01 June 2011

Father, where are you going from here. . .?

. . .that's the oft-asked question these days!  Here's a rough schedule:

June 4th-Aug 14th --> Univ. of Dallas:  teaching summer classes in theology and literature

Aug 15th-22nd --> Mississippi:  visiting the parentals and assorted familial relations

Aug 23rd-Sept 31st --> Oxford, UK, Blackfriars to study for comps/visit my fav OP priory

Oct 1st --> back to Rome to take the Ph.L. comps and begin the Ph.D. (assuming I pass the comps)

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29 May 2011

The Devil has a deal for you. . .

N.B.  This is an edited version of a 2006 homily.  Despite my misgivings, it was well-received at all three Masses I celebrated this weekend.  Go figure.  My guess is that since it's actually three homilies in one, there was enough in it to speak to just about everyone!  :-)

6th Sunday of Easter (A)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Was it easier back then, I wonder, to believe in and to witness about Christ? “Back then,” of course, being during the first few decades after the resurrection. Was it simpler? You just believed, met Christ in the Spirit, and then ran around telling everyone what you now know: He is risen! And that was enough: he is risen. It had to be less complicated, less involved to be a follower of the Way way back then. Well, it wasn’t easier in the sense of having to run for your life every the temple guards or the Roman soldiers showed up. Then there were the crowds who weren’t happy about you blaspheming their elder gods when you preached the gospel. Not to mention the growing factions of Christians who split from the apostolic faith and polluted the Word with Egyptian occultism, Roman blood rituals, Greek mystery philosophies, and such nonsense. Oh yea, and then there’s that whole martyrdom business—arrows, blades, fires, crucifixions, drownings, mass murders by imperial decree. Belief itself was easier, I think. Though believing came at a much higher price than it does for us now. Of course, by “us” I mean, “western Christians.” Christians can still find the blade, the jail cell, the shot to the head in some parts of the world—mostly those places dominated by certain sects of Islam or a secular dictatorship. Still, reading the Acts of the Apostles you get the sense of a greater faith among the Christians, a brighter glory, a more urgent spirit of holiness and fervor than we sometimes experience now. Jesus had to know that the fire he kindled would burn hot for a while and then begin to settle into a warm glow before turning to ash altogether. How much more would his friends and their students begin to feel the pressure of family, friends, neighbors to return to the traditional ways once it became clear that he wasn’t coming back tomorrow or next week or even several years down the line. You would think that someone as smart as Jesus would have a plan in place to keep his Word burning down through the centuries. The Good News is: he did and that plan is called the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, our Advocate and Counselor!

Look at Philip in Samaria. The crowds paid attention to him because he “proclaimed the Christ to them.” He freed people from unclean spirits, healed the paralyzed, and “there was great joy in [Samaria].” So successful was Philip’s preaching there that “the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God…” They sent in the Big Guns, Peter and John, who “prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them…” Philip had preached and healed and baptized, but Peter and John laid hands on these new members of the family, and “they received the Holy Spirit.” Notice here that though Philip brought the Word to Samaria, the larger Church—represented by Peter and John—brought the Holy Spirit. Look at Philip in Samaria! He went down to that city and the Samaritans paid attention to him. Why? Because he “proclaimed the Christ to them.”

Who then is this Holy Spirit? Go back a little while and remember the promise of Christ as he says farewell to his friends, “…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth…” This is the first part of his promise. What’s the second? Jesus promises, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” So, who is this Holy Spirit? Christ himself, that’s who: “In a little while the world will no longer see me,” Jesus says, “but you will see me, because I live and you will live.” If we live and he lives then it must be the case that we—all of us and Christ himself— we live together. What do we live in, together? The Holy Spirit! But then Jesus says, “…I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” So, it’s not the Spirit but the Father we live in? Not quite. It is the Father and the Spirit that we live in…we live as Christ, the one who had made us sons of the Father through the Spirit. Do you see the picture here?

Now, who are “we”? We are children of the Father. We live in the Spirit. We are the brothers and sisters of Christ. Who is “we”? Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…and whoever love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him…” “We” then are those among us who keep Christ’s commandments and love him. So, if we are those who love Christ, living in him, the Father, and the Spirit and live with them in love, then can we say that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are Love? You better believe it! No, seriously, you had better believe it. Why? Because there is no way for us to abide with Christ other than this: to love God, love neighbor, love self in exactly the same way and to the same degree than we love God Himself. In fact, we cannot say that we love God while we hate our neighbor, while we hate ourselves. There is no room in a hateful heart for the love that gives us life in Him! 

How then you do you love God? This is not a rhetorical question. This is a question about your eternal destination. Most deeply, most basically, at the heart of everything you are and hope to be, ask the question: how do I love God? In what manner do I love God? Peter helps us here. He writes, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” Meaning, make the One who died for you, everything he is and everything he did, make him ruler of your very being, God of your thinking, your believing, your doing, your living and your dying. He must rule, or someone else will. Peter continues, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope…” Why do you hope? Why are you hoping? Seduced as you are toward spending eternity with God, why do you trust? Directed as you are toward your perfection in Christ, why do anticipate? Why is following Christ in his passion, his death, and his resurrection a Good for you? Knowing that your answer might lead to ridicule, abuse, violence, even death, why would you tell anyone why you hope? Peter says, “For it is better to suffer for doing good…than for doing evil.” If it is God’s will that you suffer, it is better to suffer telling the truth; it is better to suffer while witnessing to Christ’s suffering for you, for us all. 

Jesus, looking at his friends, knows that such a witness will draw the darkest spirits, the most maligned accusations against them. He knows this because he himself knows that even his friends—those sitting in front of him—will betray him. If your friends will abandon you in your most painful moment, why would you expect those who never knew you, even your enemies, to hang around and help? Peter writes, “[Jesus] was put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.” And so it must be for us as well. Given this truth, why do we stay the course to the Cross?
Don’t you think that it was easier back then? They were closer to Christ. They knew him flesh and bone. They heard him with their own ears, watched him with their eyes. They knew him in a way we never can. And yet, here we are. Gathered together in his name as his Body, offering his gifts on the altar of sacrifice, saying AMEN to lives bound to one another in charity. Here we are—loving him as he loves us so that he might reveal himself to us. What does he reveal? He reveals, he shows us that in his love, we too are Christ! We abide, live, move and have our being, we plan grow, thrive, harvest in his love; we work, play, sleep, eat, study in his love; we do everything we do, think everything we think, feel everything we feel in his love. It is no more difficult now than it was then. The Spirit moved then, and the Spirit moves now. The Spirit set them on fire then, he sets us on fire now. The Spirit gave them what they needed to explain their hope; he gives us now the words, the courage, the power to preach and teach our hope in him now. Yes, he suffered; so do we. Yes, he died; so do we. Yet he lives, and so do we…in him, with him, through him. We live as Christ.

It is no easier now than it was then. The Devil has a deal for you. Unclean spirits still plague us. Aren’t are tempted to surrender to our neighbors and say yes to this culture’s lust for death? Aren’t we ridiculed for our naïve faith in ancient tales of miracles? For believing that we need salvation from the stain of sin? For our hope that one day he will return in the flesh to take us away? Sure, of course, we are. The same spirit of despair, darkness, loathing, and destruction still haunts the Church. We must remain unmoved by this spirit of desolation. Love Christ. Follow his commandment to love. Remain in him, and he will remain in you. If He can change the sea into dry land and deliver His children from slavery, then he can give you the Word of Life to speak in His name. Keep your conscience clear and be ready. The Devil has a deal for you. He prowls like a hungry lion hunting for someone to devour. If you want to be the meat between the devil’s teeth, then let go of Christ, surrender to despair, abandon your friends in the Body, and run toward the easier choice of living without our Father’s rule, without His love. This is the freedom the world has for sale and the Devil is ready to make a deal just for you. He'll let you have this world's freedom for as little as your immortal soul. Tell him you are bought and paid for: the Advocate, the Paraclete owns you, body and soul.

