Divorce, remarriage, and the love of God

NB. I have a Dominican laity Serra Club retreat all day today. So, this homily is an edited repost from 2006. 

27th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio File

What does it mean to accept the Kingdom of God like a child? Jesus says quite plainly that we must come to accept his Father’s Kingdom like a child would, open our lives to His rule if we are to be a part of the glory that is to come. Living with God forever is not a reward for good behavior or right belief, it is the supernatural consequence of a life lived in right relationship, in righteousness, with He Who loved you into being, loved you into redemption, and loves you even now, drawing you to Him, seducing your heart, wooing your soul back to the source of all peace, of all happiness, pulling you back to Him. 

To accept the Kingdom of God like a child means first that you respond to our Father’s clarion call to come home to Him without argument, without pretense, without guile, without need for evidence or proof. You come home to rest because home is where you most belong. Because resting in God is the rest that comforts your nastiest hurts and eases your most tedious worries. You come home to rest in God because you know and accept—as any child would—that there is no argument for love, no pretense in belonging. The bond between you and God, between all of us and God was forged at the welding of creation, from the instantaneous explosion of Nothing into Everything, we are bound to Him, indelibly marked by His love precisely because He is Love and Love is Who He Is. To know as true and accept as real that you are brought out of nothingness, shaped body and soul by Love, held in being by Love, and seduced back to Love while you seek after holiness—to know these as true, to accept these as real—THIS is what it means to look up into the face of Jesus, to come to him, to be embraced and blessed by him as a child and to live with him forever. 

Forgive me, I’m going to become a professor for a second: Coming before everything we have freely chosen ourselves to be is the primal kinship between each of us and God. There is nothing about us more basic, more fundamental than the fact that we exist. We ARE. This fact means that we are loved. God is Love. And we continue to exist because He loves us. God made us in His image and likeness. He made us for no other reason than to live in perfect relationship with Him. It follows then that every relationship we can name, every connection we can point to, every single kinship we have is given to us by God and is a reflection of our most primitive relationship with Love, with God. We can have no relationship with each other or with anything in creation that is not first a relationship with God, first a kinship with Love Who made us. Now, I can say: the question the Pharisees ask Jesus about divorce obscures the purpose of our creation, misses the point of our very existence; in fact, it betrays a deep misunderstanding of who we are made finally to be. 

You are probably saying, “Wow, Father, took you long enough to get to divorce!” It did. Here’s why: how easy for me to stand up here and teach what the Church teaches about marriage and divorce, pointing to all the relevant texts—all read this afternoon—and pointing to the CCC and telling you what you already know: marriage is permanent, therefore, divorce is impossible. But you might think that this is a social policy issue, or a cultural problem, or a private choice. You might think that the Church needs to loosen its teachings on marriage or ease its strict understanding of divorce. I spent so much time laying out our childlike relationship with God so that I can say this: divorce is impossible because it is impossible for us NOT to have a relationship with God—even if that relationship is broken and deeply impaired, it is still a relationship in love. What God has joined, no man must separate. 

OK. That sounds odd. Divorce/remarriage is impossible because it is impossible for us not to have a relationship with God. Think about it: God created Man, Adam and Eve. In the more detailed telling of the two Genesis stories of creation, God uses Adam’s rib to create Eve. God brings this newly created person to Adam for a name. He names her “woman.” The story continues with this explanation of marriage: this is why a man leaves his mom and dad and clings to his wife and the two become one flesh. Perhaps it should read, “and the two become one flesh again.” 

My point is simple: our most basic relationship is with God, the One in Whom we find our completion, our wholeness, and our end; marriage then embodies the search for and discovery of wholeness and the consummation of a single person’s separated existence into a completed existence. In other words, the sacrament of marriage signifies and makes present the joining of the creature with his or her Creator. Marriage is a sacrament of redemption. Divorce/remarriage is impossible because divorce/remarriage implies that marriage, a sacrament of our healing, can mean something else entirely. It cannot. It cannot mean anything other than the sacramental joining of one man and one woman into one flesh for the purpose of expressing Christ's love for his Church and the raising of a natural family. This definition of marriage was not born in hatred or bigotry. It simply expresses the stark truth of reality. 

All this is well and good. But what do we do with Catholics who have divorced and remarried? This will sound harsh. We do with divorced and remarried Catholics what we do with all those who disobey God, what we do with all those who manage to mess up their relationship with the One Who loves us completely. We do with divorced and remarried Catholics exactly what we do with fornicators, apostates, adulterers, abusive priests, irresponsible bishops, and heretics; we do what we do with you and with me when we sin—we stand here imperfect in the truth of the faith, clearly proclaiming the golden standard of holiness to which we are all called, readily naming our own sins, our own need for forgiveness, and we welcome them—all of them—back to a life of righteousness, always back to Love, always back to that which they and we resist in our most hateful moments of pride: Christ’s patient, loving embrace. There is no alternative here. No other way to go. Absolution of sin requires repentance. To freely receive God's freely given mercy, we must repent, turn away from sin. 

We cannot lie about divorce/remarriage or adultery or fornication, or any sin for that matter. Pretending that sin isn’t sin or renaming sin to hide its ugliness does nothing to the reality of a broken relationship. We might as well conclude that gravity is a hateful notion and decide to ignore it. Dropped dishes will still fall. Airplanes will still need speed and thrust to fly. And divorce/remarriage is impossible not because the Church says so, not even because Jesus say so, but because marriage is a living witness to the most basic hunger we have, the most basic satisfaction we can find: the love of God. Marriage cannot be what it is not. And neither can we. 

Know and accept, therefore, the embrace and blessing of Christ. If you are married, make that commitment shine like the sun for our good and yours. If you are divorced and remarried, come back; come back to us for your holiness and for ours. We need your matrimonial witness. We are one flesh, one Body in Christ. Pope Benedict writes in his letter, Deus caritas est, that when we embrace Christ and his blessing, “God's way of loving becomes the measure of human love.” There is no better measure of mercy and there is no better way home.

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P.C. ideology & the Republic

For readers who miss political commentary on HancAquam: I ran across this quote on Instapundit that sums up nicely my own views:

Political tags – such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth – are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.   -- Robert A. Heinlein 

Heinlein's two categories of people implies a third, more dangerous category: those who want to control others using political means.  To my mind, there is a stark distinction to be made between using the law to establish civil boundaries for public behavior (boundaries that rule out direct harm to others) AND using the law to establish civil boundaries to shape attitudes and  convictions.

For example, the law can and should penalize murder.  However, it cannot and should not penalize the attitudes, convictions, emotions that lead to murder.  "Hate" simply cannot be made illegal.  To attempt to do so results in a transfer of political power from the individual to the State, a transfer that threatens a free conscience.

Political correctness is a subversive ideology that directly undermines critical thinking and the free exchange of ideas by ruling out huge swaths of civil discourse in the name of "protecting victims." It's the principal weapon that cultural Marxists use to gain power over their ideological enemies.

