Four Paintings

These are the first four paintings I've completed. Because of the lighting conditions and my amateur camera (8.2 megapixel), the paintings appear more yellow than they really are. Each one 16x20 on canvas board.

Light of the Nations (ON HOLD)

Tree of Life (RECYCLED)

 

Ps 150 (SOLD)

Wondrous Deeds

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Painting

Mendicant Thanks to the kind soul who recently browsed the Wish List and sent me some painting supplies!

I have thus far painted two canvases that I like. Both are abstract color studies. 

If (and when) I get good pics of the two, I will post them for your enjoyment and/or derision.

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Choosing the Better Part

Our Lady of the Rosary

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

NDS/St Dominic Church, NOLA

We have in the sisters, Martha and Mary, two models, two paradigms for how we might proceed to reveal Christ's mystery to the world. When Jesus visits the sisters, Martha begins to fuss about, trying her best to prepare a suitably hospitable meal for their guest. Frustrated that Mary is ignoring her domestic duties in order to dote on Jesus, Martha complains to Jesus and asks him to admonish Mary for her apparent laziness. Instead of scolding Mary for her inattention to duty, Jesus turns Martha's complaint back on her, saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.” We should notice here that Jesus doesn't chastise Martha for griping nor does he seem ungrateful for her work on his behalf. Rather than soothe Martha's hurt feelings by telling Mary to get to work, rather than tempering Martha's anger with a lecture on patience, Jesus goes straight to the root of her fussiness. Martha is anxious; she is worried. Faced with the presence of Christ in her home, Martha chooses to get busy; she deflects her anxiety by “doing stuff,” hoping, perhaps, that by staying busy she will burn off the fretting worry. Mary, on the other hand, sits at Jesus' feet and listens to his instruction. She too might be anxious. She might be just as wound up and nervous as her sister in the presence of Christ, but she chooses “the better part,” attending to Jesus as he teaches her the mysteries of his Father's revelation.

 

Why does Jesus consider Mary's rapt attention to be better than Martha's distracted busyness? Let's ask this question another way. Who is most likely to learn: a student who sits in class texting on her cell phone, checking Facebook, or doodling; or the student who attentively listens to the teacher—no distractions, nothing to cloud her mind or burden her heart? If you have ever tried to teach a child a difficult math problem, or convey a set of relatively boring facts, then you know the answer to this question! Mary has the better part because she is more likely to learn, more likely to “get it,” more likely to become the better teacher and preacher of the mysteries herself. Martha will get quite a lot done, but will she be open to seeing and hearing the mystery that Jesus has to reveal? Jesus tells Martha, “There is need of only one thing.” There is only one needful thing, only one thing we need: to listen to the Word, the Word made flesh in Christ. 

When you take up Christ's commission to preach the mystery of salvation to the world, do you first listen to the Word; or do you get busy “doing stuff” that looks Christian, sounds Christian? Do you really hear what Christ has to say about God's mercy, His love? Do you attend to the Body of Christ in action during the celebration of his sacraments? Do you watch for Christ to reveal himself in those you love, in those you despise, those you would rather ignore or disparage? Can you set aside the work of doing Christian things and just be a follower of Christ, just long enough to be filled with the Spirit necessary to teach with all wisdom? It's vital that we understand that Martha isn't wrong for doing stuff. Her flaw rests solely in her anxiety and her worry while she's doing stuff. Being anxious and worried about many things while doing God's work is a sure sign that we are failing to grasp the central mystery of our commission to preach the Good News: it is Christ who preaches through us, not only with us, along side us, but through us. If we have truly seen and heard the mystery of our salvation through God's infinite mercy, then there is nothing to fear, nothing to be anxious about, nothing that can or will defeat the Word we are vowed to spread. Why? Because everything we do and say reveals Christ to the world. If the Church is the sacrament of God's presence in the world, and we are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, then we too are sacraments of God's presence. Individually imperfect, together we are made more perfect on the way to our perfection in Christ.

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Will you stand on the Cornerstone come what may?

27^th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA 

Here's a warning no servant of God ever wants to hear: “. . .the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” What's worse than living your life as an heir to eternal life only to discover that—in the end—you've been disinherited? When Jesus finishes telling the priests and elders the parable of the murderous tenants, he quotes Ps 118, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” By rejecting Christ as the cornerstone of their relationship with God, the leaders of God's people reject their inheritance. Their reaction to this prophetic statement? They ain't happy. However, they are more afraid than unhappy—afraid of Jesus' popularity, so they postpone arresting him. They're not worried about losing their eternal inheritance. They're worried about losing their power and prestige among the people. When we think about the arduous demands of faithfully following Christ, do we think first of our eternal inheritance, or do we first consider how following him might look to family, friends, or neighbors? Do we reject the cornerstone of our faith in favor of not being noticed, in favor of never being challenged or excluded from polite company?  

