Mendicancy in action. . .

Mendicant Thanks to Shelly R. and Ms Claire for the recent visits to and purchases from the Wish List!

I'm starting to gather material for the fall 2014 classes at NDS and the books help my budget tremendously. . .

Fr. Philip Neri, OP

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Pope Benedict on secularism

While doing some research for my article on secularism for the Times-Picayune, I've run across a lot of good stuff that I can't use b/c of space limitations. Fortunately, HancAquam isn't so limited!

It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States comes to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms: the freedom of religion. BXVI, ad limina visit of US bishops in Rome, 2012.

The lack of a hermeneutic of faith with regard to Scripture entails more than a simple absence; in its place there inevitably enters another hermeneutic, a positivistic and secularized hermeneutic ultimately based on the conviction that the Divine does not intervene in human history. According to this hermeneutic, whenever a divine element seems present, it has to be explained in some other way, reducing everything to the human element. This leads to interpretations that deny the historicity of the divine elements. BXVI, Verbum Domini, 2010, 35(b).

. . .the secularized hermeneutic of sacred Scripture is the product of reason’s attempt structurally to exclude any possibility that God might enter into our lives and speak to us in human words. Here too, we need to urge a broadening of the scope of reason. In applying methods of historical analysis, no criteria should be adopted which would rule out in advance God’s self-disclosure in human history. BXVI, Verbum Domini, 2010, 36.

Secularization, with its inherent emphasis on individualism, has its most negative effects on individuals who are isolated and lack a sense of belonging. Christianity, from its very beginning, has meant fellowship, a network of relationships constantly strengthened by hearing God's word and sharing in the Eucharist, and enlivened by the Holy Spirit. BXVI, Sacramentum caritatis, 2007, 76. 

It must be acknowledged that one of the most serious effects of the secularization just mentioned is that it has relegated the Christian faith to the margins of life as if it were irrelevant to everyday affairs. The futility of this way of living – "as if God did not exist" – is now evident to everyone. Today there is a need to rediscover that Jesus Christ is not just a private conviction or an abstract idea, but a real person, whose becoming part of human history is capable of renewing the life of every man and woman. Hence the Eucharist, as the source and summit of the Church's life and mission, must be translated into spirituality, into a life lived "according to the Spirit."  BXVI, Sacramentum caritatis, 2007, 77.

. . .what is essential is a correct understanding of the just autonomy of the secular order, an autonomy which cannot be divorced from God the Creator and his saving plan. Perhaps America’s brand of secularism poses a particular problem: it allows for professing belief in God, and respects the public role of religion and the Churches, but at the same time it can subtly reduce religious belief to a lowest common denominator. Faith becomes a passive acceptance that certain things “out there” are true, but without practical relevance for everyday life. The result is a growing separation of faith from life: living “as if God did not exist”. This is aggravated by an individualistic and eclectic approach to faith and religion: far from a Catholic approach to “thinking with the Church”, each person believes he or she has a right to pick and choose, maintaining external social bonds but without an integral, interior conversion to the law of Christ. Consequently, rather than being transformed and renewed in mind, Christians are easily tempted to conform themselves to the spirit of this age (cf. Rom 12:3). We have seen this emerge in an acute way in the scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right to abortion. 

On a deeper level, secularism challenges the Church to reaffirm and to pursue more actively her mission in and to the world. As the Council made clear, the lay faithful have a particular responsibility in this regard. What is needed, I am convinced, is a greater sense of the intrinsic relationship between the Gospel and the natural law on the one hand, and, on the other, the pursuit of authentic human good, as embodied in civil law and in personal moral decisions. In a society that rightly values personal liberty, the Church needs to promote at every level of her teaching – in catechesis, preaching, seminary and university instruction – an apologetics aimed at affirming the truth of Christian revelation, the harmony of faith and reason, and a sound understanding of freedom, seen in positive terms as a liberation both from the limitations of sin and for an authentic and fulfilling life. In a word, the Gospel has to be preached and taught as an integral way of life, offering an attractive and true answer, intellectually and practically, to real human problems. The “dictatorship of relativism”, in the end, is nothing less than a threat to genuine human freedom, which only matures in generosity and fidelity to the truth. BXVI, Apostolic Visitation of the US, 2008, Response to Questions.

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Advice to Preachers & Listeners

Some advice/notes for the preacher:

The preacher preaches to himself first. Preach “we” and “us” not “you people.” You struggle, fail, succeed, fall, get up, soar, wallow, succeed again. Use your struggles/successes.