  

I would argue that PC ideology is the acid that's corroding our Republic.

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Thanks and Prayers

Mille grazie. . .again. . .to a kind and generous and anonymous Book Benefactor!

Rec'd vol 5. of the Pelikan development of doctrine series and Dan Gioia's new book of poems, Pity the Beautiful.

Please continue praying for Fr. Christiaan Kappes.  He is still missing in Greece.
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Thanks & FYI

Yesterday, I rec'd vol 2. of Pelikan's A History of the Development of Doctrine from the Wish List.

There was no name on the shipping invoice. . .so, I will say Mille Grazie here.

FYI:  several weeks ago someone purchased The Gagging of God from the Wish List. 

It hasn't arrived yet.  Don't want you think I got it and haven't sent my thanks.
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I think I shall praise it!

26th Week OT (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Robert Hass opens his 1979 book of poetry, Praise, with an epigraph: “We asked the captain what course/of action he proposed to take toward/a beast so large, terrifying, and/unpredictable. He hesitated to/answer, and then said judiciously:/‘I think I shall praise it.’” The captain's awe-struck desire to praise so large a beast always brought to mind an image of Job standing before God in the whirlwind. Until this morning. Job questions God, presuming that his suffering entitles him to an explanation from the One who allowed it. Speaking Creator to creature, the Lord answers, “Tell me, if you know all: Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness, that you may take them to their boundaries. . .” I've always imagined that Job, like our awe-struck captain, would fall prostrate in praise. Instead, “Job answered the Lord and said: Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again. . .” Rather than praise a beast so large and terrifying, Job judiciously covers his mouth and vows himself to silence. Before the mighty works of God, under His even mightier Word, silence is the richest praise His creatures can offer. 

Were you to suffer as Job has suffered and were you given the chance to demand a reason from God for your suffering, would you make such a demand; or would you remember Job's chastised pride and cover your mouth in awe? The idea of “suffering in silence” is not one we modern folks embrace with much enthusiasm. We are industrious complainers, founding whole factories to assemble our grievances against God, man, and country. It's repugnant to suggest that the best response to God's challenge—Who are you to question me?—is to cover our mouths and vow silence. It is even more repugnant to suggest that we praise God for allowing us to suffer. Praising a collaborator in our disaster and pain smells too much like submission, like a weak surrender. Aren't we more inclined to quote heaven's most beautiful angel, and defiantly answer, “I will not serve”? We are certainly free to shout a feeble non serviam at the whirlwind. We are also free to grant the beast of our suffering—so large, so terrifying and unpredictable—a word of praise. However, we are freest while suffering when we give God thanks for all His gifts, including the gift of suffering. 

Yes, that's right: suffering is a gift. If you understand suffering to be the experience of pain, then you might think I'm crazy. But suffering is not the experience of pain. To suffer pain is to allow it, to give it permission to be. Job does not suffer well. His legendary patience is no where in sight as one disaster after another crashes into him. He tries surrender; he tries philosophy. Though his patience is tried by his well-meaning friends, he endures their arguments in vain. When he seeks an answer from God, he's rebuffed with a reminder that he is dust and wind living in an unimaginably complex creation, and wholly incapable of grasping the smallest truths of its boundaries. Job does not suffer well until he learns that humble praise is best given in silence. This is not the answer he thought he wanted. Nor is it the answer we hoped to hear. But what would we do with a reasonable answer to suffering, a sensible explanation for why we must endure pain and disaster? Would we accept it? Challenge it? Greet it with pride and derision? When we give God thanks for giving us the gift of suffering—the gift of choosing how we will experience pain and disaster—we embrace our truest freedom: the freedom to give Him praise and know that we are loved by the One who set the boundaries on all that is. 

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Only a new creation

St. Francis of Assisi
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Paul prays that he may never boast except to boast in the cross of Christ Jesus, the cross through which, he writes, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The zealous former persecutor of the Church is placing his pride, his worldly dignity squarely on the cross to die along with Christ, and by doing so, he is forever renouncing the temporary glories and passing rewards that this world offers. In context, Paul is comparing his apostolic preaching ministry to those false teachers among the Galatians who are insisting that circumcision is necessary for salvation. He writes, “. . .they only want you to be circumcised so that they may boast of your flesh.” These false teachers are using the scars of circumcision—both physical and spiritual—to brag about their privileged relationship with Christ and to draw in more followers. In rebuttal, Paul figuratively drops his tunic to show his own scars, a multitude of scars earned through years of suffering for the Gospel. What do these scars mean? Ultimately, nothing, w/o Christ and him crucified. “For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation.” And it is to the new creature that God reveals His wisdom. 

In another letter to a troubled church, Paul writes that he is “being poured out like a libation,” emptied of all that he is and all that is his. To the Galatians he writes that he has been crucified to the world and the world to him. All that he knew, desired, needed, and sought after died on the cross with Christ. And all the wisdom, knowledge, social standing, and privilege that the world laid at his feet also died on the cross with Christ. All he has left is the cross; Christ crucified; and his living body, the Church. And it is in the living body of Christ, the Church, that Paul finds peace and wisdom. Despite all of her scars, warts, abrasions, and disabilities, the Church is where Paul thrives in God's wisdom and peace as a creature newly made. If we will find this same wisdom and peace, we too must become child-like, newly made creatures. 

Jesus sets the wise and learned of the world against the child-like and anoints the child-like with the true wisdom found only in God. If you think of yourself as the culmination of experiences, all the time you've spent on this earth, all that you've done, said, thought, and you pile it all up, you have who you are—not all that you are—but a good start on seeing a biggest picture of yourself as you are. All the warts and scars are there. All the failures and triumphs. All the times you've been helped and the times that you were the one helping. It all backs up into this moment, right now, as you sit here, and it gives who you are definition. Think about Paul again and all that he was bringing with him to Damascus. Roman citizenship, classical education, Jewish religious training, privileged social standing as a Pharisee, years and years of accumulated wisdom. And he meets Christ on the way and it is all gone. All crucified with Christ on the cross and now he can boast of none of it b/c none of it matters to who is as a follower of Christ. On that road that day he is made new, child-like and now he enjoys the peace and wisdom of God. We cannot wait for a Damascus Road lightening bolt to set us right. We don't have to. With our baptism we are already made new. What we might need is crucifixion; that is, a loud surrender to Christ that renders us poor in spirit and dead to the world. God's wisdom and peace doesn't come with age; it comes when we pour out of our lives all that which makes us foolish and restless. It comes when we arrive newly made in Christ. 

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Prayers for Missing Priest

Please prayer for Father Christiaan Kappes.  He's missing in Greece after calling his family in distress. 

I took several classes with Fr. Kappes in the philosophy school at the Angelicum.

He's a kind, generous priest and absolutely brilliant.

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8 Misc Questions

1. Q:  Are you going to post a pic of your new rosary?

A:  Yes.  My camera is charged up.  Just waiting for inspiration. 