Rejecting God in favor of wealth, power, and fame is not new to the 21^st century. The parable of the tenants retells the history of the Jewish people's stormy relationship with God. We know the story all too well. It tells just like the history of the Church's relationship with God: lots of disobedience and great moments of heroic virtue. What the parable doesn't include is an explanation for our repeated failures. We can hear greed in the tenants' justification for killing the owner's son. But greed never poisons alone. We can hear a little wrath in the tenants' desire to wound their employer. Some pride and class envy. Why do the priests and elders reject Christ? Why do we so consistently reject making Christ the cornerstone of our lives. Making Christ the cornerstone of our everyday lives means risking one of our most valuable treasures: being a respected player in whatever social game that defines us. Family, friends, co-workers, colleagues, neighbors, fellow parishioners. If I make Christ my cornerstone, will I have to buck popular political trends, go against the prevailing attitudes of my peers, and risk losing real prestige for nothing more than a promise of future glory?

Social psychologists will tell you that there is almost nothing more difficult for an individual to do than go against the crowd. The psychology of the herd is infectious; it takes the single soul into a massed spirit where deliberation and freedom are strangled for the sake of frenzy. But few of us will ever be caught up in that sort of mob. The mobs we belong to are much more subtle and more dangerous: the workplace, the family reunion, movie night with friends, faculty meetings, events where those whose opinions of us we honor gather to socialize and strengthen the bonds of the group. When the opportunity arises, do we choose Christ as our cornerstone; or do we choose our standing in the group? When family, friends, co-workers express their support for the culture of death, do you stand on Christ; or do you back down to save face? When your peers start advocate undermining marriage and the family; or expressing racist opinions; or defaming the Church, do you stand on Christ, or back down? If Christ is to be your cornerstone, then everything you are must find its integrity and strength in Christ, regardless of the consequences. As baptized prophets of the Church, you are sent out to live the truth of the gospel. Even if and especially when it means your prestige must take a beating. When the time comes, will you “remember the marvelous works of the Lord,” most especially the marvelous work of your salvation achieved on the altar of the Cross?  

 

If contemplating your willingness to remain faithful to Christ and his Church is making you nervous, listen again to Paul: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” The peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus if we make known to him – in prayer with thanksgiving – all that we need. If you need strength to stand firmly on his cornerstone, ask for it with thanksgiving. If you need patience to stand diligently on his cornerstone, ask for it with thanksgiving. If you need wisdom to stand knowledgeably on his cornerstone, ask for it with thanksgiving. Nothing you need to stand upon the cornerstone of Christ will be denied you if you seek it out and simply ask for it with thanksgiving. Any anxiety you may be feeling b/c of who you are in Christ is the product of the Enemy coaxing you toward silence, toward defensiveness and silence. The peace that God gives us surpasses all understanding, all anxiety, all hesitancy and guile. When we speak up to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, it is not our tongues that speak but his. Not our words but his. Not our time and energy spent but his. As his faithful servants, we serve his mission and ministry by continuing to speak his Word of mercy to anyone who will listen.

 

Paul not only tells us how to pray for what we need to stand on the cornerstone of Christ, he also tells us how to go about training our hearts and minds for the holy work that the Lord has given us to complete. He writes, “. . .whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, pure, lovely, gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Just as we work to discipline our bodily appetites against temptation, avoiding those occasions where we might be tempted to put the things of this world before God, so too can we work to discipline our hearts and minds against the invasive ideas and passions – falsity, dishonor, injustice, impurity, ugliness, crudity, mediocrity, and scorn. Look at the tenants who murder the vineyard owner's son. They think about murder and talk about murder before actually committing murder. They fail to resist greed and anger, and they feed one another's passions until the deed is done. They would, according to the priests and elders, suffer “wretched deaths” for their failure to discipline themselves. When we make a stand on the cornerstone of Christ and lay claim to our inheritance as the Father's sons and daughters, our words and deeds must bring honor, dignity, and praise to His name.

The builders God raised up rejected Christ as their cornerstone, and Christ says to them, “. . .the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” We stand with Christ in his Church to proclaim the Good News of salvation. Whether this stand is popular or not; prestigious or not; profitable or not. If we would be the people who produce the good fruit of His kingdom, the people to inherit the Kingdom of heaven on our last day, then we must stand with Christ as he died for us.

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What kind of cry can such a dumb herald utter?

From the Office of Readings: Pastoral Guide by Saint Gregory the Great, pope 

Let the pastor be discreetly silent, and to the point when he speaks

A spiritual guide should be silent when discretion requires and speak when words are of service. Otherwise he may say what he should not or be silent when he should speak. Indiscreet speech may lead men into error and an imprudent silence may leave in error those who could have been taught. Pastors who lack foresight hesitate to say openly what is right because they fear losing the favor of men. As the voice of truth tells us, such leaders are not zealous pastors who protect their flocks, rather they are like mercenaries who flee by taking refuge in silence when the wolf appears.