Preach the gospel in front of you. What's the Good News in these readings? And what does it mean for us right now in these circumstances?

Avoid the temptation to scratch itchy ears. Preaching what you think we want to hear can be safe, popular, and ultimately damning. 

Challenge, provoke, encourage by preaching the truth. We are stronger than you think. We are also confused, worried, and tempted to despair.  Hold up the ideal.

Point out and celebrate in unambiguous terms our relationship with God. In every homily, tell us how being in love with God changes us. How failing to love hurts us.

Preach struggle and victory. Note the details of struggling to follow Christ but keep our eyes focused on Christ's victory (and ours in him).

Preach with passion. Let us know that you believe what you're preaching.

Stay fresh. Read good novels, good homilies; keep up with pop culture and the Church Fathers.

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Feedback to your pastor:

You don't have to Occupy the Pulpit to get good preaching!

Silence = Approval. If no one speaks up, then Father will think all is well.

Encourage your pastor by pointing out what you found helpful/useful in his homily. Let him know that you were listening. Send him a note.

Encourage him to publish his homilies in the bulletin.

Tell him what sorts of things you need to hear. Can you address personal prayer and how to do it better? How do I love more and better? I'm confused about this teaching, can you explain it?

If his homilies seem ill-prepared, challenge him—charitably—to be better prepared.

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Making our gratuitous lives sacrificial

Ash Wednesday 2006
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Albert the Great Priory, Irving, TX

Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts! Not your garments.

Where do we begin this pilgrimage of forty days? How do we get this time away, this time apart from worldly obsession started?

What jumpstarts our Lenten pilgrimage is first an awareness of our dependence on God for absolutely everything. That we exist at all is contingent, totally conditioned on the goodness of God. Our lives are gratuitous, freely given, radically graced.

Begin this Lenten trek, then, in humility and give God thanks for your life.

If your Lenten pilgrimage is going to produce excellent spiritual fruit you cannot spend these forty days wallowing in sorrow, self-pity, and mortal deprivation. We deny ourselves always if we would grow in holiness, but this isn’t the kind of denial that looks like the public posturing of the Pharisees. Our Lenten denial is the self-emptying of Christ, that is, our best work at doing what Jesus did on the cross. Lenten denial is about making our gratuitous lives sacrificial. We sacrifice when we give something up and give it back to God.

Therefore, turn your heart over to God. Give your life back to Him. Repent of your disobediences, rejoice in His always ready forgiveness, and then get busy doing His holy work among His people.

If your Lenten trek is going to be about little more than pious public display, don’t bother with Lent this year. Jesus teaches his disciples that performing righteous deeds for show—fasting, giving alms—will win you nothing from our heavenly Father. He calls those who strut around showing off their piety hypocrites. It’s a show, pure theater. Nothing but thin drama for public consumption. He says, “[…] when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting[…].”

Jesus’ admonition here is about our tendency to think that we’re doing something substantial when really all we’re doing is something very superficial. Does that rosary around Madonna’s neck really mean she venerates the Blessed Mother? Does the cross of ashes most of us will wear today mean that we’re truly humble before the Lord? That we’re wholly given over to repentance, to a conversion of heart, and a life of holy service? If that cross of ashes is going to be a mark of pride for you today or a temptation to hypocrisy, wash it off immediately. If that cross of ash is going to be the sum total of your witness for Christ today, wash it off immediately. In fact, when you fast, wash your face!

Our Lord wants our contrite heart not our empty gesture. Our Lord wants our repentant lives not our public dramas of piety. When you pray, go to your room and close the door. When you fast, wash your face. When you give alms, do so in secret. Rend your hearts not your garments.

The Lenten pilgrimage we begin today is an excursion into mortality, a chance for us to face without fear our origin and our destiny in ash. It is our chance to practice the sacrificial life of Christ, giving ourselves to God by giving ourselves in humble service to one another. Lent is our forty day chance to pray, to give alms, to fast and to do it all with great joy, smiling all the while, never looking to see who’s noticing our sacrifice.

Remember, brothers and sisters: dust is never proud.

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The Last Four Things

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LENTEN MISSION PREACHING!

"The Last Four Things"

St Ann Church, Bourg, LA

March 8th-11th at 6.30-7.30pm

Sat., Mar 8th       Death & Judgment

Sun., Mar 9th*     Purgatory

Mon., Mar 10th     Hell (confessions available afterward)

Tues., Mar 11th    Heaven (confessions available afterward)

* I will be celebrating and preaching at all the Sunday Masses.
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Thomistic Guide to Spiritual Growth

A Dominican shout-out and mendicant thanks to Ms Claire (a fellow member of the Grammar Nazis Local No. 654) for sending me Kevin Vost's Unearthing Your Ten Talents: A Thomistic Guide to Spiritual Growth from the Wish List. 

