Choosing what a fool desires

20^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

No one chooses to be a fool. No one gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror, and says, “I'm going to be a fool today.” However, it is possible to look into that mirror and say, “I want what I want. Consequences be damned.” What happens next is folly. Aquinas tells us that folly opposes wisdom. Folly occurs when an otherwise rational person “plung[es] his sense into earthly things, where his sense is rendered incapable of perceiving Divine things” (ST II-II.46.2). NB. if your sense is occupied with earthly things, it cannot be occupied with divine things. Another way of saying this is: if you are living day in and day out as if there were no divine things to contemplate, no divine truths to ponder, then you are a fool. Thus, Paul warns the Ephesians: “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise...” Good advice. But how do we live as wise persons? He answers, “...do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.” To “continue in ignorance” implies that we are ignorant but that we can not be. “Try to understand” implies that we do not yet understand but that we can. Knowing and understanding then are key to being wise. Knowing and understanding free us from folly.

But there is a catch. Knowing and understanding have to be pursued; that is, knowing and understanding must be sought out and lived out. It's not enough to know a truth and understand that truth. For truth to be fully grasped in all its glory, it must be integrated into every decision, every act, every thought. It must be made manifest in the real world in real time. Otherwise, it's just an interesting proposition. A bunch of words. Consider this bunch of words: “...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Next Sunday, we'll read that upon hearing this bunch of words, several of Jesus' disciples walked away from him. He'll watch them leave and ask those left behind: “Do you also want to leave?” Wisely, they did not and stayed the course. But what were they thinking between his question and their answer? Were they contemplating divine things, or had they fallen to folly? Were they spinning Jesus' words into a metaphor or a parable or a test of faith? If he was speaking truth, then how were they going to make that truth manifest in the real world in real time? They all heard the truth. They all saw wisdom in the flesh. The ignorant and confused stayed. Those plunged into worldly things walked away.

We have the same choice to make. Stay or walk away. Be wise or be a fool. Listen one more time: “...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” What are you thinking? Maybe: he means the Eucharist, obviously. Or maybe: he's speaking symbolically; it's a sign. Or maybe: he's talking about how we come together in one Body to reinforce our communal bonds. Or! Or. . .I have no idea what this means fully, but I'm ready to live my life contemplating its truth and acting on that truth. What if all of these thoughts brush the truth but fail to grasp the Mystery fully? What then? Some walk away in shock, choosing folly. Others hang around edges, lobbing questions/objections but refusing to listen to the answers. And some stay, wasting their lives trying to change both the question and the answer. The wise, they stay, content to see their ignorance worn away through contemplation. They know that they do not know. They understand that they do not understand. But they also know and understand that wisdom comes from pondering divine things. No one chooses to be a fool. But many choose the things a fool desires. The wise, they admit ignorance when confronted with divine things. But they will also choose contemplation of those things rather than running away. If you will live, think and pray on this: “...my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” 

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Cannot unmake what God has made

19^th Week OT (F)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

The Pharisees ask a technical, legal question. And they want a technical, legal answer. By asking the question the way they did, they reveal themselves to be religious bureaucrats at heart. They may have been trying to lure Jesus into a sectarian dispute btw rival schools of Jewish bureaucrats. Or they could've been asking the question in a naked attempt to trap him. Or maybe both. Regardless of their motivation, they represent a way of looking at God's Law that enslaves the human person rather than frees it. Jesus jumps over the bureaucratese of the question and goes to the theological center of marriage, reaching all the way back to the moment of creation by quoting Genesis: “...the Creator made them male and female and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” And because the man and the woman are made one flesh, he adds, “...what God has joined together, man must not separate.” Marriage does not result from a policy-decision or a court ruling or any enacted law. It is a creature of the Creator never to be unmade.

Now, being good 21^st c. Americans and Catholics, we are all likely running through our heads right now some of the reasons divorce might a good idea. Adultery. Financial/physical abuse. Abandonment. We can be experts at finding exceptions that give us what we think we want. To this Jesus says, “Moses allowed you to divorce...because of the hardness of your hearts.” IOW, Moses made divorce possible only b/c he knew that the human heart is always prepared to defy God's will. He set in place a procedure for unmaking what God had made. Now, the Pharisees have to argue about the terms of that bureaucratic procedure. And lose themselves in footnotes, definitions, distinctions, and precedents. All this policy minutiae keeps them busy, allowing them to set aside the deeper question: can we as creatures unmake what God has made? We can kill, certainly. Ignore. Redefine and reframe. But we cannot unmake. We cannot take something made and make it as if it were never made. Jesus' answer to the Pharisees on the question of divorce answers a whole host of unasked questions. He's taking us back to the moment of creation and showing us that everything that IS is for a reason, a purpose and nothing we can do can undo that. He's placing front and center the necessity of recognizing and acknowledging that for us there is no denying the Real.