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28 May 2011

The world hates us. . .

5th Week of Easter (S)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

As persons wholly owned by God through our baptism in Christ, we are in the world but not of it. We live here, endure here, but we do not thrive here. Our full flourishing as creatures of a loving God comes when we see Him face-to-face. Until then, our principal joy is to share the Good News of His mercy to sinners. And as good as this news is, it is not always welcomed news. Jesus says to his disciples, “. . .you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, [therefore] the world hates you.” Why did the world hate our Lord and why does it hate us? To bring the Good News of God's mercy to sinners first requires that we identify the sinners, starting with ourselves. Pointing out sin and naming it as such is a tricky business to say the least. We risk being self-righteous, harshly judgmental, and becoming the enemies of human freedom. Announcing to a self-satisfied world that its virtues and vices are deficient in the eyes of God invites ridicule and persecution. And, frankly, there have been times when we have deserved all the ridicule and persecution we have received. When we have allowed our own gross failures to diminish the luster of our Lord's teachings, we have not only invited the jeers of the world, we have welcomed them. Thus Jesus' warning stands today, “No slave is greater than his master.” If we keep his word, the world will hate us as it hated him. If we abandon his word, the world will join us in our self-destruction. Either way, in this world, we lose.

But losing in this world is no evil thing. Nor does it have to be a painful fall. As Christ himself says, we may suffer for a little while, but our suffering, if properly endured for the benefit of others, will serve all the more to give witness to his sacrifice for us. Is this comforting? Maybe, a little. It doesn't matter. We were never promised comfort. We were given a commission and the authority to carry it out. We either accept this commission and its attendant authority, or we do not. If we do, then we can expect little more than opposition from the world and the threat of constant defeat while we are here. Thankfully, it is no evil thing to be defeated by that which we cannot endure, cannot, in the end, claim victory. Victory over death was won on the cross. Our task is to proclaim that victory come what may, come what will. If we keep his word, we abide in his victory and all the hate, persecution, and ridicule thrown our way will pass with the world into defeat.

Jesus tells his disciples that he chose them out of the world to be his own. This isn't the sort of choosing that the childish long for, the sort of choosing that marks us out as special, above the herd. To think we are somehow better b/c we are chosen is the Devil's temptation; his attempt to entice us to set ourselves aside as particularly holy or pure. None of us is chosen for our special purity, or our extraordinary righteousness. Christ calls to all those hearts and minds open to his Word, and we answer. Not so that we might be “better than” but so that we might be perfected out of our sin. The moment we believe our baptism confers on us an immunity to sin, we rejoin the world's passing and we welcome defeat. How do we call sinners to repentance and welcome them to God's mercy? By first bringing ourselves to repentance and welcoming Him into our lives as God and Father. If can't or won't keep his word, then we have no authority to witness to a world that hates us. No slave is greater than his master. Christ learned obedience through suffering. Are we listening to his word and suffering for the salvation of the world?

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27 May 2011

R.I.P.

Earlier this week Sr. Therese Huong Do, OP was killed in Houston by a drunk driver.  Sister was on her way to teach a confirmation class.

Sr. Therese has a special connection to the Southern Dominican Province of friars. . .her brother, fra. Tan Do is a student friar of our province, currently studying in St. Louis.

Please pray for Sr. Therese, her family, and the young man who caused her death.

R.I.P. 

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Missing Kindle book

A kind HancAquam reader purchased a Kindle book from my Wish List recently. . .Bright of the Sky

I didn't get an email notification from Amazon about the gift, and they have no record of the book being purchased.  

So, if you bought this book for me, I didn't get it!  It's possible that someone saw it on my Wish List and bought it for themselves. . .which is fine. . .but it shows up on the "purchased" list under my List.

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Grazie. . .mille grazie!

A quick Mille Grazie to those who sent books on my birthday!  I hit 47 yesterday.  Mama Becky denies that I am that old. . .but the birth certificate does not lie.

The books were shipped to Texas, so official thank you notes will go out after I arrive in Irving on June 4th. 

God bless, Fr. Philip

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On being leaders in love

5th Week of Easter (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Of all the strange things our Lord has said—and he's said some pretty strange things—the last command he issues to the disciples is probably the strangest of all. He commands them to love one another. And if that's not strange enough, he goes on to command them to love one another as he loves them. Not just any old sort of mundane love, not just to think good thoughts or say nice things. . .but to love each other in the same way that he loves each of them. Perhaps the only thing he could say to make this any stranger would be something like, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Of course, he does say this and this whole episode moves from the unusual to the outright bizarre. Now, you might be thinking that there's nothing all that unusual or bizarre about Jesus commanding us to love one another as he loves us, or that dying for a friend is the greatest sort of love we can give. As a Church, we've lived with these ideas for centuries, and we've heard them repeated and expounded upon countless times. But as members of the Church in the 21st century, we are the beneficiaries of a Judeo-Christian culture that lifts up divine love not only as an ideal but as a real possibility. Even when we fail as individuals and as a culture to love one another we recognize the obligation to do so, and we mark our failures as failures. What's so strange about Jesus' command to love one another is that he thinks that love is something that can be commanded. 

What if we were to act as though love was something we deserved, something we are entitled to. What if we engraved in our laws and civil customs the idea that each of us—in virtue of just being born—has the natural right to be loved by everyone else. Like the right to vote or the right to free speech, the right to be loved is now fundamental to the constitution of our republic. Would this reform comply with our Lord's command? Law-suit happy citizens would be delighted. Trial lawyers would certainly be delirious. But would love given under the threat of legal action really be love? Or would we eventually come to understand love in strictly behavioral terms? I could fake love by acting lovingly in order to avoid having to pay damages. We would have stacks of Supreme Court rulings detailing various tests for true love, complete with dissenting opinions objecting to the very notion that love can be quantified. Before the ink is dry on the Love Amendment, the Lord's command would be destroyed b/c we would have reduced it to a natural right, that is, a legal prohibition against not-loving. Yes, it would be a command but would it be what the Lord actually ordered? No, it wouldn't.

The Lord's command to love only makes sense if we are first his disciples and then his friends; only if we first sit at his feet to listen and learn and then become his companions on the Way. His authority to command us derives from our surrender to him, from our willingness to be commanded—our freely given consent at the beginning our discipleship to follow wherever he leads. That kind of surrender takes enormous amounts of trust and not only trust in him but trust in one another. We cannot obey the command to love God w/o loving each and every one of His children. In fact, we show our love for Him by loving one another. If you think that's easy, try it. Try willing the good for your worst enemy for just one hour. Will all happiness and joy for someone who has injured you most. Will all blessings and success for someone who loathes you, someone who would see you humiliated or destroyed. Even better, will every good thing for the one you would see injured or humiliated. Difficult? Oh yes. And thus the necessity and the wisdom of the Lord's command. Could we even begin to love w/o the love he has shown us? Would we even know where to start? He suffered death to show us the Way to love. We followed. Now, it's our turn to lead.

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26 May 2011

Back in town. . .

Back in Ponchaoula!  I managed to lose my wallet on the shuttle btw Hobby and Bush.  The driver kindly returned to the airport to give it back.

I lost my cell phone at the retreat center.  Someone used my cell to text one of the friars on my contact list and told him that the phone would be at the front desk.  It never arrived.

We had a great time at the Assembly!



