attempt to make our co-workers look bad. Closer to home, we might think about it in terms of the temptation to “out religious” our brothers and sisters at Church – kneeling longer, genuflecting more deeply, perfecting our Pious Face; the sort of religious theatrics that not only lead others to think of us as holy but also ward off any close scrutiny of our sinfulness. How many of us have taken communion in a state of mortal sin b/c we didn't want our friends to think we were. . .in a state of mortal sin!? We'd rather commit an additional mortal sin than be seen as anything but saintly. That's vainglory. The problem with vainglory is that it is a lie; that is, it's seeking glory for oneself based on a falsehood. The falsehood that lies at the bottom of vainglory is that my gifts, my talents, everything that makes me special is My Doing. My achievement. All of my successes – academic, athletic, romantic, economic, spiritual – are solely due to my intelligence, my diligence, and my physical prowess. This is a lie. And this lie, Aquinas tells us, leads to a host of other sins – “disobedience, boastfulness, hypocrisy, contention, obstinacy, discord, and love of novelties” (ST.II.II.132.5). Jesus teaches us to combat vainglory with humility. Seek the lowest seat. He's not saying pretend that you aren't gifted, or don't use your gifts publicly. He's saying don't take credit for creating your gifts. Don't seek praise for yourself b/c of your gifts. Instead, give glory to the One Who gave you your gifts. God alone assigns seats at the Wedding Feast. So, competing for the best seat is not only pointless, but it also causes chaos in your spiritual life. In effect, loving praise and seeking it out is a form of idolatry, a form of self-worship: I deserve this praise. Not God. I'm entitled to this attention. Not God. That is a surefire way of rejecting your invitation to the Wedding Feast, a guaranteed way of getting many opportunities to practice gnashing your teeth and rending your garments. Seek the glory of God. Give glory to God. And Him alone.

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"Meh. I've got work to do."

30^th Week OT (Th)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Jesus is busy healing, casting out demons, and preaching the coming of his Father's Kingdom. IOW, he's doing what he was sent to do. His words and his works draw the attention of this world's powers, and he's warned that those powers are both curious and threatened. Nothing new here. He's freeing those trapped in spiritual poverty from the bonds of sin and death. So, of course, the worldly powers see him as a dangerous man. They would have us forever dependent on merely human wisdom and works for our survival, always helpless and easily controlled. But Jesus' mission and ministry is to show us that we can be sons and daughters of the Most High, heirs to His Kingdom, and free from the misery of an imperfectible Law. The consummation of his mission and ministry must take place in Jerusalem – the unrepentant city where God's prophets go to die. Thus, when warned that Herod wants to kill him, Jesus says, in essence, “Meh. I've got work to do.” Today, tomorrow, the next day, he has work to do. So do we. Unsurprisingly, it's the same work that Christ did – showing those enslaved in spiritual poverty that they do not have to live on the scraps tossed to them by their “Betters.” They are invited to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. But before they can attend the feast, they will need new garments; a new heart and mind; a renewed spirit of courage. They will need to be recreated in the image and likeness of him who is fully human and fully divine – Christ Jesus. They will also need to know and understand that becoming Christ has its consequences. There is the peace of his constant presence. And the constant presence of opposition and trial. There is always A Herod out there wanting to kill them. Or to put them back into slavery. Or to silence them for good. But none of that matters ultimately b/c they will be free. What matters ultimately is that they are free. Free to rejoice, to preach, to love, to forgive, to bless. Free to thrive in the Spirit and grow in holiness. Free to shout, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” And free to mourn at the foot of the Cross on Calvary. No longer mired in the spiritual poverty of the world, we are free to be who and what we were recreated to be – ministers and missionaries of the one sent to set us free.