That sounds all groovy and such. The Real. Who in their right mind denies The Real? No one. But we do it everyday, thus revealing that we are not always working with right minds. Think about how often you hear The Real defined away. Killing innocent life in the womb is called “reproductive health care.” Surgically and chemically altering a male body to appear female is called “gender affirming care.” Riots are called “mostly peaceful protests” and foreign wars are called “police actions.” And marriage gets a shiny new definition via judicial fiat. If marriage is just a sentence written in ink on paper, then divorce can be nothing less. Just as easily and arbitrarily re-created. But the question Jesus puts to us remains: can we as creatures unmake what God has made? No. We can make ourselves think we've unmade The Real. We can pretend and behavior accordingly. But the simple truth is The Real doesn't change just b/c we wish it away. Like God Himself and his merciful will, it remains. It remains for us to discover, explore, and obey. That's the way to peace. The only way to salvation.

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Getting started on humility

19^th Week OT (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

We spend the first 18 to 21 years of our lives rushing to grow up. All that “adult freedom” looks great on the childhood/adolescent side of aging. It takes about five years or so after reaching adulthood to realize that the grass is not only not greener but a lot more expensive and stress-inducing. After a mortgage, a full-time job, kids, monthly bills, a failing body, and all the social expectations around “adult behavior,” who wouldn't opt to return to childhood and just stay there? Well, we can't un-age ourselves, but we can return to the glories that make childhood spiritually rewarding. We can surrender to God's providence; give thanks for His gifts; and set ourselves on a path of obedience and humility. Jesus pulls a child into the middle of his disciples and says, “...unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” I hope the disciples blushed at hearing this. They were worried about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom. Anyone worried about being great in the Kingdom has a ways to go in humility. So, how do they get started?

First, understand that being in the Kingdom and serving the King is never about you. That is, service is not about your preferences, your agenda, or your ego; nor is service your mission or your ministry. Our gifts are on loan to the Church from our rightful owner, Christ. Second, there is no place in service for ambition. If your heart and mind are locked on climbing the next step up the ladder, or landing a more powerful role, then your heart and mind belong to the world and its ruler. Third, you and I are owed nothing for our service. I don't mean we shouldn't be paid for our work. I mean, if “getting paid” is our primary reason for providing a service to the Kingdom, then we've missed the whole child-like obedience/humility point of being a child of God. Fourth, given all of that, we have to turn. We have to turn away from worldly notions of success and achievement. Ideas like “more and bigger is better.” More staff. Bigger buildings. More programs. Bigger salaries. More parishioners. Bigger budgets. The Kingdom is not WalMart. And our holiness is not measurable on the NASDAC.

Finally, we have to turn away from worldly attitudes. The death of innocence is not decadence but cynicism. No child or truly humble adult lives day to day in a fog of jaded negativity, mistrusting the motives of others and assuming the worst is inevitable. Why would a deeply cynical soul even want to serve another? Along with cynicism comes entitlement, wrath, victimhood, suspicion, and ultimately, pride. Pride, of course, is the demonic twin of humility, the delusional conviction that I can save myself from myself. Praise and thanks to God that our return to innocence is freely offered by Christ. Freely accept that offer and set yourself to making that save-living turn toward humility. We've been given everything necessary to head in the right direction. Jesus says, “It is not the will of my Father that even one of these children be lost.” Hit the brakes and make the turn.

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Deus providebit!

19^th Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Deus providebit! God will provide. That God will provide is as sure as the sun rising and setting. As sure as 2 + 2 always equaling 4. There can be no doubt. Why? Because it is the nature of God to order all created things toward their created end. That is, God created All and gave every created thing – in its creation – a final end, a telos. To create a thing and deny it an end is sadistic. Worse still is to create a thing, give it an end, and then deny it the means of achieving that end. Imagine God creating a human person, giving that person the telos of achieving perfection only by following the divine law, and then refusing to provide access to that law! He would be intentionally creating a rational animal who's unable to satisfy his/her deepest desire. Now imagine millions, billions of these permanently hopeless persons living together for 70+ years each over hundreds of generations. You'd have a planet populated by nothing but psychotics and sociopaths. But what would happen if all these persons were provided with the means to achieve their created ends and these means were imposed on them rather than merely offered? IOW, they had no choice in accepting and using the means provided. The result? They would be nothing more than animals. Squirrels, elephants, and cats have no choice in the fulfillment of their purpose. They are perfect as they are. No reason, no moral faculties. No moral faculties, no chance of refusing to pursue their purpose. No freedom to refuse their purpose, no chance of them failing to be perfect. Since we are created in the imago Dei – divine love – and re-created in the imago Christi, we are free. Free to pursue our telos and use the means God has provided. But we must do freed-part. Jesus could've simply produced that coin and handed it to Simon Peter. Instead, he sends Simon Peter fishing. Simon Peter could've balked and taken a nap. Or pitched a hysterical fit at having to work for the coin. Or laughed and called Jesus crazy. If he had done any of these things, he would not have the coin. Jesus provides the coin. But Simon Peter has to freely choose to go get the coin. So, Deus providebit. God will provide. He provides the end. The means to achieve that end. The freedom to accept and use the provided means. But He will not compel us to cooperate. Why? Because He loves us. And because He loves us, we are free.

