Surpassing Righteousness

6^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio Link

Paul speaks to those who are mature a wisdom. Not the wisdom of this passing age, nor the wisdom of the rulers of this age. But “God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden. . .” To hear God's wisdom and understand, the hearer must be mature. Not elderly in age but mature in spirit, one whose life with God has ripened and produced good spiritual fruit. For those of us who are not yet ready to hear God's wisdom, not yet mature enough to understand, Paul notes a way in, a way into the hidden mysteries. God reveals. Through His Holy Spirit He offers us a revelation. And what does God reveal? He reveals all that the eye has not seen; all that the ear has not heard; all that has failed to enter the human heart. He reveals to those who love Him all that He has prepared. And we call this revelation Wisdom. Not the passing-away wisdom of this age, but the Wisdom of God, the Wisdom Christ is sent to fulfill. The Law and the Prophets revealed God's Wisdom in word and deed, preaching and teaching His ways to a wayward people. Christ reveals God's Wisdom in flesh and blood, preaching and teaching the Way back to righteousness. Jesus says, “. . .unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Since our places in the kingdom of heaven depend on our righteousness, it might be prudent for us to figure out how to surpass the scribes and Pharisees in righteousness. If we were try to surpass their righteousness on their own terms, we'd likely fail. Righteousness for the scribes and Pharisees was achieved through the meticulous observance of some 600+ regulations, animal sacrifices in the Jerusalem temple, and the daily recitation – in Hebrew – of a number of lengthy prayers. How do we surpass this sort of righteousness? We don't. We can't. What righteousness we can claim comes to us as a freely offered gift from God. We accept this freely offered gift, or we do not. If we accept the gift of righteousness, God makes us right through the death and resurrection of Christ. If we do not accept the gift, then nothing we can do will make us right with God. When Jesus says that he came to fulfill the Law, he means that he came to keep the promises of the Law and to make good on our end of the deal. So, we surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees by placing ourselves among those who love God; who receive His Wisdom; and who strive to understand and live by His will. 

 

Loving God, receiving His Wisdom, and striving to understand and live by His will are each a sign of spiritual maturity. Taken together, they are signs not only of righteousness but holiness as well. Notice what Jesus is teaching the disciples in this formula: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors. . .but I say to you.” Our ancestors taught us not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to swear a false oath. That's the Law. Jesus came to fulfill the Law not to abolish it. Murder, adultery, and lying are still wrong. However, b/c Jesus has fulfilled the Law and revealed the first commandment – the Law of Love – we know why murder, adultery, and lying are all morally evil. They all violate love. In some way, each one offends the dignity of the human person, trespassing against the image and likeness of God that each one of us manifests. When we love God; receive His Wisdom, and strive to understand and live by His will, we see Him revealed in one another, and we love one another b/c He created us for love and loved us first. The spiritually mature hear and understand God's Wisdom: love is fundamental, grounding, all-defining, and absolute. Choose love and your faith will ripen and produce good spiritual fruit.

Choose love, I said. Choose. We hear this again from the Wisdom of Ben Sira, Sirach: “[God] has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.” Touch water, or touch fire. Choose. One soothes, the other burns. Sirach continues: “Before [you] are life and death, good and evil, whichever [you] choose shall be given [you].” Choose and your choice will be given. That's a frightening proposition. Not so much the choices themselves, but the very idea that we must choose, and that we are responsible for the choices we make. Of course, we know that we are responsible for our material choices. We get a ticket for speeding. We gain weight when we choose to eat that second King Cake. We get docked for missing a day of work. But do we understand that our spiritual choices – the choices we make to love, to forgive, to give God thanks, or not to do any of those things – do we understand that these choices also have real consequences for which we are responsible? Sirach says, “Choose good or evil, life or death.” One soothes, the other burns. If you always choose love – God's love – your choice cannot fail, the consequences can never be dire. “Immense is the wisdom of the Lord. . .”

The Law and the Prophets revealed God's Wisdom in word and deed, preaching and teaching His ways to a wayward people. Christ reveals God's Wisdom in flesh and blood, preaching and teaching the Way back to righteousness. Christ does not simply teach his Father's wisdom. He doesn't simply act out his Father's wisdom. Christ IS his Father's wisdom – given a body, a soul, a mind, and a mission. Christ is “what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart.” And he is “what God has prepared for those who love him.” No, rather, he is “who God has prepared for those who love him.” Our choice is Christ. Not a what but a who – the person of Christ, his body and blood, freely given and freely received to bring you and me into righteousness, a surpassing righteousness. And our mission – the mission we have all accepted and vowed to complete – is to give our bodies, our souls, our hearts and minds to the enduring labor of being Christ out there. Christ fulfills the Law. Our obligations to the Law have been met. Now, having chosen Life – Life Eternal – we are responsible for maturing in God's Wisdom and seeing to it that the Good News of His mercy to sinners is given a voice, loud and clear. Therefore, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”

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Two Books for Faithful Catechists

For catechists, school religion teachers, home-schooling parents, Catholics who want to learn more:

Two book recommendations. . .

