Choose your measure wisely

7^th Sunday OT (C)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

OLR, NOLA

Sinners are a lot like saints. They love those who love them and forgive those who forgive them. Sinners will even do a good deed for someone who's done a good deed for them. Sinners go to work everyday, raise their kids, pay their bills, visit sick relatives, give Christmas presents. And they even show up to Church once in a while. In the eyes of the world, a sinner can be a Good Person who's trying hard to do and be better. Nothing wrong with that. But Jesus sets the goal higher for those who will follow him. We must be better than the sinner who's just trying to be and do better. Not “better” in the sense of being Holier Than Thou but “better” in the sense of being more deeply convicted of our sin and more thoroughly committed to growing in holiness. A big part of our on-going growth in holiness depends on how we choose to live in the world while not being of the world. Jesus tells us how to do this: “. . .the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” That's right – you get to choose the measure with which you will measured. Choose wisely.

Sinners can be a lot like saints. They can try hard to be Good People – like avoiding truly evil deeds – and even be Good People in the eyes of the world. In fact, without Padre Pio's gift for reading souls, you and I can look at a sinner and see a saint. We can also look in a mirror and see a saint. Perhaps we're deceiving ourselves when we do, perhaps not. Regardless, there's no deceiving God. He knows the size and shape of the measure we use to measure other people's souls. The sinner uses a Self Shaped Measure about the size of his/her pride. The saint uses a Christ Shaped Measure about the size of his/her humility. And that's largely the difference btw a sinner and a saint – not effort or intent but who designs the measure: Christ or the Self? Jesus teaches the disciples: “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you. . .” What Christ is commanding us to do specifically is clear. What he is commanding us to do generally is presume grace, always assume that God's grace is working overtime to transform the hearts and minds of sinners – that's you and me. We can name the sin and call it sin without judgment. We cannot name the sinner and call him a sinner without presuming to judge the state of his soul. Grace builds on nature. And – as we all know – large construction projects take time.

What's the state of your personal construction project? Your project to grow in holiness, to become Christ for others? There's no denying that what Christ is commanding us to do – love our enemies, do good for those who hate us – there's no denying that he is commanding us to achieve near super-human levels of charity here. But that's what we signed up for. We signed up to enter the long, slow progression from sinner to saint, and progress according to plan is sweat-inducing, even exhausting. We can despair at the delays and wail about the weather of our project. . .but there's no getting out of the fact that we are – each one of us – is the foreman of our holiness. I am solely responsible for the set-backs, the shoddy construction, the wasteful overtime, and all the violations the inspectors might find on-site. By the same token, I am also the principal beneficiary of any progress I make. But I don't work alone. The Christ Shaped Measure I need to succeed is freely given and must be freely received. Without condition or pretense, the Christ Shaped Measure must rule my heart and mind, building me up so that mercy and gratitude flow abundantly. This is the gift Christ gives us: we can be sinners-turned-saints. Measure wisely. Measure as if you were becoming Christ.

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Leave it behind and put out into the deep!

5^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

OLR, NOLA

Christ says to his Church, “Put out into the deep!” Get out there and risk it! What do we do? Do we obey? Or do we find excuses not to? We could, like Isaiah, spend a lot of time and energy nursing our sins, crying over our failures, and raising these up to God as excuses for our unwillingness to go out into the world as apostles for the Good News. How can we bear witness to God's mercy when we ourselves are so dirty with sin? Or, we could, like Paul, see ourselves as “abnormally born,” that is, brought into the family of God from another church or another faith, and then claim that our unusual entrance into Christ's body disqualifies us from being proper preachers of the Gospel. I'm a convert, what can I do for the Church? Or, we could, like Simon Peter, live as weary unbelievers, ever doubtful of Christ's power, and then ashamed of our unbelief when he shows us what he can do. I've denied Christ too many times, I'm unworthy of serving him as an apostle! We could refuse, deny, demur, disbelieve, and beat ourselves up. But Christ says, “Do not be afraid! Leave everything and follow me.” Leave doubt, leave self, leave sin, leave the past. Leave it all. . .and follow me.

Isaiah leaves his history of sin behind when the seraphim purges his mouth with the ember from God's altar. Paul leaves his history of vengeful persecution of the Church behind when Christ appears to him on the Damascus Road. Simon Peter leaves his long and stubborn history of faithlessness and betrayal behind when he is consumed in the fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Isaiah hears the Lord ask, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Purged of his sin, Isaiah shouts like a schoolboy, “Here I am, send me!” Paul sheds the scales from his eyes and receives his commission to bring the Good News to the Gentiles, confessing, “. . .by the grace of God I am what I am.” And Simon Peter, upon seeing the haul in his fishing nets, confesses his unbelief, and receives from Christ himself a heart grown strong enough to receive the love of the Holy Spirit. Each man abandoned his history of disobedience; each leaves behind every obstacle, every trial, every excuse; and each follows the Lord in His will to become prophetic and preaching legends for God's people. They put out into the deep, and brought to the Lord a great haul of souls.

Time and physical distance do not limit Christ. His words to Peter on the boat are spoken directly to us, each one of us: “Put out into the deep. . .do not be afraid.” As this world grows older and its spiritual and moral foundations become more and more fragile, our hold on things true, good, and beautiful seems to grow more and more precarious. We don't need to recite the litany of sins our culture of death revels in. It's the same list Isaiah, Paul, and Peter knew so well. It's the same list that ancient Israel and Judah knew. It's the same list the serpent wrote in the Garden and the same list men have been carrying around for millennia. That list tells us how to degrade and destroy the dignity of the human person, the image and likeness of God that each one us shares in, the imago Dei that makes us perfectable in Christ. It is the mission of the Enemy to tempt us into racial suicide, to kill ourselves as the human race by separating ourselves – one soul at a time – from our inheritance in the Kingdom. The Deep that we are commanded to evangelize is at once both the individual human heart and the whole human community. And lurking in that Deepness is both Eden's serpent and Christ's cross, both the voice of rebellion against God and the instrument of sacrifice for God. As we choose, hear Christ Jesus say again, “Do not be afraid.”