The Lord reproaches them through the prophet: They are dumb dogs that cannot bark. On another occasion he complains: You did not advance against the foe or set up a wall in front of the house of Israel, so that you might stand fast in battle on the day of the Lord. To advance against the foe involves a bold resistance to the powers of this world in defense of the flock. To stand fast in battle on the day of the Lord means to oppose the wicked enemy out of love for what is right.

When a pastor has been afraid to assert what is right, has he not turned his back and fled by remaining silent? Whereas if he intervenes on behalf of the flock, he sets up a wall against the enemy in front of the house of Israel.

Therefore, the Lord again says to his unfaithful people: Your prophets saw false and foolish visions and did not point out your wickedness, that you might repent of your sins. The name of the prophet is sometimes given in the sacred writings to teachers who both declare the present to be fleeting and reveal what is to come. The word of God accuses them of seeing false visions because they are afraid to reproach men for their faults and thereby lull the evildoer with an empty promise of safety. Because they fear reproach, they keep silent and fail to point out the sinner’s wrongdoing.

The word of reproach is a key that unlocks a door, because reproach reveals a fault of which the evildoer is himself often unaware. That is why Paul says of the bishop: He must be able to encourage men in sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. For the same reason God tells us through Malachi: The lips of the priest are to preserve knowledge, and men shall look to him for the law, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Finally, that is also the reason why the Lord warns us through Isaiah: Cry out and be not still; raise your voice in a trumpet call.

Anyone ordained a priest undertakes the task of preaching, so that with a loud cry he may go on ahead of the terrible judge who follows. If, then, a priest does not know how to preach, what kind of cry can such a dumb herald utter? It was to bring this home that the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues on the first pastors, for he causes those whom he has filled, to speak out spontaneously."

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What Scripture is. . .

NB. A 2005 homily for the Feast of St. Jerome. I dedicate this one to Dr. Nathan Eubank, one of our two superb Scripture scholars at NDS. Dr. Eubank was recently appointed to the USCCB cmte to help revise the NAB. 

26th Week OT (Fri): 2 Tim 3.14-17; Matt 13.47-52
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Albert Priory & Church of the Incarnation 

Scripture is the family story. It is the story we are told and tell about how those who came before us struggled with the God—how they loved Him, served Him, challenged Him, railed against His apparent injustices, how they betrayed Him, and finally, killed Him as an enemy of the Empire and the Temple.

Scripture is the family story about what Jesus taught the disciples. About what he did in the crowds with the diseased, the outcast, those near death in sin. Scripture is the family story of what happens when we call on His name and ask Him to be with us; what happens when we pray in the spirit of righteousness and receive His grace to preserve, to grow, to triumph.

Scripture is our history, our story, our flight-plan and our road map. It is also a record of our failures in the faith, our surrenders to easy, alien doctrines; a record of those times when we scratched our itchy ears with whatever shiny new thing winked at us—Greek Stoicism or angel worship or Gnosticism or just the plain ole insistence on the Old Law and its requirements.

Scripture is a foundation, a framework, and a beautifully appointed castle. It stands against the fickle tides of fashion, fending off the modernist barbarians who would put us back in the desert wandering, back into the crowds disbelieving, leaving us at the foot of the cross gambling, standing at the empty tomb shaking our head at how clever those Christian thieves can be.

Scripture teaches us, refutes us, corrects us, and trains us in righteousness. We are made students, penitents, disciples, and apostles. Belonging to God, we are fully equipped and competently trained to do every good work Christ has commanded us to do. And through Scripture we know not only where the family has been and where is it, but where it is going as well.

We also know Jesus Christ Himself; deep speaks to deep, Word to Word, the Word of God is flesh and spirit, one revelation of the Divine and another together: scripture and Christ, Word and Word, wisdom of salvation and Salvation Himself.

The celebration of St Jerome is a piercing call to the Church, all of us, to take up the hard work of reading scripture and opening our hearts and minds to the insistent knocking of the wisdom that the Word contains. Jerome, in a commentary on Isaiah, puts the matter plainly, “For if,” as Paul says, “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” There’s a slap in the face! If you don’t know scripture, you don’t know Christ. Ignorance of the Word is ignorance of the Word.

Give yourself over to the Word to be taught in the wisdom of salvation, to be refuted in your error, to be corrected in your sin, and to be trained in righteousness. Give yourself over to Christ, submit to the wisdom of five millenia of witnesses who witness with one voice to the power, the love, the mercy, the constancy and the faithfulness of our God.

Come, everyone! Join the good fish in the bucket of the righteous!

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Audio File for Homily: 26th Sunday OT

Audio File for "Do You Have a Heart Problem?"

