Audio File: Corpus Christi

Listen to my Corpus Christi homily. . .
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On becoming Corpus Christi

Solemnity of Corpus Christi (2014)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio File

All across the world, Dominican friars begin morning and evening prayer before the Blessed Sacrament: O sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur. . .” In our English translation, we pray: “O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ becomes our food. . .” Christ/becomes/our/ food. Our meat and daily bread, our salt and saving drink. For those of us who follow Christ, his body and blood is our daily nourishment, our minimum daily requirement w/o which we cannot survive on the path to holiness much less thrive as forgiven sinners. To take into our bodies his body and blood, to take him in worthily and whole, is to participate not only in his mission and ministry but to become part of/to share in his body and blood. Paul asks the Corinthians, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” Yes, it is. “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” Yes, it is. To take into our bodies his body and blood, to take him in worthily and whole, is to become Christ. Our Lord teaches us, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. . .” He lives among us, with us, and in us. And we are made Christs, sent into the world.

It may sound odd to say that “we are made Christs,” but that is exactly what happens when we step behind him to follow him on his Way. We are made into the image of Christ and sent out to be Christs for the world. Around 350 A.D., St. Cyril of Jerusalem*, teaching on the anointing of the Holy Spirit that follows baptism, notes that “having therefore become partakers of Christ you are properly called Christs. . . because you are images of Christ.” We are partakers of Christ in baptism, confirmation and, most especially, in the Eucharist. When we partake worthily of Christ in these sacraments, we are re-formed into the image of Christ. Now, what is an image? We might think of a snapshot or a painting, or even a statue. But the word “image” here is something more like “an imitation” or “a miniature.” Imitation could imply a fake, like an imitation Rolex watch, so let's go with miniature. When we partake worthily of Christ in the sacraments, we are re-formed into miniatures of Christ, little Christs – woefully imperfect for now but on the way to perfection in him. Cyril teaches us that we are therefore “properly called Christs.” All together, gathered as we are now, we constitute the Body of Christ, the Church. Millions of little Christs all over the world forming one body, Corpus Christi.

So far, we've covered two of the three Scriptural referents for the phrase “body of Christ.” Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Body of Christ as the Church. We also use “body of Christ” to refer to the historical, physical flesh and blood body of the incarnate Son – the body of the Christ Child born to Mary, the body of Jesus who hung on the cross. What's the connection among and between these three referents? What do they have to do with Christ's commandment to love and his commission to go out and preach the Gospel? Turn your attention to the crucifix above the altar. That is an image of the body of Christ, Jesus' body scourged and nailed to a cross. Is that an inspiring image? A depressing image? Does it prompt you toward joy or despair? Think for a moment: knowing that his torture and death leads to your freedom from sin and the offer of eternal life, are you moved to go out and tell others about the Father's mercy? How does that body, hanging on a cross, gives rise to the Body of the Church and the Body of the Eucharist? Can that body up there come down here and push us out those doors into a world that desperately needs a sign of hope?

It can and it does. The corpus Christi on the cross becomes the corpus Christi of the Eucharist and we – eating his body and drinking his blood – become the corpus Christi, the Church sent into the world to love, to forgive, to show mercy, and to preach and teach all that he preached and taught. Our eternal lives are at stake. Piety is necessary but not sufficient. Good works are necessary but not sufficient. Knowledge of Scripture, doctrine, the lives of the saints are all necessary, but they are not nearly sufficient. Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. . .” We can do nothing w/o him and the only way to be with him, to partake in his life, mission, and ministry is to eat his body and drink his blood. The only way is for us – each one of us – to become Christ in the living flesh. To make it our daily, hourly mission in life to be Corpus Christi wherever God has placed us. You may be teaching a class, or tending a family, or working 9-5 in an office, or haunting a library for a school project, wherever God has placed you, your mission is to be Corpus Christi right where you are. 

Dominicans all over the world pray twice a day, O sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur. . .” In our English translation, we pray: “O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ becomes our food. . .” Christ becomes our food. His body and blood are our meat and daily bread, our salt and saving drink. Without this feast, we cannot partake/share in his life. We cannot move beyond the words of his teachings and reach the deeds of his hands. We cannot begin to grow in holiness, or even hope for mercy. In this feast, the memory of his Passion is made new, our hearts and minds are filled with his gifts, and we receive his promise of eternal life. Taken worthily, the body of Christ gives us all that need to live and thrive along his way to perfection. “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . .whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

* Catechetical Lecture 21, On the Mysteries, 1.