Whether we find the serpent or the cross or both dwelling in the Deep, we must not be afraid. The serpent was defeated the moment he chose to rebel. Sin and death were crushed from eternity before the first human walked upright. So, we can meet the serpent without fear. We can also meet the cross without fear b/c it is through the cross that the serpent is defeated. When we put out into the Deep of the human heart and the human community, there is nothing there for us to fear. Our job is a simple one: fish. Cast nets with service, humility, mercy, and joy. Bait our hooks with all the gifts we have been given to use for the greater glory of God. Leave behind bitterness, resentment, jealousy, and wrath. Follow Christ in strength, persistence, faithfulness, gladness, and sacrifice. Leave behind worry, doubt, fear, and hostility. Follow Christ in thanksgiving, rejoicing, praise, and courage. Now is not the time for cowardice. Now is not the time for waffling or compromise. We have our orders: put out into the deep! Risk, challenge, venture out. Hold fast to Peter's boat and cast your net wide and deep. Isaiah, Paul, and Peter made their excuses before God. He smiled and made them into prophets and preachers. So, go ahead: make your excuses. And watch God do His marvelous work through you.

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The Gospel is worth a riot or two

4^th Sunday OT (C)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

OLR, NOLA

Jesus causes a riot. I don't think he wanted to cause a riot, but he must've known that his announcement in the synagogue would make people angry. He does it anyway. He tells the synagogue-goers that Isaiah's prophecy of the coming of the Messiah “has been fulfilled in your hearing,” meaning: he is proclaiming himself to be the Messiah. Some are amazed. They speak highly of him. His words are gracious, grace-filled, they say. Then they begin to question. They question his credibility. His authority. His family. They want to know just who he thinks he is. At this point, if Jesus were a 21^st c. politician or CEO, he would immediately hire a P.R. firm, issue a non-apology apology, donate money to an orphanage, and check himself into rehab. But Jesus is not a politician. He's the Messiah. And so, he causes a riot. Basically, he scolds the doubters by comparing them to the people who refused to believe God's prophets, Elijah and Elisha, leaving only the pagans to place their faith in Abraham's God. The angry crowd chases Jesus to a cliff so they might hurl him headlong to his death. The lesson here: the truth will set you free. . .and probably get you tossed off a mountain. But tell it anyway.

Now, we know that Jesus wasn't tossed off the mountain. He “passed through the midst of them and went away.” The question I have is this: why did he announce his mission and ministry in this way? In the middle of Sabbath services at a synagogue? He just sort of blurts it out! He could've done it more gently, more “professionally.” I don't know, maybe start small with a few close friends and let the word spread in its own time. Let people get used to the idea. Expand slowly to make sure that only those who truly believed in him would be admitted into the Church. Instead he does the one thing that any sensible consultant would tell him is guaranteed to make people angry – he proclaims the truth boldly, clearly, and in public. And sure enough, people get mad. They get mad b/c the truth hurts AND b/c the one proclaiming the truth is someone they know – a prophet come home to find that he is not honored as a prophet. Does this bit of inconvenience stop him? No. He does what prophets do. He proclaims God's truth. And he stings the conscience of those who refuse to believe. Their faith is smaller than that of the pagans who believed Elijah and Elisha. And they know it!

Proclaiming the truth of the Gospel – in season and out – is no easy thing. We, as good law-abiding, tax-paying citizens, are trained not to cause trouble. Not to rock any boats we might be on. Not to stir the pot. Or otherwise say or do anything that might offend. Good, middle-class manners keep us connected in the neighborhood, at work, and at school. We keep the family peaceful, friends friendly, and co-workers working with us by minimizing points of difference and maximizing points of similarity. This is basic human nature. We are tribal animals in many ways. We want/need to belong to the group – for safety, community, even survival. The earliest Christian churches around the Mediterranean were persecuted precisely b/c they refused to be part of the larger pagan culture. They lived differently. They married for life. One man, one woman. They did not kill their unwanted children. They went out of their way to help the poor, the disabled, the abandoned, and the sick. They forgave those who persecuted them. And they worshiped just one God. All of this made them outcasts in their own nations. And it is quickly making us outcasts even now. 

 

This is where you might expect me to grouse about the declining morals of a great nation, or lament at how poorly Christians are being treated by the culture. Nope. Not gonna do that! Instead, I'm going to point you back to Jesus in the synagogue and say, “Do as he did.” Tell the truth – the Gospel Truth – and tell it with boldness and clarity. There is nothing to be afraid of. Nothing permanent, anyway. Christ promises his followers persecution. If you declare for him, follow him, and take on his mission and ministry as you own, then you are asking to be opposed by the world. So, don't be surprised when the world opposes you. Don't be surprised when the rioters form and start looking for a handy cliff to fling you from. Just do what Jesus did: tell the truth in love. Veritas in caritate. Truth in love. Yes, you will likely be questioned: Who are you to judge me? Everyone accepts [insert sin here] as a good thing! What's wrong with you? Why are you trying to take away my rights? Etc., ad. nau. Truth in love. Truth in love. You're not trying to win an argument, or trying to scores points against an opponent. You're bearing witness as a sinner to the freely offered mercy of the Father through Christ. Surely, that's worth a small riot or two. . .

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