The Pedagogy of God: Its Centrality in Catechesis and Catechist Formation

and 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis 

I am using these two texts in my Teaching and Preaching the Word of God course at NDS.

Both books indirectly critique the disastrous "Shared Christian Praxis" pedagogy of Thomas Groome, et. al. and urge catechists to adopt a pedagogy that actually reflects the way God Himself teaches us through scripture, tradition, liturgy, and the magisterium.

Using both the content and form of the CCC, the books show how our revealed faith reflects the reality of God, Who is truth, beauty, goodness, and unity. And how the catechist is to be formed as a teacher of the faith, i.e. not as a facilitator for a therapeutic deconstruction of revealed truths.

I highly recommend these texts as formidable remedies to the catechetical maladies that the Church has endured in the last fifty years.

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Lenten Spiritual Reading 2014

Lent is fast approaching and the usual emails/comments are coming in asking for suggestions for spiritual reading.

This year I am recommending Pope Benedict XVI's exhortation on Scripture titled, Verbum Domini.  You can buy a copy of the book here. 

This 2010 exhortation from our Pope Emeritus proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a master of biblical theology. We use this text in a number of classes at NDS.

Below is a thematic summary of the book from Carl Olson, "A Symphony of the Word."

Twelve Key Themes in Verbum Domini

Called to share in divine life: It is striking that the opening paragraphs of each major section contains a reference to God's invitation for man to share in the divine life. At the heart of that divine life, Benedict notes, "there is communion, there is absolute gift. .... God makes himself known to us as a mystery of infinite love in which the Father eternally utters his Word in the Holy Spirit. Consequently the Word, who from the beginning is with God and is God, reveals God himself in the dialogue of love between the divine persons, and invites us to share in that love" (par. 6; cf. par. 9). This truth is presented even more strongly at the start of the second section: "Those who believe, that is to say, those who live the obedience of faith, are 'born of God' ( Jn 1:13) and made sharers in the divine life: sons in the Son (cf. Gal 4:5-6; Rom 8:14-17)" (par. 50). And, from the third section: "The word of God has bestowed upon us the divine life which transfigures the face of the earth, making all things new (cf. Rev 21:5)" (par 91).

Divine dialogue: God has initiated dialogue with man because of his love for him. As we've already seen, this is because the Triune God is a God of "dialogue"; that is, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are continually speaking to one another in perfect, self-giving love. "In this vision every man and woman appears as someone to whom the word speaks, challenges and calls to enter this dialogue of love through a free response. Each of us is thus enabled by God to hear and respond to his word. We were created in the word and we live in the word; we cannot understand ourselves unless we are open to this dialogue" (par. 22).

Incarnation and Christology: At the heart of this divine dialogue is "the heart of the world" (par 83), the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. "God's word is thus spoken throughout the history of salvation, and most fully in the mystery of the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Son of God" (par. 7). The Christian faith "is not a 'religion of the book': Christianity is the 'religion of the word of God', not of 'a written and mute word, but of the incarnate and living Word'" (par. 7). Benedict writes of a "Christology of the word" and reflects at length on the meaning of the communication of the eternal Word into time and space: "His unique and singular history is the definitive word which God speaks to humanity" (par. 11).

Encounter and relationship: The words "encounter" and "encountering" appear over forty times in Verbum Domini; they summarize, in many ways, the core of Benedict's explanation of the relationships between God and man and man and the Word of God. Quoting from his 2005 encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Benedict states that "being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a definitive direction" (par. 11). And: "The whole history of salvation progressively demonstrates this profound bond between the word of God and the faith which arises from an encounter with Christ. Faith thus takes shape as an encounter with a person to whom we entrust our whole life" (par. 25).

Similarly, the word "relationship" appears over sixty times, often to express in some way the intimate communion given by God through Jesus Christ and Scripture: "The mystery of the Covenant expresses this relationship between God who calls man with his word, and man who responds, albeit making clear that it is not a matter of a meeting of two peers; what we call the Old and New Covenant is not a contract between two equal parties, but a pure gift of God" (par. 22), and, "The relationship between Christ, the Word of the Father, and the Church cannot be fully understood in terms of a mere past event; rather, it is a living relationship which each member of the faithful is personally called to enter into" (par. 51).

[. . .]

Read the whole thing along with the papal exhortation. Well worth your time.
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What are we getting ourselves into?!

NB. Below are the notes I used in a recent lecture to my preaching students at NDS.

Homiletics I: Preachers, what are you getting yourselves into?