I started reading the book this morning and it is shaping up to be a great read. 

Vost basically writes about most of the stuff I've been trying to write and preach about for the last nine years. His presentation and clarity are far better than anything I've come up with however. 

If you're a spiritual director, you will find this book to be extremely useful. It is neatly divided into the theme of The Ten Talents. Each talent is explained in Thomistic terms, not overly technical terms but still true to the source.

He covers the theological virtues, the moral virtues, understanding-science-wisdom, and concludes with a section on applying and perfecting your Ten Talents. 

Rest assured, this is not New-Agey, psychobabbly pop-spiritual direction. Good, solid stuff.

Try it!
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Audio: "Pour out your hearts before Him. . ."

Audio File for 8th Sunday OT:  "Pour out your hearts before Him. . ."

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Pour out your hearts before Him. . .and serve Him alone.

8^th Sunday OT (A)

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Audio File

O Lord! Why have you forsaken me? “Rest in God alone, my soul.” O God! Why have you forgotten me? “Rest in God alone, my soul.” O Lord! Why have you abandoned me? “Get a grip already! I haven't forsaken, forgotten, or abandoned you. Remember, my soul, I AM your rock, your salvation, your refuge and your strength. I AM your stronghold and your hope. Trust in Me at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before Me, and nothing will ever disturb you.” So says the Lord to His anxious people. Pour out your heart before the Lord. And nothing will ever disturb you. At the center of your love for God and one another – your heart – who or what takes up the most time and space? That is, when you carefully consider the source and summit, the foundation and center of your day-to-day existence, who or what directs your heart and mind? If that who or what is anyone or anything but Christ himself, then pour out your heart before the Father, pour out whatever or whoever it is that directs you, and surrender yourself once again to Christ. If you are worried that God has forgotten you, ask yourself: have I forgotten God? 

 

God's people are anxious. They are afraid that He has forgotten them. So, He asks Isaiah, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” Lay to rest then any worry that God will forget us. If we are going to worry, let's worry about a very real and dangerous possibility: that we will forget God. That we will abandon the Lord and His covenant with us in Christ. Pushed and pulled from every side by the seductive forces of a godless culture, it is all too easy, all too expedient to give up on the Father and His Christ. He promises that nothing and no one will ever disturb us. True. But He doesn't promise that nothing or no one will never try. Whether or not we will be disturbed by this world's seductions is predictable. Whether or not we will be seduced is also predictable. How? Ask yourself: who or what sits on the throne of my heart? Who or what rules you? To put it in gospel terms: whom do you serve? Whose call do you answer? If Christ rules your heart; if you serve Christ and his Church, then there is only one call to answer, one voice that gets your attention and obedience: “Trust in Me at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before Me, and nothing will ever disturb you.” Pour out your hearts before Him. . .and serve Him alone.

Jesus says it as plainly as it can be said: “No one can serve two masters. . .You cannot serve God and mammon.” God cannot rule your heart if your heart is already ruled by a foreign god. . .or a disordered passion, or an alien creed, or your own ego. The throne of your heart has room enough for just one Master. Who will it be? Financial security? Personal achievement? Social prestige? Jesus urges his disciples, “Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Then he asks, “Are not you more important than they? Can any of you – by worrying – add a single moment to your life-span?” If the Father feeds the birds of the sky so that they do not worry about food, and if we are more important than they, then it follows that the Father will care for us as well. When you place the Father on the throne of your heart, you do not worry. Why? B/c nothing bad will ever happen to you? No. B/c you will never again feel want or need? No. Well, why? B/c you will know that whatever comes will never be, can never be more anxiety-producing than forgetting the One you serve. With Christ as the source and summit, the center and foundation of our day-to-day living, nothing and no one can disturb you.

There's room enough on the throne of your heart for just one Master. Who will it be? Financial security? Personal achievement? Social prestige? A job can be lost, money stolen. Works can be destroyed or bettered by another. And there's always someone ready to take your place as king of the social hill. It's all just more junk to worry about. Jesus reminds us, “So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’” And then, sounding very much like he did last week, he adds, “All these things the pagans seek.” Who are these pagans? They're the ones who serve Money, Popularity, Vengeance, the Thing of This World – all passing away as fast as an empty heart can grab them and give them a crown. This is not who we were made to be – temples to house the temporary gods of a failing world. We were made – pagans and Christians alike – we were made for eternity, built to endure the purifying Love of the One Who made us. But such endurance is only made real by a decision, a decision to serve the One Who made us, to serve Him alone. “No one can serve two masters. . .” No one can survive with a heart divided in two.