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Apologies. . .

Apologies for the dearth in blogging this week. . .

I arrived back in NOLA to 300+ emails and Facebook msgs. 

There will be a homily for Corpus Christi on Sunday and then things should be back to normal after that.

I have to report for jury duty on July 1st. NOLA doesn't excuse jury duty except under very specific criteria. I don't meet any those criterion. It's the criminal court in NOLA, so I'm expecting a murder case. And even if I plea opposition to the death penalty, they will simply move me to another case.

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Promoter of Preaching

The Chapter of the Dominican Province of St. Martin de Porres met last week. 

The brothers-in-chapter elected Fr. Thomas Condon, OP as the next prior provincial of the Southern Province. Fr. Condon appointed Fr. Jorge Rativa, OP as his socius.

The diffinitorium met this week and made several appointments. . .

Yours Truly was appointed to the office of Promoter of Preaching.

My first response, "Does this office come with a hat?"

The answer: "No." 

I say, "No. Not YET."

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Nuns, nuns, nuns!

Back from NJ. . .spent the last week with wonderful nuns of Summit and the novices from Menlo Park, Lufkin, and Farmington Hills. We had a blast!

I was teaching in the MTS program: Theology and Its Sources.

 

Click on the link for pics.

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Off to New Jersey!

I am off bright and early tomorrow to Summit, NJ where I will teach a series of classes to the Dominican novice nuns of the U.S.

We'll be studying fundamental theology -- revelation, method, etc. 

Be back in NOLA on June 15th.

Pray for us!

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How to get in trouble with Zeitgeist, Inc.

St. Boniface (Readings for the Memorial)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA 

From the Vesper’s petitions for the Commons for Martyr’s: “Lord, hold us fast to preaching the gospel even in the face of opposition, persecution, and scorn.” Christian preachers are often tempted to let go of the Gospel when confronted by entrenched opposition. Like water seeking the fastest and easiest route downhill, preachers are coaxed toward taking the most direct path to the dilution of Christ’s teaching and, ultimately, a betrayal of the Spirit that animates us. We see and hear this when preachers begin preaching a Prosperity Gospel—Jesus wants you to be rich!—; or when they begin preaching a Zeitgeist Gospel—Jesus wants us to “fit in” with our times so we can witness from within;—or when you hear the Gospel of Identity Politics—being American, Black, Gay, Male or Female, Left or Right is preached to be more important than being faithful to Christ. All of these, of course, are dodges, ways around the difficult demands of what Jesus teaches us to be and do. They allow us to sift out the hard stuff and celebrate that which most tickles our bored ears. True martyrs (not self-appointed martyrs) present us with an extraordinarily hard reality: they believe the Gospel and die proclaiming it. Could we do the same if called upon to do so? 

St. Boniface, an eighth-century English Benedictine bishop and martyr who served as a missionary to Germany, wrote to a friend, “Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent on-lookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf…Let us preach the whole of God’s plan…in season and out of season.”* Though this sounds benign enough, Boniface died doing it, or rather died because he did it—he barked and refused to be hired as a religious P.R. man for Zeitgeist, Inc. Paul found himself in a similar position. Paul reports in Acts that he was seized by the Jewish leaders in the temple and almost killed because “[he] preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance.” Should we be shocked that Paul would find himself the target of the powers-that-be? Not really. Jesus warned his disciples that they would follow him to the cross if they persisted in preaching his word. And it is persistence that most often gets the Gospel preacher and believer into trouble.

Jesus says, “A hired man, who is not a shepherd…sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away…” The wolf attacks the sheep, killing one or two and scattering the rest. Why does the hired man run? Jesus says, “This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.” A preacher hired by Zeitgeist, Inc. will do the same—cut and run when it looks as though the wolves of persecution, opposition, and scorn come bounding down the hill. The good shepherd will stay and fight. And though he will never lose, he may sometimes die.

There’s almost no chance that anyone here this evening will be called upon to die for preaching the Gospel. In the U.S. in the 21st century, the Zeitgeist has learned more subtle ways of tempting us away from the Good Shepherd. Perhaps the most powerful temptation comes from the devil of freedom, or more accurately named, the devil of choice. Dangling before us the illusion of unfettered choice in a marketplace of unlimited options, the devil of choice coaxes us with a powerful sense of entitlement, a sense of being owed our comfort, our liberty. And so, we stand dumbfounded in the Wal-Marts of religious goods and services, the Winn-Dixies of spiritual options, and we pick and choose. I will preach mercy but not justice; love but not responsibility; forgiveness but not sin. I will preach heaven but not hell; faith but not obedience. With a shopping cart full of our hodge-podge choices, we check-out and pay with our souls, and then go out preaching a gospel half-bought. If our souls must be the currency with which we purchase a spiritual good, let that purchase be our eternal lives with Christ. As the Dogs of God, we can do nothing less than die while ferociously barking the Gospel just as Jesus taught it.