I. Influences on our people. . .

. . .lose of catholicity and triumph of the local

. . .ideology of “multiculturalism” (entitled enclaves of personal preferences)

. . .secular culture = absence of the transcendent, scientism (no truth, no center, no   structure)

. . .inadequate catechesis before and after baptism (focus on personal experience and emotions)

II. Catholics are indifferent to or disaffected with the Church’s teaching. . .

. . .a spirit of individualism, entitlement → “cafeteria Catholicism”

. . .decline of the “common good”

. . .the sexual abuse scandals → undermines moral authority, exemplifies clericalism

. . .the sharp polarities in our political life → mirrored in our ecclesial lives

. . .constant dissent from clergy, religious, and special-interest groups

III. Dominance of relativism makes preaching more difficult. . .

 

perspectivism: "From my perspective, X is right/wrong."

relativism: "You have your perspective on X and I have mine. There's no way to tell which perspective of X is really true."

nihilism: "Since there's no way to know whose perspective on X is really 'true,' we can conclude that there is no such thing as 'truth.' about X."

eliminativism: "If there is no 'truth' about X, then there's no reason to believe that there is any such thing as 'truth' about anything at all."

triumph of the will: "Your claim that there is such a thing as 'truth' is just an exercise of your power."

IV. Materialism/consumerism encourages. . .

. . .the erosion of our spiritual lives → focus on earthly treasure and security

. . .an indifference/hostility to the poor → “I got mine!”

. . .violations of human dignity: racism, violence → competition against the Other

. . .a decline in youth participation in the Church → more susceptible to secular culture

. . .anxiety about “success” and apathy toward holiness

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Disputation. . .Dominican Style! (Updated)

NB. A repost that explains the Old School Dominican style of disputation. . . 

UPDATE: If you want to know about this style of argument, here's a link to the Monastic Theological Studies page of the Lufkin OP nuns in TX. Frankly, seeing the energy and determination of these sisters, I'd just stipulate their victory and become a Benedictine! I'll be teaching in the MTS program this summer in Summit, NJ.

In what is probably a doomed effort to tame my intemperate tongue and fiery typing-fingers,* I have set myself on a course of re-learning and practicing the ancient tradition of Dominican disputation.

So, more for my benefit than your enjoyment, I present the Dominican method of disputation (in breve). . .

Early Dominican disputation was done in public, usually in universities for the benefit of students learning the crafts of philosophy and theology. The Master (professor) would give a lecture on some topic and then take questions from the students and other Masters. Once asked, the question would be answered first with a list of objections to the Master's real answer. So, if the Master's real answer was "Yes," he would begin by stating what all the "No" answers would seem to be. These are presented in the Summa theologiae as the "videtur" or "it would seem that."

After this, the Master would provide a sed contra, or a "to the contrary," a general answer to the objections that served to lay the foundation for his own answer to the original question. The sed contra was usually a quotation from scripture, a well-respected theologian/philosopher, or saint that directly or indirectly touched on the question.

Once the sed contra is announced, the Master would answer with a respondeo, the "I respond that." Here he pulls on the foundational principles taught to his students, employing basic logic, metaphysics, common sense, and additional authoritative sources.

In the respondeo, the Master would use a peculiarly scholastic technique in arguing his point. Summarized the technique is: "Never deny, rarely affirm, always distinguish." Thus, the scholastics' reputation for "multiplying distinctions."

After the respondeo, the Master would then apply his answer to each objection (the videtur) in a reply and show why each was incorrect given the sed contra and the logic of the respondeo.

Break down of the "Never deny, rarely affirm, always distinguish"

Never deny: this principle presupposes charity in requiring the responder to take seriously the objections made to any answer he might give; that is, by never outright denying a conclusion, the Master presumes the good will of the objector and averts any attacks on the person. By disallowing the outright denial of an opponent's premise or conclusion, the 'never deny' pushes us in charity to recognize that even an assertion erroneous on the whole may contain some partial truth. The next two steps in the method assure us of ferreting out whatever truth might be found error. (NB. This technique also tends to kill in its cradle the all-too-often virulent disease we call "flaming").

Rarely affirm: this principle frees the Master from the traps in the objections that might inexorably lead him to conclude that the objection is correct. It also serves to push the argument beyond merely polite agreement and force the debaters to explore areas of disagreement that could lead to a better answer.

Always distinguish: this principle allows the Master to accomplish the first two principles while still giving him plenty of room to disagree with the objections. By requiring the Master to carefully parse his words, this step in the argument recognizes the limits of language and logic when discussing any truth and acknowledges that there is some hope of finding better and better definitions.

So, in practice, you will hear those who use this method say things like, "If by X, you mean Y, then X" or "I would distinguish between X and Y" or "You are right to say X, but X does not necessarily entail Y" and so on. The goal is to parse proper distinctions with charity until there is some clarity with regard to the use of terms and their place in the argument.