2. Q:  Are priests allowed to have hobbies that aren't religious?  Do you have any hobbies?

A:  I'm not sure what a "religious hobby" would be. . .but, yes, priests can have hobbies and most do.  I know priests who: paint icons; crochet blankets, caps, etc.; collect DVD's of old movies; and most of the priests I know are sports fans.  My hobby (such as it is) is somewhat unusual for a priest. . .wanna guess what it is?  (Hint:  it's not collecting books despite all evidence to the contrary)

3. Q:  Afraid to ask but must, how's the weight loss coming along?

A:  What is this "weight loss" of which you speak?  'Nuff said.

4. Q:   Father, any chance you'll be made a bishop one day?

A:  Not if God loves me.  Meetings, paperwork, bureaucracy, politics, budgets. . .shudder. Religious priests are much less likely to be appointed to the purple. . .though we do have several rather prominent bishops right now from Orders (Chaput, O'Malley, George).

5. Q:  You're not discussing politics, I know.  But did you watch the debate last night?

No.  I've never watched a debate.  Principally b/c they aren't debates.  They are just scripted joint press conferences with the candidates.  I've read the aftermath reports and must say that I feel for B.O.  Some of us just do better with texts!

6. Q:  How's Fr. Aaron doing? [NB. Fr. Aaron Arce, OP is battling bone cancer.]

He's moved into hospice in St Louis.  I'm going to call him this weekend.

7. Q:  I heard you say that you're giving a day retreat for the Dominican laity this weekend.  What's the topic?

I'm going to present a very truncated philosophical history of how the Church found herself under attack in a largely Christian country.  We will start with Aquinas and end with Lady Gaga.

8. Q:  Do you actually read all the books you get?

Yes.  I may not read every book cover to cover, but I only ask for books that I'm pretty sure I will read and use.  Even the "fun books." Quite often I will use them for homily prep or in class.  It's vitally important for Catholic preachers to stay on top of what's going in the culture at large and be able to address it from a Catholic perspective.  For example, this Sunday's reading are about marriage and divorce. Here at St Dominic we will open the archdiocese's Rosary Eucharist Congress, and I'm the first preacher.  So, I need to be up on same-sex "marriage," contraception, etc. in order to address immediate spiritual concerns.  The message never changes. But the package it comes in sometimes does.
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When the law counts for nothing. . .

“The Roman Republic fell, not because of the ambition of Caesar or Augustus, but because it had already long ceased to be in any real sense a republic at all. When the sturdy Roman plebeian, who lived by his own labor, who voted without reward according to his own convictions, and who with his fellows formed in war the terrible Roman legion, had been changed into an idle creature who craved nothing in life save the gratification of a thirst for vapid excitement, who was fed by the state, and directly or indirectly sold his vote to the highest bidder, then the end of the republic was at hand, and nothing could save it. The laws were the same as they had been, but the people behind the laws had changed, and so the laws counted for nothing.”

- President Theodore Roosevelt

H/T:  The Anchoress
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Let the dead bury their dead

26th Week OT (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

That settles it. Jesus is a hippie. We have biblical proof. It's all there: wandering band of misfits; goo-goo eyed groupies; Jesus being all hip with his “no where to lay my head” schtick; birds, trees, sky, butterflies. All he needs is a Jerry Garcia tee-shirt and a pair of tie-dyed knee britches. And if we stopped reading half way through verse 59, we'd be right to think that maybe our Lord is giving us a little taste of 1st century Haight-Ashbury. However, if we keep reading, the “Jesus as Hippie” idea becomes a whole lot less convincing. Jesus says to a man in the crowd, “Follow me.” Before joining up, he wants to go bury his father. Jesus gives him a very un-hippieish answer, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Another invited groupie asks leave to go say farewell to his family. Jesus gives another answer that belies any attempt to picture him as a hippie, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” The ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of God is not a part-time job, a weekend adventure, a dilettante's hobby, or something to do when there's nothing better to do. The gospel must be preached first, always, now, and to the very end. 

We can probably sympathize with the disciple who says to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Who here wouldn't jump at the chance to wander around with Jesus? We can certainly understand wanting to go bury a parent or to say farewell to our family. Jesus' response to these last two requests seems not only grouchy but downright cruel. What will it hurt to let these two go take care of some family business before getting started on God's business? Ah, my business before God's business. The question answers itself, right? When reading the gospel it is always necessary to keep firmly in mind that Jesus understands us better than we will ever understand ourselves. Had he allowed these two to skip off to take care of their own business before vowing themselves to proclaim the kingdom, a precedent would've been set in scripture: sometimes it's OK for the followers of Christ to set aside their baptismal vows to get other stuff done. Are we ever permitted to pause our witness to God's mercy and get other stuff done? No. That other stuff can get done as a witness to God's mercy but never instead of it. Let those who are already dead worry about burying the dead. We're alive still, so our business is living everyday as witnesses to the Gospel. 

Jesus reinforces this when he says to the first disciples, “. . .the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Jesus isn't homeless b/c he's poor. He's homeless b/c he is sent to preach the Good News. He never rests in his divine mission to make sure that all receive the invitation to live with his Father eternally. He never stays put. Never lays down roots. Ours is a missionary faith by design—a way of living in right relationship with God through Christ that demands we go out there and show others what it's like to get, receive, and put into action God's mercy. Jesus insists that his disciples forgo performing two traditional religious obligations—burying the dead and saying farewell to family—b/c the proclaiming the Kingdom needs immediate attention and total commitment. Who will be lost while we attend to social customs, personal business? God's business comes first for those who follow Christ. That's the gold standard we have been baptized to follow. So long as you and I are alive, the standard we keep is clear: anyone who takes up his/her cross, follows Christ, and then stops to look back. . .well, Jesus says it himself, “is [not] fit for the Kingdom of God.” The gospel must be preached first, always, now, and to the very end. 

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My political fast: a report

Q:  Father, please report on your fast from politics?  How's it all going?

A: HA! Never thought of it as a "political fast," but I suppose that's what it is.  To be more specific, I'm fasting from discussing politics, meaning I'm keeping up with what's going on but boycotting a scripted role in the faux drama.

Several noteworthy changes:

1). I feel much less aggravated, annoyed. . .much more at peace with the fact that God is in charge.

2). Boycotting the horse race elements of the campaign has freed me to pay more attention to substance.

3). The longer I'm in Script Detox, the sillier the whole political process appears.

4). Script Detox also makes the differences btw the candidates and parties seem easier to spot.

5). And at the same time, the embarrassing similarities are more obvious.

6).  None of my basic political views have changed, but my perspective on the process we use to select our leaders has become even more cynical.  Well, not the process itself but what we've allowed to happen to the process.