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Wide Sin, Narrow Gate

30^th Week OT (W)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

I've fallen off the ship into the icy sea. The crew throws me a life jacket. I say, “No, thank you.” And drown. You're diagnosed with an easily treatable form of cancer. Your doctor offers you a cure. You say, “No, thank you.” And die. We are sinners. As such, we are destined to an eternal death after death. God throws us a life jacket in the form of His Son. He offers us a guaranteed cure for our disease. But we say, “No, thank you.” The wailing and the gnashing of teeth begins. Who killed me, you, us? The sailors, the doctors, God? No. I did. You did. We did. Jesus is asked, how many will be saved? Only a few? A great multitude? Will everyone be saved? The answer is: as many as choose to be saved. Yes, the gate is narrow. And we need to be strong to pass through. But think of it this way: the size of the gate is inversely proportional to the size of our accumulated sin. The wider our sin, the narrower the gate. Souls who have chosen pride, anger, injustice, violence, and disobedience will find a paper-thin opening. Souls who have chosen freedom in Christ, freedom from sin and death will find a gate as wide as the Father's love for His children. He wills that we all be saved. He also wills that we choose – freely choose – to be saved. Choosing to be saved entails a conversion of heart and mind, choosing to turn back to God, and living lives bearing witness in word and deed to the mercy and love we've been given. When the sailors haul me back on deck, I say, “Thank you.” When the doctors save your life from cancer, you say, “Thank you.” When we find ourselves at the Wedding Feast, having chosen Christ, sitting beside the angels and saints, we say, “Thank you.” Our rescue, our cure, our salvation is not an entitlement nor is it a contest. It's a gift. Freely given, freely received.    

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Fungus & Seed

30^th Week OT (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

The Kingdom of God is like a seed and a fungus. A seed sprouts and grows. A fungus multiplies and spreads. The tiny mustard seed can grow into a 9ft plant. Just a pinch of yeast can leaven a lot of flour. Both do their natural work unseen. They do their best work when nurtured and cultivated. Like the seed and the fungus, the Kingdom is unseen, powerful, and diffusive. So our preaching of the Kingdom is best done in a similar way. If we think of our preaching as a way of conforming the Word to the World, then we become agents of the World not the Word. That's not our charge. If we think of our preaching as a way of confronting the World, as a way of disputing with the spirits of the World, we end up in a bloody fight. We are not a militia or a political party. How much better would it be to think of our preaching as a kind of sowing, sowing the Word like mustard seeds and watching the plants flourish where they land. Or dosing the flat, unsalted flour of the World with the yeast of the Word and letting it all come to life. If our preaching is a kind of sowing, then we aren't all that worried about neat rows, straight lines, or orderly patches. We reach in, grab a handful, and fling! Where the seeds and yeast land may be random or perfectly patterned. What matters is the soil. And that the soil is seeded. As preachers of the Word, our job is to give every kind of soil the chance to produce good fruit, to give every bit of flour the opportunity to rise. We do this by shedding the Word as naturally as seeds grow and yeast leavens. By diligently – and maybe even wildly – flinging the Word wherever we walk.

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Know yourself to be a sinner

30^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Sirach and Paul assure us that our God is faithful to those who live their days in humility, in humble service to the proclamation of the Word. He hears and answers the prayers of the lowly and rescues those who serve His will. How do we become lowly? How do we bind ourselves to His will and live out our days in His service? Jesus offers a parable. Two men go to the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee; the other a tax collector. The Pharisee believes himself to be righteous by his deeds. The tax collector knows himself to be a sinner and cries out for God's mercy. Which one leaves the temple justified, made just by God?

The question here is not: which one is a righteous? The Pharisee is self-righteous; the tax collector is made-righteous. The question is: which one leaves the temple justified; that is, which one is made just before God by God? My question gives away the answer. We already know that the Pharisee's prayer in the temple is useless. First, to whom does he pray? Jesus says, “The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself. . .” He praises and thanks himself. He is his own god. Second, how does he pray? He praises himself for not being a sinner; he gives himself thanks for “not being like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous.” And lastly, how does he think he made himself righteous? “I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.” Works. He believes that pious works – w/o mercy, humility, or love – make him righteous. Now, we know that the tax collector leaves the temple justified. Instead of praising himself for not being like other men, the tax collector does the only thing a truly self-aware sinner can do: he throws himself into the hands of God and cries out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, a sinner!” Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