Nor can one with a divided heart be trusted. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, describes himself and his fellow apostles, “Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” A steward holds the keys to the castle and the treasury, so he must be trustworthy, a servant deserving of his master's trust. Since we can do nothing good w/o Christ, whatever trust we deserve as servants is his before it is ours. And given our very human tendency to fail his trust, it's a good thing that we do not have to rely on our trust alone! Paul notes that when the Lord returns to judge his stewards' care of his kingdom, “. . .he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts. . .” What will he see when the light shines inside? What motives will squirm into view? If Christ rules our hearts, he will see his serene reflection – perfect love, hope, and faith. If Christ rules, he will see what the Father sees when He looks at Christ – a beloved child, a pure soul, perfect trust. However, if some foreign god or disordered passion or bloated ego rules. . .well, all he will see is a heart that has chosen to rule itself, a heart that has chosen to spend eternity primping in a cracked mirror. If we want to Christ to see himself reflected in us at the judgment, then he must be the one we serve. 

 

As Lent fast approaches and we set ourselves on the 40 day trek, remember all that the Father said to Isaiah, “I haven't forsaken, forgotten, or abandoned you. Remember, my soul, I AM your rock, your salvation, your refuge and your strength. I AM your stronghold and your hope. Trust in Me at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before Me, and nothing will ever disturb you.” Pour out from your heart whatever or whoever it is that takes you away from your salvation. Pour out the foreign gods, the disordered passions, the causal idols of deceit and gossip; pour out anything that stands btw you and Christ, anyone who threatens Christ's trust in you. Lest we forget, the Psalmist sings over and over again, “Rest in God alone, my soul. Rest in God alone.” There is no rest, no eternal rest, in anyone but Him.

 
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10 Thoughts on Confession for Lent

Since we're heading into Lent, I though I type out some random thoughts on confession. . .

1).  Confession is all about receiving the forgiveness we have all already been given.   We cannot earn forgiveness by works, attitude, or even confession itself; if we could, it would be a wage not a grace (i.e. a gift).

2).  Penance is not a punishment for sin.  Completing the penance you've been given is a sign that you have received God's forgiveness and resolved not to sin again.  This is why I always assign sin-appropriate psalms as penance.

3).  Priests rarely remember the sins of individual penitents.  Some believe that this is a grace from God given so that the confessor is spared the difficulty of carrying around the memories of sin.  Sounds good to me.  Frankly, I think the explanation is more mundane: priests have heard it all and sin is boring.

4). Explaining your sins in the confessional is unnecessary and time-consuming.  Just say what you did and leave it at that.  If more info is needed, your confessor will ask.  Explanations generally come across as attempts to excuse the sin.

5).  Ask for counsel if you need it.  Most experienced confessors will know when counsel is needed, but it never hurts to ask.  Just keep in mind that there are others waiting to confess!

6).  This is your confession, so stick to your sins.  You cannot confess for your kids, your spouse, your neighbors, etc.  And please avoid using your confession time to complain about your kids, your spouse, your neighbors, etc.

7).  Faithfully assisting at Mass (actually participating) absolves venial sins.  Why else would we recite the Confiteor and the celebrant pray for our absolution?

8).  If you are unsure about whether or not X is a sin, ask.  Remember:  mortal sins are acts of disobedience that "kill charity" in your heart.  You cannot sin mortally through accident or ignorance. Don't turn a venial sin into a mortal "just in case."  

9).  Keep your eye on the clock and the line.  Make a thorough confession but balance your thoroughness with economy.  Others are waiting.  One way to do this (if there's a long line) is to stick to your mortal sins and save the venial sins for Mass.

10).  Tell your confessor that you will pray for him. . .and then go out there and pray for him! 

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Ласкаво просимо українці

The "Welcome Russians" post from last night prompted a rush of visits from the Ukraine!

So. . .WELCOME UKRAINIANS!

Я молюся за вас.
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Добро пожаловать россияне!

Page views last month: top 10 countries. . .I'm surprised at the number of views from Russia! 

US	9847
Russia	691
UK	505
Canada*	375
Germany	284
Ukraine	245
Portugal	225
Brazil	193
France	182
China	117

* Sorry to the Canadians. . .Google Translate hasn't added "Canadian" to their program yet.
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Why do people hate the truth?