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To the point of excess

18^th Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

Pre-novitiate Retreat, GP, TX

You can't start a project by counting what you don't have. I can't sit down and start composing a homily by listing out all things I don't have on hand. The list would be too long to contemplate! I start with what I actually need and inventory my supplies. Something to write with; something to write on – preferable something portable; lectionary texts; some quiet time to pray, then all the rational and physical faculties necessary to write in the language I know well. What I don't have could fill several stadiums. Worrying about that list will paralyze me, and the homily never gets written. Think about those hungry people waiting on Jesus and the disciples. They hear the disciples tell Jesus, “ALL we have is five loaves and two fish.” ALL we have. IOW, we don't have 5,000 loaves and 5,000 fish. Stomachs start to rumble. Jesus, knowing what happens when a little is blessed, says, “Bring me what ya got.” What happens? A little becomes a lot. Everyone is fed. And there are 12 baskets of leftovers. When we start with what we have, add praise and thanksgiving to the gift, God multiplies in abundance. Even to the point of excess.

Traditionally, we've read this miracle as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. And it is that. But the Eucharist itself is “a pledge of future glory,” a foreshadowing of our eternity in the presence of the Beatific Vision. You and I are just what we have. No more, no less. If we start our life in Christ by listing off what we don't have, we spend that life in scarcity. Religious life is just one way God gives us to add together all we have and all we are to build abundance. With that abundance, we give Him thanks and praise for our gifts and watch them multiply. What I don't have is given by another. What I have is given to someone who lacks. And that exchange of gifts is basis for the Eucharist. But none of this is possible w/o the abiding presence of God and our eagerness to receive Him into our lives through surrender and thanksgiving. The hungry crowd takes and eats the blessed fish and loaves. Their hunger, their willingness to receive and bear witness to the miracle feeds Christ's mission. The Word spreads. More follow. And there are so many gifts given that there're leftovers. Contemplate on what you have. What you have been given. Give it all away to make room for God's abundance.     

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Lying is never pastoral

St. Alphonsus Liguori

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Wheat and weeds. Sheep and goats. Good fish, bad fish. Parables like this one can make moderns – esp. Western moderns – squirm a bit. They just sound so primitive, so absolute and potentially dangerous. They require us to think about what makes weeds, goats, and bad fish bad. Who sets the standards for good and bad? Who makes the judgment between the two? Can we really say that the goats deserve to be thrown into the fiery pit and the weeds burned at the edge of the field? The bad fish are thrown away. Do they have no value at all? What about love and forgiveness? Surely, Jesus expects us to love and forgive those who are headed toward the flames! He does. He absolutely does. He also expects us to recognize and respect the principal property of love: freedom. He does. The Father does. The Spirit does. Love – true, liberating love – cannot be coerced. It cannot be imposed. It must be chosen. Freely given and freely received. So, when Jesus says that the weeds and goats are tossed into the fire and the bad fish are thrown away, he's saying that he loves them in their freedom to be what they've chosen to be.

Now, of course, real goats and weeds and bad fish don't choose to be what they are. But human beings – rational animals – do choose to turn themselves into those sorts of beings who resolutely reject divine love. IOW, they choose the fiery pit. And putting them there honors their choice. As wildly irrational as that choice seems to us, it is their choice. Our discomfort (?) with that choice in no way allows us to tell them that their choices have no consequences. Doing so may make us feel better about their choice and their destination, but we have to remember that lying is never pastoral. Telling the goats and weeds among us that no one ever goes into the fire, or that the fire is a primitive myth; or that b/c God loves everyone, He would never allow them to be burned – telling them any of this is lying. It's lying to soothe our discomfort with a truth Christ himself clearly teaches. Whatever squeamishness we may have about the reality of eternal damnation should be settled by the knowledge that such a fate is freely chosen. And freely honored. Our mission is live lives wholly given to Christ the Good Shepherd, bearing witness to his mercy and showing – in word and deed – that choosing divine love is the only sane choice. 