So why would any sane Christian fail to cultivate humility? We know the vice that opposes the virtue of humility is pride. What is pride? Pride isn't about taking pleasure on one's achievements, or claiming that one's nation, state, or team is particularly wonderful. Being proud of your children for academic and athletic awards isn't the sort of pride that thwarts humility. True Pride – the sort our ancestors put in first place on the list of Deadly Sins – is the erroneous belief that we do not need God; that we do not require His help b/c we are perfectly capable of saving ourselves from sin and death; that we are not only capable of saving ourselves but that we prefer to save ourselves. Pride leads us to believe that working for social justice and equality will save us; that holding the right beliefs and attitudes will save us; that saying the right prayers in the right order the right number of times will save us; that giving money to the Church, to charity will save us. Pride insists that we are each self-sufficient, independent, and absolutely alone. And that with these superlative qualities, we can become god w/o God. The serpent says to Eve, “when you eat [the forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods. . .” That serpent's name is Hubris.

Pride leads us away from God, so how do we overcome it? Like the tax collector at prayer in the temple, there's only one way to triumph over the self-righteousness that pride instills in us: throw yourself on God's mercy! Why is this the only way? B/c only God Himself can make you righteous; only God Himself can bring you out of sin and death and restore you to your rightful place in His Holy Family. He gives us His only Son, Christ Jesus, as the only means, the only Way, back to Him. And with the Holy Spirit pushing us toward perfection, pouring out for us and into us gift after gift after gift, we accomplish all that God commands us to accomplish for His greater glory. The Pharisee's good works are just that: his good works. Yes, tithing and fasting and praying are all perfectly wonderful spiritual exercises. But before a spiritual exercise can be efficacious, there must be a relationship of love established btw the human heart and Love Himself. Fortunately for us, God Himself initiated this relationship at the instant of creation, installing into every human heart and mind the gnawing need to seek Him out and live with Him forever. To think that I can satisfy this need for myself is Pride distilled into the darkest, deadliest poison.

Luke tells us that Jesus addresses his parable to a very specific audience: “. . .to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” We can't help but make the connection btw self-righteousness and hatred. Self-righteousness – born, bred, and nurtured in pride – rejects the necessity of loving others; it leads us to deny the need for mercy, forgiveness, trust in others. If I can make myself righteous, why do I need you? Or God? Or the Church? If my social justice causes and good works and charitable donations are enough, why bother with humility? Why bother with all that “love your neighbor” nonsense? Why bother? Sirach answers: “The one who serves God willingly is heard. . .The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.” Paul answers: “I am already being poured out like a libation. . .I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” How do we answer? We throw ourselves on the mercy of God, confessing our sins, knowing that the Lord hears the cries of the poor – the poor in spirit, the truly humble, those most in need of His care, and those most willing to take into the world His re-creating love.

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Nothing is free. . .except grace

29^th Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Getting “something for nothing” seems like a trap. It's a favorite dodge of politicians. Free healthcare. Free tuition. And, btw, your taxes are going up. Salesmen like this one too. Here's a free microwave for buying a car. Oddly, a microwave-sized “service fee” appears on the bill at checkout. Clerics discovered this dodge early on. Sure, God's grace is free. Absolutely! All you have to do to get it is attend Mass once a week; go to confession once a year; behave yourself in thought, word, and deed; and be as publicly miserable as possible to show everyone that you are a terrible sinner. Obviously, nothing the gov't gives you is ever free. You paid for both the car and the microwave. And grace that comes with strings attached isn't grace. Paul writes, “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Christ's gift to us is his life, death, and resurrection. What can measure such a gift?

Nothing. No thing, at least. Nothing created. And nothing anything created can say, do, or think. Christ's gift to us is freedom from sin and death. With that freedom we can still choose sin and death. And we often do. But there is nothing we can do before he gives us our freedom to earn our freedom. No amount of prayer, fasting, or alms giving increases God's love for us. No amount of sin, no matter how terrible, decreases God's love for us. He freely loves us according to His nature. We choose whether or not to receive His love and make use of His gifts. This is why Jesus says – twice –, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will perish...” Why would he tell us to repent if we were not free to repent? Repentance cannot give us grace to repent. “Repent first, then I'll make it possible for you to repent.” That's nonsense. Repentance is our reception of an already, always given grace. That's freedom. And it's free. It's free to you and me b/c Christ paid the price of perfecting our human nature on the Cross, according to the measure of his gift. If you are stuck in sin and death, here's a question: why? Why are you choosing to be a slave to that which cannot and will not save you?     