St. Augustine, The Confessions, Book 10.23.34:

34. Why, then, does truth generate hatred, and why does [your] servant who preaches the truth come to be an enemy to them who also love the happy life, which is nothing else than joy in the truth--unless it be that truth is loved in such a way that those who love something else besides her wish that to be the truth which they do love. Since they are unwilling to be deceived, they are unwilling to be convinced that they have been deceived. Therefore, they hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is that they love in place of the truth. They love truth when she shines on them; and hate her when she rebukes them. And since they are not willing to be deceived, but do wish to deceive, they love truth when she reveals herself and hate her when she reveals them. On this account, she will so repay them that those who are unwilling to be exposed by her she will indeed expose against their will, and yet will not disclose herself to them. 

Simply put: "People hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is that they love more than the truth. They love truth when it shines warmly on them, and hate it when it rebukes them.”

"The constant mischief of the progressive left. . ." It will backfire.

Excellent article from Peggy Noonan in the WSJ, "America and the Aggressive Left."

She quotes a tweet: "Can the government compel a Jewish baker to deliver a wedding cake on a Saturday? If not why not?"

Good question. Here's a few more:

Can the gov't force a gay-owned bakery to bake an anniversary cake for the Westboro Baptist Church that reads: "Happy Anniversary! God Hates Fags!"

Can the gov't force a Muslim-owned barbershop to provide services to a woman?

Can the gov't force a Jewish-owned grocery store to sell pork?

Can the gov't force an atheist bookstore to sell fundamentalist Christian books?

If not, why not?

Of course, once you realize that opposition to the recently vetoed Arizona law protecting religious freedom was based on hysterical doomsday rhetoric and intentional misrepresentations, you'll see that the goal here is not tolerance or inclusion but increased gov't power and control over individual consciences.

This is nothing new. Kings, parliaments, dictators, and bureaucrats hate a well-formed, individual conscience. It limits their power, thus wounding their egos.

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Secularist freedom: "a perverse and evil significance"

I've been asked to write a Lenten article for the Times-Picayune on the theme, "secularism diminishes culture."

Thought I'd based the article on two paragraphs from JPII's 1995 encyclical, Evangelium vitae:  

20. [. . .] To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom: "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34). 

 

21. In seeking the deepest roots of the struggle between the "culture of life" and the "culture of death", we cannot restrict ourselves to the perverse idea of freedom mentioned above. We have to go to the heart of the tragedy being experienced by modern man: the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, typical of a social and cultural climate dominated by secularism, which, with its ubiquitous tentacles, succeeds at times in putting Christian communities themselves to the test. Those who allow themselves to be influenced by this climate easily fall into a sad vicious circle: when the sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency to lose the sense of man, of his dignity and his life; in turn, the systematic violation of the moral law, especially in the serious matter of respect for human life and its dignity, produces a kind of progressive darkening of the capacity to discern God's living and saving presence.

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"heightened from life,/ yet paralyzed by fact"

I'm registered with the Poetry Foundation's "Poem of the Day" program. Here's today's offering from New England's late-born and early-departed Catholic son, Robert Lowell.

 

Epilogue

Those blessèd structures, plot and rhyme—

why are they no help to me now

I want to make

something imagined, not recalled?

I hear the noise of my own voice:

The painter's vision is not a lens,

it trembles to caress the light.

But sometimes everything I write   

with the threadbare art of my eye

seems a snapshot,

lurid, rapid, garish, grouped,

heightened from life,

yet paralyzed by fact.

All's misalliance.

Yet why not say what happened?

Pray for the grace of accuracy

Vermeer gave to the sun's illumination

stealing like the tide across a map

to his girl solid with yearning.

We are poor passing facts,

warned by that to give

each figure in the photograph

his living name.

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Don 't cry for me. . .

Apologies for the dearth in posting this week. It's been a little crazy!

I have several non-homiletic writing projects to juggle, four mission sermons to compose, paper grading, meetings galore. . .I know, I know. . .I signed up for it. 

Anyway, things will definitely pick up posting-wise next week. NDS is out for the Madri Gras holiday (gotta love Nawlins'!), and I'm determined to finish all non-NDS writing projects before I have to dive into writing the annual seminarian evaluations.

So. . .stay tuned.

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Audio Link: 7th Sunday OT

Do not the pagans think, speak, and do the same?
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Do not the pagans think, say, and do the same?