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Like produces like

St. Peter Chrysologus

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Squirrels never give birth to dolphins. Dolphins never give birth to possums. And humans never give birth to oak trees. Like produces and re-produces like. Old School Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy – the basic intellectual structure of Catholicism – teaches us that this is b/c squirrels, dolphins, possums, and oak trees have a nature. That which makes a thing the kind of thing it is. Knowing a thing's nature tells you what it is and its telos, its end, or why it is. The nature of the human person is rational animal. To be a thinking, deliberative, and therefore, moral animal. When our nature is perfected, we only make moral choices that advance us toward our end – God Himself. The fruit we bear is the fruit of righteousness made possible by the grace of God and our free cooperation. Without God's grace, our fruit is rotten. Without Him, we can do nothing good. Jesus says, “. . .every tree is known by its own fruit.” Fig trees produce figs. Oak trees produce acorns. By nature, rational animals produce other rational animals. But it is only by cooperating with God's grace that we as rational animals make the good choices that lead us back to God.

But why should we cooperate with God's grace? Paul writes to the Ephesians, telling them that God – “who created all things” – has a “plan of mystery,” one hidden from the past, a plan Jesus was sent to reveal in the light for all to see. Those who receive this revelation of God's mysterious plan are collected together and called “the Church.” And it is the telos of the Church to preach and teach God's plan to the world, so that the “the inscrutable riches of Christ” might be made known. The first of these riches is a “confidence of access [to the Father] through faith in [His Son].” We should cooperate with God's grace not only to have access to the Father but also b/c doing so repairs our fallen nature and makes it possible for us to make those choices that bring us closer to our end – eternal life in the Blessed Trinity. Like produces and re-produces like. Good works done in grace produces and re-produces good works done in grace. Good works done in grace give glory to God. Thus bearing witness to His help and further revealing His plan for mankind. This is how and why we preach and teach. This is according to the eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus. 

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Take and eat

17^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

We don't have to do a close reading of this Gospel miracle to figure out what's going on: God is providing for those who follow Him. This is the consistent story of salvation history since the Word was breathed into the void. Everything created – you, me, planets, atoms, everything created – is provided for and held in being by God Himself. From a story about feeding a mass of people from a child's meager offering of fish and bread, we get a much more profound story about how God the Father gives us what we need. We need food, shelter, and clothing to survive. But surviving isn't enough. We need to thrive. We need to be perfected. Made truly fully human and returned to the source of our being. The story we heard read this morning – John's version of the feeding of the 5,000 – retells a familiar story that's been told again and again through the centuries. When God's people need Him, when they recognize their need and turn to Him, He is always there, providing in abundance everything required for surviving and thriving in the created world. What we need most is God Himself. And we have Him in abundance right here and right now in the Eucharist.

That God provides for us is evident in the fact that we are here. We exist. That's basic. Beyond mere existence, we are in a chapel giving Him thanks and praise for His many gifts. Most especially His gift of sacrificial love in Christ Jesus. His gift of salvation. We will give Him praise and thanks for our families and friends; our vocations as husbands, wives, religious, and priests. For our careers and what wealth we may have. We could go on and on listing out all that we have to be thankful for. But what we can most thankful for is all that we have not yet received. All that has been given but not yet taken in and put to use. The people Jesus feeds with fish and bread are filled at that moment. But soon enough they will be hungry again. Will they follow him all over the countryside, hoping and waiting for another miracle? Maybe some will. If they are paying attention, they will understand that God's providence is not dependent on a single miracle or even a series of miracles. That He provides is His nature. He always provides. He always gives and gives and gives. He Himself is The Gift He gives. And we are His created gift-receivers. The question is: are we receiving His gifts as He gives them?

The people who eat the fish and bread in John's story have in front of them real, tangible evidence of God's love. They have food to touch, to smell, to taste. Can they touch, smell, and taste their salvation? Can they handle, see their redemption from sin and death? Can we? We might say that we can feel forgiven, or that we can feel the burden of sin lifted. And that's a good thing. But do we live day to day, hour to hour in that freedom? Or do we permit the memory of sin to lock us down with imaginary chains? Maybe we give shame, anger, the need for vengeance permission to dominate, to suffocate our growth in holiness. Maybe we prefer to wallow a bit in past hurts, long ago slights, and a fear of the scarcity of grace. Are you receiving God's gifts as He gives them? Those hungry people took the fish and bread and ate their fill. They didn't hesitate. Their hunger to be fed overwhelmed whatever qualms they might have had and they ate. What qualms do you have about being fed with all that God has to give you? What's stopping you from being fully free in Christ Jesus? The Enemy will use whatever you have to keep you hungry, angry, vengeful, lost, and near death. Take and eat. God will that you thrive. And He gives you everything you need. 