I should add here another good principle of logic: "Where there is no difference, there can be no distinction;" that is, any distinction between X and Y must be based on a real difference between X and Y. For example, all teachers have heard some version of the following: "But I didn't plagiarize my paper, I just borrowed my roommate's paper and put my name on it."

No difference, no distinction.

* And it proved to be a doomed effort. . .a commenter on the original post dragged out the sex abuse scandal to smear the Church and my response was. . .ahem. . .less-than-Dominican. Which goes to show you that knowing-how is not the same as doing.

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Preaching the New Evangelization

I gave a formation conference to the second and third theologians at NDS this morning.

Title: Preaching and the New Evangelization.

If you've been wondering what all the fuss is about the N.E., read this article by Msgr. Michael Hull. 

We, Christians and Catholics, want to see the Gospel renewed in our day. We want all humanity to enjoy the same relationship with Jesus the Christ that is ours. Benedict puts it well:  “As I stated in my first encyclical, Deus caritas est: ‘Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’ (no. 1). Likewise, at the root of all evangelization lies not a human plan of expansion, but rather the desire to share the inestimable gift that God has wished to give us, making us sharers in his own life.”

Essentially, the N.E. is about evangelizing the baptized. We've lost a generation or two to Rainbows & Butterflies Catechesis, Pabulum Preaching, and Protestantized Pan-sacramentalism.

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FYI

From my Wish List someone bought three copies of Renewal: How a New Generation of Faithful Priests and Bishops Is Revitalizing the Catholic Church on Jan 6th. 

 

If you bought one of these for me, it never arrived.  If you didn't buy one of these three for me, please let me know so I can put the book back on the List.

 

Thanks!

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Reformatting the Blog

A faithful HA reader from Summit, NJ sent me a letter -- a REAL snail mail letter -- asking me to reformat the blog so that the text would "wrap."

I saw nothing in the Settings that allow this to occur. . .whatever "this" is.

I've shrunk the margins to their default size. . .maybe that will cure the problem.

Regardless, thanks Ann of Summit for the letter and for the suggestion!

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Audio File: homily for 5th Sun OT

AUDIO FILE for 5th Sunday of OT: Stay Salty and Bright!

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Stay salty and bright!

5^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

AUDIO FILE

Jesus states the obvious, “A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.” It might be difficult to reach. Obscured by clouds on occasion. Or nearly impregnable to a siege. But it can't be hidden. It sits there among the rocks and trees for all to see. Looking up, for all to see. What do we see when we look at the city? Walls, gates, traffic, thriving markets, lots of people. We might see security, comfort. Or crime and filth. Crowded streets and tenements. Strangers, foreigners, friends. Whatever we see, we see b/c the city cannot be hidden. Its presence dominates, overwhelms – a living thing made from dead stone. Jesus tells us that the mountaintop city cannot be hidden nor can our good works. Like that city, our works for the greater glory of God must be monumental, stone-solid, unavoidable to even the most disinterested tourist. Like that city, our witness to the Father's mercy must be visible to the countryside from miles away; a landmark for both pilgrims and sinners alike. If not, then we are “no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Do your words and deeds help to build God's unhideable city on the hill?

Jesus' admonition to his disciples – stay salty and don't hide your light – is more than a moral lesson or a quick tip for pastoral effectiveness. Staying salty and bright is The Way that we followers of Christ work out our salvation and lead others to theirs. This is why Jesus says that tasteless salt is to be thrown out and trampled on. Salt that cannot season has lost its purpose, lost its usefulness and keeping it around is a sentimental waste of space. What use is dry water or cold fire? What use is a light hidden under a basket? If it can't shine and show the way to the lost, then it's a waste. Our words and deeds spoken and done for the greater glory of God are to be spoken and done in the brightness of the day, in the direct light of the noonday sun for all to see. Not hidden. Not done in darkness. Not whispered or mumbled. But boldly, loudly spoken and done without hesitation or ambiguity, without recourse to the “sublimity of words” or the seductions of worldly wisdom. We work out our salvation and bring others to theirs by speaking and acting plainly for the glory of God so that the Good News of His mercy shines out from that unhideable city on the hill.

What does “speaking and acting plainly for the glory of God” mean in 2014 A.D.? It means exactly what it meant in 56 A.D. when Paul confesses to the Corinthians that he was “resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” To know nothing but Christ crucified means to frame your mind, your heart, and your soul with the undeniable and enduring truth that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for your salvation and rose from the dead so that you too might be raised on the last day. To know nothing but Christ crucified means that your every act, every word, every thought is motivated by nothing else but the compulsive drive to behave, speak, and think according to the Good News Christ came among us to preach. To know nothing but Christ crucified means that you accept as your only mission the imperative to bear witness to all so that all might find their peace in Christ. Is this difficult task? Paul writes to the Corinthians, “I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling. . .” If Paul was weak, afraid, and trembling while bearing witness to his brothers and sisters, then we should expect nothing less for ourselves as we bear witness to Christ in a world ruled by the Enemy. Thus, Jesus tells us to stay salty and bright.