* from the Office of Readings, St. Boniface

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St Martin de Porres Province on Youtube!

The Youtube page of the Dominian Province of St. Martin de Porres

Lots of vids of our Student Brothers preaching in the studium.

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Are you consecrated in Truth?

7th Week of Easter (W)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Dominic Church, NOLA

If Truth were a commodity—like oil or pork bellies—its stock value would be very low these days. With the exception of the Church, no one seems to care much about what's true or false anymore. We are far more likely to hear that truth is a tool in the oppressor's arsenal; or that truth is just a traditional fiction dreamed up by neurotics; or that truth, at best, depends on one's perspective. You have your truth. I have my truth. Who's to say what's true or false? It just depends. Rather than ask if a bit of information is true or false, we're told to ask, “Who benefits from this information? Who's harmed?” Rather than seek the truth, we are urged to “create a narrative,” or “build a perception.” When did this sort of deception creep into our world? Sometime right after God told Adam and Eve to avoid eating the fruit of one particular tree, the world's first salesman convinced them that God was lying to them. Several centuries later, that salesman's political ally asks Jesus, “What is Truth?” And then washes his hands of Jesus' death. But before he is arrested and executed, Jesus prays to the Father, “Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.” Assuming the Father answered this prayer by fulfilling Jesus' petition, what changed? How are we different?

When something is consecrated it is set apart for some special use and only that use. Chalices are consecrated for use at Mass. Churches are consecrated for public worship. We don't use a chalice to swig beer nor do we use a church to host a crawfish boil. When a person is consecrated something similar happens. That person is set apart for some special task and only for that task. Monks and nuns come to mind. They are consecrated to a life of prayer. Dominican friars are consecrated to a life of preaching. And all baptized Christians are set apart to give public witness to the Gospel. So when Jesus asks the Father to consecrate us in the truth, what is he asking? It seems that he's asking God to set us aside in the truth; that is, to move us over into the truth in some special way, to preserve us for some special task that requires that we be in the truth. Now that awful question rises again, “What is the Truth?” Jesus answers, “Your word is truth.” God's word is truth. God's promises are truth itself. All that God has spoken through the Law, the Prophets, and through the Word made flesh is truth. All that God has revealed to us through scripture, creation, and His Christ is truth. Jesus is asking his Father to set us apart to live in His truth while we reside in the world.

Jesus' petition for our consecration is bracketed by two statements: “They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world” and “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” Because we belong to Christ, we cannot belong to the world. However, Jesus says that he sends us into the world as he himself was sent. Therefore, we must be consecrated in the truth, set apart in God's word so that we can bear witness to His mercy in a world that we don't belong to. Jesus says, “I gave them your word, and the world hates them. . .” Of course it does! The world loves violence, spite, revenge, falsehood, and death. God's word shines the glaring light of truth on the world's most fundamental spiritual darkness: the pride of a creature who has rejected the rule of its Creator. We are set apart in God's word to announce the Good News of His mercy. We are not set apart so that we can pretend to be politically infallible, or economically incorruptible, or scientifically inerrant. We are set apart in the death and resurrection of Christ as that we might be witnesses, givers of testimony to the word we have received: this world will pass, God's truth will not. His truth endures forever, and so do all those who receive His truth and announce His Good News.

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Listen to Ascension Sunday homily!

Audio file for Ascension Sunday homily

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Are we standing around looking at the sky?

Ascension of the Lord

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Dominic/Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio File

Right there in front of them. . .right before their eyes. . .“as they were looking on, [Jesus] was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” Place yourself in this scene. You're just standing there with your friends, listening to your teacher lecture. He's repeating some of the same stuff he's said a thousand times before. You have absolutely no idea what he's talking about. One of your more impatient classmates asks Jesus if and when he plans on restoring the kingdom of Israel. Ah! Finally, a real question! Let's get this revolution started! Then Jesus starts taking about times and seasons and the Holy Spirit and Jerusalem and being his witnesses all over the world. And just as your eyes are about to glaze over. . .WHOOSH!. . .he flies up into the sky in a cloud, disappearing from sight. Like everyone else who sees this, you're standing there stunned, looking up into the sky, shocked, amazed, wondering what just happened. Then two guys dressed in white show up and ask, “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” Why are we standing here looking at the sky!? Um, b/c our teacher just got kidnapped by a cloud? Here's another question just for us: why do the guys in white ask the stunned disciples why they are looking up at the sky?