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Don't be too quick to pull the weeds

16^th Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

I was once a weed in the wheat field of the Church. As a novice for the province back in 1999, I took the habit fully committed to the idea that the Church must be revolutionized to fit the modern world. I supported all the usual agenda items: women priests, non-sexist language in the liturgy; popularly elected bishops; getting rid of all the supernatural junk cluttering up our theology, etc., ad. nau. I remember telling a senior member of the community that I thought it was ridiculous that a local group of religious sisters had to depend on male priests to say Mass for them! Just ordain a few sisters and be done with it! I had a fever for change. Well, I got better. That's a long story for another time. My point here, and I think Jesus' point in the Gospel, is this: do not be too quick to pull the weeds. Why? Because doing so might damage the wheat. He's warning his disciples about the temptation to permanently exclude sinners from the Kingdom before the final judgment. Weeds cannot, of course, magically turn into wheat. But sinners most certainly can gracefully turn into saints.

Now, I'm not saying that I don't still have some weedy characteristics. I'm not yet a saint. Any of the brothers here can bear witness to my occasional lapses into weediness. Like any other follower of Christ, I have good days and bad. And that's the core of the parable. While we live, we can change. If you are uprooted on a bad day and thrown into the burn pile, who's to say tomorrow wouldn't see you permanently transformed into productive wheat? Only God knows. But what about the damage weeds do to the healthy crop in the meantime? True enough, weeds deplete the available food and water for the wheat. But God's grace is boundless and always available. Weeds can block the sunlight, overshadowing the wheat. True. But nothing can block the light of Christ from reaching the sinner...except the sinner himself. Weeds can give a false impression that the harvest will be abundant. Also, true. But, in the end, at harvest-time, the weeds will go into the burn pile and the harvest will be the harvest. That's God's business. Not something we need to worry about. What we need to worry about is making sure we're in the constant state of being transformed into the best wheat God made us to be. The weeds will take care of themselves. 

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Seeing ain't Seeing

Ss. Joachim and Anne

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

What are the necessary conditions for the possibility of sight? That is, what must be true of me if I am going to be able to see? First, I'll need eyes. Then, an optical nerve. Finally, an occipital lobe with the help of the parietal and temporal lobes in the brain. All of these need to be functional to one degree or another. Then, I'll need something in the world capable of radiating and/or reflecting photons. All of this combined gives me all I need to see. Now, what are the necessary conditions for the possibility of Seeing; that is, what must be true of me if I am going to See – to See in the way the prophets and the righteous long to See? Jesus doesn't give us a detailed explanation for this kind of Seeing. He doesn't lay out the necessary conditions, or list off any minimal criteria. But it's fairly obvious that being a prophet and a being righteous person isn't enough. Being able to glean the will of God in the present moment isn't enough. Being in right relationship with Him under the Law isn't enough. Something more is required. That something more is the reception of grace, taking into oneself the gift of God Himself. Knowing and loving God in the person of Christ Jesus surpasses knowing about Him like a prophet or loving Him like a follower of the Law.

Jesus says that seeing him is to See the Father. Physically seeing Jesus is spiritually Seeing the Father. This is the advantage the disciples have over the prophets and the righteous. Their “seeing” is mediated by either knowledge or the Law. Our “seeing” is mediated by the Incarnated Word, God the Son. They are counted righteous by doing their duty. We are made righteous by receiving the gift of God Himself. In the sacraments, in prayer, in doing righteous deeds; in acts of mercy, love, and forgiveness; in growing in holiness, we take into ourselves the One Who saves. And we become the One Who saves us. Then, we are those who radiate/reflect the light of Christ for others to See. It's not enough that we See. We must also be the condition for the possibility of others Seeing. We must be Seen.

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Can you drink the chalice?

Feast of St. James
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St. Albert the Great, Irving

Mama Zebedee is on a mission! She's out to secure positions of power for her sons in the coming Kingdom. Clear-eyed, purpose-driven, and shameless, she surveys the political landscape and decides that her boys deserve to be the right and left hand of Christ the King. The other disciples balk at this brazen request. We don't know how the sons themselves react. Maybe they put her up to it. Or maybe they're behind her, whining with embarrassment, “Mommmm...!” Regardless, the request is made. And Jesus, either exasperated or just surprised, answers: “You have no idea what you're asking for!” And why doesn't she or the sons or the other disciples understand this self-serving petition? Because they have yet to grasp what the Kingdom of God is or how it will operate. In their minds, Christ's kingdom will be like every other kingdom on the face of the Earth – a purely political entity that governs through legalized violence, taxes, laws, and the exercise of worldly power. Because they do not understand, Jesus attempts to clarify the issue for them: “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They reply, “We can.” They don't get it. But they will.