How do we do that? How do we stay salty and bright while bearing witness to the Good News? There's a much overused word that we Christians need to reclaim from our corrupted culture. That word is “authenticity.” Being authentic means to be real, to be honest, transparent. Being authentic invokes truthfulness, goodness, and beauty. We want authentic art work, authentic music, authentic liturgy. But the definition we want here is “conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features.” Christ is the original. We are charged with reproducing his essential features so that our witness is “authentic.” No fakes. No forgeries. No knockoffs. Just the real deal, full-fat, 100% guaranteed, 24kt gold Gospel witness. This means – at minimum – that we believe the Gospel and live that belief. We lose our saltiness and our brightness when we allow the wisdom of the world creep into our hearts and minds. It starts small. Payback for an insult. Tit for tat. Waiting to forgive until an apology is forthcoming. Praying and giving to be seen. Failing to give God thanks for His blessings. Small things peck away at our authenticity until there's nothing left but our broken word. Reproduce the original and your authenticity will never be in doubt. 

 

Let's talk practically. First, the best witness is a credible witness, and nothing helps one's credibility more than a clear conscience. Go to confession! Second, a good witness will have no daylight shining btw her words and deeds: hypocrisy kills credibility, say and do what Christ said and did. Third, a good witness will keep the whole truth in mind and not just the facts. Facts only make sense within the larger truth. Fourth, a good witness will speak and behave plainly, without pretense or any effort at drawing attention to himself. Christ crucified is the object of our testimony not our needy egos. Fifth, a good witness loves, hopes, and trusts. She loves God and His creatures; hopes in the resurrection and life eternal; and trusts that God's promises have been fulfilled. Her love, hope, and trust will be painfully evident in her words and deeds. And finally, a good witness knows that he is never alone in bearing witness. Weakness, fear, and trembling might come along for the ride, but so does the Holy Spirit, the company of saints, the Church on earth, and every witness-bearing soul who bears witness to God's mercy. If you are free in Christ, then you are free to speak and act in his name for your salvation and the salvation of the world. 

 

That unhideable city on the hill sits there as a landmark, a point of destination. It's a place we travel toward in hopes of food, shelter, fellowship. Our good works, our good witness serves the same purpose. Right where you are – at home, school, work, out shopping – right there is someone watching, waiting to hear that their sins are forgiven and that there is a place for them among the saints. By your words and deeds show them – show everyone – what it's like to be freed by Christ!

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3 Types of Destitution (Revised)

From Pope Francis' Lenten exhortation, Evangelical Poverty in Our Time:

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In imitation of our Master, we Christians are called to confront the poverty of our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it.

Destitution is not the same as poverty: destitution is poverty without faith, without support, without hope. There are three types of destitution: material, moral and spiritual.

Material destitution is what is normally called poverty, and affects those living in conditions opposed to human dignity: those who lack basic rights and needs such as food, water, hygiene, work and the opportunity to develop and grow culturally. In response to this destitution, the Church offers her help, her diakonia, in meeting these needs and binding these wounds which disfigure the face of humanity. In the poor and outcast we see Christ’s face; by loving and helping the poor, we love and serve Christ. Our efforts are also directed to ending violations of human dignity, discrimination and abuse in the world, for these are so often the cause of destitution. When power, luxury and money become idols, they take priority over the need for a fair distribution of wealth. Our consciences thus need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing.

No less a concern is moral destitution, which consists in slavery to vice and sin. How much pain is caused in families because one of their members – often a young person - is in thrall to alcohol, drugs, gambling or pornography! How many people no longer see meaning in life or prospects for the future, how many have lost hope! And how many are plunged into this destitution by unjust social conditions, by unemployment, which takes away their dignity as breadwinners, and by lack of equal access to education and health care. In such cases, moral destitution can be considered impending suicide. 

This type of destitution, which also causes financial ruin, is invariably linked to the spiritual destitution which we experience when we turn away from God and reject his love. If we think we don’t need God who reaches out to us through Christ, because we believe we can make do on our own, we are headed for a fall. God alone can truly save and free us.*

* NB. I inadvertently left out this paragraph in the original post. 