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Suffer with a divine purpose

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Job is much admired for his wealth and his piety. Most rightly assume that his wealth is largely a product of his piety. The angel, Satan, certainly sees the connection. When God points to Job and describes him as “blameless, upright, and fearing God,” Satan responses by saying, “It's not for nothing that Job is God-fearing. You've surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection.” In other words, the only reason that Job is God-fearing is b/c God is blessing the daylights out of him! Remove the blessing and even the Upright Job would curse God. We know the rest of the story and how it ends. Job is stripped of God's blessing and Satan is allowed to play havoc with his life. Despite the best efforts of the Enemy and Job's gaggle of earnest but clueless friends, he endures right to the end. And only the end does he break and question God directly, demanding an explanation for his suffering. This evening, we join Job at the beginning of his suffering, and at this point his attitude is admirable, almost heroic, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” Job can bless the Lord b/c he knows that all he has comes from the Lord. Knowing that all we have comes from the Lord, could we bless Him as we lose it all? 

Here's what the Enemy knows about God's human creatures: as long as we have what we need and most of what we want, we are perfectly content to flow along, living day to day in oblivious ingratitude and expecting to receive not only the same blessings we received the day before but more and better blessings tomorrow. The Enemy knows that if this divine gravy train of blessings is derailed, we freak out and start whining and crying and pitching fits, demanding to know why we are being made to suffer so. And on whom do we lay the blame for our horrible deprivations and destitution? God. All too ready and willing to blame Him for our suffering, we are unprepared and often unwilling to give Him thanks for our blessings. And why is this? Two reasons: 1) we aren't fully convinced that His blessings are truly gifts; and 2) being grateful for a gift requires a measure of humility that bruises our pride. Why should I be grateful for blessings I've earned? I went to Mass yesterday instead of the Saints' game. I'm not saying thanks to God for giving me what I deserve! Here's where Satan smiles and sidles up next to God and says, “Of course he's righteous. You give that miserable ingrate everything he needs. Take it all away and see how long he lasts.” 

Now, whole libraries of books have been written on the meaning and purpose of suffering with the Book of Job in a starring role. So, you're not going to hear the definitive answer in a five-minute homily! But here's the nitty-gritty of it. When we experience pain, loss, disaster, we have a choice, a deliberate decision to make: acknowledging the emotional turmoil I'm feeling, how do I respond to this loss in the long-run? How I respond to loss is called “suffering.” If I respond to my loss with gratitude to God for His many gifts, then I suffer redemptively; that is, my choice to suffer in thanksgiving redeems—saves, restores—the loss by drawing me closer to God. If I respond with petulance, self-pity, spite, then I suffer pridefully right along with the Enemy who lives eternally with the consequences of disordered pride and envy. Job cries out the one sentiment that Pride will never allow an unrepentant sinner to say: “Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I go back again.” We go naked into loss and pain. But we do not have to remain naked in how we suffer. Clothe yourself in thanksgiving and suffer well, suffer with a divine purpose. 

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Belonging to Christ first (Audio file link)

26th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

Audio file

To whom or to what do you belong? Who or what has a claim on you? Keeps you as a possession? To put it another way: to whom or what do you owe fealty, allegiance? This question may strike most of you as a bit old-fashioned or even rude? We aren't serfs who swear fealty to a lord! We aren't owned like personal property! This is 21st century America. . .we're free men and women! All true. Regardless, we all belong to someone or something else; in fact, all of us belong to many someones and many somethings. We have broken free from the brutalities of serfdom, personal loyalty oaths, and chattel slavery and replaced them with kinder, gentler sorts of being owned: family, friends, athletic teams, political parties, financial obligations, religious vows—each one a kind of belonging, each one requiring a commitment to someone or something else. Even if you say, “I belong to no one and nothing but myself,” you still live with particular duties to yourself that must be honored. To whom or to what do you belong? Your answer accurately predicts your eternal destination. Jesus says to his jealous disciple, John, “. . .whoever is not against us is for us.” 

In the silly season of political campaigning the use of the prefixes “anti” and “pro” becomes truly absurd. All sides in the arena jostle to smear their opponents with insulting labels: “pro-death tax,” “anti-women,” “pro-big government,” “anti-American.” These labels are meant to summarize, demonize, and dismiss whole groups of people and ideas. If a demeaning label doesn't work, there's another tactic that surely will: guilt by association. Governor Jones dines with known socialists. Well, Senator Smith quotes a leading racist. Do you want a socialist in the governor's mansion? No? Then vote for the pro-capitalist! How about a racist in the Senate? No? Then vote for the anti-racist! Labeling and guilt by association are just two of the many ways that political campaigns distill and distort the fundamental human need to belong and thrive among one's own. In-groups and out-groups are the inevitable products of picking and choosing to whom and what we will belong. Christians are not immune to this disease. We never have been and never will be. Thus, both Moses and Jesus warn us of the spiritual dangers that will trap us if we indulge our instinct to selectively include some and recklessly exclude others. 

The spirit of the Lord appeared outside Moses' camp and came to rest on seventy elders who were gathered there. These men began to prophesy. Eldad and Medad were not among those gathered with Moses when the Lord rested his spirit on the seventy, yet they too prophesied. A young man hears them speaking in the spirit and reports this to Moses. Joshua hears the man's report and says, “Moses, my lord, stop them.” Despite the fact that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the spirit, the young man and Joshua want them excluded from those authorized to prophesy. What this man and Joshua didn't know is that both Eldad and Medad were on the list of those who were supposed to be gathered with Moses. In other words, their ignorance of the truth led them to indulge their instinct to protect their preferred in-group. Moses diagnoses the problem exactly when he asks, “Are you two jealous for my sake?” He goes on to give us a foretaste of the Church's fulfillment of the covenant, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” After the fiery arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, there can be no jealousy among Christ's disciples. The name of every man, woman, and child, living and deceased, is on the list to be invited to receive the Spirit of the Lord. 

John reports to Jesus that there is a man who doesn't belong to him casting out demons in his name. Jesus probably smiles a little, remembering Moses and his lesson to Joshua, a lesson John has obviously forgotten. Jesus says, “Do not prevent him. . .For whoever is not against us is for us.” We have to be very, very careful here. We might conclude from this statement that Jesus himself is encouraging the kind of in-group/out-group instinct that Moses condemned. Though it is certainly true that there are those who are for us and are against us, in no way is Jesus lending his support to including anyone against their will, or excluding anyone who chooses to follow him. He tells John that anyone who gives him cup of water “because [he] belong[s] to Christ” is choosing to be included in the kingdom. Note well: Jesus doesn't say that just giving his disciple a cup of water indicates a choice to be included but a cup of water given because they belong to Christ. In other words, if anyone performs an act of charity for you because—for the reason that—you belong to Christ, then that person also belongs to Christ, “Amen, I say to you, [he] will surely not lose his reward.” 