We know how things end for James and the other apostles. They die bearing witness to the Gospel. Only John makes it to a natural end. Had they known how things would turn out, they might've reconsidered their commitment to Christ. As it is, they stick to him, claiming their readiness to drink the cup he drinks. That chalice – the cup he drinks at the Last Supper – is the chalice of his destiny; that is, a sign of who and what he is for the salvation of the world. Jesus is referring to Ps 11 and the Biblical notion that “drinking the allotted cup” is to accept what God has planned for you. Christ's allotted cup is to die in sacrificial love for the redemption of sinners. Can the Sons of Zebedee and the other disciples accept their own cups? To be prominent in the Kingdom of God means to die while serving the lowest among us. There is no worldly power or prestige or wealth or celebrity attached to serving the lowest. There is be no pomp or parades propping up an inflated ego, or grand monuments marking the faux achievements of a hollow king. If you will be great in the kingdom, you will be small in the world. And being small in the world means losing the Self in surrender to God and becoming His perfect instrument of mercy.

Keep Christ's Cup squarely in mind this year. We are quickly falling into another Presidential election. The Enemy is excited b/c he gets to tempt us with the lie that God's kingdom can be and will be established on Earth if – and only if! – we vote for the Right Person. Paradise on Earth is always just one more election away, just one more politician in office. If we could only get Our Guy or Gal in office, then all would be well. It won't be. It can't be. For the simple reason that the Kingdom is not of this world. We must do our duty as faithful followers of Christ and participate as citizens. Vote, pay taxes, obey the law. But none of that means that we believe the lie that paradise is possible before the second coming of Christ. “Put no trust in princes,” the Psalmist says. Nor politicians nor bureaucrats. “Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.” Ever heard a politician use that as a campaign slogan?

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You are a shepherd

16^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

What do sheep without a shepherd look like? I mean, if you see a bunch of sheep in a field, how can you tell whether or not they have a shepherd? What if they have a shepherd, but he's sound asleep under a tree? Or maybe he's out looking for wolves to attack the flock? Is there a difference btw “not having a shepherd” and “having an evil or lazy shepherd”? Lots of questions this morning! But here's the big one: can a collection of sheep be a flock if there is no one to shepherd them? It would seem that without a shepherd sheep are just sheep wandering around randomly munching grass. The shepherd makes the flock. Jesus knows this, so he takes pity on the people wandering aimlessly around a “deserted place.” How does he shepherd them? He begins to teach. Mark says he teaches them “many things.” He doesn't say what those things are exactly, but we can assume these are the things they need to become a flock – a collection of souls needing direction and purpose. When a shepherd teaches, he conveys to his flock all that the Lord has given him to convey. And nothing more. Each one of us is a sheep. Each one of us is a shepherd.

Pay careful attention then to Jeremiah: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord. . .I will take care to punish your evil deeds.” That's quite the warning! So, we need to know what it is to “mislead and scatter the flock.” An actual shepherd might lead his/her flock off a cliff. Or leave them abandoned, food for the wolves. Or he/she might poison their food or water. A shepherd of the faith, a teacher, might lead a flock out of the Church in schism. Or teach lies instead of truth. He/she might sprinkle bits and pieces of doctrinal poison in with some truth and slowly kill the flock. Now, you might be thinking: thank God I'm not a shepherd! I don't have to worry about teaching falsehood! Ah, but you are a shepherd and you do have to worry. You aren't a priest or a bishop. You aren't a professional theologian. You might not teach religion in a school or work with an RCIA program as an instructor. BUT. . .you are a teacher of the faith. You have children. You have family, friends, neighbors. You have co-workers, classmates. You meet strangers everyday while you're out and about. They are your misled and scattered sheep. What are you teaching them by your words and deeds?