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Archbishop Aymond calls for Planned Parenthood Boycott

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans published the following letter in the Clarion-Herald:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

In March 2013, the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans participated in an awareness campaign regarding Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. Planned Parenthood is set to construct a 7,000- to 8,000-square-foot facility at 4636 South Claiborne Avenue near Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans. Although Planned Parenthood does not currently perform abortions in Louisiana, they have publicly stated that they will be performing abortions at this new facility and that it will be the largest of its kind in Louisiana. They intend to open in 2014.

In 2011, Planned Parenthood performed over 330,000 abortions across the U.S., representing over 1/3 of our nation’s abortions every year. Moreover, for every 145 abortions that Planned Parenthood performs, they facilitate only one adoption referral. Nine out of 10 pregnant women who enter the doors of a Planned Parenthood facility have an abortion.

A new construction permit was given final approval by the City of New Orleans on December 5, 2013. Documentation filed with the City Department of Safety and Permits provides substantial detail as to the design of the facility. According to records filed by Planned Parenthood’s Electrical Engineering Consultant, there will be “patient recovery areas...” Abortion industry experts have advised that this indicates Planned Parenthood could perform upwards of thirty (30) abortions per day. This is a staggering increase in the number of abortions in light of the 3,496 abortions¹ performed in 2012 in Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

It has been the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church since the first century that abortion is a grave evil. The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” states in paragraph 2270 that: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. (1703, 357)

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. (Jer 1:5; cf. Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-11)

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.” (Ps 139:15)

We cannot be silent in view of the grave injustice presented by the abortions that will be performed at the proposed Planned Parenthood facility. The archdiocese is obliged to remind every person and organization involved in the acquisition, preparation and construction of this or any abortion facility that they are cooperating with the evil that will take place there. For this reason, the archdiocese, including its churches, schools, apartments for the elderly and nursing homes, will strive in its privately funded work not to enter into business relationships with any person or organization that participates in actions that are essential to making this abortion facility a reality.

This policy applies to all businesses, regardless of religious affiliation or non-affiliation. Our fidelity to Church teaching and our conscience necessitates this stance.

There is no justification, including economic hardship that will make a direct or indirect relationship with Planned Parenthood, or any abortion provider, acceptable. Additionally, affiliation or support of Planned Parenthood by Catholics is a matter of serious scandal.²

We will continue to pray for those that are blind to the destruction caused by abortion and invite those involved with Planned Parenthood to prayer and dialogue. There are many issues, from violence in the streets to poverty, which hurt this community. A regional abortion center will not solve our problems; it will only create more. This is not the future the New Orleans metropolitan area needs.

We hope that the community invested in the City of New Orleans and in her future will join us in standing for life, not more abortion.

All citizens of the New Orleans area must stand together for a peaceful community, not one with more abortion and more Planned Parenthood.

If you have questions, need resources or would like to participate further, please contact me or Peg Kenny, Respect Life Office at (504) 286-1119 or via email at respectlife@arch-no.org.

Wishing You God’s Blessings, I am,

Sincerely in Christ,
Most Rev. Gregory M. Aymond
Archbishop of New Orleans

Footnotes:

1. This is the most recent data from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

2. Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 2284

No doubt this letter will draw the attention of Moloch's minions and put the Good Archbishop under serious attack. Pray for him and for the archdiocese!

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Evangelical Poverty

Pope Francis' Lenten challenge: Evangelical Poverty in Our Time 

Just discovered this, so I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

It might make a good text for the four mission nights I'm preaching at St Ann Church in Bourg, LA in March.

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What will become of sinners?

fra. Francis Orozco, OP preaching Vespers at our studium in St Louis, MO, St Dominic Priory.

 

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A spiritual colonscopy

NB. Not preaching tomorrow. . .so here's one from 2012:

Presentation of the Lord
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Dominic Church, NOLA

With the baby Jesus—just 40 days old—Joseph and Mary travel to the temple in Jerusalem to fulfill the requirements of the Mosaic Law. Since the birth of the Christ Child, the Blessed Mother has been considered legally “unclean,” that is, she has been deemed impure for the purpose of worship in the temple and restricted from touching anything considered sacred to the Lord. We must note here that her impurity is not moral or physical but legal. There is nothing morally or physically wrong about being a mother. The Law set this requirement—think of it as a 40 day fast—in order to emphasize the importance of offering a firstborn son to the Lord as a “first fruits sacrifice.” In the temple, Mary and Joseph meet Simeon, a devout and righteous man, and Anna, a prophetess. Both recognize Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and acclaim him as the Savior. With Christ's presentation in the temple, we recall Malachi's prophetic questions: “Who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears?” Are we prepared for the refiner's fire and the fuller's lye? 