Now, I hope you see the importance of the question we started with: to whom or to what do you belong? Your answer to this question accurately predicts your eternal destination. Does that sound like an ominous threat? It's not a threat at all. Simply a report of what it means to choose to belong to someone or something before you choose to belong to Christ. For the follower of Christ, Christ comes first, always and everywhere, first. You can follow Christ and be a Democrat, a Republican; a LSU or Ole Miss fan; a mom, dad, student, even a criminal; but in all cases and under all circumstances, if you will to inherit the kingdom and live eternally with Christ, you will belong to Christ first. You cannot allow any other someones and somethings that you choose to belong to to endanger your primary relationship with Christ. Jesus says more than once, “You cannot serve two masters.” If being a Saints fan takes priority over Christ, then you belong to the Saints and not to Christ. If being a Democrat or a Republican takes priority over belonging to Christ, then you belong to them and not to Christ. If being a Cowboys fan or a libertarian or a member of a religious order leads you away from Christ, then cut them off. It is far, far better to go into eternity without a team, a club, or a party than it is to arrive at Gehenna belonging to someone or something that could not rescue you from sin and death. 

When Moses corrects Joshua's error, he proclaims, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” This proclamation, this prayer is a foretaste of God's plan for His people at Pentecost. Because we belong to Christ through baptism, the spirit of the Lord has settled in us and among us to make each one of us His prophet, His preacher of the Good News. Whoever we choose to be right now—parent, partisan politico, sports fan, chess player, Dominican friar, whatever—we are first prophets of the Good News of Christ Jesus. Everything else we are, anyone else we may belong to by contract, covenant, or complicity is ordered to who we are first as the Lord's prophets. This must be so if we will to live in the hope of the resurrection and life eternal. As Christian prophets then, go out and welcome in everyone you meet. Jesus says, “. . .whoever is not against us is for us.” 

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Baby Jesus: Zombie Hunter!

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Fr. Aaron Arce (pic)

Fr. Aaron Arce, OP with several student brothers: fras. Vincent, Luke, 

Juan (standing), and Cristobol.

Please pray for fra. Aaron!

Angelic ministers

Feast of the Archangels
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

If you browse the “Spirituality” section of any Barnes&Noble bookstore, you'll soon discover that angels are popular subjects for occult speculation. All sorts of items—books, Tarot cards, runes—tout the power of angels and their willingness to initiate the curious into the mysteries of the supernatural world. That these items seem to sell quite well tells us that there is a hunger out there for a way to get in touch with something or someone willing and able to draw us into all that dwells behind and beyond our routine existence. As Christians, we know that this Someone is the one God of revelation and reason, revealed finally and uniquely in the divine person of Jesus Christ. With him and in him we are given all that we need to establish and maintain a kinship with our Creator. Though the focus of our adoration rests exclusively on the Blessed Trinity, there are many other important players in the drama of our spiritual lives—the Blessed Mother, the communion of saints, and the angels and archangels of the Lord. Who and what are angels? And how do they serve the glory of God when they minister to us? 

For all we need to know about angels there is no better person to turn to than the Angelic Doctor himself, St. Thomas Aquinas. Our brother Thomas devotes fourteen articles to the nature and activities of angels in the first part of his Summa.* He tells us that angels were made by God, creatures of pure intellectual substance; therefore, they are incorporeal, immortal, and limited in both their power and their location; some choose at the moment of their creation to be perfected in God's beauty, some did not; despite their choice not to be made perfect in beauty, God loves those angels who followed Lucifer into rebellion against Him, yet they remain eternally obstinate against Him; those angels who chose to be made perfect in beauty cannot sin and therefore do not progress in holiness nor fall from grace; they possess an intellect and a free will superior to ours; they love by nature and by choice, that is, it is their nature to love and they freely choose to love. Angels serve God by attending Him in heaven; by bringing His messages to mankind; as personal guardians appointed to every human person; and as agents of the divine in protecting and governing the whole world. Much like those of us who have chosen to follow Christ, angels work for God to carry out His providential will. 

Now, knowing all of this and assuming that all of it is true, where do we stand in kinship with the beatified angels; that is, what is our proper relationship to them? First, we must exclude absolutely any whiff, any hint that angels are worthy of our adoration and worship. Like God's human children, angels are creatures, made beings. No creature—regardless of its superior intelligence or purity of will—is worthy of the adoration that belongs to God alone. We honor the angels as messengers from heaven, but we do not worship them. Second, though angels function as divine messengers, they serve God alone; in other words, angels are not at our beck and call. We do not summon them; interrogate them; or manipulate them in any way. Third, when angels act as our personal guardians, they do so with respect to our free choices; that is, they do not and cannot possess us against our will, or force us to comply with their good advice. And lastly, when we pray to angels for guidance or assistance, they will always respond in the purest love, without guile or temptation to sin, and according to God's sovereign will. Honor God's messengers for their ministry to us and them them thanks for their work, but always remember that they—like us—serve the throne of heaven first to bring the Good News of God's mercy through Christ to the world.

*Thomas has much more to say about angels than I've covered in this homily:  ST I.50-64

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Prayer request

Please pray for Fr. Aaron Arce, OP.  

Fra. Aaron has been battling bone cancer for the last two years.  Just recently, we discovered that the cancer has spread well beyond the ability of his doctors to treat him.

And we received word this evening that he will be entering hospice care very soon.  

Fra. Aaron was the prior of my novice community in San Antonio.  He moved with our class to St Louis as serve as assistant student master.  When I arrived in Irving as a newly ordained priest, fra. Aaron was the prior of our new novitiate community for three years and returned to STL in 2008 to live with our student brothers.  He's been ministering to St Andrew's parish in STL.

Fra. Aaron has a bizarre sense of humor.  He regularly regaled us in the studium with stories of his first few years as a priest in the late 70's and early 80's.  He is renowned in the province for his hilarious (though never irreverent) parodies of traditional Latin hymns.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Fr. Z. posts the first address of the newly ordained bishop of Portsmouth, England, Most Rev. Philip Egan.  Good stuff!

Open letter to priests from a Young Catholic.

A Ouija board horror story.  STAY AWAY from those things.

John C. Wright to an atheist: "You are a disgrace to the powers of evil."  We need better atheists.

Had the subway ad been anti-Christian, MTA would've spent millions defending it.

Vatican II says it's OK for Catholics to use artificial contraceptives, right?  Wrong.

Speaking as a Licensed Philosopher (ahem), I approve this list.  (NB. Some of these will be tough for beginners).
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Blessing Rosaries Dominican Style

My swanky new Dominican rosary needs to be blessed. . .

So, I will bless it using the traditional Dominican Blessing for Rosaries after the homily at Mass tomorrow (8.30) , Sat., Sept 29th. . .the Feast of the Archangels.

If you would like, I'll bless your rosary too!  Bring it to Mass.

P.S.  The pic on the left is not my new rosary.

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A time to measure. . .

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

Audio file

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

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

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

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Oops!

Why no homily today?

Well, there was a homily. . .just no homily text.