7^th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA

Audio Link

It's not enough that we do good and avoid evil. Not enough that we cannot achieve good ends by evil means. Not enough that we show up at Mass and drop an envelope in the plate. We must do more. A lot more. Jesus commands, “. . .be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Why must we be perfect? Even the pagans feed their children, pay their taxes, and pray to their gods. When we do the same, how are we any different? When we love only those who love us, or do favors only for those who favor us, we're no different than our pagan neighbors. So, what are we testifying to when our witness to the world is indistinguishable from the daily lives of those who do not follow Christ? Our holiness has been a priority for God from the beginning. He gives Moses a message to deliver to His people, “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.” He demands that we be better; He demands our best: “Bear no hatred for your brother or sister; seek no revenge; cherish no grudge; love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Our Lord sets a high bar for us to clear in our run toward holiness. When we consider our thoughts, words, and deeds, how we will witness in the world, we must ask ourselves, “Do not the pagans think, say, and do the same?”

Do we think, speak, and act like our pagan neighbors? Recent surveys show that Catholics think and act almost exactly like their non-Catholic neighbors on the hot-button issues of the day: contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, and co-habitation before marriage. On hot-button issues internal to the Church – like obligatory clerical celibacy and the impossibility of ordaining women to the priesthood – Catholic attitudes differ very little from non-Catholics. Unfortunately, what this means is that on these issues, Catholics agree with their pagan neighbors. Now, we could say that these issues aren't indicative of our identity as Catholics; that is, disagreeing with the Church on three or four hot-button questions doesn't put us among the pagans. We are not rejecting God, Christ, or the Church just b/c we think contraception is OK, or that two guys in love should be able to marry. God tells Moses to prophesy, “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.” Jesus says, “. ..be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Can “be holy” and “be perfect” simply mean “be like your pagan neighbors.” Is holiness and spiritual perfection simply a matter of imitating those who do not follow Christ?

If our holiness is a matter of mimicking our neighbors, then we need to ignore God's admonition to Moses. You need to hate your brother and sister. Seek revenge. Cherish grudges. Refuse help to the poor and sick. Worship whatever god makes you feel good. That's what the pagans of Moses' day did. That's what the Romans did in Jesus' day. Both Moses and Jesus understood holiness to mean something like “setting yourself apart from the pagans.” Maybe in the 21^st century, holiness means something like “don't imitate the collective suicidal impulses of those who are ruled by the world.” That's not all that holiness means for us, of course, but it's a start. Jesus starts with the Mosaic Law and then proceeds to fulfill that Law by revealing its soul. “You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' [that's the Mosaic Law] But I say to you, love your enemies.” [That's the Law of Love]. The soul of the Law is love. And we begin our run towards holiness by setting ourselves apart in Christ, by consecrating ourselves in his sacrifice. We cannot achieve the holiness God wills for us by imitating the fads and fashions of our pagan neighbors.

So, how do we set ourselves apart from the world short of fleeing to a monastery in Montana? How do we live and move in our pagan culture and at the same time resist its influence? Paul gives us a few hints in his letter to the Corinthians. He writes, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Did you know this? As baptized and confirmed followers of Christ, you are walking, talking temples of the Holy Spirit! Each one of us is a sacred location, a holy place and person housing the living spirit of the living God. In virtue of our baptism in Christ and our confirmation in the Spirit, we are – each one of us – a priest, a prophet, and a king, vowed to sacrifice, witness, and serve. And when we sacrifice, witness, and serve, we do so with the power and blessing of the Spirit Who dwells within us. As followers of Christ, we are not allowed to run and hide in the face of opposition or oppression, nor are we allowed to collapse under the pressure of our pagan culture. We are charged with being Christ – priest, prophet, and king – in the world, among the world. Sacrificing for, witnessing to, and serving the least among us. 

 

Jesus says that we are to be salt and leaven, the ingredients that nourish his Word and bring it to harvest. We cannot be salt and leaven and at the same time imitate the impulsive suicidal behavior of our secular culture. This isn't a political observation, or a talking-point in the on-going culture war. This is about our holiness, our growth toward the perfect that Christ expects of us. To achieve this holiness we must be in the world but not of it; meaning, we cannot run or hide from evil nor can we make friends with evil in exchange for just being left alone. Jesus teaches us not to resist evil, “turn the other cheek.” This isn't surrender or cooperation; it's a steadfast refusal to fight evil on its own terms. Return evil for evil? Jesus asks, “Do not the pagans do the same?” Kill unwanted children? “Do not the pagans do the same?” Reject the gift of life b/c another life might be expensive, inconvenient, or a disruption? “Do not the pagans do the same?” Believe that natural law can be altered by courts or legislatures? “Do not the pagans do the same?” To be holy and to witness to holiness for the sake of others, our yes to Christ must mean Yes! Our no to the world must mean NO! But that NO! does not mean that we enclose ourselves in self-righteousness, or prissy aloofness, or a self-satisfied certainty. It means that we mourn for the world and seek its rescue in Christ. 