Where Mary was required by the Law to seek legal purification by offering her first born son in the temple, and thereby regaining access to the holy of holies, we are granted access to God by the “once for all” sacrifice of her son on the Cross. Some thirty years after Mary and Joseph present the Christ Child in the temple, Jesus offers himself—as both priest and victim—for the salvation of the whole world. The Christ's birth and death as one of us brings all of us to the threshold of the heavenly temple and invites us to step into the holy of holies, to follow his excellent Way, and submit ourselves to what the prophet Malachi calls “refiner's fire,” “the fuller's lye.” To be purified of all impurities, to be bleached of every stain: so that we may be presented to the Lord as spotless sacrifices on His altar. What do we sacrifice? Nothing and everything. Nothing we have and nothing we are is ours to give. And everything we have and everything we are is given. Because Christ the Lamb precedes us to the altar, our sacrifices are his and his are ours. . .IF, if we follow his excellent Way and submit ourselves to a life- long fast in love: surrendering hatred, anger, vengeance, greed, lust, jealousy, and pride. Are you prepared for the refiner's fire and the fuller's lye? 

Please forgive me this image, but it is more than apt. Have you ever been prepared for a colonoscopy, or some other sort of gastrointestinal diagnostic procedure? The doctor can't do his best work if you are—shall we say?—“unclean.” It is necessary to spend some time purging the impurities from your system before a proper examination can be done. Think of your sins, all your vices—great and small alike—and imagine them poisoning your soul, imagine them clogging your spiritual system, restricting your access to the Lord's blessings. What we need is a way to flush those impurities, a way to wash away all those habits of mind and body that prevent us from absorbing the divine nutrients of God's graces. In the same way that we can be prepared physically for a medical exam, we can be prepared spiritually for the final exam of our soul. We call this the sacrament of confession. 

Mary endures 40 days of fasting from the temple and all things holy so that she might exult in presenting her son to the Lord. Because Christ presented himself to the Father on the Cross as a once-for-all sacrifice for us, we do not have to endure 40 days of fasting from the altar, or from His graces. We have immediate and unlimited access. There is no good reason for us live with the impurities that sicken us. Step into the refiner's fire and the fuller's lye. . .and be made clean!

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Still alive and kicking. . .

No, I haven't been kidnapped nor have I been raptured!

This last week has been. . .weird. . .for some reason. A minor sniffling cold has kept me feeling BLAH and insomnia hasn't made things any easier.

Overall, things are going quite well though. The New Orleans "ice storm" of 2014 threw a small wrench in the week's work, but the damage is entirely reparable. 

There's Something Else going on, and I can't put my finger on it. There's always a chance I've contracted some awful clichéd French philosophical dis-ease. Existential malaise? Foreboding dread? I dunno. 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the NDS Super Bowl Party on Sunday night. I'm not a football fan, but dropping in on a good party can do wonders for one's ennui.

The 6.00pm Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary has been cancelled in lieu of the Super Bowl, so I'll be joining the guys at NDS for Mass. . .

I'm told that New Orleans folks are pulling for Denver since Seattle knocked the Saints out of the running. OK. I'm game.

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Audio: To whom do you belong?

AUDIO FILE: "To whom do you belong?"

3rd Sunday OT

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To whom do you belong?

3^rd Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio File

To whom do you belong? Who owns you? The answer most Americans would give is: “I belong to myself. I own me.” Our disastrously individualistic and narcissistic culture has trained us to think “Me First; Me Always.” If I belong to me then my needs and wants come first. I cannot serve two masters, so I serve myself. To reinforce my preferences, lest anyone threaten my comfortable delusion of self-centered independence, I surround myself with those who make the same choices I do. Who I am becomes the sum total of my race, social class, political views, religious beliefs, and whatever prejudices my fellow-choosers will tolerate. What now? Now I'm an over-educated, professional Catholic white boy from a working-class southern family who leans to the right politically. Do I live for those labels? Is that who I really am? Is that all I am? If so, then the Cross I claim to follow is emptied of its meaning. Paul points to the rivalries among the Corinthians and asks them, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” No. No. And no. I belong to Christ. And if you belong to Christ too, then your first choice is Christ and so is every choice you make after that. We serve CHRIST.

 

Some 800 yrs before Christ, the prophet Isaiah prophesied Israel's punishment for her disobedience: war, defeat, exile, and slavery. The Assyrian Empire invaded the Northern Kingdom and Israel all but disappeared. God's people had chosen to serve themselves rather than their Maker, and b/c they no longer served God, He allowed them to suffer the consequences of their sin. But like any good preacher, Isaiah preaches the wages of sin, but he doesn't stop there. He also preaches the inevitably victory of hope: “Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” Why—after their disobedience—does God return to the land and share His great light? B/c even though we often forget our covenant with Him, He never forgets. Though we might fail to remember His promises; He never forgets. He never forgets b/c He created us so that His love could be given flesh and blood and freely given to one another as a sign of our salvation. However, that sign—His freely given love—cannot be a sign of anything if I belong to myself alone, if I only serve myself. We serve Christ. WE serve Christ.