Had the disciples been paying attention to Jesus' answer to the question about restoring the kingdom of Israel. . .had they been paying attention for the three years they were with him. . .they would not have been at all shocked by his ascension into the clouds. Not only would they not have been shocked, they would've been expecting it. And they would've watched his rise for a second or two and then waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit so that their work could begin. Before he disappeared into the sky, Jesus had instructed his students, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” That's pretty clear. Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them my commandments. Not all that complicated really. So, why the hesitation? Notice how the disciples approached Jesus that day on the mountain in Galilee, “When they saw [Jesus], they worshiped, but they doubted.” They offer him due praise and adoration, but they also doubt him. How do they both worship Jesus and doubt him at the same time? The answer to that question tells us why they are standing there looking at the sky.

Seeing your teacher and friend kidnapped by a cloud is pretty amazing. It's worth a gawk or two. But when you think back to the work he's given you to do – make disciples, baptize them, teach them his commandments – his sudden disappearance is a little traumatic. He's leaving us with all this work! All that doubt that you felt comes roaring back and you start to wonder if you can really finish all that he's given you to finish. Even before he charged you with making disciples and teaching them his commandments, you knew that he would going away. Not how exactly but that he would be. So, you do what comes naturally: you worship the Son of God as you should but you also feel the pressure of uncertainty, the heavy burden of not-knowing whether or not you can do all that he asks of you. In the drama of his ascension, you forget that he said, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Then two guys dressed in white show up and ask you why you're standing there looking at the sky. You answer, “I'm mourning. I'm wondering where to go from here, how to get started on all I have to do.” And there's another week to wait before the Answer comes in fire and wind.

Right before Jesus gives them the Great Commission, the disciples worship their teacher. They give him thanks and praise for his presence among them. But under their adoration is a shadow of doubt, just a hint of uncertainty and fear. Can we go on without him? How do we follow him if he's gone? What's happens to us once he leaves? All of them are disciples. All of them are baptized. All of them are well-educated in his commandments. Yet, they doubt. These men and women are not fairy tale heroes. They are not mythical figures that embody archetypal truths. They are men and women. Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Real flesh and blood folks. Jesus doesn't teach them fables to guide them through life's hard choices. He doesn't offer them sage advice or moral lessons. In word and deed, he reveals to them the purpose and plan of his Father. He brings them into the history of salvation and makes them participants, players in his Father's program of redemption. Of course they doubt! What ordinary person wouldn't doubt, knowing that he or she is cast as an agent in the rescue of Creation from sin and death? The Holy Spirit has not yet come to them, so their worship and doubt is perfectly ordinary. 

 

Let's ask ourselves a question: are we standing around looking at the sky? Do we understand our commission from Christ solely in terms of waiting and watching for his return? If so, then our doubt has won out over our zeal for witness; that is, if we still think of our faith as a life lived watching the sky instead of as a means of bringing others to Christ, then we are failing to carry out Our Lord's commission. Jesus says, “Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them my commandments.” That's our fundamental task. Whatever else we may be doing as his followers, whatever else we may think is necessary for our growth in holiness, our job description as Christians is crystal clear. And yes, even as we carry out Christ's commission, we will doubt. We will be afraid. We'll fall and get back up. We'll fuss and fight with one another over big questions and small. But when our lives together as brothers and sisters in Christ become an elaborate picnic of standing around looking up into the sky, we must immediately remember Christ's words to his friends, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Why are we staring at the sky looking for Christ? He is with us always.

Jesus' ascension directly challenges the disciples and us to think hard about how we are spending our time and energy as followers of Christ. There is a heaven. And we are made and remade to spend eternity there. There is a time and place to build an interior castle, to wander around in our own souls, seeking the presence of God. We should ponder the divine mysteries, explore our vocations – run after all the things of heaven! But none of these is an end in itself, none of these is our charge. We are disciples. Baptized and well-educated in the commandments of Christ. We are still here b/c there are still some out there who have not heard God's freely offered mercy to sinners. There are still some out there who have not seen God's love at work in the world. They've not seen me or you following Christ. Do they see us standing around looking up at the sky? Wondering what could possibly be so fascinating about a cloud? Make sure they see you and hear you doing Christ's work and speaking his word. That's the only reason any of us are still here.