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23 May 2011

Just say NO to idols

5th Week of Easter (M)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Paul and Barnabus find themselves in an awkward situation. Having preached the Good News in Lystra and healed a crippled man, the two apostles are acclaimed by the crowds and mistaken for gods. When the priest of Zeus attempts to sacrifice an ox to them, Paul shouts, “Men, why are you doing this?” He tells them that they are just men come to proclaim God's mercy to sinners. He tells them that they must turn from their idols and offer worship to the living God, the one who “who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.” It's not too difficult to imagine that the crowds, especially the pagan priests, received this bit of news with some skepticism, even a little hostility. Here are two obviously powerful, gods-touched men who perform a miracle refusing to take credit for a miraculous feat and yelling at them that their centuries old religious traditions are deficient maybe even evil. Surely, the gods are testing the faithful, waiting to see if they will abandon Zeus and Hermes on the word of two wandering prophets. Paul tells the crowds that the living God has allowed these pagans “to go their own ways” and at the same time provided them—out of His abundant goodness—with many sure signs of His presence and purpose: the rains and fruitful seasons, nourishment and gladness for their hearts. Even with this revelation, the pagans are barely prevented from offering sacrifice to the Lord's ambassadors. Mistaking the sign for that which is signified, the pagans continue in their idolatry. Are we tempted to do the same?

The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council teach the Church that God reveals Himself to us through scripture, the person of Jesus Christ, and the witness of “created things.” Surrounded as we are and totally dependent upon the created things of this world, we are free to direct our worship to the things themselves or to the One who created them. We can believe that mountains, trees, rivers, animals, and the stars all stand above us as gods, or we can respect them as signs of God's presence, created windows through which we see and hear the Word Himself revealed. In this scientific and technological age, we might choose to honor creation in less religious terms, in less worshipful ways and still hold the things of the world above their Creator. We can deny the presence of God in His creation and believe that nothing exists beyond or above the material stuff of the universe. We can live out our lives believing that our dominion over creation was sealed by the coming of the scientific age and that our technology gives us certain if not absolute control over our destiny. If we make such a choice, choosing to center ourselves in the temporary matter of the world, we sacrifices our lives to that which cannot endure, cannot persist beyond its own destruction. We become idolaters, worshipers of the Signs of the divine and not the Divine Himself.

Most modern Christians aren't tempted to worship Zeus or Odin or Vishnu. These aren't the idols we set up on the altars of our daily lives. Our idols are less substantial, more subtle than the figures of ancient myth. If we are tempted to idolatry nowadays, we are tempted to offer praise and thanksgiving to our ambitions, our passions, and our prejudices. Rather than acknowledge the presence of Christ in the tabernacle of our hearts, we are tempted to place a selfish will or a libertine spirit on the throne reserved for our Lord. Even with the grace of baptism and the sustenance of the Eucharist, we will worship Worry and Vengeance if we believe that worrying and revenge will serve us better than surrender and mercy. Christ sends the Holy Spirit to teach us and remind us that idols of all kinds—whether they are made of gold or psychological distress—are made things and subject to death. Only the Lord of Life, the one who has conquered death, is worthy of our worship. Only He deserves our faithful attention and the sacrifice of our lives in His service.

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Away into the wild blue yonder. . .again.

I am off today to Houston to attend our Provincial Assembly.

Be back in Ponchatoula late on May 26th.

Pray for the Province of St. Martin de Porres!

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22 May 2011

What Sisyphus Can Teach Us About Faith

5th Week of Easter (A)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

The king of Corinth was a clever man. He was also prideful and lived to lie to friend and foe alike. His pride and deceitfulness kept him in power and flush with gold. When given the chance, he would divulge an ally's secrets to a mutual enemy and reap the rewards of betrayal. It was only a matter of time before his hubris compelled him to expose the follies of Zeus and gamble his cleverness against the anger of a god. One day, believing himself equal to the gods, the king told the river god, Asopus, one of Zeus' secrets in exchange for a fresh water spring in his city. As punishment, Zeus ordered Death to chain the king in the Abyss. The king, ever-clever, tricked Death and escaped. When the king died, his wife did not observe the proper burial rites, so he ended up in Hades only to escape and return to his wife to scold her for being disrespectful. Fed up with the king's impertinence, Zeus ordered his spirit to bear an eternal burden. He was condemned to push a boulder up a hill. When he nearly reached the top of the hill with the boulder, it would escape his grasp and roll to the bottom. The king would have to begin again. . .for eternity. The king's name was Sisyphus. To this day, we use his name to describe an absurd task, or a futile burden that leads to despair. For some, Sisyphus and his fate serve as a warning against pride and deceit. To others, he's an absurd hero, a foolish solider in a war against tyrants. Who is he for the followers of Christ? Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” But how often do we lovers of Christ wallow in our burdens and make our troubles badges of honor?

Because he was a fool to challenge Zeus and because his punishment seems so familiar, so “right,” Sisyphus is a popular subject in modern poetry. The American poet, Stephen Dunn, in a series of poems starring our anti-hero, wonders what Sisyphus would do if he were forgiven his sins, relieved of our ridiculous task. In a poem titled, “Sisyphus and the Sudden Lightness,” Dunn gives us the man mysteriously absolved of his debt to Zeus and wandering the streets in search of a purpose. Dunn writes, “Sisyphus, of course, was worried;/ he'd come to depend on his burden,/wasn't sure who he was without it.” He peels an orange; pets a dog, keeps moving forward b/c he is “afraid/of the consequences of standing still.//He no longer felt inclined to smile.” Over time, Sisyphus realizes that he is no longer being punished b/c the gods have disappeared. He hasn't been forgiven; he's been abandoned. So, out of anger or frustration or maybe defiance, “He dared to raise his fist to the sky./Nothing, gloriously, happened.//Then a different terror overtook him.” Sisyphus has been his punishment for centuries. Now that the boulder and the hill no longer imprison him, who is he? The gods are gone and the history of his punishment is more ridiculous, more meaningless than ever.

Sisyphus' heart is troubled. He has been abandoned by his gods, and he no longer knows who or what he is. He was condemned to an eternity of futile labor. Had he come to enjoy that boulder and the hill? Had he come to believe that his punishment was not only well-deserved but actually beneficial to his soul? As followers of Christ, what would we tell him about pride and its punishment? About lying and the consequences of defying God? Would we tell him that he got what he deserved and that he should shoulder his burden w/o complaint? If so, then we have to ask ourselves: Do we see ourselves in Sisyphus, wallowing in our burdens, making our troubled hearts badges of honor? Are we freed men and women, liberated children of a loving God; or, are we prisoners to our self-selected and self-imposed punishments? It might not be polite to say or pleasant to believe, but those of us who lay claim to the kingdom of God too often see ourselves as lost, abandoned; forsaken and punished for our sins. Sometimes we see this so intensely, believe it so fervently that we become our burdens; we transform ourselves from forgiven souls with an occasionally troubled heart into constantly troubled hearts with souls we cannot trust are forgiven. After all, we deserve our burdens; we are entitled to our troubles and we would not know who or what we are if, suddenly, our sentences were commuted and we were set free. Who are you once you are unchained and your prison is destroyed?

Jesus tells his disciples that he is preparing himself for death. He is leaving them. Confronted by their overwhelming anxiety and fear, Jesus says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” He tells them that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father's house. “I will come back again,” he assures them, “and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Most anxious and skeptical of them all, Thomas, blurts out, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Can you hear Thomas' real question? He's really asking, “How can you abandon us? How can you just leave us here? Why are we being punished? We don't know the way!” Jesus says to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father.” You know the way. You know me, and I am the way. You know the truth and you know the life. I am the truth and the life. You have come to me, and in doing so, you have come to the Father. When I return, you will all return with me to the Father. Did his friends believe him? Do we believe him? If we think Jesus is lying, then we will never surrender our burdens, never give up the punishments for sin that we believe we deserve. If we trust in his word, then we will crawl out from under the anxiety and the despair; we will gladly, eagerly push aside all of our destructive guilt and self-recrimination. Finally, we will come to accept that we are not the sum total of our sins and the years we have spent in prison, but that we are the freed children of a loving God who waits for us to occupy the many rooms of His heavenly house. That's who and what we are: not guests or visitors but children, beloved sons and daughters come home, and come home for good.