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The recipe for martyrdom

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Ignatius of Antioch, writing to the first century church in Rome, asks his brothers and sisters in Christ not to rescue him from martyrdom: “I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread…Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn...Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being.” Now, hearing this, we can embrace his plea as a confession of heroic faith, or we can dismiss it as self-destructive fanaticism. 21^st c. Americans are trained to hear deeply held and fervently voiced expressions of faith as delusions, or, at best, romantic drivel. Cynicism and ironic distance can make it all too easy to hear a bit of comedy in Ignatius' plea. I mean, surely, he's joking, right? He wants to be chewed up by lions so he can become Christ's true bread? Seriously? The answer is: yes, yes, he does. Does the fact that someone could believe so deeply, so fervently make us uncomfortable? Well, it should. Because we are called to that same depth and fervor.

Whatever we may think of his literary talents, Ignatius' plea makes perfect sense when read along side the Gospel. As the kids say these days, “He understood the assignment.” Fall to the ground. Lose your life. Serve and follow Christ. Die. Produce good fruit. The recipe for martyrdom. A recipe for bearing witness to the mercy and love we ourselves have received. We know that we cannot give what we do not have. But do we understand that we must give all that we have? Why? Because everything we have and are is given to us. Our lives, our faith, our hope, everything is first given to us by God. And our mission and ministry is to give it all away. To imitate Christ in passing along to others all the gifts God has given us. Most especially the gift of sacrificial love, the gift of Christ himself. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. It is unlikely that any of us will be eaten by lions in the Coliseum. But we are nonetheless called upon to flourish where we are planted. Ignatius' blood has fallen on Irving, TX; on UD; and St. Albert's Priory. On you and me. We are well-watered. And it is time to bear witness and give back all God has given us. 

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Exist for the praise of His glory

28^th Week OT (F)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Paul taught us yesterday that were are created, chosen, and blessed in Christ so that we might return to our Father holy and w/o blemish. Today he teaches us that we are also chosen in accord with His purpose: to exist for the praise of His glory. Aristotle and Aquinas teach us that to know the nature of a thing is to know its purpose, its telos. And knowing a thing's purpose tells everything we need to know about how that thing is properly ordered in the world while fulfilling its purpose. If we exist to praise God's glory, – that is, our purpose is to praise God – then how do we properly order our thoughts, words, and deeds towards reaching our telos? First, you must know and understand who you are in Christ Jesus. Before you were created, you were chosen and blessed. Chosen to be a son, a daughter of the Most High. Chosen to be His child and heir to His kingdom. You are Christ – imperfect right now – but being made perfect with the freedom won for you on the Cross. Second, you must know and understand that you are free. Free from sin. Free from death. Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavens to live and thrive as one who is becoming Christ. Third, you must freely give all that you have received. You have received mercy. Be merciful. You have received love. Be loving. You have received faith. Be faithful. You are a gift, so freely give. Lastly, and most importantly, in thought, word, and deed, you must give God thanks and praise for the gift of His Holy Spirit – the first installment of your inheritance. Who is this HS? He is the Love with which the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. We participate in their love as a gift, becoming sharers in the divine nature. To the degree that we love as He loves us, we become more and more like Love Himself. Aquinas tells us that love causes joy. Joy is an effect of love. So, ask yourself: am I joyful? Do I exude divine love in such a way that others see Christ through me? Do my words and deeds give God thanks and praise for my inheritance? If someone were to observe me at prayer, would they see joy, or anguish? Would they want to join me in prayer, or avoid me? If you are not joyful at being made Christ, remember this: you exist to praise God's glory. He created you. Chose you. And blessed you so that you can come to Him holy and unblemished. You are gift from Him, made to be given back to Him.