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All fairy tale and fable unless. . .

Visitation of Mary
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA

Carrying the Word in her body, Mary speaks the Word to the world, praising the work of her Lord in human history, preaching the greatness of our God, our Savior who favors the lowliest of His servants by choosing her to be His mother. She is the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus in the flesh and our Mother in the spirit—growing the Christ Child in her womb, giving him birth, and at the foot of the cross, accepting from her crucified Son the commission of mothering his Church to maturity.

Because she heard the Word spoken by the angel, Mary is filled with the Holy Spirit. Because they heard the Word spoken by Mary, Elizabeth and John are filled with the Holy Spirit. And because we have heard the Word spoken by John, Christ’s herald, and by Christ’s apostles and disciples and his prophets and witnesses, we too are filled with Holy Spirit. Blessed are we who believe that what is spoken to us by the Lord will be fulfilled.

Our Blessed Mother’s soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord because she surrendered her life to the Father’s will, surrendered not only her service and her affection but her flesh and blood, giving back to Him everything that He has given to her. She herself is a gift from the Lord who is given the Lord as a gift to give to us. And because of her surrender, because she heard the Word and gave herself to Him, we are free.

If we are to mature spiritually as individuals and as a Body we must hear the Word! Hear the Word spoken in our history, in our tradition, in our worship; hear the Word spoken by those given to us as leaders, teachers, and saints; and hear the Word spoken to us as His children, as His preachers, and as His friends. His Word to us, Christ Himself, is His greatness, His mercy, His strength, His abundance and His generosity. And Mary is how He chose to come to us. When we look to her, we see the Church grown up. When we look to her, we see His Word to us fulfilled, His promise of salvation kept.

All of this, however, is fairy tale and fable if we will not hear the Word spoken, surrender ourselves flesh, blood, and spirit, and bear His Word of Good News, giving birth to his greatness, his mercy, his strength, his abundance and his generosity, giving his gift to those who have not heard, those who have not been spoken to.

All of this is fairy tale and fable if we will not do as his mother did: hear His Word, surrender to His will, bear Him to the world, and, in the end, give Him to the crowd, give Him to the multitudes for their salvation.

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Before joy comes grief

NB. The Laptop took advantage of my de-caffeinated state this morning to suggest that I upgrade to Windows 8.1. In a fog, I clicked "OK," and then spent an hour waiting for the thing to finish. So. . .a borrowed (and boring) homily from 2012.

UPDATE: I'd forgotten that Dcn John preaches on Friday morning! You and I both were spared this homily.  

6th Week of Easter (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

They disciples are confused. . .as they often are. Jesus says something completely befuddling and his poor students are left muttering among themselves, trying to figure out what he's what he means. Since the disciples are often confused by Jesus' cryptic statements and non-answers to their questions, you'd think that they would eventually learn to just smile, nod, and pretend to understand when he comes out with one of his weird parables or mysterious revelations. But they persevere and soldier on toward learning whatever it is that Jesus is trying to teach them. One of the truths that Jesus has been trying (unsuccessfully) to teach his disciples is that all that they need to know to be preachers of the gospel won't be available to them until he has gone to the Father. Only after he has ascended to heaven can the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, descend upon them and give them the tongues of fire they will need to preach. So, Jesus prophesies, “. . . .you will weep and mourn [at my departure]. . .you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” Before joy comes grief. 

In his prophecy to the disciples Jesus notes that “while the world rejoices [at my departure]; you will grieve. . .” And it is not too difficult for us to imagine that the Jewish leaders and Roman officials are indeed very relieved to see Jesus die on the cross. First century Judea under Roman occupation was a seething hotbed of violent revolution, religious strife, and political corruption. The last thing any in charge wanted or needed was another messianic figure throwing bombs. However, when Jesus says that “the world” will rejoice at his departure, he isn't talking about the temple and empire only. “The world” is the term used in scripture to mean something like “all that is ruled by darkness,” the realm that has not yet surrendered to God. This darkened parcel of creation is under the influence of the Enemy, and plots behind the scenes to tempt, influence, and corrupt those creatures who have come into the Lord's holy family. If the world sees Jesus as just another prophet sent by God to corral His wayward people, then Jesus' death on the cross could easily be taken as a victory for the Enemy and as an occasion for rejoicing among the damned. While the Enemy rejoices over a temporary victory, the Lord's disciples grieve over an equally temporary defeat. 