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Do you have a Heart Problem? (Audio File Updated)

26^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio File

God's people complain to the prophet Ezekiel, “The Lord is unfair! His rules are too rigid. His demands on us are burdensome. His ways are so unfair!” Through Ezekiel, the Lord turns the complaints around and asks, “Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?” The Lord's obvious point is that when we complain about His “rules,” what we are really complaining about is our own refusal to see and hear the inevitable consequences of our own bad choices. It's not gravity's fault that we fall to the ground when we choose to jump out of a perfectly good tree. Nor is it God's fault when we persist in our sins, sowing disobedience and discord, and are then left to deal with the messy results. All of our favorite tricks for dodging responsibility are just that – tricks. Re-defining a sin so that it doesn't seem like a sin. Appealing to polls or science or other religions to wave away unpleasant “rules.” Putting God's will “into the proper context” in order to lighten any perceived burden. None of these work. Not ultimately. What works? What works every single time? Repentance and God's mercy. In that order: we repent – turn toward God – and His mercy freely flows.  

Here's one way to think about this: the Church – that's us – has a heart problem. Not just a troubled heart or a heavy heart, but a problem with how our hearts in Christ circulate the life-blood of the Church, the two key ingredients of our salvation: our repentance and God's mercy. This diagnosis of a heart problem arises for us at a time in the life of the Church when we are being challenged more than ever to examine and defend the basic truths of the faith, forced to consider and reconsider how we as followers of Christ understand ourselves as heirs to the Kingdom. What does it mean to be an heir to the Kingdom? Take Jesus' parable of the two sons. This is a parable about the Old and New Covenants, about unrepentant Israel under the Law of Moses and the obedient Church under the grace of Christ. The first son, at first disobedient, eventually repents and obeys his father's command to work the vineyards. The second son, pretending to be obedient, immediately agrees to work the vineyards but never gets around to it. Jesus asks the chief priests and elders, “Which son does the father's will?” They reply correctly, “The first.” Jesus then admonishes them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” Notorious public sinners are becoming heirs to the Kingdom!  

How? How do these notorious public sinners enter the kingdom before God's chosen religious leaders? B/c the notorious public sinners heard John the Baptist preach repentance, and they repented of their sins. Like the first son, they turned themselves around and obeyed. The priests and elders heard John, but they never turned, relying instead on the illusion of obedience to save them. Like the second son, they believe that obedience is just words. God's mercy flows freely and abundantly to those who repent, those who truly turn themselves around and do the will of the Father. Notice: it's not the ones who complain and whine about the “rules” that end up repenting and inheriting the Kingdom. It's not the really super-religious people who follow all the rules who end up inheriting the Kingdom. Who inherits? Traitors, hookers, serial killers, child molesters, and thieves. They inherit. . .IF they repent, turn around toward God, and obey His will. If we will inherit the Kingdom, we will spend much less time complaining about the unfairness of God's ways and much, much more time and energy turning ourselves around to face the Him, the only One who can and will save us.

All of this is Christianity 101. So, where's the heart problem? Here's the problem: having received God's mercy by repenting of our own sins, do we allow our fellow sinners the chance to live out the mercy they themselves have received through repentance? Or, do we refuse to recognize them as brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we tempted to assume the worse about notorious sinners and leave them out of the Kingdom? Look to your own experience with God's mercy. Instead of complaining about His “unfair ways,” you searched your conscience, found your sins, confessed and repented of them, then went on with your growth in holiness fed by His mercy. If you can do it, then why can't another? Maybe you suffer from a heart problem. Does repentance and mercy freely circulate in your body? If not, then they cannot freely circulate in the Body of Christ, the Church. And if these two key ingredients of our salvation cannot freely circulate, then the Church will grow weaker and weaker at a time when we need one another's strength and courage more and more. It is the Lord's Way that we must repent to receive mercy. It is also His Way that we must recognize repentance and allow His mercy to feed others.

How do we do this? How do we recognize repentance and allow God's mercy to feed others? As always, Paul comes to our aid. He pleads with us: “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy. . .Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.” In other words, if Christ strengthens your heart or comforts you in love; if you in any way take part in the life and work of the Holy Spirit, or receive from the Spirit any amount of compassion or mercy, then take on the mind of Christ – think with his sacrificial love, work with his dedication for the salvation of souls, and speak in the language of obedience and service. Paul challenges us to be “of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of [vanity].” When we repent and lay claim to God's mercy for ourselves, yet refuse to recognize the repentance of another, thus refusing to see God's mercy at work in them, we put ourselves in the Judgment Seat, displacing Christ as the only true Judge. Then our heart problem becomes critical and the Church grows weaker. It is unfair that God forgives those we believe to be unrepentant sinners? Let Him answer: “Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?” 

  

Our Lord admonishes the priests and elders b/c they did not believe John the Baptist when he preached the baptist of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They were appalled when tax collectors and prostitutes lined the River Jordan for baptism, and they accused John of defiling God's ways. But they were really accusing God Himself. Jesus turns the accusing finger back on them, telling them that the worst of the worst among them were entering the Kingdom before they could. The difference btw the priests/elders and the notorious sinners is not their sin or their desire for mercy. Both groups are sinners; both want mercy. The difference is that the sinners turned toward God, repenting of their sins in all humility, asking for and receiving the forgiveness they need to become heirs to the Kingdom. The priests and elders complain to Jesus that God is being too lax, too easy on the sinners; He's encouraging more sin by letting them off w/o sufficient punishments. God says, “Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?” If you have a heart problem, repent and let the Father's mercy heal you.