 

As we rapidly approach Lent, it seems fitting to repeat Paul's warning to the corrupt church in Corinth: “Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God. . .” Take that warning with this assurance: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Christ fulfilled the Law by revealing the soul of the Law: divine love. He shows us the power of sacrificial love from the Cross, defeating sin and death by rising from the tomb, and bringing us all to the way of perfection. You are a living temple of the living God and your run toward holiness begins by following Christ. Not the dominant culture. Not your pagan neighbors. Not a political party. Christ. Follow Christ. And become a fool in the eyes of the world.

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Becoming God with God's Help

NB. A 2011 homily using tomorrow's readings. I'm working a new homily!

 

7th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

One thing we know for sure about God: He ain't shy about demanding that we do great things. He ain't shy about demanding that we become a great people. But His demands for our greatness always come with an offer of help; He never simply demands perfection and then leaves us on our own. Since His help has often come in the guise of an invading army or a series of plagues or the mysterious puzzles of prophecy, we might think it better that He withdraw His help and let us do the best we can all by ourselves. But divine expectations are best met with divine assistance, especially if we are the ones who are expected to excel. Given our limits, our tendencies to falter, we know that the higher the expectation, the greater the need for help. If what God says to Moses in the Book of Leviticus is to be believed, then the only help for us is for God to make us gods: “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.” Jesus repeats this demand, “. . .be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We are to be holy and perfect as God Himself is holy and perfect. Can you imagine what sort of help we are going to need to meet this expectation?! God will indeed have to make us into gods. And this is exactly the help He offered us when He sent His only Son to live and die among us as one of us. He's offered His help—once for all—on the cross. Are you ready to receive it?

The question I'm asking sounds a bit strange, so let me make it perfectly clear: you are ready to be made into God? This really isn't such a strange question. The idea that we “partake in the divine nature” is an ancient Catholic tradition; it's as old as Christianity itself. The idea that the divine can dwell in the human is even older. In the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ, we have one person with two natures—one human, one divine. If we can believe that the Son of God was born of a virgin and lived and died among us, then it really isn't all that difficult to believe that we are saved from eternal darkness by becoming one with the Father through the His incarnated Son. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul puts the question succinctly: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” What other work do we have as Christians than to allow the Spirit of God to be poured into us, overflowing into anything, anyone we touch? Our wisdom becomes His wisdom; our love becomes His love; our hope becomes His hope. We become holy and perfect in the only way we can: we become God. . .with God's help. Without His help, we fall into the same trap that fell Adam and Eve, that hapless couple who believed the serpent when he told them that they could become gods without God. What did the serpent tell Adam and Eve that they needed? Knowledge. Not divine knowledge but worldly knowledge. Having enough worldly knowledge would not only enlighten them but it would transform them into gods as well.

They fall for it. And so do we. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God. . .” Now, Paul uses “wisdom” rather than “knowledge” here. Knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing. Wisdom comes with the right use of knowledge. Knowledge is a tool; wisdom is an attitude. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in their pride, they came to know the difference between good and evil. What they choose to do with this knowledge is what makes them wise or foolish. Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to reject the kind of wisdom that comes from worldly knowledge alone, that is, wisdom based on knowledge that ignores God as the world's creator. He is not telling them to reject knowledge about the world but rather to reject the idea that you can be wise all the while denying that God is the world's creator. True wisdom—godly wisdom—starts with a spirit overawed by the presence of God in His creation. Wisdom based on worldly knowledge demands that we start with the world and work only within our human limitations, leaving God aside. What God demands of us in our progress toward His holiness and perfection is that we see, hear, taste, feel, and think through our trust in Him. In other words, we start by acknowledging that we are His creatures, and then we see, hear, taste, feel, and think of everything we encounter as a revelation of God Himself. This is how we start. But it isn't how we finish.