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Created, chosen, blessed

28^th Week OT (Th)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Do you understand who you are in Christ? Paul teaches us: [God] chose us before the foundation of the world and blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing to be holy and without blemish before him. So, before the creation of the world, we were chosen to be returned – holy and w/o blemish – to the Father through Christ. To accomplish this return, the Father blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Before we were created, we were chosen and blessed. Chosen to be sons and daughters of the Most High. Chosen to be His children and heirs to His kingdom. We were blessed, consecrated, set apart to live and thrive in an intimate relationship with Him. Blessed with everything we need to flourish in the world while remaining wholly and only His. It is by the Father's will that we were created, chosen, and blessed. It is His will that we return to Him when our time here is done. It is also His will that we return to Him freely. That you and I return to Him as a Self-Gift. That we make of ourselves a Gift to Him. But we cannot make ourselves a gift to Him w/o Him. So, He became one of us so that we might become like Him. It is through Christ and with Christ that you and I become acceptable gifts, holy and perfect sacrifices offered to the Father. In effect, we were created, chosen, and blessed in Christ to become Christ and to follow him freely to the Cross, to the Tomb, and on to the Wedding Feast in heaven. Do you understand who you are in Christ? You are Christ – an imperfect gift right now – but being made perfect with the freedom won for you on the Cross. So, go home, go to the office, go to the class, to the gym, wherever you go when you leave here this morning and be and speak and act and think and feel like the “being made perfect gift” that you are. You are free to be wholly and only His.

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Hang on to Gratitude

28^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

I grew up in rural Mississippi with more or less tradition-minded Baptist parents. My younger brother and I learned from Day One to say “yessir/no sir,” “please,” “thank you,” “excuse me.” Failure to express proper respect or gratitude earned a swift and terrible rebuke. I still use “Mr.” and “Ms” when addressing adults, and I cringe a little when people call me by my first name w/o asking, or shorten it to “Phil.” It's all very old-fashioned, I know, but there's something about the habits of good manners that makes life easier. In the case of the healed leper, his deeply felt sense of gratitude actually saves him! He discovers – probably to his great surprise – that giving God thanks for his healing is not only the polite thing to do but a way to salvation as well. For us, the baptized, giving God thanks for His blessings is way to persevere, a way to remain in Christ and thus end our earthly pilgrimage reigning with him in the Kingdom. Is it possible that the good manners many of us were taught as children is what remains of this spiritual insight? Saying “thank you,” especially to God, is a path to healing and salvation.

We hear Paul say to Timothy: “If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him.” That persevering part is what most of us find difficult. Dying with him in the waters of baptism was easy. Living with him has its challenges, but we manage it with the sacraments. Persevering with him however is on another level entirely. Persevering here means staying close to Christ. Hanging on to him through the best and the worst. Living with him whether we “feel” his presence or not. Perseverance is the good habit of being tenacious in faith when every fiber of your being is screaming at you: “Compromise! Just fit in! Surrender! This is too hard!” Have you seen that video of a bull dog swinging himself around a tree, teeth clamped on the end of a rope? The rope will break, or the tree will fall before that dog lets go. That's tenacity. That's perseverance. Now, I wouldn't trust my teeth to hang on like a bull dog's. But I do trust that gratitude is the key to staying close to Christ. The leper proves this. Christ teaches this. And I can bear personal witness that giving God thanks for His blessings is essential in our long trek to holiness.

As a priest in an academic ministry, I've never had my own parish to run, so I've spent a lot of time going out to parishes to hear confessions, give missions or talks, and basically just visiting with people. Every time I go out, I hear a lot of anxiety about the Church. I get confused questions about the faith. Angry comments about the news coming out of Rome. Questions and doubts about the future. Just generally an overwhelming sense that things aren't well with the Body of Christ. Something is wrong, something is upsetting the peace we've come to expect from following Christ. In response, I have to sharply suppress my professorial instincts and avoid giving a lecture on the history of the Church. No one wants to hear how good we have it compared to, say, the Church during the French Revolution. Then I have to swallow the need to remind folks that the “peace of Christ” comes with a promise of persecution. What I usually end up saying is that difficult times require a bull dog's tenacity. It might be too much to say that we're being tested. But – we're being tested. Not tested in the sense that God is deliberately trying to scare us or trip us up. But tested in the sense that steel is tested under pressure to measure its purity and strength. Our test is measuring the purity and strength of our gratitude. If you will to endure with Christ, you will be grateful to God for His blessings.