Before joy comes grief. “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” That “little while” is the time for grieving. Just a little while. Why so short a time for mourning? How long can you mourn the passing of someone who's coming back “in a little while”? Does it even make sense to mourn the loss of someone you know will return? Jesus knows that his passing, his ascension will be taken hard by the disciples. He also knows that every assurance he can give them that he will return to them won't lessen their grief. Even the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the joy of knowing the “truth of all things” will prevent their mourning. They must mourn b/c they will preach to those who mourn. And they must preach against death, permanent death and the grief that follows it like a vulture. And then they must experience the fiery joy of the Holy Spirit b/c they must preach against falsehood, confusion, despair, and dissension. The disciples are confused by Christ's teachings b/c they have yet to receive the Spirit of Truth. They will. And we already have. Our time for mourning is up; our grieving, our frustration and aggravation are done. It is time to preach the joy of the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ Jesus.

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The Daughters of St. Philip Neri!

I have no idea how I ran across this site. . .however, I'm intrigued! Check it out. . .The Daughters of St. Philip Neri:

“Let us concentrate intensely on Christ’s divine love and let us enter deeply into the wound in His side, into the living font of the wisdom of God made man, so as to drown ourselves in Him and not be able to find again the road which leaves Him.” (St. Philip Neri)

These words capture poignantly the desires and hopes of the Daughters of St. Philip Neri who seek like their Patron (Heart of Fire and Martyr of Charity) to enter and remain hidden close to the heart of Christ so that enflamed by His Spirit of love their lives may become a sacrifice of praise to God. Reflecting on the difficult situation in which Christ’s Church struggles, they resolve to make their humble contribution to renew the life of the Christian faithful and in particular the priesthood through their dedication to Adoration, Reparation, and Spiritual Motherhood for Priests.

The Daughter of St. Philip Neri lives this out in imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by embracing the Will of God in joy and in sorrow, health and infirmity, prosperity and want, companionship and solitude, light and obscurity. In a word, she sees in every event of life an opportunity to enter, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, into the sacrifice of Christ the Priest.  In this way, a Daughter of St. Philip Neri can participate in the spiritual fecundity of the Mother of the Redeemer who, by her constant intercession, cares for the gift of life that ever flows from the open Heart of her Son, and cooperates with a mother’s love in the birth and upbringing of Christ’s faithful, her children.

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Therapeutic Culture Kills the Soul

Like I said. . .our therapeutic/self-esteem culture is creating generations of self-absorbed narcissists: 

Could Rodger's fury at the world for failing to flatter his self-image as a good, civilized guy be a product of the therapy industry, of the therapy world's cultivation of a new tyrannical form of narcissism where individuals demand constant genuflection at the altar of their self-esteem?

Unfortunately, the Church -- especially religious and clergy -- are not immune to the temptations of Feel Good Therapy and the constant demand to have "felt needs" met regardless of costs. 

How quickly do we ship problem priests off to treatment in an expensive facility (i.e., "Priest Spas") rather than a monastery for fasting and prayer? How easily do some religious abandon their vows to the lure of The New Universe Story, or the inticements of Drumming Retreats for the Primitive Male Soul? Or give up on Scripture and the Church to run after divination through the Ennegram?

Dioceses and religious orders need to wake up and smell the failure of these therapeutic traps. They do not attract vocations. They do not demand the kind of hard sacrifice that Christ warned us was necessary to find him along the Way. Why would any young man or woman want to enter a diocese or a religious order to get the same warmed over New Age garbage that they can get at Barnes and Noble for $9.99?

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Much more to tell. . .

6th Week of Easter (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Jesus dumps a lot of Truth on the disciples in his farewell address. There's lots of room in heaven. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Believe in me and the do the works that I do. Mine is the only name under heaven that can save you. Love me, one another, and keep my commandments. Remain in my word and ask for what you need. The world hates you b/c it hated me first. You are no longer slaves but friends. I am sending you the Advocate will who convict the world of its wickedness. That's a lot of Truth to take in at the dinner table! Then Jesus drops this little bomb on his friends, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” There's more?! Indeed. Much more. And you cannot bear the weight, the burden of knowing it all at once. How will the disciples learn what Jesus has yet to tell them? He says, “. . .the Spirit of truth [. . .] will guide you to all truth.” And when he speaks, “He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.” Can we—in 2014—bear up under what the Spirit of Truth has to teach us?