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Vocation Vids and Stories

NOLAPriest.com has produced an excellent vocations video, What Does It Mean To Be A Seminarian?  The vid was filmed at NDS and features NOLA seminarian, Colm Cahill.

The linked page also includes two other vids: one from Archbishop Aymond and one on this summer's priestly ordinations.

The site also has three vocation stories from seminarians. Andrew Ruddman, a student of mine, features in one of the stories.

Check them out!
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Who is Jesus for me and mine?

NB. I celebrated the NDS Masses this Tues, Wed, and Thurs b/c the priests of the archdiocese were having a big meeting. I was the only priest left at the seminary!  Today, I have 16 homily-tutorials scheduled. Oy. Below is a homily from 2012. Just thought I'd close out the week. . .

25th Week OT (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio file

We've heard it said—many times—that we live and move and have our being in God. Without God, we are nothing, literally, not a thing at all. So, one of the most humble services that we perform for ourselves is to measure, to take account of, where we stand in the creating and re-creating kinship that gave us life and sustains us in love. When we perform this humble service, what are we measuring? What sort of scale do we use? Since our relationship with God is familial, that is, we think and act along with God as a family, and since a family is bound together by blood and nourished in love, we could describe our relationship to the Father as holy—a relationship set apart from the world, consecrated to a divine purpose. How then do we measure holiness—our nearness to the Father, our distance from Him? Sin measures our distance from God; obedience measures our nearness. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us that all things under heaven have their appointed time, a time to arrive and unfold, a time to depart and decay. As we live and move and have our being in God, it is always time to measure our kinship with Him. Now and always is the right moment to ask yourself, “Who is Jesus for me and mine?” Your answer measures your holiness.

When Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter answers, “The Christ of God,” Jesus rebukes them all and orders them to keep this answer a secret. Having taken the measure of his disciples and heard their confession of faith, our Lord not only silences them, he also reveals to them his immediate future: suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. Does he silence them b/c he fears too many will suffer and die along with him? Or does he demand they keep this secret so that his ministry might not be impeded by his enemies? Our Lord knows that to follow him is invites persecution. But following him also guarantees rescue. Following him guarantees death, but it also promises resurrection. Maybe he demands silence about his true identity b/c he knows that too many will too quickly chase after him and fail to soberly measure the consequences, fail to honestly take account of the sacrifices required to live the radical love that the Father demands of His children. If there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to sow and a time to harvest, then there is a time to soberly, honestly measure who Christ is and who you are as his student in the school of charity.

Friday is the traditional day in the Church calendar when we remember the crucifixion and examine our relationship in holiness with God. If sin measures our distance from God and obedience our nearness, then there is no better day to take account our of disobedience and give thanks for the nearness of His mercy. And there is no better way to accomplish this work of humility than to spend some time seriously contemplating our answer to the question, “Who do you say Jesus is?” For there to be any chance at all that he is the rock of your holiness, he must be—minimally—the one, the only one who suffered on the cross for you; died for you; and rose on the third day for you. Whatever else and whoever else he might be for you—enlightened master, social justice icon, moral exemplar—he must be the Crucified Christ, the long-promised Messiah. Your faith in this truth is the unique measure of your holiness. Not the only measure to be sure but the one that gives all other measures their scale. I dare you: examine your day—your thoughts, words, deeds—and ask yourself before you fall asleep: seeing and hearing me today, is there anyone out there b/c of me who loves God more now than they did when they woke up this morning?

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Have you sworn to the mission of Christ?

25^th Week OT (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Notre Dame Seminary, NOLA
 

We know that kings fear prophets and we know why: prophets of the Lord trust in God alone, leaving no room in their hearts for the things of this world, no space for the king to occupy with threats or bribes. Now we know that kings can be perplexed by the Lord's prophets and preachers – curious or puzzled by who they are and what they might achieve in God's name. Herod the tetrarch hears “about all that [is] happening” in his kingdom, and the news leaves him “greatly perplexed.” All that is happening in Herod's kingdom is the ministry of Jesus the Christ. Teaching, preaching, healing, casting out demons. All that is happening is the fulfillment of the Father's promise to His people to forever free them from the slavery of sin. All that is happening is the advent of the long-awaited Messiah and the redemption of creation as a hostage to death. Herod is perplexed b/c some say that this Jesus is Elijah the prophet. Some say that he is the martyred herald, John. So, the king, anxiously curious, asks, “Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” To quail his anxiety and satiate his curiosity, Herod persists in “trying to see him.” As priests, prophets, and kings in Christ Jesus, it is our sacred duty to show the Herod's of this world exactly who Christ is.