You might ask here: why does God need our gratitude? The answer is: He doesn't. Giving God thanks does nothing for God b/c He needs nothing from us. Our desire to give Him thanks is itself a gift that benefits us alone. In other words, we are doing ourselves a favor by returning thanks for all that God gives us. Failing to give thanks breeds narcissism and entitlement – I am owed. And entitlement is the rich soil of pride. If we nurture pride by failing in gratitude, we end up denying Christ – the ultimate gift from God. We end up being among the nine lepers who were healed but not saved. Ungrateful wretches living lives of resentment and anger b/c we believe that God owes us a debt. As followers of Christ, our best means of staying close to Christ is to be a tenacious Christian bull dog, refusing to let go of gratitude.

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Giving, getting, receiving

27^th Week OT (Th)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

To understand what Jesus is teaching us about prayer and gifts, we need to distinguish between and among three related terms: giving, getting, and receiving. I can give you a book. You can get that book from me. But did you receive the book as a gift? What if I had borrowed the book from you, and now I'm returning it? Is it a gift? No. What if you helped me organize my office in exchange for the book? That's payment; not a gift. What if I spilled coffee on your book, and now I'm replacing it with a new copy? Not a gift. For the book to be a gift it must be freely given and freely received. No strings attached. No obligations. If I expect you to read the book; write a report on it; and take a quiz. . .not a gift. There are strings attached. Jesus teaches us, “...ask and you will receive; seek and you will find...For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds...” Asking is receiving. Seeking is finding. God gives. We receive. God gives us every good gift from all eternity. From the instant of creation every good gift you will ever get has already been given to you. The exact date and time you will get those gifts is a mystery. What's not a mystery is that you will get those gifts only if you receive them as gifts. If you think of God's gifts as payments or loans or any other sort of conditional exchange, well, you have received them as something other than gifts. And you've missed the chance to give the proper response to receiving a gift – gratitude. However, if you receive His gifts as gifts and give Him thanks, then you grow in humility and improve your ability to recognize future gifts. The best strategy then for receiving God's gifts is to always and everywhere give Him thanks for whatever gifts He's already given you. Here's where faith comes into play – we don't know what's a gift and what isn't. God does. So, give Him thanks no matter what happens. Good, bad, ugly. Give Him thanks. Bad knees? Thank you, Lord. Career going well? Thank you, Lord. Trouble in your marriage? Thank you, Lord. Doing well in your classes? Thank you, Lord. Take every chance to be grateful. To grow in humility. Humility makes it possible for us to recognize God's gifts and receive them as such. It prompts us to ask for what we need and receive what we are given. Remember: we receive out of our faith, our trust. Our Father in heaven will not give us a snake when what we need is a fish.     

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Love cannot be outsourced

27^th Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Christian charity – agape – cannot be outsourced to an agency, a bureaucracy, or a corporation. Jesus never commands us to love God and one another through the machinations of gov't committees, commissions, or councils. Agape is one-on-one, hands-on, person-to-person love. The loved and the lover then move on to another in need and love him/her into Christ and then that one joins them to move on to love yet another. We might involve a third-party – like the innkeeper – to help with the basic physical needs of someone in trouble but the loving part of their care is up to us. Now, of course, the innkeeper himself could care for the troubled soul out of love. And that becomes another agape relationship. The point of all these agape relationships is not the relief of material poverty or the healing of wounds. Material poverty is relieved and wounds are healed – and that's all to the good and should be done! But the point – the end goal, the telos – of Christian charity must always and only be to give glory of God. During the Antonine and Cyprian plagues of the 2^nd and 3^rd c in the Roman Empire, the Church flourished b/c Christians were willing to do what the gov't wouldn't – take care of the sick and dying. Their witness turned the tide of gov't persecution, giving the Church her first taste of credibility and respectability. Over the centuries, hospitals, orphanages, hostels, universities, convalescent homes, and scientific institutions followed – all inventions of the Church, established to give glory to God. PF has warned us that the Church can never merely be an NGO, a non-governmental organization, an international agency that sets aside the supernatural work of agape for the salvation of souls for the secular goal of “doing good.” Christian charity is done so that others may see the glory of God at work in my work. Done right, others don't see me at all. But God alone. They see Christ and come to see Christ being perfected in themselves. Are the massive relief efforts of large NGO's more efficient? Sure. But no where does Jesus claim that the Way, the Truth, and the Life is efficient. Or more productive of immediate results. Or better at logistics or management. He simply claims that he is the only Way to the Father. No bureaucracy ever created has the paperwork for that kind of sacrificial love. 