Peter tells us more about who and what we are in Christ: “You are 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises' of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We are a race—black, white, yellow, brown, red—a race of those chosen by God. We are royal priests, offering sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving on the altars of our daily lives. We are a holy nation—Americans, Russians, Japanese, Mexicans—a nation set aside to be a commonwealth of faith and reason in a world slowing going insane. And we are a people, a tribe, citizens and subjects of a kingdom that will never end. When we are who we were redeemed to be and when we do what we were redeemed to do, there is no time for us nor energy left in us for absurd burdens, futile punishments, or useless anxiety. 

Sisyphus, upon realizing that his punishment was at an end, and realizing that his gods had abandoned him, shook his fist at heaven, and “a different terror overtook him.” He was terrified of not knowing who or what we was without his burden, without his petty gods. If you are afraid of surrendering your worries and your labors b/c you believe that you deserve them, or b/c you fear that you will become lost, let Christ's words bang around in your mind for a while: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. . .I will come back again and take you to myself. . .”

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21 May 2011

Anniversary

Please pray for me and my OP brother, Fr. Scott Daniels. . .we are celebrating the sixth anniversary of our priestly ordination today!

We were ordained at St Peter's Church in Memphis by Bishop Terry Steib, SVD.

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Knowing THAT Jesus is in Father

4th Week of Easter (S)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

“Knowing” is a complicated business. For example, can know that a computer works—whether or not it works; we can know how it works and when; we can know where it works and doesn't; we may even know enough about the thing to know why it works like it does. Our varying levels of knowledge about a computer are distinguished more by kind than degree, that is, knowing more certainly that a computer is working does not increase our knowledge about how the computer works. To learn more about the how's and why's of computer technology requires a much more intimate relationship with computer science than simply knowing whether or not the thing is going to work when you turn it on. If knowing the what, how, when, and why of a computer is complicated, how much more complicated is knowing another person, or knowing God the Father? Jesus says to his disciples: “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” What we know of the Father—who, what, when, where, why—we know b/c Jesus, His Son, has revealed Him to us. Why does it matter to us that Jesus is our window to the Father?

If God the Father had wanted to reveal Himself to His children, He could've done so in a hundred or a thousand different ways. He could've appeared to a prominent person among His people and spoken His will. He could've performed miracles or sent angels. He could've commissioned prophets to announce His plan for humanity. He could've inspired poets and priests to write down the stories of these revelations and made sure that the stories survived for centuries and millennia. And just to make absolutely sure that we had every opportunity to come to know Him best, He could've promised long ago to send us His Anointed One, His Messiah so that we could see and hear for ourselves the love He has for us. He could've done all this. And, of course, He did. Yet we still failed to come to know Him in a way that would bring us back to Him. So, He fulfilled His promise and sent us His only Son to live among us as one of us so that we might come to know everything we need to know in order to repent of our sins and receive His forgiveness. 

When Jesus says to the disciples, “If you know me, then you will also know my Father,” he means exactly that. If we come to know Jesus—to plant and cultivate a relationship with the Christ—we will come into a saving knowledge of the Father. Not just a factual knowledge, not just “knowing stuff about God,” but knowing Him in a way that saves us, perfects us, and brings us back to Him more fully human than we could ever be otherwise. Knowing Christ in this way is more than merely informative; it is performative, that is, know Christ as our Savior performs our salvation, makes our redemption happen. Stories and miracles, prophets and priests can't perform or accomplish our salvation. Only an intimate relationship with God the Father through His Son in the Holy Spirit can achieve that which we long for the most: a reunion with the One who created us. This is why Jesus is astonished when Philip says, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus is disappointed, exasperated by this request. He says, in essence, “What do you mean 'show us the Father'? What do you think I've been doing these last three years?! Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? I'm not speaking my own words but the words of the Father. The Father who dwells in me and I am doing His works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. And if my word alone isn't good enough, believe me because of the work I do in His name.” 

Our job is the same as Christ's. To reveal the love of God in our words and deeds, what we say and what we do. Our burden is both heavy and light. Heavy b/c we carry the responsibility of making sure that He is revealed to the whole world. Light b/c we never do this job alone. We have the whole Body of Christ, the Spirit of God, and sure knowledge that—in the end—victory goes to the Lamb who was slain for our us.

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20 May 2011

Coffe Cup Browsing (Late Edition)

If The One gets his way, some of the most sacred sites of Christianity in Jerusalem will be under the control of the terrorist group, Hamas.  Can 2012 get here soon enough?

M.U.S.T. read this!  ". . .liberals - or 'progressives,' as they prefer to be called - persist in laboring under an embarrassing misconception: They honestly believe they remain the nonconformists. It’s precious. In fact, today’s liberals are nothing of the sort. They compliantly conform - like little windup, patchouli-daubed lemmings. . ."  Amen.

Science vs. Religion. . .which will happen first:  the Zombie Apocalypse or the Second Coming?  I know which one I'm cheering for!

Most HancAquam readers know what it means to be Raputured. . .but do you know what it means to be Zombied?

More on the Great Target vs. Wal-Mart Debate. . .this has the makings of a Coke vs. Pepsi War or the perennial southern favorite:  Ford vs Chevy Throwdown.   My picks:  Wal-Mart, Pepsi, Chevy.

Hideous new statue of Bl. JPII.  I've said it before:  "Raze it, salt the earth!"  Lord, spare your faithful from any more of these pretentious, modernist wrecks.

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19 May 2011

The Adult Faith of a Dissident?

4th Week of Easter (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

I recently ran across an article about an upcoming gathering of Church dissidents in Detroit. They call themselves the American Catholic Council. Their agenda for Church reform is as predictable as it is destructive to the Body of Christ: give us women priests, openly gay/lesbian priests, popularly elected bishops, etc. Had this group met in the 16th century, historians now would call them by their proper name, Protestants. Given the religious freedom that Americans enjoy and the ease with which we can form religious associations, it beggars the mind to understand why these disaffected Catholics don't simply join the Episcopal Church. Regardless, what's interesting to me is the frequency with which these folks identify their radical agenda for the future of the Church with what they call “an adult faith,” or “an adult Church.” It's not entirely clear why they think that their version of the faith is more mature than the one given to us by the apostles, but it is clear that they see the apostolic faith as immature and oppressive. Setting aside for a moment that middle-class academics whining about being oppressed is the very definition of adolescent behavior, and setting aside for now questions about their motives and chances of success, let's ask a more fundamental question: what is an “adult faith”? When do we know that our beliefs and religious practices have matured into an adult spirituality worthy of our time and energy?

Jesus has just finished washing the feet of his students, demonstrating that he no longer considers them his students but his friends. He says to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” Here's the key to identifying a matured spirituality, an adult understanding of our relationship with God: you and I are not the masters of our faith; we do not control, direct, or in any way influence the truth of the gospel, nor do we have the authority or the power to change one letter of the Father's Self-revelation to His people. A teenager rages against The Machine b/c he believes that he is the center of reality, the locus around which all living things exist. He chooses what's Real and what's not. An adult long ago recognized that The Real is a given and that one's success or failure in life is judged against one's ability and willingness to accept that wishful-thinking, tantrums, and appeals to self-centered notions of justice can't alter truth. Jesus tells his newly minted friends that though they are no longer his students, they are still slaves to the Master, an eternal Master who loves them enough to give His only Son to death.