The gospel set aside for today is a continuation of last Sunday's reading. That reading ended with “Let your Yes mean yes and your No mean no. Anything else is from the evil one.” Jesus showed us then and he shows again today the difference between worldly wisdom and the wisdom of his Father. He sets one side against the other: “You have heard it said. . .but I say to you. . .” You have heard it said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, “Offer no resistance to one who is evil.” You have heard it said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Why? Why would any sane person living in the real world offer no resistance to evil, love their enemies, and pray for those who persecute them? Jesus answers, “[so] that you may be children of your heavenly Father. . .” Worldly wisdom tells us that it is wise to fight evil, to hate our enemies, and to pray of their defeat. In a world without God, a world where there is nothing beyond death, nothing higher than the law of Might Makes Right, we would be foolish indeed to forgive, to show mercy, and to pray for our enemies. But we have vowed to pursue holiness and perfection with God's help. And this we cannot do if we are mired in the foolishness of the world. Think for a moment about the standard God has set for us. Jesus says that we must do these ridiculous things in order to be the children of our heavenly Father b/c “he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” If can't choose who gets God's sunlight and who gets His rain, how could we possibly decide who it is that He should love and forgive? And if we are saved by becoming God, then our love and forgiveness must fall on the bad and the good, on the just and the unjust alike. That's quite a demand. An extraordinarily high expectation. Thanks be to God that we have His help!

The question remains: are you ready to receive His help and become God? To be holy as He is holy? To be perfect as He is perfect? St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting St. Irenaeus, wrote, “God became Man so that Man might become God.” Our only hope of achieving the holiness and perfection demanded of us is to surrender ourselves to the wisdom of God, and follow His Christ in all things. At the end of the day, our surrender is sacrificial love, giving of ourselves wholly in love for the sake of another. At the very least, this means restraining your pride—hourly, daily—and giving God thanks for every chance you have to be loving, forgiving, and merciful. All of us belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ himself belongs to God.

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Yoda says, "There is no try."

A 2008 homily for your edification on this windy/chilly Friday. . .someone I know -- ahem! -- might be able to use something here.

6^th Week OT (F): James 2.14-24, 26; Mark 8.34-9.1
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Serra Club Mass, Church of the Incarnation

Is it possible to desire to follow Christ but fail to take up Christ’s cross? Is it possible to want to be a Christian but fail to follow after Christ? Jesus tells the disciples and the crowd, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” How do we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him? Good questions. The better question, for now, is: what does it mean “to wish to follow Christ”? And what does it mean to wish such a thing and fail to do what is required in order to see this wish come to fruition? James, in his oh-so-pointed manner clarifies this murky problem for us: “…faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” In other words, you cannot wish to be a Christian and refuse to trust God; likewise, your refusal to trust God is all the evidence we need to conclude that you do not, in fact, wish to be a Christian.

Jesus is a genius. What he understands better than we do is that it is impossible for us to desire what we lack and at the same time fail to do what is lacking. In our very desire to be Christ, we do what Christ did. To have faith in Christ is to do Christ’s faithful work. Think of the alternatives: faith without works, works without faith. Faith is the good habit of trusting God. How does one possess a habit without actually doing the habit? If I say that I have the bad habit of lying, you rightly assume that I lie. What if I then say, “No, I never lie.” You can justly accuse me of being very confused about what it mean “to have a habit.” If I say that I have the good habit of loving others, you rightly assume that I am a loving person. What if I then say, “No, I pretty much hate everyone.” Again, I am showing that I am very confused about the nature of habit. The same sort of confusion flows from the notion that I can do truly good works without faith. Let’s say that you catch me feeding the poor on a regular basis. You can justly say that I love the poor. If I say, “No, I really hate the poor, so I feed them on a regular basis,” you are again right to point out my confusion.

Christ denies himself, takes up his cross, and leads to Calvary anyone who wants follow. So, if you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ, you are a Christian. You do what Christ did. Faith is a good work. Good works are always faithful works. However, we can neither trust God nor do trusting work without God Himself. Our desire to follow Christ and the works we do that mark us as followers of Christ are themselves gifts given to us by God. We do not want God until God Himself shows us what we lack without Him. And when we are shown what we lack, or more precisely “who we lack,” we are moved to desire Him and His perfection. This is not an Armchair Desire, a merely abstract wanting that we can safely rope off and hold at bay with appeals to practicality or common sense. Nor can we simply intellectualize this gnawing hunger as a delightful puzzle or amusing concept. Once the starving man is shown the feast, he must eat or die. And so it is with us: once we are shown the perfection of following Christ, we must follow or die…or rather, follow and die: for what good is it for us to be given the riches of the whole world and refuse to love the one, the only one, who gives us a life to live richly?

We cannot desire to be Christ without doing what Christ did. We cannot do what Christ did without desiring to be who Christ is. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow. There is no wanting without working, no desiring without doing. To quote Master Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

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Audio Link: 6th Sunday OT

Audio Link:  6th Sunday OT, Surpassing Righteousness
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