Mark says that Jesus looks out on the crowd and has pity on them. Another translation for “pity” is “compassion.” Compassion is the profound consciousness that another is suffering and a deep desire to alleviate their suffering. NB. that the crowd clamoring after Jesus is suffering from ignorance. They don't know. And not knowing is causing them pain. They suffer that pain – they allow it – b/c they don't fully understand their ignorance. They don't know what they don't know. They only know that something is missing. Something is absent in their lives. They are the poor in spirit. So Jesus alleviates their poverty by teaching them the truth of the Gospel. After they are fed the Word, he feeds them with the miracle of the fishes and loaves. First, he alleviates their spiritual hunger. Then, he alleviates their physical hunger. No doubt he teaches them that their Covenant with the Father is fulfilled with his coming into the world. That their sins are forgiven and all they need do is receive His gift of mercy in baptism. That once baptized they are – each one of them – a priest, prophet, and king, charged with sacrificing and mediating for others; teaching and preaching God's Word; and providing for the least among them. And that there is no greater love than to die for a friend. That's what shepherds do for their sheep.

So, as a shepherd, a teacher, for the flock given to you, do you need to get degrees in scripture, theology, and philosophy? No. Do you need to memorize the Catechism and the Bible and be ready to quote Church documents from memory? No. Do you need to follow Christ, pray daily, read the Bible, be ready to defend your hope in the resurrection, and forgive unconditionally? Absolutely. You teach the faith with compassion wherever you find yourself, and you teach in word and deed. Your students/flock are crazy Dallas drivers. The cashier at Kroger. Your spouse. Your kids. The people you work with everyday. Your customers and your manager. Show them compassion by showing them Christ's love. And avoid the promised fate of misleading shepherds.

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Run away! Run away!

15^th Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

When confronted by the Pharisees, Jesus runs away. Instead of standing his ground, digging in, and fighting back against the malicious attacks of his enemies, he retreats. He's the Son of God. The Messiah. He heals, prophesies, resurrects the dead, and speaks with authority. Why is he running away? He could blast these guys with a Word of Truth and leave them quaking in their sandals! And let's be honest here, if we had been there, we'd probably beg him to do exactly that. Who doesn't love a good beat down, especially when the ones getting the beat down are so deserving? So, why does he run? We could say he's showing us how to love our enemies and show them mercy. Or we could say he's making a tactical withdrawal so he can fight another day. Or maybe he's protecting his followers from the wrath of the Pharisees. All plausible. Here's another one: rather than put on a spectacular display of divine power by turning the Pharisees into toads, he withdraws in preparation for surrendering the field to his Church. Think about it: Jesus performs some newsworthy miracle to silence his enemies. That becomes the story. Not just the story but The Story. He's a wonder-working prophet and his works will be remembered for the ages. Over the centuries, his followers point back again and again to these wonders as the foundation of their faith. That can be a powerful foundation. But it's not the foundation Jesus wants to build. He repeatedly tells those whom he heals not to tell others they've been healed. Keep this just btw us, OK? (Of course, they never do!). The foundation he wants to build lies in the hearts and minds of his followers. Each one of us is a stone in that foundation. Each one of us together builds the rock. And through Peter and his confession of faith in the Christ AND our constant and consistent faith, the faith is handed on place to place, year to year. By withdrawing, Jesus actually avoids creating fantastical myths about his magical powers. He avoids writing stories of showy deeds that make him out to be just another local magician. His retreat is a not a surrender to the Pharisees but a surrender to God and God's providence in establishing the Church in His time. What this means for us can be said in a word: patience. I heard groaning! I know, we don't like patience these days. We want action. We want movement and resolution. We want victory. Well, victory we have. And this is why we can afford to be patient. We've already won. All we have left to do is live out our victory til Christ comes again. Live in faith. Share that faith. Fight when we can't do otherwise. And never assume that those who call themselves our enemies are actually our enemies. They've been deceived, and surely we ourselves know what it is to be conned by the true Enemy. Now we know what it is to be the victims of mercy. Set free and loosed to be agents of divine love in an easily duped world. That we have been freed is not a badge of honor. It's a gift. It's a gift we ourselves are charged with passing on. 

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Are you an evildoer?