In Herod's own day, Christ showed himself to be exactly who and what he claimed to be: the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Messiah. In word and deed, he revealed the Father to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. And upon those who saw and heard his Word, he sent the Holy Spirit in fire and tongues to give birth to the Church. The witness of the Church – from that 2,000 yr old Pentecost up to and including Sept 25, 2014 – is the consistent, on-going testimony of the Spirit manifested in and through the words and deeds of the men and women who surrender themselves to the ever-merciful will of God and place themselves wholly under obedience to the single-hearted mission of Christ: tell my Father's people that through me His mercy is freely given for the salvation of their souls. Is this the mission and ministry you have sworn yourself to? Are you under the obedience of Christ to preach and teach the Good News – that no one has to remain a slave to sin; that no one has to endure the permanent darkness of death; that no one can be compelled to deny that Jesus is Lord? If we are not preaching and teaching and living out Christ's command to love, then how we will show our 21st century Herod's exactly who Christ is?

 

Qoheleth – centuries ago – prophetically describes an enduring spirit, one that still animates the powers of this world: useless vanity, futile labor, directionless change, wasted bounty, breathless speech, exhausted novelty, and the forgetfulness of memory and its destruction. We can call this spirit, Nihil – the emptiness that motivates Herod's perplexity and the principal obstacle to our mission. Nihil possesses the heart and mind and encourages chaos by convincing the poor soul that only Nothing matters; Nothing is good, true, and beautiful; Nothing rules and guides; Nothing is sacred, Nothing transcends. Against the spirit of Nihil, God's prophets and preachers bring another Spirit, another more powerful force: the spirit and power of Caritas. All that is happening through us must be the love and mercy Christ promises to sinners. It's not enough to just speak the words. We are vowed to preach the Word. Teach the Word. And act out the Word. We must be and do exactly who and what Christ is for the salvation of the world. Herod was perplexed. This world is more than perplexed; it is possessed of a spirit of destruction and deceit. Our sacred duty is to show a Better Way by being that Better Way, by being Christ for others.

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Graft your life onto the Cross

25^th Week OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Notre Dame Seminary, NOLA

Kings fear prophets b/c prophets have nothing to lose when the kings decides that the prophet's truth-telling threatens kingly power. With nothing and no one to hold hostage, nothing short of death can silence a noisy prophet. And thus are we tested in faith: are you prepared to die for telling the Truth and doing the Good? More specifically, are you prepared to die for preaching Christ and for living out his unbreakable Word? If not, Christ says, “Take nothing for the journey. . .” Take nothing along with you but Christ. Take nothing but his Word – his promises, his mighty deeds. Anything not of Christ and everyone but Christ can be taken from you. Mother, father, brothers and sisters, friends, car, house, job, reputation – all of these can be/will be destroyed when the powers of this world tire of your truth-telling and do-gooding. If nothing and no one comes before Christ, if nothing and no one counts more than Christ in your work, then the king cannot silence you. He cannot kill Christ. Not again. Christ has defeated the kings of this world. So, whatever treasure they may have to tempt you into silence – it all belongs to Christ. . .and to us as his adopted brothers and sisters. Our prayer as prophets on the Way: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only [what] I need.”

In the summer of 2013, Pope Francis preached to a group of seminarians and religious novices in Rome. He exhorted them, “Herein lies the secret of the fruitfulness of a disciple of the Lord! Jesus sends his followers out with no 'purse, no bag, no sandals'. The spread of the Gospel is not guaranteed either by the number of persons, or by the prestige of the institution, or by the quantity of available resources. What counts is to be permeated by the love of Christ, to let oneself be led by the Holy Spirit and to graft one’s own life onto the tree of life, which is the Lord’s Cross.” Graft your life onto the Cross. Is it possible to graft your life onto the Cross if you come to the Cross weighted down with Necessary Things, with Important Relationships, and Serious Responsibilities? If we love these more than Christ? No. No, we cannot be grafted onto the Cross weighed down by these burdens. However, if we love Christ first, that is, if we love all other things, people, and relationships through our love for Christ – placing Christ first in the order of understanding – then we are already grafted onto to the trunk of the Cross. And our lives are lives of praise and thanksgiving for the chance to die with him on the altar of his cross.

In 21^st century America, it is more than just a little difficult to imagine the depth of surrender that Jesus is urging on us. Yes, he means material poverty when he says “take nothing on the journey.” Yes, by “[take] neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, [nor] a second tunic” he means to say that the things we own too often come to own us. And yes, he means that virtuous detachment from stuff is essential to the preaching of the Good News. But the depth of our surrender can only begin with material poverty and virtuous detachment. If we become poor and wholly detached and yet remain uncommitted to Christ's ministry of freely given mercy and sacrificial love, then we are nothing more than just detached and poor. Can poverty and detachment alone tell the Truth and do the Good? No. Kings do not fear the poor and the detached. The powers of this world fear the prophet's trust in God alone. They fear humility, mercy, and the sort of love that dies for another. The depth of our surrender then is measured not by our material poverty or detachment, but how freely and eagerly our poverty and detachment bring Christ to those caught in the traps of sin and death. 