I celebrated the School Mass at 8.30am.  Because I didn't read the liturgy prep sheet closely enough, I thought it was a K-7th grade Mass.

Prepared a homily mostly for the younger kids.  Oops.  It was a 6th-7th grade Mass, so I had to shift gears pretty quickly.

Ah well, Jesus is keeping me on my toes!
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A small box with a BIG surprise!

Just opened a box from Summit, NJ. . .something about Soap on the return address label. . .

(sniffing suspiciously). . .nothing, no scent.  Hmmmmmm. . .

Unscented soap maybe.  Maybe a box set of that 70's soap opera parody, Soap?

Lots of packing peanuts all over the floor.  

Wait.  A booklet?  Something by some guy named Louie de Monfort.  And a whole bunch of pamphlets urging me to test my vocation as a nun!

There's a big wad of what looks like wooden pebbles at the bottom of the box. . .

WOW!!!

It's a 20 decade, corded rosary with wooden beads!  YEA!

The awesome Dominican Nuns of Summit, NJ made a new habit rosary for me.

Thanks, Sisters.  I was having a bad day 'til about three minutes ago.  As the kids say these days, "You Rock!"

(sniffsniff)

No, no.  I'm not crying.  One of those packing peanuts hit me in the eye.
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Take nothing on the journey. . .

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

Dominican friars are itinerant mendicants, that is, wandering beggars. Nowadays, we are a little more sophisticated than our 13th century brothers about how we beg and wander but we still do both. Despite this tradition, I'm a terrible beggar and an even worse traveler. Between June and October of 2009—while studying in Rome, teaching in Dallas, and retreating in Oxford—I traveled approx. 12,647 miles by car, train, and plane. For an Ample Friar, such as myself, this is a feat requiring endurance, patience, and lots of clean sweat rags. Every time I started to pack my three suitcases to catch yet another flight, I would remind myself of Jesus' admonition to his newly minted apostles, “Take nothing for the journey neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, [nor] a second tunic.” Well, fine; he didn't say anything about a laptop, a Kindle, a CPAP machine, books, or a credit card. Am I missing his point? Yes, and probably missing it deliberately. When we go out there to take Christ to the world what do we take with us? What should we leave behind? Traveling light to preach the Good News means traveling with nothing but his Light. It means leaving behind anything that can dim the Light of Christ. 

 Jesus instructs his apostles, “Take nothing for the journey. . .” He could've said, “You will be given everything you need on the Way.” There's no need to take anything on the apostolic journey b/c God will provide everything you need when you need it. Anything more than you need is an unnecessary burden, a potential distraction, and likely to get in the way of shining out Christ's light. How much time and energy do we spend maintaining and replacing our stuff? Think about the time you spend taking care of a house, a yard, a car, a wardrobe, credit card statements, daily menus for yourself and your family, entertainment, shopping, running minor errands, time on the job—a job that you need in order to pay for all that stuff. If you had none of that to do, what would you do? In that question we hear one of the best reasons for entering the religious life, for becoming a friar, a sister, a nun, or a monk: fewer things to worry about means more time to be an apostle for Christ, more time and energy to preach, teach, serve, and pray. But what does “take nothing for the journey” mean to a Catholic who's not called to religious life, to a Catholic who's called to be an apostle out in the world? What does Jesus instruct you to leave behind? 

Every follower of Christ is sent into the world to give witness to the Good News. Paul tells us that “each is graced according to the measure of Christ's gift.” Each of us, in other words, is gifted and sent by the one-for-all Gift of Christ himself. Anything that diminishes that gift, that obstructs the mission is to be left behind. So the question is: what do you possess that prevents you or discourages you from following Christ as his apostle in the world? It might be a thing, a person, an attitude, or a habitual sin. Whatever it is, leave it behind. Do not take it with you. You don't need it. Literally, you do not need a distraction, an obstacle, or a burden in order to accomplish the mission you've been given, the mission you have accepted. Anything and everything you need to be a witness to the Good News will be given to you when you need it. Believing that and acting on that belief is more than a “leap of faith”; it's an act of true humility, a powerful sign that you are ready and willing to submit yourself to God's divine providence in His service. Take nothing on the journey and let His word be a lamp for your feet! 

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States and Markets. . .a via media?

Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield gave a post-Red Mass talk to an assembly of lawyers and judges.  In that talk he used a paragraph from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church to criticize the commonly held belief among "social justice" Catholics that a preferential option for the poor necessarily entails opting for expensive, wasteful, bureaucratic institutions that tend to thrive quite well on the very problem they were created to solve.

Here's the two paragraphs in full (italics in the original): 

354. The State can encourage citizens and businesses to promote the common good by enacting an economic policy that fosters the participation of all citizens in the activities of production. Respect of the principle of subsidiarity must prompt public authorities to seek conditions that encourage the development of individual capacities of initiative, autonomy and personal responsibility in citizens, avoiding any interference which would unduly condition business forces.

With a view to the common good, it is necessary to pursue always and with untiring determination the goal of a proper equilibrium between private freedom and public action, understood both as direct intervention in economic matters and as activity supportive of economic development. In any case, public intervention must be carried out with equity, rationality and effectiveness, and without replacing the action of individuals, which would be contrary to their right to the free exercise of economic initiative. In such cases, the State becomes detrimental to society: a direct intervention that is too extensive ends up depriving citizens of responsibility and creates excessive growth in public agencies guided more by bureaucratic logic than by the goal of satisfying the needs of the person.

As usual, the Church's magisterium guides us through the mire to an equitable, sensible via media that avoids the totalitarianism of the Nanny State and the social irresponsibility of the Lone Wolf markets.  To my mind, both extremes work overtime to render the individual blameless for the  excesses that inevitably result from collectivism and personal atomism. 

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3 Elements of the New Evangelization

I've been banging on these three points in my homilies lately. . .I'm sure you've noticed. . .(ahem). Anyway, here they are in a more concise form from Crdl. Wuerl:

Three Core Elements of the New Evangelization  

During the Christ Our Life Conference, we heard Cardinal Wuerl outline what he sees as the three core elements of the new evangelization. We’ve distilled them here in our own words.

1. Renewal of our own faith. This has to happen both intellectually and affectively — both in our heads and hearts. Catechesis is essential; we must know what the Church teaches and why. But just knowing the teachings won’t bring us into a relationship with Jesus. We must increase our desire to enter into a deep, intimate, lasting communion with God made flesh.

2. Stand in the Truth. At the end of the Bread of Life discourse in John 6 when so many of Jesus’ disciples walked away, Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Peter answered for all of us who believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. The surest way to encounter Jesus is through His Church, in the Eucharist. This is the teaching of our Church. We must stand in that teaching with a fresh confidence to boldly proclaim it, knowing we stand in the truth.

3. Share this Truth with others. Just as so many of Jesus’ disciples walked away in the Gospel, a similar scene continues to play out in present day. Roughly 20-million Americans who identify themselves as ex-Catholics have effectively abandoned Jesus, most often unknowingly. It is our mission to bring Jesus back to them. Very often, they are friends and family who we know and love deeply. Live the faith at all times because you never know who might be evangelized simply by your presence.