Spiritual maturity can never be about asserting control or demanding that one's “rights” be respected. Servants, faithful servants of the Church work tirelessly to make sure that every opened eye and ear sees and hears the central message of the gospel: you're sins are forgiven, receive God's mercy and live wholly in His love. Jesus tells his friends that if they understand the truth in what he is teaching them, “blessed are you if you do it.” Not just believe it or assent to it. But do it! Don't just believe that you are a servant. Serve. Don't just assent to the notion that you are blessed to be of service. Go out and act blessed. Go out and serve. Service does not include stamping your feet and whining about the need for structural change in the institutional Church, or demanding that Reality be altered to fit your fantasy-agenda. Jesus says, “. . .whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” We receive from the ones sent by Christ all that they received from him. We receive. We do not create or change or revolutionize or re-think what we have received. Instead, we pass it on. Whole and entire. We pass it on in mint condition so others can mature into an adult faith rooted in the apostolic faith.

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Coffee Cup Browsing

New study argues that the clergy sexual abuse scandals were caused largely by poor seminary training, a permissive culture, and bishops who ignored victims.  If priests and bishops in the '60's and '70's had been taught Catholic moral theology and followed it none of this would have happened.

The Anchoress has the right idea about the study and the scandal.

Editorial on that letter sent to Speaker Boehner by a group of Catholic profs:  "Nowhere in the Gospels do you find Jesus saying his followers should enlist in a government spending rampage that will not only make the poor poorer, but devastate the livelihoods of just about everyone in society."  Amen.


Figured I'd link to the story about the woman who wouldn't stop talking on her cell phone in the Quiet Car of an Amtrak train.  She talked for 16hrs straight!!! 

No, implementing the Church's authentic social justice agenda does not necessarily entail support for politically leftist solutions to economic problems.  "Social justice" advocates in the Church (esp. in religious orders) often fail to distinguish btw the legitimate goals of social justice and the methods used to achieve them. 

Who burdened us with P.C.-speak and the oppression of the Word Police?  The fallacy here is the ridiculous notion that language is the sole source and arbiter of reality.  Control language, control reality.  Bunk.

Don't throw paperclips at your co-workers.  I love the fact that none of the other guys intervene.

Yes, Zombies have their own currency

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18 May 2011

Target vs. Wal-Mart

I found this quote on Instapundit. . .still waiting for my Instalanche,* btw.

“Target is Wal-Mart for pretty people.”

I like both stores, but Wal-Mart gets my $$$ about 80% of the time.  The apparel shoppers for Target seem to believe that men with waist sizes smaller than 34 should roam the streets naked.

Wal-Mart, however, always has a well-stocked Deep and Wide department.

*This term is used to refer to what happens to a blogger's stats when Glenn Reynolds links to your site.  Come on, Prof. Reynolds!  Do a priest a solid!!

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17 May 2011

Coffe Cup Browsing

Professional atheist Dawkins accused of cowardice for refusing to debate prominent Christian philosopher.  Dawkins is actually being smart here. . .he is clueless when it comes to philosophy.

European anarchists seem a bit confused about their who they are and what they believe. 

Jesus set to return on May 21st.  I wonder if anyone told the Lord that he's scheduled to Rapture the faithful that day?  He said he didn't know the day or time of his return. . .soooooo. . .???

A classic Mark Shea Rant:  we are all slobs and losers. . .thanks be to God!

This is what happens to your church when you choose to be OF the world and not just IN the world.  NB.  this is also what the Catholic Church would look like if the Holy Spirit hadn't given us JPII and BXVI.

Famous physicist assures us that there is no heaven. . .famous theologian assures us that gravity is a myth.  Stick to what you know, Steve, OK?

I will defend the use of the semicolon 'til the day I die!  Oh, and commas go inside the quotation marks.  Jesus said so.  


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15 May 2011

Link for the new missal translation

For those who have requested more info on the new English translation of the Roman Missal:

Go Here and look under the menu "Sample Texts."


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14 May 2011

Cut to the heart

4th Sunday of Easter (A)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

While in the studium—the Dominican version of seminary—the student brothers were often told that agricultural metaphors for the Church weren't all that “helpful.” For example, using images such as harvesting grain, planting seeds, plowing fields, pruning trees, etc. to talk about complex theological ideas like redemption, justice, etc. is virtually meaningless in our postmodern age. Our fussy, urbane professors were particularly hard on the sheep/shepherd metaphors in the gospels. They really got wound up about Jesus describing his followers as sheep. Sheep are dirty, stupid, and prone to being killed unless well-guarded. And it didn't help matters at all that those who guard the Lord's sheep—the shepherds, you know, the bishops—were exclusively male and celibate! By the time our enlightened profs were finished foaming at the mouth against the image of the Church as a bunch of filthy, ignorant animals led by an all-male cadre of celibate shepherds, we poor seminarians were quaking in our habits, silently vowing to never-ever speak about or even think about the Church in terms of the sheep/shepherd metaphor! Of course, one or two of us were farm boys so we knew one thing about sheep that our profs didn't: Sheep don't follow shepherds. No one leads a flock of sheep. Sheep are driven, herded by a skillful shepherd with a big stick and a pack of feisty dogs. Now that's an image of the Church that Catholics can understand! So, what are we to make of Jesus saying, “. . .[the shepherd] walks ahead of [his sheep], and [they] follow him, because they recognize his voice”? 

Well, by nature, metaphors are always imperfect, so we don't want to spend too much time dissecting the parallels between Christians and sheep, or between bishops and shepherds. Jesus' point seems to be that those who have chosen to follow him will know his voice when he speaks and obey his word b/c he speaks with a familiar authority. Jesus emphasizes his point by noting that those who love him “will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” In other words, Christians do not hear, cannot hear in the voice of a false teacher, a false shepherd that familiar ring of authority that proclaims the authentic faith, the Real Deal of Gospel Truth. We could play with the sheep metaphor a bit and say that the voice of a false teacher, a false shepherd always sounds like a wolf growling with hunger even when it looks, smells, and acts like a lamb. Oh sure, the occasional individual sheep—the lapsed or lukewarm Christian—may be fooled, seduced by the hypnotic thrill of the wolf's promises, but the flock as a whole is never fooled, never taken in by a stranger's voice. Together, as one flock, we remember the Chief Shepherd's voice; we remember him saying, “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. . .I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” There is no other gate to the Father's eternal pasture, no other Shepherd for His faithful flock. Christ Jesus alone brings us to a more abundant life!

As faithful sheep, we should ask: how do we come to recognize the authoritative voice of our Shepherd? In his Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke gives us a clue. Peter stands with the Eleven and proclaims to the crowd, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Luke tells us that when those in the crowd heard this truth spoken, “they were cut to the heart. . .” Cut to the heart! Peter utters a simple sentence, twenty-one common words strung together, a declarative sentence that rings out over those gathered, seizes their attention with absolute clarity, and instantly convicts their hearts in the truth: the man Jesus, the one whom they crucified, is the Lord and the Christ long-promised by their God. Peter's pronouncement slices through their guilt; their recriminations; their religious and legal defenses; their logic, their doubts, and their fears. They were cut to the heart, that place in their souls where no lie can easily rest and b/c they recognize their sin, they ask, “What are we to do?” And Peter tells them what to do. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. . .Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Among those who heard Peter preach that day were three thousand souls who accepted his message and were baptized. Those three thousand, once convicted in the truth and baptized in the name of Christ Jesus, would always recognize the voice of the Lord and his shepherds. A cut to the heart made by the sword that Christ himself yields is always deep and always permanent. It cannot be forgotten nor can it be mistaken for the mark of a stranger.