 

So. . .who or what owns you, holding you back from diving to the deepest depths of surrender in Christ?

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Your head on a platter

Padre Pio

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Notre dame Seminary, NOLA

Why would a king fear a prophet? How does a man like Herod, a man with wealth, political and military power, and the loyalty of Imperial Rome, become anxious about some backwoods preacher? At first glance, prophets are nobodies. Disreputable, destitute, wandering madmen. No family ties. No wealth, no power, no prestigious academic credentials. They have no institutional affiliations, no grant money, no access to the media. Their overwhelming stench drives even the unwashed paparazzi away! So, who are these men who give kings sleepless nights? If they are truly prophets of the Lord, then they have one thing any king should fear: a mandate from God to speak the truth. While God's prophets preach the Word, kings play the game of politics, a game of influence in the acquisition of power. And the fact that prophets have nothing lose—nothing to bargain with, nothing to compromise—well, this makes them dangerous indeed. Herod murdered John the Baptist on a whim. And that preacher from Nazareth is quickly becoming a problem. Himself a priest, a prophet, and a king, Jesus goes around claiming to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. With nothing to lose, nothing to compromise, he is an imminent threat to the secular power of kings. And King Herod in particular. As the Body of Christ—each one of us, baptized as priests, prophets, and kings—as the Church, do we pose an imminent threat to the powers of this world? If we don't, we aren't doing our jobs.

There was a time when the Church could cause kings and queens to quake under their royal bed covers. No monarch legitimately ruled without the consent of the Church. Popes could foment a revolution by relieving a monarch's subjects from their sacred duty to obey their betters. The Church commanded armies, treasuries, orders of knights, and, most frightening of all, the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Just ask the Holy Roman Emperor, King Henry IV about those keys! But Herod doesn't fear Jesus b/c Jesus can rouse the rabble and arm them, or because he can buy a spot in the line of royal succession. Herod is anxious about Jesus, perplexed by this itinerant preacher for the same reason that most rulers fear those with nothing to lose: there's nothing—short of death—to stop them from speaking the truth. And in the case of Christ, death proved to be an international catalyst for the spread of his Good News!

As the Church, the Body of Christ, each of us baptized as priests, prophets, and kings, do we keep the worldly powers awake at night worrying about the truth we might unleashed upon the realm? Though fear can be a powerful motivator for getting the right thing done, we no longer rely on ecclesial knights and papal armies to threaten kings with the violence of heaven. In all the ways that truly matter, we have become more powerful by abdicating power, wealthier in abandoning wealth, and holier in surrendering the pretenses of an Imperial Church. But are we stripped bare enough to bring the prophetic word to those who would threaten what we have left? Christ warned his disciples that to be faithful to the end they could prefer nothing and no one before him. Anything and anyone we choose before we choose Christ is something or someone for us to lose when the king gets anxious about our truth-telling. Then, we are forced to choose again and again, each time we are called upon for the sake of unity, or fashion, or convenience, each time we are harangued to compromise or lie or cheat, we must choose. Christ or power? Christ or influence? Christ or celebrity? Christ or popularity? Christ or the family and friends?

The preacher, Qoheleth, infamously laments: “All things are vanity!” Futile, fleeting. For the Church, this is not a lament but an expression of hope. The Good News of Christ Jesus is no thing. Neither futile nor fleeting. And if we, his Body, are to be prophetic in a time of corrupt and violent power, we cannot flinch from speaking veritas in caritate, truth in love. 

 

So, let me ask you: how do you think your head will look on a silver platter?

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Audio File: homily for 25th Sunday OT

Audio file: "Magnify Christ with your generosity"
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Magnify Christ with your generosity!

25th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio File 

Without a bit of pride, Paul proclaims: “Christ will be magnified in my body.” He sounds very much like Mary saying YES to the Lord’s angel at the Annunciation. Christ will be made larger, brighter, sharper, louder, and more skilled in Paul’s body. Paul says without fear, “Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death.” Whether alive or dead, Christ will be magnified. Like Mary at the feet of the angel, Paul turns his life and his death over to the Lord—and to the work of the Lord—and confesses to his brothers and sisters in Philippi that his life as a worker for the Lord will be larger, brighter, sharper, and more skilled precisely b/c the work he does will be done for the greater glory of the God. And this is just the work of his life! Death is no obstacle for Paul b/c “life is Christ, and death is gain.” Live in Christ and magnify God's work on earth. Die in Christ, be with God eternally, and still magnify His work in His presence. Our commitment to Christ is life and death; in life and in death, we serve the mighty works of God!