12^th Week OT (Th)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Lord, did I not go to Mass everyday? Did I not send my kids to Faustina/Highlands/UD? Did I not give to the Dominicans' renovation fund? Did I not daily pray the rosary/the Office/the Divine Mercy chaplet? Did I not go to confession weekly and always do my penance? “I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoer.” Harsh. Evildoer? How does going to Mass, giving to the Church, and praying everyday make one an evildoer? Jesus replies, “. . .only the one who does the will of my Father. . .will enter the Kingdom of heaven.” But giving, praying, and repenting are all included in the will of the Father! True. But on what sort of foundation are building your spiritual home? If your foundation is “doing good stuff” to get to heaven, then you might be doing stuff for selfish reasons. That's a weak foundation. If you are “doing good stuff” to be seen doing good stuff. . .well, that's almost no foundation at all. Maybe you're doing good stuff out of guilt. Or from a sense of obligation b/c you have been given so much. Or b/c you're too shy or embarrassed or lazy to say No to doing good deeds. There are as many bad reasons to be virtuous as there are people who try to be virtuous for bad reasons. Jesus says that the wise man builds his house on solid rock – an unchanging, timeless, immovable foundation. By nature, mere human motives for virtue are temporary. We want congratulations. We want recognition. We want to feel “good” about ourselves. We want, we want, we want. Want dies with the person. What you want goes with you into the grave. If Jesus is to come to know us and we him, then our spiritual house must be firmly built on eternal rock. Sounds good. But what does it mean practically? Practically, it means that our “good deeds” must be motivated by nothing more than a need to give God glory. We pray, give, work, teach, preach – everything we do from writing checks to the OP's to sending the kids to Catholic schools to being considerate to others in traffic, everything must be done for no other reason than to show the world the wonders of the Father's love and mercy. To not only appear to be but to actually be distributors of God's truth, goodness, and beauty. A water hose doesn't think about why it is delivering water to the garden. A car doesn't consider its motives for taking you to the pharmacy. But you and I, we are rational animals, so we must ponder our motives for doing good. And when we do, our motive has to be: this gives God glory; this good deed points to God's generosity, to His greater love, to His truth. Why? The only reason we have anything at all to give is b/c God gave it to us to give away in first place. We all have what we have – wealth, power, intelligence, education, organizational skills – whatever we have, we have it all only b/c God wills that we give it away and point back to Him as our source. For Himself, He doesn't need the recognition or the glory, of course. But those whom He wills to be free from sin and death do need to see how He works in our lives so that they can allow Him into theirs. The rock solid foundation for our spiritual homes is sacrificial love: giving it all away for no other reason than it was all given to us by God to be given away. Do this, then he will declare to us solemnly, I have always known you. Come to me, you good and faithful servants.

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Taste the pie

12^th Week OT (W)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

My maternal grandmother, Milly, made the best chocolate pie in the Mississippi Delta. Maybe in the whole state. Let's say all attempts by aunts, cousins, and second-cousins to duplicate her prize pie fail miserably. There's a written recipe. But it wasn't written by Milly. No one knew who composed the recipe, but it is obviously wrong. Over time, lots of sweet tea, and wasted ingredients, the aunts, cousins, and second-cousins compose a recipe that even the oldest members of the family would agree is authentic. Finally! We have the Real Thing captured on paper never to be altered. Mama Milly's Famous Chocolate Pie had reached it culinary perfection. And no pie could rightly be called Mama Milly's Famous Chocolate Pie unless it tasted like it came from her kitchen. The pies her generation of aunts made were fed to the next generation. That generation fed their pies to the next. And so on. We know a pie is the real deal b/c we have family members who remember. When a fake Milly pie makes an appearance, we know it immediately. Even if it tastes better; it's not a Milly pie. And the pie maker is false. We know the baker by his/her pies. Beware false bakers!

Jesus tells us to beware false prophets. Since false prophets rarely – if ever – advertise their duplicity, how do we know they are false? By tasting their pies. Or, as Jesus puts it, by judging their fruits. Good trees produce good fruit. Bad trees bad. So, is the prophet's fruit good or bad? This could be asking whether or not his/her prophecies are fulfilled. Does the prophet prophesy accurately? Or, we could be asking whether or not the prophet prophesies in a way that brings about unity, peace, hope, and holy guidance. Bad fruit brings about: division, turmoil, despair, panic – all leading to a loss of faith. Our history as a Church is jammed packed with false prophets, bellowing about one impending disaster or another. What they all have in common is a lack of trust in God's providence for his Church and a spiritually unhealthy fascination with when All This comes to an end. God sends prophets our way for just one reason: to tell us we have strayed and need to get back on track. He's in control. His plan has always, is now, and will always win out. Nothing changes that. Not war, natural disaster, dumb politicians, or corrupt Church leaders. If you're paying attention to your growth in holiness then you know we are off course. You know we are barreling toward the last guardrail and the brakes don't work. That's been true since three seconds after Christ ascended into heaven. And this is why God wills that through our baptism into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus we are all made prophets. Priests, prophets, and kings. What David and Elijah and John the Baptist and Christ Himself were by birth, we are made by water and the Spirit. Our great challenge is to be authentic prophets for the God's call to repentance from sin. So, if you want to make Mama Milly's Famous Chocolate Pie, you'll need real chocolate, heavy cream, lots of real sugar and butter, and a tub of lard for the crust. Try it with skim milk, Stevia, and Crisco, and you'll wear the shame of being a false baker. Real bakers, like real prophets, only use real ingredients. And they only produce good fruit.

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