As men and women baptized into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we are deeply and permanently cut by the truth of the gospel. Christ's voice always rings true; the familiar authority of our shepherd is unmistakable, and we cannot be lead astray if we graze with his flock, the Church. The apostle Peter and his successors proclaim the central, abiding fact of our two-thousand year old flock: “God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” That's the sound, the voice of gospel truth, the words and the spirit that cuts the hearts of all those who long to see their lives redeemed, who desire a life beyond this one, who know that they will be perfected only when they come to see their Father face-to-face at the foot of His throne. Do you recognize that voice? More importantly, can you speak with that voice and spread the good news it proclaims? Sheep may be dirty, stupid, and prone to being eaten by wolves, but we are no ordinary sheep! We belong to the Eternal Shepherd and the world is our pasture to cultivate for him. Having heard his call, it's time for us to answer.

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13 May 2011

Back amongst the gators. . .

I'm back in Ponchatoula!  Had a great time with the OP Nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary.  They were enthusiastic students/participants in the Spe salvi seminars. . .as usual, I come away from these kinds of meetings convinced that I've learned more than I've taught. 

The food was good. . .really good.  And I am looking forward to going back next year!

The nuns have a great gift shop that features their handmade soaps and creams. . .give it a visit.

Almost forgot. . .all those books from the Wish List were delivered while I was gone.  No name on the shipping invoice.  Mille grazie to my anonymous benefactor.

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09 May 2011

Coffee Cup Browsing

Sensible suggestions for revising the Dallas Charter.  Here's an opportunity for our bishops to drop their newly acquired role as Lawyer-in-Chief and renew their roles as defenders of the faith. 

Why is it Amateur Hour at the White House over the death of OBL?  My guess:  B.O. wants to take credit for the terrorist's death but he finds the method used distasteful and potentially damaging among his lefty base.

Various reactions from religious leaders on OBL death.  I'm a little surprised at the consistency of the responses.

Nuns' votes voided in WI Supreme Court recount.

Human rights for Nature?  Hint: it's really just about accruing more power to the gov't.

Boorish Americans and our E.U. Betters.  Oh, if only we Cowboys had the moral fiber and intellectual stamina capable of producing such Wonderful Cultural Phenomena like WWI, WWII,  Nazism/Fascism/Communism, and those tiny cans of Coke Lite that barely produce a single burp.

The U.N. (i.e. Useless Nannies) is demanding answers from B.O. about OBL's death.  The irony of this Back and Forth drips.

Some notes on that Vatican-sponsored blogger convention.

Giving kids Christian names!  Amen.

Coptic Christian churches burned in Egypt. . .12 killed by Muslim mobs.

"Dear Human. . ."  Kinda funny.

A letter from the Texas Dept. of State, Missing Texans Division.  I think this is a joke.  Maybe.

Skittle-infused vodka?  Hmmmm. . .not too sure about this.

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08 May 2011

Path to Life, Path to Death: You choose.

3rd Sunday of Easter (A)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

“Lord, you will show me the path of life!” A declaration, not a request; not a demand, but an outcry of hope. “[Y]ou will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. . .You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence. . .” Who might be consoled by this psalm? Someone who hears temptation whispering. Someone abandoned by family and friends. Someone barely hanging on to their faith. No, that's not right. That someone would be asking for refuge, begging for mercy. “Lord, please, show me the path of life!” Someone who declares faith in God with such vehemence, cries out in hope with such assurance is strong in their faith, confident that God will never forsake His loved ones. Someone who declares, “Lord, you will not abandon my soul. . .” is convicted by truth, and at the same time, sorely tested by the enemies of truth. That someone is Peter preaching to the Sanhedrin. All of the Eleven remaining apostles standing before the lawless men who crucified the Lord. Who gives them such confidence, such zeal? The Risen Lord, the one God raised up, “releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it.” Eleven of Christ's ambassadors to a fallen world are brought to man's justice before the Sanhedrin. There they lay claim to the legacy of the resurrection. Sure of their inheritance, Peter quotes David's declaration, “Lord, you will show us the path of life!” This is our claim, our inheritance as well.

Around the year 100 A.D. an anonymous author writes out a booklet and titles it, The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations. We refer to it as The Didache. Besides the gospels themselves, this booklet is probably the first written witness we have to the teachings of Christ and the early life of the Church. The guiding principle of the text is found in the opening paragraph: “There are two paths, one of life and one of death; but there is a great difference between the two paths.” The rest of the work is a map for the path of life, a map any 21st century Catholic would immediately recognize: “The path of life, then, is this: First, you shall love God who made you; second, your neighbor as yourself; and all things whatsoever you would not have done to you, do not do to another.” There is a summary of the Beatitudes and instructions on how to give alms. The book's description of the path of death is also easily recognizable. “And the path of death is this: First of all it is evil and full of curse. . .” Then follows a long list of sins, in which we find: “. . .murders, adulteries, . . .fornications, thefts, idolatries, magic arts,. . .false witnessings, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, deceit, haughtiness, depravity, self-will, . . .not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children, destroyers of the handiwork of God. . .” The path of life is taken by those willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others. The path of death is taken by those determined to sacrifice others for their own benefit. Lord, you will show us the path of life!

 For a couple of the disciples, after the Lord's resurrection, the path of life begins on the road to Emmaus. While walking along the road, the Lord joins his students and reminds them of all he had taught them. He begins with Moses and the prophets and reveals to them his constant presence in scripture. He reminds them that the prophets foretold his suffering and death and his entrance into glory. Once they arrive home, the Lord sits at table with them, blesses the food, breaks open the bread, gives it to them. “With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him. . .” The Lord vanishes the moment their eyes are opened, but they remember his presence, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” Their hearts were burning! In the company of Christ, listening to his words and breaking bread at the table, the disciples were set on fire with the truth that only he can reveal. That truth, the truth that burns but is never consumed, is that the Lord is indeed risen and because he is risen, we too will rise and join him. We will, that is, if we choose the path of life he has blazed for us, mapped out for us. Christ suffered death—he allowed death, “a death he freely accepted”—in order to reveal to us the beauty and goodness of sacrificing self for the benefit of others, the path of life. Knowing this truth, Peter and the other ten apostles stand before the Sanhedrin and the “lawless men” and proclaim a message once sung by King David: “Lord, you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.”

Living as we do in a cynical and skeptical age, we are constantly tempted to complicate the simple truths of the faith. Some of us are likely tempted to dismiss historical texts like The Didache as examples of naïve, peasant piety; unsophisticated manuals for those who cannot handle nuanced thinking. Life isn't black and white; it's gray, mostly gray and the circumstances we find ourselves in determine truth, goodness, and beauty. The whole idea that the faith can be reduced to two, mutually exclusive paths is dangerously childish and possibly irrational. But if our choices aren't Life or Death, then what are they? What lies between? A living death? Breathing, eating, working, and all the while being dead inside, living for nothing more than serving self? If Peter and the other apostles are able to confront and defeat their enemies while praising God for showing them the path of life, why can't we? Why can't we choose this path, praise God for showing us the path, and then stand firm, resolute on the truth of the faith and bound eternally to the resurrection we are promised? We can. And we do. Each time we love the unloveable, forgive the unforgiveable, show mercy to the unworthy, and give God thanks for doing the same for us, we choose the path of life. And by choosing life, we see more clearly, hear more sharply, and love more abundantly. If you can leave here this morning and say to a spouse or friend, “Were not our hearts burning within us while [Christ] spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”, if you can say that and mean it, then know that God's truth burns within you and then do what the disciples did: make known to others, to everyone what Christ did for you. . .on the cross, out of the tomb, in the breaking of the bread. Tell them, all of them: the Lord showed me the path to life!

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07 May 2011

And the number of disciples increased. . .