Let's see. While loading us up with the Truth, Jesus sweetened the deal with just as many promises. Not one of those promises included a vow to leave us with a comfortable, middle-class, suburban religion; or a complex, intellectually satisfying system of wisdom; or a workable economic/political agenda for fair wealth distribution. He promises those who follow him persecution, arrest, trial, torture, execution, and the world's unrelenting hatred. He also promises eternal life. . .but that comes after the persecution and death part. I'm reminding us of these unhappy truths b/c the Spirit of Truth, the Advocate, was sent to the apostles so that the Church could be born, born in fire and wind and speaking many tongues all at once. Many tongues, speaking the same truth: repent, turn to God, and receive His mercy. Preaching to the pagans in Athens, Paul, says, “God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will judge the world with justice. . .” Can we bear up under the promise that divine judgment is coming? Is this a truth we are ready to hear? Ready or not. . .as they say.

We could spend the next decade dissecting scripture, magisterial documents, and papal teaching, searching for what “divine judgment” really means. Does it mean that each soul faces God's judgment after death? Does it mean the violent apocalypse that our evangelical brethren love to write novels about? But these are questions for leisure moments. Right now – as Pope Francis is fond of reminding us – the Spirit of Truth is revealing Christ's heart to his Church just as he revealed it Paul on the Areopagus in Athens: the era of ignorance has ended and the proclamation of the Father's mercy has been made. The worship of idols—money, power, fame, violence, influence, intellect – these idols and our worship of them cannot bring us to God. The Spirit of Truth reveals even now that we live and move and have our being in God, and to offer our love – itself a gift from God – to the passing things of this world is like tossing an anchor in sand. Loving things feels weighty but there's nothing there to hold the anchor, nothing there to stop us from drifting with the deadly tides. Christ promises eternal life to those who love him and will follow him. To the cross, the grave, and on to feasting table in heaven. He bears our sins; therefore, listen to the Spirit of Truth: repent, receive His mercy, and return to righteousness.

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Thanks

Birthday Boy thanks to Ms Jenny K. for the books from the Wish List.

Ms K, you wrote: "Happy (belated?) birthday!" The books arrived on Tuesday afternoon; however, remember that Monday was also Memorial Day, so no mail service that day.

Thanks again. . .Fr. Philip
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Divine Economy, C. Milosz

OECONOMIA DIVINA (From The Rising of the Sun, 1973)

              -- Czesław Miłosz

I did not expect to live in such an unusual moment.
When the God of thunders and of rocky heights,
The Lord of hosts, Kyrios Sabaoth,
Would humble people to the quick,
Allowing them to act whatever way they wished,
Leaving to them conclusions, saying nothing.
It was a spectacle that was indeed unlike
The agelong cycle of royal tragedies.
Roads on concrete pillars, cities of glass and cast iron,
Airfields larger than tribal dominions
Suddenly ran short of their essence and disintegrated
Not in a dream but really, for, subtracted from themselves,
They could only hold on as do things which should not last.
Out of trees, field stones, even lemons on the table,
Materiality escaped and their spectrum
Proved to be a void, a haze on a film.
Dispossessed of its objects, space was swarming.
Everywhere was nowhere and nowhere, everywhere.
Letters in books turned silver-pale, wobbled, and faded
The hand was not able to trace the palm sign, the river sign, or the sign of ibis.
A hullabaloo of many tongues proclaimed the mortality of the language.
A complaint was forbidden as it complained to itself.
People, afflicted with an incomprehensible distress,
Were throwing off their clothes on the piazzas so that nakedness might call
For judgment.
But in vain they were longing after horror, pity, and anger.
Neither work nor leisure
Was justified,
Nor the face, nor the hair nor the loins
Nor any existence.

Source
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Wherever the Spirit sends us. . .

6th Week of Easter (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Have the disciples been listening? Have they truly attended to what Jesus is trying to teach them about who and what they are to become? On many occasions in the three years they have spent with Jesus, the disciples have misunderstood him, ignored him, failed to follow him, and now, as he stands on the verge of leaving them behind, they exhibit a curious lack of curiosity. Jesus says to them, “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?'” Do they fail to ask because they do not care? Or, because they already know and don't want their worst fears confirmed? Jesus answers the question for us, “. . .because I told you [that I am leaving], grief has filled your hearts.” His friends know that he is leaving them behind, moving on to Jerusalem and a gruesome death. Though their grief is only natural, it cannot stand against the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who convicts the world of sin and convinces the worldliest heart that not even death can triumph over the promise of eternal life through Christ.