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What will persuade you?

26^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Getting to The Point of a parable can be tricky if we give too much attention to secondary issues. For example, we can easily mistake the parable of the RM and Lazarus to be a parable about the evils of wealth and the eternal glories of poverty. It is true that it's harder for a rich man to get into heaven. Why? Because a rich man can grow to depend on his wealth rather than God. While the poor must depend on God entirely. But our parable this morning doesn't say that the RM depended on his wealth rather than God. It doesn't say that Lazarus was particularly holy just b/c he was poor. The RM doesn't refuse Lazarus charity nor does he go out of his way to be cruel. So, why is he is hell and Lazarus in heaven? The plain text of the parable says that the RM enjoyed luxury on earth therefore he is tormented after death. Lazarus was tormented on earth therefore he enjoys luxury after death. Is this is the point of the parable? No. It's the setup. The backstory. Along with the RM's plea to Abraham to send someone from the dead to urge his brothers to repent. The point of the parable is Abraham's last sentence: “If [your brothers] will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.”

Just two verses before we read the parable, we read Jesus saying, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter of the law to become invalid.” Jesus is making it clear that he is not abolishing the Law but completing it, perfecting it. The parable reinforces this teaching by making it clear that everything anyone needs to achieve eternal life is already fully contained within the Law and the Prophets. IOW, the Law and the Prophets of the OT foretold the coming of the Christ. The witness of the NT is simply the fulfillment, the perfection of the Old. If the RM's brothers won't listen to the Prophets and follow the Law in love, then even a visit from someone beyond the grave won't change their minds. The parable dares us to consider carefully what persuaded us to repent and follow the Christ. What might persuade others to repent and follow Christ? Embedded in this dare is another question: what prevents us from repenting and following Christ even after we've started along the Way? When we become lost, what encourages us to stay lost?

Going back to the parable, we can see at least one condition that might persuade us away from Christ – wealth. I know I just said that the RM isn't in hell because he is rich. That's true. The text doesn't say that. But we know that worldly prosperity can be a terrible distraction from the pursuit of holiness. Many of us might hope to one day win the lottery or inherit Aunt Mildred's multi-million dollar estate. If you nurture such a hope, you are tempting God and gambling with your soul. Every kind of worldly wealth comes with attachments. The most demanding of which is the desire for more. Bigger, better, richer, more, more, more. And each increase adds more weight to another attachment, another anchor to a passing world. We also know that wealth isn't limited to material luxuries. We can just as easily become attached to the wealth found in acquiring political power, for example. Academic-types know the temptations of the wealth bound up in prestige. Preachers are easily tempted by the wealth given in popularity and applause. None of these is a sin as such. But all of them can persuade us off the Way and get us lost. Like the complacent in Zion, condemned by the Prophet Amos, we can wallow in our luxury and fail to notice how and why we've gone astray.

The Good News is that the Way is always open, always straight and smooth. Yes, the Gate is narrow. But those who have put on Christ and keep him on are supernaturally skinny! Jesus wants us to know and understand that he is the fulfillment of Law and the Prophets. He is the advent of our salvation prophesied and proclaimed in the OT. Our obligations under the Covenant have been satisfied, and we are free and clear of any debt owed to God. As we move through our days toward a final judgment, we are tasked with remaining faithfully within the Law of Love, embodied in the Church and fed by the sacraments. Our only attachment is to Christ. Anything, anyone else is to be attached through him and with him. If you are wealthy, your wealth belongs to Christ. If you are powerful, your power belongs to Christ. If you are intelligent or athletically-gifted or beautiful or eloquent, it all belongs to Christ. To stay on the Way, turn your gifts to the service of others. Attach your gifts to others through Christ so that they too can see and hear the Word of mercy spoken by the Father. Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. And he returned from death to show us his saving love.

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