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Don't just stand there. . .Shine!

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

Think for a moment about your daily witness to Christ and his Good News of God's mercy to sinners. If asked—and we will be asked—what you have done in your life to bring others to Christ, what can you say? Did you speak out for justice when injustice sought to rule? Did you speak out for truth when lies threatened to poison us all? Did you defend freedom when the rulers of this world lusted for more power? Mostly importantly, did you stand with Christ and shine his light against the Enemy and his consuming darkness? Jesus says, “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel. . .rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.” Taking the principal elements of this parable, let's ask ourselves: Am I the light, the vessel, or the lampstand? In other words, daily, hourly, do I shine out Christ's light for the benefit of others? Or do I work hard to conceal Christ's light so that only I may use it? Or do I just stand there doing much of nothing, supporting whatever happens to be placed on me? When asked—and you will be asked—what you have done in your life to bring others to Christ? Remember: “there is. . .nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.” 

So, are you the light, the vessel, or the lampstand? Do you let Christ's light shine; do you hide it; or do you just stand there? If you are like most faithful Catholics, you probably do a little of each. None of us is a saint yet and none of us is truly lost. We shine a little. We hide a little. And we're pretty good at just standing in the corner doing much of nothing. What does Christ have to say about this? “To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.” We've all heard the gospel and accepted the truth of God's mercy to sinners. Knowing this truth is both a burden and gift. We're burdened with an obligation to give witness to our freedom in Christ. That we are freed from sin and growing in love is not a secret we can keep hidden. But we are also gifted by this burden b/c God's love for us all is perfected in its sharing. We have what we need and more will be given. For those who have not yet received what they need—Christ's light—all that they think they have will be taken away. We are charged with making sure that Christ's light shines as brightly and as constantly as it can. Every living soul deserves to see his light, every living soul deserves to hear the good news of God's mercy. 

We read in Proverbs, “Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim when it is in your power to do it for him.” Christ died once for all. Sin and death are defeated. Defeated for the benefit of all. Every man, woman, and child on the planet has a claim on the universal good of Christ's sacrifice. And it is within our power to see that this good is not only made known but freely offered. Therefore, we cannot refuse the good gift of God's mercy to anyone. What you have done in your life to shine out Christ's light? It is not enough to receive God's gift of mercy and then hide it away, hoard it for yourself. Nor is it enough to just stand there like a sturdy table and wait to be put to use. To switch parables: you don't put on the yoke of Christ b/c you like the look, or b/c you have nothing better to do. When you put on his yoke, you mean to work and work hard. His yoke is easy b/c Christ always works with us, but work is work, and it must be done for the salvation of the world. Set your heart and mind to being the light of Christ. Don't hide. Don't just stand there. Shine! And more will be given to you. 

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Why no more politics?

My abrupt declaration--No More Politics--needs some explanation. . .

During several recent discussions about the upcoming election, I found myself becoming increasingly cynical and angry about the current state of American politics.  

Every conversation quickly falls into a scripted high school drama.  Same props.  Same clumsy staging.  Same bad actors.  Same lame director and playwright.  Over and over and over again.  The. Same. Old. Lines.  

I also found myself jumping almost immediately into questioning my discussion partner's motives for holding his/her particular views as well as doubting their good will.  Can we all say, "Lack of charity"?

Two minutes into the conversation and we're getting nasty; I mean, really nasty.  Not obscene, of course, but accusatory and dismissive.  This is not how a Dominican "theologian" and philosopher should engage in a disputatio.

It started to feel to me like the Bad Old Days of lit grad school when we made a sport of ripping each other to shreds over asinine things like one's preference for a certain kind of poetry or literary theory. Many friendships and professional relationships were ended, for example, over whether or not critical-literary theory had a legitimate place in literary studies.  

Basically, I'm an idealist with a strong attachment to reality as it is.  This is a deadly combo b/c it leads very easily to cynicism. Politics is no place for an idealist who flirts with despair.  

So. . .I'm out. 

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No more politics. . .

One day last week the Holy Spirit prompted me to swear off discussing politics.

Something about it being an occasion of sin for me.  I heard; I listened. . .and I decided that I'd drunk too much coffee.  And quickly forgot about the whole thing.

Since I am one of the Lord's thick-headed disciples, I was reminded today why He had "suggested" that I give up this particular bad habit.

So. . .no more politics for me until after the election.  I'm sticking to preaching and giving out spiritual advice.

Don't tempt me.  If you do, I will put you on my anti-Novena list. To date, it's a short list.  Don't make it longer.

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The Romance of Evil?

[NB.  Deacons are preaching this weekend.  Below is an unfinished homily from 2009.  Never preached it. Reading back over it, I'm thinking it's more of an essay than a homily.  Take what you can!]

25th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Holy Rosary Priory, Houston, TX

Along the way to Capernaum through Galilee, the disciples were arguing among themselves. In their ignorance and fear, they were wrangling with one another, jockeying for position and prestige within the troupe. What were they arguing about? What could disrupt their peace? Jesus started the trip by telling them what was going to happen to him once they got to Jerusalem: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” We might imagine that this revelation would provoke astonished questions, some howls of dismay or at least a few protests. But the disciples did not understand what Jesus had revealed to them. They were fearful of asking him what he meant. Rather than risk showing their ignorance and fear, they choose instead to argue about who was first among the twelve of them, who was the greatest of Jesus' disciples. When Jesus asks them what they were discussing, they remain silent. Given the absurd nature of their conversation, this was likely their best response. No answer at all. Confronted with the prospect of a bleak future as Christ's disciples—certain persecution and death—the Twelve turn inward and wrestle over insignificant questions of precedence and power. Unwilling to relieve their ignorance by asking questions or assuage their fears by faith, they choose to distract themselves with internal political games. Simeon Weil* once wisely observed, “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring.” Faced with the barren boredom of real evil, how often do we open our hearts and minds to the romance of imaginary evil, hoping for something more enticing, more entertaining than what we have been promised as Christ's faithful disciples? 

 It might seem a bit much to accuse the Twelve of opening themselves to the games of imaginary evil. Don't we usually reserve the adjective “evil” for the most heinous, most obscene acts of desecration? When asked to think of Evil, don't we usually conjure images of Adolf Hitler, Nazi concentration camps, whole cities laid waste by carpet bombing? Or perhaps the medical rituals of abortion, the horrors perpetrated by serial murderers? We do think of these and rightly so. But this is Weil's point. “Real evil,” she writes, “is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring.” Concentration camps were models of modernist efficiency. Carpet bombing was made possible by technology and precision-mapping. Abortions are done in sterile, clinical settings by professionally trained physicians. Serial killers are psychotically methodical, obsessively exacting. True evil is sterile, precise, methodical, and efficient. True evil is also irrational, primitive, and wholly devoted to destruction. The disciples are not toying with real evil; in their ignorance and fear, they are gaming with the romance of political intrigue, the kinds of wars we fight on chess boards. Though they are not playing with the Real Deal, they are tempting it by allowing humility to weaken and fade. James warns: “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.” 