Notice this about Paul's commitment to Christ: he doesn't donate his time, talent, and treasure out of any excess of these gifts. He doesn’t give over to the work of the Lord the overflow of his riches. The leftovers. Paul does not say “Christ will be magnified in my checkbook.” “Christ will be magnified in my volunteer hours.” “Christ will be magnified in my talent.” He says that Christ will be magnified in his body. His very flesh and bone. And whether he lives or dies the work he does for the Lord will bear abundant fruit for others. Paul doesn't parcel his life (or his death) into discreet packages addressed to different and equally worthy recipients: his family, his career, his friends, and, oh, one for the Lord too here on the bottom somewhere. Paul’s whole life—the first fruits, the abundant works, the failures and misgivings, and, finally, his last breath—all of it, his whole life is given to Christ for the enlargement of Christ and his mission of mercy on earth.

But what does it mean for Christ to be magnified in the body? We are being admonished to pull ourselves out of the habit of abstraction, the all-too-devilish temptation to lift our religious obligations to one another into the heavens where we can keep them separate from any real duty to perform them here on earth. So long as the obligation to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned remain abstracted moral imperatives far, far away Up There, we are tempted to honor them in the abstract – neglect to perform them – and remain confident that the work of the Lord is getting done. Paul’s insistence that Christ will be magnified in his body is the clearest indication we have that the work of the Lord is to be done. Not just thought about or prayed over. Not just written about. Not just preached about. And certainly not abstracted and lifted up and placed a spiritualized “to do” list. The work of Christ is to be done. And done first for and only God’s greater glory.

Now. I know what you’re thinking! “Wow, Father is wound up tonight. He must think we’re all lazy bums laying around thinking about the good works of mercy, but watching Wheel of Fortune instead!” Not quite. I know the generosity of this community, and I know that you are motivated to be instruments of the Lord in the world. There is a hunger here for others to see and hear what God has done in your lives. There is an eagerness here, a tangible need to draw others to God and to bear witness to them the power of Christ’s mercy—to forgive, to heal, to bless. I’m not wagging my finger at you tonight, but merely reminding us all where we come from, where we are, and where we are going. We were sent by Christ. We are with Christ. And we will be with Christ – in life and in death.

There is, however, a temptation waiting for us. An eager little devil waiting to pounce on our witness to the Lord. It is an opportunity for us to sin and delight the Liar. What is this temptation? It is the temptation to believe that we work for God out of our own generosity, out of our own time, out of our own resources, and we are therefore entitled to a greater reward when we outwork our neighbors in doing good deeds.

This is pretty much what the parable of the whiny workers is all about, a parable about our salvation and our growth in holiness. The whiny workers begrudge the landowner’s generosity when he pays full wages to the laborers who hadn't work as long as they had. Why? For some reason they feel that their own labor and their own wages are diminished by the generosity of the vineyard owner. Somehow their day’s labor is dirtied. Their dollar is devalued. They worked harder and longer under the fiery sun, so they deserve more than those who sauntered in at the last hour and barely broke a sweat! These guys are upset b/c they are working out of a worldly notion of justice – compensation is earned; you should get what is owed you, what you deserve. All true. . .in the world. But remember, this is a parable about salvation and holiness not a lesson on capitalist economics.

Think about applying a worldly notion of justice to your spiritual life. Do you want God to compensate you for your life’s work in Christ using this world's idea of what's just? Do we really want our lives judged by a worldly standard? Do we want to live forever with what we deserve? What we’ve earned in this life? The whole point of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is that we won’t be given what we deserve; we won’t receive from the Father what is owed to us. Before the coming of the Christ, God's people had to earn His justice. Good works, holiness, purity, obedience kept you in the Covenant and entitled you to His just rewards. Failure to live up to the Covenant earned you His just punishments. But with the coming of the Christ, we no longer need to earn or even fear His justice b/c He has given us – just freely handed over – His mercy in the person of Christ Jesus.

On the Altar of the Cross our Final Wage is offered once for all. Unearned by us. Yet freely given to us. Whether you came to your salvation as an infant sixty years ago or as a teenager ten years ago or as an adult three hours ago, your Final Wage comes from the bottomless cache of the Father’s generosity. Salvation is free. Holiness—the living out of that salvation morning, afternoon, and night—is hard, sweaty work. But even that labor is graced by a loving God Who would see us with Him for eternity. That grace, His gifts are more than sufficient to help us magnify the Lord – in our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies.

THEREFORE, make Christ larger, brighter, louder, sharper, sweeter, stronger, kinder, truer, more beautiful, more loving, more faithful, more humble, more generous, and make Christ bigger, and bigger, and bigger in your life. Magnify the Lord 'til your knees buckle. Magnify the Lord 'til your back hurts. Magnify the Lord in your body 'til there is no room for sin. And when the Lord asks, “Are you jealous b/c I am generous to sinners?” Be able to say with all honesty, “No, Lord! I am grateful in life and death, and I live and die to magnify you.”

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