2nd Week of Easter (S)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

Anyone who's worked with college students in ministry can tell you that there is one persistent frustration for the campus minister: a phenomenon I call “overbooking.” Students will commit to several school projects with overlapping schedules and, at the last minute, pick one that seems to be the most interesting. Of course, this leaves whatever project campus ministry is working on with fewer than expected helping hands. We don't need to look too closely at why hyperactive, over-scheduled children of the internet age pledge themselves to multiple, mutually exclusive projects. The serious challenge for the organizer of any volunteer community project is making your project worthy of being selected and attended by those afflicted with a short attention-span and an overbooked schedule. Compared to the merely mortal campus minister, Jesus had it easy. He multiplied fishes and loaves; healed the blind and crippled; exorcised demons; walked on water, and performed the one miracle that would impress even the most jaded college student—changing water into wine! But even more impressive than these miracles is his refusal to be made into a pop celebrity, his stubborn unwillingness to be seen as a circus act, a freak show character. True, Jesus draws the crowds with miracles but he keeps the faithful attentive by doing nothing more than teaching the truth and serving the least among his Father's children.

If there's a theme to the lives of the apostles after the resurrection it has to be: live the gospel faithfully and the Church will grow. We reads in Acts that the apostles went around fervently preaching the gospel, standing up to their persecutors, and organizing their tiny community of believers. There were miracles—Peter healing the crippled man—and there was a dramatic confrontation with the chief priests, resulting in some jail time and an angelic rescue. No doubt these drew the attention of the curious. But there's little enough in these incidents to maintain the faith a large group of believers, especially given that their faith that requires self-denial, constant sacrifice, and could earn the believer a chance to spend some time in prison. So, what's the Something More about the infant Church that lures people in and keeps them there? Free food and wine? Good company? The chance to meet a famous Jewish heretic or two? Maybe but probably not. Luke tells us in Acts that after the apostles laid hands on Stephen and six other “reputable men” that “the word of God continued to spread and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly.” When Christ's disciples believe the gospel and act on their belief, God's Word spreads and the crowds see and hear the truth behind the miracles.

We could easily double the size of the congregation here at St. Joseph's by spending a couple of million on high-tech A/V equipment; TV advertising and other promotional material; hire several well-trained ministers for specific groups within the parish; start-up a nursery school, a food bank, maybe a shrine to St Joseph. We could stuff our schedule with programs, seminars, and guest-speakers; invite celebrity musicians and preachers. Our parish rolls would grow and grow. But we'd have to ask: why are we growing? What's drawing people in? If we're drawing crowds with gimmicks, with “attractions,” we have to ask, will they stay? Will they grow in holiness? As disciples, our first and only task is to do give witness to the gospel in our thoughts, words, and deeds—to be disciples and act like disciples; to be filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, seeking God's wisdom and proclaiming the excellent fruits of believing on the name of Christ. Jesus avoided the glamors of celebrity, the foibles of popularity so that he could faithfully preach God's truth in season and out. If we do that and nothing but that, they will come and they will stay. And the number of the disciples in Ponchatoula increased greatly!

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05 May 2011

Grace is not rationed

2nd Week of Easter (Th)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

One of the more unfortunate metaphors from understanding our redemption in Christ Jesus comes from the world of economics. Christ's death on the Cross established a “treasury of merits” in heaven that we can tap into when we are “short on grace.” The saints, especially the Blessed Mother, also contribute to this treasury and are able to dole out favors when properly petitioned. As western Christians steeped in the economics of wealth exchange that makes use of money, it is all too easy for us to start thinking of grace as a form of currency between heaven and earth. Since nothing worth having can truly be free of charge, we fall into the trap of believing that even grace comes with a price. Good works, prayers, devotional practices—all these are often seen as ways of earning a little extra grace on the side. Besides the fact that grace cannot be earned or bought, this economic metaphor for redemption creates another problem for our understanding of how we are saved: scarcity in the market. Prices for commodities are influenced by their availability. For example, there are more portabello mushrooms in the world than there are truffles, so truffles are more expensive. Applying the metaphor too literally: grace—God's favor—is very rare, so obtaining it requires extraordinary expense and skillful bargaining with God. Jesus sticks a big fork in this metaphor: “[The Father] does not ration his gift of the Spirit.” No rationing, no scarcity; no scarcity, no expense.

Along with the Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation, one of the great Mysteries of the faith is how grace works to liberate us and perfect us. We have libraries stuffed with books and articles dissecting the concept, and we may even come close on occasion to actually believing that God applies the saving merits of Christ's sacrifice free of charge. However, finding ourselves in spiritual peril, how often do we resort to bargaining with God, making desperate promises, or vowing reform? “Lord, I really messed up this time! Help me and I'll pray the rosary twice a day from now on!” Sound familiar? If it does, you need to hear Jesus say again, “[The Father] does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. . .” Daily Mass, praying the rosary, visiting the sick, etc. help you to grow in holiness once you believe, but only believing on the name of Christ saves you. Our Father does not parcel out His grace exclusively to the hardworking, the deserving, the privileged, or the especially favored. His saving grace, like rain and sunshine, fall on saints and sinner alike. Our daily challenge is receive the abundant grace He gives us and use it to produce better versions of ourselves, more perfect images of the divine in human form. In other words, to become more and more like Christ.

As difficult as it is to get under the notion that God has freed from the slavery of sin for no other reason than that He loves us, it is imperative that we come to believe that our redemption through Christ is a holy gift. Freely given, without obligation or exchange. No purchase necessary, no refunds. We are handed our freedom. All we have to do is receive it. And once we've received our freedom from sin, share the Good News of God's mercy through thought, word, and deed. By doing so, we grow closer and closer to God, becoming more and more like Christ. The Father does not ration the gifts of His Spirit. We cannot afford to think, speak, and act as if His grace is a rare, expensive commodity. What is freely given must be freely received and freely shared.

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Wow. . .just wow

WOW!  Clicked over to the Wish List last night only to discover that some generous H.A. reader had purchased all of the books on the list!   This happened once before in 2008 right before I left Irving to go to Rome. . .wonder if it's the same person (wink-wink)???

I've been saying this a lot lately:  blogging and parish ministry are good for my humility (such as it is).   Thanks so much!

God bless, Fr. Philip, OP

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04 May 2011

Two trials, one verdict

Second Week of Easter (W)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

While the members of the Sanhedrin are convening to try the apostles, whom they believe to be imprisoned, the apostles themselves are out in the temple area preaching and teaching. Having been freed the night before by an angel and told, “Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life,” the apostles are out doing exactly that—telling their stories. We don't have the texts of these stories, but it's not too much to imagine that they are preaching something like, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” While they preach, the Sanhedrin is preparing to render a verdict on the apostles' heresy, yet God's verdict on those who choose to remain in darkness has already been rendered, “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.” In one day, we have two trials conducted under the authority of God's Word; one, under the Law of Moses heard by a jury of men; and another under the Law of Love where Christ himself sits as judge and jury. The proof of innocence for both trials is a straightforward principle of holy transparency: “. . .whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” 

From what we know of Jesus' encounters with his religious enemies, it's safe to say that the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, etc. have a great deal of difficulty wrapping their minds around the notion that one's behavior as a child of God must be a reflection of one's actual relationship with God. Acting holy in public is a necessary but not a sufficient way to be truly righteous. It's almost as if it is better to behave poorly if your relationship with God is poor than it is to pretend to be holy when you aren't. Jesus frequently calls his enemies “hypocrites” b/c they fake a relationship with God that they do not have. One lie is compounded by another. This is a problem for all the obvious reasons and for one that might not be so obvious. If you are to be tried for unrighteousness by a jury of men, the only evidence they have to judge you is your behavior. They don't know and can't know your heart, your interior disposition toward God. Because of this deficiency, Christ says over and over again that our words and deeds, our thoughts and intentions must match. If head and heart are properly aligned with God's will for us, then no verdict of mere mortals is ever permanent. The only verdict that matters is the one Christ himself rendered on the Cross. We are not-guilty by reason of having been loved by God into redemption.