 Seeing jealous ambition among his disciples, and knowing that they do not understand his fate or theirs, and knowing what selfishness and ignorance can breed, Jesus smacks them with this sobering truth: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” If you will be the greatest, you must be the least. If you will be first, you must be last. If you will be the master, you must serve. This truth is of no use to an ambitious soul. No truly political animal can hunt successfully with this truth as a weapon. Jesus not only smacks their jealous ambition with an order to serve, he tosses all their pettiness, all their planning, all their machinations and plotting right into the fire of humility. Jesus knows that no true spiritual adventure can begin in ignorance or fear. It is wisdom and faith that kick us into gear! And only humility can be a wise and trusting guide. 

Simeon Weil says that real evil is boring and barren. She adds, “Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.” So, real evil and imaginary good are both tedious and sterile. If we understand the spiritual and emotional dangers of real evil, can we say that we understand the traps laid for us by the imaginary good? If truly good things are “new, marvelous, intoxicating,” then the imaginary good must be familiar, dull, and sobering. If the truly good offers fresh, miraculous, and uplifting insight and possibility, then working with the imaginary good must leave us numb with sedate routine, sluggish habit. The trap of the imaginary good is insidious, perhaps more so than the perils of real evil. Take the disciples as an example. Confronted by the possibilities of Jesus' revelation, they fall back into a familiar pattern of squabbling over precedence. Hearing what lies ahead, as promised, they revert to what they know: infighting over insignificant questions of authority and power. Rather than end the maneuvering by appointing a lieutenant, Jesus shows them the power of a real good—a new, marvelous, and intoxicating possibility: leadership as humble service. 

Rather than paint an improbable vista of wealth and prestige for those charged to lead, Jesus takes a child on his lap and says, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” Receiving Christ is not about building monuments or temples or palaces; it is not about filling charitable trust funds or establishing new religious orders. Tossing all worldly expectations and priorities into the furnace of humble service, Christ says that we receive him and the One Who sent him when we receive one child in his name. Just one. Not a whole orphanage. Not even a pair of siblings. Just one child. A tiny act of compassion, a small mercy shown to someone who cannot repay your kindness, cannot owe you a favor, someone who will not boast of your generosity or brag about knowing you. In the eyes of the world, an act of love that wastes an opportunity to move ahead. Exactly. Just so. 

In their idle arguments about priority, the disciples play at a game that matters a great deal in the world, that part of creation ruled by unrestrained passion and power. They play a game called “The Wisdom of Men.” To be better, then the best in the world, a man's heart and mind must be impure, conflicted, abrasive, controlling, ruthless, negotiable, and insincere. Nothing like the heart and mind of a child. But James reminds us that “the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.” A heart and mind that welcomes divine wisdom exudes quiet confidence, serenity of purpose, eagerness to serve, and a depth of sincerity. Having reached the child-like heights of Christ's peace, anything and everything imagined and done by such a soul is new, marvelous, and intoxicating—truly Good and Beautiful. 

Earlier I raised the question: Faced with the barren boredom of real evil, how often do we open our hearts and minds to the romance of imaginary evil, hoping for something more enticing, more entertaining than what we have been promised as Christ's faithful disciples? Very few of us will embrace real evil as a way of life. Some of us will toy with imaginary evil as a naughty diversion from what we imagine to be our rutted, routine lives. Most of us believe ourselves to be practitioners of the real good. But are we really just playing with the imaginary good, the lukewarm forms of goodness? Are we just good enough to be comfortable with the spiritual boredom that slowly wets the Spirit's fire within us? Do the wicked say of us: “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law. . .”? If the practitioners of real evil do not see us as a threat to their ambitions, then how are we helping them? What are we doing or thinking or saying that gives that world—the world where real evil thrives—more power, more prestige, more wealth? 

* Gravity and Grace

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Grace given according to Christ's gift

St. Matthew
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

How many times have I heard otherwise faithful, intelligent Catholics say something like: “I've been asking God to give me the grace to forgive/forget/move on/stop this sin/grow in purity/etc. And it seems like He just doesn't hear me”? How many times? If I were given a dollar for every time I heard this, I could buy a complete set of Japanese silk, hand-embroidered, jewel-encrusted, air-conditioned vestments and have plenty left over to start my own fried chicken and pecan pie franchise. That's a lot of time, folks. A lot. Despite the frequency of and urgency with which I am asked about the apparent absence of God's favor in someone's life, I always take the time to answer patiently b/c we're not messing around with an abstract philosophical question here. We depend, totally depend, on God's grace to make it day to day. Forget growing in holiness. How about just getting out of bed? How about just making it to work, to school? “Father, I've been asking God to give me the grace but it seems like He just doesn't hear me. What's wrong?” I answer, quoting Paul, “. . .grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.” Was given. That's past tense. You have already been given the grace you need. 

Does knowing this truth solve your problem? Probably not. Why? Because the problem is not a lack of knowledge. The problem is most likely a deficiency in the will. Are you using the grace you've already been given? Are you cooperating with all of God's efforts to get you untangled? Let's go back to Paul. What is he telling the troubled Ephesians to do? “I. . .urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received. . .with all humility and gentleness, with patience.” No small order, and we know that Paul knows he's asking a lot b/c he follows his order with: “BUT grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.” So, using Christ's death and resurrection as the measure for merit, we have been given the grace we need to grow in holiness, and that grace comes to each one of us and takes shape in us according to our individual natures so that we might be made perfect. How do we exercise the will to cooperate with the grace we have been given and received? Grace does not destroy my nature; it perfects my nature. If I live a life worthy of the call I've received, then grace gives me all I need to approach perfect holiness. 

Now, you're probably thinking: but that's the problem, Father, I need grace to live a worthy life! How do I live a worthy life w/o grace? You don't. That you exist in the first place, that you exist at all is a grace, a gift. You live, you move, you breath in the presence of God. To repeat: you already have all the grace you need. Use it. Cooperate with God's gifts and you will approach perfection. Look at Matthew. A lying, cheating, traitorous tax-collector for a heathen empire that's invaded his own country! Jesus looks at him and says, “Follow me.” That's it. What is it in Matthew that helps him to stand up, turn away from his lucrative job, and become a fool for Christ? He sees in Christ his own perfect self; he hears from Christ the word of grace that he already knows will teach him the way to salvation. Something in Matthew assists him in responding to what we sees and hears in Jesus. We call that something “grace.” The next time you find yourself confused by temptation or stuck in sin, don't pretend you are helpless and ask for the grace you already have. Ask for the courage and the strength to use that grace to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ask for the courage to be Christ for the world. 

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