Jesus will leave his friends behind. He will go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of his enemies, die on the cross, and rise from the grave to live again. He will ascend to the Father, and the Holy Spirit will come to sweep across those who heard his words and witnessed his deeds. All their fear, doubt, worry; all their confusion, questions, insecurities; any hesitation they harbor in preaching the gospel, all of these will be set ablaze, burned away by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then they will set out to heal, to cast out demons, to speak God's word of mercy to sinners, to suffer and die as Christ himself suffered and died. In the rush to pack and leave for their missions, do they remember the question they forgot to ask to the Lord, “Where are you going?” If they were listening to Jesus while he was among them, they already know how to answer, “Lord, we am going to Jerusalem; we are following you to the cross.”

Two thousand years later, the question still matters. Baptized, confirmed in the Spirit, nourished at the altar, where are you going? Jesus is gone and the Advocate has come. Where are you going? To Jerusalem and your cross? Of course. But there are many hours and many miles between now and then, here and there. If the Spirit has convicted us of our sin and convinced us of the truth, what do we do in the meantime, all those miles in between? We do what Jesus did. We do what the disciples did once the Spirit seized their grieving hearts. Proclaim the truth. Heal the sick. Feed the hungry. Forgive, love, show mercy. Bring peace to worry. Bear good fruit and give it away. Live in joy. Die for your friends. Each time, a step behind our Lord. Each step, a moment longer with him.

Where are we going? Wherever the Spirit sends us. When are we leaving? If we've been listening, we are already well on our way.

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To open wide the most closely guarded heart

St. Philip Neri

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Dominic Church, NOLA

When we hear God's Word and listen to Him speaking to us, our hearts are opened, and we are filled with the joy of His Holy Spirit. Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, is our witness to this truth. Hearing Paul preach in Philippi, she attends to the Word. She turns herself toward the Word, reaching out toward the Word, “and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” What does Lydia hear? She hears the truth revealed – the truth about her sin and the surety of God's mercy to sinners. Lydia and her household are baptized, and she offers Paul and his companions the hospitality of her home. Her invitation is an expression of joy, an act of charity born out of a new found freedom from slavery to sin. We can't miss the progression of events here: Lydia hears the Word; the Lord opens her heart to listen; she listens to the Word; she is convicted and convinced in the truth of the Spirit; and then she is baptized. Her baptism immediately leads her to express her joy, an act of charity. When we hear God's Word and listen to Him speaking to us, our hearts are opened, and we are filled with the joy of His Holy Spirit.

 

On this feast day of St. Philip Neri, the Apostle of Joy, we cannot miss the intimate connection btw listening to the Word and the presence of joy. When we turn ourselves toward God's Word and our hearts are opened to listen – to attend to His Word – we recognize the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Here's a weak analogy to give you an image. Think of a laptop. It's on, but the screen is blank. When you “attend to” the laptop, when you press a key or click the mouse, the laptop “wakes up,” it doesn't turn on b/c it's already on – it animates, it comes alive. Here's another analogy. You crank your car. It's running but not moving. When you “attend to” the car by putting it in gear, the car moves. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit abides – He sleeps, idles – in the baptized. When we “attend to” the Spirit by listening to God's Word, by celebrating the sacraments, by praying, the Spirits wakes; He comes alive and blooms into joy. And joy, St. Thomas tells us, is an effect of charity. Joy is an act of love, a fruit of the Holy Spirit (ST.II-II.28.4).

You may have noticed that in my analogies the laptop had be turned on and the car cranked. IOW, before they are able to “come alive” by our attention, they have to be “on.” Before the Holy Spirit can “come alive” in us, we too must be “on.” How does this happen? In his exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis teaches us that God always takes the initiative. He loves us first. Francis writes, “God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us” (12). The first gift we receive from God is His love, Himself. This is what “turns us on.” This is what makes it possible for Lydia to hear Paul's preaching. Our relationship with God is always voluntary, always a willed act on your part. We must will to turn toward Him. He makes that willing possible but not compulsory. Jesus tells the disciples that they will be expelled from the synagogues and even killed. Those who commit these evil acts “will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.” They have not heard the Word nor have they turned themselves toward the Lord. Their hearts are closed to the truth of the Spirit. Our task – as enjoyers of the Spirit's abiding presence – is to testify to Christ, to bear witness to the freely offered mercy of the Father to sinners. Our example is Philip Neri. He lived in constant joy, a martyr to the power of the Spirit to open wide the most closely guarded heart.

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