The apostles are freed from prison by an angel not b/c they are sinless or extra, extra holy. They are freed b/c the Good News of God's mercy—a mercy they have experienced for themselves—must be testified to, given witness to. Legally, they are guilty of heresy, and by the Law they should be in prison. But the Law of Love grants them mercy so that they can go out and do the work Christ gave them to do. This isn't an argument for secular lawlessness but rather a way for us to understand how head and heart must work within God's will to preach and teach His Good News. Essentially, the apostles are imprisoned for failing to be good hypocrites, for failing to separate their behaviors from their beliefs. Rather than pretend to be righteous while in fact being unrighteous, the apostles find themselves doing and saying things that threaten the power of the hypocrites-in-charge. They actually believe that the Law of Moses is based on the Law of Love commanded by Christ! 

If you were to be put on trial to test your righteous—to test your relationship with God—would you rather be judged by men under the Pharisees' notion of the Law, or judged by Christ who has already bailed you out of prison and found you not-guilty? If you long to live the truth, come to the light of Christ, so that your works may be clearly seen as done in God.

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03 May 2011

Coffee Cup Browsing

Hypocrisy Watch:  when W. was Prez the media called the Navy SEAL team that executed OBL Cheney's "personal assassination team."  Now. . .well, not so much.

Hypocrisy Watch 2.0:  Pelosi Edition. . .

A Google Maps pic of bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.  Geez, Google Maps can find anything, right?!  ;-)

Another amateur night at the White House.  Please, Lord. . .hurry the day when the adults will be in charge again!

Should Christians rejoice over the death of OBL?  No.

Blessed JPII saved the Church from going the way of the Anglicans. . .suicidal death-spiral.

JPII reported to have lost his temper twice.  Given the state of the Church when he was elected Pope in the late 70's, I'd say he deserved beatification for that miracle alone.

The Church's newest Blessed is placed in St Sebastian's Chapel, St Peter's Basilica.  I'll visit the chapel when I return to Rome in Oct and pray for HancAquam readers.

A personal report on the Beatification from the Anchoress.  Generally, I avoid large Vatican liturgies b/c the crowds wear me out.  "Nuns With Sharp Elbows" are legendary during these events.  Even a 300 lbs. Dominican friar in full habit is no obstacle to these fervent visitors!

Australian bishop sacked by BXVI. . .for the usual reasons:  support for women's ordination, blahblahblah, etc., etc.

Conservatives in Canada win big.  Of course, "conservative" in Canada means something like "Blue Dog Democrat" in the U.S.

Rednecks can fix anything!

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01 May 2011

A new birth to a living hope. . .

2nd Sunday of Easter (A)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatoula

It's been one week. Just seven days. With more than a billion other Catholics and that many more Christians of all flavors from all over the globe, we celebrated the Risen Lord. We welcomed into the Body of Christ thousands of freshly baptized souls; newly adopted brothers and sisters; and Catholics coming home after years of wandering in the wilderness. Just one week ago, we watched as the light of the Easter candle spread through the Church—the light of Christ piercing the darkness, shining out over the shadows of sin, showing us the way back to God. We heard that the sisters-Mary, meeting an angel and their Risen Lord at his empty tomb, were “fearful yet overjoyed” and that a couple of the disciples, meeting Christ on the road to Emmaus, were “startled and terrified.” To settle their hearts, Jesus instructed his friends to touch his wounds. They did. And they were “incredulous for joy and amazed.” Just one week ago. Seven days. We were renewed, refreshed, and reminded. How are we now? Are you fearful or amazed? Joyful or terrified? Incredulous or startled? All of these, none of these? Wherever you are, however you feel, the Risen Lord is among us even now, and he says, “Peace be with you.” Peace be with your doubts, your fears, your worries; peace be with you. Because, Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We have too much to do; and doubt, fear, worry all are foolish wastes our time and spirit. Now is the time to be overjoyed, reassured, and strong!

In his first letter to the Churches in Asia Minor, Peter reminds these newly converted Gentiles exactly what God has done for them and for us in the Risen Lord. He writes, “. . .through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. . . [God] in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope. . .to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. . .to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.” We are born anew to a living hope, to an indestructible inheritance, and to a final salvation. Why is it foolish to waste our time on doubts, fears, and worries? Because our Father has given us a new birth. We are born again. Given a new start, a new life. Our new lives in Christ are radically different—different at the root—from the lives we lived before. Where we were once stumbling in the dark and gambling against chance, we are now living in hope. And not the kind of hope that keeps us stuck relying on luck, crossing our fingers and wishing for the best, but the kind of hope that only Christ can give us—imperishable hope, undefiled hope, unfading hope. Peter writes, “In this [hope] you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials. . .” Why might we have to suffer trials? “[S]o that the genuineness of your faith. . .may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The metal of our faith will be stress-tested, subjected to trials, in order to establish that our trust in God is pure, authentic. This is one trial that the disciple Thomas fails.

We are used to calling the skeptical disciple, “Doubting Thomas.” But this is a misnomer. We should call him Denying Thomas. When the Risen Lord visits his friends, Thomas is absent. Upon his return home, the other disciples tell him that their teacher—three days dead—appeared to them and showed them the wounds of his execution. Incredulous, Thomas says, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” I will not believe! Thomas doesn't say, “I doubt your story.” Or, “I doubt that a dead man can walk again.” He says, “I will not believe.” I will not to believe. This isn't doubt; it's denial, outright disbelief. To make matters worse, Denying Thomas sets a test for the Lord, declaring himself unwilling and unable to believe until he can touch Jesus' wounds. For a week, the disciples lived with Thomas' willful refusal to believe their testimony. Then, for reasons known only to him, Jesus reappears and allows his stubborn disciple to touch his wounds. Thomas shouts, “My Lord and my God!” His will bends and he believes. To this Jesus says, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Belief, faith, hope, love, trust—all the good habits required for growing in holiness—have nothing to do with evidence or proof. Blessedness belongs to those who love God, place their hope in His promises, and do the good works of His mercy without forensic testing, without physical proof.

Peter echoes this teaching in his letter, “Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. . .” Luke tells us what this glorious joy looked like among the faithful of the infant Church, “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone. . .All who believed were together and had all things in common. . .They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people.” What effect did their joy have on those who witnessed their love for one another? Luke reports, “And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” Sincerity, exultation, and awe before the Lord draw hungry souls into the Body. Doubt, fear, and worry repel those who most need to be fed. So, I will ask you again, how are you this first week after we celebrated the resurrection of the Lord? Are you wasting away your time and spirit by wallowing in denial and anxiety, dreading another day, afraid to risk the dark security of disbelief and mistrust? If so, “Peace be with you.” Just as the Father sent His Son among us to announce the divine mercy to sinners, so the Son sends us to testify to the mercy we ourselves have received. But you cannot testify to what you have not witnessed. And you certainly cannot give what you have not received. If you have yet to receive the divine mercy, what are you waiting for? Denying Thomas spent seven days among a houseful of eyewitnesses to the Risen Lord. He bent his will to believe only after Jesus allowed him to touch his wounds. Are you waiting to examine Christ's nailmarks and the gash in his side? “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Perhaps you once believed but now you doubt? Or do you outright deny that our Lord is risen? If so, “Peace be with you.” Your trust in God is being stress-tested. Stay with us, show us mercy, show yourself mercy, and you will pass. 

Just a week ago, seven short days ago, we proclaimed the resurrection of the Lord from his tomb. The news spread to the disciples, to their families and friends, to their neighbors and from them to all the nations and peoples of the world, from 1st century Jerusalem to 21st century Ponchatoula. If the good news of God's mercy to sinners is going to continue to spread, continue to be repeated until history is exhausted, those of us who hope in the Lord must be joyful and sincere; our faith indestructible; and our love for one another unfading. Christ's peace is the sure knowledge that our salvation awaits us. His peace be with you.




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