Jesus couldn't be any clearer. He says to the fishermen, Peter and Andrew, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Our Lord doesn't invite these men to begin a journey of spiritual self-discovery, or to take up austere religious practices. He invites them to go out and fish for souls, to trawl for those who long to love God but cannot see or hear the mercy He offers them. Peter and Andrew drop their nets and follow Christ b/c his Word is a word of hope. “Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness. . .The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. . .” Peter and Andrew see in Christ the same great light that the people of Israel see at the end of their exile in Assyria. Not the light of their ascended consciousness. Not a specially designed, customized light shining just for me to see b/c I am especially holy or in-the-know. The light that shines to push back the darkness of sin and the anxiety of disobedience is the glory of God. The same light that shone Israel. That shone on Mary. That shone on Jesus at his baptism. The same light shines on all of us. “Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” 

 

God's great light shines on us all. Now what? Jesus says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Why do we need to repent of our sins if God's light is shining on us? It is precisely b/c God's light is shining on us that we need to repent. Sin is like a fireman's asbestos suit. It keeps the heat of God's mercy from touching us; it prevents us from seeing and hearing His Word; it blocks the cleansing fire of the Holy Spirit. We are given the freedom and power to remove that suit and rejoice in the conflagration that is God's love for us. And not only can each one of us remove the suit, we are also given the authority by Christ himself to proclaim the same freedom and power to any and everyone who will listen. “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The first net we must throw is the net of repentance. Repentance, confession, and absolution remove the spirit-blocking power of sin. When you proclaim the Good News of God's mercy to sinners you serve more than just yourself; you belong to more than just you alone: you belong to Christ, you serve Christ, and b/c you belong to him and serve him, you will be like Israel returning from exile and slavery, brimming with “abundant joy and great rejoicing.”

It is no easy task to believe that we belong to another, that we serve another. We are trained to see the world as a series of loosely connected choices made from a nearly infinite numbers of options. We buy personalized cell phones. We select quirky fashions to accentuate our individuality. We have it “our way” in restaurants and grocery stores. We even exercise a degree of entitled choosiness when it comes to where we attend Mass, jumping from parish to parish depending on the priest, the kind of liturgy we want, the music, the liturgical language. No matter how many choices I'm offered by my culture and my Church, it seems that I always want just one more option. Why? Because I've been trained to believe that I belong to me, that I own me. And my wants, my needs must always come first. But this is the path to death, spiritual death. The Cross stands before us as a tool of execution and redemption. We are redeemed by Christ's death on the Cross b/c he chose to die for us. Not me. Not you. But us. All of us. He bought us from the Cross and owns us b/c—like Peter and Andrew—we heard his Word and saw his Light, repented of our sins, and chose to follow him. And in choosing to follow him, we chose to be fishers of men. 

 

If you will to follow Christ, your life is no longer your own.

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Fisking B.O.'s Abortion Nonsense

B.O. spewed his usual robotic nonsense about the "freedom" afforded women through the legalized murder of their children.

Today, as we reflect on the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, we [who's "we"? Certainly doesn't include over 50% of the voting population] recommit ourselves to the decision’s guiding principle [i.e., the idea that it's OK to murder inconvenient life]: that every woman [except, of course, those women who were murdered in their mother's womb] should be able to make her own choices about her body and her health ['cause "health care" usually means injecting children with saline, chopping up their bodies, and sucking out the parts with a vacuum cleaner]. We reaffirm our steadfast commitment to protecting a woman’s access to safe ["safe" for whom?], affordable health care [I don't think that phrase means what you think it means] and her constitutional right to privacy [you mean that fictitious right invented in the early 1960's by a bunch of judges?], including the right to reproductive freedom [good euphemism, except that this "freedom" is bought with the death of a child and destroys all of its freedoms].  And we resolve to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies [why? If abortion is just health care, then why bother reducing its occurrence? Also, I don't think those who profit from unintended pregnancies want their numbers reduced, cf. Planned Parenthood], support maternal and child health [ah yes, b/c there's nothing like plunging a pair of scissors in a child's brain to say, "Stay healthy!"], and continue to build safe and healthy communities for all our children [Abortion pretty much defines what it means to be unsafe in the womb].  Because this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams [Unless you're an inconvenient life then you deserve whatever brutal fate your mother's whim can come up with].

What he really meant to say: "Today, as I reflect on the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, I want to thank Planned Parenthood for filling my campaign coffers with their blood money. Let's continue to promote the ideology of contraception so that women can continue to become unintentionally pregnant and go to my fav campaign donors and pay them to kill their child. How else can they afford to give me donations? Also, let's not forget that we need to use medical jargon and the rhetoric of rights and freedom to hide the fact that abortion snuffs out a human life. Here's to another 1.7 million dead babies in the coming year!"

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